“Ah, you tricked us!” muttered Eunhyuk in defeat to the laughing staffs. None of the staffs seemed to care for the teams’ frustration though.

Yoona re-read the challenge card written by Sunny and Eunhyuk that she got minutes ago.

The two of you, go swim together!

The message was short and simple. It was the consequence that was not so simple.

The alligator-mouth Yoona stared out to the view outside the moving van. They were now being transported to one of Seoul’s biggest swimming pool, Caribbean Bay Water Park (the exact place she did the advertisement with Taecyeon for). It was located not very far from the studio and thus within minutes, the van was being parked and they could all get out of the vehicle.

Sunny and Yoona immediately followed their stylist to the girl’s dressing room. Two pairs of swimsuits were already prepared. Yoona wished that she would not get a two-piece one, but she was not that lucky. Well, at the very least, the bottom part were shorts (and not a thong), while the upper part looked more like the tank top she wore in the Cabi Song MV.

“Yoona, there’s really nothing to see on your body anyway. Two-piece won’t really accentuate you figure, what’s the big deal?” joked Sunny as she gazed up at the pair of pastel pink and green bikini Yoona was holding. The deer-eyed girl stared back at Sunny’s own two-piece (which had purple star patterns over the yellow fabric) and thought that her friend’s swimming attire would just look good on Sunny’s petite yet S-line body. Yoona smiled to herself. Eunhyuk would definitely have a sight to see.

After the casual jeans and t-shirts were changed with the swimming attire, both SNSD ladies took the big towel to cover their figures. Having their bodies enveloped, they walked out of the dressing room together. Their stylist had warned them that video camera would immediately begin filming once they stepped out of the dressing room, so when the cameras began to shoot them, the girls were on immediate alert.

They chatted casually and the conversation only stopped once their teammates came into view. Donghae and Eunhyuk were already playing in the swimming pool, but their attentions were returned back to the girls –their eyes were clearly expecting something. Boys. As nice, polite, and gentle as one could be, a guy would not certainly miss the chance to check out a girl in a swimming suit.

“So?” Eunhyuk questioned incoherently. He tried his best to suppress his grin, but as seconds passed, his attempt was slowly failing.

“What?” asked Sunny back, showing more death glares.

Yoona innocently sneaked behind her group mate and yanked the towel away from Sunny’s grasp. The short girl shrieked in surprise and she soon found herself in a fight for towel with the tall girl. It was probably not the wisest decision to combine two of the most competitive girls in SNSD in one show. Yoona managed to throw Sunny’s towel away, but in the process, she also had her towel snatched away by the Aegyeo Queen and the fabric was tossed away spontaneously to Eunhyuk.

“Girls, girls… cat fight sounds and actually looks good. But we can’t have this forever,” said Eunhyuk as he tried to step between the laughing girls. Donghae chose not to intervene as he stood with his arms crossed in front of his bare chest, watching in mild amusement at the sight of the referee Eunhyuk.

Both Yoona and Sunny seemed to be enjoying their battle too much that Eunhyuk’s peacekeeping effort was proven to be futile. Yoona tried to push her still dry Unnie to the pool, but the light brown-haired Sunny resisted. In her active struggle, Sunny’s arm accidentally knocked over Eunhyuk (who still tried to separate the girls) and sent the poor guy into the water, double thanks to the slippery tiles.

Both Sunny and Yoona blinked and stopped their actions while Donghae only laughed at the side of the pool.

“Oppa! Are you okay?!” screeched Sunny as she kneeled down on the pool side. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –“ Her sentence was cut as Yoona took advantage of Sunny’s unguarded position to push the girl to the pool too. The pool was deep enough: 2.3 meters in depth at the very least. When Eunhyuk rose up to the surface, Sunny submerged. He quizzically looked at the splash of water beside him but understood the situation enough once he glanced up at the laughing Yoona.

