seven days | purinz

day one

note: chaewon and yena are 18, wonyoung, yujin and yunjin are 19, sakura is 20

—

Chaewon huffs as she heaves a suitcase out from the back of Yena's trunk, setting it onto the ground as her best friend comes around to join her in retrieving their bags.

"Aren't you excited, Wonnie?!" Yena asks excitedly, "A whole cabin and pond just to ourselves!"

"Not just to ourselves," Chaewon grumbles, watching as Yena grabs two backpacks. She takes the red one and slips on the straps around her shoulders, "don't forget the four other girls who are also going to be in the same cabin as us."

"Oh, please!" Yena shakes her head, shutting the trunk after getting another suitcase and a blue cooler. She walks up the path through the trees, "They're all nice girls! You would know if you bothered to open up the group chat we're in."

Chaewon sneers, "Whatever."

Yena bumps her shoulder with Chaewon, "Don't be so grumpy! This is our vacation, Wonnie. Be happy! We're finally done with high school! We're free !"

"Up until we have to go to college ," Chaewon says, dragging the suitcase behind her and having to lift it over branches and twigs on the ground, "I don't understand why you wanted to rent a cabin. We could've gone and stayed in a hotel near Six Flags, or something. Why a cabin ?"

"Because I want to get away from everything," Yena explains, "and I know you've been wanting to, too."

"What?" Chaewon pauses as they near the cabin that's just up a few wooden stairs, "How do you know what I want?"

Yena rolls her eyes and starts up the stairs, "Don't play dumb with me, Chaewon! I've known you for my entire life! You've spent the last year of high school wanting nothing more than to escape. And now we have! Temporarily . For a week !"

"How fun ," Chaewon drawls, waiting in front of the door as Yena digs around her pocket for the paper she'd written the passcode on.

"Ah! Here it is!" Yena pulls the paper out in all of its crumpled-up glory and presses the code into the screen next to the door, "You know, for a cabin, it's not really a cabin."

Chaewon nods, understanding exactly what Yena means.

Although the building had been listed as a cabin online, it's more of a modernized version of a wooden house. Walking into the living room from the front door, it's clear that they're going to get their money's worth. Everything is sleek. There's granite and clean white paint mixed in with light wooden planks. The walls are more windows than they are actual walls and the ceiling's high enough to make everything feel that much more spacious.

"We're the first ones here, too, so we can get first pick on our room!" Yena states giddily, setting down her suitcase and rushing towards the stairs, "Come on!"

"What? Hold on, Yena," Chaewon closes the door behind her and follows her best friend.

"This one! We have to have this one! There are bunk beds!" Yena's muffled voice comes from down the hall.

Chaewon peeks her head through all the rooms before getting to the one Yena's in.

"Yena?" Chaewon calls out.

Her head pops out from above the top bunk, "I call the top bunk!"

"Go ahead," Chaewon laughs, unable to stop herself from smiling at how happy Yena's become, "I knew you were excited about coming here because you were so jittery during the car ride, but I didn't know you were this excited."

"It's beautiful here, Chaewon!" Yena hops down from the bed and runs in front of Chaewon, eyes wide with excitement, "I'm going to go look at the pond! Come with me!"

"Wait we should bring our stuff in—"

Yena's already run out of the room.

"—the room..." Chaewon trails off. She shakes her head amusedly and chuckles to herself.

Boy, does she love Yena.

She walks back down the stairs to get their suitcases, deciding to make two trips for the two suitcases instead of trying to struggle with making one trip. As she's going back down the stairs after getting her first suitcase, she's surprised to see two girls at the front door.

There's a beep, and then the front door opens.

"Hey," Chaewon greets awkwardly.

God, where is Yena?

"Ah, you're not Yena," one of them states, the shorter one.

"No," Chaewon shakes her head as she takes the remaining suitcase, "Yena's out admiring the water. I'm her friend, Chaewon."

"Nice to meet you, Chaewon," the brunette says with a smile, "I'm Wonyoung. This is my girlfriend Yujin."

They exchange quick greetings, and then Chaewon clears her throat.

