Trying hard to suppress her excitement, Althea briskly walked on the small mountain path with some of her colleagues.
The first day of leadership camp is still ongoing but it was handled by the event coordinator. Thus, Althea opted to lead the process of surveying the venue for the game tomorrow.
Breathing in the cold air, she felt so free despite her tightly grasping her jacket.
The dense pack of trees along the way doesn't seem to make her scared, only serve to make herself lost to the realization that she's no longer home.
The home where she constantly fears for the potential conflict with her mother, fear from doing mistake which will earn her more mental scar from being a disappointment for her family, and other shackles which suffocated her.
"Vice-Pres, we've arrived." a colleague called out to her. She took a further step in and saw the wide green field at the end of the path they walked in.
'Awesome!' she exclaimed inwardly.
The field was so wide that she believed her whole school would fit in it. There are some people doing their own outbound activities on the other sides of the field, some random individuals training on their own, and towering trees among the green mountain were laid bare when she looked up.
"This place is great. Let's go to our reserved area and decide the area for each game." Althea led her colleagues to the place and begun to set up the equipments for tomorrow's game.
She might be working under the student council's duties, but she couldn't get any happier.
She had been imagining what would the venue looks like after she hasn't gone on a vacation without her parents for the last couple of years.
Her excitement must've reached to Ray as he cheered her up while constantly reminding her to double-check the things she might need during the trip.
Putting down the last equipment in place, she announced, "We're done, everyone. You'll have 1 hour of break to take a bath and get some rest. Gather at 4 pm so we can coordinate more with other divisions."
The members' faces lit up as they scattered to look around the refreshing venue.
"Uhm... Vice-Pres, what are you planning to do after this?" A man stood beside Althea who was sitting on the ground while dazedly enjoying her surroundings.
"Oh, Hanley. I'm just... resting." Althea shrugged as she smiled naturally.
"Mind if I join?" Hanley scratched the back of his head. From the corner of her eyes, Althea could see some members making a cheering gesture for the awkwardly standing man.
"Sure?" Althea raised her eyebrows.
'Is there any event today that I'm not aware of?' she thought.
She took out her phone as the man scuttled to sit on her right side.
Not paying attention to Hanley whom she thought was there to rest just like her, she scrolled down her phone to see if there was any message only to slug in disappointment.
"Hey... What are you doing?" not being able to write how much she wished Ray would chat her first, she wrote the message only to find it on pending.
'Eh?' she stared at the sign on her internet provider notification.
No signal.
'Ahh... Well I guess it's to be expected.' she smiled bitterly. Still, on the bright side, she would be able to fully enjoy the mountain scenery without being distracted by her phone.
"Vice-Pres," The man called out.
"Yes?" Althea closed her phone and turned her head. Hanley's eyes met hers for a few seconds before looking down.
"Uhh... Do you have a boyfriend?" Hanley's question felt like a cold bucket of water being poured on her.
'It can't be... can it?' she frowned inwardly as she remembered the few times such sentences were being told to her.
"I do have one." Althea replied. While no one other than Karin knows about Ray, it doesn't mean she needs to hide it from one who seems like he would confess to her.
"W-what? who?" Hanley seemed shocked.
"Someone you don't know. But I do have one." Althea smiled. Somehow, she felt a bit bitter. If she told him about Ray, he would ask for details. She can't tell lies but saying how Ray is faraway just doesn't seem to help her case.
What makes her troubled, however, was how to survive the awkwardness from needing to work together a day more with them.
And the solution she came up with was...
"Why do you ask?"
Feigning ignorance of anything happening at all.
"Ahh no, you just seem to not be interested in such relationship so I thought you don't have one." Hanley looked slightly flustered as he made up excuses.
Althea smiled at him again and felt thankful that people there are more reserved compared to the people she heard from Ray's place. Or else, things wouldn't end this well.
As Althea watched the slumped back of Hanley who went over to her other colleagues, saying he forgot something important to do, she shook her head.
'All men are wolves, Althea.'
'Can you try not to get too close to the boys during your trip?'
'Careful of pests.'
Althea remembered the sentences Ray said as she prepared for the trip. At those sentences, she shook her head in helplessness, telling him how much he is overthinking and exaggerating things, and that she isn't that good of a target in the first place.
Now she knew it's not completely unfounded.