Melodies

5

Aelia's POV
After the project, everything went back to normal. And by normal, I mean Jihoon doesn't show me the side he showed me during the project when we're with the other boys. It makes me sad sometimes when he does that but I guess it's okay. As long as I know he's still in there somewhere.
"Minghao, I swear if you don't give me back my book, I will rip out your soul." I glare at him.
"Rip it out then." He smirks.
I grit my teeth and we glare at each other, our faces pretty close.
"It literally looks like there's steam coming out of Aelia's ears." Wonwoo points out.
"Why don't you interact more? You're always reading!" Minghao groans at me.
"You guys are lame. The only peace I ever get is when I read here at lunch, and it's not even peaceful."
All of a sudden, I hear someone gasp. Minghao and I look at the person to see it's Chan.
"Guys! We need to have a day with just us!" He says excitedly.
"What do you mean?" Jeonghan asks.
"Aelia wants peace, right? Let's all go to a place where it's peaceful for her but fun for the rest of us!" He smiles.
"Like where?" Joshua asks.
"How about the beach?" Jihoon speaks up.
We all look at him in surprise. That is a good suggestion actually.
"Sounds good to me!" Seokmin smiles.
"Same here!" Seungkwan agrees.
"Are you okay with it, Aelz?" Mingyu asks.
Everyone looks at me with pleading eyes and I sigh.
"I guess."
"Yay!" Chan hugs me tight.
I pat his head as he keeps thanking me.

~

"Guys we're gonna miss the train if you don't hurry and get your asses to the platform." I groan.
"Sorry! We're going! There's a hold up at the front!" Vernon says from a few people in front of me.
We all look down the line to see who's in the front of us.
"Hehe~ sorry~" Soonyoung hurries to get past the rest of the people.
"I can't believe there wasn't a taxi big enough for all of us." Seungcheol sighs.
"This is why we can't have anything good in life." Seungkwan pinches the bridge of his nose.
"I agree." Jihoon mutters.
My eyes widen when we pass the line of people. I point to the train.
"Guys! The train is already here!" I start running towards the train, which is way at the other end.
People stare at us. I mean they should be. Thirteen boys and one girl all running at a train station? Yeah...
I reach the train as soon as the doors are about to close. I put one foot inside and one out on the platform. I turn to see the boys just catching up.
"One... Two... Three... Four..." I count all of them to make sure they're all here.
"Hurry, Vernon!" I wave to him.
"I'm trying! I don't do running!" He pants as soon as he gets inside.
We all sit in a seat, seven of us on one side and the other seven opposite side, facing them. We're all panting, looking at each other.
"The luck we got from getting here on time..." Joshua points out.
"It's even more of a miracle with all these bags we are carrying too." I say.
The boys all fall asleep on the train ride over except Jihoon. He's sitting next to me on my left while Mingyu is on my right, passed out while leaning his head on my shoulder.
I smile down at my best friend. This boy is such a dork, but he's still cute.
"So what are you gonna do while at the beach?" I hear Jihoon ask.
I turn my head to look at him and my eyes land on his.
"Um... probably just read my book on the sand." I look back at Mingyu, "I have to watch this one. He might step on something and hurt himself, knowing him." I shake my head.
"You guys are pretty close, huh?"
"Yeah... He was my first friend here at the school..."
"Seungcheol was mine."
"I figured. You live together, right?"
"Yeah... He's something else..." we both looking at the eldest sleeping boy.
The announcement comes saying the town we need to get off at is the next stop and I look at Jihoon.
"Wake those seven, I'll wake these five?"
"Got you."
We wake up all of the boys, some of them are easy, some I have to shake roughly. Jun looks the most tired and out of them, his eyes dropping and his mouth open. He looks dead.
"Come on, Jun." I grab his hand and pull him out the door of the train when we arrive.
We all walk out of the train and look around.
"Maps say the beach is a ten minute walk from here." Joshua walks beside me.
I let go of Jun's hand and lean closer to Joshua. We start discussing routes we can take, trying to find which part of the beach would be good for the fourteen of us.
Someone starts cracking up behind us and we look to see Seungkwan, Seungcheol and Seokmin all laughing at Jihoon. Jihoon's fists are balled and he's glaring at the three.
"You really do, huh?" Seungkwan smirks.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear it." Jihoon turns his head and his eyes catch mine.
