"I'm sorry."

"Are you now?"

Minho nods, his cheeks red from shame, and eyes wide with guilt. "I really am."

"For what, exactly? Waking everyone up in the middle of the night, humiliating Zart, being rude to Newt, being egoistic?"

He somewhat flinches at the last word. "For everything," he peeps.

"You're a bad friend," I repeat. "I made the wrong choice to be your friend. You're not nice at all. I no longer want to be your friend."

His eyes wide even more. "But... our deal!" He stammers. "And our nicknames— Hei Hei and Pua. I don't mind being the chicken after all, even though he's dumb and ugly—"

"Bye-Hei," I draw out again. I'm as proud of it as 'Hi, Hei'. "You wanted to be rivals so badly. Now we can be rivals."

It does hurt. A little bit. Just a small pang in my chest every time his face falls and falls, until it looks like he's about to burst out in tears.

I did really want to be his friend, but back then, I thought he was nice. Sort of, at least. Now he's just a stupid bully who wants all the attention on him. I don't want friends like that.

He's at a loss of words. He's stammering and trying to make sense out of things and trying to ask me to stay.

"It's only my fourth day here," I add. "Not like we had the best bond anyway."

He was the only one I had a bond with, though.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I didn't want to make you angry. Yeah— why are you so angry? It was funny."

"Oh, we also don't have the same humor, apparently. Another reason why we might not be the best match."

He shrinks. "I'll be nicer."

"No," I say, offended. "Don't change your personality for me."

"It's not my personali— well, maybe a little bit, but I don't always have the urge to pull down everyone's pants. I just wanted to... cheer Newt up and... impress... you," he says slowly, high-pitched.

My eyebrows furrow.

He scratches the back of his head.

"Impress me by showing Zart's undergarments?"

"...sort of."

"But they were boring, and I don't like Zart. I didn't even know of his existence, actually. I wasn't impressed by his undergarments and... bottom."

Now he frowns.

"Like, in the end, it might've been a nice gesture, but Zart and I—"

"No, no," he interrupts. "I didn't do it so Zart could impress you."

"But you said—"

"I mean, eh, I wanted to be funny." His hand is at the back of his head again, as he bounces from his heels to toes. "To impress you."

"Ohh— wait what?"

Minho stares at the ground.

"How would that impress me?"

"If you'd find it funny, you know..." he murmurs. "Okay, whatever. Can you please just forgive me? I'll try harder."

"And what if you don't?"

"I will."

"Yeah, but what if you don't?"

"I will."

"But what if—"

"I will."

"But," I say sharply, "what if you don't—"

"I promise I will!"

With a final sigh, I shrug. "Whatever you say. Onto the next... controversial thing: why do you feel the need to impress me? And others, actually? Wait— sit down first."

Minho hurriedly finds his place beside me, against another tree. I offer him a bite of the granola bar I found somewhere. He shakes his head.

"Okay, answer my question. Why do you want to impress others so badly?"

"To fit in?"

"You're a boy, you kind of stink, and you match clothes with them. Trust me, you fit in. The things you're doing make you stand out."

"You get my point." He rolls his eyes.

"I don't think so."

A loud exhale leaves his mouth. "Uhm... well, I don't know how to explain it. Don't you want people to like you?"

"I don't have to try my best for that."

"Was that meant like... confidently and... nonchalantly, or just... I don't know."

"Just... I don't know," I reply, nodding. "I won't have to be a fake person, you see? The ones that like me will show up, the ones that don't can kiss my ass."

"Makes sense, I guess."

I nod another time. "Exactly. Next question: we were already friends. There was no need for you to impress me."

"That's not a question."

"My question is obvious."

Minho looks away, at some kids in the distance. Twilight has fallen a few minutes ago. Sadly, there are no stars to be seen, nor a moon. I'd love to see the moon, even if it was just for once. Or the sea. Or the stars. Clouds. More nature. I want to see it all.

"Because... you're the only girl," he starts slowly.

"What's that supposed to mean? You want to claim me?"

"Not really—"

"Not really?" I nearly jump up.

"Look, look!" He defends, hands in the air. "I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to be... the only guy you find funny," his voice gets less audible by each word.

I squint my eyes. "Hm."

"Which is very shameful," he continues, "but true. And I now know that pulling someone's pants down will not make you like me any better."

"I'm very glad you caught up with that, Hei Hei."

His face lights up.

"But don't do it again."

"I won't."

We're silent for a few minutes. I don't know what he's doing or looking at because personally, I'm looking at the sky again.

"Wouldn't it be nice to see stars?" I ask. "Have you ever seen stars here?"

"Nope. It's always an empty, dark pit. And during the day, it's always bright because of the sun, but no clouds or birds or anything. Not even rain."

I look down at the grass. "How does the grass stay alive?"

