Under a big red and white striped beach umbrella sat three girls facing the aqua blue beach waters and clear what sand. One casually leaned back sipping some juice off a straw while talking on the phone, another was browsing through a magazine, while the third one simply drew in peace with a humble smile and utmost concentration.

“Yeah, I wanna quit,” said CL in the phone so casually. “It’s not my time to shine yet.”

The two beside her just did their thing, not interrupting either her or the man whose mumbles they could hear through the phone. He didn’t seem so pleased though, but that didn’t worry them; he was like an ant to CL.

“Look, I already cancelled my upcoming schedules and cleared my , so let me quit, ‘kay?”

A few seconds of yelling in which CL stayed collected, not even a single bit fazed by her boss’ fury.

“Well, what’s done is done, boss. I was born for the camera and to strut the runway, but not in your company. If you don’t let me quit now, I will show you some misconduct that will make you have no choice to fire me.”

A short mumble that most likely meant, “And what is that?”

“ you.”

“You’re fired!” That was clearly heard from the phone as CL pulled it away from her slightly. Above all things, her boss hated to be directly insulted with such words; that was all it took in the end.

“Thank you,” CL said with a smile. Her boss hung up, and so did she.

Taking a huge sip off her juice, she sighed, “That was a handful to take.”

Yura agreed by nodding. “Tell me about it.”

“You know what else is a handful?” asked Hyuna.

“What?” The two asked back.

Hyuna pointed over to where the members of 60 Seconds were chilling—specifically at Sunggyu who did nothing but focus his tiny yet sharp eyes at her. She gestured for him to stop it from afar, but he gave an unyielding gesture in return. He was persistent especially with men flocking around everywhere.

Arms crossed and pouting, she said, “I already covered up my bathing suit and wore barely any makeup today! What’s it to him?”

Without looking at her, Yura continued to draw. “Dude, your beauty is not containable; no matter how hard you try and no matter what you do, you’ll always be pretty.”

“It’s tiring sometimes, though,” said Hyuna.

“Hey, don’t you ever feel awkward around him?” asked CL as she slightly lowered her sunglasses. “I mean, you know he likes you.”

To that, Hyuna folded her legs back to have them press against her chest and wrapped in her arms. The curves of lifted ever so slightly as she laid her chin against her knees.

“He’s overprotective and quite the nagmouth, but he isn’t all that bad. He’s always there for me… even in the most embarrassing times. I always considered myself a drama queen but when it comes to being beside him, his nags kind of inspire me to be less dramatic, you know?” She sighed heavily. “But ever since Hyunseung, while I have forgiven him, I feel that I’m still not ready for something again just yet. Sometimes, even if you want to have a sweet romance like all the other couples out there, there’s a time for everything. I do hate making him wait; whenever he protects me, or even just hangs out with me, a bit of my heart rips out… ‘cause I am making this dedicated guy wait too long.”

Yura laid her sketchbook aside to give Hyuna a big hug. That was all she could give given the situation, but Hyuna highly appreciated it. The same went for CL who gave her a pat on the shoulder.

 “How about you, Yura?” Hyuna inquired.

“Hmm?” She tilted her head to the side. “What about me?”

Before she knew it, Hyuna’s arms were around her shoulders. “You know, that little love triangle that’s going on?”

She jolted up slightly, flushing red. “Wh-what love triangle are you talking about?”

Hyuna twirled her hair playfully. “Sungjong and Prez, of course!” She her fluttering heart let her giggle. “Look! Look! They’re both looking at you right now!”

“No, they’re not!” denied she, but it was true.

About 45 degrees to their left where the band was, Sungjong was waving slightly at her in all his cuteness whereas Jinyoung was giving her and irresistible gaze from the opposite 45 degrees. Yura didn’t know how to react to it except to wave with both of her hands—one for each guy. That was when the two noticed each other and gave glares.

“Look at them go,” commented CL with much amusement. “You’re on fire, Yura!”