"Yena and I just picked our room, so you two are free to choose from the remaining two," she smiles.

"Ah, thanks," Wonyoung grins. She turns to Yujin, "I'll pick the room and you can go get the other stuff from the car?"

Yujin quirks an eyebrow but turns on her heel nonetheless and walks back down the path.

Wonyoung and Chaewon walk up the stairs together, both lugging their suitcases behind them.

"So, you and Yena just graduated high school, huh?" Wonyoung sparks up conversation.

"Yeah," Chaewon hums, "we graduated literally a couple days ago. Yena wanted this vacation as soon as possible ."

Wonyoung laughs and nods her head, "I get that. Yujin and I did that when we graduated, too."

Chaewon tilts her head, "Have you and Yujin been together for long?"

"We've only become girlfriends recently, but we've been friends since high school! We're in college now. Just finished our first semester actually, we're not that much older than you two."

"Ah," Chaewon says. She drops off her suitcase in the room and then joins Wonyoung in the hallway again.

"I think I'm going to choose this room," Wonyoung points to the one with the double bed, "and I should probably go help Yujin get the rest of the stuff."

"How much did you even bring?" Chaewon asks, amused.

"I like to be prepared, alright?" Wonyoung laughs, "I'll see you in a bit."

"Alright," Chaewon nods, watching as Wonyoung hurries down the hall. She figures she'd go find Yena and tell her that two of their roommates for the next week have arrived.

She walks out the back patio door and spots Yena sitting on the swinging chair near the dock.

She looks so peaceful...

"Hey," Chaewon calls out gently, "Yujin and Wonyoung are here."

"Oh!" Yena jumps up.

And the peacefulness is gone .

"I have to go say 'hi' to them!" Yena smiles brightly, As she passes by Chaewon, she squeezes her shoulder, "It's so great here, Chaewon! You're going to love it."

Chaewon smiles as she watches Yena hurry into the house. She hears the girl's excited squeals and laughs behind her as she starts walking towards the dock.

She stands there for a few minutes, just watching the water and thinking about the past year, but she flinches when she hears leaves rustling and twigs snapping to her left.

Chaewon looks over and her eyes widen as she watches two girls struggle through the forest with bags and suitcases.

"Oh, look ! We're here!" the taller one exclaims happily, as if there weren't leaves stuck in her hair and dirt smeared across her face. The shorter of the two, frowns as she walks ahead.

Chaewon watches them with amusement all over her face, "Hi..?"

The taller one jumps, just noticing Chaewon's presence, "Hi!"

The shorter one frowns, "Wait... there's parking here?"

Chaewon nods, "It's in front of the cabin. There's a small path we had to take to get here, though."

The shorter one smacks the taller one upside the head, "You idiot ! I told you there was a parking place nearby."

"How was I supposed to know?!" the taller one yelps, swatting the other girl's hand away, "It wasn't on the GPS!"

Chaewon smiles, "You're the last ones to arrive. The last bedroom has two twin beds."

"Oh, good ," the shorter one sighs in relief, "I was not sharing a bed with this one."

"Hey..." the taller pouts.

"Anyway," the shorter girl rolls her eyes, "my name's Sakura. This is Yunjin."

"I'm Chaewon," Chaewon replies. She walks towards Yunjin, who's trying to lift her suitcase over a rock, "Here."

She bends down and helps the girl get the wheels unstuck from below the rock, standing up and smiling when she sees Yunjin grinning down at her.

Sakura's already entering the cabin through the back door just as Yunjin and Chaewon are heading up the patio steps.

"You must be the best friend that Yena's been going on about nonstop," Yunjin says.

Chaewon feels her face warm up, "Yeah, that's me."

"It's cute," Yunjin points out, "how much she talks about you."

"Is it?" Chaewon mutters, "I hope you don't have, like, super high expectations from me."

"Nah, nothing like that," Yunjin shakes her head as she enters the cabin, "I just think you two are cute together."

"Huh? Oh —no, it's not like... that ," Chaewon shakes her head, feels her ears turning redder by the second, "she's not—we're not..."

