the charm | winrina

three

The first time Karina ever saw the love of her life was on the beach.

Except she didn't know Winter Kim was the love of her life yet. Her heart did, though, because it decided to beat absolutely uncontrollably as she stared into the redhead's eyes.

The redhead stared right back, letting out an impressed chuckle through her pink lips, and Karina's heart backflipped again.

This girl- whoever she was- was hot.

She was a little shorter than Karina, maybe by an inch or two. Her red hair curled softly down to her shoulders, and her mysterious dark eyes and adorably pouty lips added to her alluring look. Her arms were crossed, her gaze inquisitive. She wore tiny denim shorts and a small white tube top that hugged her figure like it was the last thing in the world.

A funny feeling stirred in Karina's stomach, and she recognized it, shocked that it had reappeared after a year.

Attraction.

She was crazy attracted to this mysterious girl.

Finally tearing her eyes away from the beauty, she examined their crowd. Four girls and two boys. Clearly, there were some non-straight people among the contestants, which just made it even more fun.

"Tell the others about yourself," came the prompt from the staff, as they were led over to the beach to sit down in a circle on the sand. Karina crossed her legs underneath herself as decently as possible, seeing as she was wearing volleyball shorts and a halter top, her long hair down. The shorts were so small that they were practically insubstantial. It was blatant objectification, but as she saw the mystery girl eyeing her, for once she didn't really care.

(Key word really. Haechan's ogling definitely bothered her.)

"I'll go first," her boyfriend said boldly. "I'm Haechan Lee, and I'm a hairstylist, and that's my girlfriend over there."

The contestants' eyes snapped to Karina, whose eyes were glued on the mystery girl, who stared right back at her.

As Karina watched, the mystery girl's pretty lips curved up into a mischievous smile, and her eyes sent a silent message that made Karina shiver, even in the warm air.

Challenge accepted.

In the next hour, Karina learned that the girl's name was Winter Kim, she was a creative director, she was based in Paris, France, and she spoke fluent French.

Winter successfully impressed them all by saying a few sentences in the language, and the feeling in Karina's stomach attacked her again.

However, there was a problem, Karina learned quickly.

She was obviously a playgirl.

When Karina had reached her late teens, she'd busied herself by going out to clubs, getting wasted, and finding one-night stands. She'd been a playgirl herself, and this rich, French-speaking beauty right in front of her was clearly one. It was in the way she looked around, her devilish gaze landing on a black-haired girl (Chaehyun Kim, Karina remembered) before swiping back to Karina and gliding over Haechan.

Her expression was smug as she spoke.

The other contestants, meanwhile, gave off a more calm vibe. There were two Japanese there- Rei Naoi and Riki Nishimura. The two hit it off laughing about their common initials, and exchanged a few pleasantries briefly in their language. The last girl was named Chaehyun, and she was gorgeous, a model with dark hair. However, her visuals weren't as coolly attractive as Winter's, and it was clear in the way Chaehyun stared at her.

"It's time for the coupling," the host, Hyoyeon, announced, and everyone moved into a line.

"Please state who you'd like to be paired with for the next two days."

Riki went first and picked Rei, who accepted his offer, and they went to stand together.

From there, the couples were obvious due to there being such a small amount of contestants. Karina picked Haechan, and Winter picked Chaehyun.

"You will share a bed with your partner for the next two days," Hyoyeon read monotonously, then tossed away her card, rolling her eyes. "All right, people! You'll be sleeping with this person for the next two days, so no funny business. Or, actually, the more funny business the more drama. I wonder who'll end up with who?" Hyo waggled her blond eyebrows and grinned. "Let's get to it. Contestants, please state what drew you to your partner, and talk about what you hope to accomplish on this show!"

Riki, again, went first. "I'm drawn to Rei because she's Japanese like me, so I feel that I might be able to sympathize her. I find her attractive, and I think we'll have a fun time on this show together. As for me, personally, I'm on this show to find a partner whose life pace matches mine, because partners found on reality TV shows know the pace that my life will continue in."

"Picture-perfect answer from a picture-perfect boy!" Hyo grinned, smiling at Riki. "Sweet of Riki to say that about you, eh, Rei? Let's hear from you. What do you think?"

"I find Riki attractive also, and sympathize with his ideas about the pace of life. I think he'll be a reliable partner on this show, and I hope to find someone reliable, so that's good," was all Rei said, primly keeping to herself, which Hyo pounced on, obviously.

"Interesting! Aligning values on day one? You two will be quite the power couple if you make it through," she smirked. "Now, our multilingual creative director, I'd like to hear from you."

Winter smiled, flashing the grin that Karina had already pinned as her signature. "Well, I'm looking for a little bit of action and excitement, and Chaehyun seems like just the person who knows that," she winked, causing the other girl to smirk. "Also, she speaks French, and since her last name is the same as mine, that means that we won't have to change anything in future, hm?"

Karina swore to God Winter looked her dead in the eye when she said that.

Hyoyeon's jaw dropped and she burst into uproarious laughter. "Drama already! There you go, folks and Chaehyun. Winter already wants to marry you, huh? All right, Chaehyun, what do you think?"

"I'm also looking for action, someone who knows my life and can support me through that. I think Winter's a good person for that and I agree with her last name statement," Chaehyun grinned confidently.

Karina's blood boiled for some reason, and now Winter's conspiratorial glances with Chaehyun were pissing her off.

"Well then," Hyoyeon grinned. "Let's hear from our preformed couple. Haechan, why did you pick Karina?"

Karina tried not to smirk at the fact that Winter was clearly paying very close attention.

"I picked her because she's my girlfriend, and although we've been going through a rough patch, I hope this show can prove to her just how much we love each other and how strong our relationship is."

Karina internally facepalmed, and Hyoyeon pounced. "Well, clearly your love isn't that strong if you're going on a dating show to fix it, eh, Karina? You think you're gonna find someone new?"

"Maybe?" Karina shrugged, and upon hearing her voice, Winter's head snapped in her direction, while Haechan looked crestfallen. "I'm here to enjoy myself. That's the only reason I'm on this show. I picked Haechan because he's my boyfriend." She shrugged again, staring right back into Winter's eyes.

"Whoa there, tension already!" Hyoyeon laughed. "And there you have it, everyone! A couple hoping to take advantage of their matching ethnicities and jobs, a couple already on the road to marriage, and a couple with trouble in paradise! What'll it be? Tune in next episode to find out how we test each and every single string they've got!"