“Yoona-sshi, you do not mess up with my teammate,” Eunhyuk spoke as he instinctively grabbed Yoona’s ankle and pulled the girl down to the water. Yoona’s laughter ceased as her face met the water and Eunsun team laughed altogether at the sight of the drenched girl tried her best to wiggle her arms and legs to keep floating.

Looking at her fellow SNSD member’s weird body gesture, Sunny suddenly remembered. “Donghae Oppa! Yoona can’t swim! Teach her how to –“

Perhaps it was ego, but Yoona found herself quickly interrupting Sunny’s words. “It’s o-okay…” the girl muttered as she forced herself to swim to the side of the pool and grasped the metal ladder. “I can…float,” she added meekly.

All of the three idols looked at her skeptically. 

Yoona responded, “It’s true!”

Sunny sighed as she gave an almost authoritative glance to her male opponent. “Oppa. This is our challenge to your team. You go teach Yoona how to swim.”

The Im girl groaned. “It’s not necessary…” she argued to her Unnie. Noticing Sunny’s doubtful face when the petite girl ignored her protest, Yoona turned to Donghae instead. “Oppa. You know it is not necessary.”

For the moment, Donghae looked like he did not know what to do. On one side, he knew that in the end he would help Yoona anyway. But on the other side, he also knew that Yoona did not want him to do so as it would just weaken their team’s position in the show. Sometimes he wondered why this girl did not want to lose that much. On the second thought though, he came to the conclusion that more than her competitiveness, it was most likely that Yoona just did not want people to regard her as pitiable girl who could not do anything.

“Oppa,”said Sunny in a warning tone.

“Oppa…” said Yoona in begging tone.

Oh, how his conscience was weak for falling for both kind of tones. He always hated to disappoint girls.

Donghae sighed. In the end, he chose to dive into the pool himself and approached his partner. “Alright, Sunny-sshi. I’ll help Yoona out –“

Sunny and Eunhyuk gave a high-five.

“But,” Donghae added. An innocent smile made it to his face. “Only if you two will slide down through that,” he paused to point at the high, curvaceous, adrenaline-challenging water slides. “Together. And together as in that you two have to keep close and give your fans many skinships…” he chuckled at the sight of pale Eunhyuk and speechless Sunny. “…for five times sliding. At minimum.”

“Yah, it’s not fair –“

Eunhyuk’s words were interrupted by Jae Won’s loud shouting. The PD just gave an affirmation for Donghae’s idea. Inwardly, Mr. Fish smiled. Jae Won probably was serious on his bias for the Eunsun couple.

Cameramen and staffs were then split up. Eunhyuk and Sunny still grumbled as they walked away to the slide direction. Donghae softly gazed at the two before he averted his attention back to Yoona. The girl was holding tightly to the metal bar. Her knuckles almost turned white due to the strength of her grip. Her doe eyes looked tense and the usual smile she had plastered on her face was not present.

The fair-skinned guy swam to her direction, gently laid his hands on her shoulders and gave a soft squeeze. His intention was to make her more relaxed but perhaps Donghae should learn that these kind of things would only agitate the girl more (even when she tried not to show it).

“Calm down and relax,” he spoke. His lips nearly touched her ears and he quickly drew back before he crossed the decent line.

“…I’m relaxed,” replied Yoona not so convincingly.

“I know you probably won’t like this, but I kind of gave my words to Sunny-sshi and I think it’s really the time for you to actually learn how to swim…” Donghae hesitated for a moment before he added, “Allow me.”

Yoona had been concentrating to keep herself floating all the time, but when Donghae’s palms dove down and firmly grabbed on her ankles, surprise attacked her and she felt funny jolts running through her spine. In reflex, she kicked him on his stomach, earning a groan of pain from the older one.

