Part Two

It’s 10.30 pm, a Friday night.

Nahee sits in her dorm, working on her homework distractedly.

It’s been two weeks since she struck that deal with Jimin, and he hasn’t approached her since. A part of her is relieved that he gave up so quickly; yet a tiny part of her is disappointed in Jimin for going back on his word.

Whatever. At least I got him off my back.

Suddenly, she hears a knock on her door. Her eyebrows furrow in surprise, because nobody’s ever approached her this late into the night.

“Who the heck could it be…” Nahee grumbles, slipping out of her chair to get the door.

When she opens the door, her eyes widen in surprise.

“Jimin?”

He simply smiles, but his smile is cryptic. He suddenly grabs Nahee’s hand and says, “Come with me.”

“Where to?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Nahee lets herself be whisked away by Jimin, out of the dorm. He walks quickly out of the dorm building, Nahee trailing hesitantly behind him.

“Are we going out of school?”

“Yes.”

“Jimin, if we get caught-,”

“Shut up and just trust me.”

He leads Nahee out of the back gate of the school, which for some reason is unlocked. Nahee does not want to know how Jimin managed to unlock it.

As stealthily as they can, the pair slips out into the night. They walk through the forest behind the school, trampling all over on a mess of leaves and twigs.

If this doesn’t turn out to be something good, I swear I’ll kill Jimin, swimming champion or not.

Nahee has visited the forest a couple times, usually for geography projects or for the university’s camping programme, but that was under adult supervision and was conducted in a large group. Now, being in the large, dark forest in the middle of the night with only Jimin for company makes her feel a little uneasy. Not to mention that if the night patrol team caught them wandering about after ‘lights out’, they would be in hot soup.

So she has no choice but to trust that Jimin won’t land her in trouble.

After about fifteen agonizing minutes of trudging through the forest, they finally reach a small clearing. Jimin leads Nahee through the clearing to reveal and beautiful, stunning lake before them.

The way the moonlight bounces off the reflective surface of the lake gives it an almost ethereal glow, captivating Nahee completely.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispers unconsciously, but it doesn’t go unheard by Jimin. He smiles in response.

“Indeed it is.”

“Can you tell me what we’re going to do now?”

Jimin walks further out onto a small rickety bridge that extends out onto the large expanse of water. Nahee follows cautiously behind, careful not to step on the precariously shaky parts.

As they reach the end of the bridge, Nahee squints and sees a small boat floating on the surface of the lake right in front of the bridge. Her eyes widen as she realises what Jimin brought her here for.

“No way,” she says immediately, taking a step back.

“Nahee, you need to keep an open mind and just trust me. Everything will be fine.”

“What if the boat capsizes or flips over or something? I don’t want to die this young. Plus this lake is literally in the middle of nowhere! No one will be able to find us.”

“Nahee,” Jimin says, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders, “I won’t let anything happen to you. And anyway, even if the boat does capsize, remember that you’ve got a champion swimmer right here with you.”

Nahee has to admit that just hearing Jimin’s voice is oddly reassuring and sets her heart at ease, even if it’s just a little bit.

“If something does happen…”

“Nothing will happen, I promise. I need you to trust me, Nahee.”

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. “Okay. I trust you.”

Jimin smiles. “Good, because I promise you you’re not going to regret this.”

Nahee holds onto Jimin’s arm as she steps gingerly into the boat, flinching a little when it wobbles under her weight.

“Relax,” Jimin advises, “don’t be so tense. You’re light enough for this boat, don’t worry.”

Taking a leap of faith, Nahee quickly lifts her other leg and steps into the boat, exhaling sharply as she does so. Then she squats down slowly and sits down right in the centre of the boat, hoping to balance it out so it doesn’t capsize. She sure isn’t taking any chances.

Jimin laughs and steps easily into the boat, grabbing the oars on either side of the boat. He lifts them up and begins to row, moving the boat slowly so that he doesn’t startle Nahee.

Nahee tries her best to relax, and soon finds herself immersed in the beauty of the place. The beautiful lake surrounds her, its infectious glow bouncing off its surface. When she looks up, she sees millions of stars and a moon beaming proudly onto the earth.

A part of her wishes she discovered this earlier.

After ten minutes, Jimin stops rowing and takes a seat down next to Nahee on the boat.

The pair sits in silence for a while, soaking up the beauty of their surroundings.

“So, how did you discover this place?” Nahee asks, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep one night and decided to go for a walk, I guess you could say that I just stumbled across this place.”

Nahee nods. “This is a really great place.”

Suddenly, a strong gust of cold wind blows over and Nahee shivers slightly, but Jimin notices it. After all, she is dressed only in a thin tank top and a pair of light cotton shorts, leaving her arms and legs bare.

He takes off his jacket and places it over her shoulders, making sure that her bare skin is covered. Nahee looks over in surprise at the warmth that suddenly envelopes her upper body, then smiles gratefully at Jimin.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

They sit in silence for a while, basking in the tranquility of the place.

After a while, Jimin breaks the silence. “So, what caused your trauma?”

“What?”

“There must be a reason why you’re so afraid of water. If you don’t want to tell me now, it’s fine. I’ll wait.”

It might be the utter serenity of the situation, or the beauty of their surroundings, but Nahee finds herself drawn to Jimin, compelled to spill the truth.

“Well… I can’t remember the exact details but… I do know that it happened when I was really young.”

“Go on,” Jimin encourages.

“You probably wouldn’t believe this, but here goes.”

After Nahee shared with Jimin her past trauma with water, he became more determined than ever to help her get past her fear and revive her swimming abilities.

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