Down the Beach
Description
This is a one-shot I wrote for Lim Hyunsik's birthday.
You are stressed out over work so you made an impulsive decision to skip work and went to the beach. Little did you know that someone else was there, too--someone you never expected to meet.
Foreword
It was such a warm Sunday. It wasn’t humid, and the warmth of the sun on your face while I lay on my back on the sand, hearing the crashing of the waves on beach felt nice—comforting, even.
I was never the impulsive type, but I wasn’t also the type who would plan every thing. I was somewhat in between— an organized mess. And this sudden trip to the beach was a perfect example.
I’ve been planning to go the beach for weeks but it kept getting pushed back because of work. I’ve finally decided on a date, but the stress at work was too much that I had to just get away. So instead of going to work that day, I rode a bus heading to Daechon. I wasn’t even sure how the weather was going to be, but it was surprisingly good.
“Screw work,” I muttered under my breath.
Ahh, enough about work. Starting this moment I won’t even think about work.
“I’m going to stay here forever!” I screamed at the sky. “I’m never going back, you hear me?!”
I suddenly heard someone laugh. I was so startled I jolted upright. I took off my sunglasses and looked for the source of the laughter.
A guy wearing a cap and sunglasses was sitting on the sand a few feet behind me. He was covering his mouth, trying to control his laughter.
I thought I was the only person in the beach, or at least in this area. I was so embarrassed that I turned around and buried my face in my hands. I heard him burst into laughter again.
I stood up and grabbed my bag. My face started feeling hot. Damn it, I probably look like tomato already.
I was starting to walk away when I heard him shout, “Hey, wait!”
I turned around and he was running towards me. His sunglasses were off, and his eyes were squinting because the sun was so bright. He looked so happy, it was annoying. His smile practically reached his ears.
That was when I realized who it was. Lim Hyunsik. He was one of the singers from BTOB. I can’t believe I embarrassed myself in front of a celebrity!
“I’m sorry for laughing. I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said, his eyes suddenly serious but his mouth still turned up into a smile. “Don’t leave just because of me. I’ll go, you were here first anyway.”
I tried to absorb everything he said but now that his eyes were completely open, I could see how pretty they were. I’ve never seen such pretty eyes before. I can’t believe I was having eye contact with Lim Hyunsik. My heart started to beat really fast.
“Are you okay?”
I snapped myself out of the trance that his eyes put me in. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. I’m not embarrassed at all. I was just leaving anyway,” I said and turned again to leave.
I suddenly felt a hand on my arm. I turned to face him and he abruptly removed his hand, like he didn’t realize he was touching me already.
“Sorry, I didn’t get your name,” he smiled. God, what is with that smile?
“W-why do you want to know my name?” I asked. I was trying to look like I wasn’t flustered. Looking at his face made mine feel hot. How do you not look starstruck when you are looking at one of the most talented singers in South Korea?
He shoved his hands inside his pockets, looking away shyly. “I was wondering if I could hang out with you. There’s no one else on this beach to talk to,” he said while looking around as if to emphasize that there really was no one else.
This usually would have raised a lot of red flags for me. Technically, he was a total stranger and there were only 2 of us in this whole beach. He could have been a murderer, but he wasn’t. He was a member of one of my favorite idol groups. He seemed so gentle, like there was no hostile bone in his body—and he had a pretty sturdy built. Not that I was looking at his body or anything.
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say, he was looking at me so earnestly. So I introduced myself.
“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Hyunsik,” holding out his hand and introducing himself like the whole of South Korea doesn’t know who he is.
For someone with such big hands, I didn’t expect them to feel so soft, and warm. I almost didn’t want to let it go. Until I realized I was holding his hand for too long so I suddenly took my hand away. This made him laugh. His eyes disappeared when he laughed, and he smiled so widely that he looked like he was having the time of his life.
“Do you want to take a walk?” he asked.
I nodded. We started walking down the beach. Enjoying the silence. Although I felt really shy and conscious because of who he was, his presence also felt weirdly comfortable.
“So where are you not going back to?” he asked.
“To the city. To work.” He chuckled. I bowed my head and stared at the sand, feeling embarrassed. Does he find everything I say and do to be funny? “How about you? What brings you to the beach?"
