I backtracked and stepped away from the shower box.

I’d had enough.

I turned and made my way through the small corners, straight to the front of the shack. Eyes were watching as I zipped past through the tables, and the customers resumed to stare at my drenched dress and flat hair that dripped as I walk, leaving a trail.

I wanted to punch, I wanted to kick—and Kris being behind me was a bad thing. I kept the growing desire to scream as I continued to march.

I stopped. My fists were tightly clenched, my jaw, too.

“That’s it,” I said—more to myself—and my voice grew. “That’s it, that’s it, that’s it!”

More of the customers at the shack stared at me, then at Kris.

“I’ve had it. I’m—” I hesitated, trying to gather all my strength. Then finally, I burst. “I’m heading straight back to California!”

The eyes that watched stared even more, this time with mouths whispering in the air.

“What, a couple fight?” one said.

That does it.

I strode out from the place, as far as I could. But I could never run away from the steps that pounded behind me.

“Right now, I’m heading back to Jessica and the girls, completely tell them that I’m done with this trip. I’ll grab my passport, grab my tickets, then I’m gone.” The tone in my voice seemed so real that it made Kris stop for a moment.

“You’re…going home?” he said.

I spun around. “Didn’t I make it obvious enough?”

He didn’t say anything and stared at the ground.

I started to mumble incoherently as I began to pace.

“Stupid trip. Stupid SM,” I said out loud. I didn’t bother if he heard me. “Stupid Seoul.”

My fists were even tighter than before. And then…I stopped again. Not because I wanted to, but because it was as if my feet couldn’t bring me anywhere anymore.

“Stupid Kyuhyun,” I said at last. My nose was starting to make clogged sounds, and I knew what that meant. The waterworks were coming, but from my eyes this time. I bit my lip hard—so hard, it might’ve shed a drop of blood. My fists were shaking, and I knew that if I took a peek they’d already left nail marks.

I in my stomach. Released. Then turned around to finally meet Kris’ face that had clueless written all over.

His eyes widened as he stared at me. “Are you…crying?”

I released a tight frown. “Yes, thanks to your idiocy.”

He blinked, like an awkward little child out of words.

“Thanks to you I’ll be needing a good explanation for Jessica when she sees me come back like this,” I said as I pointed at my soaked attire.

“Well…on the bright side, at least you managed to wash away the sand from your hair.” He picked up a strand, and I slapped his hand away. He pouted. “You’re so sensitive,” he commented.

I didn’t bother answering that. Out of all I’d experienced during my time in Seoul, I’d never met anyone like him. I’d met Sehun, and he at least cared about me like an actual human being. And then there was Henry. Sure, there was Yesung who made the devil-deal with me, but still.

“Jinja…” I huffed and looked at him. “You’re really something, aren’t you.”

He shrugged, a little bit too proud for a moment—till he understood the meaning of what I said.

I started trudging down the street, but he never stopped following me.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Sehun and Luhan?” I asked. “Go before they send out a search party for you.”

“Heh. Those two? Together? They’d hardly even realize if aliens invade the town.”

I felt like laughing. I wanted to laugh—I just couldn’t find my voice or the will to.

“What is the point of you following me, anyway?” I said after a moment.

He paused, and suddenly everything turned around.

“I don’t know,” he said truthfully, and I turned around to meet his eyes. He was looking at me, and I didn’t realize for how long since he’d been walking behind me the entire time. He pulled his gaze away all of a sudden, and he placed his hands in his pockets. “You—” He stopped.

I noticed there was something that he wanted to say, but it was as if he wasn’t sure if he had the rights.

He rephrased his words and started again. “I just— You—”

Okay, it seemed way more difficult for him than me.

“If you’re worried that I’m after you or something, then don’t,” I said. “I don’t have time to seek revenge.”

He brought his hands out and threw them in the air. “Seek revenge. Hit me. Punch me. I don’t care. Just—”

He kept stopping midway that I was starting to grow curious.

“Just stop with that awful frown, why don’t you,” he said finally, the tone in his voice sounding as if he was irritated with me.

I cocked my head sideways. “What’s it to you?” I said.

“You look like a grunge emo.” He poked my forehead, and I literally fell back.

The frown on my face became more visible. “Stop that, you giant!”

“I’m not a giant,” he plainly stated with arms crossed. “You’re just tiny.”

“I’m five foot three, and that’s pretty average,” I told him. “I may grow to a five-four, you know.”

He laughed. “Man, you’re shorter than I’d expected!”

My face burned red. He was actually playing with me.

“Now stop with the frown,” he said. “It’s irritating. Guys won’t like it.”

I huffed. “Who cares what guys think.”

“Then go and stay single forever.”

“Gladly!”

The more I fumed, the more he smiled.

“I don’t care whether a guy likes me, or if they even bother about my appearance. What should I?” I said.

“You’ll want to reorganize yourself if you’d gladly like your man back.”

I froze.

What did he just say?

“Go on,” he said. “Show that Kyuhyun guy what you are. Stand up for yourself, for goodness sakes. I never told you the outcome of the confession, did I? Whether it was good or bad?”

I opened my mouth—but even opening it wide enough didn’t make the words come out. I was still frozen.