His eyes widen and he looks away in embarrassment. Joshua and I look at each other and shrug before looking back at his phone. We study it again and finally come up with a solution.
"Alright. We know where we're goin-" I start to turn around but freeze when I see all of them doing something weird.
Minghao is yelling at Mingyu about something, Wonwoo, Jeonghan, and Jun are all passed out again while standing up, Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Soonyoung are all dancing to some random song and screaming the lyrics, Vernon is chasing a bird to fly towards Chan. Jihoon just stares at all of them with a look of disappointment. I do too.
"Boys." I raise an eyebrow.
They all freeze and look at me. They hurriedly stand in a line and bow to me and apologize.
"Jisoo, tell them what we're doing. I have a headache now." Deeply sighing, I turn around and close my eyes.
Joshua tells them how we're walking there and where we're setting up. They all nod and agree it's a good idea.
We start walking after that, making sure everyone has a partner just in case someone gets lost. I'm paired up with Jihoon since everyone is "too scared" to be paired up with him. Jihoon isn't even that scary.
The walk seems really long because Jihoon doesn't talk. He just looks around the place, admiring the scenery. He occasionally says sorry though when his hand bumps mine, making us even more awkward.
When we get to the beach, the boys all set their bags on the sand and throw their clothes in one pile before rushing to do their own little activities. I shake my head and go pick everything up. I move their bags so it's in one spot near where I set up my sheet. Then I grab their thrown clothes and shake the sand off before folding it for them.
"You don't have to do that for them. If their stuff gets stolen, then it's their fault." Jihoon takes a seat next to me on the sheet.
"Yeah but they'll complain like kids if it is stolen." I put my hair in a ponytail.
"True." He stares at them.
"Why aren't you getting in the water?"
"Why aren't you?"
"I asked first."
He looks at me and doesn't say anything for a few seconds.
"I figured you wanted company." He replies.
"You'll just be watching me read then." I reach into my bag for my book.
"I don't mind."
I stop what I'm doing and look up at him. His face shows no expression so I can't tell if he's kidding or not. My thoughts are cut off when someone runs over, rummaging through a bag. I look over to see Mingyu there, searching for something.
"What're you looking for, Mingie?"
"Chan said he brought a volleyball. We're gonna play beach volleyball. Wanna play?" He smiles over at me once he finds it.
"No. Go ahead."
"Can you keep score then? I want you to be near when we play. You'll be like... my good luck charm." He gives me a more childish smile.
"Good luck charm..." I hear Jihoon whisper next to me.
"Okay then." I stand up and walk over to the spot they are playing.
"Oh! Is Aelia playing?!" Soonyoung gets excited.
"Nope. She's score keeper."
"Ooh. A pretty girl keeping score. This should be good, huh?" Jun nods in approval.
"What does that even have to do with anything?" Wonwoo looks at him with derp face.
"Hey, I'm giving her a compliment!" He gives him a 'duh' face.
"My gosh... Just pick your teams before I leave the beach without you guys." I shake my head.
On one team it's Joshua, Mingyu, Chan, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Seokmin. On the other it's Soonyoung, Seungkwan, Wonwoo, Minghao, Vernon, and Jun.
Jihoon ends up joining me and sits on the sand to my left side.
"Jihoon! Why don't you play too?" Chan asks.
"No, it's okay." He waves him off.
"I'll play if you play." I stand up, looking down at Jihoon with a smirk.
"Eh?! Really?!" Mingyu blinks at me in surprise, "I just asked you!"
"I thought Jihoon wouldn't want to play so I said I'd keep track of the score. But if he's too baby to play." I trail off, shrugging as I start to put my hair up in a rubber band.
"Looks like you're playing now, huh?" Mingyu smirks at Jihoon who glares at him as he stands.
"I'll play. But it's not because Aelia called me a baby." Jihoon groans.
"I'm on opposite team as you, Ming. So I'll be on Seungkwan's team." I smirk and walk over to their side.
"Awesome!"
"Sweet!"
Seungkwan and Soonyoung high five each other. The other team groans and gets mad at Mingyu. He puts his hands up in defense and says it's not his fault.
"Come on." I motion for him to start.
The game goes on for an hour and it's tied. Mingyu and I are glaring at each other through the net. I'm always only competitive when I'm going against Mingyu or Minghao. It's just a thing.
