11

Yawning and tossing on the comfortable bed, Lyorin opened her eyes and realised it was already the next morning. She was back in her room after the long night, wait, how did she come back? She went under her covers and tried to remember last night string of events. She was with Kai on the beach and then she didn’t remember what happened afterwards.

“Are you planning to stay in bed the whole day?” A voice snapped her back to reality.

Lyorin pulled the covers and saw Yoona in front of the dressing table already in a nice sleeveless over bikini top inside and denim shorts. While fixing her hair, Yoona looked at Lyorin from the reflection in the mirror. “Where did you go last night with Kai?”

 Lyorin scratched her head and frown. “I was at the beach. How did you know I was with him?”

“Duh, because he brought you back, silly! Come on! We need to be down for breakfast.” Yoona clapped her hands and then pulled Lyorin out of bed. “The guys are already there.”

Walking in to the hotel restaurant and dressing in a V-neck tank top with a pair of denim cut offs, Lyorin and Yoona’s appearance turned heads; including EXO. They already started eating their breakfast but stopped immediately when the two pretty ladies joined them. The guys were clad in wife beaters and Bermudas with slippers. They were all ready for beach because that would be their activity for the day.

Lyorin took a seat opposite Kai who kept looking at his plate of food. “Hi, Kai.” She greeted softly. He ignored and never once looked up to see her. He only saw her once when she entered the restaurant and instantly his heart raced seeing how beautiful and y she was. After which, he refused to look at her directly because it would only make him flustered even more.

“Whoa, is that bee-gi-nee (bikini)?” Chanyeol commented rather adorably because he was embarrassed to pronounce the real thing.

“What? You mean this?” Yoona pointed at the strap hanging on her neck casually.

Luhan almost choked on his food when Yoona acted boldly towards an embarrassing issue, especially in front of the guys. Chanyeol nodded his head dumbly while his eyes looked like it could pop anytime. Luhan smacked the back of his head and quickly pulled out his jacket from the bag and draped it over her. “Wear this over.” He mumbled.

“It looks nice ~” Chanyeol further aggravated the situation, earning another smack from Luhan. “HYUNG! I was just complimenting okay?” Chanyeol pouted.

“Keep your eyes on your food.” Luhan warned and then he turned to Yoona. “Don’t wear something so revealing in front of them. Yes, they’re my brothers but they are still guys.”

Yoona nodded sheepishly and took the jacket from him. She covered her top and continued her breakfast. Lyorin stared enviously at her best friend. How she wished someone would care for her. With a sigh, she continued eating. Kai looked at her sad face. He recalled the previous night when he spent it with her. Throughout the night, it was quiet for the both of them and only the sound of waves occupied their peace. He was pissed and angry at first but she turned his feelings around. Her presence made him somewhat happy. It was one of those nights when he wished it would never have ended.

Lyorin was the last to finish her breakfast. Some of the guys had left the table and were heading to the beach. So, she hurried herself and reached for her bag. However, on her seat there was a jacket hanging loosely. Curiously, she examined it and realised it was too big for her. It looked like a guy’s jacket. Maybe, it belonged to one of the guys.

“Chen oppa, whose jacket is it?” She asked. Only Chen was still around by then.

Chen stared at the jacket and replied. “It looks like Kai’s. Come on Lyorin, we have to go now.” He took her arm and dragged her out of the restaurant towards the beach.

This belongs to Kai, she thought.

Why did he leave it behind? Or was it done on purpose so that I would wear it?

Whatever the reason may be, she could not help but smile.

The beach was surprisingly not as crowded as they expected, which was better. They had the whole area for themselves. The girls laid down the mat and were applying the sunscreen lotion on each other. Meanwhile, the guys were impatient. Instantly, they stripped off their tops, revealing their bare upper bodies and ran towards the sea. Yoona automatically covered her eyes while Lyorin chuckled seeing her best friend’s reaction.

“Oh my God, I can’t watch this. My eyes ~” Yoona stumbled, still with her eyes firmly shut.

Lyorin laughed. “Aww Yoona, you need to get use to it since your boyfriend is among them.” She pushed her hand from her eyes and teasingly pointed at Luhan who was also topless. His tones abs and broad shoulders only made Yoona more shy and flustered.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Yoona revealed with a slightly disappointed tone.

