It’s been ages since Sung gyu and Sung Jae last went out of the city. It was sometime in the summer a few years back. Sung Jae was six and Sung gyu was still getting used to being a single parent, and the two spent three days in Jeju Island with Sung Jae’s grandparents, spending the holiday under the sun. Sung Jae couldn’t remember much though, bearing in mind that he was still pretty young at that time; but he remembers crystal clear the sound of the waves and the fresh exciting moment, that indescribable sensation when the waves linger about your feet as the air scented of salt and sheer happiness breezed away, holding hands with his father and then falling into the water, drowning in their laughter. He remembered the smile on his father’s face that day, and how he said how much he loved him. When Sung Jae missed his father too much, when he missed spending time with him, Sung Jae would always recall this pleasant memory which was engraved in his heart. He would give anything to have a day like that again, to go out of town, to have his feet sinking into the moist sand and breathe the salty air. In fact, wherever they went didn’t even really matter. Be it the high mountains, green fields or stormy seas; as long as he had his father, as long as they could spend time together. It was all that he wished for.

So on one fine Friday in that cold early spring, Sung Jae was in his homeroom class, listening eagerly and excitedly as his homeroom teacher enthralled them on the most exciting news he had ever heard.

They were going to go on a field trip.

Not just any field trip; it was going to be a camping trip, of two days, together with their classmates and their parents.

“The school board had noticed how much the students have become distant from their parents, and how little of a bond that the parents of this school share” The homeroom teacher explained as though the students understood two pennies of it. “Therefore, for this initiative we hope all parents would attend, without exceptions, and spend more time with their children and build the connection with the fellow parents.” She finished on that note and clasped her stubby hands together. “Somebody please distribute these papers”

Mirae, the class president and also the most popular student of the batch (The word was that her mother was a member of the school’s board of trustees) stood up and distributed the papers, which the students eagerly took with a squeak of excitement. The teacher, meanwhile, continued with her explanation. “Each student must be accompanied by either one parent or both parents during the camping trip. The parents are expected to come to the school for a special parent and teacher meeting tomorrow, as mentioned on the paper you just received. If anyone is unable to attend, the parent may contact the homeroom teacher” Then she scanned the faces of the class with attentive eyes. “Any questions?”

Nobody raised their hands or nod their heads. All were too excited to even respond to the teacher, eager to go home and inform their parents about the exciting news. Sung Jae was practically hopping out of his seat, waiting for the bell to ring, and just as it did, he almost fell off the chair.

“Class dismissed” The teacher said. Mirae stood up and exclaimed “Class, bow”, the students bowed obediently; and after the teacher left the class, everyone began to file out of the room.

“Are you going to the camping trip with your Appa?” Min Jung, Sung Jae’s friend asked as they made their way towards the lockers. “I’m not sure if my parents will come”

“I think my Appa will come” Sung Jae replied, smiling fondly. “I really hope your parents will come too”

*

Eunji was standing outside the school, huddled in her heavy coats in the freezing weather, glancing at her watch now and then; waiting for the bell to ring. To be precise, she awaited the bell not because she was in a hurry to take Sung Jae home or anything. It was, in fact, to snatch Sung Jae off school to head home, to protect him from his mother who was standing by the doorway as if she was waiting for her prey. Eunji didn’t like Yoora at all, and she didn’t like the fact that someone like her was little Sung Jae’s biological mother. She could easily recall how Sung Jae thought of his own mother, how he thought that he didn’t need to care for someone who left him, and Eunji really wished that Yoora remained to be missing without coming back to the son she left. She left the boy as a baby anyway, she didn’t need him anymore. Why on earth did she want to come back for him? The whole ordeal seemed suspicious in Eunji’s eyes, like she had ulterior motives rather than merely meeting her child. Eunji was an obedient, faithful employee, and she was all there to make sure that her employer’s son was always in the hands of safety.

So just as Sung jae made his way out of the school building holding a single paper in his hands, wearing a huge smile, Eunji gave Yoora a tight look and made his way towards the child before his mother could. Yoora merely rolled her eyes at Eunji’s direction, and Eunji placed her hands on Sung Jae’s shoulders and led him towards the car.

“What’s up big guy?” She asked as she fastened Sung Jae’s seat belt in the car. “You’re all smiles today”

“The homeroom teacher told the best news ever!” He said smiling joyfully while waving the paper in his hand in the air.

“Really?” Eunji smiled and took the paper in her hand before quickly skimming through its content. “Camping trip?”

“With parents!” Sung Jae added excitedly. “Isn’t that so cool?”

“Cool indeed” Eunji nodded in agreement and handed him the sheet of paper. Then she shrugged, almost dejectedly. “I wish I could go on a camping trip”

Sung Jae tilted his head, thinking. “You could come with us” He then said.

“It’s for the parents” Eunji sighed. “It doesn’t mention that baby sitters could come…ah well”

Eunji walked around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. In a distance, she could see Yoora, concentratingly watching her. Eunji couldn’t understand what her problem was. If she wanted to see Sung Jae so much, she could straight up come and talk to Sung Gyu about it without sneakily following Sung Jae around. She wondered when Yoora would ever come to sense and approach this problem like an adult. Maybe Eunji should confront her about it herself.

