Alex trudged up the hilly road with his backpack. He wasn’t sure whose idea this fortress of suffering was, but he’d like to have a word or two with the person. Who builds a resort up a hill? 

Trying to walk around here already defeated the main purpose of the resort, which was relaxation. He was genuinely too unfit for all of this uphill hiking. He figured it was just his luck that Nika, a world-renowned designer and his mentor, decided she would love to meet him for the first time at this camp.

Four years ago, when he had decided to transition from drawing to designing, his parents had thought him crazy. Everyone had, really. They reminded him repeatedly of the gift he had and how he couldn’t just let go of his art. No one knew his motivation at the time, which was that drawing was starting to feel more and more difficult for some reason. 

He always saw the images in his mind, but translating them into drawings felt almost impossible, until the day he had been idly moving shapes around on the drawing app that was always open on his iPad. It was more of a subconscious action to get his creative juices flowing at first, but then it became increasingly interesting. After a few long hours, he ended up with a neon-coloured image of a tree with hanging fruits that were homes to different-shaped blurbs.

No one ever saw that image, but it unlocked something in him. Alex found himself trying to create more images like this in the months that followed, and then he decided to share his work so others who saw it could give feedback. Within a few months, he quickly built a following as a graphic designer who made the most random image combinations work. Images like a laptop with its user operating the machine from inside it, or a musical instrument playing a person, and so on, earned him a reputation for his eccentric mind and created opportunities to work with some brilliant designers locally and internationally.

This was how he met Nika Sodje. She had been the senior designer for a fashion company’s rebrand project and hired him on her remote team. Alex was just excited to be working with a foreign designer for the first time, and after about a week of working together, she had called him into a Zoom meeting with just the two of them and asked him where he learned to design.

After hearing his confession that he mostly just freestyled his art and watched tutorials on YouTube for stuff that confused him, Nika praised his honesty and offered to mentor him. By her standards, he had an artist’s eye and would do great things in design, but he needed some polishing. 

That was about two years ago. And now, as Alex dragged his tired body up the hill, he focused on the fact that he would finally be meeting Nika, after two years. He let that be the motivation that propelled his movement.

Trying to catch his breath, he fished the key card out of his pocket to check his room number again. He had barely heard the attendant at the front desk after his registration. His dorm address was ‘h’ on the card. By the letters he saw on the houses lining the street, H should be very close. Still looking at the card, he bumped into someone on the road. It was a girl with a bag twice the size of his backpack.

“Oh, sorry!” he muttered distractedly. The house labelled ‘h’ was right by the road. He quickly entered the small gate. Finally! 

He put the key card against the door, but it didn’t work. Confused, he turned it around and tried again. After about five tries, Alex realized something was very wrong. He heaved a sigh and sat at the top of the small stairs at the entrance. There was no way he was going back to the reception again after walking all this way.

He suddenly remembered the flyer Nika had sent him a little over a month ago. He quickly scrolled through his pictures and found the flyer. He called the front desk number, and thankfully, the same lady from the reception answered it. After making his complaint, the attendant confirmed that he was indeed registered for his residence and his key card was, in fact, working.

The only problem was that he was assigned to house 4, up the hill, not house H. When he asked why the sudden change, he was informed, tartly, that he probably looked at the handwritten number upside down and mistook it for the letter ‘H’. He was assigned house 4 from the beginning since the alphabet houses were for invited trainers and speakers over the week-long event.

He was advised to walk further up the hill to find his accommodation. Biting back curses, Alex slowly walked up the hill until he arrived at House 4. He walked into the huge house and froze as he watched a girl hurry down the stairs and into one of the rooms. That was probably one of his housemates. He silently walked past the room he realized was the kitchen and walked around the house, in search of bedrooms. From experience, he knew picking a room was the most important thing in a place like this. He would get the chance to introduce himself properly later.

He finally settled for the second room in the hallway to the right. He would have preferred the last one, but the ruffled bed, open bag, and pieces of clothing on the floor told him that the room was already occupied - probably by the girl he just saw downstairs, since it seemed to be just the two of them in the house.

Deciding he needed to take a painkiller and get a nap, Alex headed down to the kitchen for water and stopped at the most unlikely sight ever. The girl was rapping and twerking in the kitchen. Alex stood stock still, watching as she repeatedly stopped to swing her hips from side to side, using everything from a ladle to a cup of coffee as a microphone while she moved around the kitchen.

He looked around, bemused.

What exactly was this place?

Just then, the girl turned with a tray of food and froze when she saw him. The tray slipped, and Alex moved just in time to catch it before it fell out of her hand.

“That is the best twerking I’ve ever seen,” he said, smiling at her, and she started to stammer a response, but just ran out of the kitchen instead.

Alex couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of him.

“Hey, wait!” He called out after her, following her up the stairs and to the door of the room she just slammed in his face. Still laughing, he knocked softly on the door and waited. When she didn’t open after a few seconds, he opened the door ever so slightly and called into the room, “Your noodles are gonna get soggy.”

