Wheein sighed as she scrolled through the photos on her new camera. The quality of the images was fantastic, she couldn't complain about that. Although it would be better if the object of her interest was in any of that shots.

She turned off the camera and put it on the bag after she tripped on the uneven trail. Some birdsong sounded loud, and she couldn't help but let her gaze stray from the ground to the treetops that the wind swayed wildly. But none of the birds singing was the one she was looking for. Frustration sizzled inside her. Perhaps she should follow her colleague's advice and look for another object of study for her thesis. Professor Park would be disappointed for sure, but the search for that rare bird was getting nowhere, and she needed to get her degree.

The forest became more open as the trail widened, and Wheein quickened her steps when she heard the boat's horn, the first warning that it would be leaving the island's small port soon. She adjusted the bag's strap on her shoulder, it was a little heavy due to the equipment she had taken with her, sweat ran down the side of her face. Wheein was a little thirsty, but she didn't want to slow down to drink water, as she was falling behind the small group of college students running ahead. Her short legs proved to be a bigger handicap than ever since she was the first to head to the port... Well, maybe the fault for staying behind wasn't just her short legs. For she stopped a few times to photograph some birds in the treetops.

Wheein puffed her cheeks as two more people ran past her.

Perhaps she should also run so as not to miss the boat.

But as she looked to the sides, a gap between the trees stole her attention... Would it be a shortcut off the main trail? The map on her cell indicated there was indeed a shortcut in that direction. A diagonal path through the forest shortened the trip to the small port, since she wouldn't need to go around all the beach. She decided to try it, after all, she needed to get to the boat soon.

The diagonal path seemed shorter, though it narrowed as she went through it, tall grass and shrub almost covered all the trail. Wheein quickened her pace when she heard the strange sound of the wind passing through the trees, shaking branches and leaves, and making her think of wild animals lurking for easy prey. Because yes, Wheein was kind of a scared cat. Her theoretical knowledge about wild species made her sure to never try to turn it into a practical one when she was alone in a forest.

Except that she wasn't alone there.

Wheein forced her steps to slow down as soon as she saw a person trying to jump over a fallen tree blocking the trail, unsuccessfully. The backpack the girl was carrying was almost Wheein's size and definitely hindered her attempt to overcome the obstacle. And then Wheein realized, whining, that she would've to jump over it to get to the other side of the trail. Either that or go back to the main path, but she had no time to return.

That trail was narrower because the surrounding woods were denser, Wheein realized as she looked for a way to get around the fallen tree. Then the student looked at the map on her cell phone, it was certainly outdated, as there was no indication that the shortcut was blocked by a fallen big ing tree.

Oh, ! She sighed when heard the second boat's horn.

Wheein approached and announced her presence with a shyly "Err... Hello..." as the other girl was once again trying to jump over the big tree trunk. But Wheein screamed in surprise when the girl fell to the floor with a thump, also screaming in fright at the student's sudden arrival.

"Gosh, you scared me!" The girl said as she tried to get up, the big backpack preventing her from it.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention," Wheein replied, making a face, and offered a hand to help the girl up.

The backpack wasn't only big, it was also heavy, the student noticed when she almost lost her balance as she lifted the girl off the floor.

"Thank you," the girl said trying to somehow balance herself on both feet. A strange moment followed, both without knowing what to say, eyes straying from each other. They were embarrassed for some reason.

The girl cleared and pointed to the fallen tree, asking, voice soft: "Are you going to try to jump too?"

"Yes, I need to get through before the boat leaves," Wheein replied, her urgency making itself present again.

"Me too... I thought this shortcut was going to help me get there faster, but I didn't expect an obstacle like that."

"Yeah, me too..." Wheein replied and turned to the fallen tree, figuring out how to jump over it, as the big thing was almost at her chest's height.

The other girl tried again to throw herself on the trunk and put a leg on it, to no avail. The backpack made a counterweight that pulled her down. Wheein stopped herself from laughing when she saw the girl slowly slip until she fell to the floor again.

"How about we help each other?" She offered, reaching out to lift her one more time.

"Good idea! How?"

"First, let's throw your backpack over it. Then I help you jump the tree, and you pull me." Wheein said quickly, to which the girl just nodded.

So they did, the girl complained about the way the backpack fell on the other side, apparently, there were objects of high value inside it. To be that heavy it can only be gold bars.. Wheein thought wryly and then she cringed when she heard her own bag fall on the other side. The student shook her head to make the image of her new special lenses price disappear and hurried the girl to get an impulse in her joined hands. It didn't work though. Wheein would hate to admit it, but maybe she needed to start working on her muscles. For the girl was slim, but she hadn't the strength to push her up.

