"are you feeling better?"
his warm voice and half smile made miyun's heart flutter, tired eyes flying towards the boy.
"a bit, yeah. thanks for keeping me company."
she was about to scoot closer to the boy, when she noticed his hand creeping towards hers in the corner of her eyes. her heart rate picked up as she did the same, hands meeting soon after.
"do you.. need anything?"
woojin quizzed, confused by miyun's stare.
"why do you care for me so much?"
the girls' body got closer to his, before settling, her thighs brushing against his ever so slightly.
"i just feel like i have to protect you. you're so beautiful and fragile, like a porcelain doll."
a blush appeared on the girls face, eyes darting from their intertwined hands to his lips and back. woojin noticed her stares almost immediately and chuckled lowly, before raising his free hand up to miyun's face and lightly cupping her cheek, making her flinch.
"oh shit, sorry! i thought.."
he blurted out, but was momentarily cut off by her hand on top of his, encouraging him to continue his action.
"where is this going?"
he asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"where do you think this is going?"
miyun retorted, equally as quiet, her blunt answer freeing another chuckle from woojin's throat.
the tent fell quiet, only their steady breaths on each others skin could be heard. but when woojin slowly leaned in and connected his lips with miyun's, fireworks went off in both of their stomachs.
back down at the beach, the group had split up into tiny pairs, occasional giggles getting carried out onto the ocean.
"yedam? i just wanted to apologize for yesterday. i was kind of hammered."
jisung spat, not able to bear the silence between the two any longer.
"so, you didn't mean anything you said?"
the girl turned to face the boy, his face red and heart almost visibly jumping out of his chest.
"hahaha, nooo. okay, fuck, who am i kidding. i meant everything i said that night. and quite frankly i'm still mad at you denying my offer to kiss."
trying to play down his overwhelming nervousness, he grinned and scratched the back of his head. but his eyes spoke more than yedam needed to hear. they were sparkling and were scanning her barely clothed body, getting stuck on her lips.
"did you mean everything you said.. i mean, about not wanting to kiss me?"
he carefully asked, nervously nibbling on his lower lip, cheeks dusted with a cute pink.
"you look so cute when you're nervous."
yedam giggled and sat up, ruffling his slightly wet hair, jisung pouted and simply grabbed her hand, intertwined their fingers and pulled it off his head.
"don't let chaehwa see this, she'd let the whole country know."
yedam grinned, before her head sank onto jisung's shoulder.
"way to go for not being too obvious."
he scolded, but once the girl lifted her head again, he quickly tilted his head to the side, wanting to return the favor.
but instead, his head slammed against yedam's nose, making the girl cry out in pain.
"oh shit, fuck! i'm so sorry. oh my god, you're bleeding!"
he scrambled onto his feet, before rushing off to where the other boys had set up camp, only to come stumbling back, but this time with a pack of tissues in his hand.
he plopped down in front of the girl, who was still holding her nose in shock, fighting back tears that threatened to fall due to the stinging pain rushing through her.
"here, does it hurt a lot?"
a single tear escaped the inner corner of her eye, leaving jisung gasping.
"my baby is hurt and i'm to blame.."
he wiped the tear with his thumb and handed yedam another tissue, who was way too overwhelmed and busy with her bleeding nose to even notice that jisung had just called her his baby. before she knew what was happening, jisung had helped her up and was guiding her back up to camp, arms supporting her body.
"we'll get back once the bleeding stops!"
he yelled towards chan, who was standing there, hair wet and a slight tan already present on his skin.
"what's happened?"
areum quizzed, puzzled at how good chan managed to look in every situation of life.
"i don't know. i was too busy swimming. and missing you. you should come join?"
he scratched his head, bit his lower lip and shrugged nervously.
"i can't swim, remember?"
areum shuddered, thinking back to the day chan threw her into the water.
"i could teach you. i'm a very good teacher!"
his eyes lit up, before grabbing areum's hand and simply leading her towards the blue water.
"chan, i'm warning you. last time you did this i almost had a heart attack."
areum's voice was stern, but her body couldn't resist being close to chan.
"i'll take it slow, don't worry."
they waded into the water, stopping once it reached their hips.
chan's hands ghosted over areum's body, guiding her into the water slowly, digits halting at her butt for the fraction of a second longer than they should've.
"chan. you're supposed to teach me how to swim, not feel me up."
areum warned, catching chan blushing and pushing his hair back. he looked godly.
"you're just so beautiful."
he whispered, before resuming his teaching.
after a while, areum was tasked by chan to swim towards him, which she mastered more or less successfully. but once she reached him, his arms flung around her waist and pulled her to his chest.
"i'm so proud of you."
he exclaimed, jolly like a child on christmas. they stared into each other's eyes, before chan leaned forward and booped his crush's nose with his.
"you're adorable."
their lips were millimeters apart, when a huge spout of the salty fluid appeared behind chan, burying the two in a delicate mist of water, body's flying apart from shock. they didn't get a spare second to collect themselves, as huge, manmade waves crashed down on them along with hysterical laughter.
the spontaneous water fight, commenced by seungmin and sua - who had finally put her novel down and joined seungmin - flustered the older pair so much, their first reaction was to flee.
"cowards!"
seungmin yelled after them, high-fiving sua right after.
but sua wasn't done yet. deep down, her pride was still hurt and seungmin didn't get a fitting punishment. until now, that was.
"get ready."
she breathed, a glint in her eyes and a smirk on her lips being the only hints as to what she was planning.
she jumped onto seungmin's back once again, the boy losing his footing, plummeting into the cold water. sua triumphantly held him down, accepting her easy win. but the second she let go of him, he dove towards her. and before she could let out a scream, she was on his shoulders, legs dangling in the air.
"seungmin, w-what?!"
the boy didn't respond and just took her legs and levered her from his body into the ocean. he expected her to resurface again, but after a few seconds had passed, he let down his guard, confused as to where sua was.
"you're harder to steamroll than i had anticipated."
seungmin wanted to respond, when he was pulled under water once more.
"why don't just go over and talk to her? it's not like she's going to rip your head off."
hyunjin exhaled, annoyed at changbin's whining and insecurity.
"you should've seen her after i kissed her earlier. she was furious."
"i wonder why. did she consent? no. naeun needs to be in control, or at least act like she is. you can't just overwhelm her like this, she'll be so confused."
danbi chimed in, pitying the muscular boy next to hyunjin.
"well that makes two of us. damn, i don't wanna marry her, i just wanna hang out and get to know her."
changbin replied, equally as annoyed as his counterparts.
"just tell her that then!"
danbi spoke, voice firm, and pushed the boy off their towel, towards naeun.
to everyone's surprise changbin actually made his way towards naeun's towel and plopped down next to it, the girl's eyes fluttering open.
"what now?"
she tried her best to sound unbothered and stay cool, but she already felt her body heat up and her heart rate increase.
"i know the two of us had a rough start, but.. maybe we could take a walk and talk about random things. i don't wanna get with you, i promise you. i just want to make up for lost time, the others are all so close already. it's just us."
he ended with reaching out his hand towards naeun's.
"you're right. even sua got a grip by now.."
she took his hand, but instead of getting up, she pulled him down.
"i'd rather talk while laying down, if that's cool with you?"
