Godt's POV

As we made our way back to the cottage, I could feel P'Tae's eyes on me but I could not look at him. I must have given him a shock from my revelation but I had to do something drastic to bring Bas back to the cottage.

I kept my grip on Bas' wrist throughout the walk while carrying his suitcase with my other hand. Somehow I felt that if I let go, he might run back to Kong's house and I was having none of that.

"Watch out for that hole," I warned P'Tae as we were nearing the hole that gave P'Kim a sprained ankle.

Darn, I forgot to tell P'Kul about it. I was too focused on my mission to bring Bas back to the cottage that I forgot all about telling him about it. Well, we all had to be mindful of it each time we had to walk this trail. It was an injury waiting to happen.

As we neared the cottage, Bas tried to take his suitcase from me.

"Let me carry it inside the cottage for you," I told him.

"No," he said, again trying to take his suitcase from me. "I'm thinking of clearing my head by staying by myself for a while. Maybe at least, just for tonight."

"Where are you going off to all by yourself?" I asked in alarm.

"Oh, please don't mention this to any outsiders from our group, but we have a mini cottage at the back of the vegetable garden," he said.

"Tee and I stumbled upon it yesterday evening," P'Tae said.

"How did you stumble upon it?" Bas asked him in surprise.

"I wanted to clear the air with Tee and he asked if we could talk by the vegetable garden for some privacy. When we sat by the wooden bench, I noticed that there was a gate that was almost being covered by the thick vines of the green beans.  So I pushed the gate open and when it yielded to my pressure, Tee and I went through it to see what was behind it. That was how we came upon the mini cottage." P'Tae explained to Bas.

"It's okay that you guys know about it," said Bas, "my request is that other people outside our group will not know about it."

"You can count on us to keep it to ourselves," P'Tae assured Bas.

Bas turned to me.

"I promise to keep it a secret even if I haven't seen it," I said to him solemnly.

"I guess I will have to tell P'Kim and P'Cop about it," said Bas, "they will want to know where I'm spending the night tonight, and part of today."

"Are you planning to go there now, or do you want to wait until after lunch?" asked P'Tae.

Before Bas could answer, Copter and Tee came running out, while P'Kim tried to hop as fast as he could towards us.

"Bas! Where have you been???" asked all three at the same time. 

"And why do you have your suitcase with you?" P'Kim asked with a worried look.

Bas smiled sheepishly.

"I was thinking of spending a few days at P'Kul's," he replied.

"Tell them the whole truth, Bas," I urged him.

He turned red.

"No!" he protested, "I'm not saying anything more than that!"

P'Kim and the others shook their heads.

"So many secrets, so many lies," Copter started to sing.

From what song did I hear that? Was it even from any song?