Chapter 15

Areum POV

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My eyes flutter open and I’m blinded by the sun rays that are blaring through my slightly opened curtain.

I smile and widely stretch my arms so that I sit upright with my back against the back board. I stay in that position, not doing anything but thinking.

Thoughts from yesterday fill my head.

“Areum….will you go out with me?”

I squeal and flip around my bed sheets while giggling. I am so happy.

“Areum? Are you okay?”

I turn around and see my mom giving me a weird look.

“ Yes mom! I’m good!”

“Get dressed then meet us in the lobby, we’re going to the beach today!”

I gasp and literally throw my bed covers

“The beach?!”

“Yes honey, we alreays started packing some of our stuff. Mi-Hee’s parents have gone to grab ice and Jisoo and Eunseo’s mom have started making the sandwiches. I’m about to start cutting the fruit and tell your dad to go get a couple of family sized chip bags.”

“How long has everyone been awake?” I ask, wondering how they had the time to plan all this already.

“Nearly an hour ago, oh and you might want to hurry up, the breakfast bar closes in 25 minutes.”

My eyes widen. “Mom! Why wouldn’t you wake me up sooner!

I scramble around the room finding something random to wear. My eyes lock on the pair of black tights I wore yesterday that are hanging out of my suitcase. Quickly I throw on and a red crop top. I put my hair into a ponytail, slip on some black sandals and I’m out the door. I finally arrive in the lobby and see the workers start to gradually clean up. I look for something that I can just grab with my hands and take to my room.

I take a bottle of orange juice (of course) and the last cinnamon bun. I quickly walk back to the elevator and take a big bite of my bun. I moan from the fluffy goodness that had blessed my taste buds and continue to devour it.

I knock on the door to our room and my mom answers.

“Well that was really fast, did you even get anything?” Asks my mom.

I show my food in my hands and she nods.

“Start packing a small backpack with stuff you would need for the beach, we will probably be leaving in about half an hour.”

I walk towards my suitcase and grab a small black duffel bag. I start to put in essentials such as my phone, lotions, jean shorts, hoodie, bikini coverup, my bikini, sunscreen, sunglasses, towel, wallet, and a pink tight crop top. Once I finish packing, I grab the bikini, crop top and jean shorts from my bag and I change into them. I wear my bikini under my crop top and jean shorts. Brushing out my hair, I feel that it’s to frizzy, so I put it into a stylish messy bun. I slip on a pair of sandals, put on my sunglasses, zip my bag, and I’m now ready to leave.

The hotel room sounds quiet, I walk around the whole room and realise no one is in here but me. At the corner of my eye I notice a sticky note hanging from the front door. I walk towards it and grab the little yellow paper square.

Meet us in the parking lot! Don’t take too long.

-Mom

 

Since I’m ready I quickly grab my bag and exit the room. In a couple of minutes, I’m already in the parking lot and see everyone putting the bags into their cars.

“Areum! We’re ready to go come on!”

I see Hana waving in my direction and I quicken my pace to the car. All the other families have started driving. I open the car door and settle in.

“Alright kids let’s go to the beach!”

“Why does mom still talk to us like were seven still?” Asks Hana.

“Because you are.” Shoots back Donghyuk.

The car bursts into laughter and we make our way to the beach.

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“We’re here!”

I jump out of the car, grab my bag and run till I reach the sandy ground. I dig my feet deep into the sand and let the feeling take over. The girls catch up to me and do the same.

“What should we do first? Asks Mi-Hee.

“Hmm, we should save swimming for later, How about we play some volleyball” I suggest.

“I brought a volley ball!” Exclaims Eunseo.

“Okay let’s do it!!”

We find the place where our parents set up all the stuff. They have already gotten out the lawn chairs and are sitting and laughing. Eunseo digs into her moms bag and finds the volley ball that she brought.

“Okay who is ready for some volleyball?”

“Can I join?” Asks Hana.

“Sure!”

“We’re coming too!” Declares Jung.

“Alright!”

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"How about boys against girls?” Suggests Chin-Hwa.

Ah Chin-Hwa

It’s kind of awkward right now because it’s the first time I have seen him all day and we haven’t talked at all. I speak up to answer his question.

“I think that would be a good idea.” I reply with a smirk.

He sees me smirking and gives me a smile.

Okay, maybe things aren’t so awkward.

“Okay! So, let’s do a team huddle then start the game!” Says Eunseo.

We gather in a group and look around for someone to speak first, I realise Hana looks a bit awkward. I mean she doesn’t really hang out with us because she is always with Yerim (who has this weird thing against me).

