Seung Hyun's P.O.V

This has been the first night for me that sleep just was not an option. I am so worried about Ji Yong. I didn't know the situation very well, though I wanted to help him but I don't know how. I feel so bad for him. Gabe returns about fifteen minutes before midnight. He tip toes in with his flashlight on dim. After Mr. Bin had left he quietly woke everyone except Ji Yong. 

"Guys I need to talk to you for a second." 

We all slowly get out of our bunks trying hard not to wake Ji Yong. Gabe motions us to stand in the middle. 

"In the morning, Janie has a surprise for Ji Yong. We'll do our morning routine but let him sleep. Unless he tells me to do so, I can't really go into detail with what's wrong but he's having a bad time. I want us to be supportive and understand that he needs some space. Tomorrow is his birthday but we aren't going to push it on him. We'll celebrate later. Any activity he don't want to participate in we aren't going to try to force him to do anything he don't want to do."

We all nod, some of us still half asleep from being awoken. I pout feeling bad more. I wish I can give him a hug and tell him everything will be okay. Hong Ki yawns raising his hand.

"Maybe we can do what he wants to do tomorrow so that way he isn't parting himself away from us. Or maybe we can make him birthday and supportive cards."

Gabe smiles big patting Hong Ki on the head as if he was petting a dog.

"Hong Ki I love your brain."

He covered his head with his hands.

"Okay but no dating."

We all quiet chuckle before heading back to bed. On my to my top bunk I look at Ji Yong. He is fast asleep cuddling his pillow. I let out a quiet sigh shaking my head. 

"I wish I knew what was wrong buddy. I want to make you happy."

Gabe stands behind me patting my shoulder. 

"It's okay Seung Hyun. I think once he sees Janie's surprise he'll be back to his old self again, causing terror on the entire camp."

I get back up in my bunk laying down. Gabe does the same. I try to fall asleep but my body was not having it. I try counting sheep and meditation... nada. It was 3 am when I finally gave up trying, I get out my flashlight and read a chapter of my book. Halfway through I was nearly on the edge of my bed in anticipation just about to know what was making the thumping noise in Owen's basement when I heard Ji Yong let out a whine. I nearly jumped out of my skin. 

I get out of my bunk and stand beside his bed. He is making the same face I do when I read that one tough question on a test. He lets out another whine. Poor guy he must be having a bad dream. I do what my mom always did for me when my brothers and I had a bad dream. I sit beside him rubbing his back.

"It's okay Ji. You're just dreaming. You're alright."

He woke up for a second starting to shake. He holds back tears as he looks at me with an emotion mixed with sadness and embarrassment. I give him a pat on the back saying that it was a bad dream and he's safe here. I was thinking that he was going to get mad and shove me onto the floor but it seem to have done the trick he surprisingly just went right back to sleep. 

I hear Gabe whisper to me from across the room:

"Good job Seung Hyun you're a great friend to him."

Gabe's alarm went off at 6:30 he quickly shut it off before Ji Yong can hear it. He goes to each bunk to wake us up, he noticed that I was already awake. We finished getting dressed when Janie quiet knocks on the door, Gabe answers.

"Hi Janie come on in."

We see Janie come in, then a tall pregnant woman follows. She wears a pretty purple dress and carries a birthday present bag in one hand and a McDonald's bag in another. This must be Ji Yong's surprise. Janie sits a folding chair beside Ji Yong's bunk. She smiles at us.

"Guys this is Ji Yong's mom. She'll be here for a little bit."

We all bow saying hello before following Gabe outside. Ji Yong's mom smiles at us watching us leave. Janie gives her a spare walkie and tells her if she needs anything to let her know. This is going to be a good surprise for Ji Yong. I know for a fact that for some reason we all grew this  attachment to him. We all care for him and enjoy it when he's around. I don't think he knows it yet. We go down to the main hall for announcements. 

Ji Yong's POV

I open my eyes letting out a slow sigh. I remembered what today is. This day didn't mean much to begin with, but now it holds no value at all. It's the day I became my parent's mistake.  As much as it hurts to admit I had no intentions to even be here. I sit up seeing the bunks were empty.

"Good morning birthday boy."

I turn my head seeing that the familiar voice is coming from the woman sitting beside me. I quickly get out of bed giving her a tight hug. She smiles hugging me tighter. I am so happy to see her. I started to wonder why she is here and where everyone else is. 

"How did you get here?"

"I got a call last night saying that someone we both know made you very upset and they said I can come here this morning so we can talk it out." 

She pats her baby bump.