"Let me try to propel you." The girl said and took Wheein by surprise by grabbing the student's waist and lifting her without much effort. Wheein yelped but soon threw her upper body over the tree trunk and lift one leg, straddling it. As soon as she managed to balance herself, she offered help to the girl. The grip on her hand was strong, firm, and Wheein threw her weight back to bring the girl up when she pushed herself up. It worked. However, Wheein lost her balance and fell backwards, taking the girl with her.

They both screamed when Wheein fell on her back and the girl fell on top of her. The girl wasn't heavy at all, the weight on top of Wheein seemed somehow fleeting, but it was still there all over her. Wheein felt her face heat up and pushed the girl to get off her.

The two of them got up quickly, cleaning their soiled clothes as a way to avoid eye contact.

"Sorry. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine." Wheein cleared and hurried to get her bag.

"Thanks for the help ..." the girl said grunting as she placed the backpack's straps on her shoulders again.

The two looked at each other in fright when the third horn was heard. They both ran out without saying a word, Wheein taking advantage for the first time that afternoon because she was carrying less weight. The other girl fell farther and farther behind. As the student glanced over her shoulder, she saw that the other girl was having a hard time, and her steps slowed once again.

Oh . Wheein stopped running and went back to help the girl. She wouldn't be able to leave her behind like that, and the student wondered if her heart was too good and that made her an idiot.

Because when they managed to get to the port, the boat had already left.

And they stayed behind.

Stuck together on a desert island.

:::

Calm yourself down. Just. Calm. Yourself. ing. Down.

Wheein thoughts were pointed out with each kick on the sand. The student wanted to scream, but she had stopped being explosive. Or rather, she was working on it.

How the I gonna fix it? She wondered, hands on her head, fingers intertwined in the brown locks.

"There is another boat, right?" she asked the girl who was pacing a few meters away, uneasy and lost in her own thoughts. Wheein cleared , annoyed. "Hello?"

"Huh? I'm sorry, what?" the girl snapped out of her thoughts and looked confused at Wheein.

"There's another boat coming, right?" she repeated herself. "Please, say that there's another boat coming for us today." Her voice betrayed the hope she was desperately holding on to.

The girl opened and closed a few times like a fish, no sound coming out, her eyes half-wide. Wheein stepped forward, eager for a positive answer.

"Hmm... Do you want me to say the truth or...? Because there's no boat until tomorrow." She said nonetheless with an apologetic smile.

"You gotta be kidding me," Wheein whined and turned to the sea, shaking her head hopelessly. ing . More kicks on the sand followed.

The waves were calmly crashing, as the sea didn't give a for their bad situation.

"I will not stay here until tomorrow. There has to be a way to leave this island today." Wheein snapped, she couldn't stay in that place anymore. Cellphone in hand, she started to look for phone service.

"There's no reception here."

"It must have in someplace." she stubbornly said.

The girl just rolled her eyes and murmured "okay" before turning around to head to the forest.

Wheein walked around the beach moving her phone up and down, from a side to the other. She sighed, there was no reception. How the there's no phone service here? We're in 2021 for God's sake!

Maybe if she got to a higher place... the student then headed to the forest's entrance, where the other girl was pacing around for minutes now. Wheein passed past her without spare a glance, focused on the phone screen. 

The frustration increased as she went further into the forest, with no cell phone reception. And Wheein whined running her hand through her hair when she found the big tree lying in the middle of the path. The student turned around and decided to go back to the beach, after all, staying in the forest wasn't leading to anything, and she couldn't risk getting lost. Her steps were slow as she kept her eyes on the phone she was still randomly moving in the air.

A bird sang in a nearby tree, drawing her attention and she stopped to watch it. But when she heard a branch break in the distance, her heart jumped and her short legs ran quickly, her mind signaling to get out of the woods as fast as possible. Wheein only slowed down when she reached the beach and approached the other girl, panting. Then the student crouched down, hugged her knees and pouted, she looked like a tantrum child.

"Look, it's not that bad-" the other attempt to say.

"How is this not that bad? We're stuck here until tomorrow! We're probably gonna die before the boat gets here!" Wheein said, voice altered holding back sudden tears.

"I don't know about you, but I don't wanna die anytime soon." the girl said, approaching Wheein slowly. "We can camp here and wait for the boat."

"What?" Wheein sounded perplexed. Is she crazy?

"I camped here last night with my staff, it's not entirely bad." the girl explained. "I have some supplies yet, it's not much, but it must last until tomorrow."

Wheein blinked a few times, absorbing what she'd heard. Camping with a stranger was a 'no, thanks' situation. The other girl must have read it in Wheein's expression, and cleared .

"I know it's not ideal, but we don't have many choices. Or do you prefer to spend the night alone in the open?" she asked arching an eyebrow. "At least I have a tent big enough for two people."

Wheein said nothing, calculating her options. Oh, screw it.

"Okay." She reluctantly said. The other girl smiled brightly.