"Come on, shortie. Can't keep up?" He smirks.
"I'm sorry, did you say something? I can't hear you from the clouds, Mr. Giant." Go on my tiptoes and look up at the clouds as if searching for him.
"You're lame."
"And you're an idiot."
"Guys stop arguing and look after the ball!" Seungcheol yells just the ball comes towards Mingyu.
I jump up knock it into the sand before Mingyu has time to see the ball coming, letting us win the game.
"WHOO!" I throw my hands in the air and run around my team's side of the court.
"I love you, Aelia!" Seungkwan cries and hugs me tight.
Someone picks me up and puts me on their shoulder and I look down to see Wonwoo smiling at me.
"I knew I kept you for a reason." Minghao squeezes my calf.
"What the... What's that supposed to mean?" I glare at him.
Vernon and Jun hold my hand and shake it vigorously in excitement. I laugh at the two, shaking my head. Soonyoung takes me down from Wonwoo's shoulders and hugs me.
"I knew you being on our team was a good thing." He smiles.
I hear Mingyu tsk and I look at him.
"You were supposed to be my good luck charm, Aelz." He pouts.
"Well, when you play against me that's how it's gonna be." I shrug, smiling.
"Let's do something else now." He sighs.
"Who wants to dig a hole and bury Mingyu in it with me?" Seungkwan cheers.
"Yeah!" Soonyoung and Seokmin both rush after their friend.
"Hey wait! Who said I wanted to be buried?!" Mingyu runs after them.
"I'm gonna build sandcastles!" Chan looks around to see if anyone will join.
"I'll come." Jun stands next to him.
"I'll go too. That seems fun." Joshua smiles at the maknae who gladly pulls the two to a spot.
"I'll be in the water!" Seungcheol rushes into the water, Wonwoo and Jeonghan following.
I watch as Wonwoo falls face first into the water and the other boys laugh at him. He splashes them and a splash war starts.
"Wanna go kick the ball with me?" Vernon looks at Minghao who shrugs and nods.
They walk down the sand a bit before Vernon kicks the ball to him. Exhaling in relief that we're finally done, I spin around to go back and read when I bump into someone.
"Oh, Jihoon! Why aren't you going with the boys?" I raise an eyebrow as we walk back to the sheet in the sand.
"I already told you, I'll keep you company."
"Are you insecure? About your body I mean." I look down at his stomach which still has a shirt on.
"N-no... What about you? Are you insecure?"
"No. There's just no point in taking it off if I'm not going in the water." I shrug as Iay down on my tummy on the sheet.
"You are, aren't you?" He smirks as he takes a seat beside me.
"Fine." I sit up on my knees and slip off my shirt, revealing a black halter top bikini.
Jihoon's eyes widen at my figure and I scoff.
"You're such a perv. I didn't take it off cause the boys will do exactly what you're doing." I lay on my tummy again and begin reading.
He lays on his tummy too, adjusting himself to be comfortable. As I flip through my pages, I can feel him staring at me, boring his eyes into me as if I can't feel his eyes on me. After five minutes, I can't take him looking at me like that.
"Jihoon." I don't take my eyes off the book as I speak.
"Y-yes?"
"Why're you staring at me?"
"O-oh... I-I..."
"Am I that appealing?" I look over at him with a smirk.
"I- um-" His eyes wander everywhere but my own for once.
"I'm joking. Calm down. I think you should hang out with the boys and bond with them more. It seems like the only ones you talk to is Seungcheol, Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Soonyoung." I look back at my book and turn the page, "That's not even half of them."
"Well then who do you suggest I bond with first then?"
I turn my body to see the groups. Squinting my eyes as I examine the members of each, I land on two certain boys. I point to them then look at Jihoon.
"Vernon and Minghao. Go join them. Those two are pretty close to me so don't ask them about me. Minghao will tell you too many secrets and Hansol will tell you the embarrassing ones." I lean closer to him and whisper, "He just wants to believe there's someone who's clumsier than him." I giggle.
"Alright but if something goes wrong," he stands up and points at me, "I'm blaming you." He walks towards them.
"He's gonna have too much fun." I smirk before looking back at my book.
I read for a while, I don't even know how long. It has to be over an hour though cause my whole backside is tan now. I decide to rest and tan my front side. I place the book over my face and close my eyes.