“It’s because parents and children are not together much” Sung Jae was explaining as Eunji turned into the road. “They are going to make parents meet each other too”

“Sounds like a great plan” Eunji said distractedly. “So when is it going to be?”

“In two weeks” Sung Jae said, referring to the paper. “Will Appa come, baby sitter?”

“I hope he would…”

Eunji took one look at the rearview mirror, at Yoora who was finally climbing into her car, seemingly angry. Eunji wasn’t certain why she was following Sung Gyu’s method and not allowing Yoora to see her child. After Eunji learned about their connection that day, Sung Gyu had told Eunji that he didn’t want to let Yoora see him and crawl into his and Sung Jae’s peaceful life. He seemed pretty thorough on what he was saying, as though if he ever let her get to them it would cause them chaos. Sung gyu was possessive over Sung Jae; that was for sure. But Eunji too, wanted to trust her gut instincts, and her gut instincts were telling her that Yoora, somehow, was up to no good.

They drove along quietly as the vehicles whizzed by on the sides. The snow was beginning to melt away and it was the season of heavy downpours. There were slight drizzles and windy storms every now and then, confining everyone in their respective households. Eunji wondered why they even planned on a camping trip on a season like that. People go on camping trips in the autumn. Such a trip in the spring only meant getting soaked in a tumbling tent.

After a while, her phone began to ring. She had it connected to the vehicle’s stereo system that Sung Gyu was echoed inside the car after she picked up on the third ring.

“Miss Jung” Sung Gyu said, almost in a hurry. “Where are you?”

“I’m on the way from school” Eunji answered. “What’s the rush?”

“I am only calling to inform you that I would be very late tonight”

Eunji smacked her lips and took a sleek turn. “Alright” She said. “You didn’t have to tell me, I pretty much guessed”

“Oh you did” Sung Gyu said. “Well I’m sorry about it, and thank you, Miss Jung”

“Don’t mention it” Eunji waved it off.

Sung Gyu was, in fact, heavily held back by the work load over at the investigation agency. What with the season, the amount of crimes reported daily had arisen and the people when faced inconveniences with the local police stations will immediately seek for help from a private agency, and for this reason, the members of the agency were told to always be alert, and efficiency of the investigators was asked for. Sung Gyu himself was given a case of a series of burgles in a housing scheme somewhere near Yeouido and it being a case with a less number or evidence and witnesses, Sung Gyu was stuck in searching high and low to finish the case, hence being held up in work. He had hardly spent time with Family because of all the work, which wasn’t all that good either. His mother had complained several times that he hadn’t visited them for a long time and he also had seen Sung Jae’s long face every morning because Sung Gyu’s never at home in time to put him to bed. It’s been long since he had realized that it was difficult to balance life and work all at once. They weren’t mutually correlating, that’s all he knew. At least he tried to get ahead with life, but when he couldn’t, he seeks for the baby sitter’s help.

Eunji arrived at the condo to find love letters from Moon Soo in front of the door which she picked up and dumped into the bin on her way to preparing lunch. Sung Jae followed suite and scanned the content in the refrigerator with an attentive look.

“What do you want for lunch, Jae?” Eunji asked, picking out a bowl from the rack. “I brought along some cold dumplings, if you like to heat them up?”

Sung Jae seemed to be deep in his thoughts as he wordlessly picked up an apple and walked towards the rack. Eunji offered to slice it up for him, to which he quietly agreed, and while she peeled it, Sung Jae sat beside her and laid his hands on the table. After a long moment of just watching her, he asked; “Do you think Appa will come to the trip?”

Sung Jae’s been missing his father too much, it was evident. Sometimes he’d just stay up at night until late and fall asleep in the couch. Eunji was at a loss when she thought what to do about it. She had often thought that she should talk to Sung Gyu about it but he hardly even had time to talk to her, much less to spend with his son. So Eunji tried her best to not to let the boy feel too lonely.

“Of course he will” Eunji answered reassuringly. “You ask him when he’s back, okay? Even still, I’m certain he would join the trip…”

“Hmm” Sung Jae reached out and picked out a piece of apple. He seemed unconvinced nevertheless, as though he had his doubts on his father. Eunji could have made him feel better, but the only problem was that she had doubts on Sung Gyu herself.

*

One evening on a weekend, Sung Gyu was in the kitchen typing a report on his laptop computer when Sung Jae emerged from the hallway and began to skim through the content in the fridge. He’d been awfully quiet lately, and spent most of his time in his room playing games and doing his school work. Sung Gyu himself hadn’t much time in hand to waste as he did typically on weekends, and this sudden change in his son Sung Gyu assumed as quirks in growing up and he let him have his space. But he couldn’t say that he didn’t notice something odd about his son. He was gradually becoming distant and seemed to be less engaged in the habitual kind of things they did together. Usually it was Sung Jae who would suggest what they should do in the weekends, but now he hardly spoke to his father. It was because of this reason that Sung Gyu watched his little boy closely as he retrieved a bowl and loaded it with caramel ice cream and also as he sat down on the table in front of him.

“Hey bud” Sung Gyu greeted and lowered his spectacles. “What have you been doing?”

