Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter 22 : he, who tasted of narcotics and hard alcohol, loved her, who tasted of sweet cherry candy
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
finally, at around one in the afternoon, the teenagers went to the pool. hongjoong's lake house was nice, so their pool was indoors on the first floor.
the guys went ahead, while kyunghee sat on her bed nervously. she didn't feel so comfortable around eight older boys in a bikini, but what could she do about it? she didn't even wanna think about seonghwa now...
yeosang waited outside of her locked door and tried to cheer her up. he understood her nerves.
kyunghee sighed, "it's gonna be awkward."
"they're my friends, they probably don't care. well, maybe seonghwa, but still,"
she threw her head back and groaned, "just... don't leave me alone."
"got you, sis. now let's go, you're taking a decade in there." yeosang whined and knocked on her door again.
hesitantly, she opened it. kyunghee decided to wear a big t shirt to cover up beforehand. the cousins went into the pool room to see the rest playing volleyball and laughing loudly. the vibe was fun and didn't seem as bad as she thought.
yeosang ripped his shirt off and did a cannonball into the water. now it was her turn.
next, kyunghee sighed and removed the shirt. she felt so vulnerable, so on edge like this. the guys fixed their eyes on her; they couldn't help that she was pretty.
she stepped into the pool and swam to the guys, smiling. seonghwa stared so long that the volleyball smacked him in the head when he wasn't watching.
they laughed at him and he scowled, throwing the ball back twice as fast.
"i'll get you back," seonghwa growled at them. "hey, kyung."
kyunghee stopped abruptly as she made her way towards the steps. seonghwa was shirtless. she should've been too innocent to feel the way she did in her heart, but it was useless.
she was scared to approach him, so she stuck with yeosang and played different games like marco polo and races.
about an hour passed, and everyone got hungry again. they ordered three large pizzas, and when it arrived, they ate sitting on the side of the pool.
suddenly wooyoung spoke up, an evil grin growing on his face, "last person to finish their pizza gets last shower."
competitively, the guys all shoved their pizzas into their mouths. after eating fast, they hopped up and ran inside to get first showers. kyunghee giggled at the boys, until she realized
seonghwa stayed behind purposely.
the two of them stared at each other, a shared thought seen through their eyes.
kyunghee sighed as seonghwa stood as well and walked to the door. she wasn't anything but a friend to him after all.
seonghwa reached the door as held onto the handle, lingering a little longer. then he let go and turned back around.
they stared and felt a mutual feeling. she instantly turned away to see her timid reflection in the pool.
"about that kiss last night," he started.
she reddened and shook her head, "i get it. it's okay."
he raised his brows, "what do you mean?"
"don't worry about it. we can forget about it if you want."
he chuckled and sat down beside her on the poolside. she clasped her hands together awkwardly.
"how am i supposed to not worry about you when i'm in love with you?"
kyunghee parted her lips and looked at him. he tilted his head slightly with a curious face.
"y-you do? really?"
a smirk grew on seonghwa's face as he placed a hand on her back. she shivered. abruptly, he pushed kyunghee forward into the pool, laughing. that was definitely not what she was expecting.
she frowned as she moved her hair out of her face as seonghwa stayed dry. he laughed hysterically.
"meanie! what's wrong with you?" she muttered as she grabbed the side of the shallow-end of the pool beside him.
he hopped in too and stayed beside her. when he looked at her, she felt nervous - more nervous than usual.
he nonchalantly replied, "a lot of things."
he cornered her suddenly until she was leaning on the pool wall. the cold water wrapped around her and she felt like she couldn't breathe.
he kept his eyes trained on her lips and gently put his hands on her hips, picking her up slightly to reach his height. he slowly pressed his lips to hers. she put her arms around his neck and they both couldn't stop.
they heard a knock on the door and struggled attempts at opening it. kyunghee gasped and seonghwa quickly jumped out of the water as it swung open.
mingi stood innocently behind the door, "um... sorry, i left my phone in here."
seonghwa nodded and mingi went past him. he picked up his phone from a chair and looked around awkwardly, "so, what are you guys doing?"
kyunghee put her head down in embarrassment, wanting to drown in the water at that moment.
seonghwa shrugged as casually as he could, "just making out."
kyunghee winced and hoped mingi would be cool about it.
mingi chuckled and pat the older one's shoulder, "oh wow, okay. i won't tell yeosang, don't worry."
with that remark, he left once again. seonghwa sighed deeply and ran his hands through his damp black locks.
kyunghee got out of the water too. she sat on the ground with a towel wrapped snugly around her. she stared for a while, then he broke the silence by asking, "can we pick up where we left off?"