"Ah, sorry I got it mixed up, then," Yunjin apologizes sheepishly, "I just assumed since she's so talkative about you."

"It's alright—a lot of people assume that she and I are dating," Chaewon says. She feels herself calming down, "she has a girlfriend anyway."

"Right, right," Yunjin nods, "and... how about you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Oh, no," Chaewon scrunches up her nose, "I don't."

...

There's a brief moment of silence, and then:

"Yunjin! Get your ass up here and come look at this view from our room!"

Yunjin grins, "I'm being summoned."

Chaewon laughs, "Go ahead. I'm gonna go find Yena."

Yunjin hurries up the stairs as fast as she can with her heavy suitcase and Chaewon walks towards the front door. She spots Yena helping Yujin and Wonyoung with a few more bags.

She opens the door for them, "Wonyoung, you weren't kidding when you said you like to come prepared."

" Overly prepared," Yujin grunts as she gets a rather large suitcase up the last step, "babe, we did not need to pack your entire bathroom in one bag."

"Oh, shut up," Wonyoung chides playfully with a roll of her eyes, "you'll be thanking me for bringing something—just watch!"

Yena giggles at their bickering and sends a grin towards Chaewon.

"Sakura and Yunjin are here, by the way," Chaewon says to the three who are now heading towards the stairs. She closes the door and follows them.

"Oh! Hey!"

Voices are mixed in as they all exchange greetings with each other. Chaewon can't help but smile at the crowded hallway. There's only six of them, but it's enough to make the place feel cramped (but not uncomfortably so).

"Are you all hungry? Chaewon and I packed hot dogs!"

There's a chorus of 'yes's and Yena looks back towards her friend.

"Yeah, yeah," Chaewon turns on her heel and heads back down towards the living room/kitchen area. She rolls the cooler into the kitchen and decides to unpack all the food and drinks she and Yena had brought, loading them into the fridge. She keeps the hot dogs out on the table.

Yunjin walks into the kitchen, followed by Sakura and Yujin.

"Need any help?" Yunjin asks.

Chaewon looks around the kitchen, "Find me a pan to cook these hot dogs on?"

"A pan ?" Yujin raises an eyebrow, "Isn't there a grill outside?"

"Yes, but..." Chaewon frowns, "I don't know how to work a grill."

"I'll show you," Yujin says, walking to the patio door. She waves Chaewon over, "Come on."

-

Six hot dogs are served (with four left over for anyone who wants seconds). They sit at the outdoor table, an easy-flowing conversation happening between them as they eat. Chaewon listens more than she talks, but she likes it that way.

She realizes that Yena had been right about these girls.

They all are really nice, and funny.

Sakura and Yunjin are the kind of friends who fight with each other all the time, but never seriously. Chaewon can tell just from spending a couple of hours with them that they do care about each other, it's just more tough love than anything (the 'tough' part usually comes from Sakura).

Yujin and Wonyoung are definitely in love. Chaewon can't look at the two of them without feeling like she's intruding on something—especially when they're making eye contact with one another. It's just so... lovey-dovey . But it's sweet, too, Chaewon supposes.

"How was your last year of high school, Yena and Chaewon?" Yujin asks as she finishes her last bite of the hot dog.

"It was fine," Chaewon answers with a shrug.

Yena giggles, "Chaewon hated it."

"I did not," Chaewon replies, "I just... didn't love it."

"You despised it," Yena says.

"Whatever," Chaewon grumbles.

"Really?" Yunjin asks, "My senior year was my favorite year of high school."

"Yeah," Sakura snorts, "because all you did was make out with cute girls at parties."

"No! That's not why!" Yunjin exclaims with bright pink cheeks.

"I did that a few times," Yujin pipes in.

"Yeah, I know," Wonyoung says, feigning annoyance. Yujin laughs and squeezes the hand she's holding.

Chaewon grins, shaking her head, "Making out with cute girls probably would've made my senior year better."

"Rough year?" Wonyoung asks with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Sorta," Chaewon shrugs. She glances over at Yena, who catches her gaze.

"Chaewon just didn't like the people that went to our school," she says, speaking up for her best friend, "our school was filled with..."

