Hayeon smiled as she saw Minhyuk arrive back at the cabin. He was covered in mud and she can bet it is all because of the little boys now hiding behind him under Hayeon's gaze. Two of them, the youngest among their group of four, were hiding behind Minhyuk's legs and chancing a peek at her, immediately retreating and clutching at Minhyuk tighter, like he can save them from getting questioned. Or scolded.

"Okay. Who will come out and start explaining to me what happened this time?"

Her question was met with silence. Even the two much older boys on each side were avoiding her eyes. "Don't make me cut your dessert and make you do laundry." she warned. Like magic, all the boys were talking over themselves trying to explain to her what happened. She can hear similar words like "Seojunnie" and "bees" and all other words mixed in.

She put her hands in front of herself to tell them to stop and thankfully they did. "Jihoon?" she called the oldest, calm but still very much strict. The boys need to know that they aren't going to be off the hook that easily. Washing all those mudied clothes will be hell. "Can you explain, please?"

The tall fourth grader told her everything, eyes darting to Minhyuk and the rest of the kids as he recalled what happened. It turns out that while they were on their morning activities, the twins found a beehive and went off the trail. Minhyuk and the two older boys realized late and had found the twins already trying to climb the tree.

"I managed to get Seoeon out of the way, but I missed a step when I tried to grab Seojun and landed on the mud." Minhyuk finished, putting a hand on his nape, a nervous habit, then promptly realized that there is still mud on him and immediately grimaced at the mess.

Hayeon released a heavy sigh and crouched down, levelling herself to the height of the twins. "Are you hurt?" she asked the both of them. The little boys gave a little shake of their head. She then looked at the older boys, asking the same question and both shook their heads as well.

"I'm not going to cut down on your desserts, but for you two," she pointed at the twins who were looking at her with puppy eyes, unfortuntely for them, she knows well enough how to handle the kids at camp. "I'm going to take away one marshmallow each from you during the campfire." It may not look like much of a punishment, but for two first graders, that's plenty. 

The sound of someone arriving snatched everyone's attention and Hayeon had to control herself from making a very audible groan. If Minhyuk's a mess, then Taekwoon is a total disaster. He has mud and dried leaves on his hair. Haru, the tallest and oldest of the group, kept collecting mud from her shirt and wiping it off on Taekwoon's clothes. The three other kids are laughing and are trying to shove their hands on each other's faces to swipe dirt on noses and cheeks.

She sighed once and gave a stern look at the new group. "That's it. You're all on laundry duty," she told them. 

The kids instantly snapped their attentions at her. "But Miss--"

"No buts. I will hear your reasons after those shirts are clean."

They looked like they wanted to reason out of the laundry duty now, not later like Hayeon had said. But one look at Taekwoon's guilty face and she knew they didn't really have a reason valid enough to wiggle out of the punishment.

Hayeon turned back to what she was doing but not before catching Taekwoon direct, what she knows firsthand as, his pleading puppy eyes at Minhyuk. He was obviously trying to gain a helper with laundry duty that would most definitely end up being his duty alone.

Minhyuk laughed a little. The rascal obviously understood what that look meant but he turned away and teasingly said, "Sorry, but I don't speak Taekwoon-language."

"Traitor!" she heard Taekwoon say and she couldn't help but smile. Her friends still act like total kids sometimes.

~*~

Her timer chimed just as she finished putting away all the bowls and utensils that were used for baking. As always, her sister had asked her to bake some sweets for the kids as a form of a goodbye present when the camp ends. There's still plenty of time before that, but she tries to make a few every now and then, asking the other staff to have a bite so they can give their opinions about it and then make the necessary changes before getting to making a large batch of it.

For this batch, she made cupcakes with raisins and nuts mixed with some bits of chocolate. It should be good enough and she can take this to the staff room once it cools down. But before that...

She took the cupcakes out of the tray and placed them neatly on a plate. The kids know well enough not to touch anything on the kitchen so she can just leave it there to cool down. She removed her apron and took the biggest piece. She hopes he isn't sulking so much about the laundry.