Lyorin applied the last bit of the lotion on her legs and covered the sunscreen bottle. “You mean, he hasn’t asked you yet?” Yoona shook her head. “Don’t worry. He’ll ask you soon.” She assured her friend and patted.

The girls eventually joined the boys in the water. Yoona was mischievously pulled in by Luhan and she went deep inside. She was struggling to reach the floor despite knowing how to swim. Luhan however, never left her side. He held on to her waist carefully and when she got stable, they swam even deeper. She blushed feeling the hands around her waist. It felt electrifying and she liked it. The couple swam away and once again, they managed to get separated from the rest. It was just them.

“Oppa, it’s too deep already.” Yoona carefully reminded.

Luhan smiled and confidently replied, “I promise, I won’t let you go. Trust me.”

She nodded and mumbled, “I trust you.” Both of them enjoyed the swim. Luhan never let go of her as promised and Yoona had never felt safer. 

Meanwhile, Lyorin was building sandcastles with Sehun and Xiumin. She filled the bucket with sand and then overturned it. Gently, she lifted up the bucket and the block of sand stood firmly. She was proud of herself. The guys helped her out and built more sand blocks to add on to the structure of the castle.

While she was concentrating on her masterpiece, someone crept behind her. Unexpectedly, she felt arms grabbing her waist and knew right away she was in trouble. In a second, Tao flung her up on his shoulder and ran towards the sea. She hit his back but it was futile. He was as strong as steel. Once he reached the water, he dropped her and in a blink of an eye, she was all wet.

“No one can leave the beach all dry, my dear.” Tao teased.

Lyorin splashed water at him as revenge and the rest of the guys joined in. The water fight was absolutely fun. She splashed water on Kai which made his hair wet and flat. She was about to apologise to him because she thought he was going to get angry at her. Instead, he smiled and splashed more water back at her. The atmosphere was great and everyone was enjoying themselves until a group of guys approached them.

“I’m sorry to burst your fun, but would you like a game of beach soccer against us?! Minhyuk shouted at EXO.

EXO and Lyorin stopped their water fight and stared at the 7 guys on the beach with one of them holding a ball in his hand. Kris walked forward and was about to reject the offer but Chanyeol replied to them before he could speak.

“GAME ON!” Chanyeol yelled and marched towards them.

Suho stopped him and pulled him back. “Yeol, no!”

Eunkwang stepped up and tried to lighten the tense atmosphere. “Come on, Suho. It’s just a game.” Both leaders from opposite groups stood face to face. “It’s been a while since we interacted.” He added.

Suho glanced at s’ faces. All of them were already putting on their game face. He then looked at Kris waiting for his approval as well. After much consideration, he replied to Eunkwang. “Alright, let’s bring it.” He smirked.

~*~

Lyorin and Yoona sat at the side, intently watching the guys. It took them quite a while before finalising the 5 players. Sehun was eager to play and pleaded with his hyungs to let him be on the team. Eventually, he was selected along with Tao, Kris, Kai and Luhan. As for the opposing team, the starting line-up consisted of Eunkwang, Hyunsik, Minhyuk, Ilhoon and Peniel. With 7 players on substitution for EXO and 2 players for BTOB, they started the game almost immediately without wasting more time.

The sun was scorching and the guys were perspiring buckets of water; however none of them showed any signs of fatigue. They dribbled, attacked, defended, tackled and scored. Both sides were not giving up and were not going to lose. Their pride and determination to win was the only thing in each of their heads. It was a fast and heart thumping game to watch. It was exciting yet terrifying at the same time. Lyorin fixed her eyes on Kai who seemed to be in full concentration. He was brought down by Minhyuk but he stood up right away and never gave up. He persevered all the way and managed to score a goal.

“YES!” Lyorin burst out of a sudden after EXO won a goal.

Yoona laughed at her friend’s candid behaviour. She then commented, “You like him, don’t you?”

“What?” Lyorin asked.

“I mean Kai. You like Kai, right?”

Lyorin turned red at the mention of his name. “No ~” She lied. She was blushing and it was too obvious for Yoona.