He looked me in the eye and said, “Looking for inspiration.”
The way he said it made my heart leap. “So did you find it?” I asked, glancing at him.
“Yeah, I think I just did.” He smiled at me so brightly that I was so mesmerized I suddenly lost my footing. I was about to fall over backwards when he caught my arm and grabbed me by the waist.
It was straight out of a freaking drama. He was holding me so close to his body that all I could see was his chest. He smelled like soap and perfume—a hint of vanilla, lavender and musk. He smelled sweet but the manly scent of musk was also there. He smelled so good it made my knees weak. I could hear my heart pounding like crazy and I was hoping he couldn’t hear it because I swear the whole population of Daechon probably could.
He just stood there, holding me. I wanted to run away but his arms were still wrapped around my waist. That was when I realized that I could feel his muscles underneath his sweatshirt—you could still feel how strong his arms were. I was afraid to look up because I could faintly feel his warm breath which meant he was looking down at me. I steadied myself and tried to pushed away from his chest but his arms wouldn’t budge. I slowly looked up at him. I was right, he was looking at me but I didn’t imagine that his face would be that close.
You couldn’t easily see it but if you stared long enough, he had really deep and beautiful eyes and eye lashes that were probably longer than mine. His nose was beautifully pointed, but it didn’t look sharp. And his skin—a lot of people say he’s the darkest member of BTOB but his skin wasn’t even that dark. He had great skin, too. And then his lips. I couldn’t help but stare at his lips, they looked so red and plump. I could feel my cheeks burning.
His lips turned up again into a soft smile as he chuckled. “Are you okay?"
“Uh-uh, y-yeah. I just tripped, I’m clumsy like that,” I said while staring at his chest.
He finally loosened his arms but he kept his hand at the small of my back. “Sorry for grabbing you like that. I just wanted to make sure you fully regained your balance.”
“Oh, it’s okay. T-thanks,” I stuttered. I smoothed out my shirt and hair.
“Sorry. Your boyfriend would have probably beaten me to a pulp if he saw me with my arms around you like that,” he said scratching his head.
I felt myself turning red again, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“You don’t?” he was practically beaming at me. Why did he look so happy? I nodded.
We continued walking down the beach. He kept asking me questions about my work and family. I practically told him my whole life story already. When we got tired we went to the resort bar, sat down and ordered smoothies.
I was done ranting about work. “What about you?” I finally asked him as I sipped on my smoothie. I wanted to hear him talk about his work and family, too.
“You probably don’t know, but I’m a member of an idol group.” He suddenly started looking shy again and toyed with his straw.
I almost choked on my drink. “Of course I know who you are. Anyone who isn’t living under a rock would know who BTOB are!”
“Really? I guess I didn’t think we were that popular,” he laughed.
“You’re being too humble. You have thousands of fans. Heck, I’m your fan!” I exclaimed.
He glanced at me, “You are?” Hearing this seemed to make him happy.
“Yeah, I’ve been a fan for years. I really, really love your music!” I looked down at my drink. "Although I have to admit that since I don’t watch a lot of TV and don’t spend a ton of time on social media that I’m not able to follow your activities well but I—”
“That’s okay,” he said, cutting me off. He turned his body to face me, “I’m just happy that you like our music.”
We moved to the veranda where the table was facing the beach. We ordered lunch and just continued talking. We didn’t run out of things to say to one another, like we wanted to just keep talking until we knew every detail about each other’s lives. He opened up about how much he loves making music. He says that he’s made a lot but he doesn’t share all of his songs with the other members when he doesn’t think they’re good. He even talked about how close he is with his fellow members.
It was starting to get dark so we decided to order dinner, not even paying attention to the time. Our food arrived but we could barely eat because of all the funny stories he was telling.
“They’re really funny. And loud. We were hanging out at the dorm the other day and they thought it would be funny to imitate the chase scene from ‘Baby Driver’. Sungjae was running around and jumping over furniture, acting like he could do parkour. His foot ended up getting caught in one of the couches and he landed face first on the floor.”
We laughed so hard that the other customers around the bar started staring.
“One of these days Sungjae is going damage his pretty face,” I said trying to control my laughter. "Changsub will really become the most handsome member of BTOB then.” This made Hyunsik laugh even harder that he fell from his chair.
