Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
[July 19, 2015] You don’t really know how you got here, standing in front of a mostly empty Aphrodite cabin. God, if Wooyoung saw you here you would never hear the end of it. Alas, Changbin had grown tired of your moping and all but dragged you down here. It’s funny, your Dad and siblings are some of the most confident people at camp, maybe in all of New York, but here you are struggling to enter the threshold of the cabin.
When you finally enter the cabin it’s empty, except for a boy sitting on a bunk with a ukulele, humming hey jude by the beatles. When he sees you, his focused look turns into a fond smile, despite never having met you before. His eyes rake over your clothes. A band tee and a pair of ripped jeans you got from a sibling that don’t quite fit. “Changbin must have sent you!” He chirps, putting his ukulele down before getting up and pulling a chair over from a nearby vanity. You nod while he motions for you to sit down.
“So …” he muses, sitting back down on his bunk and tucking his ukulele under his arm again. “I’m Chan, your local Australian therapist.” He chuckles as if it’s a joke he’s told many times. He probably has. “I’m Y/N,” you reply, trying to look everywhere but his face. Scanning over the many makeup brushes, the obnoxiously pink walls, and the hair dryers set up in one corner, you think that this visit is probably going to be useless. “So, if you are here, Changbin probably had enough of either you moping or getting into one too many fights. Which one was it?” Chan hums, plucking unconsciously at the strings. You clear your throat, trying to organize the thoughts in your head enough to explain. “Moping. It’s ridiculous anyway. I shouldn’t be moping over such a small thing.”
Chan hums again, pressing his fingers into the strings, but not playing anything. “Well, if you’re moping you must be upset about something. Probably something that’s been piling up for a while.” Chan observes, cocking his head to the side. “I-I guess. I mean, I’m just tired of being left out,” You sigh. You didn’t fit in with your siblings and the other cabins keep to themselves most of the time. “That’s reasonable. I mean, you seem very different from a lot of your siblings. People tend to avoid things that are different from them.” Chan reaches out and touches your hand, muttering something and the mood seems to lift.
“I don’t really think I can do anything more for you,” Chan hums, standing up and setting the ukulele on its stand. “Do you want to walk to lunch with me?” You nod and stand up, rocking back onto your heels while he pulls the chair back over to the vanity. “Thank you, Chan!” you chirp, practically skipping alongside him as the two of you walk to the pavilion. While you don’t notice it, Chan watches you with a fond smile for the rest of the day.