“______. _______. Noona.”

Cracking my eyes open, I find Changmin standing over me. “It’s been an hour, huh?”

He nods. “I didn’t know if you’d be able to get hyung up to show you where the pool is. Do you still want to go?”

“Yeah. Give me a few minutes to find my suit and change. Then we can try to wake him up.”

“Noona?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you two dating?”

“No.”

“Oh. Okay. I was just wondering why you were sleeping so close together.”

“What?” As my mind clears, I become aware of Yoochun’s right arm and leg slung across my body. Rolling my eyes, I slip out of bed.

“He’s a flirt even in his sleep, huh?”

“I guess so,” Changmin chuckles. “He’s probably still feeling a little lonely too.”

“I keep hearing you guys mentioning this. What was wrong with him?”

“Nothing really wrong with him. He just has YoochunByung. That’s what we call it. He gets sad easily, sometimes worse than others. He had it bad a few weeks before you showed up.”

“Why? Does it happen a lot?”

“No, it’s just every once in a while and we’re usually able to get him out of it quickly. This time he was really missing his brother. They don’t get to see each other a lot so Yoochun felt like he was being a bad hyung.”

I look back at my friend’s sleeping figure. “That’s so sad. I’m sure he’s a good hyung.”

“He is. We just have to remind him.”

“Why are you guys talking so loud?” Yoochun’s muffled voice asks.

“We weren’t,” I protest. “If we were talking so loud, what were we saying?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Well, since you’re awake, come swimming with us,” Changmin says.

“Fine. I’m going.” Yoochun slowly rolls out of bed, dragging Changmin out the door with him. “Be back in a few.”

As I pull on my bathing suit, I suddenly get a little nervous. It’s a modest tankini, not even a bikini, but I still feel self conscious. Looking around, I wrap my towel around myself before I go and knock on the boys’ door.

“Wow, you’re quick, noona,” Changmin says as he comes out.

“I really like swimming,” I shrug.

“I wonder if the others are still down there,” Yoochun says as he shuts the door behind him.

Changmin begins walking towards the back stairs.“They didn’t come back while I was reading so I’m guessing yes.”

Making our way down a few sets of stairs, we walk through a set of doors. The pool is indoors, naturally lit by a glass ceiling. Yunho and Junsu are in the middle of racing each other the length of the pool while Jaejoong watches on the side, dangling his feet in the water.

“Noona! You’re here!” Junsu shouts, completely forgetting the race to swim to the side of the pool.

“I win!” Yunho shouts. Looking beside him, he realizes Junsu abandoned him. “Hey! Junsu, where’d...oh, hi ______. Are you coming in with us?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have changed into my bathing suit otherwise.”

“Then why are you wearing a towel?” Junsu asks.

“So I wouldn’t have to carry it?”

“Well, it’s time for that to come off,” Yoochun says. Sweeping me off my feet, he grips the towel and tosses me into the pool.

“Not funny, oppa,” I splutter when I resurface, wiping my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologizes, bending down to my level. “Are you okay?”

Moving my hands away from my face, I give him just enough time to see my evil smile before I pull him in.

“Yeah! One point for _______!” Changmin shouts, laughing and clapping his hands. Bending down, he gives me a high five. “We’re going to get along so well.”

Yoochun snaps his hand out to pull Changmin in too but he skips out of the way to hide behind Jaejoong and stick his tongue out.

Giggling, I lean back to float and enjoy the sun’s warmth.

“_______ noona. Play with me,” Junsu pleads. “Didn’t you sleep enough before?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“You look like a mermaid, _____.”

I open one eye to look at him. “Is that compliment a bribe?”

“Maybe,” he smiles.

“All right. What’d you have in mind?”

“Wanna race?”

“Sure.” I start swimming towards the closer end of the pool. “Jaejoong oppa, can you be the judge?”

He nods. “Sure. Ready?”

“Hold on! I’m not there yet,” Junsu protests, quickly coming beside me.

“Ready, set, go!”

I push off, kicking furiously. I hear the mixed cheers of the others echoing through the water. As I slam my hand against the opposite end, I blink the water out of my eyes.

Junsu’s head pops up at almost the exact time as mine. “Hyung, who won?”

“You did. Barely,” Jaejoong answers.

“Best two out of three?” I ask, pushing my hair out of my face.

“You’re on.” With a quick flip of his feet, Junsu heads back the way we came.

“Not fair!” I shout after him, quickly following.

    Inevitably, Junsu wins that race. I manage to win the last, but I think he held back to be nice. Celebrating his victory, he jumps in and out of the water, mimicking the dolphin he sounds like. As I tread water, laughing at Junsu’s display, I feel something moving below me. Looking down, I suddenly find myself out of the water sitting on Yoochun’s shoulders.

“Oppa, what do you think you’re doing?”