“Oh my God! Are you okay?” I asked helping him up while laughing.
He was still laughing as he collapsed into the chair. “Ahh, the other members would probably love to meet you if they knew how funny you are.”
“You think so?” the thought of meeting the other members excited me.
He sat upright and shook his head. “But you can't meet them,” he was suddenly serious.
“Oh,” I couldn’t help but feel sad. I’ve always wanted to meet them.
“You’ll either like one of them better than me, or we would have to fight one another for you."
I looked up at him and I swear his face was turned red even though he was smirking. “What do you mean?”
“I’m afraid that the other members would like you too much because you’re funny, smart and you’re really pretty, too.” His face turned serious and he was looked at me so intently. “And if they do then I’m gonna have to fight them."
Everything he was saying was making the butterflies go crazy in my stomach. My heart was pounding so hard like it was trying to escape my chest.
I didn’t know how to respond to that other than turn into a tomato. I laughed awkwardly, “That was really funny.” Oh god, this is so awkward. Say something else. Should i change the topic? What do I do?
“I wasn’t—“
"Are you sure that it's okay for us to be hanging out like this?” I asked, cutting him off. "What if someone sees us together? I don't want to get you into a dating scandal.” Phew. Change the topic, that was a good idea, I thought to myself while I took a bite of salmon.
"It's fine. I'm the one who wanted to spend time you anyway. And besides, I came here looking to get inspired so I can make a new song,” he said while having a spoonful of stew.
"Shouldn't I be leaving you alone then? So you can write?” I was suddenly worried. We were having so much fun talking I forgot that he came her to write.
He smiled at me warmly. "It's fine, I can't write right now anyway~.” he said in a cute tone. Again with that eye smile. I had to put my hand over my chest to make sure that my heart hasn’t leapt out. "How come?"
"Because the moment I found my inspiration, my mind immediately went blank. Like all the words I could possibly use escaped me," he looked into my eyes. "But at the same time, I want to write a thousand songs about her. I want to make new and beautiful words to describe her and how she's making me feel. Words that have never been said to her before. I have this overwhelming feeling that I want to be the first person who could tell her such things."
"It's fine. I'm the one who wanted to spend time you anyway. And besides, I came here looking to get inspired so I can make a new song,” he said while having a spoonful of stew.
"Shouldn't I be leaving you alone then? So you can write?” I was suddenly worried. We were having so much fun talking I forgot that he came her to write.
He smiled at me warmly. "It's fine, I can't write right now anyway~.” he said in a cute tone. Again with that eye smile. I had to put my hand over my chest to make sure that my heart hasn’t leapt out. "How come?"
"Because the moment I found my inspiration, my mind immediately went blank. Like all the words I could possibly use escaped me," he looked into my eyes. "But at the same time, I want to write a thousand songs about her. I want to make new and beautiful words to describe her and how she's making me feel. Words that have never been said to her before. I have this overwhelming feeling that I want to be the first person who could tell her such things."
He said it so beautifully it left me speechless. I’ve never heard anyone talk like that before. It made me wish that I was that girl. Every word he said just made my heart flutter so much my chest hurt. I looked at Hyunsik and he was just sitting across me, still looking at me with that amazing smile. I wasn’t sure exactly how to describe it—but I was pretty sure that I fell in love with him at that moment. And all the words he said made me want to cry, I couldn’t even explain why.
So I just sat there staring at him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking worried.
Snap out of it, you idiot! I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “Uhm, yeah, sorry.” I cleared my throat. "Wow, you're so eloquent. But..if that's how you feel shouldn't you be spending time with her instead?” I couldn’t look him in the eye, so I tried to focus on my food instead.
Silence.
"I am."
He is? I felt confused for a moment, my brain couldn’t really process what he just said. “You’re what?”
He chuckled. “I said I am. Spending time with her. The person who’s making my heart flutter that I want to write so many songs about her. The girl I met at the beach this morning.”
His words slowly started sinking in.
I’m that girl.
This was actually the very first fic I have ever written so I apologize for the crap ending. I must admit that I actually had trouble with this and didn't know how to end it. Still, I hope that you liked it. Please feel free to give feedback on the story so I can improve further. Thank you! ~
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