{ Chapter 001: Inevitable}

It was breezy yet warm the day we ventured off to the beach. It was our first week off after our high school graduation, and although most students went out to celebrate at various graduation parties, Luhan wanted to spend it with me, just the two of us. Circular high tide warnings were posted on beach shacks and stuck into the sand on various parts of the beach, but I still urged Luhan on towards the ocean since the time consumed driving was too much to waste over the “dangerous” waters. Both of us were nineteen and I felt as if we could take on the world at that moment. As if a pair of digits determined our capability in this world. I pressed Luhan to hurry to the beach with me in a know-it-all tone. I acted as if heeding the warning would do us no good, like I knew better than anyone else that the ocean wasn’t dangerous.

“Come on, Luhan. Are you really afraid of a few waves?” I sighed, taking his calloused hand in my own in an attempt to drag him away from the car. He stood his ground, evaluating the situation. Luhan was always the careful type of person, he wasn't risky; he liked reassurance. Meanwhile I was the polar opposite, although the traits never shown through my blank expression.

“I’m not afraid.” He defended himself with an unsure look in his eyes. “I’m just being cautious, Sehun.” His eyes flitted in between the warning signs and the alluring blue waters, so I looked off into the ocean as well. It didn’t seem like the waves were big, but they weren’t small either. At the time, I didn’t know that looks could be deceiving , so I didn't see the problem with swimming with the 'high tides'. People still wandered around in the sand aimlessly, but there were only a few defiant individuals that treaded the waters. But, even so, they remained fairly close to the shore of the beach.

“Swimming won’t kill you, Luhan. Come on, let’s go!” A rare smile made it’s way onto my face, and that was all it took to convince Luhan that we should take the risk. He had told me that my smile was one of the best things he had ever seen on more than a few occasions. I never believed him, but I just nod my head whenever he tells me so I can make him happy.

I dragged him down the stone steps that led down to the warm, brittle grains of sand. My eyes excitedly took in the area although my visage remained disinterested. Two lifeguards remained posted at two opposite sides of the beach and a handful of children ran around with dirtied shovels and pails that were filled to the brim with wet, heavy sand.

“Sehun, are we going to swim or what?” Luhan tugged at my hand, I barely realized that I was too busy observing rathering than experiencing the moment. I didn’t respond right away, so Luhan just grinned and let go of our joined hands as we shrugged off our shirts and set down our backpacks somewhere off into the sand. He dashed over to the water and I clumsily towed in from behind, savoring the shouts that emitted from his mouth as our legs crashed into the freezing ocean. “It’s so cold!” He half chuckled and half complained. The ends of his eyes crinkled at the moment in childish joy, times like those were what I aimed for. My goal was to make Luhan smile all the time, he might've slipped from my grasp if I ever made him upset. I couldn't afford that, losing my best friend and lover. But, making him happy wasn't too difficult, ever since we were awkward and lanky children, he was always easily excited over the smallest things in life. I didn't know if it was something that was good or bad, so I just admired him for it, he always looks joyful that way. "Sehun, are you cold too?" Luhan's voice brought me back to the reality at the beach.

“Yeah, it’s colder than I expected.” I shivered in small dissatisfaction. But, I held back a frown and remained stoic for Luhan’s state of satisfaction. I didn’t like it when he frowned, so I would always hold back my own so he would still be content.

“You were right though. The waves aren’t even that big.” He gasped at the feeling of slowly being pushed forward by the waves of the water. I didn’t think that he had ever swan judging by his reactions, but I didn’t think he would get so used to something new so fast. We splashed each other childishly for a while before we became out of breath due to indistinct yelling and laughing. Neither of us realized that we had strayed far from the population of the beach, we were in deep waters at that moment.

"Luhan?” I kept my gaze on the blond for a while before he finally turned his head to me. I noticed that neither of us responded right away. I always liked to savor the moment, to clearly hear Luhan’s voice; I knew that he wouldn’t go anywhere, so I would always take my time before acknowledging his words.

“Hm?” He hummed as he wiggled his feet underneath the water, trying to search for the ground that he was expecting to scrape against his toes. I could tell that he was skeptical, his brows slowly moved towards each other as he attempted to sink down into the ocean, testing how deep we were.

“Luhan, are you okay?” I raised an eyebrow at the realization of his discomfort. I hated it whenever he made those faces; I loved his grins much better. It almost felt like a job to make Luhan happy, but at the same time it was a desire. Was it weird that I wanted his happiness over mine? To love someone is a weird feeling, but it had taken Luhan a lot of hesitation and time before he came around and accepted my feelings. So, I want to make him happy; I didn’t want him to regret his decision.

“Sehun, aren’t we a little too deep? The beach looks far away now.” Luhan looked back and I followed suit. We both shrugged our shoulders, brushing off the thought. But then, there was this miniscule sound- but it was noisy enough to be heard. It sounded like yelling that was overlapped with the rushing of water.

We didn’t have a clue about what was going to hit us until the last minute, when we whipped our heads around to see waving life guards and shouting adults. They were all mixed voices and blurred faces as something that felt like a harsh slap to the face hit both of us hard. It wasn’t hard for the two of us to surface, but staying up was difficult as wave after endless wave continued to hit us. After the fifth wave, both of us were already deprived of air through the cries and shouts of one another. The taste of salt rubbed against my toungue as I swallowed a deep gulp of the sea water. The intake of the liquid almost made me retch instinctively, my body rejecting so much salt at once.

After the sixth blow, water had filled my lungs and I felt something rough and jagged crash in my back, and then I painfully turned my head to see Luhan gasping for air before he too was shoved into the rock beside me. I struggled to keep my eyes open, trying to examine Luhan’s face in careful detail. After all, I thought it was the last time I was ever going to see it. His eyes were already closed, and I could see him already slipping unconscious under the water. My body trembled, and I had shakingly let out what I thought was my last breath. We were only nineteen at the time, but I had learned that we couldn’t take on the world shortly after. And then, everything dispersed into a deep black.

Everything seemed to slip away as we submerged deeper and deeper into the inevitable.