Exerting as much force as possible to her legs and arms, Ju Hee ignored the aching burn of her muscles as she thundered down the pool. Eyes locked forward in determination, her fingers collided with the wall of the pool before she inhaled a much needed breath of air in desperate gulps. Sliding her goggles off her head, her caramel tinted eyes stared at her father expectantly.

 

“Fifty-nine point three seconds.” He whistled a low appreciative whistle. “Not bad, sport.”

 

Her stomach let a long growl out of ravenous hunger. “Can I get a snack or something? Those extra laps made me hungry.” Though when the question left her lips, she already knew the answer by the firm line of his mouth.

 

“Sorry, kid. You know you have that prequalification competition for nationals tomorrow. Late night snacking will weigh you down. And you want first place don’t ya?” He nodded in agreement even though she hadn’t uttered anything. “Bear with the hunger ‘till after the competition and I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

 

“Ah.” She floated despondently.

 

“Swim a few cool off laps and then head up to bed, ok? It’ll be a long day tomorrow.” Her father instructed her, and then promptly headed off to bed himself.

 

Ju Hee sighed as she floated leisurely on her back, letting the waves of the pool take her anywhere. The water was where she belonged; she felt more at home in the pool than on land.  Swimming was something she needed, something she loved with all her heart. The rhythmic her arms would make in the water as well as the forceful kicks against the backboard were all second hand nature to her. But the way her father was coaching her, it seemed like swimming was more of a mechanical routine rather than enjoying the splish splash of the water.

 

There was no more fun in swimming.

 

Early mornings at the crack of dawn were spent in practice. Meals were customarily low carb and nutritionally healthy, but repulsive tasting. Any spare time she had was spent in the pool, perfecting her weak techniques. At first, she was content with this aquatic lifestyle since she would be constantly plagued with the desire to jump into the refreshing water, especially during school. But now, it seemed like life was nothing more than one competition after another. Her biggest fear was getting sick of the water completely and leaving it behind.

 

Her eyes stared at the twinkling stars against the dark black sky with wonder. The water soothingly dribbled against her tense muscles to relax them. She closed her eyes in bliss. It was moments like these that she felt at peace.

 

‘Yo.”

 

Well, screw that. She blinked her left eye open to stare at her neighbor with slight irritation. His head barely reached over the fence, only showing his crescent shaped eyes. She was more than certain he was grinning, though the fence hid his mirthful smile. “Himchan? What do you want?”

 

“You always show your face when you want something.’ She sighed, as she swam effortlessly to the edge of the pool. She propped her arms up to patiently wait for his request.

 

“I was hoping you could invite my poor lonesome self into your pool!” He chirped, with eyes opened in a pleading way.

 

She pretended to think about it, just to humor him. “And what do I get out of this?”

 

“Eye candy?” Himchan suggested. Her eyebrow furrowed at his constant, never-changing answer.

 

“Then I’m not interested.” She made a movement to dive back under the water before he gave in and objected.

 

“Fine, ya got me. Well, I just happen to have an extra chocolate fudge bar that I know is somebody’s favorite!” He cheekily held up said ice cream treat in his hand as he was another one.

 

“…Hand that over and get your in the pool.” She muttered in defeat. He laughed in victory as he sauntered his way through the door connecting the two houses. Ju Hee made a mental note to cement over that door one day, since it gave the arrogant neighbor more the reason to trespass.

 

Her hand opened to receive her gift, to which he dropped it gently in her palm. Legs dangling in the water, they both sat in silence as they the ice cream away. His hand shyly inched slowly towards hers until his fingers encompassed her slender digits in a comfortable hold. Ju Hee was too used to Himchan’s routine by now that she knew resistance was futile. The persevering idiot would just keep “accidently” brushing his hand against hers. His whistling silence filled in the awkward void as Himchan waited for Ju Hee to withdraw from his hand holding like usual. But she made no effort to remove her hand from his grasp, and he took this friendly chance as a sign. 

 

“Are you ready for the trials tomorrow?” Himchan asked curiously. “I saw you training hard for a few hours so I figured…”

 

“So you finally admit that you were creepin’ on me, Himchan?” She bluntly asked him with a taunting stare.

