The boys were woken up by the noise coming from Jessica’s room whose door was open. Their voices sounded like a mixed blur to the sleepyheads. Luhan woke up first and the others followed eventually. The sun was already up, shining thorugh the curtains.

“Why don’t we go to Nami Island?”

“That’s... too romantic.”

“Right.”

“Jeju-do, Jeju-do? Look, we can rent this Forest House at Jeju Jeolmul Natural Recreation Forest.”

“A forest?” Jessica asked, “I don’t want to go to a forest, what can we do there?”

“Making a camp? I don’t know.”

“Jeju is an island, it’s not all about forest, there’s this place called beach...”

“So why should we stay near a forest?”

“You got a point.”

“Scroll down...” Yuri commanded, “ah! Camino de Floresta, it’s in Gangwon-do. See? Beautiful! The reviews are good too.”

“Yeah it’s kinda luxurious. But it’s the most beautiful in winter, we’re not gonna go during winter, aren’t we?”

“Right.”

“Scroll down.”

“Seorak Garden Villa, it’s in Gangwon-do too. Look, it’s a popular family trip spot. We could go. The reviews, the reviews!”

“The rating is 8.1 out of 10.”

“Amazing.”

“This area kinda gives me the countryside vibes.”

“Right.”

“Can you say something other than ‘right’?!”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Seorak is popular in autumn. And it’s five minutes drive to Mulchi beach and ten minutes drive to Sokcho bea—”

“Ugh why are they so noisy? Girls!” Baekhyun put a pillow on his face, preventing any noise to disturb his sleep. He finally lost it when someone kicked his leg quite hard. “Ugh what the ?!” His body forcefully shot up, his eyes still closed. He opened his eyes to see that a tower looking down at him and he knew that this tower, Chanyeol, did it.

“Where am I?” he muttered, looking to his surroundings. He spotted the same dolls and ballons all over the place that had not been tidied up yet. “Aaah.” He nodded to himself, ready to fall back asleep when Chanyeol pulled his hand.

“Yah yah yah!”

As they were all already up ten minutes later, the boys soon joined the girls who were looking through websites. “What is all this noise about? What are you all up to?” Luhan asked as he strode in. Jessica turned her laptop, showing that they had been looking for a trip or holiday spot and a villa or house to rent.

“The exams break,” she added, “after the exams break.”

“You are including us too, aren’t you?” Baekhyun asked, referring to last night’s event when he ruined a girls’ night in, hoping to not make the same mistake. “Why, of course,” Yuri answered.

“Why do I feel that you’re including us so that the cost won’t be too high...” She gave Chanyeol a dirty look but changed it to fake a smile a milisecond after. “Honestly, that’s quite true, though.”

“No, I mean, the more the merrier,” Yuri clarified.

“Right.”

“Alriiiiight theeeen,” Baekhyun agreed in a sing-song voice that apparently was annoying to others. “Stop that,” said Taeyeon. He cooed at her. “What?” Taeyeon ignored him but Sooyoung answered for her instead, “your voice is annoying.” Baekhyun gave her a pained expression.

“But,” Chanyeol added, “wouldn’t it be too crowded, it’s break after all.” He looked at all of pairs of eyes. They waited for him to continue. “I mean, people like us need some quiet places, like a secluded beach or—” He didn’t finish his sentence.

“Actually,” Sooyoung responded, “that would be cheaper also.”

“What do you suggest then, Chanyeol?” Jessica’s eyes pierced through Chanyeol’s and he suddenly felt like being interrogated. He sat on her bed, snatching Jessica’s laptop. “Let’s see...” He mumbled. The light from the screen made his face brighter.

“We can head to rural part of Gyeongsangbuk-do or Gangwon-do, find a random mountain and hike it—”

“Mountain? Hike?! Hiking? NO! No, not in a million year—”

“Or,” Chanyeol cut her, signaling that he wasn’t done yet, “we could get in ferry to one of the small islands in the south coast, walk around and find a secluded beach.”

“Seems like an idea,” Sooyoung butted in.

“Why do you always agree on everything Chanyeol says?” Jessica challenged. Sooyoung shifted to her. “Oh, do I?”

“AND,” Chanyeol spoke again, making them stop, “there’s Anyang, a city thirty minutes from Seoul.” He shrugged. “But that’s too close..” He started reading again, “People are recommending the small west or southwest coast island.”

The others kept listening to Chanyeol as he read people’s recommendations. “There’s this small village, Galdam, we can walk to mountainous area. It’s in rural area of Jeolla-do an—” Catching Jessica’s eyes on him, he stopped reading. ‘Right, this girl doesn’t like mountains, doesn’t like walking, running, hiking. What on earth does she even like?’

Chanyeol, however, continued, “And there’s Muuido, but in—wait no, this is the most quiet place, I think girls won’t like this place. The silence can be a bit scary, I suppose. And people who got there are mostly to get drunk and be—”

“Don’t even think about it,” Yuri spoke, “we’re not some damn backpackers.” He glowered at her. “There’s Namhae, Yeosu—that has over three hundred islands, also there’s Bijindo Island. And if you want the beach version of quiet places, there are many actually. Let’s see, there are Woljeong, Hwanguji, Sagye, et cetera. Most of them are in Jeju,” Chanyeol finished.

“Can I bring my boyfriend?” Yuri spoke and everyone gasped. “You have a boyrfirend?!” She grinned. “Kidding.” Everyone let out a relieved sighs, much to Yuri’s annoyance. “Are you all that happy that I’m single all the time?”

After hearing so many list and their explanation, Luhan finally cleared his voice. “Why don’t we narrow the category, I mean, what kind of places do you exactly want to go to? Beaches? Mounta—“

“Not the mountains,” Jessica insisted, “not hills either.”

“—lake, river, forest, gardens, parks?” Luhan continued after stopping for Jessica’s protest.

Baekhyun came forward, positioning himself in the middle of people inside Jessica’s room—which was thankfully quite large and spacey so it wasn’t crowded—as if he was in a formal discussion. Always being extra. “Personally, I want this kind of trip where I can stay in a beach house or whatever you name it that’s very close to the shore and its view is directly to the sea, so we can be barefooted everyday, can you all picture it out?”

They nodded. “Ah I think I know where. Let’s rent the beach house in Malibu, the house is sooo close to the shore.” Jessica threw a look at everyone.

“And where is it?” He asked. “California.” They all groaned in unison as Jessica gave them a ‘what?’ look. “She’s not serious, is she?”

Yuri placed her hands on the ice princess’ shoulders to meet her eyes, sighing deeply. “Jess, don’t even.” Her head shaking to left and right.

“But I know a friend, no, two friends that can help. Kris and Tiffany know where we should head to from the airport, I’m sure they’ll help.”

“How much if we want to rent?” Taeyeon, who had been silent during the unexpectedly long discussion, finally asked.

“800$ per night.”

“...”

Five minutes of silence.

“But—”

“Jess, don’t. Just don’t.”

***

Three months later...

Spring

Jessica’s house was quite busy that day. Everyone was gathering in the living room. The boys were always late, which was quite questionable since it was always girls who were late, of course this group of friends beat that stereotype. After fifteen agonizing minutes of waiting, the boys showed up at last. Each one was holding their suitcases.

“If we miss the flight, I’ll murder you all,” Jessica