“Playing” Sung Jae answered and began to ice cream off the spoon.

“Hm” Sung gyu nodded and returned to his computer screen. “How’s school, Jae?”

“School is okay” Sung Jae replied in an undertone. Sung Gyu nodded in return and continued with his work.

The quietness in the room continued for a long while, the only sound in the house being the clatter of the spoon and the low rumbling of the refrigerator. Sung Gyu went on engaging in his work, oblivious to his son who was staring longingly at his father, missing every bit of him even though he was physically there. Things have been likewise for quite a while now, ever since Sung Gyu’s been allocated to the case. He was unaware of what Sung Jae felt about the entire situation, and Sung Jae, despite being a child, never spoke of it himself.

But he needed his father to join him on the camping trip. It was the biggest and most exciting that has ever happened in school after the big science fair a year back where he almost killed a person, and even for that, his father was there with him. For this too, he needed him there.

So after a moment, Sung Jae pushed aside his half eaten load of melted ice cream and sat up straight. “Appa” He called. “Appa”

“Hm?” Sung gyu raised his head from the computer and fixed his glasses. “What’s up kid?”

Sung Jae pursed his lips and stood up. Then he ran over to his bedroom, leaving his father astonished and returned in a whiz, carrying the paper he received from school the other day and handed it to Sung Gyu. Sung Gyu held the paper on the level of his eyes and quickly skimmed through.

“A camping trip?” He said and nodded his head. “That’s a great idea!”

“Hm!” Sung Jae nodded excitedly, taken by his father’s cheerful mood. “It’s for the parents and the children. We’re going to stay at the camp for a night. Isn’t that so cool?”

“Parents?” Sung Gyu’s ears perked up at the word. His work was piled up to the size of his height and the firm was in debacles; a camping trip was the last thing he needed on his plate. But he couldn’t say that to Sung Jae and crush his little soul. Instead, he opted to a milder measure and beckoned the child towards him.

“Oh Jae…” He said and pulled him onto his lap. Then he gestured at the computer before them. “See this?” He said. “This is the amount of work Appa has to do”

Seeing it coming all along, Sung Jae quietly pursed his lips. He felt as though he’s been looking forward to it all his life. And now, it was all crushed and gone, his father couldn’t come.

“But Appa promises to send you on the camping trip, he will never miss out on that”

Sung Jae smiled hopefully. “Really?”

“Yeah” Sung Gyu smiled back. “But only Appa will not be able to come” Sung Jae’s shoulders fell. “But!” Sung Gyu added in a brighter tone to bring his spirit up. “But, Sung Jae, baby sitter will come with you, okay? You’re going to have loads of fun with her. Okay?”

Sung Jae remained quiet for a while, as if he was pondering his options, and finally he let out a shrug. “Okay…”

“Great” Sung Gyu reached over and kissed Sung Jae on his chubby cheek. “Appa will call baby sitter right now and inform her, alright? Now off you go, baby, Appa has loads of work to do”

Sung Jae slid off Sung Gyu’s lap, picked up his bowl of ice cream and trudged off to his room, feeling utterly dejected. He was looking forward to spend some quality time with his father so eagerly. He missed his father too much. But it was all gone now. He didn’t even think he wanted to go on the trip anymore.

After Sung Jae had gone to his room, Sung Gyu picked up the paper, read it thoroughly and hung it up on the fridge with a magnet. He really hoped sending Sung Jae with Eunji would really work out. Sung Jae’s been really missing out too much of his childhood what with having a busy father and he wished he had more time to invest on his son; but now he had hardly any time for a good meal. In case Eunji was unable to accompany Sung Jae to the trip, Sung gyu would take him on one later when he hadn’t much work. Sung gyu nodded to himself at his great idea. That way they could have more quality, father-and-son bonding time.

He had just reached the table and sat down when his phone began to vibrate on the table. He picked it up, only to be surprised at seeing Eunji’s contact number on the display screen. He frowned, wondering if he and she had any urgent business to discuss at that time of the day and picked up the call on the fourth ring.

“Hey boss” Eunji said, not even stopping for a greeting. “Are you busy?”

“Nope, not entirely” Sung Gyu said, glancing at his computer screen. “Why? Is anything the matter?”

“Can we talk?”

“Yeah sure” Sung Gyu replied. “What is it?”

“Not like this” Eunji said. “I mean, let’s meet. I’m downstairs in the plaza’s new café”

“Oh” Sung Gyu frowned. “Okay, I’ll be there”

“Five minutes, chop chop!”

*

“You order something you like” Sung Gyu said to Sung Jae and handed over his card, once they arrived at the new café of the plaza. Sung Jae nodded obediently and made his way towards the cashier and Sung Gyu located Eunji, sitting with a steaming cup of coffee before her, and approached her across the store.

“Hey” Sung Gyu greeted and sat down on the plastic chair across from her.

“Hey boss” Eunji greeted with a smile. “Coffee?”

“No thank you” Sung gyu clasped his hands together in front of him and stole a quick glance at Sung Jae’s direction before turning towards the baby sitter. “So what is it?”

“It’s about Sung Jae” Eunji said.