“No idea. Just felt like it. You look good, by the way.” As I stutter my soft thanks, he looks around. “Hey, Junsu!”

“Yeah, hyung?”

“Wanna play chicken?”

“Sure! Changmin, come here. I need to borrow your shoulders.”

“You’re too heavy,” Changmin immediately replies.

“Am not! Hyung, can you?”

“I should be the one on top then,” Jaejoong replies.

“Hold on. I don’t think chicken would be the best game to play,” Yunho interrupts. “Any of us might hurt _______ if we play against her.”

“Oh, right. So what do you want to do, ________?” Yoochun asks, tilting his head and trying to look up at me. “I got bored watching you and Junsu race.”

Flicking away the wet hair from his eyes, I reply, “Well, since I’d rather not get hurt, how about....Marco Polo?”

Junsu frowns. “Marco Polo? He was an explorer, right? What does he have to do with this?”

“He was, but this is something completely different,” I laugh.

“It’s like hide and seek in the pool. The seeker has their eyes closed and calls out ‘Marco’ while the hiders have to answer ‘Polo.’ If you get caught, you’re the seeker,” Yoochun explains.

“Are we playing with or without the ‘you’re allowed to peek underwater’ rule?”

“I don’t know. I hate getting chlorine in my eyes.”

“Let’s.”

“Okay. Is everyone playing?”

“I am!” Junsu immediately shouts, jumping up and down in the water.

Changmin shrugs and slips into the water to swim in front of us. “Why not?”

“You coming, hyung?” Yunho asks, turning to Jaejoong.


“Well, it’d be better with more people, wouldn’t it?” Jaejoong slides into the water at Yunho’s nod of agreement.

“Who’s the seeker?” I ask. When they look at each other, I immediately touch my nose, shouting, “Not it!”

The boys look at me confused. Junsu looks up at me. “Um, noona, what are you doing?”

“Never mind,” I sigh. “Guess it’s an American thing. How about rock, paper, scissors?”

They readily agree and even though it’s a little awkward from my position, we start. Unfortunately, they all choose rock while I choose scissors.

“Oh my gosh! I didn’t lose! Woo-hoo!” Junsu laughs.

“Darn it,” I mutter.

“Well,” Yoochun chuckles, sneakily getting ready to push me off. “Guess who’s turn it is to go back in the water?”

I quickly get a handful of hair, holding on just tight enough to give him a warning. “Nicely.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he says meekly, slowly lowering himself so I can slide off by myself.

“Good boy,” I tease.

He smiles back, the mischievous gleam having never left his eyes. “Does that mean you’ll let me get away if you catch me?”

“No way. You get caught, you get caught; fair and square.”

“It was worth a shot.”


“Go and hide.” Closing my eyes, I sink down, leaving one hand up to count. Coming up, I catch my breath and try to listen for any movements. Hearing none, I call out, “Marco!”, thus beginning the game.

The five of them play well, moving swiftly and throwing their voices to confuse me. Finally giving up, I duck underwater for a quick look. Spotting a pair of legs a little to my right, I feint, changing direction at the last minute.

As I burst out of the water, I fling my arms around their waist, triumphantly shouting, “Gotcha!”

“So you did,” Yunho laughs.

Realizing my body is crushed against his back, I quickly release him. Blushing slightly, I say, “I’m sorry. I tend to get overenthusiastic when it comes to games.”

“It’s all right,” he smiles. “I do too.”

“Hey, are you two going to talk all day or are we going to play?” Jaejoong asks.

“The leader got caught by a girl,” Changmin laughs. “Noona, I really do like you more and more.”

Yunho winks at me before replying to Changmin. “Oh yeah? Well, you’re going to get caught by an old person! Who’s going to be humiliated then?”

“Pssh, you’re on.”

“Come on, ______. You stay that close to him you’ll be caught for sure,” Yoochun warns me, beckoning me away from Yunho. Looking down, I realize Yunho has already begun his count. Trying to be as fast and quiet as possible, I swim to the opposite end and the game begins again.

====================

Woots! The site's working again. Hope you like it lovelies. Saranghae!   

PurpleangelSJ: Nope, you'll still be around. Our reader will need a girl friend around with all those boys, right? You may even go to America to visit, not quite sure yet. 

Jun_KOI_Mi: I don't know if they'll (much), since they're plotting on his behalf, but we shall see. As for Yoochun, I think he'd be glad to reconnect with a friend, especially one who's a pretty girl ;).

nar12345: Yoochun can't help it; he's a natural flirt, but I think with the sleeping thing he's not being flirty, just honest and in need of human comfort. That said, I like the teasing relationship they have with each other too and I think she may be falling for him a little already.

ChinkyKayla: Ke ke. Yoochun's too cool to drool. Maybe stare and salivate a little, but nothing sloppy. I think the others will help once her and Yoochun's relationship starts changing.