“It doesn’t matter.” I gripped the ends of my dress. “Pretty much all my life guys had only paid attention to my older sister. Why should I bother now?”

He gave it a thought, hand on his chin, then simply shrugged. “Hey, your sister’s hot.”

“I knew you’d think so,” I said, then posted a glare afterwards. “But get near her and I’ll break you apart.”

“Waeyo? Jealous much?” he teased.

I rolled my eyes. “Is that all the Korean you know? Besides ultimate cheesy pick-up lines?”

He shrugged again. “Pretty much.”

I scoffed and turned, tired of facing him and dealing with that callous attitude. None of us had realized, but we were both already standing in front of a tall wall.

“Hey, do you know where we are?” I asked.

“Beats me. I’ve only been here once.”

“Well, last I came here was when I was two.”

Slowly, we found ourselves facing each other with an uncomfortable stare.

“Oh…snap.”

I stiffened. It couldn’t be happening.

Kris turned around and looked out at the streets behind us.

“Didn’t we just turn right?” he asked me.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Would be obvious because that’s the way back to the beach.”

He blinked a couple of times.

“But you continued on left,” he insisted. “I was the one who followed you.”

“Oh, so now you admit of being a stalker.” I made a face and added, “A erted one at that.”

He heard the last sentence and instantly flushed deep red. “Sheesh, call me a stalker, but I’m not erted!”

“Says the person who dragged me down to the sand.”

His face reddened even more. I could tell he was becoming more frustrated with himself by the minute. It was absolutely amusing to watch. I hadn’t seen such a thing since the moment I’d stepped foot in Seoul.

“Look,” I said, “why don’t you just call the guys. I’m sure they’ll know where to find us. Go and find a landmark.”

He dug inside his pocket as instructed, but then paused. His face paled.

I lifted a brow. “What?”

He bit his lip and fearfully turned to me, muttering in a low voice, “I put it aside when I was surfing…”

I slapped my forehead. “Thank you very much, Captain Brainless.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you have a phone on you?”

I paused, and my eyes widened. I pulled my gaze away. “Oh, well—”

He rolled his eyes. “And you call me Captain Brainless.”

“I just thought I was going for a short morning walk,” I told him defensively. And then I whacked my own head and sighed. “Dang it, dang it, dang it! Sica’s going to kill me if she finds out I went out without my phone!”

“Why? It wasn’t on purpose.”

I looked about nervously. “Uh, yeah, but I had, uh— a history.” I looked back at him sternly. “You,” I said. “Go find us a payphone.”

“Sheesh, don’t boss me around.”

“I am not bossing you around,” I said through gritted teeth. “I just want to get back on the right track, literally.”

“Right,” he said. “Straight back to California, I bet.”

I raised my gaze. “What are you on about?”

“Well, you said just now you wanted to get back home, didn’t you?” he said. I sensed sudden coldness within his tone.

“Never mind,” I grunted, and I moved past him.  

I caught a payphone not too far from our sight, and I immediately rushed to it.

But when I looked around, I stopped. I hadn’t brought my wallet as well.

“Yo, got any change on you?” I asked him.

“W-Why’re you looking at me?”

I sighed. “Great. Now how’re we going to make a call?”

The two of us took a moment to think.

Finally, Kris snapped his fingers.

“Go look for other payphones,” he said.

“What?”

“Look inside the change box. There’s gotta be some there.”

I hesitated at the idea, but did as I was instructed. Not like I had a choice.

There were three more payphones on the same street. When I slid my hand in one of them, there were at least a couple of change. I hurried to the other ones, and managed to gather a few more.

I returned to Kris who was still standing beside the first payphone, and he raised a brow.

 “Just a dollar?” he said.

“Better than nothing.”

We both fought to insert the coins in, me bumping him over and grabbing the phone first. I’d dialed Jessica and waited.

A voice sounded from the other end.

“Hello?” I said. “Sica?”

Kris bumped me to the side. “Hey, we’re supposed to call Luhan!”

I ignored him and closed one ear to make out the voice on the other end.

“Rika? Is that you?” It was definitely Jessica.

I went straight to the point. “Sica, honestly, I’m lost.”

“What?”

“Help me,” I pleaded quickly before the time limit ran out.

Kris was shouting from behind. “Won’t you— Just— Give me!”

I pushed Kris’ face away from mine before he grabbed the phone from me.

“Hello? Rika? I can’t hear you,” Sica spoke.

Kris kept on squeezing himself over.  

“I got the change, I make the first call!” I shouted at him.

“It was my idea!” he shouted back as he took fought for the phone.

I took it back and spoke to Sica.

“I was around Haeundae beach!” I said quickly, and then I hurried to find a landmark. There I spotted a fast-food restaurant. “I’m somewhere near McDonald’s. Find McDonald’s and you’ll find me—“

Then the line went dead.

I pulled away from the booth. Kris and I were both panting—mostly due to the battle for the phone.

He began to raise his voice at me. “I—”

But before he could proceed further I turned around sharply, my wet hair splashing at his face.

“Shut it,” I scolded. “I’ve had enough of having another minute to hear your voice.”

“Why? You don’t like my voice?”

I recoiled