Chapter 1 – Is it really you?

Krystal and her friends decided to go to the beach and have some fun there in the morning and then go on a tour around the small island after lunch. Since they were so tired from their journey yesterday, they weren’t really able to do anything but to sleep early; hence all of them were already up by 7am.

The resort offers a wide variety of amenities and activities despite being situated in a small island. You can try beach volleyball, beach football, and a variety of water sports like jetski, wind surfing, kayaking and skim boarding. They also offer a half-day snorkeling activity just around the island to appreciate the beauty of the world underwater. Food is also not a problem since they offer a buffet meal whole day for the visitors. If you get tired from all of the activities, they have a coffee shop on the sea, where you have to walk through a long bridge just to get there. It’s worth the long walk though, since it offers not only coffee, but also quality tea and sweets that’ll be perfect for a peaceful afternoon treat. A bar by the beach is also open for the visitors to enjoy some glasses of light punches, martinis or ice-cold beer. An aching body isn’t a problem either since spa services are also available. You can choose if you want to have the massage on the beach bed while feeling the cool breeze and the smell of the sea near to you.

Luna, Onew, Sulli, Taemin, Jonghyun and Victoria all decided to play beach volleyball while Krystal and Key were just lying down the sun, enjoying the radiance of the day as the heat of the sun envelopes their skin. It’s fine for Krystal to let Key put the tanning lotion on her skin. It’s better than having the hands of Minho on her skin. It’s awkward for her.

Good thing Minho had to talk to his parents on the phone to check on things since they won’t be able to visit them.

Krystal was on the verge of falling asleep when suddenly, the guy she’s been avoiding lightly tapped her shoulders to get her attention.

“Hey, do you want to uhh… ride the Hobie cat?”

“Hobie cat?”

“Yeah… The wind today seems to be fine and it’s perfect for sailing the Hobie cat.” Minho explained to the younger girl.

She hesitated a bit and looked at the boy who’s peacefully sleeping beside her. She nudged him lightly to wake him up before answering, “I’ll go if Key will be there too.”

“What? What are you guys talking about?” Key suddenly asked as he heard Krystal mention his name.

Minho seems to be expecting this, but still, he still wants to be alone with the girl so he stared at the other guy beside Krystal, and through the eyes he asked him to help him.

“I’ll help you only this time, understand?” Key answered him in his thoughts. He then stood up and dragged the girl a bit further away from Minho and convinced her to go with him.

“You told him that you’ll think about it, but you’re acting as if you’re not even interested in giving him a chance to show himself to you.”

“Everything’s all fine Key, you know that. I’m fine being friends with him. It’s just that… I don’t know if I like him more than that. And this confusion makes me feel so awkward whenever I’m with him.” The younger girl explained herself.

“Okay, let me ask you this Jung Soojung… just this one. And promise me that you’ll answer me honestly, okay?”

The girl hesitated a bit before answering, “Okay… What is it?”

“Does Minho really have a chance on you? Yes or no?”

Even though Krystal expects that Key will ask her about that, up until now, she still couldn’t find the right answer. “I…”

“Soojung dear, if you don’t have any feelings for Minho, just tell him so. Of course he’ll get hurt, but it’s better that to let him look like an idiot like this. He’s also a friend of mine, and with the things you’re doing to him, honestly, he doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment from you. Do you understand me?”

Key’s words somehow struck the younger girl on what she’s doing to the poor guy who confessed his feelings to her. Guilty with her actions, she heaved a deep sigh before saying, “Fine. I’ll go with him today and will try to be nice to him. I’ll entertain him for a uhm… two days. If I still didn’t feel anything, then I’ll have to turn him down.” She told Key.

“Two days? Make it one week.”

“What?!”

The two friends finished their conversation and came back to the waiting guy who’s sitting on the sand.

Key then pushed the girl lightly towards Minho before saying, “Enjoy!” with a cunning look in his eyes.

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“I’m really glad that you agreed to sail with me today. I thought I really don’t have any chances.” Minho managed to say as he pulls the ropes to control the boat.

“S-Sorry. It’s just… I feel so awkward since you confessed. And…”

“I know you’re confused, but I really like it that you gave me a chance to at least prove myself to you.”

The rest of the short sail was silent. The young girl tried to look at Minho and at the beautiful seas, but as they got in the middle, there isn’t really anything to see but the blue vast ocean. Either that or she’ll have to look at the half exposed body of Minho, showing his well-toned muscles owed to years of working out in the gym during his free time.

This made the young girl ask herself. A lot of girls seem to be attracted to him but why doesn’t she feel anything like that to Minho? Staring at the endless seas, she thought of the past relationship she had.

Her first relationship was back when she’s in junior high. They didn’t last long since she just thought that she likes the guy, since he’s the first guy who gathered up the courage and confessed to her. They only lasted for a month, but their breakup didn’t mean much to her.

The next relationship she had was surprisingly with a girl. That was when she and her family went to America because of her dad’s work. She transferred to the high school near their house and there she met the Taiwanese-American tomboy, who was the school’s nerd. Being a transferee, Krystal had troubles with her studies so their homeroom teacher asked the tomboy to help her in her studies. Soon, they became friends and started to hang out with each other since Krystal found the tomboy to be very interesting. The tomboy might be a nerd, but one thing that made her attracted to the nerd is that she enjoys what she’s doing so much. Seeing the nerd’s smiles whenever she learns something new makes her heart flutter and feel happy too. After a year, the tomboy confessed to her and she immediately gave her answer, knowing that their feelings are mutual. Their relationship was in a secret since her parents doesn’t know that she’s dating a girl, and she’s afraid that they might not approve their relationship. But secrets don’t remain secrets for so long as gossips about her and the nerd going out started to spread. This alarmed the young girl. With the fear of her parents, she decided to end her relationship with the tomboy without even trying to solve the problem together.

Her thoughts were stopped when Minho spoke to get her attention.

“Hey look. You see that small boat over there?” Minho said as he pointed to the small, white boat.

She looked at the direction and saw the small boat with a man in mid-40’s standing on the deck as he’s holding a device, which looks like a two-way radio. She then saw a rope extending from the boat to a platform and down all the way to underwater.

“Good morning Mr. Yoo! Still doing research?” Minho greeted the man as he slowed down the hobie cat.

Mr. Yoo’s attention was diverted to Minho as he heard his greeting, “Good morning! And yes, research is like my wife already you know, we can’t be separated.” The middle-aged man joked.

Minho laughed at the joke before saying, “So I assume the person connected to that cable is Amber?”

Upon hearing the name Amber, Krystal’s heart skipped a beat. Just this moment, she was thinking about her, and now it feels like her heart couldn’t be contained inside her chest. She suddenly felt something weird inside her.

“But it can’t be that Amber right?” She thought to herself. “I mean, she’s not the only one who goes by the name Amber. And besides, the Amber I know is a Taiwanese-Amer