Tae's POV

I could barely eat the dinner that Copter and I cooked. I was still reeling from the verbal tussle that Tee and I had engaged in earlier in the afternoon.

I had approached him to ask him why he had been ignoring me since breakfast time. At first he refused to even look at me, much less reply to me.

Then finally he said that it would be best to talk in the backyard where no one could hear us just in case we got into an argument.

When we reached the backyard, I noticed a wooden bench that I had not noticed before during the two times that I had gone to gather some vegetables. When I approached the bench, I noticed that there was a small wooden gate very close to it. The reason I had not noticed it before was because it had been partly covered by the thick vine of the green beans.

Just out of curiosity, I tried to push the gate open and to my surprise, it gave in to my pressure. I walked down a pathway that veered sharply to the right. It led to a small cottage, much smaller than the one we were staying in. I turned around to see Tee right behind me. He had followed me silently.

As if by unspoken agreement, we both walked toward the small cottage. We went up the three small steps leading to a small porch.

"Why do I feel like we're Hansel and Gretel?" Tee asked, a smile breaking slightly on his face, and for a brief moment the tension between us eased a little bit.

I turned the knob on the front door and pushed it open.

It was a mini version of our cottage. The bedroom was smaller and had only one large bed.

I looked at Tee and for some reason both he and I blushed at the same time. Did he read my mind?

Suddenly Tee started walking back out of the cottage, "I think we should go back to the vegetable garden," he said.

I followed him.

He sat on the wooden bench as soon as I pulled the gate shut. The bench was big enough for both of us so I sat down beside him, starting to massage the side of my forehead because my headache was starting to come back.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing," I said, "just a mild headache." I wanted to add that the headache stemmed from my wondering why he had been ignoring me since breakfast time.

"So, can you please tell me what it is that I did wrong that has made you act so coldly towards me," I asked, looking intently at Tee's face.

His eyebrows started to furrow and he seemed about to cry.

His chest heaved as he made a deep sigh before speaking.

"First of all," he said, "were you the one responsible for the red mark on my upper inner thigh?"

I felt my blood creeping up to my face. I knew I was going to stammer even before I opened my mouth.

"Well, let me... let me just... Tee, do you remember having a bad dream last night?" was what I initially managed to say.

He stopped to think.

"Ye..e...es," he said, trying to recall things.

"And do you remember what that dream was?" I asked again.

He started to blush.

"You don't have to tell me the details, but you were yelling in a voice loud enough to wake up everyone else in the room," I said. "You were yelling 'please suck out the venom, please, please, please! It's right here!' and you were pointing to your upper inner thigh. I had to do something quickly."

He thought for a while.

"Okay, I'm not gonna say that you took advantage of me, but what I want to to know is after what you did to me last night, why could you not do me the small favor that P'Kim and Godt were doing for Copter and Bas at the breakfast table?"

How was I going to explain things to him without hurting his feelings? How could I say that I was afraid of the others knowing that I was fighting a growing attraction to him? How would he react if he found out that I was fighting a growing attraction to him? A big fat rejection was what would be his most probable reaction.

Since I could not find the words to answer his question, he suddenly stood up and left me. I hung my head, fighting back my tears and rubbing the side of my forehead because my mild headache had turned into a pounding, throbbing one, much like a migraine.