~*~

Taekwoon heard her before she even yelled out a "Boo!"

"Ah. I'm surprised," he responded monotonously, earning him a punch on the arm. "Can't blame me for hearing your monster feet." 

"Hey!" and slapped him this time. He expected the hits but they really never get old, as well as them teasing each other. It's just part of the routine now, a routine that never gets boring. "Now I regret going out of my way to bring you a cupcake." 

Taekwoon just looked at the sweet in her hand. She made no move to hand it to him but she was obviously holding it in a way that Taekwoon will definitely see.

He sighed once before turning his back. He opened the drier to take out the clothes that he did ended up washing alone. At least the kids helped with trying to get all the mud and dirt off, but Taekwoon shooed them away before they reach the end of their attention span, get truly distracted, and end up playing with soap and water this time.

"Thanks. I'll take a bite later," he said. He doesn't feel like eating anything sweet at the moment, not even a bite of Hayeon's cupcake.

She had been so quiet behind him that Taekwoon almost thought that she had left already, but then he turned around and she was still there, catching his eyes immediately.

He tried for a smile. It was awkward, he knows. But sometimes, it still gets to him how he's so transparent in front of Hayeon. No matter how much he knows this, his first reaction would always be to try and hide what it was he wasn't saying.

Taekwoon's shoulder slumped afterwards. He put down the basket of clothes on the floor before opening his arms. Hayeon was hugging him tightly in an instant and he let himself lean on her. He can feel her hand his back and it oddly reminded him of Hayeon consoling a camper just yesterday.

"I already told you, I'm not a kid, Yeon." He laughed, but it was hollow. He can't believe that a single hug from her can make him come apart at the seams. He had been able to function all morning and no one sensed anything was wrong. In fact, he had started to believe that he was okay.

Instead of replying, she just hugged him tighter. She smelled like her usual lavender shampoo, plus the sweet scent of the cupcakes. Honestly, he hates anything sweet when he's upset. The smell or the taste just doesn't sit well with him when he's feeling down. But Hayeon is a special exception. He doesn't know why, she just... calms him, along with the scent of chocolate and sugar that are almost a constant on her now.

She isn't asking and Taekwoon thinks he won't be able to tell her even if she asks. It just seemed like something he can't tell her right now, not until he talks it out with Eunji, that is, if they can properly talk without arguing for once.

They've argued this past month more than they have in their entire relationship. He knows it mostly has to do with them not actually seeing each other to properly resolve things out but it just piles up and it's starting to get to him. He misses her a lot but there's still one more month for the summer break to end and their fights aren't getting resolved.

They stayed like that for a while, long enough for Taekwoon to compose himself. When they parted, Taekwoon looked at her eyes and knew that she already knew what brought this moment of weakness. There were no words, but her eyes alone speak volumes.

"We'll be okay, Yeon. We'll be okay."

Taekwoon knew she was as unconvinced as he was but she touched his cheek and nodded, a silent support. He smiled his first genuine smile that day and touched his forehead to hers. "Thank you."

He saw the way Hayeon's eyes closed and stared at how her eyelashes seemed to kiss her cheeks. He watched her until they pull away from each other.

She took the plate with the cupcake on it, knowing full well that Taekwoon wouldn't touch it. After that, she stopped and Taekwoon wondered why she looked unsure.

"Uhm... Taek?"

Both her expression and question didn't make sense to him, until she motioned between them. He was still firmly holding her hand. He also realized, he didn't want to let go of her, couldn't. 

He took a deep breath, squeezed her hand one last time before slowly letting go.

"Sorry," he muttered afterwards.

"It's fine." There was a small smile on her lips and Taekwoon focused on that to distract himself from the urge to take her hand back. 

Even after she had left the laundry room and he was alone again, the urge stayed. Even while he was hanging the clothes to dry, the feeling of her hand in his stayed. He continued to focus on her little smiles so he wouldn't have to think about why the urge stayed even after he woke up the next morning.