A few minutes later, feeling quite tearful, Sung Gyu walked to the long queue Sung Jae was standing in and pulled him out of the line towards him. Sung Gyu crouched down on the floor before his son then, and seeing his rather befuddled face, Sung Gyu realized that it was all making sense now.

Just a while ago, Eunji had revealed to him just how much Sung Jae seemed distant and quiet, and she had figured it that it was because he was feeling lonely. Sung Jae missed his father too much and was mostly entangled in his own thoughts, drawing himself away from the general crowd and his surroundings. It was an ordinary behavior of a child, as she had analyzed, to be drawn away and be engaged in their own train of thoughts in that manner, but she expressed her concern in a way that made Sung Gyu’s heart cringe in pain. Sung gyu had been oblivious to it all these time that his son was missing his father too much. After all, he was the closest and the only one he had as a close companion. Sung Gyu was Sung Jae’s only family, and he indeed needed him throughout. He had failed to take note of his strange behavior all this time, because he was too engrossed in his work. Eunji’s words were repeating in his mind like a broken vinyl and hit him where it pained the most at the thought of what he just did that day. “He kept asking if you would join the trip, Boss” Eunji had said to him. “He misses you. He needs you”

Sung Gyu reached over and hugged his son tightly against his chest, feeling the tears b in his eyes. He hadn’t felt so pained in years, so guilty that he was taking his son’s happiness away. Sung Gyu buried his face in the child’s neck and let out a sigh. “Appa is sorry Sung Jae, Appa is so sorry”

He pulled away then and looked into the boy’s still stunned face, and he smiled. “You know what, baby? Appa is coming to the trip with you”

*

“Is everything packed?” Sung Gyu yelled across the hallway on the direction of his son’s room. “Your clothes, pajamas, underwear-,”

“I packed his bag for him” Eunji answered, emerging from the kitchen while carrying the casing which held their day’s breakfast. “He’s forgotten his tooth brush. Did you pack your toothbrush, boss?”

“All set” Sung Gyu smiled. “By the way, I hope you will find your inner child or whatever in this trip, Miss Jung”

Sung gyu has found his latest joke line to make Eunji feel miserable after she had admitted that it was absolutely relevant that she participated on the camping trip in order to find her inner child as a professional baby sitter to be involved with the kids. It was a load of crap she had to come up with so that Sung Gyu would let her tag along with them. Despite the fact that she was particularly keen on camping trips; any kind of trip for that matter, the real reason why she wanted to participate on the trip was that Yoora, Sung Jae’s mad mammy had so victoriously announced that she was going to bequeath Sung Gyu and Sung Jae with her appearance on the camping trip. To that Eunji may or may not have responded ever so impulsively by saying that she was Sung Jae’s mother, at which point Yoora had asked if she was married to someone called Sung Gyu, to which Eunji had so generously replied with a nod and a smirk-, well, it was safe to say that it all hadn’t ended up so prettily. Since the trip had invited both the parents if possible, Eunji couldn’t help but play along her massive lie and take part in it. And she couldn’t admit to her boss that she possibly had caused chaos between him and Sung Jae’s mum, if only it could return negatively. All she could do was play along her second stupid lie and make sure Yoora and Sung Gyu didn’t cross paths at all cost.

“Ah yeah I hope I would” Eunji said and placed the casing near rest of their luggage. She looked down by the foot of the door then, only to find another one of Moon Soo’s crappy love letters.

“Oh ” She swore and picked it up. “Oh bloody hell”

“You still haven’t taken care of it?” Sung Gyu raised his brows. “What happened?”

“He’s not stopping it!” Eunji said through her gritted teeth. “Oh how am I going to tell him that I didn’t love him without sounding like a pile of ?”

“Money to the swear jar” Sung Gyu said, folding his hands across his chest, and Eunji pulled out a stack of coins from her pocket. “Well, why don’t you just confront him about it?” Said Sung Gyu. “Talk like two grown up people”

“I tried!” Eunji exclaimed on her way to the kitchen. She unscrewed the lid of the swear jar, dumped the stack of coins into it, put the lid back on and returned to the hall. “But he’s not grown up enough”

Sung Jae waltzed into the hallway from his room, dragging his bag along behind him. Sung Gyu patted his son on his head and turned to the baby sitter. “Well, it’s something you two must solve between yourselves. You can’t keep it dragging on forever”

Eunji sighed and swung her bag onto her back. “If it was that easy” She said. “Shall we go then?”

*

By the time they arrived at the school entrance, all the parents and teachers were prepared to climb into the two buses. Sung Gyu quickly carried their luggage towards the driver who was loading them into the bus’s trunk, and Eunji led Sung Jae to the line where the students waited along with their parents. Eunji found pride in pretending to be a parent nevertheless. She was certain she would make a pretty cool mother one day. But when she realized that she was pretending to be the mother to Sung Gyu’s child, her cheeks flushed pink and she realized she was actually pondering on unnecessary things.

“Are all the students and parents here!?!” Yelled the home room teacher on top of her lungs. Sung Jae looked around himself, his eyes searching, and realized that his friend wasn’t there.

Just as he opened his mouth to tell the homeroom teacher that, Mirae, the class president raised her hand. “Teacher! Min Jung isn’t here!”

