Jongin woke up coughing, salt rubbing his throat raw as water spilled from his lungs and back into the ocean. He trembled as he tried to catch his breath, eyes clenched closed.

Once he could breathe again, he glanced around. It was still dark, and he was draped over a rock in waist deep water. A closer look revealed to him that not only was he miraculously at the beach, but directly out the front of his house, a good mile down the coastline from where he had originally jumped. He screamed weakly in frustration, panting for air as he slapped at the rock.

"For s sake, I can't even drown myself right." He sobbed, eventually going limp on the stone. "You win again ocean." He sighed, slowly pulling his legs under him so he could wade his way to the shore.

His whole body hurt, but it didn't hurt as bad as his pride. "Even the ocean doesn't think I'm good enough." He grumbled as he plodded up the sand to his house, arms wrapped loosely around himself to protect him from the evening sea breeze.

Averting his eyes to anywhere but the house next door, Jongin climbed up the porch stairs and in through the back door, the smell of his mother's cooking instantly assaulting his nose.

"Yeobo, is that you?" His mother called out from the kitchen, back turned as she stirred something in a pot. "Did you see the boys by any chance? I haven't heard from Jongin all afternoon."

He coughed weakly before calling out to her. "It's me, umma! .. Can you bring me a towel?" His voice was hoarse and he sighed, coughing a few more time to clear it.  A minute or two later Jongin's mother appeared with a towel, looking extremely confused at the sight of her very wet son.

"Hello Jongin.. where's Jongdae?" She looked confused, handing over one of the towels in her arms. "Why are you wet.." her eyes widened. "Were you, swimming?"

Jongin shrugged, using the towel to wipe both the excess sand and sea water from his body. His mother began to help by ruffling the other towel through his hair. "Yeah, just felt like it."

His mother tried to hide her shock, her teeth digging into her lip as she pulled back to look at him. "That's great, baby. Was.. the water nice?"

Flashes of inky water and slamming waves flashed through Jongin's mind and he paused for a minute, caught up in the memory.

"It was perfect" he muttered, taking the second towel from his mother before heading into the house, "I'll put these in the washer.." he murmured as he disappeared around the corner, head still hanging.

"Jongin, wait!" His mother called, causing Jongin to pause and look back momentarily. "Jongdae?"

"Oh, no... he's uh, not coming this week."
His mother huffed.
"A lit