I dialled my sister’s number—I memorized it by heart now already because when I was younger—back when I still don’t have a phone or access to the internet, I’d go over to Minju’s place and borrow her phone to contact unnie. Minju knows and I’m glad that she kept it a secret between our families. I smiled at the thuoght of her when I heard the phone ring, signalling that it’s connecting me to the other line.

Few seconds later I heard my sister. I wanted to cry. I miss her so much.

“Hello?”

“Unnie..” I started, “This is Minjeong.”

I heard her gasp. “Oh my god! Minjeong, which church camp are you in? Tiffany and I will be coming over to pick you up! this is just too much!”  she was rambling and I couldn’t help but chuckle. She must be really worried.

“Unnie,” I drawled. “I’m fine. It’s okay.” I shook my head at the thought of my sister when I heard that she was talking to someone—must be Tifanny-unnie. I’ve talked to her a couple of times. She’s a sweet one, she has this very beautiful eye smile that make her eyes disappear. She sends me money sometimes in secret— not that she’s coaxing me but she thought that it’s good for me to have some extra money to buy things that I want since I’m at that age where I’m curious about a lot of stuff.

I really appreciate and love Tiffany-unnie for my sister.

“No, this is not okay, Minjeong. Where are you?” unnie’s voice is stern now. I gulped. “Unnie. I’m fine. I made friends here. No worries. I can’t runaway—I saw umma and appa.. they’re devastated, unnie. I can’t disappoint them… just—just let me be with this one. Trust me, okay?” I assured her as I spoke softly.

There was a pause before she spoke again. “Alright. I trust you. But if things get out of hand over there, call me. At least tell me where you are or which church camp you’re in. Put me at ease with this one, Minjeong. Your Tiffany-unnie and I are really worried.”

I nodded my head, completely understanding my sister’s sentiment. “I’m at uncle Siwon’s church camp. You know where this one is, right?”

“,” I heard her curse, “They’re terrible to bring you there. Minjeong, are you really sure that you’re okay?”

I wanted to tell her about the punishments uncle Siwon gives but I don’t want to worry her and disappoint my parents further by running away. By the tone she’s speaking right now, my sister probably knows something about this church camp. With that in mind, I decided to just tell her that I’m fine.

“Yes, unnie. I just called to tell you how I’m doing. I know that you’re worried.”

I hear her sigh again. “Of course, I am. If you need anything just call me, alright? Where did you get a phone by the way? Are you guys smuggling contrabands there?!”

We talked a bit more and as promised, the call didn’t take 5 minutes. I’m glad that unnie calmed down when I told her that Rosé is with me.

Speaking of my roommate and childhood friend-- “Hey,” I called Rosé who was in her bed reading The Bible. “Your turn,” I winked at her. She immediately sat up and went outside to make her call. I saw Jeongyeon step out of the bathroom with a satisfied look on her face.

“Great, the bathroom smells like a worn out bar powder room.” Ningning complained. Jeongyeon made a face- “Sorry, I’ll smoke in the woods next time.” She rubbed her nape. Ning just shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay. I’ll just take a bath over at Giselle’s—the smoke is not probably gonna clear out sometime soon.” She took her toiletries, towel and exited the cabin.

I actually dread the day to see Ningning get mad at something. She has this vibe that never gets angry—she forgive people so easily and I see that as a pro and con when it comes to her. It’s scary sometimes. What if she just snaps one day? I shivered at the thought as I remained standing in the middle of our cabin.

“Yo,” Jeongyeon stopped a meter in front of me, waving her hand. “You okay? You’re deep in thought.”

I shook my head, “I’m fine. I’m just glad that I talked to my sister.” I started to walk towards my table and sat on my seat. She followed behind, she then leaned on my desk. Still wearing her signature boyish grin, I raised an eyebrow at her.

“What?”

“So—Karina, huh?” she smirked at me, waggling both of her eyebrows. I feel my face heat up at what she said. Was I really that obvious?!  “What are you talking about?” feigning ignorance, I asked her.

“Bro, it’s so obvious. But don’t worry—it’s just probably me who sees it.” she shrugged, “Didn’t know that you go for her type though,”

I blinked. “Her type?” I tilted my head. She planted her hands on my table now, gripping the edge. “Strait-laced, uptight, catholic girl. Her dad is a televangelist, d’you know that?”

“Televangelist?” I gulped. Ah .

“Yeah, Yoo Hyunsik. The one that is famous for his miraculous mass every year?”

Oh, she’s the daughter of a big-shot. Yoo Hyunsik is a well-known televangelist and philantrophist; he’s known for his charity drives that helps spreading christianity in rural areas—he built churches, schools, and hospitals in The Lord’s name and of course what Jeongyon mentioned- people call it the miraculous mass since anyone who attended the said mass gets healed of any sickness or have their problems solved. The mass is only for 50 people so it's basically The Met Gala for the devout followers of God. I sighed deeply at the thought. To all the people that I could have a crush on—why is it with someone who is clearly out of my league? I mean, I don’t really intend to date her but thinking that I might have a chance excites me.

“That Yoo Hyunsik,” Jeongyeon bobbed her head, grinning at me. “You go for the difficult ones.” She pointed out, I shook my head. “It’s just a crush, Jeong. I don’t intend on pursuing her.” I look at her, “Plus, we’re at church camp—relationships that we want doesn’t happen here.” I said her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jeongyeon grinned. “Karina used to be—umm, wild?” her eyes landed on the ceiling, as if she was deep in thought. “She used to be this boyish kid—uhh, I guess you can call her one of the boys back then?”

“One-one of the boys?” I repeated. It doesn’t seem likely. Seeing the Karina that I know today—she’s the complete opposite of a tomboy- she’s prim and proper, like a royalty. I can’t imagine Karina being all boyish and stuff like that.

“She’s my cousin,” she paused to smile at me. I raised both of my eyebrows at what I heard. “So basically we grew up together but we’re in different groups—since we’re not the close. Quite the contrary, I was really girly back then and she was this boyish girl that hangs around with the guys a lot. So it was a complete shock to me one summer where she changed completely—like what she is now.” she pouted, the look of disappointment on her face is evident, “That was also the time where I transitioned as your resident troublemaker.” She chuckled. I leaned on my chair, processing everything that I’ve heard.

“What do you think happened?” I asked her. Jeongyeon took a step forward, still looking at me. “That summer was her first time here in church camp.”

“Oh.” Was all that I could say.

Jeongyeon still wore that impish grin as she spoke. “Yo, don’t worry kid, as her least favorite cousin—you have my blessing to date her.” she chuckled, “If you c