Jaejoong’s body bumped up and down as the can vibrated against the gravel as they turned off road. His brows stiffened as nothing, but spacious land and trees surrounded them. The only symbol of civilization was a tall wooden sign that read ‘Welcome to redwood Park’ in white painted letters, along with a few spaced out tents they passed.

His frown deepened; his arms folded tightly across his chest. “This is not how I wanted to spend my weekend home.” He grumbled making his disconcertment know.

He had aa tiring week at university and decided to come home for the weekend for a much-needed healing time from the hecticness of school and work. They were given a 3-day weekend that allowed him enough time to sink into the warm embrace of his mother’s apartment. He had a work-study at school and so he was allowed off all weekend since the university was closed.

He had his entire weekend schedule set up.

Do homework the Friday he came home, finish homework Saturday morning. Spend the rest of his Saturday with his mom and maybe Heechul if he wasn’t busy. Then Sunday he’d spend the day with Yunho. Then he’d sleep all Monday morning before returning to school and start preparing for the grueling finals.

But that wasn’t at all what happened.

As soon as he came home his mom bombarded him with the announcement that they were going camping. She practically didn’t give him a choice. He ended up spending all afternoon and evening researching, buying, and packing supplies, since they’d never gone camping before. He barely had time to do homework last night or this morning since they had to leave early.

“Oh, shut up. No one wants to hear your whining.” Heechul rolled his eyes. He wasn’t happy about the trip either.

Jaejoong shot him a loathsome glare.

Heechul turned to him feeling the heated stare, “did I offend you, princess?” He remarked bitterly.

“That’s it!” Jaejoong snapped angrily and the two ignited into an argument, bickering venomously at each other.

Yunho and Hangeng sat in the back seats awkwardly, as the two exchanged virulent words at each other. Ms. Kim had invited them to camp with them in which they enthusiastically accepted the invitation, finding it a great idea. However, their boyfriends felt otherwise.

“Yah!” Ms. Kim snapped at her sons from the driver’s seat. “Look at you tow. Embarrassing yourselves in front of your boyfriends and making them uncomfortable.”

The two stopped begrudgingly.

“Do you think they want to marry you seeing how you two argue like a bunch of cats?”

Jaejoong’s face burned at his mother’s dubious exclamation. Heechul only rolled his eyes as they both glared back out the window.

Ms. Kim shook her head. “I’ve been planning this trip for weeks. I even borrowed this van from a friend. I thought this would be a fun nice experience for everyone to enjoy. I’ve always wanted to take us camping since you two were small. But I was so busy that I never had the time. Then you boys got older and busy…and I figured this would be a perfect time to go before you both graduate and start living your separate lives.”

She looked at them through the rearview mirror. “I even invited Hangeng and Yunho to make the trip a little more fun, since I figured you two would be uncomfortable at first. But all you’ve done was nothing but complain and bicker all morning.”

The two brother’s shoulders fell at their mother’s words. She’d done a lot for them, raising them on her own. She’s always done her best to go above and beyond for them with the little she had. The last thing they wanted to do was disappoint her. They muttered an apology to her feeling guilty, embarrassed, and annoyed.

The rest of the ride was silent, except for the hum of the old van and the few enthusiastic conversations that sparked between Ms. Kim, Yunho, and Hangeng.

Jaejoong and Heechul remained silent, but that didn’t discourage the other three from joking and conversing pleasantly.

It wasn’t until another half hour passed before Ms. Kim parked at edge of the road. There was nothing but more plains of grass and a forest of tall lanky trees.

Heechul opened his mouth, but Jaejoong glared at him, preventing him from making any snark remarks. Heechul settled for a huff instead.

The five of them climbed out the car and helped take out their supplies and bags from the trunk. Yunho and Hangeng offered to take most of the load.

“Is that everything?” Ms. Kim asked.

Yunho and Hangeng nodded since the other two boys were busy sulking.

“Good.” Ms. Kim shut the trunk.

“Here I bought some flashlights and extra batteries for you guys to use.” She handed Yunho the equipment. “And here’s the map of the entire park. Along with a guide about plants and animals. This is your most important tool. Don’t lose it.” She stressed, hanging Hangeng the map and booklet.