"Idiots," Chaewon mumbles.

"Yeah, idiots ," Yena repeats, "but we're out now! And that's all that matters."

Yunjin hums, and then decides to lift the mood, "Sakura begged not to be in the yearbook her senior year."

"Hey—you bitch!" Sakura reaches over to grab at Yunjin's throat for the sudden exposing and Yunjin jokingly makes a choking sound. The girls all laugh and once Sakura's sat down in her seat again, Wonyoung speaks up.

"Why'd you beg for that ?"

Sakura rolls her eyes, "I hated every single person in my class. I didn't want any of them remembering me because I didn't want to remember any of them."

...

Yujin whistles, "Talk about teen-angst."

Sakura shoots her a glare, but the corners of her lips twitch upwards.

Wonyoung lightly shoves her girlfriend on the shoulder and Chaewon smiles. Her eyes eventually make eye-contact with Yunjin, and she finds herself looking down at her lap shyly.

"How long have you known each other?" Wonyoung asks, looking between Sakura and Yunjin.

Yunjin smiles, "I've known her since elementary school."

"She was the annoying little girl next door," Sakura rolls her eyes, "she'd follow me everywhere ."

"She's always been so mean to me," Yunjin shakes her head, "but now I'm bigger and stronger than her so—"

She reaches over to ruffle Sakura's hair, but Sakura slaps her hand away quickly, causing the group to laugh again.

Their laughter dies down eventually and they settle into a comfortable silence.

Chaewon never knew she could feel so at ease with a group of strangers, but: here she is .

...

"How cold do you think the water is right now?" Yena asks suddenly.

Chaewon's head snaps up, "Yena, no ."

"Yena, yes !" Sakura grins deviously, "Let's go for a swim."

When more of the group starts to agree, Chaewon's mouth falls open in awe, "Seriously?"

"The sun's not down yet!" Yunjin smiles, standing from the table and hurrying inside. Over her shoulder, she shouts, "Go change!"

Everyone's already run into the house except for Yena and Chaewon.

Yena eyes Chaewon, "You don't have to swim, you know?"

Chaewon avoids her gaze, "It's embarrassing..."

"Just stay in the shallow part," Yena says to her friend, grabbing onto her hand and holding it tightly, "I won't let you drift away, I promise."

Chaewon sighs, nodding, "Fine."

Yena's smile brightens and she drags Chaewon to their shared room so they can slip on their bikinis.

-

The group stands at the shore, just in front of the pond.

"Who's going in first?" Wonyoung asks.

Sakura answers by shoving Yunjin forward.

The tall girl yelps as she stumbles forward, and then she squeals because it's cold.

Yunjin grabs onto Sakura and drags her into the water, pushing her deeper and causing her to actually go underneath the surface. It's then that Yujin and Wonyoung rush forward, hand-in-hand.

"Shit ! It's freezing !" Sakura shouts as she resurfaces.

"Oh, god," Chaewon murmurs nervously.

Yena smiles at her, "It'll be fun! Let's go!"

Chaewon has no option but to follow Yena (she can never refuse the girl) into the frigid pond.

She stops walking further into the pond when the water hits her upper stomach. She feels goosebumps on her arms and tenses up. She spots Yunjin coming closer.

"Hi," Yunjin greets.

"Hi," Chaewon replies warily.

"Don't like the water?" Yunjin asks with a tilt of her head.

"No, not really," Chaewon answers, "especially not when it's this cold."

"It feels less cold after you dunk yourself a few times," Yunjin says, "come on."

"No," Chaewon shakes her head, "I'm okay here."

"Just trust me," Yunjin says, holding out her hand.

"I literally just met you today," Chaewon retorts.

"Come on ," Yunjin urges.

...

"Fine," Chaewon takes hold of Yunjin's hand and allows herself to go deeper into the water.

She hears Yena and Sakura having a splashing war and thinks that as long as she keeps hold of Yunjin's hand, she'll be fine.

She doesn't need Yena to babysit her.