"Besides Mary Kate hasn't stopped the kicking rave since you left."

I place a hand on her belly leaning in.

"Hi sissy. What did I say about partying without your big bro?"

Mom laughs. I sit on the edge of my bunk. 

"So I heard that your father tried to ruin your fun. What did he say to you?"

"He said that he wanted me to come live with him out of state and leave you alone with the baby. When I said no and called him out for being mean he got mad calling Mary Kate a thing and told me I was a mistake."

She immediately hugs me again. 

"Honey you are not a mistake. I wanted to have you whether your father was there or not. I never once regret ever having you. Seventeen years ago today was the best day of my life. I cried tears of happiness holding my six pound two ounce baby swaddled in a blue blanket. He grew up to be a great kid."

I smile wiping away tears. Seriously I'm tired of crying. I felt relieved knowing what he said that was so hurtful wasn't true. She wipes my tears away with a tissue. 

"He won't take you away from me because I will not let him. He needs my permission to take you out. I'll make sure he won't talk to you on the phone again."

She pulls a random McDonald's bag from beside her giving me a bacon egg and cheese sandwich and a hash brown.

"Bacon Egg and cheese sandwich slightly cool just how you like it."

She pulls out a sausage sandwich and ate with me. I smile.

"I hope Mary Kate likes sausage."

"She does. She also has a hankering for tacos with hot sauce and ranch dressing."

I nod kinda agreeing. It does sound good in a way. 

"I dreamed of tacos the other night I was eating them with Zippy."

She laughs at the fact that we noticed that our family has a slight obsession with tacos. Even our year old German Shepherd dog, Zippy, loves them. We are our local Taco Bell's favorite customers. The drive thru cashier, Emma, knows what we want to order all she has to hear is my mom's or my voice. One day we haven't been there in a week I pulled up to the drive thru speaker.

"Hi welcome to Taco Bell. How can I help you?"

"Hi, I would like to order a dozen-"

"Ji I know it's you. Pull up."

It's kinda cool that Emma knows us so well. We've give her supervisor positive feedback whenever we can. 

I hear Janie come in.

"Hi guys how's your visit?"

 Mom gives me a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"It's going great thank you."

Janie smiles and nods before leaving. Mom rubs the side of my head.

"I hear you're behaving yourself I'm so proud of you. I knew that the mean streak you had was because of your father. You are not a bully by any means."

"I know. I can't believe that he didn't care though."

Mom shakes her head.

"He cares about you in his own strange way Ji Yong, he had no right upsetting you like that though. He wants you mad at me so you can live with him. He doesn't want you to see me anymore. I knew he might pull that but I wasn't sure."

I nod tightening my lips. I could not see me living with Dad, I might end up in jail before the first day even ends. I stand up quickly getting dressed.

"I've come to the point where I realized that being mean is only causing trouble and not benefiting me in any way. I actually feel a lot better about myself. I've made friends and I don't want Mary Kate to be afraid of me or think of me as a monster. I followed your advice and started being nice Mom."

She laughs and hands me a gift bag.

"That's my boy. I told you moms know best. Open your present."

I open the bag and see a small decorated picture frame. My mom had put a picture of Mary Kate's recent ultrasound picture in the frame. On the border of the frame written in puff paint says: Happy Birthday Big Brother! Love Mary Kate. 

Someone must be cutting onions I started to tear up again...

I look in the bag and see two birthday cards and a new snap back hat that says PEACEMINUSONE. On the bottom is a bottle of my aunts hand made lotion and a gold chain necklace. Both birthday cards were from mom and auntie. I give her a hug.

"Thank you Mom."

She hugs me back rubbing my back. She kisses my cheek saying I love you. 

"Okay sweetheart I have a baby doctor appointment in a couple hours I better head home and get ready. I'll update you if anything changes. I love you and I'll see you next week."

"Okay Mom I love you too stay safe and tell Auntie I said hello."

I pat her baby bump.

"Bye Mary Kate."

Mom tells Janie she is ready to leave and waits for her to show her the way out. Both Luna and Janie arrives. I wave to Mom before Janie shows Mom the way out and Luna walks with me to the cafeteria for breakfast. I sit at the table just in time for breakfast to come out. Gabe stands up holding his arms out to me as if God just walked in.

"There he is our birthday camper."

Normally I'd be embarrassed but I just smile. I receive a ton of birthday wishes. Janie walks to me with a hug.

"Happy Birthday Ji Yong. How'd you like your surprise?"

"I loved it. Thank you for letting her visit."