“Ah Min Jung” The teacher said, referring to the clipboard in her hands. “Poor boy, his parents couldn’t come…anybody else?”

Everyone looked around and shook their heads.

Sung Gyu joined the line just as everyone began to climb into their respective buses. His hand reached Sung Jae’s shoulder and squeezed him softly, who looked up and gave his father a smile. Sung Gyu felt much better having joined his son on the trip. The pile of work he had left behind didn’t seem to matter anymore. What was more important, after all, was making his little boy happy.

The three of them squeezed into a seat for two. Sung Gyu knew it was a bad idea and he should have sent Eunji to the seat behind them. But then he noted that all parents had their children sitting on their laps. Sung Gyu couldn’t just force the baby sitter to sit with somebody she hardly knew. Besides he couldn’t trust her to behave like an ordinary woman with anybody else so he pulled Sung Jae onto his lap and remained seated like it hardly mattered.

“Appa” Sung Jae called after a while. “Does it take long to go to the camping site?”

“Not very long” Sung Gyu replied and looked down at his watch. “Its seven thirty now. We’ll be there by nine, I think”

“Hm” Sung Jae nodded and leaned against Sung Gyu’s shoulder. “Appa, can I take photos?”

“Of course you can” Sung Gyu handed him his phone. Sung Jae took it in his hands like a grown up, clicked this and that, opened the camera app and started snapping photos. Eunji who was sitting beside him reached out and averted the camera so that they were using the front camera and made a pose.

“Smile folks!”

All three of them smiled at their image on the phone and so they took their first photo together.

Once the actual trip started however, Sung Jae stopped snapping photos of the expressway and claimed that he was feeling sleepy. Sung Gyu put his phone away and helped his son lay across his chest and he began to gently pat on the child’s back. It didn’t take long for him to drown in his sleep under Sung Gyu’s gentle ministrations. Afterwards Sung Gyu let out a long sigh and averted his gaze out of the shutter. He was content, to be there, to be holding his son like this, and it was all thanks to Eunji who made him realize it.

Eunji was on her phone for a while, giggling at other people’s photos and posting offensive comments on them. But after she grew tired of it, she just sat there thinking, which eventually led her to fall asleep. Soon enough, she began to sway back and forth with every break the bus would hit, groaning miserably in her sleep though she was dead to the world, and Sung Gyu, annoyed at her stupid childish ways pushed her sleepy head back against the head rest with his free hand. That didn’t stop her nevertheless. With one strong break, she was pushed forward once all over again; Sung Gyu couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh. He was all in for having Eunji tagging along with them because an extra helping hand was hard to resist. But taking care of not only one child but two was definitely not in his book. With a groan his hand reached out and pulled Eunji back against the seat. She laid against it comfortably and Sung Gyu had his two fingers pressed on her forehead as though it would glue her silly head onto the seat, and finally let go. But then, she fell to a side and nestled comfortably against his shoulder.

Sung Gyu would have pushed her away at that point. He wasn’t particularly keen on having her laying against him; but something about the whole thing was stopping him. It was how her bangs fell to a side revealing a pale white forehead with a slight cut mark, how her lips quivered slightly in her sleep, how her eyelashes gently fell against her cheeks, how her tilted head revealed the quite pretty curve of her neck. Sung Gyu felt his heart pound a bit, for a reason he couldn’t exactly fathom. Something about Eunji was making his head spin, his heart skip a beat, and that something, he was sure, wasn’t anything that he wanted to believe. Jung Eunji was very, very pretty indeed.

Sung Gyu removed his hand and stared at Eunji for a moment before he finally looked away. Both the child and the girl were sleeping on him, and he was at a loss of what to do. He could only stare out the shutter, out at the evenly passing vehicles on the expressway. The quiet moment continued, slowly sending Sung Gyu off to a long sleep.

*

“Appa!” Somebody yelled loudly in his ear. “Appa wake up! We’re here!”

Sung Gyu took a moment to come to his senses, fluttering his eyes open to the brilliant sunlight seeping in through the curtains of the bus. He let out a groan, his limbs aching as he had held onto Sung Jae all throughout the ride and stretched his hands before he climbed up to his feet. Parents and children alike were still filing out of the bus, everyone tired after the long ride, and Sung Gyu followed suite along with his son. Eunji was already outside, helping the driver to unload everyone’s bags. Sung Gyu, who saw this joined her and passed the items to those who owned them and Sung Jae patiently waited by his side. After all was done, the teacher called everyone to gather around, and soon through the loud chatter of the crowd somebody blew a loud whistle, garnering everyone’s attention.

Sung Gyu took Sung Jae into his arms since the child couldn’t see anything, and looked through the gathered people towards the man who was being accompanied by the homeroom teacher.

“Welcome all” He said, scanning the gathered crowd before him. “I’m Ahn Min Guk, I will be in charge of y’all during your stay. Every family is assigned to a tent site, please put up your tents and organize your belongings, the site supervisors will see to your needs if anything, Now…” He turned to his right. “Please follow me”

Everyone followed after Ahn Min Guk who brought them along to the camping site. The camping area was a sizeable expanse edged by a thick layer of forestry surrounding it. Far ahead the tips of tall mountains were covered in membranes of thin clouds; the sound of the birds and the cry of cicadas was heard faintly through the chatter of the crowd.