Except she doesn't think the pond would suddenly get a lot deeper, and she finds herself yelping and immediately clinging onto Yunjin's shoulders when she steps into the drop-off and nearly dunks her head underneath.

"Oh, woah —Hey," Yunjin lets out, stepping back into shallower sand. She wraps an arm around Chaewon's waist, "You alright?"

"Uhm," Chaewon's face is red. She tries to put space between her and Yunjin's bodies.

She looks away from Yunjin, letting go of her shoulders since she can tip-toe and touch the ground now. The arm around her waist releases until it's just a hand holding onto her hip.

Chaewon coughs awkwardly, "I... I don't know how to swim," she admits quietly.

She waits for the surprised look and the teasing comments, but nothing comes.

When Chaewon looks back at Yunjin, she just finds a tiny smile on the girl's pink lips.

"I can teach you how to swim, if you want?" she offers.

"What?" Chaewon blinks.

"I'm a lifeguard," Yunjin smiles, "and I used to work at my local pool. I taught people how to swim as a part-time job in high school."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Yunjin laughs, "I can teach you. Right now."

"I'm gonna make a fool out of myself," Chaewon grumbles.

"Nonsense," Yunjin shakes her head. She tugs on Chaewon's side, pulling her closer, "if anything, you can just grab onto me and I'll bring you back to the shallow side."

"Wonnie, are you alright?!" Yena calls from further down the pond. She's still with Sakura.

(Wonyoung and Yujin are just swimming around, in their own world.)

Chaewon looks over and nods, "I'm fine!"

Yunjin's still staring at her when Chaewon returns her gaze.

"Okay," Yunjin says, "first: you have to learn how to tread. It's kind of like riding a bicycle... sort of."

"Sort of," Chaewon repeats skeptically.

"Yeah, but you also have to do this motion with your hands," Yunjin shows the motion.

"Okay," Chaewon says.

"Don't panic," Yunjin says to her, "you don't want to use too much energy on treading. You want to use just enough to keep your body weight up."

"Yunjin, I have no idea what that means," Chaewon deadpans.

"Just try it first," Yunjin says, "and grab onto me if you don't think you can do it."

Chaewon puffs up her cheeks. She steps off where the sudden drop-off is and tries to tread, but then immediately grabs onto Yunjin's outstretched hand. The tall girl pulls Chaewon in instantly, arm wrapping around Chaewon's waist.

"What was that ?" Yunjin asks.

"I panicked," Chaewon squeaks.

"I noticed," Yunjin smiles, "here, how about you try treading water while I hold onto you?"

"Yeah," Chaewon nods.

And this time, Chaewon doesn't panic.

That is, until she feels Yunjin let go of her.

She reaches out and clings onto Yunjin's shoulders, legs wrapping around the girl's waist for extra support, "Why'd you let go?"

"Because you were doing it!" Yunjin laughs, "You panicked again."

"This is scary," Chaewon whines, too caught up in being scared of the water to be embarrassed at how close she is to Yunjin (they're body-to-body right now), "I don't like the water."

"But I think everyone should learn how to swim," Yunjin says, "just in case."

"Yeah, well," Chaewon grunts, slowly feeling the nervousness of their skin touching ease into her, "I think I've learned enough for today."

"You haven't dunked your head underneath though," Yunjin points out.

"So?"

"Hold your breath," Yunjin orders.

"What?" Chaewon asks, and then her eyes widen because she feels both of Lisa's arms wrap tightly around her waist.

In the next second, she's underwater.

And in the following second, she's back at the surface.

" Yunjin !" she screams, splashing the tall one in the face as Yunjin laughs.

She lets go of Yunjin, only to realize that she's still in the deep end.

Yunjin realizes this, too, because she's quick to grab back onto Chaewon's waist as the girl yelps.

Yunjin pulls her close.

"God, I hate you," Chaewon mumbles, pushing wet strands of hair away from her face as the embarrassment settles in. She lowers her head against Lisa's shoulder to hide herself.

"Yeah, I'm sure you do," Yunjin laughs, heading towards the shallower waters for Chaewon's sake.

-

The six girls sit in the living room area together, all showered and dressed in comfortable pajamas as the large flat screen plays some scary movie about an exorcism gone wrong.