He heard a quick shuffle right before she opened the door and stopped short of slamming into him.

“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, and he couldn’t help smiling again.

Her voice sounded like he imagined warm honey would sound if it could speak. It was firm and steady and seemed to envelop him in a warm, fluid cocoon.

She took the tray from him and went into her room without a word.

“What? Not even a thank you?” Alex muttered, the amusement he was feeling still evident in his voice.

He entered his room, nodding to himself. This camp had felt like a choice he had to force himself to make, but now, he was so glad he had come. It might be fun after all.

****

“... Thank you all for coming once again. You may get some rest before the first session at 4 pm or walk around and get familiar with this place, as it…”

Desi tuned out the instructor speaking again. She had been doing so on and off for the past hour, only making sure to pay attention whenever her subconscious heard something she considered important.

The orientation had dragged on for quite a bit, and it didn’t help that the crowd made the air-conditioned room feel lukewarm, rather than cool. The heat, combined with the lulling voices of the speaker, made her feel a bit drowsy, and were it not for the fact that her flatmate from hell was sitting beside her, she would be dozing off already.

After he delivered her meal, he stayed in his room, and she was relieved not to see him anymore. She was too embarrassed not to be awkward around him. Meanwhile, two other people arrived at the Chalet: a girl and a guy, who immediately took rooms beside each other at the other end of the hallway. From how they interacted, they seemed to be acquainted, so Desi just welcomed them and stayed out of the way. She didn’t come all the way to another town to be a third wheel.

She had been feeling pretty pleased with herself for getting to the orientation early enough, unseen by the housemate whom she felt might become the bane of her existence in the camp, when he sidled up next to her and asked if the seat beside her was taken.

She shook her head, feeling too awkward to speak any words.

“My name is Alex, by the way. I realize I didn’t introduce myself properly earlier.”

“Hmm,” Desi replied nodding, “I’m Desire - Desi”.

“Ooh, such a pretty name. I wouldn’t have figured you were Yoruba.”

“Ah…” she replied, at a loss for what to say. Why was he trying to strike up a conversation with her?

She sat through the rest of the orientation, hyper aware of him, even though he wasn’t speaking to her, since she repeatedly gave him monosyllabic responses until he gave up on the conversation.

As people began to file out of the hall, she breathed a huge sigh of relief and sprang to her feet.

“Are you going back to the hostel?” Alex was stretching beside her. “We can walk together.”

“No. I’m… I’m taking a walk around the resort.” Desi hoped he couldn’t tell she was lying.

“In this heat? The sun is like 37 degrees today.” He was looking at her like she had a screw lose.

“Nah, I’m fine. Also, it doesn’t feel that hot.” Desi responded, grimacing as a line of sweat trailed down the side of her head to her neck.

His eyes flickered briefly, and she was sure he noticed her sweating, but he just nodded and waved at her.

“Alright, see ya then.”

She watched him walk out of the hall before quickly fishing some tissue out of her sling bag and wiping her face. Why was it so hot today? She decided she would wait around a while till she was sure he would have settled back in, then she would go home, quietly, to her room.

Tissue in one hand, a bottle of cold water she procured from a snack kiosk in another, Desi walked round the building that housed the main hall and some smaller rooms where she supposed their lectures would be held. She noticed her favorite designer’s name on the notice board and smiled; she really couldn’t wait to meet Nika.

Thirty minutes had passed now, and she was sure Alex would be back at the hostel. Desi walked briskly up the hill, enjoying the light breeze from the trees and making a mental note to walk the full length of the road later at night. In a few minutes, she was back at the Chalet. She peeked inside before entering, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn’t see him in the living room.

She quietly made her way up the stairs and headed to her room. Just as she opened her door, Alex came out of his and smiled that crooked smile at her again. 

“Hey, welcome.”

“Hi,” Desi said, feeling like she had just been caught doing something bad.

His smile grew wider as he leaned in towards her, resting his elbow above his head against the door frame. Desis caught a whiff of his cologne then. He smelled like warm wood, mint, and something else.

She couldn’t quite place what it was, but she liked it. She also didn’t realize how tall he was until now. He didn’t tower over her, but he was tall enough that she had to look up at him. 

She was looking at him now, and God, was he beautiful to behold?

His brows were straight and sharp, as if he carved them, and his nose was straight with a slight tilt at the end. It would have looked out of place on other men, but on him, it fit right in, especially with his full lips. Lips that wouldn’t stop spreading in that slightly teasing smile he had been wearing around her since he walked in on her this morning.

Desi couldn’t help feeling embarrassed again; an embarrassment that increased monumentally when she met his eyes and saw him watching her intently. He had definitely seen her appraise his face just now. She was sure he could see the appreciation on her face.

She watched as his smile widened right before he asked, “Quick question, why are you avoiding me?”