The weekend passed without me knowing that it already had. Maybe because I stayed with my family during the weekends, visited Jongin's family during Saturday and played chess with Mr.Kim, but I never even had a glimpse of him at all during those two days. I didn't really expect anything much from him though, since he told me beforehand how he’s going to be busy during the weekends. I just don't know how he wasn’t able to make time to visit me or just even call me.

I understand that he must probably be very busy due to the fact that he’s suddenly attending meetings in behalf of his father—since clingy girl told her father that she will only attend meetings if Jongin will be there. Her father is a good friend of Mr. Kim, an important stockholder of the hospitals they own in Seoul, so saying ‘no’ to the other man’s request to bring Jongin to the meetings wouldn’t be prudent in his case.

Jongin assured me that attending events with Haera was just because he wanted to help his father. And I understand that well enough. In fact I am proud of him doing something for his father. I also don’t mind him going to event with that clingy girl. I’m just bothered about her, because she’s starting to up her game and I can’t do anything to stop her from doing so because I understand that Jongin’s family’s friendship and partnership with the Lee Family will be at stake.

I tried everything to keep understanding him. I get mad at him at times for neglecting me these past few days, but it would go away after it just came. I'm at a point where I am so frustrated with him but I couldn't just get it out on him because I know it will only lead us to a pointless fight. So, as much as I really miss him, I decided to avoid him and let myself cool down for a while. The camping trip will probably do me good, as much as I am not expecting anything, I hope that I'd be able to forget all my troubles for a while in these three days.

"Honey, are you all set?" I heard mom say as she peeked from my slightly opened door with a wide grin on her lips.

I heaved one last look at my reflection on the mirror and bobbed my head to tell her that I'm already done preparing. "I'll come down in a minute." I told her, and she nodded before disappearing from my doorway.

I picked up the backpack I had stuffed with my necessities for camping and slung its straps around my shoulders. It was a little heavy since I filled it with 5 sets of clothing, bathing paraphernalia, some medicine, and other stuff Minhyuk deemed proper for my survival in the camping site since it’s my first time and he's quite the expert at this sort of trip.

I grabbed the doorknob as I heaved one last look at my room to check if I actually left anything behind, and opened the door to get out. I walked through the hallway of our floor and climbed down the stairs to bid my parents goodbye since they won’t be able to come to school with me to see me depart for the mountains.

"Behave well and make sure to be careful, alright?" Mom uttered out before pushing my fringe to the side of my face and kissing my forehead.

I smiled and nodded to assure her. "I'll remember that."

I turned to dad and he pulled me in for a hug before giving my head a soft kiss. "Call us if something happens." I bobbed my head a couple of times to answer him and slipped my arms around his waist to return the hug.

We pulled away from each other and I turned to my brother who was already outside waiting for me since he will be the one driving me to school. I waved my parents one last goodbye and I went out of our gate so I could put my bag at the backseat of Minhyuk’s car. After doing so, I opened the door of the passenger's side and heaved one last look at the Kim Residence out of habit just to admire it again. But to my utter surprise, a pair of eyes, of a boy standing in front of the huge castle, met mine. I was really not expecting to see him that soon that I gasped at the sight of him smiling at me so pleasantly when he saw me. I was momentarily in a frozen state because of shock, not knowing what to do, but when Minhyuk told me to hop in, I looked away from Jongin without even returning his smile and got inside my brother's car in a haste before I could even change my mind.

Avoid him. Avoid him for a while. I reminded myself.

"Let's go." I told my brother as I fastened my seatbelt and slumped back on my seat as I sighed tiredly.

The car engine revved to life and in no time we were speeding up along the main road to school. The ride wasn't as long as I had whenever I would travel during rush hours so we managed to get to school in half an hour. Minhyuk parked his car in front of the gates of our school and I unbuckled my seatbelt as my brother rushed out of his side of the car and grabbed my bag from the backseat. I got out of his car and he slid the straps over my shoulders before turning me around to face him. He smiled as he placed his hands on my shoulders and stared at me with a different kind of twinkle in his eyes.

"Remember," He uttered out to me, "just have fun and let loose, alright?" I nodded as a response to his words and smiled.

"That's all I needed to hear. Thanks." I told him with a smile, and though he looked like he was left clueless as to why I said that, I just patted his arm and scurried away feeling a bit lighter because of his simple remark that made me realize how I should treat this trip as a real vacation where I just have to relax and let go of everything.

I saw Hani & Maeri waving by the distance near one of the buses. Behind them were the boys, entertaining Luhan who just got a pass at the last minute from the hospital to let him join the camping trip for three days. He was supposed to stay at the hospital for quite a while, but the boys knew how badly Luhan wants to be in this trip that they begged Director Kim to give him a 3 day break. The old man was at first reluctant, since he explained how Luhan was not in the best shape right now, but because the boys didn’t stop bothering him he just gave them the pass they needed and told them to never come to him again because meeting them was a nightmare. Luhan would need to come back to the hospital after the camping trip though, as quickly as he can, since he was advised to take some rest while undergoing his therapies.

“Hey!” Hani chirped as she ran to me before I could even get close to them. She held my arms and twirled us around before finally pulling me for a hug. I was too dizzy from the spin that I just patted her back to suggest for her to get off me because I was feeling a bit uncomfortable already.

She pulled away and grinned sheepishly at me before mouthing an apology.  “Sorry.”

“No worries.” I assured her, and she excitedly pulled me going to where Maeri was.

Hani started a conversation among us, she was saying this and that about the trip, informing me things that I should expect but I was too out of it that I somehow missed half of what she was saying. I just faked a smile, and pretended I was listening, despite that I was suddenly not feeling all too well. Maybe it was the cold weather doing all these unusual sensations in my head, pricking my skull that I suddenly felt a pang and I winced as I massaged my temple.

“Are you okay?” I suddenly heard Maeri ask. I blinked my eyes at her, trying to comprehend what just happened. But the pain attacked again, that I briefly squinted my eyes as I tried not to make a sound for them not to notice I was suddenly not feeling all too well. A nod was my response.

“Are you sure? You look pale.” Yixing suddenly came to view. My vision was a bit blurry, but I can make out how he was about to touch me, that I held his wrist and told him I was just fine.

When the teacher’s told us to finally board our buses, I was glad that their attention got diverted to queuing for the bus. I lined up with Luhan next to me, behind Hani & Maeri, since we decided to sit together in the bus. Suho was with Yixing. While Xiumin more than willingly accepted Kris’ proposition to sit with him.

“You’re pale.” Luhan uttered softly as we were moving in the line.

I looked at him and tried to put up a smile to assure him that I was okay. “I just feel a bit dizzy, that’s all.” I told him.

He nodded, even though he looked like he was still worried about me. “Just sleep on my shoulder then when we finally have a seat.” He offer