𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘴

07

SANDEUL was having a mini-heart attack. his hand was on his chest while his other hand held the phone over his ear.

baro had just called him at two in the morning and told him that they were going to spend christmas elsewhere.

"what do you mean we're going to florida?" sandeul asked. he was a bit confused and disbelieving the invitation.

"exactly what i just said," baro spoke from the other line eagerly, "we're going to florida to spend christmas over there."

"and it's all on you?" sandeul asked; just making sure that he won't be spending any money for any kind of accommodation.

"what? you don't like it?" baro chuckled at how thrifty the boy was.

sandeul wore a grin. as if baro had known he did, he announced his goodbyes. but not before reminding him about the flight.

"we'll leave this coming wednesday. i'll still have to check on with the time of the flight and get tickets. bye."

🍝

WEDNESDAY, at the airport at noontime.

"finally, an actual vacation," hani uttered in relief as she held moonbyul along the way; walking ahead of the boys while they took their own bags to the baggage counter.

entering the plane after that, they all took the first three columns of seats in the left row. the girls sat with each other while jin and ken sat with each other and so did sandeul and baro.

"you know, seulgi was against this at first," ken told jin, who seemed a bit unbothered but nonetheless listened.

"well, what did you say to have her permission?" jin asked.

"the usual plead-until-she-gets-irritated-and-gives-in-finally technique. it works on everybody," ken chuckled in amusement while he subtly felt his genius.

jin shrugged, and allowed the seat to fit his broad back nicely and yawned. "you ought to bring her presents."

"i will; don't worry," ken chirped childishly and grabbed his phone to play video games.

sandeul and baro at the back took the earliest time to take a nap, while hani and moonbyul were busy comparing the fashion styles from the available magazines. the ride would not exactly take long as the route crosses only the pacific ocean; but everybody felt lethargic to wait.

🍝

FLORIDA was nice and warm. however, the streets seemed a bit damp due to the drizzling rain that fell not too long ago. but that did not stop jin from being photogenic and took a max of fifty pictures on the streets alone. and another four to five videos to film the streets on the way to their hotel. then another half a hundred on the hotel itself.

"i didn't expect it would be this grand here," sandeul spoke, looking at the hotel in awe himself.

"these perfect lights are making my skin look perfect," jin commented while his attention was fixed to his screen, looking at himself.

"baro, check us in," hani told him.

"but i don't know english," baro laughed awkwardly.

hani gave him an irritated look and immediately dragged him to the receptionist. she translated for him as they checked the whole gang in, and gave the others a thumbs up after that.

they were all separated in three rooms with two people to accommodate each. ken snatched sandeul for the first room. it was originally a childish race, but since only the two of them had the energy to run, they both won the first room.

"let's rest for now," moonbyul told them as she called dibs on the third room. "let's meet out for dinner."

"i'll call," baro added as he raised his hand.

meanwhile, ken and sandeul were admiring the blueness of the beach down below. they took photos from the height and spied upon the westerners down below. they were counting how many easterners were there. but it was later interrupted with a curious question.

"are russians asian? i mean, they belong in our continent," ken wondered.

"they kinda look more western, don't you think?" sandeul added with a lacing confusion.

"should we count them too?"

"how would we even know if they look more european? we could be pointing to a french person- who knows?"

"but should we count them in our tally?"

"you know what?" sandeul looked at him, squinting his eyes at him, phlegmatic, "just place them in the tally."

"but is that dude a russian?" ken pointed.

"i dunno, he has a mustache like hitler. just messier," sandeul shrugged.

"dude..."

"what?"

"hitler's a german."

both stared at each other with conflicting expressions. but then sandeul breathed out heavily.

"never speak of this."

ken still gazed at him as the corner of his mouth twitched upon forcing himself not to laugh. he took the binoculars and suddenly gasped, "ooh! a latina!"

hani, who was standing a terrace away from where the two were, looked at them with confusion and then in disgust as they fought childishly over the binoculars to see the said latina.

"idiots," she muttered under her breath.

🍝

THE outdoor dinner was exquisite. they have never tried such diverse food banquet and enjoyed every single bite of the meal. the ladies, especially, were not holding back on their appetite and probably were ranked at the first three top-eaters along with jin.

the boys were eating too, but they were so busy talking about random things and baro was drinking at most. and the event added another one hundred and fifty photos on jin's camera.

"this is probably the best vacay ever," sandeul commented thankfully as he glanced at baro.

"i was an idiot to take chanyeol's challenge, so this is the least i could to thank you guys for tolerating me," baro chuckled.

"how come ilhoon and seulgi didn't come, though?" moonbyul asked.

"ilhoon's busy with his music production," sandeul replied.

"seulgi was a bit of a killjoy," ken added, "don't tell her i said that."

moonbyul grimaced in disbelief at ken for a moment, but then shifted her eyes to baro. "okay, so what are we gonna do tomorrow?"

"go swimming," baro replied almost instantly.

"finally! a time when i can actually feel sexy!" sandeul exclaimed eagerly.

jin snorted at that and released his squeegee laugh. then he and sandeul high-fived.

"isn't christmas tomorrow?" hani asked for clarification.

"yep. but we don't need presents. we can have all the fun we can have and that'd be awesome!" ken spoke jovially.

"he's right. having each other is enough," hani agreed with a nod.

🍝

-mique