“Okay guys so since there is five girls and four guys, we should be fair and only play four on the court at a time, we could just do a simple rotation so like every time a point is scored, the person on the right end of the court will get on then the new person will get on and we will rotate like that.” Informs Jisoo.

“I think that’s a good idea” I say.

“So how are we going to decide which one of us will be the first four?”

“Oh, you guys can go first.” Offers Hana. “I don’t mind.”

“You sure?” I ask just to make sure. She nods her head and Jisoo begins to clap her hands.

“Alright times up! We are about to begin, get your positions on the court!”

I go for the spot in the far-left corner and I see Chin-Hwa mirroring me. He gives me a wink and I raise my eyebrows at his gesture but unfortunately can’t hide the blush forming on my face.

“Areum are you okay?” Asks Mi-Hee noticing the sudden redness in my cheeks.

“Of course! Why would I not be?”

Mi-Hee gives me a confused look and turns away at the sound of Eunseo’s screaming

“Okay let’s start!"

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Intense was an understatement for the situation we are in right now. It’s a tie game. The boys won the first set, we won the second, and now we just need to more points to win.

The boys only need one.

“Timeout!” Calls Mi-Hee.

We hurry and form a little circle. We take a few moments to catch our breath.

“O-okay so I think the plan is, we just have to simply hit the ball hard, we can’t do soft hits.” Says Jisoo. She turns to me.

“Areum definitely has the best hits out of all us. So, when they serve let’s just go for a simple whoever receives it bumps to the person beside them, who will pass it high for Areum who will smack that ball over.”

We nod in agreement.

“Okay guys, we can do this! Let’s go!”

We get into position again. It’s the boys turn to serve and we anxiously wait for it.

The ball goes flying. Hana stumbles a bit but manages to pass the ball to Jisoo. She volleys the ball nice and high and I know this is my chance. I run and jump as high as I can, bring my hand back and smack the living hell out of that volley ball.

Smack!

The ball hits the ground with a loud thud and it’s a tie game.

“C’mon girls! Its a tie game let’s go!”

Its Hana’s turn to step off so me, Jisoo, Mi-Hee, and Eunseo are on. Since we got the point its our serve and were ready to go.

Mi-Hee raises the ball and serves it over. Dae-Jung is quick to react. He passes it Hyuk who gives it to Chin-Hwa who smacks the ball down.

Go! Go Areum go!

I dive for the ball and bump it into the air. Eunseo gets it and tries to put the ball back in control but dosen’t give it a good hit. Jisoo who is in an awkward angle bumps the ball at a weird position and Mi-Hee is too far away to catch Jisoo’s mistake.

Run Mi-Hee! Ruuuun!

A look of determination falls over Mi-Hee’s face and she bolts for the ball. She stumbles over herself and can only manage to lightly tip the ball over the net.

It’s a point. We won.

We burst into screams of joy and start chanting in a big group hug.

“C’mon Hana! Come join us!”

We are all laughing and smiling out of joy.

The boys come over to our side and congratulate us.

“Good game girls.” Says Chin-Hwa.

“Ehh they just got lucky don’t you think” Asks Dae-Jung in a cocky tone.

“Tsh! You wish!” Answers Jisoo. “We won fair and square.”

“Why does this sound like a grade two argument?” Hyuk says while laughing.

We all laugh and what he said and start to walk away from the court.

“Ugh I’m so sweaty! Let’s go and swim to cool us off” Suggests Jisoo.

“Oh I’m with you on that on” I say wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

“Hurry then! Let’s go!”

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Since we were all wearing our bathing suits under our clothes we didn’t take a long time to change. We quickly took off our shirt and pants and were ready to go.

We’re with the parents right now because we all need to get the towels out of our bags.

“Are you kids hungry?” Asks Mi-Hee’s mother.

“Well were going to go swimming now mom so probably after that.” Responds Mi-Hee.

“Okay, be careful.”

We stand up and start to walk when Jisoo stops us.

“Girls!”

We stumble from the sudden scream and stare at her.

“We need a photoshoot!”

We squeal and agree with her, but Hana looks slightly awkward.

“Are you guys serious?” She asks.

“Of course! We always do photoshoots!” Exclaims Mi-Hee.

“Well count me out, I’m not doing that.”

“Fine suit yourself.” Snaps back Jisoo.

“Alright so are we going swimming now?” Says Chin-Hwa and him and his friends approach us.

“There going to do a photoshoot first.” Hana replies to him with a sarcastic tone.