"Great! Now, I need you to help me to set things up!" the girl said clapping her hands, her tone suddenly lively. She looked far more excited than Wheein expected. "By the way, my name is Solar!"

:::

From finding the ideal place and to set up the camp, Wheein got the feeling that Solar was a bit... bossy. Not in a bad way though, Solar was gentle while saying what Wheein needed to do. Perhaps the problem was that Wheein disagreed with some of her choices. Like the place to set up camp. Wheein wanted to stay closer to the beach in case a boat appeared to rescue them, but she was unable to argue against Solar's logic about staying under the protection of the trees. That didn't mean Wheein didn't try to grumpily argue.

They decided on a compromise at the end, but not before a small stubborn argument that wasted their time.

As the sun was starting its ritual of setting, Wheein realized the problem she was in. The understanding that she would spend the night in that place gradually and fully settled in her, the fear of staying there too. What if a wild animal appears? What if a snake bites me in the during the night? What if Solar is actually a cannibal killer? She glanced at Solar suspiciously. No, scratch that. Solar was barely able to hit the tent's pin, she's too clumsy to be a murderer.

The other girl had sat on the floor and removed some items from her oversized backpack. While Wheein stood by the tent after setting it up, hammer in hand, and now wondering, How the hell are we going to sleep here?

"You said the tent was big enough for two people." She was unable to avoid the somewhat accusatory tone.

"Yeah, two small people..." Solar replied without paying much attention, but after a moment, she looked at the student and added: "You are smaller than me, so I think it won't be much of a problem."

A vein popped on Wheein's forehead at the mention of her height. Because yes, maybe she was a few inches shorter than Solar, but that shouldn't be emphasized like that.

"That was rude," she said bitterly.

Solar chuckled but stopped as soon as she saw the unconscious pout on Wheein's lips.

"My bad," Solar said after clearing . "So I still have two packs of instant noodles, one bottle of grape juice, a few cereal bars, and three apples."

"I have some cereal bars too, banana milk and tangerines," Wheein said, back to the business mode and ignoring Solar's arched eyebrow when she mentioned the banana flavored milk. She didn't have to calculate the supplies they had together to conclude that: "We will need to ration."

"Yes... and we should get more water too and quickly!" the girl said thoughtfully.

Wheein didn't need to ask where they would get water, Solar kindly ordered her to take her bottle and guided the way to a river in the middle of the woods. Wheein was frantically looking around, trying to memorize as many details as possible to get her way back, without talking so as not to lose concentration. Restless as the fear of getting lost added to the fear of being there in the first place.

But Solar seemed to be very confident as she entered the forest more and more. She seemed not to be afraid of getting lost, and it got to Wheein's nerves. It took her a while to notice the reason for Solar's calmness. Pink ribbons marked certain trees, showing the way back for them. "I camped here last night..." she remembered what Solar had said before and frowned. Why the hell did she camp on a deserted island?

When they arrived at the river, Solar celebrated as running to it. Wheein analyzed the surroundings, looking for some imminent danger before she approached the water.

"Do you have any pan in that magical backpack?" Wheein asked, head down as she filled her own bottle.

"Yes, I have a little one."

"Good, we need to boil this water before drinking it," she said nonchalantly and was startled to hear Solar suddenly spit out desperately. What the hell?!

Solar coughed a few times, face worried. As soon as Wheein saw her, she rolled her eyes.

"You were drinking the water, weren't you?" she asked even though she knew the answer.

"How was I supposed to know I needed to boil it before drinking?" Solar replied defensively but then frowned. "Why do we even have to boil the water? It supposed to drink fresh."

"As a precaution since we don't know the quality of this water."

"Oh my God, I didn't think about it... am I going to be sick?!" despair was evident in Solar's voice and expression. Wheein felt a twinge of guilt for that.

"Probably not, it was just a precaution. The water shouldn't be contaminated since the island is uninhabited, don't worry." she tried to reassure the girl, who nodded with a more relieved expression.

Wheein shook her head with a small smile, and turned to the water once more. And then she frowned when she saw a bottle being carried away by the light current of the river.

"Is that your bottle?" she asked and then Solar gasped, getting up to follow the object that was carried away by the water.

Wheein knew it wasn't going to end well, it was a feeling in her gut. Or just logic standing out when she realized Solar's bad idea of ​​trying to get the bottle back.

The branch that the girl picked up was short, and she had to stretch out on the treacherous riverbank to try to get closer to the bottle, it didn't work. Wheein saw Solar fall in slow motion and she wasn't surprised at all, but got worried anyway.

Solar's scream was drowned out by the water and Wheein ran to help her. Once again she predicted the end of that bad idea, but either way, she reached out to the girl when she emerged. As their hands came together in a strong, firm grip, the student felt how treacherous the riverbank was.

