Nobody informed me that the camp was huge. I spent the last two hours trying to find the cabin assigned to me… and I was still lost. And on top of everything, my bags were extremely heavy! Why did I even bring too much clothes!? Oh yes, it was because of my unhealthy obsession in wearing something white. We were going to spend a month in a camp so I was sure that my white pants, white shoes, white shirts, white pillowcases and white blankets would easily get dirty. My blame towards the heavy bags was gone. But I still couldn’t find my cabin. I wouldn’t be lost if only I caught up with the bus! In that aspect, I blamed Sungmin. He prepared lots of food for breakfast and persuaded me to try them all before heading off to camp. They were indeed delicious… so I forgot about the bus schedule. All of them left without me!

“Cabin 17!” I shouted with glee when I finally found that blasted cabin.

I took out the key from my pocket and opened the door. As expected, my cabin-mate’s things were already there and I noticed that he didn’t unpack yet. Maybe they were all called for breakfast when they got here. I placed my bags on the other side of the room and I instantly changed the bed sheets of my bed.

The cabin looked comfortable. There was a huge rug with intricate designs in the middle of the room. Two study desks were placed on both ends of the room near the beds and there were cabinets. After I changed the bed sheets, I worked on the pillowcases. I took out a small vial of ointment from one of my bags and spread a few drops on the pillows. The scent of that ointment always helped me fall asleep and relaxed my nerves.

I left the cabin after I unpacked my clothes. At first I thought about going to the canteen but I decided to go to the recreation cabin that I passed by earlier while looking around. After a few minutes, I reached the rec. cabin. The instant I entered, I felt lonely because everyone had someone to talk to and do activities with. I was all alone. I wasn’t able to persuade Sungmin to come to the camp because he often listened to his roommate who spent more time in the virtual world. Out of habit whenever I felt sad, I sat at a bench near the wall, took out a small white stress ball from my pocket, and bounced it against the concrete wall. As the stress ball bounced back and forth, I smiled to myself when I remembered the very first time I did that…

It was the first week of Elementary School and I still felt nervous so I decided to stay at the gym. As I looked around, a kid came and sat a few feet away from me. He took out two small balls from his bag and then he started to throw one against the wall. I continued to stare at him. He was quite chubby compared to me. His eyebrows were creased as if he was going through a hard time. That time I got curious if his problems included challenging homework and terror teachers. After a while, he looked at me. I flashed him a smile. My family and other relatives always asked me to smile because they said I had a smile of an angel with my little dimples and it always made them feel good. To my surprise, he smiled back and then handed me one of the small balls. I took it and threw it against the wall like he did. I must’ve threw it hard because it didn’t bounce back to me… it flew directly against the face of Coach Siwon.

That was also the first time I saw Coach Siwon. He was just a trainee coach back then and eventually got promoted as Head Coach. He was scrawny back then but we were scared of him.

“Sorry sir…” the kid stood up.

“Was that yours?” Coach Siwon looked down and he didn’t seem angry anymore when he saw the chubby kid “be careful next time.”

The kid nodded and the coach left without another word. He sat back down on the bench and smiled at me again, his eyes narrowed more.

“Thanks!” I said and handed him back the ball “I’m Jungsoo!”

“You can keep that…” he said “if you let me call you Leeteuk instead! I’m Youngwoon by the way. Would you like to eat lunch with me?”

“Sure!” I cheekily replied “…if you let me call you Kangin!”

I smiled again to myself upon remembering that day. It didn’t make any sense why we chose to give each other nicknames but I was glad we did. I threw the ball against the wall of the recreation cabin again and got distracted when the doors opened… and Kangin entered. He looked around for a while and then his gazed landed on me. I felt my heart skip a beat. He casually walked towards my spot but he sat a few feet away from me… like the first time we met. He pulled out a stress ball from his pocket and started to throw it against the wall too. I never thought he would sign up to join camp and I got nervous when I saw him again. It was nearly three years since we last spoke to each other and I still couldn’t figure out what happened between us. As I threw my white stress ball, he turned his head and looked at me. The ball should have been in my hand by then but it wasn’t. I turned around and saw the head coach behind me. He shook his head and held out a little white ball. He looked pissed again… the way he looked seven years ago when I first threw a ball against a wall.