“Please don’t kill me.”

Those were Park Sooyoung’s first words after Seungwan finally got the girl to pick up the phone after repeatedly calling her friend.  The first thing that she wanted to do was yell at her but all she could think about was how much she missed Sooyoung, Seulgi and Joohyun already even though it had been just three days since she got to camp. 

“I’m not going to kill you,” Seungwan said.  “It’s just that it’s been a little crazy.  I think a little break from him would have been nice.”

“I know you’re feeling confused but that’s the point,” Sooyoung told her.  “Feelings are supposed to be confusing.  You’re never going to know if you’re making the right choice but that’s life and we all have to go through this.

“Why are you so spiritually aware at such a young age?” Seungwan asked, sighing into the phone.  “Seriously, no teenager thinks about these things.”

“Everyone thinks about these things but there’s some weird social stigma among our age group that states showing intelligence means you’re a loser.”

“That’s stupid.”

“I know,” Sooyoung chuckled.  “The point is, I think you should give Sehun a real chance.  He’s not like Mark and the last thing he wants to do is break your heart.”

Seungwan hadn’t discussed what she should do about Sehun with any of her friends, mostly because she hadn’t had the time to.  During the last week of school they’d all had final exams and last minute projects to complete, which meant putting their social lives at the back of their minds and then she’d gone straight to camp afterwards.  Now that the conversation was finally happening, she was being encouraged to give Sehun a chance, something that she wanted to do but would not be very wise to do at all.  She had to think about the consequences of letting Sehun into her life, namely that he would end up charming her into having feelings for him and that he would break her heart. 

She knew that he would never mean to do that but there was never any way to tell if he would.  The future was always uncertain.  Sehun could like her today but maybe by tomorrow the chase wouldn’t be as fun anymore or the intrigue would wear off and she would be old news to him.  Love could fade and there was proof of that in the way her feelings for Mark went.  She’d been absolutely certain that she’d loved him at one point and the way that she felt know was a complete contrast to her initial feelings.  Even if Sehun kept all his other promises, he couldn’t promise that he’d never hurt her. 

“I don’t know if he’s worth the pain,” Seungwan said.

“You don’t know if there’s going to be pain,” replied Sooyoung.

Seungwan chuckled, but there was no humor in her words.  “There’s always going to be some kind of pain.  You should know that better than anyone.”

Sooyoung didn’t have a good retort for that one because both of them knew it was true.  Wherever there was a relationship there was bound to be some happiness but that came at the price of sadness.  Sooyoung had gotten out of a relationship with Yifan not without her share of grief and countless nights crying into her pillow at night.

Boys just .  Or rather they expected us girls to them without emotional attachment.

“It’s not going to be like that with every boy.”  Sooyoung tried to say it optimistically but failed, which meant that even she didn’t believe what she was saying. 

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this,” Seungwan said into the receiver.  “I wish I could just trust people; like Joohyun, she’s never mistrustful of anybody, expect for the time when she thought Jongin was a murderer.”

“Let’s be honest, we all believed Jongin could possibly be a murderer.”

“It’s all that black he wears.  I mean, why would you try to dress yourself so hideously?”  Seungwan wondered.  “Thank god Sehun at least looks normal.”

“I see you’re admitting I’m so hot and you totally want me,” Sehun’s voice came from the entrance of the cabin.  Seungwan glared at him and on the other end of the line her friend did nothing to indicate she couldn’t hear what was going on.  Sooyoung began shouting as if she were genuinely angry at their mutual friend.  She separated the phone from her ear and put it on speaker.

“… and you tell that not to wake me up at ungodly hours just so I can tell him that you don’t hate him which he already knows but he’s too insecure and needs to keep hearing it over and over.  And another thing!  He still hasn’t told his mom that I’m not really his girlfriend and the goddamn neighborhood is talking and getting suspicious.  If I see him at all this summer—which I will— you te