“Hey! Wait up a sec!”  The boy’s shaggy hair swung around his eyes as he jogged down the street, his sneakers slapping the pavement.  “Hey!  Slow down!”  Just as she reached the corner of the street, the girl turned, smiling and taking out her earbuds when she saw the boy’s face. 

                The boy jogged the rest of the block, and slowed as he approached her.  “Don’t listen to music when you’re walking alone, I read online that women should never block out their environments when alone.  That’s how you get kidnapped. Or at least keep one out, and one in. Subin, did you hear me?  Are you even listening to me??”

                Subin smiled and stopped watching the boy’s lips, tucking some of her thick, long hair behind her ear.  “Nope,” she smiled.  “Have I ever told you that you’re really cute when you’re all concerned and stern?”  The boy blinked at her, evidently  taken aback by her lack of concern.  “Subin I real-“

                “I’m just joking, Jinki oppa,” she smiled, at him, her eyes crinkling up in amusement.   “Well, you’re cute, I wasn’t joking about that.  It’s just that you’re always so worried!”  She threw her hands up to the sky and twirled around in the middle of the street.  “Relaaaaax,” she sighed, her hair flying onto her face as she spun. 

                Jinki pulled her onto the sidewalk, and, brushing her hair back, pulled her face in front of his.  “You drive me crazy, you know that?” he said, looking down at her.  “I’m well aware,” Subin laughed, and grabbed his hand from her cheek.  “C’mon, you caught me just as I was going to go down to the beach,” she said, and took off around the corner.

                “Wait, what about bathing suits?!” Jinki yelled.  She spun around and looked at him mischievously, then kept running.  “Hey!” he called.  He sighed and ran after her.

-------

                Subin was sitting on a large boulder, shaded by the cliff above the beach, when Jinki finally reached her, huffing and panting as if he had just run a marathon.  She laughed at his disheveled  appearance, and pushed some of his chestnut  hair off his sweaty forehead. 

                “When was the last time you got physical exercise?” She grinned at Jinki, who couldn’t even respond for a few seconds.  When at last he caught his breath, he managed, “It’s the --- summer.  It’s not like --- I have gym class --- to keep me fit.”  Subin moved over to let him sit next to her, and he took her hand in his.

                “You’re a handful and a half, you know that?” He stuck his tongue out at her, and she readily returned the gesture.  “I know,” she said, ruffling his hair again.  A pause grew in the conversation, and then Jinki said, “Hey, just in case you were thinking about it, I’m not going skinny-dipping.  Especially not in broad daylight.” “That wasn’t my plan, babo,” said Subin, her eyebrows raising so high up her forehead that they almost disappeared behind her hair.  “I just wanted to get out of the house.  But are you suggesting you’d be up for it at night time..?”

                She fell flat on her onto the pebbled shore from the shove that Jinki gave her.  Subin stuck out her tongue again.  “Just a idea.”  She pulled him down to her level, and they stuck their toes in the water lapping at the shore.

                “I’m really glad I met you, Jinki-ah.  Honest,” Subin said, smiling up at the boy.  Under the mop of light brown hair, she saw Jinki’s ears turn slightly pink.  “I mean, not to get all cheesy here, but you’ve been the best friend I could’ve asked for here.”

                Jinki held her hands in his and smiled back.  “And then more than a friend,” he murmured, giving her a quick kiss.  She nodded, this time her cheeks flushing.  “Yeah, and then more,” she said, her eyes creasing  as she smiled. 

                “Has it been very hard for you? You seem used to Yeongdo now,” Jinki asked her, seemingly very concerned for her answer.  “Do you miss Seoul?  Do you get bored here?”Reaching out to flick his forehead, Subin said ,“Hey, how could I get bored when you’re here to keep me company?”  

                Ducking to escape from his much more painful flick (as she knew it from hard-learned experience), she continued, “You know, I really thought this move was going to be the hardest thing in the world, but it actually hasn’t been.  I mean, it hasn’t been a piece of cake, obviously, making new friends, not being in the city and all that.  But it’s been a lot easier than I thought it would be.”  She looked at her boyfriend, who was smiling contentedly at her.  “Does that make any sense or do I sound crazy?” she asked.

                “I think it’s great,” Jinki answered, clearly just happy that she was happy.  Subin laughed and squeezed his hands.  “Seriously, you’re the best person I could’ve met here,” she said.

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Ta-da!  Please enjoy!