Every family was lead to each rectangular space kept to set up the tents, and while so Sung gyu went towards one of the supervisors and asked for one individual tent for Eunji. Afterwards each of the families were given their tents, a separate one for Eunji herself, a gas cooker, sleeping bags and thick cloth for warmth.

Sung gyu and Sung Jae referred the instructions manual and began to set up their tent. Since Sung Gyu was a trained investigator and also he was a boy scout when he was a child, setting the tent was a piece of cake. To Eunji however, the whole thing seemed complex than a senior school math problem. She cursed her stupid lie and impulsive decision to play the part of Sung Jae’s mother as she unrolled the red taffeta tent and untangled the ropes and iron codes. Thoroughly following the guidelines, she pulled out the relevant iron rods and began to arrange them. A few minutes of hard work later, Eunji had concocted something remotely similar to the shape of an individual tent. She stood back, staring at it with pride. It wasn’t that much of hard work, she thought, nodding approvingly at the tent. However, when she ped it and went inside, the whole thing twisted and collapsed onto her head.

“Aaah! Help!” Eunji screamed through the claustrophobic space, flailing her hands around in panic. She would have called out murder if not for Sung Gyu who rescued her from the asphyxiating tent concoction by pulling the taffeta off her head.

“That went well” Sung Gyu said, his eyes twinkling in the morning light.

“I’m so bad at tents” Eunji replied, stepping out of it. But then her foot got caught on an iron cord that she fell to her side, only to be caught in Sung Gyu’s hands.  The two remained still for a quiet moment then, the time standing still; and then, Sung Gyu began to laugh. “Did you find your inner child yet?” He asked.

“Shut up, boss” Eunji replied.

*

“Okay everyone, gather around” Called the homeroom teacher from the center of the lake bank where everyone got together after supper for the first game. The teachers, together with some parents had planned out a few games which both parents and students could engage in so that every one of them would spend more time together. The stay was short, but their plan was to make it worthwhile.

“We’re going to play the first game” The homeroom teacher announced as the noise died down. “Mister Ahn will you explain to the crowd?”

As the supervisor explained, the game was for the parents, in pairs to hike up the mountain to find the ten treasure boxes hidden in the wild. If one pair happened to find one, they must return to the campsite where their respective kids will be searching for the keys inside a basin of colored water. The families who manage to find both the treasure chest and the right keys will be declared the winner.

“And each pair of parents are given an hour to find the chest” Ahn Min Guk carried on. “Nonetheless no matter you find a treasure chest or not, you are to return to the camp site when the hour has ended…any questions?”

One of the parents raised their hand. “Any clues about the treasure chest?”

“It’s wooden” Ahn Min Guk said. “Anything else?”

This time, Eunji raised her hand, much to Sung Gyu’s surprise.

“Yes?”

“Can we wait a bit?” She said, moving through the crowd. “Because I have to use the ladies’ first”

Sung gyu slapped his hand on his forehead. He couldn’t understand why she even had to find her inner child while the state of her mind was worse than of a child already. He was sure if he were a parent to someone like Eunji, he would change his name and move to Alaska.

“Alright” Ahn Minguk sighed. Eunji gave a thumbs up and a goofy smile and fled through the crowd towards the main building where they had the loos.

After she was done with her business, Eunji came out feeling rather satisfied and was headed on her way to the grounds when suddenly a hand pulled at her arm and pulled her to the side.

“Ah-!” Eunji began to scream, but her voice was muffled by a hand covering as the stranger pulled her towards a dark corner. Eunji stood still, wondering if these were the last few minutes of her life and if Sung Gyu was the last person she saw before she died and also repenting her life choices when suddenly the stranger stood before her and took off their hood. And Eunji gasped.

“You!”

Yoora, now in a grey sweatshirt and yoga pants gave Eunji an exasperated look. “I’m not happy to see you either”

“Well, neither am I” Eunji returned. “Now, if you will excuse me-,”

Yoora pulled again at Eunji’s arm when she began to move and cornered her against a wall. “Look” she began, moving into a proximity that Eunji didn’t enjoy as much. “Let me cut this short. I don’t care who you are, I’m here for my son, and let’s make this easier for both of us and let me see my son or I will go into much drastic measures”

Eunji smirked. “What drastic measures?”

“You’d know” Yoora replied darkly, but Eunji’s smirk didn’t waver once. She pried Yoora’s arm off her all too casually and raised her brows. “Ooh! I’m scared!”

“What?”

“Ciao!” Eunji waved at Yoora and sent a flying kiss for good measure. Yoora stared after her, stunned, and then while she was still in earshot, Yoora screamed, “I will get back to you!”

On the other side, Sung Gyu was waiting impatiently staring out at the way Eunji went. She could have slipped and broken her nose for all he cared; it was that kind of a mindset that she had, and he wasn’t even surprised that she was taking so long. Rather, he was much baffled to be seeing her coming back in a run and seemingly without a scratch.

“Took you long enough” Sung gyu commented after she had approached him. Eunji looked around, puzzled and looked up at Sung gyu as though in question. “Where is everybody? And Sung Jae?” She asked.

