⤭ in which two camp counselors meet after 9 years, trying to forget about their embarrassing past encounter. between managing schedules, teaching classes and intense games of kickball, something between them ignites. and it seems to be even brighter...
the female counselors are in beomgyu and chaeryoung's room, changing into their specific cabin t-shirts and getting prepared for the opening of the camp.
melody sits in the corner, anxiously playing with her fingers. chae sits down next to her, squeezing her tight. "don't be nervous, it's a ton of fun!"
hitomi joins in on their group hug saying, "you'll be great."
olivia's not one for too much physical contact but she pats melody on the head gently, showing her encouragement.
"thanks guys. i'll do my best." melody beams in response.
as soon as she finishes, four boys burst through the door, excited smiles and mischievous eyes darting from each other to the girls.
"ready?" youngbin asks, enthusiastically clapping his hands together.
"yeah...i think so." melody answers, a shy smile forming as she makes eye contact with the head counselor standing behind him.
"well then, what are we waiting for? let's go!" beomgyu cheers, slipping his hand into chae's and running out the door towards the front entrance.
the others follow in suit until only melody and geonu are left.
he turns to her, "anxious?"
"a little, but i should be okay."
"they'll love you." he reassures, pressing his hand to the small of her back and guiding her outside.
the two make their way to the front desk and start registering kids of all different ages. melody falls in love with the way the kids' eyes shine as they strap on different colored wristbands, wave goodbye to their parents and run to meet up with old friends. all of her worry slips out of her as she sees their carefree and buoyant spirits.
standing next to geonu, she's highlighting names on the registration list as two boys come up to the table. "niki and daniel" geonu mentions to her and she strikes the names off with the bright yellow ink.
"hey boys! how was your year?" geonu asks as he straps two bright orange bands around their wrists. "are you ready for camp?"
"we're always ready! but i already made a bet with ni-ki that i'm going to climb the rockwall faster than him this year." the taller of the two says, pointing at his shorter friend.
"it's not gonna happen, bro." the second boy disagrees, who melody presumes is ni-ki. "is k not counseling this year?"
"unfortunately not, but we do have a new counselor." the head counselor hints, tilting his head towards the girl. he leans in to whisper to the boys, "be nice, i kind of want this one to not hate it here."
niki smirks gently at the older male in front of him, "as in you-"
"it's not like that. well, i don't know yet, okay? just please be good and-"
daniel puts a hand up to stop him from rambling any longer. "trust me, we got this." then he moves in front of melody exclaiming loudly, "you must be the new counselor! i'm very excited to meet you! hi~ i'm daniel! and this is...dude, introduce yourself."
"i'm ni-ki." ni-ki's stoic expression remains as he gives the smiling girl a once-over, looks over to geonu and back at daniel who was waiting for his continuation. ni-ki gives her a small smile and says, "and you seem pretty cool, i guess. i think you'll like it here."
with that ni-ki walks away, daniel skipping along behind him as they congregate with lots of other kids in the pit.
"wow, i can't believe you won ni-ki over that fast." geonu comments as the line slows down.
"he didn't seem to like me very much." melody sighs.
"he just puts on a cold front when he meets strangers. in a few days, he'll be bouncing off the walls around you, i'm sure of it." geonu pouts a bit with his next statement. "he's almost never reacted to anyone like that. all i got was a nod and cold stare when i first met him."
"there there, you poor thing." melody coos at the geonu's unintentional cuteness as she lightly pinches his cheeks. "he likes you now, so stop pouting and focus on our job, mr. head counselor."
although geonu rolls his eyes, his heart is happy. he could definitely get used to this.
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