Stray Gods (SLOW UPDATES BUT NOT ABANDONED)

Chapter 47

The two of you spent all morning cuddled up together in bed. He held you in his arms, holding you against him as he hummed some soft tunes. The two of you hardly said a word, but with Seungmin there just wasn't any need. You knew that he knew what you were thinking and feeling, and you were sure you knew what he was thinking and feeling too.

'It's time for me to get out of bed now, sweetie,' he said after a while. You looked up at him with a pout. 'Thanks to someone,' he said, poking your cheek with his finger, 'I wasn't able to get much work done yesterday,' he said with a sad smile. You still pouted at him but you understood. Reluctantly, you untangled your fingers from his hair and pulled away from him. Seungmin sat up with a yawn and stretched.

'But how about breakfast first?' he offered with a wink. Together, the two made some breakfast in the far too-small kitchen. Apparently, last night had stirred up quite the appetite for Seungmin because you were only halfway through your breakfast when he had already finished his. 'I really gotta start now if I want to be able to finish it up before tonight,' he said while stroking your hair. You nodded as he gave you a soft kiss on your lips before he took out his stuff again and put them out on the balcony once more.

When you were finally done, you took your time to wash up and get yourself dressed. You looked around the room but there wasn't much for you to do. Your mind wasn't in the right state to do any school work, nor did you think it wise to go to the beach, afraid you would distract Seungmin from his work again. You stared out one of the small windows, giving you the view of the grasslands and trees behind. Suddenly, you remembered something that Seungmin had mentioned, about the part of the island behind the trees.

'Minnie?' you began, opening the door to the balcony. He looked up at you and it took him a second to focus. 'I'm going for a walk to explore the island for a bit,' you spoke when his eyes were clear and on yours. Seungmin smiled and nodded before returning to his work again.

You packed some stuff and went on your way. The green grass field behind the cabin took quite a while to cross before you finally arrived at the thick set of trees that obscured the view of the other side of the island. You half expected a fence, fence wiring, or at least some thorn bushes to keep people from crossing the treeline, but there was nothing of the sort. Just high bushes and trees so thick and tall that when you stepped into it, all light seemed to disappear. You looked up, but there was no sunlight peeking through the thick coverage of leaves. Carefully you navigated through the dark bushes until you finally spotted some light again. You pushed a bush aside, and the bright sunshine almost blinded your eyes. You had to blink a few times before you could see again but then your mouth fell open.

You now understood what Seungmin meant when he said that no one would be interested in crossing the treeline.

There were small different coloured trees with flowers and fruits growing all over the place. Natural wildflowers moved softly in the wind. There were a handful of narrow pathways where the green grass had retreated. A few large smooth stones were lying around, the perfect height to be used as a bench to sit on. A couple of large trees were placed here and there as a way to hide from the bright sun or pouring rain. Adjacent was a field of grass that seemed to be calling out to you, begging you to lie there and relax, have a picnic, or take a nap. It was absolutely enchanting.

You had hardly set foot on the new terrain when all of a sudden a buzzing noise startled you. For a moment, you felt disoriented, afraid that you had stepped on some kind of alerting system. Then you realized it was coming from your bag. Hastily, you searched through it only to find your phone being the culprit. It hadn't been that long without electricity or reception but somehow you had forgotten what a buzzing phone sounded like. Having stepped onto the terrain of the park, your phone suddenly seemed to be connected again with the digital world, loading all of your missed messages and calls at once. Most of them were emails, junk mail, or from school. As you scrolled down further you saw something else. Your friends had messaged you as well.