Chapter 2 - Nightly Excursion

After their brief conversation, Yujeong and Solbin returned to their cabin to find the rest of the girls waiting for them, including Haeryung. There wasn't a single trace remaining of her teary breakdown, but as soon as Solbin entered the room, Haeryung cowered behind Hayoung. Solbin noticed this immediately and lowered her head in shame, still feeling guilty.

"Don't worry, Solbin. Haeryung will get used to you soon enough." Hayoung comforted the girl as Haeryung peeked at her from over the former's shoulder.

"We're gonna have that covered, right Solbin?" The younger girl felt her cheeks growing warm as the counselor winked at her. She quickly nodded in response.

"Counselor Yujeong, when are we going to have dinner?" Junghwa asked, clutching her growling stomach.

Yujeong glanced at the watch on her wrist. "Oh, dinner will be served at the dining hall soon. Come, I'll take you girls over there right now." She sent a smile Solbin's way before turning on her heel and marching out the door, the other girls trailing behind her.

As Haein, Yulhee, and Solbin lagged in the back as usual, the couple began exchanging suggestive eyebrow movement.

"So, Solbin, what were you doing with Counselor Yujeong while we were gone?"

"Yeah Solbin, tell us. You two even walked off somewhere alone," Haein nudged Solbin's side teasingly, eager to hear more details.

"We talked. She offered to give me lessons on overcoming my shyness." Solbin answered, smiling a bit as she recalled the way Yujeong asked her.

"And...?" Haein added, drawing out the 'a' sound and moving her hand in a circular motion.

"I accepted?" Yulhee and Haein gasped simultaneously, their Solbin was actually willing to interact with people aside from them? This was certainly a revelation they never expected to witness. Solbin merely shrugged her shoulders in response. "I made our cabinmate cry earlier... I don't want it to happen again."

"That's good. But how are you two going to find time to do that?"

"The one hour of free time after dinner. Sorry, I won't be able to spend it with you girls."

"It's alright, Solbin. We hope this will help you tremendously." Yulhee patted Solbin on the head reassuringly before exchanging a few more suggestive eyebrow movements with Haein.

This was surely going to be a very fun and new experience for all of them. 

The dining hall was filled with a lively atmosphere as a multitude of groups entered with their counselors, ready to fill their stomachs with food. Yujeong navigated her entire group through the chaos easily as they slipped into their table with ease.

"And here is our table! We just sit here and the volunteers will bring us our food." Yujeong explained as she took the other seat next to Solbin.

"Hello everyone~" An unfamiliar husky voice greeted. The members of Petit Macaron looked up and saw another counselor (as signified by their printed shirts) smiling down at them. "I'm Soyeon, the counselor for the Red Velvet cabin. I'm good friends with Yujeongie here! Nice to meet you." The grinning newcomer sat down next to Yujeong, who didn't appear nearly as thrilled as her friend.

"Did you leave your kids for our table?" questioned Yujeong instantly as she forgoed the greeting to her fellow counselor.

Still smiling and unperturbed in the slightest, Soyeon waved it off. "They'll be just fine."

Yujeong's concerned expression said otherwise as she turned in her chair and observed the Red Velvet table, in which one of the girls hopped onto the table screaming, "Sometimes you gotta be bold!" while the other girls cheered in agreement.

Soyeon nodded at Yujeong when the other turned back around in her seat, "See? Just fine."

Yujeong gave Soyeon a look of disapproval but that was completely ignored... as usual.

"Anyways, it seems that Petit Macaron has some rather cute kids." Soyeon pointed out, her eyes scanning the members' faces and stopping on Solbin. "What's your name?"

The painfully shy girl averted her eyes and began playing with the edge of her napkin out of a nervous twitch, muttering, "Solbin."

"What was that?" Soyeon cupped a hand around her ear and leaned closer to the younger girl.

"Her name is Solbin." Yujeong cut in waving Soyeon away from Solbin. "She's a bit shy..."

"Oh, I have a kid like that too. Irene. She's beginning to open up though, with Seulgi's help. However, I suspect that she'll begin to open up in ways more than one. Take that as you will," grinned Soyeon with a thumbs up.

The majority of the girls present turned bright red, Hayoung's hands flew up to cover a clueless Haeryung's ears, and Solbin simply didn't understand. Judging by her cabinmates' reactions, it wasn't going to be something she was interested in knowing anyway. The volunteers seemed puzzled as they approached the relatively quiet Petit Macaron table and brought them their food.

"Soyeon!" Yujeong hissed. "Don't bring up these kinds of topics, especially at the table."

"Come on Yujeong, these are perfectly healthy teenagers. Last summer, I caught my kids going at it all the time. The fresh mountain air, the great outdoors - when will they ever get another opportunity to do these kinds of things?"

"You need to watch what you're saying." Yujeong warned, picking up her fork.

"You need to get laid," replied Soyeon nonchalantly unafraid of Yujeong's threat.

The fork in Yujeong's hand clattered to the floor as her jaw dropped. Soyeon did not seriously just say that.

One of the volunteers cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of the bickering counselors. "Pardon me for the interruption but the head counselor is calling for a brief meeting."

"No need to be so formal, Kevin." Soyeon said as she rose from her seat. "I know you and Kiseop have been quite intimate with each other as of late."

The addressed boy blushed and whipped around, scurrying away in embarrassment before anyone could utter another a word. Yujeong rolled her eyes and stood up. "How are we going to get food if you scare away our servers?"

"I was just being friendly." Soyeon began heading toward the dining hall exit, with Yujeong in tow.

"Your idea of 'friendly' is unsettling for most people you encounter," muttered Yujeong loud enough for Soyeon to catch it.

"Please, I am as dignified as can be," replied Soyeon, head held high.

Yujeong really just had no response to that as she followed after the other.

Yulhee and Haein stared at Solbin, who was strangely smiling to herself as everyone commenced eating. Just before she left, Yujeong gave the girl a couple of encouraging pats on the shoulder. The couple conversed in hushed tones.

"Yulhee, do you think...?"

"Maybe? Let's not assume anything yet..."

"Let's encourage it though."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I don't think it's a bad one?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Junghwa piped up from across the table, curious and a bit bored as Yeoreum refused to speak while she was eating.

"Nothing! The food is not that bad, huh?" Yulhee and Haein grinned at Junghwa who smiled adn nodded in return.

Although Solbin's friends didn't miss the intriguing phenomenon of her face lighting up as soon as Yujeong returned to the table, smiling at her as usual. They exchanged knowing looks and sly winks.

Dinner ended soon enough leaving everyone to move on to the next activity. Free time.

"How was dinner, girls?" Yujeong questioned as she walked the Petit Macaron members back to their cabin.

"It was delicious!" Junghwa shouted, raising her arms in the air happily.

"Anything is good when you're hungry. No matter how repulsive..." Yeoreum quietly added, walking alongside her cheerful friend.

"We're back. It seems that we've returned a little early but that'll be good for you girls, because there's more than an hour of free time now. When it hits eight o'clock, we have another activity to do. So if you're planning on leaving the cabin, make sure you return before that time."

All the girls save for Solbin and Yujeong entered the cabin excitedly, talking amongst themselves about their experiences so far and what the next activity will be like. 

"Good luck, Solbin!"

"Fighting, Solbin!"

Haein and Yulhee whispered to their friend, hoping to give Solbin some last minute pieces of courage, before going into the cabin themselves.

After all the girls had gone, Yujeong turned to Solbin, beaming at the younger girl. "Shall we go?"

A small nod and a soft "Yes" was Solbin's immediate response.

Solbin's heart raced inside of her chest as she followed Yujeong deeper into th