“I’d rather not say that,” replied Yura. “I don’t like the concept of making two people compete because of myself, whether this is true or not. It’s very uncomfortable for both parties, in my opinion and I hate having to burden two people at once.”

“But who do you like?” CL straightforwardly asked. “The friend, or the friendzoned?”

“No comment on that, but let’s just say you got their roles right. I’m just being polite to our president here. He’s fun to be around with—just not as fun as Sungjong is though.”

Moments later, the friend and the friendzoned ran toward Yura, not forgetting to push each other along the way before they greeted her. The other two girls just sat there chuckling in the sidelines, giving Yura looks of amusement.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sungjong asked, annoyed. “Get your shirtlessness away from her!”

“What’s wrong with being shirtless when we’re at the beach?” Jinyoung argued then realized that Yura was leaning so close to Sungjong that it disturbed him so. To that, he said, “Are you feeling uncomfortable, Yura?”

She stuck to Sungjong even more. “Well, kind of, but it’s okay. I am trying to get used to it. After all, as he said, this is a—“

“I don’t care; you’re disturbing her,” Sungjong interrupted Yura to drive his rival away. “It’s not fair; I made the effort to put a shirt on, even if I reaaallly wanted to not wear one. I did it to not disturb her—what about you?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Not to side with him, but it was an honest mistake, Jong.” She ruffled Sungjong’s head in which he did so with hers in return. “But I really do appreciate the effort.”

Jealous, Jinyoung couldn’t help but say, “There’s nothing to show with that scrawny body anyway.”

“What did you say, huh?” Sungjong burst. “So what if my torso is a bit on the lean side? At least she’s closer to me! Both physically and mentally!”

“That’s because you have a freakin’ shirt on!”

“Then wear one!”

“Fine, I will!” Jinyoung stood up and stormed away but stopped a few meters later to yell, “Wait and see! My shirt will be better than yours! You have no sense of style at all!”

“Come at me bro!” countered Sungjong in a tough pose.

Yura just lowered her face in dumbfoundedness. “This is ridiculous…”

Suddenly, Sunggyu came and called for Sungjong, telling him that Onew was able to get them a spot to perform that afternoon. Although it was sudden, Sunggyu couldn’t miss out on that opportunity for the band. It was a good thing that 60 Seconds always packed their instruments with them wherever they went and lucky for them, the place had some amplifiers for them to use. While Sungjong was disappointed that his alone time with Yura had been cut, he had to go and practice. He warned Yura not to be hypnotized by Jinyoung for he was, as he said, a vain prick. After that, he left. That was when Jinyoung returned with a clean white shirt with a cartoon shrimp designed on it.

“I’m back,” he announced, happy to see that Sungjong was nowhere to be seen. “I see that Sir Stick there has a performance to prepare for.”

“Let’s just call him Sungjong, shall we?” insisted Yura. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. Nice shirt though; I like shrimps.”

He smiled. “You hungry? I’ll buy you a treat.”

“No need for that, I—“

“Wait here, I’ll get you something.”

And off he went to the ice cream stand where he giddily bought two ice cream cones of the same flavor and went back to hand her one. She was hesitating.

With a worried look, he asked, “Sorry, you don’t like strawberry?”

Yura glanced a bit to the side where she saw CL and Hyuna still watching everything as if they were going crazy over a drama. They knew that Yura loved strawberry ice cream above all things. Even if it was Jinyoung, she had to accept it.

Unable to contain her smile, she ate the ice cream with a charm resembling a cute child who received a new toy. It was only with Sungjong that she ever felt that happy, and Jinyoung felt accomplished upon being able to make her smile so sincerely. But he wanted to be with Yura and the two girls with them made it awkward for him. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up, gaining some momentum wherein their eyes met. He gazed at her with much handsomeness and in return she immediately shifted her view to the side and wiped her hand across her shorts to get rid of his traces. That was common for her to do, so it didn’t bother him as much. As much.

“If you ladies would excuse us, I would like to walk by the shore with her.”

