Summer approached again, bringing Jiyoon and her family, the Parks, out for their yearly vacation with the Kims. The families had been friends for generations and Jiyoon found herself being best friends with Jongin - the Kim boy who was just a few months older than her.

The two went to school together, they were the best of friends and nearly inseparable. The two of them drove up to the beach house every summer together. They arrived at the house the day after school let out and went back with a month left.

Jiyoon and Jongin had shared one of the rooms since, as their parents said, before they were born. Every year, they raced each other to it and even though he would never admit it, Jongin always let her win. Jiyoon quickly ran into the bathroom after that to change.

Within the hour, Jiyoon had already made it into the water. Jongin stood on the beach, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head at her. He’d gotten ready to go into the water as well, but he didn’t enjoy it as much as Jiyoon did - and it was next to freezing.

“Jongin!” She called to him, making him look at her. “Come in the water.” She was about ten feet away from the shore, but the water had barely gone up to her waist.

“I’d rather stay dry, Jiyoon.” He shouted back in reply until his older sister nudged his shoulder. Her name was Jungah and she was good friends with Jiyoon as well.

“Don’t leave your girlfriend waiting.” Jungah snickered, receiving a glare from her younger brother.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” He shot back, hearing Jiyoon call to him again. He watched as one of the waves almost knocked her over and his face broke into a smile when he saw her stumble. He looked back to his sister, who had a knowing look in her eyes. Jongin was sure he knew though, Jiyoon was his best friend.

“Well, then don’t leave your best friend waiting. Get out there.” Jungah told her brother. He sighed and nodded, walking to the shore and dipping his foot into the water.

“Jiyoon, it’s cold.” He whined.

“Don’t be a baby, get out here.” Jiyoon scoffed, walking up to him and dragging him into the water with her. His body was tense as the cold water washed over his skin.

“I should’ve known you’d drag me out here.” He pouted.

“You love spending time with me.” She nudged his arm. “What would you do without me?”

“You know, you’re really confident in what I think about you.” He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at her.

“Well, yeah, we’ve only been best friends for nearly eighteen years.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I think college is going to be the longest we’ll ever be apart.” His face fell as he remembered - after they left their summer home, they’d most likely not see much of each other. He was going to college around home, but Jiyoon had her eyes elsewhere. She was going somewhere far away, the details of which he found hard to comprehend.

“Do you really have to go?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Quit that, this is our last free summer, we should spend it together, right? Don’t think about college right now.” She advised him. He couldn’t help it, he’d never been away from his best friend for more than a week and even then, they were texting or calling each other. Jiyoon was going to a whole different time zone, he knew it would be really hard to be normal with her this summer.

“It’s hard,” he whined, “I don’t think I can function without you for that long.”

“We both knew this was coming at some point, though, right?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowing. Wrong. He hadn’t thought about it at all. He didn’t want to be without his best friend and he was really reluctant to let her go.

“Not really.” He shrugged.

“On the bright side, maybe you’ll finally get a girlfriend.” She . He rolled his eyes and splashed her. She squealed but laughed.

“What if I don’t want one?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Dating is fun, Jongin.” She shrugged. “You’ve never had anything serious.”

“And you have?” He asked a little too fast, for some reason, he felt his chest tighten.

“Once.” She shrugged. “He kinda ended up being a douchebag though, but that’s okay.” He frowned. He’d heard this story before, but he never considered their relationship to be serious. What even qualified as serious?

“What qualifies as serious?” He asked.

“Uh, I don’t know.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “It’s a feeling, I think.”

“Everything is a feeling for you.”

“What can I say? I like emotions.” She told him. “That’s why we’re best friends. We balance each other out, you know? Like I’m all emotion and you’re mind blowingly boring -” She was cut off by another splash, a laugh escaping her lips.

“I’m not boring, just sensible.” He replied to her. “Dancing isn’t boring.” Jiyoon preferred things that contained emotion - creative writing, art, anything that she could express herself with. Jongin, despite his sensibility, was a dancer through and through. There was nothing else he’d rather do than dance.

Sometimes, sometimes, if he was lucky, Jiyoon would learn choreography with him. Otherwise, he always danced solo.

“I’m worried about you, Ji.” He pouted. “You’re possibly going to a whole new country and I don’t…ugh, I don’t want you to go.”

“Awe, Nini’s worried.” She , reaching up and patting his head.

“I’m serious!” He whined.

“I know, I know.” She told him. “After college is over, I’ll come back for you, you know that right? Hopefully by then, you’ll be married.”

“In four years I’ll only be twenty-two.” He scoffed. “Hardly old enough to be married. That’s my prime, Jiyoon, why would I get married during my prime?”

“Well, remember our agreement, alright?”

“Which one?” He asked her.

“If we’re not married or in a serious relationship by the time we’re thirty, we’re marrying each other.” Jiyoon pointed her finger at him. He scrunched up his nose.

“You were serious about that?” This time, she splashed him.

“Yes, you dummy.” She glared at him. “Plus, it wouldn’t be horrible to be married to you.”

“Oh, I’m not horrible, huh?” He smiled.

“Well, you’re my best friend and if I’d have to platonically have children with you, they wouldn’t be ugly.” She told him honestly. He felt his face heat up and he turned away from her, another laugh sounding from behind him. “Jongin, I’m not that bad, okay?”

“That’s not - that’s not why I turned around, Jiyoon.” He told her, turning back to her. “If it makes up for anything, I’d platonically make children too.” He cleared his throat.

“I don’t think you phrased that right.” She scrunched up her nose and his shoulders drooped.

“Jiyoon, you know what I meant! I don’t want to -” He groaned. “What if I stay single on purpose until I’m thirty? What if you find someone and I don’t? That sounds like my luck.”

“Jongin,” Jiyoon started, “trust me when I say you will have no trouble finding a girlfriend, alright? You’re just not looking.” Maybe he wasn’t looking, but he had a reason. A part of him really thought he was supposed to marry Jiyoon. Their families would definitely appreciate that.

“Nobody sticks out to me. My mom always said that if you’re gonna love someone, it should be someone you can picture yourself with for a long time. You’re my best friend, so you’re stuck with me, but I can’t picture anyone else in my life for that long.” He told her honestly with a shrug. The look she was giving him made him really look into her eyes. He enjoyed the color and they were often soft.

“So maybe we’re soulmates,” she was joking, but Jongin didn’t see it that way, not that he’d ever tell her. She continued, “that, or our families really go out of their way for us to end up together.”

“Soulmates?” He contemplated it for a while. “Yeah, I like that. You’re my soulmate, Jiyoon.” She thought he was joking and at the time, he did too. The water had ceased to be cold to him, his body had adjusted to it and he found himself actually enjoying it.

“Jiyoon, Jongin, dinner’s almost done!” Mrs. Park called to the two of them.

“We’ll be in soon!” Jongin shouted back, waving to Jiyoon’s mother.

Just as the two were about to walk back towards the house, a wave took Jiyoon off guard. The water knocked her off her feet and before Jongin could even process what he was doing, he leapt forward and caught her, staring at her for a minute. He met her eyes and his smile slowly went away. Her’s stayed intact. His heart skipped a beat and he blinked a couple times, wondering what his pounding heart and twisting stomach meant.

“I fell.” She giggled.

Little did she know, he did too.