Wheein's scream was also drowned out by the water, and she swallowed a bit of it when she fell into the river. The student emerged coughing and Solar helped her to stand on her feet. Where they were, it wasn't deep, the water hit below her chest, but anyway Wheein griped strongly on Solar. Even though she was angry.

"Are you okay?" Solar asked in a worried tone.

"Why are you so damn clumsy, for God's sake?!" she said growling. Irritation and the cold water making her shiver.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean you to fall in the water-"

"Whatever." Wheein cut her off as she headed for the river bank and tried to climb it. Her irritation only increased when Solar tossed the bottle on the ground and held her waist firmly to propel her up.

:::

Soaked and silent, they returned to the path marked by the pink ribbons. There was a strange aura between them, and if Wheein hadn't been so focused on her own irritation, she would've realized that it was coming from Solar. The girl was quieter than she had been since they met a few hours earlier.

Anyway, they arrived at the camp and, while Wheein sat on a rock to wait for the wind to dry her, Solar went straight to her backpack and removed some things. Wheein was taken by surprise when a washcloth was offered to her along with a change of clothes. The student sighed, her irritation finally melting into guilt for being rude to Solar.

"Solar, I'm sorry-" she started, but cut herself off when she turned to Solar, who had her back to her and was already removing her wet clothes. Wheein's face heated up, and fell open. She was very embarrassed, but she couldn't stop looking at the other girl's back.

Those muscles, oh my... and her skin looks so smooth.

Wheein shook her head and her heels when the other girl bent down to remove her pants, the student's face was a bright red. This is not the time to be gay, get a grip on yourself. She exhaled slowly and counted to ten.

"Solar," Wheein started again after clearing . "I shouldn't have talked to you like that and I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, you were pretty rude," Solar replied bitterly. "I'm sure that I'm older than you, and I wish there was some respect for that, Wheein..." she paused, sighing. "Look, I had no intention of taking you down in the river, and I'm sorry for that, too."

"I know, I shouldn't have snapped at you," Wheein said in a small voice.

Solar sighed again.

"Let's forget about this. You better change these wet clothes right away, so you don't catch a cold. I'm going to pick some dry branches to make a fire."

:::

Building the fire was another challenge, as there was nothing to start the flame. They spent a long time beating stones in the hope of sparking dead leaves until they got a little real flame. They both celebrated dancing and Wheein was glad to realize that she wasn't the only one to do strange little dance moves to celebrate an achievement. The student smiled at that.

As they waited for the water to boil, Wheein wondered why Solar had those spare clothes in her backpack.

"I came to camp, remember?" Solar replied with a slightly arched eyebrow.

"Yes, but isn't the rule to bring only what is strictly necessary?" Wheein insisted, frowning as glancing at the other's unnecessarily large backpack.

"The clothes were necessary, weren't they?" Solar replied with a shrug, and she added before Wheein could reply, "And if you disagree, you can return the clothes you wearing right now."

Wheein looked at her in alarm, somehow embarrassed by it. I mean, her clothes were still hanging on a tree to dry, so...

"They were absolutely necessary, thank you!" she replied quickly, Solar laughed with amusement. Oh, she's teasing me.

They were silent for a moment, the starry sky over them, crickets sound mingled with the trees rustle and the sound of waves breaking. If we weren't bickering because of what had happened on the river, we might have enjoyed the sunset together. Wheein thought with some guilt and glanced at the blonde who was standing by the small fire. This would be kinda romantic. Wait. No. What the hell am I thinking? Scratch that.

"Huh... why did you come to camp on a desert island?" Wheein asked genuinely curious.

"It was a challenge for my channel," she replied without looking at Wheein, attention turned to their dinner.

"Channel? Are you youtuber or what?" Wheein asked in a mixture of surprise and skepticism.

"Yes, I'm Solar from Solarsido." the other replied and gasped when she saw the student's confused expression. Wheein had no idea what she was talking about. "You don't know Solarsido?!"

Wheein shook her head.

"Are you sure? The SoLarSiDo ~" she said humming a melody while moving her hand in a cute way. Wheein chuckled, thinking that it was somewhat funny.

Her cheeks are cute. Wheein shook her head again.

"I'm shocked and a bit offended," Solar said looking at her with false indignation.

"I'm sorry...?" She chuckled. "What the type of content of your channel?"

"I do challenges, so it changes with each video and can be anything," Solar said excitedly.

"Like camping on a desert island..."

"Exactly!" The girl's voice grew louder, and she was proud to say that her channel had more than 3 million subscribers. Although Wheein wasn't one of them. Yet.

Solar was passionate, Wheein figured it out. Her eyes shined like or even more than stars as she talked about her challenges and her yongwang-nims. Her excitement got into Wheein in some way, both laughed as they talked.

A