As Eun-Ae stepped down off the damp wooden dock into the fine white sand, burning against the soles of her feet with heat absorbed from the intense summer sun, she inspected the skin on her arms with a slight frown. Her normally lightly-tanned skin was beginning to turn a distinct shade of pink, and when she poked at it with her finger, the skin blazed pale white before fading into the rosy pink color once more. It was obvious that she was developing a sunburn, having neglected applying another coat of sun screen in favor of experiencing the jet-ski ride. The boys glanced at her in confusion when she began running back toward their encampment of towels and umbrellas, for they had unanimously decided to return to the water only moments before.

“Hold on! I just need to get some sunscreen!” she called back as she jogged over to their small beach settlement. Winded after only a few moments of running unsteadily in the thick dunes, she opted to walk the rest of the way, not wishing to push herself too far and cut the fun beach day short. She ducked into the shade and rifled through her beach bag until she found her bottle of suntan lotion, then promptly plopped down cross-legged on her towel and flipped the lid open to squeeze a large amount of the creamy white lotion into her hand. She slapped her palms together, smearing it all across her palms, before meticulously coating her arms with the cream. Humming to herself, she was oblivious to the distinct footsteps that were approaching her umbrella until she noticed that the shadow of the umbrella had grown considerably larger, and there were several pairs of legs standing just outside the edges of her towel. She gasped as the edge of the umbrella was lifted up, and a strange man in his mid-twenties ducked his head underneath with a broad smile.

“Nice setup you got here,” he commented as his friends chuckled beside him. “You here with your girlfriends? We’d love to meet ‘em.” His friends began laughing and shoving him roughly around, nagging on him for approaching Eun-Ae so brazenly. Uncomfortable with the attention, she merely continued applying the sunscreen to herself.

“I’m here with my friends, but they’re all guys,” she replied haughtily. The men responded with a chorus of “ooooohs” and winked at one another. Her cheeks turning red with annoyance, she spat, “They’ll be here soon, so I suggest you run along. They’re awfully protective of me, and I’m not going to be responsible for anything that happens to you if they catch you here harassing me.” The original instigator laughed, and she cried out in alarm as he abruptly ducked under the umbrella to sit down beside her. He threw an arm around her shoulders, locking her in a grip that she could not escape.

“We’re sorry if we came off a little rude,” he apologized, but his tone lacked any sincerity. He held a hand to his brow and scanned along the beach, and Eun-Ae was afraid that he had called her bluff. “A group of guys, you say? Hmm, funny, I don’t see any,” he remarked as he drew his face closer to her, putting a finger under her chin. “If they are around, I can see why they’d bee protective of you- you’re awful cute.”

“Please get away from me!” Eun-Ae shouted as she slapped him hard in the face, scrambling away and out into the open sun. His two companions appeared in front of her as she attempted to make her escape, blocking her path. She heard their supposed leader stand up and approach her from behind, and she fearfully looked over her shoulder to see him rubbing his cheek with a bemused expression.

“Little lady, you’re feisty,” he purred. “I like that. Why don’t you ditch your boys, if they even exist, and come hang with us cool guys? We’ll treat you real nice…” he offered with a lecherous glare, and she shook her head vehemently.

“I said no! Back off!” she demanded angrily, but the men only laughed in response. As the leading man moved to grab her wrist, he gasped as his own was suddenly seized and twisted painfully behind his back. Before Eun-Ae could even register what was happening, the two men behind her yelped in surprise, and she whipped around to find that one had been pegged in the back of the head with a football and was rolling on the ground groaning in pain, while the other was stumbling around with his head trapped in a large bucket, the accompanying shovel still attached with a zip tie to the handle.

“Man, you guys ,” Taemin huffed as he prodded the bucket-bound man with the end of a shovel, laughing as it disbalanced him and sent him sprawling into the sand. “Is that all it takes to take you guys out? That’s no fun,” he moped.

“Do you want to get in a fight, Taemin?” Minho sighed as he tossed the football he had assaulted the other hooligan with high into the air, catching it expertly. “They’d beat you up in three seconds flat because you’re such a shrimp.”

“Besides, we gotta act classy in front of Eun-Ae, right?” Onew winked, planting his foot on the bucket man’s back to keep him face-down in the sand and completely immobile. “Isn’t that how knights in shining armor are supposed to be?” he grinned as he flipped her a thumbs-up.

