It started with a single droplet, then followed by a few more before their rhythm became steady and soon it was pouring rain over the island. The winds were strong that night, carrying the raindrops everywhere, including into the K2’s tent. Seulgi and Byul, who were sleeping right next to the tent’s two entrances, sat up immediately as the entrance of their tent was starting to be drench by the rain and scooted closer to Seungwan and Yongsun who were next to them, respectively. The others soon stirred from the movement and everybody huddled together towards the middle of the tent to stay dry.

“Why does the rain look super heavy out here?” Hyejin asked sleepily.

“Probably because we’re outdoors without a solid shelter..” Yongsun reasoned.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon..” Byul trailed off and yawned. “What time is it now?”

Seulgi stretched her arm and gave it a shake to adjust the position of her watch. “It’s a little after three,” she relayed and her friends grumbled about being too sleepy to paddle all the way back to base camp in a few hours.

Joy suddenly snorted and patted Seulgi’s shoulder to get her attention. “Hey, guys..remember that one time were caught in the rain after school?

The three of them, Seungwan, Yerim and Seulgi, chuckled among themselves while their new friends stared at them blankly except Irene who was smiling faintly at them.

“What happened?” Wheein asked curiously.

“This dummy over here,” Joy pointed at Seungwan but a bright flash of lightning silenced the girls. Yongsun suddenly pointed towards the entrance on Seulgi’s end and the rest quickly turned towards it. There was a dimly lit face hovering by the entrance and it slowly broke into a creepy, Cheshire grin. The girls screamed, just as thunder roared in the skies. The unknown being cackled maniacally and Seulgi quickly moved to shield her friends from whatever it was.

“Man, I wished I had a camera with me!!” It turned out to be Yoona who came to check up on how they were doing in the storm. “You should’ve seen your faces!”

“YOONAAAAAA!!!!!” The girls screamed in frustration only to find their CA laughing even harder.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Taeyeon sent me over to make sure everything is okay.” Yoona paused and took a look at them. “You guys seem okay.”

“We were okay.” Yerim rolled her eyes and continued, “But now I think half of us is going to have a heart attack soon”

“Aaw I’m flattered. Thank you, Yerim.” Yoona paused again as lightning and thunder continued outside. “The rain looks like it’s going to stop soon so try to get some sleep, alright guys?” Yoona stretched her hand to pat Seulgi’s head and went back to her hammock.

The K2 members grumbled at their prankster CA as they waited for the rain to stop.

“Seulgi?” Byul asked all of a sudden. “What’s solo camp like?”

“Solo camp huh?” Seulgi thought for a while on how to explain it to her friends without making it sound too intense. It really wasn't the case at all. They just had to be alone at their own individual tents for almost a full day and that was it. It was the most relaxing part of the whole two-week camp.

“Is it scary?” Irene asked in the tiniest voice and Seulgi had to stop herself from making a weird sound because Irene was being adorable again. Yerim saw Seulgi’s split second face journey and shook her head.

“No, it’s actually really nice to have some down time to yourself after two weeks of activities. I usually just nap as much as possible during solo camp.”

“What do we do for food? Do we have to for foraging?”

“They’ll prepare a ration bag for us usually. Nothing fancy. A few packs of biscuits, an apple maybe and a packet of instant noodles for dinner. We’ll also get some matches and a candle to start a fire for the noodles. We’re each going to bring along a gallon bottle, too.” Seulgi beamed as she finished explaining the basics of solo camp and looked at her friends who were blinking blankly at her. “I-is there something on my face?”

They made a fuss about having to start a fire from scratch before they heard a voice from the neighbouring tent. “Can it, K2! Some of us are trying to sleep here!” It was Krystal. Yongsun quickly shushed them and they chuckled quietly among themselves.

They managed to fall asleep at one point because Yoona found them still huddled together when she went to wake them up for breakfast. It was an endearing sight, her members were sleeping as they sat leaning on one another like a well stacked domino pile. She didn’t have the heart to give them another heart attack after last night and chose to give Byul’s shoulder a shake. Once Yoona was sure that the girl was up and would wake the rest, she went off to help Taeyeon.

***

The journey back from the island to base camp was easier even though everyone was ready to collapse on their bed at any moment. Even the ever cheerful and energetic Seulgi was struggling to keep her eyes open that morning as she sluggishly paddled her way back with Irene, who wasn’t fairing any better herself. The storm had kept most of them awake for whole night and its effect was starting to show.

Seulgi took a look around and saw that their friends were in almost the same situation as she was. They were making slow progress in their journey because everybody was exhausted from the lack of sleep and the sun was dancing mercilessly in the sky. That was, until Taeyeon suddenly cheered really loudly without warning.

“Come on, guys! Lunch is waiting for us! The mess hall is right there!!” She tried to motivate them. “It’s so close, we’re almost there. Don’t slow down now!”

Everyone seemed to be slightly more motivated at the mention of food and started paddling with more purpose. With one last push, they finally reached shore.

The girls quickly set to work despite their exhaustion to clean and put away their things. Kayaks and paddles needed to be rinsed and cleaned with fresh water, so did their tent sheets. The tent sheets were covered in dirt and mud courtesy of the rain the night before and needed to be cleaned before being used again for solo camp.