“Nobody waits for you” Sung Gyu shrugged and looked behind him. “They took the kids away for the keys thing. And we, Miss Jung, have to climb the mountain”

*

“…Not mount Everest, not mount Kilimanjaro, not mount knuckles but ing this…” Eunji complained for the umpteenth time as she breathlessly hugged onto a Pine tree as though her life depended on it. “…I’m ing tired and no I can’t die falling down the ing mountain, please”

“Miss Jung” Sung Gyu deadpanned as he stood about two feet above her on the muddy trail. “This is just a small hike, and you have so much to complain? Whatever happened to finding the inner child?”

“Children are not supposed to climb mountains!” Eunji reprimanded, almost in tears. They’ve been climbing for a few minutes now, and all the parents have now dispersed all over the mountain, taking paths after the muddy trails. Sung Gyu and Eunji have come up a few feet from where they started off, quite late at that, but since Eunji was scared of the slippery muddy path as if her whole life was in danger, the two couldn’t move more than e few meters from the starting line, let alone coming onto finding a treasure chest. Sung Gyu felt greatly sorry for his poor little boy. He was probably very hopefully searching for the keys down there, waiting for his father to return as a winner; but there he was, stuck in the middle of nowhere, listening to the baby sitter’s endless complaints.

“Okay fine” Sung gyu sighed, and grabbed onto a rough branch hanging above him. “You stay there then, I’ll go and find the treasure chest”

“No!!!” Eunji cried, this time really breaking into tears. She was still hugging onto a tree as if she would fall into a deep dark abyss if she ever let go, and glancing at her feet, her hiker boots now covered in dirt and moss with a few leeches lurking about them, made her feel even dizzier. “Boss no!”

“Miss Jung, it’s just for a moment” Sung gyu rolled his eyes and turned to her. “Look. You either climb this mountain or you stay there while I do. Your choice”

“B-but-!” Eunji sobbed, her face turning red. “There are dangerous creatures! There are mosquitoes and spiders and-and leeches”

“They aren’t even dangerous” Sung Gyu sighed again and held out his hand. “Grab onto my hand then. We’ll climb together”

It wasn’t that Sung Gyu was particularly keen on climbing mountains. In fact, he would rather not engage in such difficult labor as climbing. But as a trained private investigator, and also a former singer, Sung gyu had much more strength and stamina when it comes down to difficult circumstances like this. And usually he was the one to complain because he avoided adventure at all costs. But on this particular day, he had a goal, and the goal was to make his little boy happy and proud.

But if only this woman started making a bloody move.

“Okay” Eunji breathed out, slowly moving up the slope towards her employer. She wasn’t seeing her feet, or the rocks or the moss or the fine sunlight seeping through the parting of the tree leaves. She only saw death. Death. “Okay, hold on to me, hold on to me!”

Sung Gyu grabbed Eunji’s hand and Eunji’s other arm moved to his waist. With one swift movement, he brought her up to where he was, and she held onto him like he was her dear life. “And, up” Sung gyu breathed out, and Eunji sighed, closing her eyes. She took a few deep breaths, her hand pressing onto her chest as if it would help her to get her heart running again. He waited patiently until she opened her eyes. “Good to go?”

“Okay, let’s go”

The two of them climbed on for a while, quietly, opening their mouths only to reassure each other that they were okay. Despite the odds of it, Sung gyu was beginning to enjoy the hike. It wasn’t a lie if he said it was difficult to not only climb but carry along a weight along with him, but as long as it lasted, Sung Gyu realized that he enjoyed Eunji’s company even more.

Eunji on the other hand was having a mixture of emotions. She was so scared of the stupid mountain that she thought she would definitely die there out of fear, but then after Sung Gyu offered a helping hand, Eunji couldn’t help but see him as her savior, her knight in shining armor. Heck, calling him the knight in shining armor was an understatement. Sung Gyu under the soft sparkling light of the morning sun with the radiance of the jade green leaves was a work of art. He reminded her of brilliant summers and tender white petals of roses. Maybe it was her exaggerating his beauty, but it was no lie that Sung gyu was beautiful. And his hand, soft and warm against hers, securely holding her, and his strong arm with protruding green veins, grasping her now and then, reassuring her that he was catching if she fell. Eunji wasn’t sure of what to feel; but she was pretty sure that these thoughts made her fear to slowly wear off.

After a few minutes of climbing and having no sign of the treasure chest (Because they were just too busy climbing with no aim), Sung gyu slowed down and leaned against a tree. Eunji followed, her feet still on the mud trail, and Sung Gyu reached into his bag and produced a bottle of water. He gave it to Eunji first, and drank down the rest afterwards.

“Tired?” He asked breathlessly, and Eunji nodded, wiping sweat off her brows.

“Hope… (Pant)…Sung Jae... (Pant)…Is having a nice time... (Pant)…Finding the key…”

“I’m sure he does” Sung gyu smiled, which looked kind of pretty, with the sunlight and all. “By the way, about you finding the inner child and all, it was a load of bull wasn’t it. Because surely you didn’t expect to find it in a mountain hike”

Eunji couldn’t possibly tell him that she might have told his ex-girlfriend that she was married to him so she had no choice but play along the lie.

