“Save me!” Min Young mouthed to her brother as she rested at the wall after a 200 M sprint. An evil smile spread across his face as he shook his head. Jay stood beside Jung Yong Hwa on the deck. Horror flashed across Min Young’s face. She couldn’t believe that her own brother wouldn’t help her. Her face was red, and she was dead tired. And she had no choice but to keep swimming.   

            “Ready! Go!” yelled her coach, Yong Hwa.

            ‘NOOOO!’ screamed Min Young inwardly.  ‘Crap, I can’t take this any longer! This is nothing like high school! When did swimming become so hard?!”          

            By the time Min Young had touched the wall, a new face had shown up beside her. A fairly familiar, yet unfamiliar face smiled toothily at her. She wanted to roll her eyes at the silly expression on the guy’s face but then again, that same smile of his made her go weak in the knees.

            “Hey Min Ho!” came a girl on Min Young’s right. She was better known as Victoria Song. A silly, sweet, and sarcastic girl she was. She also seemed to be quite good friends with Min Ho. He gave her a nod hello, and turned back to Min Young.

            “So you’re on the swim team I see,” Min Ho smiled his best smile. She noticed that his teeth were perfect straight pearls. Min Young couldn’t help but feel weak at his million watt smile.

            “Yeah, runs in the family,” she shrugged, “what can I do about it?”

            “Haha, huh.. I just noticed that,” he thought back to Min Young’s older brother Jay and her less talked about eldest brother, Park Hae Jin. She gave Min Ho an odd look. He was staring off into the distance with pouting lips and narrowed as if in deep concentration.

            Min Young chuckled before doing the set Yong Hwa had just announced. Min Ho followed close behind when water suddenly hit in the face, causing him to snap out of his daydream.

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            Light shone through the trees and cast bits and pieces of sunlight onto the grass.  Breathing in the summer air, Min Young stood eyes closed in the shade with her hands on her waist. It was yet another perfect summer evening. The sun was due to set in an hour or so. Min Young drew her towel from her swim bag and laid it on the grass. She watched as the boys’ water polo team swam back and forth for warm up. Min Young lay down on stomach upon her pink Hello Kitty towel and plucked her book from her bag, but she didn’t feel like reading. She looked around for signs of him, but he was nowhere to be found.

            Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands grab at her waist. Her first instinct was to kick at the r. When her leg came in contact with the stranger, she heard groan that sounded very much like Min Ho. She was afraid to look. Min Young turned slowly to look at the figure lying on the ground in pain.

            The figure was indeed Min Ho. Min Young winced as he made more sounds of pain. She

scrunched up her face in horror and flew over to his side.

            “Are you okay!? I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was you! I thought it was a stranger! Well

there wouldn’t really be strangers here ‘cause there’s so many people watching. And if it was a stranger then someone would’ve stopped hi-” Min Ho’s hand landed on her shoulder.

            “It’s okay. I’m fine,” he chuckled, “Calm down.” Relief washed over Min Young.

            “Mianhe,” apologized Min Young, “Here, let me help you up.” The two slowly got up

only to sit back down on the ground.

            “So, whatcha got there?” asked Min Ho motioning at the book she had thrown aside.

            “Oh, it’s nothing. Just some English novel Eun Hye recommended.” He grabbed the book

and read the summary.

            “Mind if I borrow it?” Min Young was taken by surprise. Why would a guy like him possibly want to read an American romance novel? It beat her. She let him borrow the book if he promised to return it in one piece.

            “You know I’m going to get you back for that kick right?” he asked with a smirk.

            “Oh really?” Min Young raised her eyebrows in amusement.

            “Yeah,” Min Ho leaned in to whisper in her ear, “and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

            He sent chills down her spine, but she kept her composure. She turned to him and

smiled playfully. She bent in to whisper in his ear this time, returning the favor.  “We’ll see about that.”

It was the beginning of summer, and there was much to be done.

            The sun had finally set and she stood beside her coach discussing water polo. She watched as Yong Hwa worked them hard. It was what they called ‘hell week.’ It was simply a week of intense training and getting back in shape.

            Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and picked her up bridal style. Taken by surprise, she squirmed and screamed. Min Ho laughed and swung her back and forth at the edge of the pool.

“Min Ho! Let me down!” Min Young screeched into his ear as she shut her eyes tightly.

“Not until I get my revenge!” he exclaimed like a young boy who was playing with toy soldiers.

Min Young squealed once more and wrapped her arms around his neck. Suddenly the swinging

stopped. She slowly opened her eyes to look at Min Ho. He was smiling down at her.

Min Young tried to jump out of his arms but he wouldn’t budge. She tried once more and was successful. Min Young straightened her clothes and crossed her arms.

“That was not funny!” she huffed. Min Ho smiled childishly.

            In the spur of the moment, an idea popped into Min Young’s head. She turned to smile slyly at Min Ho. She spread her arms open as if to hug him. He smiled cheekily and went in for the embrace when she suddenly grabs his waist and throws him in. But not before he gets a hold of her and drags her down with him. Legs and arms flailed in the air like fish out of water.

            Min Young’s scream was muffled by the cold pool water, as she struggled to get to the surface. Min Young and Min Ho popped up at the same time.

            “I-It’s freezing!” she squealed.    

            “I’ll warm you up!” Min Ho smiled that same charming smile and immediately wrapped his arms around her. They stood soaking wet with all their clothes on in the cold, pool water. It never

occurred to them that everyone was watching their little scene.

            When they finally realized what had happened, they immediately jumped out of the pool.

            Once they were dried, Min Ho walked over to Min Young and whispered in her ear.

            “Gotcha.”