After they put away the last of their things, the K2 practically got up and ran to the mess hall and quickly got ready to eat. They moved like clockwork in setting the table and distributing their food and for once, were perfectly still as they waited for Taeyeon to announce their moment of silence.

“I’ve never seen them eat so well before.”

“The wonders of the water expedition, Yoong.” Taeyeon motioned for Yoona to follow her as she left the K2 alone to their lunch. “Let’s go, I’m hungry too.”

Taeyeon graciously gave them a couple of hours off that afternoon, telling them to gather at the boathouse again later around 4pm for their last water activity. The girls quickly thanked their instructor and raced up the steps to their dorm, each eager to wash away the salty sea water and sand that clung to their body and to rest afterwards.

Seulgi showered in record time and flopped onto her bed with a contented sigh. The bed was a welcome change after lying on the cold, hard ground for the last two nights. Making herself comfortable, she quickly set an alarm on her watch and fell asleep almost instantly, completely ignoring whatever that was happening around her. The sounds of movement eventually disappeared and the K2 dorm fell silent as its occupant got their well deserved nap.

It wasn’t long before Seulgi felt herself being shaken violently and woke up squinting to see whoever it was. It was Joy and Yerim. Seulgi rolled her eyes and went back to sleep, but not before Joy pulled her up into a sitting position.

“What do you satans want?” Seulgi hissed, annoyed that her nap was interrupted and checked her watch because she was very sure that her alarm had not gone off yet. She was right. “We still have, like an hour before we need to be down by the boathouse.”

“That’s true but Irene went out for a walk.”

“Huh?” Seulgi leaned over to look at the bottom bunk and found it to be empty. “So? What are you two thinking about?”

“Here.” Joy placed a camera into Seulgi’s hands. “Go take a walk with her and take pictures or something. You haven’t taken out your camera yet and camp is ending after solo camp. Am I right? Go take pictures of her. She won’t mind, don’t worry.”

“Did you guys ransack my bag? And what makes you so sure she won’t?”

“Duh..because she likes you. And you like her, too.” Seulgi was about to protest but Yerim was not having any of it. “Zip it and just go. You can thank us later. Seungwan is out there keeping an eye on Irene’s whereabouts. Go ask her.”

“Alright, alright. Pushy satans.” Seulgi grumbled and got out of bed. She might have sounded annoyed but in all honesty, she was pretty excited about it. Photography was something she’s like to explore more and Seulgi had been wanting to photograph her favourite camp for a while now but hadn’t gotten the chance to. Besides, taking pictures of Irene didn’t sound like a bad idea since they might probably never meet again after camp concluded. From what she knew, Irene lived all the way across the country.

“She’s somewhere under the trees by the beach.”

“Got it. Thanks, Seungwan.” Seulgi quickly put on her shoes and took off. The rest of the K2 went out to the balcony to watch as soon as Seulgi left.

***

Seulgi made her way down the steps and headed towards the beach. It was quiet that afternoon, as though everybody at camp had the afternoon off and were napping. It was not unusual but somewhat a rare sight for a camp in the middle of summer as there would be a few watches going about their activities around camp most of the time. She shrugged and took some shots of the empty campgrounds before continuing her search for Irene.

Seulgi found Irene sitting idly on the trunk of a fallen coconut tree, exactly where Seungwan had pointed to her earlier. Irene was playing a game by herself - throwing pebbles into a circle that she seemed to have drawn not too far away. The girl was pouting because the pebbles kept bouncing out of the circle everytime she tossed them. Seulgi brought her camera up to take a few photos and the shutter sounds startled Irene. Irene jumped and turned around quickly, her arm poised in the air to launch some pebbles at at the intruder. She rolled her eyes when she saw who it was.

“Stop doing that.”

“Sorry, it’s becoming a habit.” She smiled apologetically and Irene patted the spot next to her. Seulgi plopped herself onto the fallen tree trunk and watched Irene toss some more pebbles into the circle. “What are you going to do after camp ends?” She asked and Irene stopped for a bit to think.

“My family moves around a lot because of my dad’s work. We’re going to be moving again a few weeks after camp ends. We’re moving somewhere near my relatives’ place and I’ll be going to school with my cousin! I’m really excited about that.” Irene smiled brightly as she finished.

“Can I take your picture?” Seulgi blurted as Irene finished her sentence.

Irene, who was about to toss another pebble, stopped and stared blankly at Seulgi before shyly nodding. Seulgi mentally patted herself on the back before taking a few shots and asked if they could move spots. She swore she heard faint sounds of cheering when they got up to walk around campgrounds. Seulgi looked towards the direction of their dorm and was pretty sure she saw movements at their balcony.

Unbeknownst to her, her friends had quickly ducked behind the railing when they spotted Seulgi’s movements.

“D’you think we’re busted?” Hyejin asked.

“I think we’re good. Hang on, I’m going to see if the coast is clear.” Seungwan volunteered.

Slowly, she took a peek and announced that the coast was clear. All of them got back up and looked for the couple.

“Where did they go?!”

“I see them!”

“Aaaw man, the trees are blocking the view!”

“That’s because you’re short, Wheein. I can see just fine.”

“Shut it, Byul.”

***

“Why do you keep looking at our dorm, Seulgi?” Irene asked when she realised that Seulgi’s eyes kept shifting towards the hill.

“Nothing..just keeping an eye on some pesky satans.” She rolled her eyes and brought the camera up, ready for another shot. “Smile!”

***