Once More, Love 3

24. Furlough

The sun is about to set. The horizon is now crimson colored and there are groups of people on the shore upfront, enjoying the view by taking pictures and lying on the sand.

Nayeon has her arms leaning against the wooden railing of the beach house's porch. She is in her khaki colored spaghetti top and short navy jeans. Her eyes are locked in on the back of the man who is standing on the sand, in front of a BBQ grill.

The warm chain bulbs of fairy lights lining up the edges of the roof of the porch, going through the trunks of the few coconut trees nearby are all lit up.

"Hey." Chaeyoung, in his Hawaiian style polo, walks to the long glass table top on the other side of the porch where Nayeon is. He grins to the woman who is skewering the chunks of meat along with the pineapple and other cubed vegetables in her white camisole. "Want some help?"

Mina smiles and nods. "Where's Chaemi?"

"Fell asleep." The painter pulls a wooden chair closer to the dancer's side and sits on it. "Our son's knocked out. I guess constructing great sand castles is one of his known weaknesses now."

"I expected it." Mina chuckles. "You two were playing in the sand for a while. You looked like playmates in kindergarten. I think he enjoyed your company so much."

"And so did I." Chaeyoung flashes a soft smile. "Mina, when I get back here in Korea a few months from now... let's do this again. More often. Whenever we have time."

"Okay." The dancer gazes into the painter's sincere eyes. "Let's do that. I would love to do that."

Nayeon glances at two people at the table on the opposite side of the porch. She sighs heavily, then straightens her body to walk and step out of the house's roofed vicinity to the man on the sand who is in his board shorts and oversized black shirt.

The cafe owner stops just a step away from Jeongyeon who is trying to burn up the charcoal with his blow torch. "Jeong."

The chef did not utter a reply. He just turns off the torch, still holding it in his right hand while he turns to the girl who just called out to him. Then, he uses his left hand to point to his sweaty forehead.

Nayeon scrunches her eyebrows. "What are you doing?"

Jeongyeon grins. "Great timing. Wanna wipe it off?"

The girl scoffs and shakes her head. "You obviously could use your left—" She pursed her lips after the tall guy lifted up his left arm to show her that his palm has charcoal stains all over it. "Oh."

The chef smiles and nods. "Yeah. So?"

The cafe owner rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll do it."

Nayeon steps right next to Jeongyeon who is looking a bit intrigued by how close she went just to do the task.

"What— what—" The chef takes a step back and blinks at the bunny girl. He almost bumped at the BBQ grill behind him. "Wait a sec. What— what— what are you doing?"

Nayeon has her right hand clinging onto the bottom hem of the man's shirt. She looks at him with an innocent expression. "I thought you wanted me to wipe the sweat off of your—"

"I DID." The chef quickly answers. "I— I did tell you that. But what are you—" He glances at Chaeyoung and Mina on the porch who are seemingly in their own world with their audible teasing laughter, not noticing the sudden commotion between him and the naughty girl. Then, he gulps and stares at Nayeon with what could pass as confused eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Wiping your sweat—"

"Are you kidding me?!"

Nayeon bursts into chuckles. "Jeongyeon-ah! Relax! I will just use your shirt to dry you out."