“You can lie to yourself, but not me.” Yoona said. “The way you look at him, the way you smile every time he scores a goal, the way you instantly blush at the mention of his name; like right now.” She pinched her cheek playfully.

“Awww Yoona, it hurts.” Lyorin pouted and rubbed her cheek.

“Maybe you should confess to him.” Yoona proposed.

Lyorin stared at her friend’s face and blinked. “Should I?”

“So, you do like him!” Yoona gleefully declared.

 Lyorin slapped Yoona’s arm playfully and begged her to lower down. “Aish Yoona. I don’t even know whether my feelings for him are ~”

“You better do it fast because I must say that Kai is quite a catch.” Yoona pointed at the group of girls at the opposite. They were watching Kai as well as the rest of the guys. However, Lyorin noticed one familiar girl. It was the same girl who gave her number to him. She was standing right there watching and cheering his every move and Lyorin felt her temper rising.

Fine, I will confess to him. I will do it tonight!

She thought to herself and squeezed the towel to vent her anger.

The game ended with EXO winning by a point difference. Despite the lost, BTOB guys were nice and shook hands with EXO. It was a really tight game.

“Nice game, Suho.” Eunkwang commented and shook hands.

“Yep, good game.” Suho smiled and took his hand.

~*~

Lyorin paced back and forth in the room alone, trying to calm herself. She was extremely nervous and wanted to back out from the plan of confessing to Kai. However, the image of the girl who was eyeing Kai throughout the game erased her nervousness. She was more determined to tell him how she felt for him because it might just be too late. She practised her lines but ended up stammering. She was worried. In a few minutes, she would be heading down the club with EXO and she planned to tell him before they enter.

Suddenly, an idea came in to her head. Rummaging her phone in her bag, she dialled a number and waited. The guy picked up her call and she told him the meet up place. After confirming with him, she left the room and went out to look for him

She was walking towards the lobby of the hotel where she had asked him to wait for her. Once she spotted him, she jogged up and smiled brightly.

“What’s up?” Hyunsik asked, smiling back.

“I-I like you.”

“What?” Hyunsik frown in confusion.

“I really like you.” Lyorin confirmed.

“Lyorin, are you unwell?” Hyunsik touched her forehead. At the moment, Lyorin burst out laughing.

After composing herself, she explained to him. “I’m perfectly fine. I was actually hoping for a different reply.” She chuckled.

Hyunsik scratched his head. “I don’t understand.”

Lyorin gulped and turned serious out of a sudden. “Hyunsik, I’m about to confess to a guy that I like but I’m too afraid. So, I was testing out of you to see how you react to my sudden confession.”

Hyunsik turned serious as well. “You’re confessing to whom?”

“You know him but it’s a secret for now. Anyway, is it okay if I practise on you?” She asked shyly.

“Yea, okay.” Hyunsik mumbled. His heart crushed and knew right away who she wanted to confess to even without her telling him.

Lyorin settled down and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and tried to regain her composure. “I like you. I really like you. I don’t know how or what but ~”

Hyunsik went up to her and cupped her face in his hand. “I like you too. I like you, Kim Lyorin.” He said it from the bottom of his heart. Even if it was just pretending, he meant every single word.

Lyorin smiled sweetly and asked. “Do you think he will say that to me?”

“He will ~” Hyunsik assured with a heavy heart.

Kai walked out to the lobby of the hotel. He was about to get the car for the ride to the club. As he was whistling casually while walking towards the exit, he heard a familiar voice coming behind the pillar. He perked up his ears to catch what she was saying.

 “I like you. I really like you. I don’t know how or what but ~”

“I like you too. I like you, Kim Lyorin.”

Kai almost dropped the car keys to the floor. He could not believe what he just heard. He recognised the girl’s voice as well as the guy’s. He knew who they were even without looking at them. His body trembled and his fists turned pale from clenching too tight. He felt numb and could not think straight. All he wanted to do is to get away from there; which he did. He didn’t wait any longer. He walked towards the car and never turned back. Instantly, his hand reached for his phone in his pocket and dialled a number.

The call got through. He spoke in his usual deep voice, “It’s me. Meet me at the club tonight.”

(To be continued)

Guess who did Kai call??