Lee Ji-seo's POV (Point Of View)
I sat at the dinner table, deep in thought. "Ji-seo? Ji-seo?!" Mr. Song called out. Ha-ri nudged my side, jolting me out of my thoughts, her face laced with worry.
"Are you okay?" Ms. Choi asked. I blinked in confusion, "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied with a small smile.
"Can you pass me that bowl?" Ms. Choi asked, reaching her hand out to receive the bowl from me. I nodded and passed it to her.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ha-ri whispered. I nodded with a sigh, "Yeah, I am. It's just..." I trailed off, wondering if I should tell her. 'I'll tell her later,' I said inwardly.
"It's just what?" She asked with a raised brow. I looked at her and smiled at her, "Forget it. Hey, where are the guys?" I asked, looking around. My eyes landed on Taemin, who was watching me silently.
"Are you alright?" He mouthed. I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," I mouthed back. He nodded and continued his discussion with Dae and Jaehyun.
I let out a sigh and got up from my seat, "I'll be right back," I told Ha-ri. "Where are you going?" She asked, getting up from her seat.
"I just want to walk around. Do you want to come along?" I asked her, knowing it would be too suspicious if I went for a walk by myself.
"Sure. Let's go for a walk," she said before grabbing two cans of soda from the table for ourselves and handing me a can. Dinner was over a minute ago, so everyone is just hanging around before bedtime.
"Don't go too far, girls," Ms. Choi warned. We nodded and walked off. We got to a stream and sat down on a log in silence.
"So, what's bothering you?" Ha-ri asked. I knew the question was coming; there was no way I could have prevented it.
I brought out my phone and showed her Toby's missed calls. "This idiot," she muttered. "Hey!" I yelled. "What? I thought you said you'll focus on yourself and leave your unrequited love behind?" She asked with a raised brow.
I fell silent. She took my phone from my hands. "What are you doing?" I asked, watching her tap away on my phone.
"Blocking his number. In fact, I am going to make sure you unfollow him on all your social media accounts," she said, before blocking his number.
"Hey! Give that back!" I yelled, trying to snatch my phone away from her. She pulled my phone back and got up from the log, "No. You are going to put yourself first, and that's final. When we get back to Seoul, I'll set you up on a blind date to take your mind off him. When you were doing fine, he suddenly remembered that he had your number on his phone. Hmmph, pathetic," she said, before finishing whatever she was doing on my phone and handing it back to me.
I stared at the phone in my hands, then at her. She sighed and looked at me in pity, "I'm so sorry, Ji-seo. I had to do that because if I hadn't, then you would have been running back to him when he was the one ignoring you. Like, look at the state he put you through tonight. Just promise me that you won't talk to him again," she said firmly, holding out her pinkie finger.
I stared at it for a bit before lifting mine and making a promise with her, "I promise." She smiled at me and gave me a pat on the head.
"Should we go back?" She asked, looking back to the way we came from. "Yeah. It's almost lights out," I said, getting up.
We walked a bit before coming to a stop. "Wait," Ha-ri called back. I turned to her, "Are you sure we came this way?" Ha-ri nodded her head, "Yeah, I mean, look at that bush, I can't miss it."
I looked at the bush she was pointing at and looked back at her in disbelief. "We are surrounded by trees and bushes, Ha-ri!"
"Okay, calm down. We're not lost. We just need to follow the sound of our classmates, right? Everything is fine. CALM DOWN!" She suddenly yelled.
"Who's the one yelling?" I asked with a raised brow. She looked at me with guilt, "Sorry. We shouldn't have walked that far," she whined, looking around.
"We'll be fine. Let's just call someone," I said before dialing Taemin's number. I couldn't get to him and called Dae's number instead.
"Taemin isn't picking up? Try calling Dae," Ha-ri said shakily. She was starting to get nervous.
"Yeah, I'm calling him right now," I reassured her, but unfortunately, I couldn't get to him either. "He isn't picking up," I said nervously.
Ha-ri burst into tears, "We are done for, Ji-seo," she cried out. I walked up to her and hugged her, trying to soothe her.
"It's okay. We'll be fine. I'll try calling Chaeyoung. Hold on," I said before dialing Chaeyoung's number, but she hung up.
"Huh," I said in confusion. "What's wrong?" Ha-ri asked. I looked at her tear-stained cheeks and her eyes that gleamed with hope.
"She hung up on me on the 2nd ring," I explained. Ha-ri cried out again, "We are so done for, Ji-seo."
"We'll be fine," I said softly, trying to console her but also myself. 'What am I going to do now?' I thought deeply before an idea came into my head.
"Min-ho! I can call Min-ho!" I yelled with joy. Ha-ri stopped her wails and looked at me with hope, "Yes, call him." I nodded before dialing his number.
I placed it to my ears while making a silent prayer, hoping he would pick up his phone. "Wait, why do you have his number?" Ha-ri asked in realisation.
"That is not important right now," I hushed her, and when she was about to speak again, Min-ho picked up.
"Hello?" I heard him say. I let out a gasp in shock and turned to Ha-ri with a big smile on my face before speaking up.
"Hey, Min-ho, it's Ji-seo," I rushed out. "Yeah, I know." I nodded before speaking up again, "I'm with Ha-ri, and we are lost in the woods. Can you come and..." I heard my phone shut down.
I stared at the phone's name that was boldly written on the screen before it shut down. "What happened?" Ha-ri asked, staring at my phone screen.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW??!" I yelled in anger. I was about to smash my phone on the ground, but thought against it.
"What are we going to do now?" Ha-ri wailed again, with fresh tears clouding her eyes. I let out a sigh, my eyes clouding with tears, "I don't know," I wailed.
We both fell to the ground, crying our eyes out. "PLEASE, IF YOU CAN HEAR US, SAVE US!!" We both yelled into the night.