Oh Joshua!

Do ghosts like soju?

Jeonghan was relishing in the peace around him, calmly drinking from his beer. Just then, the ball comes flying and hits him directly on the face, spilling his beer all over his clothes. The cousins start laughing at him. 

"Oye, Jeonghan, give our ball back!" Mingyu shouts. 

Jeonghan takes off his sunglasses, bites his inner cheek, raises an eyebrow, picks the ball in his hand, and throws it with his vampiric force that the ball digs a hole piercing the ground, blowing sand on all of their mouths. 

He smiles a victory, puts on his sunglasses, and goes back into the peace. 

"Will you play with us?" Seungkwan says loudly. 

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, weirdo! We're short on players on one side!"

Jeonghan takes a few seconds, then thinks he's been lying here for so long, that a little exercise won't harm. He gets out of the hammock and goes toward them. 

They started playing four on four, Jeonghan on the side of younger cousins, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Chanie. And the powerful skills that he shows after that, make everyone's mouth open agape. He was shooting the ball like a bullet that only dodging was an option. 

Joshua was glancing now and then from his place, he also couldn't help but admire Jeonghan's knacks. He has decided he won't talk to him unless Jeonghan first comes to him by himself, though he had a lot in his mind he wanted to ask him.

With the last strike, Jeonghan's side team wins, they celebrate by jumping in the air, bumping each other's chest, and teasing the other team. 

Amongst the hustle-bustle of their cheering, Jeonghan couldn't pay attention and his shoulder bumped a little hard with Joshua who was going back. He missteps, but before he could fall, Jeonghan grabs his arm. "Sorry, I didn't see," he says instantly. Their eyes meet again for some seconds.

"It's okay," Joshua pulls his hand away and turns back in his direction. Jeonghan just stands there watching him go. He wanted to yell his name, stop him, hug him tightly in his arms, and tell him that he was wrong, that Joshua is the only one who beats in his heart all day. But soon enough, he comes to the reality, there are his cousins and relatives everywhere, he knows they'll tie him with a heavy boulder and drown him in the sea, and nobody will ever see him again if he does something like that.

The sun has set leaving behind an orange and purple hue in the sky, and at the resort, Grandpa has opened his soju bottle. He puts his transparent glass on the wooden porch, pours the clear, colorless alcohol, and goes back inside to hide the bottle. He doesn't want any of his sons or daughters to suspect that he's drinking. 

Joshua comes from the other side and sees the water-like liquid in the glass outside his Grandpa's room. His throat was dry sitting in the sun all evening, so thinking it was water, he picks up the glass and swallows it in one go. Unless the bitter taste hits his tongue and burns his throat, he spits it out wondering if this liquid was from hell. He puts back the glass and runs inside to drink some normal water, but half of the soju has already reached his stomach. 

Grandpa comes back with a satisfied smile on his face, thinking to enjoy his drink while facing the evening sea view. He picks up the glass and his smile immediately turns into a frown seeing it empty. He looks around himself to find no one, then back at his empty glass, "Do ghosts like soju?"

To a person who has never drunk in his life, it was getting hard for Joshua to stand still when the alcohol started reacting with his blood, affecting his brain and slowing down his system. He felt a heaviness in his eyes, his mind was getting light, but there was a gleeful feeling at the same time, he finds himself smiling for no reason. His cheeks were flushed pink just from one shot. Grandpa brought really strong alcohol this time.

The good thing is that Joshua was aware of his surroundings, he knew by now that it was something he shouldn't have tasted, that's why, before anyone notices his strange behavior, he gets out of the house, thinking of spending some time on the beach until he gets sobered up because the cousins and mostly everyone were back inside. 

It was 7 in the evening, the stars were twinkling in the night sky. With wobbly steps, Joshua walks toward the beach humming a song incoherently. There was an old shed at the beach decorated with lights, he goes toward it and sees a person already sitting there on the sand, gazing far at the horizon. But he couldn't make out their shape. 

Feeling all giddy and delighted, he gets near, accidentally stumbles upon a pebble, and falls on the guy. 

"Ah! Mummy! Ghost! Ghost!" Jeonghan gets scared when all of a sudden his peace gets disturbed. While on the other hand, Joshua was a giggling mess on top of him. He was completely under the influence of alcohol now. 

Jeonghan opens his squeezed eyes and sees Joshua's face closer to his, laughing so cutely, his eyes curled like a crescent moon shape, looking so appealing under yellow lights. Tired, Joshua takes a breath and rests his head on Jeonghan's chest, closing his eyes. 

Jeonghan's heart starts hammering against his ribcage, "J-J. . . J-Joshua?" he breathes out.

"Hm. . ." Joshua mumbles tiredly, the smile never leaving his lips. 

Jeonghan was afraid if someone sees them like this, he will be the one thrown under the bus.