Heechul scrunched his brow, “Why does it sound like you’re not staying with us?”

“I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow before noon.” She ignored her eldest son’s question and quickly hopped into the front seat.

Jaejoong’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?!”

“Hey!”

He and Heechul ran up to the car but the doors were already locked.

“Umma~…” Jaejoong whined.

“What the heck?” Heechul turned to his mother.

“I’m not camping.” She said as if it’d been obvious “This is for you guys.” She smiled sweetly. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

Jaejoong’s eyes grew larger in fear. “You can’t leave us here!”

She gave them a final wave before speeding off, not leaving any room for debate.

Jaejoong and Heechul stood in the road in bewilderment, neither of them believing what was happening. The chilling breeze serving as the constant reminder of where they are and that it was real.

“This can’t be real.” Jaejoong slowly shook his head. His eyes stung at the horrific reality. “She can’t leave us here! In the middle of November!” he whined desperately.

Heechul felt hollow as the realization of everything hit him. “This is her revenge.” He stated motionlessly, staring at the distant road beyond him.

“What?” Jaejoong looked at him.

Heechul turned to the younger. “For missing her birthday.”

Jaejoong paused. He was right. Their mother had told them all year not to miss her birthday this year, since it was on the weekend. She apparently made special plans for the three of them and was excited about it, talking about it all year. But they failed to keep their promise.

“This is your fault.” Heechul suddenly accused.

“Me?”

“If you’d at least come, then she would’ve been fine with it.” Heechul argued.

Jaejoong frowned, “I had work.”

“So? You knew about it way far in advance. You could’ve taken off.” Heechul retorted.

Jaejoong balled his fist, “Well, what about you? You weren’t busy!”

Heechul huffed, straightening up, “I told you, I was drunk, I couldn’t do the drive back, and I couldn’t find a last-minute ride.” He mumbled.

Jaejoong gritted his teeth. “You selfish bastard!” He spat angrily.

Heechul’s eyes swelled, “What did you say?!”

“You couldn’t have been responsible at least once in your life?! Instead of thinking of just yourself? Tch…I don’t know how mom busted her for someone as lazy and self-centered as you.” Jaejoong continued.

Heechul’s eyes filled with rage. “Oh don’t think your some saint you judgmental stuck-up . Always putting yourself on a pedestal above everyone else, putting your work before your family, always too busy to even try to make time for us.” Heechul sneered venomously.

“You don’t know anything!” Jaejoong spat furiously.

“And you do?!” Heechul scoffed with just as much rage.

Yunho and Hangeng looked at each other and sighed. Neither of them wanted to get in the middle of their heated argument, but they needed to step in before it got worse or they said anything else that they’d regret later.

“Hey Yunho, did you grab the bag of food?” Hangeng suddenly asked.

Yunho looked at him confused, but quickly caught on. “No, I thought soeone else grabbed it.”

Jaejoong and Heechul stopped in the middle of their arguing. They turned to the other two boys, who looked at them expectantly. But they didn’t say a word.

“I’m assuming neither of you grabbed it either.” Hangeng spoke for them.

Heechul groaned in despair.

“But it’s okay!” Hangeng quickly assured them before they could panic. “Your mom gave us a guide on the wildlife here. We can just look for food here, and maybe we might come across a park ranger station.”

Heechul nor Jaejoong were comfortable with the idea, but they had no choice.

“Heechul and I can go look for food while you and Jaejoong set up the tents here.” Hangeng coordinated with Yunho, who nodded in agreement.

“Great. Let’s get started before it gets dark.” Hangeng walked off.

Heechul was reluctant but followed him anyway.

“Which tent do you want to build first?” Yunho asked once the older two were gone.

“Can you believe him?” Jaejoong began.

“Blue tent it is.” Yunho whistled, grabbing the closest tent.

Jaejoong helped him pull the content out the bag. They each took on one corner of the tent, working on the frame first. Yunho let Jaejoong use the instructions since he, himself has built several tents before, havi