Ruyeon—or Hoya—had his arm around my shoulders and mine was wrapped around his waist as we walked back to the camp together. We were even bouncing up and down as if we turned back to our younger selves. We were laughing about random things, so random that I think other people wouldn’t understand our humor even a single bit.

When the camp emerged in our sight, I was surprised to see Myungsoo walking around. At the looks of it, I think he was to wake up first among the others. At first, he didn’t notice us since he was looking around for something.

“What woke you up so early?” Hoya suddenly asked. Myungsoo jumping in shock was quite a rare and funny sight. He didn’t answer first as he scanned the way Hoya and I were glued to each other.

“Nothing,” his eyes narrowed. “How about the two of you? Why were you alone at dawn?”

“Just talked about some matters,” Hoya grinned and looked at me. I nodded and grinned as well. Myungsoo’s eyes snapped towards me and glared, startling me.

“I see. I guess that conversation ended very well for both of you.” With that, he turned around and went back inside their cottage, forgetting all about whatever he has been looking for.

Hoya chuckled out of the blue. I raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner.

“It looks like he’s annoyed at me again.”

“Oh yes, about that.” I retrieved my hand and he did the same. Finally, we were separated. “Ever since we played spin the bottle, I haven’t seen the two of you do anything aside from exchange hateful looks. You’re under the same team, so you should be going well with each other.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like it would affect our performances.”

“Why does he dislike you anyway?”

He pointed at me in a childish way, “Because I act bubbly and bright around you. He thinks I’m trying to fool you. They don’t know this side of me, you see.”

“Why would he even bother himself about that?” I mumbled it more to myself, but Hoya heard and chuckled.

“He’s the only one that can answer that question.” After tapping my head, he jogged back to his cottage. I stood there in confusion, but then shrugged it off and decided to go back to my cottage too.

*********

“Is everything already in the car?” Sunggyu yelled at everybody, but no one was listening to him. He rubbed his temple and muttered something like, “These kids don’t respect me at all.” I chuckled and went back inside to get my last luggage. It was the last day of our “1 week vacation” and we decided to start packing everything before lunch. Everyone was too busy fixing their own things.

On my way out, I almost bumped into Emmi, who was spacing out in the middle of the doorway. I was about to speak but I realized that she was actually looking at something. I followed her gazed and smiled when I realized it was actually “someone.”

“You’re thinking about telling him already, right?” Emmi gasped in surprise. She clasped her heart and sighed when she saw it was just me. She glanced at Sunggyu again before dropping her eyes to her feet.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m contemplating over whether our current relationship is already fine, or tell him about our past which, I think, wouldn’t change the situation that much.”

“Why not? At least you told him, right?” If you being a close fan is already good enough for you, and that wouldn’t change even if you tell him, doesn’t that mean that there’s nothing to lose?”

“But what if he doesn’t remember? That will be absolutely humiliating.” She winced. I rubbed my imaginary beard in thought.

“If he doesn’t remember you, tell him about the things that you did together that he might remember again immediately. He didn’t tell the whole story during the spin the bottle, did he?” Emmi shook her head. “So, if you know the other details, that means you certainly were acquainted with him. Even if he claims he doesn’t remember, at least he knows that there are memories to be remembered.”

Emmi’s worried face slowly turned to a hopeful one. Her eyes widened as a smile spread across her face. She jumped and hugged me tightly. “You’re right! Thank you soooo much Yuan! You are so wise!”

I chuckled and patted her back. “You’re going to tell him now, promise?”

I held out my pinky and she did not hesitate to hook it with hers. “Promise. But I think not today.”

“What? Why?”

“I want to tell him when it’s just the two of us. I believe he’ll be quite busy today since he will try best to take care of the members. He’s a hardworking leader.”

“Okay then. Take your time, as long as you’ll tell him in the end. Inform me when you already did so, arasso?”

“Ne~” she smiled. Then her eyes widened as she realized something. “My things! I haven’t brought out any of them!”

I chuckled as she ran back to our room. When I turned around, I almost bumped into another person again. It was Hoya.

“Aigoo~ Seriously, I might get a heart attack today! So many people appearing out of nowhere!”

“Want me to help you?” he was grinning like a child and grabbed my luggage before I could even answer. I sighed.

“Hoya—Ruyeon—I’m not even sure what to call you…”

“Just go with Howon like always, but that doesn’t mean I can’t act like Ruyeon anymore.” I showed a slight smile when he glanced at me. He placed my luggage at the trunk of the car together with the other bags. I thanked him and he ran off, saying that he had to get something. When I was about to walk away, too, I almost bumped into another person.

Seriously?

“What did the two of you talk about this morning?” Myungsoo asked coldly. I was confused as to why he was curious about that, but I still answered.

“Some misunderstandings.” I tried to walk away but he grabbed my arm.

“Oh, so you understand each other now? You understand each other so well that you can walk around side by side like you’re couples glued to each other?”

“What’s wrong with that?” I suddenly remembered what Howon told me. “If this is because you still think that he’s fooling me, then you’re wrong. I know him better than you.”

“Is that because of your conversation about ‘misunderstandings’?”

“What is your problem?” he was starting to annoy me. I might like him, yes, but that doesn’t remove the fact that he’s annoying. I tried to yank off my arm but his grip was too strong.

“You know him better than me? I’ve spent years seeing him every day. You only knew him for a few months.”

“The length of time doesn’t matter. What matters is how much you know about him. What’s the sense of being with him every day, if all you do is look at each other and exchange a few words? You may know his personality or his abilities, but I might know the reason why his personality is like that or how he acquired those abilities.”

He was caught off guard. I yanked my arm again and walked away. I think I hit the bull’s eye.

***********************************