Yena and Chaewon are seated on the couch with Yunjin and Sakura next to them, and the girlfriends Yujin and Wonyoung are seated on the armchair together. A large blanket spans across the laps of the four girls on the couch and Yujin and Wonyoung have a smaller, fluffier one.

The movie continues on and, to be honest, Chaewon is a little creeped out, but she tries not to show it.

However, when a pop-up happens, her leg twitches and Yena, who's sat next to her, turns to look at her with wide eyes.

"Wonnie, are you scared?" she asks innocently. She doesn't mean to catch the attention of everyone in the room, but every pair of eyes turn to look at Chaewon anyway.

" No ," Chaewon grumbles, "I'm not scared."

"It's okay to be scared," Yena smiles and cuddles closer to Chaewon, grabbing onto her best friend's hand, "but remember that it's just a movie!"

"I'm not scared," Chaewon whines, pushing Yena away.

"It's fine. I mean, look at Sakura. She's currently shitting herself," Yunjin, who's sat on the other side of Chaewon, points out with a smile.

"I'm not ," Sakura declines.

"You're biting your nails," Yunjin points out, "you do that when you're nervous."

Sakura retorts, dropping her hands from her mouth.

The bickering makes the rest of the girls laugh, and Yujin offers to change the movie.

"No," Chaewon shakes her head, "it's fine. This is interesting. I'm not scared."

The conversation ends there as everyone turns their gaze back towards the TV—everyone except for the tall one sitting on Chaewon's left.

Chaewon tries not to let Yunjin's gaze on her side-profile affect her, but she can already feel her ears starting to warm up. The blanket that's spread across their laps shifts as Chaewon pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them with both arms.

Yunjin looks away, but not before slowly reaching up and taking hold of Chaewon's wrist.

Chaewon lets her left arm fall slack, down onto the couch. She feels Yunjin's fingers trail downwards as they interlace between Chaewon's. Chaewon's entire face is burning , but thankfully no one notices in the darkness.

When the next pop-up happens, Yunjin squeezes Chaewon's hand in reassurance and Chaewon feels her heart hammer rapidly against her chest for more reasons than one.

-

Chaewon wakes up to quiet chatter, her head resting on someone's shoulder as a light flickers on. She groans and buries her face further into the person's body before pausing and realizing that she's leaning onto her left side, meaning she's leaning on—

"Were you that tired?" Yunjin's voice comes off as slightly teasing. There's a grogginess to her tone, the kind that people get when it's late at night and they haven't spoken in a while.

Chaewon sits up immediately, eyes widening and blinking to adjust to the suddenness of her movements.

Yunjin raises her eyebrows and smiles, "You good?"

They're still holding hands. Chaewon slips her hand away and nods, "Yeah, I'm fine."

She looks around and sees that Wonyoung and Yujin are already gone, probably have retreated to their room while Chaewon was sleeping. Yena's standing up and shutting the TV off as she stretches, yawning as she does so.

"Come on, Wonnie," she reaches out her hand to Chaewon, "let's go wash up and then sleep."

"Okay," Chaewon mumbles groggily, tossing the blanket off of her lap and grabbing hold of Yena's hand.

(She tries not to think about how much colder she feels without being pressed against Yunjin's side as Yena drags her to the bathroom.)

"You fell asleep in the middle of Finding Dory," Yena states, squeezing toothpaste onto her toothbrush before doing the same for Chaewon.

"I've already seen Finding Dory," Chaewon says. The two stand side-by-side in the bathroom, making eye contact through the mirror in front of them.

"It's still a good movie," Yena replies, mouth muffled by the toothbrush in her cheeks. Chaewon hums and continues to brush her teeth.

She goes to spit at the same time Yena does, and it causes the two girls to playfully push each other away. Yena squeals probably a bit too loud for one in the morning.

Yena spits and then Chaewon spits.

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun this week," Yena says before brushing her teeth again.

Chaewon smiles and nods, feeling a flutter in her stomach as she hears Yunjin and Sakura arguing in the living room.

"I think so, too," she says.