The whole group of girls walked to the beach, they sang songs they all knew and stopped at the local store to buy some floats and toys they could play with while they were there.

When they arrived, it was lucky enough that it wasn’t so crowded because it was a working day. Most of the people there were elderly couples enjoying their strolls or walking their dogs. All the trainees were excited to get into the water, so they rushed to the changing shack, it was a shared one, the only privacy they had was the dividers.

‘’Whoever gets out last is the tagger!’’ Minju shouted, throwing off her clothes carelessly over the dividers. The girls quickly caught on and starting racing to see who would be chasing them. They all fled out the shack one by one, clad in their own bikinis they had bought. Surprisingly the last one to change was Sakura, she struggled to tie her bikini tight enough, so it wouldn’t fall off. She cursed her clumsy hands, now she would have to run after her fellow friends Sakura-style.

When she finally stepped out of her stall she saw Chaeyeon leaning against the wall, hands clasped together in front of her, waiting for her. But, the Korean girl froze as soon as she saw Sakura come out.

Sure, she had seen Sakura in bikinis many times in magazines and photos they had shared. But cameras don’t do the justice Sakura deserves. Chaeyeon ogled the toned stomach, the long smooth legs and the…the…chest. Chaeyeon felt like one of those characters whose nose would bleed after seeing something erted.

She moved fast, stepping out of the swimming shorts she put over her own bikini bottom and threw it at Sakura.

‘’Unnie! You’re too revealing!’’ Then she ran off towards the others, leaving Sakura dumfounded at what just happened.

Sakura looked at the shorts in her hands and blushed because she knew who had been wearing them a short moment ago. If Chaeyeon was erted, Sakura was even more so. She didn’t know why Chaeyeon had given her the shorts or shouted at her, but she put them on anyways. She didn’t want to offend her friend.

After a brief game of tag, everyone decided it would be best if they stopped for the sake of Sakura’s sanity. The way she ran and tried to catch everyone was a bit pitiful. Not to mention the cherry blossom girl had given up and laid on the sand until someone had splashed cold water on her.

‘’Lets go play in the water!’’ Nako shouted. Her Korean had gotten much better over time. To the point where she could converse slowly with the native speakers. The little teen sprinted towards the waves and dived straight in. She was followed by the rest of the girls.

However, Chaeyeon opted to stay out the water. She sat on one of the stripped towels, sipping on her drink as she watched the others splash around and play catch the ball. No matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes off Sakura, they just seem to gravitate towards her. She was entranced by her, ignoring how clumsy and accident-prone she was, Sakura was very charming in her own unique way. Nobody could really describe it, one word could be dorky.

Chaeyeon sighed for the infinite time today. She tried not to let her inner turmoil show on the outside. Fearing that one of the girls would confront her about it. If she was honest with herself, Chaeyeon was never very good at expressing her emotions. She would bottle them up and throw it away as far as she could before anyone notices.

Though, there was no denying it this time. She had a genuine attraction towards Sakura and no matter how many times she tried to chant inside her head that it was wrong to think about her new friend like that, she really couldn’t help it.

‘’Weren’t you wearing those shorts earlier?’’ Chaeyeon jumped at the sudden presence and voice. She looked over her shoulder to find Eunbi holding a newly bought drink.

Eunbi sat down next to her on a separate towel and stretched her legs out.

‘’Yeah I was….I gave them to her because-uh, she said she was cold.’’ She lied. She didn’t know why she couldn’t have said the truth instead.

Eunbi didn’t say anything for a while after that, just quietly drinking her watermelon juice and occasionally glancing at Chaeyeon.

‘’She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’’

Chaeyeon choked up at that comment. The dancer didn’t know what was happening, but it was something she didn’t want to deal with, that’s for sure.

‘’Uhhh, who exactly? I mean they’re all beautiful-‘’

‘’Sakura, who else?’’ Eunbi cut her off, ultimately cutting her only escape route from this conversation.

‘’Well yes, shes very beautiful.’’ Chaeyeon decided to stay calm even though her clammy hands said otherwise. ‘’Why?’’

‘’Shes funny and talented but at the same time shes gorgeous and charismatic. I bet a lot of people want to date her…..’’ The older trainee trailed off, she put down her drink and pulled her knees close to her chest, resting her head on them. ‘’I sure would.’’

Now that, caught Chaeyeon off guard. She didn’t expect to hear something so bold, especially from Eunbi. She didn’t even know that Eunbi swung that way. But then again Korea is so conservative that she probably had more gay friends than she ever cared to notice. She didn’t know what to say to that.

Chaeyeon looked back to the girl in question who was trying to get both Moe and Nako on her shoulders to create some sort of pillar but ended up getting a mouthful of seawater.

‘’I don’t know what to say…’’

‘’You’re close with Sakura, right? You wouldn’t mind if I asked her out?’’ Eunbi tried getting more a reaction out of the dancer but all she was getting is nervous side glances and a lot of finger fiddling.

‘’Why would I mind? I’m just friends with her…’’ She whispered the last part, starting to feel insecure about her feelings. Plus, Eunbi’s gaze was starting to get really intense.

‘’But by the looks of it, she likes you.’’ Eunbi remarked, she grabbed a handful of sand and clenched it until her knuckles turned white. ‘’I’m jealous. You get all of her attention, you get to be close with her but here you are having a pointless conflict with yourself.’’ She clicked her tongue.

Chaeyeon stuttered more than she has in her life. ‘’What?! Wh-what? No. That’s not true. Sa-Sakura Unnie doesn’t like me that way. H-how do you know, I don’t like her like that.’’ She sat up straight.

Eunbi snorted and rolled her eyes. She waved her hands and explained. ‘’Literally everyone knows, Chaeyeon. We all see you two interact and its not hard to see whats happening there. You guys are like two highschool lovebirds dancing around each other.’’

‘’No, we aren’t, we’re just really close friends. We help each other.’’

‘’Oh yeah, friends don’t bathe together by choice. Friends don’t go out their way to sleep in the same bed, friends don’t look at each other like you guys do.’’

‘’No! That’s not true! We-‘’

Eunbi raised her voice this time, loud enough to startle the girls in sea. ‘’Oh, come on Lee Chaeyeon! Just admit it already! You like her! I’m sick and tired of watching from the side lines. Do you know how many people would give to be in your position right now? One of them is me!’’

Chaeyeon was stunned to silence and before long, the other girls started to flood back to the sand and surround them.

‘’Whats wrong, why are you guys shouting?’’ Chowon asked she touched Eunbi’s shoulder but got shrugged off.

‘’I dunno, ask Chaeyeon.’’ She walked off with her arms crossed towards the sea and started splashing her feet in the water to calm herself down.

‘’Chaeyeon, are you okay?’’ Sakura touched her shoulder and it felt like she was getting shocked. Chaeyeon hurriedly stood up and muttered a quick sorry before running off down the shore away from Eunbi and the others.

She felt her tears sting her eyes and she didn’t stop until she found a large rock formation she could hide behind. Chaeyeon finally let her tears fall. This time it wasn’t because she was frustrated because of her looks, upset at the hate comments she had been getting online and certainly not anything to do with Produce48. This time, it was because of love. Something she barely she any experience with because she was