When I start falling into dreamland, I suddenly don't feel the sun on me anymore. My eyebrows scrunch together and I take the book off my face. I see Mingyu there with a not-so-innocent smile and my eyebrow lifts up.
"Wha- AH!" I get picked up bridal style by him and he runs at full speed towards the ocean.
"Oh my god! Mingyu Mingyu Mingyu Mingyu! Don't! AH!" I get thrown into the cold water.
I resurface to see him laughing his head off with Seungcheol and Wonwoo. Jeonghan just stands there trying to process what just happened.
"You're dead meat!" I splash a bunch of water at him.
He splashes some back and Seungcheol decides to join in too. Then Wonwoo. Jeonghan is still shook for some reason. So basically it's three against one. And not just any three... THE THREE TALLEST AND MOST MUSCULAR BOYS IN MY GROUP OF FRIENDS! LIKE, WHAT THE HECK DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS TORTURE?!
Eventually, I disappear underwater and swim to their legs. I hear them asking where I went from under the water and I smirk. I grab onto Wonwoo's leg first and I hear him squeak as he jumps up.
"Why'd you do that?" Seungcheol asks.
"S-something grabbed my leg!" He freaks out.
"There's nothing in the- OH MY GOD! SOMETHING GRABBED MY LEG TOO!"
I try so hard not to laugh under water cause I'd probably choke and die.
"Guys, there's no animal that can grab your leg-" Mingyu starts.
I jump out of the water and make a monster noise. They all scream girly screams and I almost choke on the air from laughing so hard.
"Oh my gosh! That was great!" I say in between breaths.
"Ugh! Come here!" Mingyu tries running after me in the water but you know how that goes.
"Hey guys! Come here!" Chan waves us over.
"Saved by the youngest!" I hurriedly run towards Chan and hug him, "Hug me back before Mingyu comes."
"Uh... why?" He raises an eyebrow and hugs me back anyways.
"You saved me from being attacked by the giant." I point at Mingyu.
He laughs and I let go of him. Everyone gathers around and we all look at him.
"What's up, Chan?" Minghao asks.
"Well I was wondering if we can do something."
"Like what?" Jun asks.
"Can we... can we do a bonfire?" He traces shapes in the sand with his foot.
"That's a great idea!" Seokmin claps excitedly.
"Really?" He looks up in surprise.
"I agree. It'd be nice." Wonwoo says, nodding at the idea.
"But we need to go to the store to buy firewood." Joshua says.
"Ooh! Can we get stuff for s'mores too?!" Chan asks with puppy eyes.
"Oh! Yes! Please?!" Soonyoung begs to me.
"Why are you asking me?"
"We want you to get it." Seungkwan makes a 'duh' face.
"Dummies! A girl is never supposed to go on her own anywhere!" I groan, crossing my arms.
"Take Jihoon then." Seungcheol says.
We all look at Jihoon whose eyes are now wide with confusion and surprise.
"Geez! Stop looking at me like that! I'll go I'll go!"
"Yay!" Everyone except me cheers.
"Wait I don't want her going with him!" Mingyu protests.
"Why not? It's not like he'll kidnap her or anything." Wonwoo says.
"Well, it's just odd to send Aelia to go alone with a boy."
"You mean other than you?" Jun raises an eyebrow.
"Yes!"
"Oh my gosh! I'll just go with him. I'm sure if one of you went instead, you'd buy the wrong thing or get lost." I shake my head, "Let me put on some dry clothes though. Mingyu threw me in with my shorts still on." I sigh, walking over to my bag.
"Hey! You had fun though, didn't you?!" He points at me with an accusing finger.
"No, you tried drowning me at first." I smirk.
"Idiot! You tried drowning Aelia?!" Minghao smacks the back of his head.
They start arguing and I march over to pick up my backpack before going to the bathrooms to quickly change into a romper. I walk out, fixing my hair to look presentable, dropping my bag back onto the sand in our spot before slipping on my sandals. Standing up, I look at Jihoon who just walked over from the other boys.
"Ready?"
"I guess." He shrugs.
"Let's go then."
"Be careful guys!" I hear Joshua yell to us.
I turn back and wave before looking at Jihoon next to me.
"Do you remember which way to the store?" I ask.
"To the left I think."
"You think... You're not sure?"
"No."
"If we get lost, I'm blaming you." I smirk before walking ahead.
"Hey!" He catches up to me.