“Photoshoot?” Hyuk says while laughing.

Jisoo glares at them. “Why do you guys think our social media is so perfect, it’s the art of photoshoots! There so fun too!

“So, if you guys want to swim before us go ahead or you can be nice and wait while we take our photos.”

“Alright then.” Say Dae-Jung obviously confused.

“Okay girls let’s go take some hot photos.”

We giggle and walk away from the dumbstruck group.

“Oh lets start by the edge of the board walk.”

“Oh yes!”

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It’s been nearly forty-five minutes since the beginning of our photoshoot. We have taken everything from individual shots to group photos in three different places.

“Guys I really want to take a few photos of us sitting on the ledge, but we need someone else to take it.”

“Let’s not ask a stranger because there going to think we’re strange.” Suggest Eunseo.

“How about we ask Hana?”

“Okay I will text her to come.”

A few minutes later Hana comes but with an entourage. She brought the boys with her.

“Yah, how long does it take to take a couple of photos!” Shouts Dae-Jung.

“Were almost done! We need someone to take a couple more though.”

We climb onto the ledge and positions ourselves nicely.

“3, 2, 1!”

Click! Click! Click!

Jisoo jumps off the ledge and runs for her camera. “Show me!”
Jisoo grabs her phone and looks at the pictures.

“Ah! It looks so good!”

We crowd around her and awe over the quality photo.

“Send them to the group chat!”

“Okay, so can we go swimming now?” Asks a slightly impatient Jung.

“Yes, lets go!”

We make our way to the water and the boys don’t hesitate, they jump right in. The swim back to the surface and start yelling at us to get in.

“C’mon guys get in!”

Hana slowly get in and Eunseo and Mi-Hee follow.

Me and Jisoo look at each other and start laughing.

“Yah! Come get in the water” Eunseo and Mi-Hee yell.

Jisoo jumps in but at the last second, she grabs my arm taking me in with her.

“JISOO!”

We hit the water with a thud and I quickly get back to the surface gasping for air.

“Ya Jisoo!”

She laughs at my startled expression and I continue to wipe my face and pull my hair back.

I feel a hand touch my back. “Tag, your it.”

I turn around and see Chin-Hwa smiling at me, then he quickly swims away.

“Areum's it! Everyone run!”

“Or swim, in this situation!” Adds Hyuk.

“Whatever go! Go! Go!”

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We sit around the picnic table munching on our food. We have already dried ourselves and dressed back into our clothes. I see my mom walking towards our table.

“Were going to be leaving in about half an hour, so pack up your bags. Were going to head back to the hotel rooms pack up then go for the airport.”

“Uh I don’t want to leave” Says a sulking Mi-Hee.

“Me neither.” Replies Eunseo.

“I have to go to for a second, I will be back” I say to everyone.

I walk over to my mom and ask for the car keys. She gives them to me and I make my way over to the car.

“Areum!”

I turn around and see Chin-Hwa jogging toward me.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I haven’t been able to talk to you all day.” He says with a chuckle.

“Ya, we were all pretty busy having fun.”

“So, how are you?”

I laugh at his question.

“Hmm pretty good, how about you?”

“Pretty good.”

I open the car door and grab my phone that was shoved in between the car seat. I lock the car and begin to make my way back.

“Do you think we should tell the others about us?”

“Sure!”

“But not our parents yet, just our friends.”

“Okay whatever you want babe.”

I blush at his words and lightly smack him on his shoulder.

“Yah”

“Why did you hit me!?”
“Because.”

He rolls his eyes in a playful way at me and we reach the table.

“So.. we have something to tell you guys. “

“What is it?” Says a suspicious looking Jisoo.

The boys avoid eye contact and are looking far out.

Hmm weird.

I clear my throat and speak up.

“U-uh well, me and Chin-Hwa ar-are-“

“Were dating.” He says cutting me off.

There was silence.

Then screaming.

“WHAT AREUM? IS THIS TRUE?” Say all the girls. There looking at me with surprised expression.

“Um yea.”

“OH MY GOD!” Jisoo screams.

“Hey! Don’t be to loud. I don’t want anyone else to hear!”

Jisoo immediately covers . ” Oops sorry.”

“Well congratulations”

“Thanks!”

“Areum honey we are leaving now! Are you ready?”

“Yes!"

“Okay tell everyone to grab there bags!”

We pick up our stuff and put everything into our cars.

“Ah back to Seoul!” Cries out Mi-Hee.

Yes, back to Seoul.

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