“Onew, you’re more like a clown than a knight,” Jonghyun snorted and glared savagely at the football-pegged man with such intensity that he sunk back down into the sand, seemingly unwilling to challenge the irritated man to any sort of scuffle.

“You guys!” Eun-Ae breathed in relief. Good thing they were around… There’s no way I could have fought off all these guys by myself! Especially that one… She thought as she glanced at the ringleader, who was currently cursing and writhing around in Key’s strong grip.

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you that ‘no’ means ‘no’?” Key growled as he pulled the insistent man’s arm further behind his back, causing him to hunch over as his fingers scraped across the innermost parts of his shoulder blades. His face was contorted in pain as he glared up at Key, who was staring down at him with a deadly calm expression. “It sounded pretty clear to me that she wanted nothing to do with you scumbags, and now I’m gonna make you regret laying hands on my girl.” At his possessiveness of her, Eun-Ae blushed darkly.

“Who do you think yo- Agh!” the man howled in pain as Key jerked his arm once more, and the man doubled over further to keep his arm from being wrenched out of his socket. Sweat began to drip down the side of his head as his companions remained incapacitated and completely unable to come to his aid. He was beginning to realize the hopelessness of his situation. Key held him in the uncomfortable position for several seconds longer before roughly tossing him forward, sending him stumbling into the sand.

“Get lost! And take your goons with you!” Key snapped crossly. His friends hurriedly scrabbled to their feet before following their friend down the beach and out of the reach of the angry group of idols. As they disappeared down the beach, Key let out a heavy sigh. “Sheesh, can’t take my eyes off you for one second before a pack of hyenas come moving in,” he smiled gently, plopping a hand on the top of Eun-Ae’s head. “Guys just don’t know how to take a hint.”

“Thanks, you guys,” she smiled shyly at her rescuers. They all murmured something along the lines of “Yeah, it was no big deal, no problem” before Jonghyun frowned and glanced up at the scathing summer sun, which was blazing down from the clear blue sky. Although she had only been standing there for a few minutes, the heat was already beginning to wear on her, compounded on the strain the short run and hours of play had placed on her body. Suddenly short of breath, she placed a hand on Key’s shoulder and eased herself down onto the ground, panting.

“I think it may be time to leave,” Jonghyun frowned with a glance down at Eun-Ae. “Besides, it only gets more crowded from here, and more dogs like that lot will be sniffing around sooner or later,” he added with a touch of bitterness. Though Eun-Ae did not want to abandon the beach day halfway through, she had to admit that she was completely drained and she did not want to face the stress of a crowd should her ailment decide to act up.

“I think it’s best we call it a day,” she agreed breathlessly.

“All right, then, Eun-Ae,” Taemin chirped happily, “You just sit here and relax, and us guys will pack up everything, okay? Oh, but Key, you should probably stay here and watch, yeah?” he suggested as an afterthought. With a shrug, Key flopped down in the sand beside her while the rest of the boys began gathering their many beach articles and carrying them dutifully to the car to pack them tightly into the spacious trunk. As he sat next to her, Eun-Ae noticed that Key was trembling slightly, his hands tightened into fists.

“Key? Are you okay?” she asked worriedly. He glanced at her with a look of slight shock. “You’re shaking,” she explained, and he smiled sheepishly and looked down at his quivering hands.

“Sharp, aren’t you?” he mused quietly. “Those guys… Really pissed me off, talking to you like that. Especially that jerk… Who does he think he is, throwing his arm around you like that? I should’ve beaten him black and blue…” he mumbled under his breath. Eun-Ae listened in mild silence. I had no idea it bothered him that much… she thought as a smile crept onto her face. She hugged his arm gently and leaned her head against his shoulder, b with gratitude.

“Thank you, Key, for looking out for me,” she murmured sincerely, staring out at the rolling ocean waves. “It really means a lot that you care about me that much.” He remained silent for a moment, and she could feel him gazing down at her, though with what emotion, she did not know. Perhaps part of her didn’t want to know, for if she did, it would make the end all the more painful. He then chuckled breathlessly and leaned his head against hers, sighing softly.

“Of course I care about you. You’re my number one girl, remember?” he whispered gently.

“Yeah, I know,” she nodded. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the entire exchange; part of her felt elated and light, more blissful than anything she had ever felt, while deep down, she felt purely sad, for she knew that in the end, all the feelings that passed between the two of them were for nothing. She only had seventeen more days, after all.