Even though I'm not looking at him, I can hear the grin on his face as he speaks, "Sooner or later, you'll see."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll see. I won't spoil it."

A short sigh. "Alright." And then my eyes are back on the sky. "How come there are no stars?"

"I wouldn't know, Pua."

"It would be nice. Aren't the deceased ones stars?"

"Eh. It's whatever you believe in, I guess," he says, hesitant.

"I'd believe in that if there had been a single star in the sky right now, for George." I lower my head to the ground. "Too bad."

Another short silence before Minho talks.

"I can beat you up?"

"What?"

"That would make you see stars," he says innocently.

For a moment, I'm too stunned to speak. And then I'm chuckling out loud, my smile so bright it hurts my cheekbones. "That was a good one. But don't do it, please."

"Noted."

"You can find a way out of the Maze," I begin. "You'll lead us out of here. Then we'll be able to see stars, somewhere out there, don't you think?"

"I hope so. I just... I'm not sure how long it's going to take for me to find the way out."

Wow. He is not acting all confident about it. I have to take my time to dig deep, now that he's slowly opening up, without the ego.

"The maze is enormous," he says. "The walls move at night, you know? I have figured out there's some kind of pattern, but it will take multiple weeks for me to note it all down. I have already ran two whole sections the past three months, and have found nothing. There are eight sections in total, according to the other Runners."

"How do you recognize a section?"

Of course I'm interested.

Definitely not in running in there myself, but it's still intriguing to talk about these things. 

"A big number that's printed on the wall. We have inner and outer sections."

"How does your daily routine look in the Maze? No, wait... in the Glade," I correct. "Tell me your whole day routine."

"Eh, I wake up at a quarter past five," he explains. "I get dressed, eat breakfast, stretch, take the bag Fry makes me every morning, and then wait for the Doors to open along with the other Runners."

"Wow, Fry makes you a bag? What does it include?"

"A lunch box, two daggers, water bottle, compass, and a plastic wristwatch." Minho pulls some grass out of the ground and rubs the strands between his fingers. "We run in partners, because that's the safest, especially after the thing with George. Our main goal right now is finding out what those mechanical sounds were and what it did to George."

I nod. "Okay. And then?"

"Eventually, we stop in a safe place—not a dead end, in case something runs towards us and we have nowhere to go—and eat our lunch. Drink some water. Catch our breaths. Then we continue running. Depending on our distance, we leave a certain time before six, because that's when the Doors close again."

"How do you find your way back?"

"We use one of our daggers to cut the ivy off the walls. It's like Hansel and Gretel." A small smile forms on his face at the thought. "Then I immediately go to the Map Room, note everything down, and go for dinner. After that, I chill around a bit, and eventually go to bed."

"Map Room?"

"You're actually not supposed to know about that, but alright. It's located deeper in the woods. We keep our important papers there."

"Do you have, like, a 3D Model of the Maze in there, too? Are you at least building it?"

"No. The Maze changes. It wouldn't make sense."

"You could make the 3D walls move in the exact same way."

"Possible, but it would take hours of work. The Maze changes at night, section per section. We're not one hundred percent sure which wall moves where."

"Can't you watch them change at night?"

He turns to me, eyebrows lightly scrunched, eyes questioning. "That's a decent idea... but wouldn't we get crushed?"

"Not if the walls move at the same pace the Doors do. They move quite slowly."

"True." He leans his head back against the tree. "It's not a bad idea."

"And you will mostly need to study the walls, not run past them. I'd almost say it's safer. Less intense. Just watch, note some things down, and then go back in the morning," I murmur.

"Unless that mechanical thing shows up."

"True..." I sigh.

"But hey, it has only showed up once in three months," he adds.

"You have a point."

Our eyes meet. His then jump to the Doors, and back at me. "We should do it. Inspect the moving walls. Make that 3D Model."

I nod in agreement. "I could help. Winston and I have a maximum amount of work to do everyday. Basically one or two animals a day—"

"I don't need to know the details."

I snicker. "Yeah, yeah. Just saying we are only really working for like... three hours. I have all the time to build that model. Can I do that? Please?"

"You don't even have to ask," he scoffs. "It will only be extra help. Amazing."

"Let's do it, then." I straighten my back. "When?"

"Tomorrow," he decides. After a quick look around, he leans closer. "Don't tell anyone just yet. Some Runners won't last a whole night of just sitting and watching walls move. Some will talk too much and take our concentration away as well. And we don't want Nick to know about this either. Maybe he won't allow us to go."

My heart speeds up at the thought of doing something in secret, with just the two of us. Something that no one else will take part in and a success that we will make on our own. "Got it."

"Alright, Pua." He moves back to his tree. "That's a good idea. Sooner or later, we'll see the stars."