“Well, they never mentioned a hike!” Eunji said, waving her hands around. “Besides, this is a school trip. They should be teaching the kids something valuable, not sending the parents on a hike”

Sung Gyu shrugged. “Well, can’t argue on that”

Eunji nodded, forming the face of an understanding young woman and reached for the bottle of water. She glugged down a good amount of it, climbed behind Sung Gyu to push it into his bag, and was just about to climb down when she noticed something odd. Something Wooden, something with a red flag.

“Wait…is that?”

“Hm?” Song gyu said distractedly.

Eunji climbed down the trail a few feet, taken by her excitement. “I found it! Boss! I found it!”

“Found what? Your inner child?”

“No!” Eunji yelled from where she was, reached over to the treasure chest and waved the red flag in the air. “I found it! We won!”

*

“That’s not half as bad” Sung gyu said to Sung Jae soothingly patting on his bum as the child stared at the inside of the treasure chest with a mournful look. After Sung gyu and Eunji had successfully climbed down with a treasure box in hand, despite being the last to go, Sung Jae came forward holding a set of keys in his hands. After trying different keys on the lock, they finally managed to open it; only to find a rolled paper inside it which said,

‘What is the most unforgettable experience of your life? Let us hear about it at the campfire tonight’

After the rest of their camping games ended, Eunji was hollering about all the injustice in the world because they climbed the mountain for nothing, and Sung Gyu had told her to stay quietly in her tent until the campfire started, which she did as the obedient little girl she was. Sung Jae on the other hand was having a difficult time trying to figure out what his most unforgettable experience was.

“What is my most unforgettable experience, Appa?” Sung Jae cried, feeling hopeless. It was already the time of the camp fire and Sung Gyu had just returned to his tent after a warm shower, only to find his rather dismayed child.

“The moment that you can never forget” Sung Gyu explained.

Sung Jae didn’t find the information very useful and rolled onto his back.

“Appa, how do I talk about my most unforgettable experience?”

Sung gyu removed his wet towel off his neck and sat down next to Sung Jae on his sleeping bag. “Well, close your eyes and think about the day that you don’t want to forget. Maybe it’s the time you first went to school, or the first ice cream you had…whatever it is, just talk freely…”

“Appa” Sung Jae pouted, looking up at his father with doe eyes. “I’m scared to talk”

“Oh you’ll do fine” Sung Gyu said reassuringly and patted his cheek. “You’re my boy, aren’t you? You’ll do absolutely great”

The flap of the tent’s entrance parted and Eunji’s head popped in.

“Come on boys, it’s time for the bonfire! Chop chop!”

*

Hello girls! (And boys if there are any)

So I got my laptop back from repairs and luckily nothing is lost, and so I'll be spending my christmas break - slash - Depression leave on an update spree, which, I hope is a good thing for you. I'm sure you missed Gyu-Ji-Jae a lot, (so did I) therefore I'm going to continue writing this, and also you can expect updates on both Hopeless romantic and For you, for me. I'd update my latest story too, somehow, and maybe there will be a new one, which, sadly, will be Gyu+OC because it works no other way. I just want to tell you that I'll be writing all my life, just to make the few readers I have happy.

On the other hand, I was in hospital for a while for an over-dosage which I did on impulsive purpose. You know, some of you girls are so lucky, you should know that yourself. you're not taken by this unfortunate sickness. You're happy. Take the best use of all the happy moments you have. Some of us are sad all their lives. I don't even know what I'm upset about. I hate college. I hate how time consuming it is. I hate it that its taking up all the time I could spend on writing. And somehow, because of my depression and suicide risk, I get a break from studies. I have to see the psychiatrist every two weeks and a counsellor every month. My life completely depends on my pills. It's crazy. I feel like I'm having a fatal sickness. Be happy that you're not one of us. If you are, I don't know how hard it must be for you, and I cannot say I could be of help for you. But do whatever which makes you happy, and put away your sad thoughts. You will be happy, you will find the way back to yourself one day. You will be you, and soon.

Why am I writing all these here? because this is the story that I have most readers on at the moment and also because I don't personally know most of you all. It's actually nicer to think that I am pouring my heart out on strangers. It doesn't matter if they do listen or not. At least they hear me. At least I am a distant voice, coming from somewhere unknown. You don't haave to take any of this personally, or worry much about me. I will be okay. I think. At least I won't die soon. And don't worry, I won't die without posting part two of this chapter, haha!

Nonetheless, the only thing I want from yall, is to be happy. Be the happiest you can ever be. Life is short. Too short to let it go on waste.

Loads and loads of love,

Achini.

Ps- About the rumour about Gyu enlisting, I think we're panicking for no reason. We're understanding it wrong. I think the true problem there is that he's dissapointed in himself for all that happened this year. The legends who couldn't rise as expected. He's blaming himself that he feels Hyun is more reliable than he would ever be that he thinks joking about passing the leadership would make things better. He's just joking, girls. He's only speaking his heart out, because it hurts. Woolim won't let the biggest money bucket off the radar quite so easily. neither would his mum or his noona. I'm sure. Anyways, fingers crossed!