THANK YOU // DEX ✔️

27.

Three days had passed. Three long days since their kiss. Three days during which nothing happened. Siyoung had finished the song "New Feelings" during these days and started working on another one, while Jinyoung was occupied with his own activities - exercising, running, shopping, swimming in the sea, and occasionally continuing to dig the hole. They still shared a bed at night, but Siyoung couldn't help but notice the tension between them. It was as if Jinyoung was afraid that he had made a mistake by kissing her. Siyoung wanted to talk to him about it, but she wasn't good at initiating such conversations and didn't know how to start.

And today was just another ordinary day. Siyoung woke up alone in bed because Jinyoung had long been in the bathroom, going through his morning routine. Not wanting things to be awkward between them, she pretended to be asleep and waited until Jinyoung left the room. Then she finally got up and went through her own morning routine.

"I thought we could go to the bar nearby in the evening," Jinyoung began when Siyoung emerged from the room, "there's a karaoke night, so we could have some fun."

"Karaoke sounds great," Siyoung smiled.

"I'll show you that a former soldier can get a higher score and more applause than a singer," he stuck out his tongue childishly. Siyoung just laughed. She let him have the illusion that he would be better than her at karaoke - and maybe he would be; Siyoung always managed to mess up karaoke somehow.

But all day she prayed for one thing: that nobody would recognize her there. During her walk outside, however, she never noticed anyone young. Everyone seemed to be over 40, and they didn't appear to pay her any attention. Even if they recognized her, they let her be, for which Siyoung was grateful.

"We'll be the only ones not in their forties," Siyoung chuckled as she sat on the terrace with her plate of bacon and eggs that Jinyoung had prepared for her. She didn't know what was going on between them, because for the past three days, they had somewhat ignored each other and exchanged only necessary words. Each of them had been busy with their own things.

"Well, we'll show them what us young folks can do," Jinyoung smiled and sat down next to Siyoung. She nodded and continued to focus on her breakfast, which, despite its simplicity, was excellent.

"Did you see my hole?" he suddenly asked, pointing to the beach where there was a hole that was at least three meters deep - it was almost at the beginning of the beach, so it would take a while to reach the water.

"Really nice hole," Siyoung laughed, realizing that it could be taken as a double entendre. Jinyoung just rolled his eyes upon hearing her laughter.

"Wow, an idol laughing at a sentence about a hole like she's lost her senses."

"I can do that in front of you. You won't tell the fans," Siyoung winked at him.

_-_-_-_

The duo spent the whole day lounging on the beach and in the sea. Well, Siyoung only wanted to stay on the beach, but Jinyoung decided it was too hot and that the singer might get heatstroke, so he filled a bucket (which Siyoung didn't know where he found) with sea water and poured it over her. Then he discarded the bucket and ran as far as he could from the brunette, fearing that she might chase after him. However, Siyoung merely screamed, shot him a glare, and ran into the sea.

After a series of antics in the water, which included playfully splashing each other, both of them showered to get rid of the salt on their bodies. They changed into something more than just loose shorts and a stretched-out T-shirt. Siyoung wore red polka-dot knee-length dress, and Jinyoung put on denim shorts with a maroon-colored shirt – he looked really good.

"I hope you'll sing for everyone there," Jinyoung smiled as they closed the door behind them and headed to the bar. Siyoung would have laughed at you if you had told her a few weeks ago that she would go to a bar during her hiatus, but look at her now. With Jinyoung by her side, hand in hand, and headed to a bar.

"If you'll sing for everyone too," Siyoung retorted.

"I'm ready, I already have a whole playlist in my head, just choosing the best song," he pointed to his head with his free hand, "some songs might surprise you."

"I want you to surprise me," Siyoung smiled.

"Really? Then wait for the end of the evening."

"Do you have a surprise for me?"

"Not yet, but I'll come up with something," he chuckled. Siyoung smiled and playfully nudged Jinyoung's ribs.

The evening went by peacefully. No one recognized Siyoung or they simply didn't care that a nearly thirty-year-old singer was in a bar on Jeju with some guy. They both had a good time and didn't drink much. They each had only two glasses of beer and one glass of soju.

Throughout the evening, Siyoung sang three songs, and one of them was even her own. She scored 89 points. Jinyoung laughed at her when she got such a low score for her own song, while she got 100 for a song by Taeyeon. She would have to redeem herself and sing her song again next time they did karaoke.

The evening ended with Jinyoung's surprise that he had been thinking about for the past few hours. And the surprise was simply that they sat on the beach and watched the sea ripple in the moonlight, and how the moon's glow reflected on the water's surface. But what Siyoung liked the most were the stars that were beautifully visible.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Jinyoung suddenly asked into the silence. Siyoung's eyes widened in surprise, and if she were drinking, she probably would have choked – luckily, both of them decided not to drink anything. The singer turned to the soldier, who was staring out at the sea.

"Are you asking me, or are you asking the sea?" she gathered all her courage and asked. This was not the time to be thrown off balance.

"You," he turned to Siyoung, "will you be my girlfriend?"

"I would love to be your girlfriend," Siyoung smiled. Jinyoung let out a little cheer like a child and literally jumped into Siyoung's arms. Of course, she didn't expect that, so she fell backward into the sand. If she wasn't so happy at the moment, she probably would have killed him, because now her head was covered in sand.

But at that moment, she was only interested in Jinyoung and his lips on hers.