The silent song of the waves running into the shore was broken by the shrill laughter of a girl named Choi Sooyoung.

“Seriously?” she wiped the happy tears from her eyes as she looked at Changmin. The boy on the other hand did not look a bit amused with the situation.

“You are so full of yourself.” Sooyoung shook her head as she reached out to get another stick of barbecue.

“Well, I would also promise not to fall in love with you.” He said matter-of-factly.

Her cheekbones rose as she tried to stifle a laugh.
“I’m serious.” Changmin did not drop his gaze. Sooyoung put down her food and looked at him. “What do you want us to do? Pinky-swear with each other?” she snickered at the thought of it.

“We could do that.”

The girl rolled her eyes and turned back to her food.
“Do you know that this pinky-swearing-I-promise-not-to-fall-in-love-with-you is the stuff mushy Korean dramas are made of?"

“YAH! Why are you so afraid? You already like me, don't you?” he nudged the girl in the shoulder.
“OMFG!” the girl reached out to hit the boy's head. “Look who's talking!”

“Ow! You violent woman!”
“You filthy food-obsessed halfwit!”

The two were just inches away from each other but they were shouting as if they're talking from the opposite ends of a river.

“You honestly think I will fall in love with you being like that?”
“And do you really think I like you with you being like that? You do not fit the description of my ideal man!”
“I've never been in love and you will not be the person I will fall for!”
“Oh really? I think you're beautiful.” Sooyoung mimicked what Changmin said to her a while ago.
The boy's face turned pink but then he made a face as he repeated something that the girl said from way back. “You know, you actually look cute.”

“YOU TOOK THAT SERIOUSLY?!”
“WAS IT NOT?”
“YOU CRAZY RETARDED DWEEB!”
“I WILL GIVE HALF MY INHERITANCE TO THE POOR PEOPLE IN SOMALIA THE DAY I WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU!”
“WELL YOU BETTER START SAVING BECAUSE THAT DAY IS LOOMING NEAR!”

Changmin's jaw dropped upon hearing Sooyoung's retort.

“AND YOU’RE SAYING THAT I AM SO FULL OF MYSELF?”
“I AM JUST STATING THE OBVIOUS!”
“WHAT OBVIOUS ARE YOU FARKIN TALKING ABOUT?”
“THAT YOU LIKE ME YOU STUPID DINGBAT AND YOU MAKE IT SOUND AS IF IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND!”
“YOU CAN'T DENY THAT YOU FIND ME DASHING!”
“OH MY GOD, SERIOUSLY?”
“WELL, DO YOU NOT?”

The once silent lakeside is now reverberating from the noise coming from the two but it seems as if they are oblivious to the ruckus they're making.

“IF I KNOW, YOU ARE WATCHING ME SILENTLY WHEN I'M SLEEPING!”

Changmin looked at her disbelievingly before snapping back. “AND WHO WAS HOLDING ME OH-SO-TIGHTLY WHEN WE WERE RIDING THE BICYCLE?”
“WHO IS THE ONE WHO KEEPS ON INSISTING SKINSHIP?”
“WHO COOKS ME MY FOOD?”
“WHO PREPARED THE PICNIC?”
“WHO----”

“UNNIE! OPPA!” a disgruntled and half-asleep Seohyun stood on the end of the footpath with her hair slightly disheveled. “Please keep your voices at minimum when you do your love quarrels! You woke me up, you know.”

She then made a shushing gesture with her finger, turned around, and strode off; leaving the two noisy people looking at her retreating back with a guilty look on their faces.

“Argh! See what you did?! You woke her up!” Sooyoung snapped at Changmin through gritted teeth.
“I did not! You are so noisy, you could overpower an entire horde of howler monkeys.” he hissed back.
“Why am I even talking to you?” Sooyoung raised her hands in frustration.
“Because there is nothing else you would love to do.”
“You are the cause of my life's troubles.”
“But you like me all the same.”

The girl stopped talking and looked at him seriously. “You know, this is so childish!”
“Wha---”
“We keep on arguing for something stupid. Let us talk about this logically, okay?”

Sooyoung sat straight and stared seriously at him. “You know, you make it sound as if emotions are that easy to control. They were not called emotions if they can easily be switched on or off according to our will, you know.”

Changmin stared at her in disbelief.

“I’m not saying that what you are saying will really happen but we’re living under one roof here. We will be together for a long time. And even if you are like that, you’re still a boy and I’m still a girl. Any attraction, whatsoever it may be, is not impossible.” Sooyoung said logically. “And to be honest, I do not see the point of how this stupid promise will make life go back to normal.”

The somewhat serious air has returned. Changmin tuned down his hyper mode and contemplated on answering the tall girl's concern.

“Well, as you have said, emotions tend to get out of control. Which is why, the promise would be a deterring factor. It will keep us grounded on the plan. If one of us will start to like the other more than what they do now, that person will get hurt when the day comes that we will be of separate paths. I just want to prevent that from happening.”

Sooyoung put her hands on her chin as she tried to digest Changmin's point.
“But a promise is not enough of a deterring factor. It is binding only in words. The other person can act okay but that doesn't mean that the person is not hurting, right?”

Both stared at the fire as if it would answer and help them with their problem.

“Ah, this is much difficult than when I first thought about it.” Changmin sighed frustratingly.
“True. And promises sound mushy.”
“What should we do?”
“Ottoke.”

The two pouted at the same time as they tried to think of a way to answer their problem.

Sooyoung was the first one to break the silence.
“How about let's just let things be?”
“Let things be?”
“Yes! And instead of doing that stupid promise, let's put on a dare.”
“A dare?”
“It's more challenging. And it doesn't sound corny.”
“And what would that dare be?”
“That we let things be. And that no matter what happens; we'll take it as a lesson to which we could learn a lot of things.”
“A dare to let things be?” Changmin scoffed at the futile simplicity of the statement. “Is that even a dare?”
“Duh. We let things be. If it goes our way, fine. If not, we have to face it. It sounds cool because there are no plans at all. We just let things be and see if we can overcome it.”

“Hmmm...” The boy thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I'm in!”
“Alright!”

Sooyoung raised her hand for a high five, to which the boy gladly took.
“In conclusion, whatever happens, the person will take it as it is?”
“Yes.”
“Like when the other person will like the other, she or he will be responsible for all else that will follow that certain liking?”
“Yes.”
“If he or she will fall in love and will get hurt, he or she will not blame the other person for it?”
“Yes. Congratulations, you are now using your brain, Shim.”
“So, what happens if both people will like each other?”
“Ye---” Sooyoung stopped in her sentence and looked at the boy. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we are addressing only one problem here as I see it. The problem of unrequited love. So what if both people will like each other?” Changmin looked at her as he waited for an answer.
“Hmmm…” the girl paused and thought for a moment. “Then there's no problem at all.” She then said simply.

The two looked at each other and then identical grins appeared on both faces.
“Haha! You'