Large brown eyes stared back into Eun-Ae’s as she peeked over the wooden fence enclosing a grassy field, and as she giggled, the cow that was currently loping along the fence line let out a loud “moo” and swished its tail, lowering its head to munch at the tall grass clustered by the fence post. Eun-Ae reached over the top of the worn but secure fence, patting the large creature’s back as it plodded along, hooves stamping into the grass it had just munched on. A calf tottered on unsteady legs along after it, bleating loudly as it glanced around curiously at the five idols and their female companion, who were leaning against the wooden fence and excitedly petting the cows that had gathered at the edge of the field to check them out. There were at least thirty of them, all gigantic and speckled with brown and black splotches, with innocent brown eyes.

“I never imagined cows were so cute!” Eun-Ae giggled as she patted a particularly gargantuan beast’s side, rubbing the short fur as it loped along, mooing repeatedly.

“I like cows,” Taemin snickered, bouncing from cow to cow in his effort to touch every single one of them.

After their lovely dairy treat, the farmer had suggested that they pay a visit to the wonderful creatures who had made it possible- his herd of dairy cows. They had trekked to the outer edge of the farm, where the livestock were held in different fields, to pay homage to the bulky but gentle creatures. After the initial excitement, the herd wandered further into the field, consuming the grasses at a leisurely pace while their flicking tails swatted at the various flies buzzing around.

“Thank you for the ice cream!” Key hollered after them, cupping his hands around his mouth the shout at the oblivious creatures. He grinned wryly when he earned a well-timed “moo” in response. “It was delicious.”

“Hey, mister, got any chickens?” Onew asked the old farmer with sparkling eyes.

“You do realize that you can’t eat the chickens, right, Onew?” Minho frowned with pursed lips, earning him a reproachful glare from the chicken-obsessed boy.

“Of course I know that!” he huffed back. “I still like chickens in their non-edible form.” Upon Onew’s request, the farmer led them to the chicken pen, and even permitted them to enter the small enclosure with bags of seed to feed the spastic birds. They clucked relentlessly, striding around while their heads bobbed as they eyed the bags in their hands hungrily. As they gently tossed the seed onto the ground, they screeched loudly and flapped their wings frantically, in a frenzy as they pecked rapidly at the dirt to gorge themselves on the seed. One of the more manic ones came charging at Eun-Ae, clucking loudly and flapping its wings furiously to propel itself at the girl. She screamed and threw the bag into the air, dousing herself in seed and sending the entire flock after her.

“No, no, go away!” she wailed as she dashed around the yard, spilling seed in her wake and pursued by the crazed chickens. The boys fell to the ground in a fit of laughter, pointing and holding their stomachs. “I’m not food! I’m not food!” she screamed and launched herself over the fence, landing in a heap in the dirt while the chickens collided with the chain-link fence, clucking miserably. Before the bird mob could turn on them, the boys dumped their bags of birdseed and hastily retreated to the other side of the fence, still laughing uncontrollably while Eun-Ae pouted on the ground.

“You never do have luck with animals,” Key sighed as he held out a hand for her to take. Pursing her lips, she took it gratefully, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He straightened her up, brushing seed from her hair and back and shoulders while he continued to chuckle.

“It’s not funny,” she mumbled, blushing as his hands swept over her.

“It is,” he retorted, giving her hair a final before smiling gently at her and standing back. Eun-Ae self-consciously ran her fingers through her hair, where his fingers had been combing through the strands only seconds before. Before this, I wouldn’t have given his actions a second thought, but everything he does sends me in a tizzy… she thought grumpily. Even now, her face was afire with heat, her cheeks tinged pink; thankfully, it could be explained away with the embarrassment of being marauded by chickens.

Despite her earlier scare, Eun-Ae insisted they visit the rest of the livestock pens, and so the farmer led them through the various enclosures. Fluffy sheep bleated in a penned field, huddled against each other and making it seem like the clouds had descended from the sky to coat the earth. Next to their enclosure were housed goats, including the viral “fainting goats”; Eun-Ae was not pleased as Minho and Onew took turns scaring the daylights out of the poor animals and causing them to flop over, frozen, though she did unwittingly giggle the first few times. They did get their revenge, sort of, as while Jonghyun was leaning against the fence watching his friends terrify the herd, a stray goat wandered up to the fence and bit him in the behind, causing him to release a highly entertaining yelp.

Across the yard, pigs rolled around in a mud patch to escape the blazing heat, snuffling as they wriggled about in the viscous substance. The farmer plucked a piglet from beside its mother, allowing the group of young adults to take turns holding the baby. Eun-Ae was delighted to find how soft it was, and cuddled it delightedly as it squeaked and nuzzled her chest. She was almost sad to deliver it back into the pen, but seeing it snuggle back to its mother made her heart grow fuzzy. By the time they finished visiting all of the animal pens, it was late afternoon, and the sun was blazing brighter than ever.

“Ugh, I wish summer would end already,” Taemin groaned as he tugged at his shirt, which was damp with sweat and sticking to his skin.