She smiles and told me that we were having tacos for dinner and sundaes for dessert. I smile big. Regardless of what my father told me, this day means a lot now. I let him get to me when I shouldn't have. I'm starting to notice that these people really care about me and letting my mother see me before the family visitation day is the nicest thing that they have done for me. We ate eggs, sausage, and toast for breakfast. 

We go to the pavilion to work on our karts. Joe gave us a small lesson on engine parts and we started to look for a place for the engine. We decided the front just above the bumper would be a suitable place. Hong Ki built a small shallow box to store the engine. Seung Hyun attaches it to the front. I measure out the space for the seat and petals. 

The building session took two hours. Joe told us that what we worked on is enough for now until he can find some parts to complete the kart. Gabe gets our attention by whistling. Thank God he stopped that hand clapping thing.

"Campers. We will do a group canoe trip before heading to the main hall for a movie and lunch with team green, blue, and teal." 

We go to the dock where Luann was waiting for us. I stand next to Hong Ki and as Luann was giving instructions I look down at the water. This is where I fell yesterday. I felt uneasy and clench onto Hong Ki's arm. He looks at me.

"What?"

I let go realizing how ridiculous this probably looked. We stepped into the canoe. Gabe gives me the paddle.

"Birthday Boy steers the boat."

I nervously grab the paddle from his hand and began rowing along with him. We got half way when I felt the boat tilt back and forth I grew scared in fear of tipping. I couldn't do it I had to move. Moving slowly Hong Ki and I traded places. After that I was fine. We rowed back to the dock. I stood in the middle waiting for my turn to step out. Walking toward the main hall I see Bella talking to Janie. I still feel disappointed from yesterday but I'm not letting it get to me. We sit at a table. For Lunch we had nachos and salad. They played Disney's Inside Out. 

When the movie was over everyone except our table left for a moment then returned. They gave me hand made cards and craft presents. I have never felt so happy. Phyllis came in with a large sheet of vanilla cake coated with a entire layer of sprinkles. The entire room sang Happy Birthday then clapped. This has got to be the best birthday I've had in a long time. These kids barely know me and I've received birthday wishes and adorable hand made gifts. Phyllis gave me a large slice of cake adding more sprinkles. She gave me a big hug. 

"Happy Birthday Sprinkles."

I hear a bark and in comes Mack waddling in dressed as a cupcake. As adorable as he looked he must have ran off again. A hand written paper is taped to the head of the costume that said Happy Birthday Ji Yong. Bella came in behind him. Phyllis gave her a slice of cake. She waves at me. 

"Happy Birthday."

I give her a small smile. She picks up Mack and tells me to take the paper and flip it over. I flip it to see her hand writing in pink marker: 

Will you go to the dance with me?

I rub my eyes making sure that I had read that right. I look at her in disbelief and a bit of confusion.

"You-You're serious?"

She nods setting Mack down onto the floor. She explains that she talked to Janie who made an exception for me and allowed her to say yes and go to the dance with me. Since we were close in age she considered it. Janie offered to watch her campers until she returned. I nearly fainted.

"Of course I'll go with you."

She giggles as I jumped with joy. Everyone cheers then hits their fists against the table chanting at us to hug. We hug each other she sat down eating her slice of cake and giving a forkful to Mack. I excused myself and go outside for a minute. I see Janie picking up litter. I jog toward her.

"Hey Janie. I want to say thank you for making this my best day ever. Thank you again for letting my mom see me."

She smiles setting her litter bag down beside her. She ruffles my hair. 

"Anything for you Ji Yong. It's your birthday it should be the best day."

At first I really didn't think I'd like this camp but I really do. With still a solid month and a half of fun left to go I plan to make this my favorite place and I surely would like to go to this camp again next year and maybe even be a counselor in the future. This place changed me in ways that made me a happier person. Janie bent rules to make both Bella and I happy. 

I turn to go back inside with the others, but turn and grab Janie's hand. She drops her bag.

"Ji Yong I got work to do bud."

"Nope. Work can wait, you're celebrating."

She laughs as I pull her in saying come on. She tries to hold back. I stop.

"Woman you're part of my camp family you're celebrating. I'm not taking no for an answer."

She tries to walk away then laughs harder when I grab her hand again.

"I will hold my breath until you come in that room."

She finally gave in and sat at our table and eating a piece of cake. Call me immature but I want the woman who made this all possible to be attending. I want her to know how much I appreciate what she did for me in the past few days. After the party we clean up and go into the cabin to get ready for the dance. I pick out my dress shirt and khakis to wear. I want to look nice for Bella. I smile in the mirror brushing my hair. 

This is a day I will never forget.