CL and Hyuna hesitated to surrender her solely to him, but in the end let it go. Yura’s love life wasn’t in their control—their friend had to decide for herself.

He nudged Yura’s shoulder. “Shall we?”

Somehow, she felt that she had to nod. A part of her was curious to have a one-on-one chat with him. It was a fulfilling choice for the moment their feet tapped against the clear waters, a new side of Jinyoung was revealed before her. The usually charismatic president stripped off his outmost layer of being elite and became Jinyoung: a fresh-faced boy who simply wanted to have a good time.

“It’s fun to get away from all the stress of having to collect everyone’s requirements,” he said, taking in the breeze of the sunny day.  “Many of you guys submit late,” he poked her playfully, “one of them being you.”

“I apologize, Pres,” she said with a timid chuckle, slightly touching with her fingertips. The sight of her delicate laugh made him flush red, but of course, he didn’t show it. Or at least, he tried not to.

“No need to call me Pres.” He placed his hand on his shoulder and she instinctively looked up at him. “Please, call me Jinyoung, alright?”

“Pres,” she insisted.

“Jin,” he persisted, “Young.”

“Are you so deficient that you can’t even pronounce your name without splitting it into syllables?” intruded Sungjong out of nowhere, startling the two. He instantly reeled Yura closer to him and continued, “Onew’s calling for you; he wants you to help him sort some things before our performance.”

It was Jinyoung’s turn to be disappointed; the purpose of the vacation was to get away from work, but the work kept coming right at him. Unable to reject the teacher, he had no choice but to cut his moment with Yura short. Sungjong had to leave for practice right after he delivered the order to Jinyoung. Both waved goodbye to her before she decided to finish her sketch alone. Her two friends had left to bathe under the sun with the comfort of their headphones.

Time went by simply like that for Yura. When she was done sketching, she briefly returned to her room where she opened the windows and slept with the embrace of the white feathery sheets and whispering winds against the cozy pillows. Her sleep was quite long, but fulfilling. By the time she woke up, it was already time for her to go down and watch the performance.

Around the stage, all of her classmates were gathered to anticipate the band’s song—even if they were just performing one song. But one song was fine; class spirit was all that mattered and 60 Seconds had their full support.

Despite being small, Yura was able to squeeze through the crowd and make it to front and center just to see Sungjong. Hyuna and CL did the same for Sunggyu and Dongwoo respectively. Jinyoung on the other hand got stuck with Onew at the back, arriving just before 60 Seconds came out. Upon seeing them, their classmates game them loud woots and hoots.

Sunggyu grabbed the mic and greeted everyone.

“Hey guys, we’re 60 Seconds. I’m Sunggyu the vocalist and in behalf of the band, we’re really excited to play for you guys today,” he said. “This song’s entitled ‘Man in Love’. I hope you guys will enjoy it—especially all the romantics out there.”

Without further ado, the music came blasting out in a good beat and the crowd began jumping up and down along with the music as Sungjong sang the first line, looking directly at Yura and ending his part with a cute wink that left her blushing intensely.  Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s fanservice came after. When Myungsoo sang his part, Sungyeol was happily playing with his hair, making cute gestures, and even hug-tackled him—that part made the girls scream the most. Dongwoo followed when he finally got to do his rap. To even brighten up the moment, he gave it his all to CL by even holding her hand during his part. Of course, she felt embarrassed in her own bad way, but that reaction assured him that she was touched. As for Sunggyu, while he was smiling at Hyuna the entire time he was singing, he would point to the guys who would try to flirt with her during the song making them embarrassed in front of the whole crowd. Even when he was performing, he still had to assume the role of being a bodyguard. Regardless, he managed to lean down to give Hyuna a cool and casual expression at some point.

In the end, the performance was a success with everyone cheering side by side. It was a time to let go of their stresses—to be free just like how they should be at the peak of their youth. During those few minutes, there was no work, just party.

I'm sorry this took a while and thank you guys for waiting >w<. 

This chapter is very chill. Not really any conflict and stuff aside from Hyuna's brief contemplation period. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed it~! :D