 

“Just evaluating the competition for tomorrow, that’s all!” He cheekily countered back, shameless of his accused “creepin’”.

 

“Eh.” She simply replied, concentrating more on her chocolate treat without making any mess.

 

“What?” He whipped his head and blankly stared at her uncharacteristic response. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?” She questioned carelessly. Her ravenous hunger had made sure the chocolate fudge bar was no more, and now she just stared at the bare stick sadly.

 

“You’re always pumped up for any competition! Especially because you’re so eager to beat me!” Wide, fish-like eyes gawked unbelievingly at this Ju Hee he did not know.

 

She kicked him lightly in the leg in retort. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’ll still beat you one way or the other.” She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear as a sudden shy. Never once had she dreamed of sharing personal thoughts with Himchan of all people, but she knew he wasn’t the complete idiot she took him for.

 

“I’m getting tired of competitions, that’s all.” She utters quietly. His dark eyes beckoned her to continue, to which she hesitantly complied. “At first the trials were sort of fun, don’t get me wrong, I love being in the water. But I’ve been doing swimming meets all year since I was young. Now that summer’s nearly over, I kinda realized everything I missed, all the fun I could have had…” She trailed off, expecting his mocking laughter any second.

 

“What did you have in mind?” His suddenly husky voice interrogated her, with kind eyes drilling into her startled ones.

 

“I don’t know. Late night movies with my friends. Mall shopping. Summer flings. That sort of thing.” The female swimmer stated, all the while intrigued by the sudden intense expression Himchan gained on his face.

 

“Is that so?” He murmured softly as his optics scanned the tranquil surface water. His black eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration and his fingers nervously thumped against the ground.

 

An awkward silence settled between the two of them, though it seemed like only Ju Hee noticed while Himchan was busy drifting off. Since it was getting late into the night, Ju Hee poked him softly on the shoulder to get his attention. “It’s late. We have the meet tomorrow. Get as much rest as you can.”

 

She stood up to go to bed until his strong wrist grasped onto her slender one. “Do you know why I suddenly gained an interest in competitive swimming?”
 

“No. Why, hot girls in swimsuits?” She suggested wearily.

 

He chuckled, a slight blush on his cheeks at the truth of her words and the embarrassment that would follow with his next words. He turned to her, with his handsome face quite close to hers. “I admit that’s what first got me attracted to you. But then I noticed how hardworking you were, how cool you were in the pool…I’m kinda crushing on you.”

 

Ju Hee’s face was frozen completely, and she thought she heard him wrong or she had hallucinated the whole situation from pure fatigue. But the abnormal serious face he had on convinced her otherwise. She had never really received a confession like this of all ways, with the jokester neighbor-rival next door, and she was unprepared for an answer. So her next actions were completely justified.

 

She pushed him right into the pool.

 

When he didn’t surface for a while, her hands shook in fear and embarrassment. Oh gosh, did she kill the only guy who liked her?! But he finally came up gasping for air with a face of utter shock. “What the hell, woman?!”

 

“What the hell me? What the hell you! Your little infatuation came from creeping on me because I was in a swimsuit! You were probably staring at me all the time while I was practicing today, huh?! Were you trying to buy my love with ice cream?! ert! Creep!” Her face was amassed in a deep red shade. Her heart was still beating hard against her chest from the unexpected confession. She hated this contradictory feeling: her brain was telling her to get away from the guy but her heart kept beckoning her closer to him. While she was going on her little rant, her feet crept ever closer to the edge of the pool.

 

“Ju Hee.” He whispered her name oh-so seductively with a finger beckoning her to come closer. It didn’t help that his voice manly and deep, just Ju Hee’s type. Her brain was yelling at her to run away and not listen, but she disobediently leaned down closer to him. “Lean down.”

 

There it was. That summer lovin’, romantic kiss that she yearned for ever since the season started. Tightly liplocked, their lips molded against each other in a heated, needy sort of passion. By now, Ju Hee’s brain had entirely given up on her, with a scolding warning that she would pay for a wrong act later. But for now, the kiss felt so right.

 

Splash.

 

“Himchan, you , you pulled me into the pool?!”

 

But her lips were cut off into another intoxicating kiss.

 

Oh, what fun flings, summer brings ~ ♥