“Don’t complain, Taemin,” Jonghyun huffed, but despite his comment it was obvious that the heat was getting to him as well; his face was flushed, and the sweat had slicked his hair against his forehead. As the boys continued to banter about the relentless heat and wish for the end of summer, Eun-Ae bit down on her lip. When summer ends, so do I, she realized sadly. Suddenly, Key slipped his hand into hers, and she glanced up at him; he winked quickly at her, a small smile playing across his face.

“Personally, I want summer to last forever,” he responded smoothly. Eun-Ae felt her heart swell, and she leaned her head slightly against his shoulder, smiling warmly. Key… The boys ceased their complaining once they realized the truth, and smiled sheepishly at Eun-Ae.

“Yeah… Summer really isn’t that bad,” Onew remarked as he fanned himself with his hand. “I mean, the heat may be the worst of it, but summer also means cool stuff like camping and swimming…”

“Hey, let’s go swimming!” Taemin gasped.

“Well, I do have a lake on the property,” the farmer frowned, rubbing his hand over his chin thoughtfully. “Though, it is populated with fish and other critters…”

“It’s so hot, I’m willing to swim with sharks at this point,” Minho smirked, and the old farmer ledthem down the dirt paths to the mid-sized lake at the edge of his property. The water was black, calm and undisturbed say for the ripples that occasionally flowed across the surface when a dragonfly touched down or a turtle poked its head above the water, before quickly diving back into the abyss. Lilies clustered along the bank, their bright pink flowers in the last bloom before fall settled in. A few frogs perched on the pads, but sprang into the water as they approached the edge. Eun-Ae leaned over the edge to peer into the water, and saw minnows flitting about in the shallow water, their silvery bodies flashing as their scales caught the sunlight.

“Ahhhhh, that’s better,” Onew breathed from the side of the bank, causing Eun-Ae to glance over. He had stripped down to just his underwear, and was currently submerged up to his chin in the water, his eyes closed in contentment. Blushing brightly, Eun-Ae grabbed the closest thing to her- which happened to be his shoe- and lobbed it at him, striking him straight in the forehead.

“You uncivilized buffoon! There is a lady present! You can’t just strip down to your boxers in front of me!” she shouted, looking to the other boys for affirmation. She regretted doing so, however, as all of them were in the process of doing the same. She covered her face, mortified.

“Uh, Eun-Ae, we’ve known each other since we were like, four? Does that really matter?” Jonghyun asked with a frown as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it into the grass. Yes, it does, because you’ve all gotten notably more attractive- especially… she dared not finish the thought, and just shook her thought.

“Hey, Eun-Ae,” came a sudden voice, and Eun-Ae gasped as her hands were suddenly wrenched away from her face. She flushed guiltily, avoiding Key’s eyes as he stood in front of her, completely down to his underwear and holding her wrists on either side of her face. He was grinning stupidly. “You’re embarrassed because you think we’re hot, huh?” he teased.

“No!” she lied desperately. “It’s just inappropriate! I can’t get down to my bra and undies in front of all of you!” she retorted.

“I mean, I don’t see why not,” Minho frowned as he swam passed her, backstroking along the bank. “I mean, it’s not like we care. It’s not any different than the day at the beach, really. Same amount of skin,” he shrugged and flopped onto his belly in the water. Eun-Ae pursed her lips, disappointed he had come up with such a sound argument. Plus, the heat was beginning to weigh on her.

“Fine! But none of you can look!” she cried, wrenching her arms free and Key and stomping off a few yards behind a relatively large bush to begin removing her clothes. I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought with a snort as she stepped out from behind the bush, down to her delicates. As promised, the boys all averted their eyes as she slid into the water. She shuddered at the surprising coldness of the water, and the feeling of the muddy bottom squelching between her toes. She crouched down in the water, up to her chest, her hair flowing in waves on the surface about her shoulders.

“You’re so weird, you know?” Key laughed as he swam up beside her.

“Wow, do you use that on all the girls?” she snorted, looking away haughtily.

“Nope, just you,” he laughed, swimming back into her line of sight. “It’s just, before, you wouldn’t have hesitated to throw off all your clothes and jump into a lake with us. What’s changed?” he inquired curiously, but his eyes sparkled like he already knew the answer.

“It’s been a long time. Things have changed,” she answered vaguely, blushing lightly.

“Hmm. That so?” was all he said, and he sat down cross-legged on the lake bottom, the water lapping against his chin. Eun-Ae hovered beside him, watching as a family of swans came waddling down the hill and entered the water. The fluffy baby swans trailed after their mother, cheep-cheeping as their stubby tails fluttered to and fro and their little feet paddled through the water. “I wish things hadn’t changed,” Key remarked suddenly. She looked up at him, and he was staring blankly at the family of swans as a male appeared from a patch of reeds, quaking at the mother. He nudged at his progeny, then touched beaks with the mother and escorted them to the reed, where the nest most likely resided. “I wish…”

“That I hadn’t gotten sick?” Eun-Ae finished quietly. “Me too… But, if I hadn’t, would we be here now?” she added with a small smile, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Even if things did change… I like to think they did for the better,” she whispered. She felt the side of Key’s head plop down against her own, his black hair mingling with her own.

“Yeah,” was all he said, and they both stared at the place where the family of swans disappeared, as if longing for a future that could never be.