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Freedom. Jungwon smiled, dimples in full bloom bidding his friends farewell for the summer. As he walked towards his parents car, university students from each year jumped around in excitement conspiring plans for their long summer break.
 

Jungwon sighed, he would probably be doing the same thing right now with his friends but his parents were a bit more traditional. They were dead set on paving the future for their youngest son. His older sister Chaewon, was already moved out and working on her career in the states as a performance arts professor. 

Jungwon was proud of his noona, she was the closest person to him growing up. When they were young, Chaewon would always make time to play and cook food for him during the times their parents travelled for work.

Chaewon was always ambitious with what she wanted and Jungwon was happy to call her his big sister, which was one of the many reasons he wanted to make his family proud. Especially Chae. 

His parent's had some friends who owned a summer camp a little bit aways from the city of Seoul. It was a chance to show his parents that he was capable of being independent so he could move out after he finished university.

He only had one year left to get his bachelor's in business management and officially call himself an adult. Jungwon always felt his parent's 'baby' him ever since he was born, so this was his chance to show them he wasn't a kid anymore. 

"Hey.." Jungwon smiled at his parents as he sat in the back, closing the passenger door after himself.

"How was your day Jungwonnie?" His mother turned towards him as she gently smiled, the dimples on her cheeks prominant, just like her sons. His father also turning to smile at him from the drivers seat.

"It was good! I'm just excited for Monday, I hope it goes well." Jungwon almost mumbles the last part, he didn't want his parents to worry about him while he was away for three months.

He remembers his first summer camp, it was filled with adventure and self discovery, he hoped he could be that pillar for the young kids and help them achieve those similar feelings or goals he had.

"We know you're going to do great son." His father replied, trying to ease his anxious mind.

"Make sure you follow the intructions we gave you, Mr. Park's son is going to help you get accomodated. You both are about the same age-"

"I think he's older hunny." His father interrupted.

"Ah," His mother chuckled, "well either way, as your father said, you'll do great. Even better than great, amazing!" 

Jungwon giggled at his parents way of helping him cool down for the coming week. Luckily the weekend hit right before so he was going to make sure he took his time preparing.

He bought a few stickers to ditribute to the little ones, as well as a few assentials and neccessities that he may need for the three months he was living there. He was 19 years old yet this is his first time being away from home for so long. No wonder his parents always treated him like a baby.

Jungwon gently shook his head and smiled, "I got everything ready. All there is left to do is get there and start work. It'll work out just fine, and i'll call you guys when I get there. Thank you for helping me get this job for the summer, it's going to help me a lot on my resume."

"There you go! Being positive is always the best way to go." His father said encouragingly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Park kind of owe us a favour from way back, so don't be stressed at all. Use this as a chance to make some new friends along the way." His mother chimed in. 

 

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The weekend went by in a whim and Jungwon felt like he was ready, but not ready at the same time. He had somewhat of a difficult time trudging his luggage from the shuttle stop to the camp site, he wished he didn't pack so much but he could never be sure.
 

His parent's offered to drive him to the camp site but he reassured them that he'd be fine getting there on his own. Plus a four hour car ride just to make it to the camp was a bit too exhausting for Jungwon to accept such an offer.

Nevertheless, he was excited yet a bit shy to offcially start his summer job. He hoped he'd get a long with the staff and the kids...speaking of kids. Children ages five to nine years of age were screaming and running around the camp. This was nothing new to Jungwon.

He's had a few summer camp gigs that gained him the experience of dealing with irrate and needy children. So when his parents told him a family friend of theirs needed to fill a position at their camp, he happily obliged.

He was not only doing a favor and helping out his parents by making a good impression, but he was also going to make some extra cash on the side. 

He didn't mind having to wake up early in the morning, to wake up the kids as well and get them to compete in activities, eat, play, and do everything all over again. He loved children and he thought that he can use this as a small break from everyday life.

Now where could the camp office be? Jungwon looked down at the map that was given to him by his parens, walking at the same time. He wished he wrote down the name of Mr. and Mrs. Parks son, was it Jaa-....Ja- something. He shook his head, it was definitely an american name. Not looking at where he was stepping, a branch protruding from the ground sends his body to tumble out in front.

"EEeeek-" Jungwon closed his eyes as he waited to hit the ground.

Nothing.

He felt warm, strong arms holding him by the waist. Jungwon slowly opened his eyes, a chest in his view as his palms lay flat against it. He could feel the beating of the other person's heart as they held onto him tightly.

"Are you gonna keep fondling my chest or do you need me to take you to the nurse?" A deep teasing voice broke Jungwon out of his trance.

What was he thinking?! Jungwon thought to himself. He immediately pushed himself away from the strange muscular man's body. "I'm so sorry, thank you for helping me." Jungwon said, bowing his head before looking up at the man who saved him from falling on his face. 

Beautiful. 

The man in front of him was gorgeous. A deep blush crept its way onto his face as he shyly tried to look at anything other than the handsome man's face. He failed in doing so as his eyes followed every inch of the taller mans face. It was well sculpted, as if he was god's favourite child.

