Zelo was tired. He was one hundred percent beat. Looking after children, he decided, was tiring and way more trouble than it was worth. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and got up. He had thought he was young until he had to deal with his baby nephew. The one and a half year old had been running all over the place since the beginning of the day, and how he could still keep going, he had no idea.

            “Come back here!” Zelo winced as he stepped on a broken shell. He was never going to follow his brother’s suggestions again. “Tale my son to the beach,” he said. “It would be fun and no trouble at all. Hyunjoon doesn’t like the water so there’s no chance of him drowning,” he had said. What his brother had neglected to mention was that his little infant quite liked to run in the hot sand. And that, was enough exercise in itself.

            The little boy was shaking his body in excitement as he faced Zelo. “Ball!” he called out, clapping his hands and indicating the beach ball they had brought. The ball was a size too large for the boy but he liked to plop on it and let it float from his arms.

            Zelo grinned and tossed the ball gently. It floated towards Hyunjoon and then past the baby. Zelo kept an eye out for the boy as he went to fetch the ball. The baby stopped for a while besides a towel and then he saw the occupant of the towel hand the ball to him. The baby turned and rolled the ball back towards Zelo.

            “Throw!” he commanded once the ball safely reached him.

            Zelo did so again and this time the ball went to the water. “Stay there!” he called. “I’m going to go get the ball.”

            When Zelo retrieved the ball, he had a heart attack. His nephew was not where he was supposed to be. He walked along the sand and then saw the little rascal running enthusiastically towards the same towel which he had gone to before to fetch the ball. Zelo followed quickly.

            As he reached the towel, and his nephew, Zelo discovered just what had attracted the little boy’s attention. On the towel, was a very pretty girl. “Pretty noona!” Hyunjoon was saying just when Zelo reached him.

            Utterly embarrassed, he picked up the child. “Sorry. My nephew ran away when I was getting the ball.” All of a sudden, Zelo was painfully aware of his bare torso and he shifted Hyunjoon closer to cover more skin. “Sorry to bother you.”          

            She had sat up now and taken off her sunglasses. Zelo could see that she had really pretty eyes and large teeth when she smiled. “Not a problem. He’s actually really cute.”

            “Pretty noona!” Hyunjoon shouted again and Zelo shushed him.

            “You’re way too young to be ogling ladies, little man.”

            The baby smiled mischievously at him and Zelo bowed again. He hurried away and hissed at his nephew. “Don’t ever run up to random strangers again.”

            Hyunjoon gave him a confused look. “Noona, ball,” he said.

            “I know she gave you the ball but you don’t move when I tell you not to, okay?”

            A few hours later, Zelo was ready to collapse on the ground. He had just endured five straight hours of chasing after the kid and he was ready to go home. Forget babysitting, this was outright cruel and unusual punishment. He packed up his bag and just placed the neatly folded towel in when he heard Hyunjoon shout from his stroller.

            “Pretty noona!”

            “Do you need a hand?”

            Zelo looked up and immediately blushed. Why did it have to be the pretty girl from before? “Uh, I think I’m okay. I’m handling this fine.” And as he said that, the entire bag fell onto the sand and Hyunjoon was laughing.

            “Oops.” They both bent down to pick it up and knocked their heads together. Zelo flushed and was surprised to see two high spots on her cheeks as well. “I figured I would come here and give you some help because that little fluffball of yours is really adorable. Is he your little brother?”

            “Ah, no, he’s my nephew. He’s cute and he really likes you.”

            They both looked at the baby who was grinning impishly at the two of them, clearly liking that the pretty noona and his uncle were so close together. He shyly placed a fist in his mouth and settled back in his seat, giving them both a demure expression.

            She giggled and then looked at Zelo. “Would you, uh.”

            “Do you want to join us for dinner? He’s not exactly a good eating companion.” He didn’t know where the courage came from but happy it did when she smiled.

            “Sure! I’m _____, sorry we didn’t exactly introduce ourselves.”

            “Zelo. I know a place that has delicious lobster rolls, let’s go?” And it was almost instinctively that he held out his hand for her to take.

this is for sarang_kpop1015

sorry it's a little rushed but I'm really tired these days with long work hours and whatnot