Summer Detour [Book 2] | Pentagon ✔

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6
Campground
Hyunjoo

I regret what I said immediately. Great. Now he thinks I'm really a weirdo. I can't even face him.

"You won't feel like you belong if you don't have the right people with you." he said. I turned to look at him and he smiled at me faintly.

When we were in high school, I didn't think Hongseok was nice but it seems to me like he turned over a new leaf. Can people really change so much in a year?

I heard he was always getting in trouble, but now he looks like an angel ready to console and guide me to the right path. I shook my head a little at the thought.

"I mean, if you find the right person you're comfortable with, no matter what you do, you'll enjoy it. You'll belong." he continued when I didn't move.

I sat far enough from him. I grabbed a stick and doodled on the sand. "Thanks for taking me in today." I told him softly.

"Did you run away?" he asked directly.

I took my time to answer this. Maybe he thinks I'm weird and slow. Now, he's going to think I'm a rebel too. "Pathetic, right?" I said with a nervous chuckle.

He grinned. Maybe I loved this moment. The sound of the waves crashing to the shore, the chilly breeze of summer night; and it's quiet enough that it's comfortable. Hongseok and I only know each other by what we heard from high school, but this is okay. I like that he doesn't know me well, and that I do not know him wellㅡbecause this way, I could be how I want to be, if I have the courage. "Well, I guess I'm pathetic then." he said.

My eyes widened, and then I remembered what Seonho said back in the van.

"Is this why you ran away?"

I gasped. "Oh no! I didn't mean toㅡI mean, Iㅡ"

He laughed, his charm even back then was undeniable. "It's alright, Hyunjoo. I'm taking no offense."

I looked away shyly. "Well, at least you got a nice van."

"Just saying, you're not supposed to walk under the summer heat for the whole day. You'll just get yourself knocked out."

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking straight."

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

"No!ㅡI mean, you should go back to the party..."

He smiled and got up. "Are you coming or not?"

"What? Where?"

"To drive."

"Oh," I said, "Are you sure?"

#

Hongseok

"WHAT!"

I stared at Hyunjoo who's looking like a child who just did something she shouldn't. She was sitting on my bed with her backpack.

"I was planning on camping. I was going to search some places up and walk there. Sleep in a tent and sleeping bag but things didn't go as planned." she explained in a low voice.

"No," I said.

"What?"

"You are camping? Alone, you say?"

"Why?" she asked, unsmiling.

I blinked, rubbing the back of my neck and sighed. "I mean, it could be dangerous. You can't camp alone especially if you didn't plan it well."