Don’t just say, “I think,” dipshit! I swore internally. I remembered warning Kinn last night before he ran that it was dark and he should be careful. He’d ignored me.
“Is your fever gone?” Kinn placed his hand against my forehead to check my temperature. I was slightly taken aback but remained still until Kinn lifted his hand away. I didn’t know why his touch made my heart skip a beat, but I tried not to overthink it.
“It seems to have gone down. Shall we get going, then?” Kinn said.
We finished eating the bananas, and I waited as Kinn completed whatever calculations he was making in his head. He then began leading us down a path that he swore was the right way out. I didn’t have any objections—after all, I was unconscious the night before, so I didn’t remember anything.
“Are you sure this is the right way?!” I asked, standing with my hands on my hips. I was starting to doubt whether we’d make it out of here alive. Kinn wandered around aimlessly, taking three steps forward and four steps back. He kept turning left and then right, until my head spun.
“Just trust me… Ah, I recognize this tree,” Kinn said, pointing at a large tree.
I frowned at him wearily. “Yeah!” I scoffed, “it’s because we’ve walked past it three times already, dumbass!”
That asshole pretended like he knew what he was doing, but he was failing miserably. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would have just let those guys take us. At least it might have been easier to escape and survive. Right now, it felt like we were lost in a maze.
“Well, if we keep heading north, we’ll find the way out,” Kinn said, and continued forward.
“Humor me—which way is north?” I asked.
“This way.” Kinn pointed ahead. I let out a heavy sigh, feeling the urge to scream at him surging inside me.
“How the hell do you know?!” I yelled, stopping in my tracks. The sky was so murky that it was impossible to tell which way was north or south. I knew Kinn was just making shit up!
“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Kinn said, dismissing my objection.
I wondered how far we needed to keep going. I feared we would wander deeper into the forest instead of finding our way out. Kinn seemed equally frustrated that the situation had not turned out the way he planned. He was definitely the type of guy to get mad when things were out of his control.
Lost in thought, I followed Kinn without paying attention to our surroundings. When Kinn abruptly stopped, I walked right into his broad back and almost fell backward. Fortunately, Kinn managed to grab my wrist and keep me upright.
“Shit! Why didn’t you tell me you were going to stop?” I grumbled at him. I was frustrated and exhausted; it was hot outside and we’d been walking all day with no progress at all.
“Why should I? You’re the one not watching where you’re going.”
Disgruntled by his harsh reply, I tried to pull my wrist away from his grasp. “Let me go,” I said, but Kinn tightened his grip.
“Let me hold your hand—it might jog my memory. Hurry up!” Kinn held my wrist and dragged me behind him. I tried to free myself several times to no avail; eventually I grew tired of fighting him and decided to save my energy for walking.
“Shall we try running?” Kinn turned to ask me. “It might help me remember.”
I huffed, annoyed. He didn’t remember the way after all!
“I’m not gonna run! I’m exhausted!”
Kinn chuckled at my answer and continued to irritate me. “I’m going to turn right,” he announced before taking a right turn.
“Turning left,” he said before turning left. “Now I’m going straight.”
“Why are you telling me?!” I yelled in exasperation.
“Aww… I didn’t want you to complain that I didn’t tell you where I was going,” he replied cheerfully. I started to wonder if he really wanted to find a way out of here or if he just wanted to piss me off.
We continued on our journey, my legs growing tired and my throat drying up. I was worn out. I kept focusing on the path ahead, helping Kinn look where to go. I didn’t notice when Kinn let go of my wrist and firmly took my hand instead. I unconsciously tightened my grip, not resisting him. Having your hand held when you were nervous was comforting. It calmed me down and assuaged my fears.
“Argh, Kinn! Just admit it if you don’t know where we’re going!” I finally snapped, pulling him to a stop.
“You’re such a crybaby,” Kinn said, his lips curving into a smirk. In my entire life, I’d never whined at anyone as much as I did at Kinn. He constantly annoyed the shit out of me. Asshole!
“Do you remember the way?” I asked sharply.
“Come on, just keep walking,” Kinn dismissed me. However, he seemed to have accepted the fact that we were lost.
“Where are you trying to go? Don’t you see we’ve looped back to where we started—twice?!” I groused.
We walked all day only to end up right back where we started. The stream in front of us was the same one I’d used to wash my face that morning. The forest was growing dark; I was astounded at our ability to walk all day and yet get absolutely nowhere.
“Fine. We’ll rest here one more night and try again tomorrow,” Kinn said. I swore I would be the one to look for a way out tomorrow—I wasn’t going to let Kinn lead again!
“Let me go!” I said, yanking my hand from his.
Kinn smiled at me. “I thought you would never let me go,” he teased.
This derelict, lost-in-the-forest Kinn was utterly different from the snobbish Kinn I knew. I could see the difference in his actions and expressions. This version of Kinn seemed more playful, although he still managed to get on my nerves.
“I’m starving!” I exclaimed, plucking a banana from the same tree as before. If banana trees could talk, it would have asked why I came back to eat from it again. Damn it, this was all Kinn’s fault. What an idiot!
“I’m hungry,” Kinn said, rubbing his belly and coming to stand next to me.
“Then eat,” I replied, irritated.
“I’m tired of bananas. I want to eat something else,” Kinn said, looking around.
“Picky!” I muttered. We were barely surviving in this forest, and Kinn dared to be finicky about food? It was unbelievable!
“I get bored easily. I don’t like eating the same thing twice in a row,” Kinn replied, nonchalant. It was true, though—judging from his previous behavior, he was precisely the kind of guy who got bored quickly.
“What are you going to eat, then? Fish? Chicken?” I asked wearily, not knowing what Kinn was thinking.
“Nah, I’m going to eat that,” Kinn said, pointing at a tall tree with dense leaves and red fruit.