He had a strong jaw line and sharp eyebrows, with eyes that looked innocent and pure, but his silver coloured hair claimed the opposite. It was different and so unique, unlike his own black hair. Jungwon was mesmerized. 

"It's all good. Make sure you watch where you're going next time, you wouldn't wanna get yourself hurt." Lips lifting in a small smirk, a dimple appears and Jungwon couldn't help but stare a little at the aura of mystery surrounding the man.

"My name is Jay." the silver haired man named Jay held out his hand as a way to shake Jungwon's in a greeting. 

"J-Jungwon." He cursed himself for stuttering his own name, he raised his hand to shake the one waiting in front of him. Warmth cursed through them as they both lingered in the touch. Jay's hand felt rough yet strong and soft. Their hands fit perfectly together. 

"Nice to meet you Jungwon." Jay's lips lifted, the small smirk sent butterflies to Jungwon's stomach. 

"Likewise." The latter gently smiled as he looked at the other's eyes peering down at him. Jay was taller and more muscular, making Jungwon feel like he could get swallowed. His own small and frail body making him self concious standing next to the taller. 

"If you're looking for the camp office, you're going the right way, just keep walking past until you reach the archery posts. You won't miss it."

"Ah yes!" Jungwon's eyes widened, he almost forgot why he was here in the first place. "Thank you so much. That's exactly the place I was looking for." He smiled brightly at Jay. 

"I should go, thank you again." Jungwon said, slowly and almost unwillingly letting go of Jay's hand. Their fingers slowly grazing one another as they parted.

"Anytime. Make sure to ask for Jake, he should be in the right now."

Jungwon nodded at the instruction. They met one another's eyes for the last time as they both simply smiled, the shorter gave a small wave as he turned and walked away.

A few moments later, he turned around as curiosity ran through him, he can see Jay's figure moving further away from him as he walked away. Jungwon sighed, a small smile creeping up on his face. He really hoped he would see Jay again soon.

"Okay Jungwon, get a hang of yourself." Jungwon whispered to himself as he breathed out gently, he made his way to the cabin that read 'Camp Office'. He was glad he had Jay's help, he wasn't really good with directions, no less a map.

Pulling the door open, Jungwon see's a large desk surrounded by bookshelves and children's paintings, paperwork and drawings littered the space as he noticed a young looking man hunched over a filing cabinet in the corner. 

"Hello." Jungwon greeted as he slowly made his way into the cabin and towards the other male.

Turning around, the man lets out a bright smile at the newcomer in the room. "Welcome. What can I help you with?"

Jungwon appreciated the mans bright personality, it put his nerves at little more at ease. "Nice to meet you, my name is Yang Jungwon. I was told to ask for Jake?"

"Ah, you came to the right place. And you found the right guy! Nice to meet you Jungwon. You must be our newest camp councelor! I am your camp supervisor while Heesung is doing other duties. I was just looking for your file actually, we've been running a bit behind today, sorry for the mess." The man named Jake explained, his hand scratching the back of his neck in embaressment.

"No worries at all! Nice to meet you too, I'm excited to help the best I can." Jungwon said.

"Well we really appreciate you're help! One of our other camp councelors got the flu and gave it to two of our other staff. So we've been doing our best to maintain the balance of all the children's schedules. I'll show you around and introduce you to the other staff that you'd be working alongside. We're all friends here so we try to help one another out the best we can." Jake explained, his hands going back to dig through the filing cabinet. "Found it!" He pulled out a file with Jungwon's name on it.

Jungwon smiled, everyone here seemed really nice or at least pretty welcoming. He was glad his parents had a friend who owned this camp, however, he could only wonder who this family friend was. It could be Jake, it could also be...Jay. They were both foreign names that started with a 'J'.

Jungwon felt his face start to heat up. Probably not. Back in the day, his parents would travel a lot to the states for work so they were bound to make some friends. But he didn't know of any korean families his parents would have befriended along the way.

Jungwon always liked to stay in his room and play anyways, he wasn't much of an extrovert like his older sister. She held the title of being the most sociable, he appreciated being on his own the most.

It was just something he liked, he was also never too shy to come out of his shell when he needed to, Chaewon said it made him endearing and he took pride in that.

"Alright, we just have to get you your cabin keys and you're all set." Jake said excitedly as he filled out a form in Jungwon's file. "The others are gonna appreciate all the help they can get, especially with your experience."

Jungwon let out a chuckle, "Thank you, I'm excited to start!"

"Let me show you around and introduce you to the team. I'm sure they're dying to know who our newest recruit is."

Jungwon nodded excitedly, his deep dimples making Jake swoon at his cuteness. "They're one thousand percent going to love how cute you are too!" The older clapped happily as he poked one of Jungwons dimples.

The latter just laughed gently at his camp supervisor's childlike behaivior. He was just as adorable and Jungwon was happy he met a friend like Jake. He seemed to resemble a golden retriever and it made the younger chuckle even more.

 

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 `·. to be continued ★°*ﾟ