"Break?" Frypan suggested Jorge after walking for quite a while. It was still dark, after all. We had to get to the city we planned on going to before.

"Only because you need your baby naps." Jorge mimicked while he lay down himself.

"Seems like you need it more than us, old man," Minho muttered. I smiled and closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon, but didn't.

"Can we make a fire?" I suggested, but no one replied. All asleep, I thought. Great.

I sighed and lay back down, trying badly to get comfortable by using my bag as a pillow and jacket as a blanket, but nights in the Scorch were so cold!

A groan escaped from Minho's mouth. "Everything alright?"

"Yep." I swallowed. "Just a little cold."

"Yeah, well, I can't control the weather." Minho turned his head to me from a few feet away.

I scoffed and took some more tries to drift off, but I just couldn't.
"Get over here, Lee." Minho then ordered.

My full attention was drawn to him now. "What?"

Minho patted on the empty spot next to him. "Here."

Hesitantly and almost embarrassed, I moved over to him, lying there uncomfortably, staring at the sky with wide eyes.

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" I blurted out.

"What?"

"The stars." I motioned at the beautiful sight of dozens of stars in the dark blue sky. "They're beautiful."

Minho mumbled something I didn't understand, so also didn't ask about it.
As I watched the sky, my hands were freezing. All the nights had been cold, but this one felt even colder for sure.

Out of a sudden, both of Minho's large hands wrapped around my cold one. His body temperature was surprisingly warm compared to mine.

I almost forgot how to think straight when he did that, so then I realized it. I was definitely in love with Minho. Shit.

"What was the Glade really like?" I soon questioned, hoping to break the tension between us.

"I spent most of my time locked up there in the maze, so it's hard." Minho bit his lip. "I wasn't there during the day, but I think it was pretty calm in the Glade."

I smiled. "I mean what it was like for you, not the others."

"Oh." Minho laughed quietly. "Well, I didn't find the maze that scary." He started, I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, it was pretty scary." He admitted. "But after all those months of running, it became a habit."

"The running or how you felt about the maze?"

"Both," Minho confirmed. "I still run and I think all the Gladers were frightened of the maze while I wasn't."

I nodded. "Did the Grievers ever hurt you?"

"No. I'm too strong for that." One corner of his mouth went up, forming the familiar crooked smile.

"Mhm." I chuckled. "But you did see them, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Minho replied. "We fought them in the end. One of them jumped on top of me."

My face fell. "How the hell did you survive that?"

Minho turned his head to the sky again. "A friend sacrificed himself."

Only that broke me but also made me realize how close and loyal the Gladers were to each other. I never really experienced that. "I'm sorry about that," I whispered.

"It's fine." Minho forced his face cheerful again.

I swallowed. "If you don't mind me asking..."

"Ask all you want," Minho interrupted before I could even continue.

"Right." I agreed. "Did you lose many.. actually friends? Like real good ones?"

"Yeah, a few." Minho's face broke again, making me feel guilty immediately. "The first one was probably my best friend, excluding Newt and some others then."

My face lit up for a second when he mentioned Newt was his best friend, but when he started explaining, I listened attentively, yet sad.

"Thomas just came up in the Box. You know? He just remembered his name. I didn't talk to him yet." Minho explained. "Second day, he was already causing trouble. I don't know the exact story, but Newt mentioned something about getting fertilizer in the woods. When he came back... Ben, my best friend and also coworker, ran after him, screaming and trying to kill Thomas."

"Wow." I sighed. "And then?"

"We found out he was stung," Minho muttered. "That's when-."

"I know what getting stung is." I quickly said, not wanting to hear that terrible thing.

"You better tell me what you don't know then. I feel like you know everything already." Minho responded.

"Just go on." I gave him a small push on the shoulder with my free hand.

"If someone was stung, they were dangerous. So what we did.. it was awful, by the way. I hope you don't klunk your pants." He paused, eyes sparking for a few seconds. "We banished them. The Doors would close, and we would push the stung one in there. Grievers got them.. done."

Full of pity I looked at Minho. "That's awful."

"It's how we survived." Minho corrected. "There was our leader too. I knew him since the moment I got into the Glade. But he got taken during a Griever attack."

"Oh." Was the only thing I could get out, my voice breaking.

"And lastly.. a kid." Minho's tone changed into complete sadness now.

"Weren't you all kids?" I whispered because otherwise the others would wake up and I felt like crying already.

"Didn't feel like we were," Minho replied. "Plus, he was twelve.. thirteen maybe. I don't think we're thirteen."

My stomach dropped. A kid in the maze.. how awful could WICKED be?

"He could be very annoying, in my opinion. Talked my head off." Minho continued, smiling a bit. "Hyperactive and enthusiastic for sure. He loved to play pranks on others."

"Sounds like a pretty nice kid."

"Oh, trust me, he was. I swear he could light up the whole Glade. Felt like a brother, actually." Minho paused. "Then he got shot."

I could almost feel my heart break. "He didn't survive, did he?"

Minho shook his head. "He didn't."

I bit my lip, trying to keep the tears in my eyes, but later couldn't help to drop one. "What was his name?"

"Chuck." Minho smiled. "But.. you warmed up by now?"

I looked down at my hand, which was still connected with Minho's. "Only my hand."

He scoffed. "I see what you're doing here."

"What am I doing then?" I asked seductively, my mood changing fast.

"You're saying that my hand warms up your hand, but the rest of your body is still cold," Minho confirmed.

"I did certainly not mean that," I replied honestly.

"Which also means I'm very hot, you know? 'Cause my body is warm." Minho smirked and I sighed.

"Now you're annoying me again." I let out a laugh and turned my back to him.

"Again? I never annoyed you, Lee." He said sternly. "But you're shaking from cold."

"I am not."

Minho suddenly wrapped his arms around me. "Indeed. Now you're not."

My heart pounded in my chest, hands getting sweaty. I definitely fell hard for him even the second day I met him, but only realized that now. And he was right. His body was warm and he was hot, to be honest.

Minho's breathing hit my neck. "Better?"

I cleared my throat, but my voice cracked anyways. "Uhh.. yeah, fine."

I could literally feel him smirk again. "Nervous?"

"Are you gonna keep asking questions that contain just one word?" I exhaled deeply.

"Are you gonna keep stammering in your answer?" He answered.

"Are you gonna shut your mouth?" I snapped.

"Are you gonna make me?"

Almost I kicked Minho off me, pissed by his comments, but I enjoyed his company too much. So instead, I moved my arm the right way for my elbow to hit his nose.

"Now you will shut up."

Minho groaned and put a hand on his nose. "That was not how I imagined it."

"Well, I don't know how you imagined it, and I don't want to know." I replied. "Night."

"Good night." He murmured.