“Oppa! Oh, I’m so, so sorry!” she said in panic. Her strength was number one in SNSD and thus she knew it must be hurt to be kicked that way with her monstrous strength. Yoona’s left hand uncertainly left the metal bar, but her right hand clenched even tighter to it. With her slightly trembling hand, she tried to reach out to him. “Are you okay?”

Donghae honestly replied, “Your kick feels awful.”

She felt remorseful. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright,” he reassured her (and himself) and approached the girl again. “But you seriously need to learn how to swim,” Donghae ensured her.

Partially it was due to her own new year’s resolution, but mostly it was actually due to her guilt to him that made her nodded. “Alright…”

“Don’t kick me again,” he said not-so-jokingly as his hands plunged inside the water again and grabbed her ankles. This time, Yoona tried to relax herself as much as she could when Donghae slowly lifted her legs so that they were on straight, parallel position on the surface of the water. He told her to maintain the position, whereas he shifted his own position to her side. “Excuse me, Yoona-sshi,” he politely requested. Yoona knew what he wanted to perform and she cautiously nodded in affirmation again.

Donghae’s right hand then s up to rest just below her knees to support her legs position. Her ankles almost gave up but she instinctively tried to wiggle them. Her body was slipping down into the water and she began to panic, but her partner’s left arm deftly encircled her bare waist –preventing her body to submerge lower.

Water caressed her skin and she had thought her silent dread would numb her senses, but the feel of his arms around her stomach still felt as tangible. He gripped her body strongly, protectively. The cold water could not even stop his penetrating warmth. Unconsciously, Yoona’s heart skipped a beat and she could pretty much tell it had nothing to do with her minor fear of swimming.

His right hand inched up to her thighs and he told her, “Now, wiggle your legs up and down.” He noticed the rather frantic way of her legs movement and he added, “No need to rush, Yoona-sshi. Move it in a steady tempo…yes, like that…”

She concentrated on her body’s movement and on his instruction. He gave her breaks after a minute and escalated the level of training. Slowly, Donghae then let go his grip on her. Her legs naturally sunk lower but she adapted the previous training and eventually, she managed to keep her legs floating in a more relaxed and elegant way.

He was aware of the way her arms were folded on the elbow and how her hands gripped the metal bar in a too-tight fashion. Swimming nearer to the metal bar himself, Donghae then grabbed her arms and motioned her to extend them. She refused in one instance, claiming that she was already comfortable that way. Donghae persuaded her that her skill wouldn’t be honed if her stubbornness persisted.

Yoona knew he was right, but the metal bar was (hyperbolically) her life saver at the moment. The more she clung to it, the more secured she felt. “There’s no need, Oppa. I’m comfortable this way…”

“Well, we need to get out of your comfort zone,” he pointed out. Her legs were giving up and he told her to rest and stop the legs movement.

Her mind tried to find another way to convince him that leaving the metal bar was not necessary. “Ah, Taecyeon Oppa already taught me that step. We don’t need to go through that part again…” she muttered, giving a white lie. Taecyeon did attempt on teaching her how to swim during the making of Cabi Song MV. But in the end, the 2PM member found it more thrilling to splash water to her and they ended up playing in the kids pool instead of the deeper one.

“Taecyeon?” repeated Donghae. “He taught you to swim?”

She nodded.

“Oh,” was his only mutter as Donghae quickly brushed away the slight (very, very slight) wondering of whether Taecyeon also touch Yoona the way he just did. Realizing the absurdity of his line of thought, Donghae cleared his throat and focused his attention more to the struggling girl. “Yoona-sshi…come on, you know you can do it,” the Lee guy said as he extended his own hand to her.

She eyed his hand hesitantly.

He gave her his trademark smile that looked very sincere and reassuring. “You trust me, don’t you?”

It was all she needed to finally take his hand and left the metal bar.

Donghae’s smile widened as he resolutely clutched on her hands and slowly dragged the girl away swimming to the center. Yoona’s hands clamped on his hand very tightly without her own realization (he hid his grimace well) as her legs began to apply the lesson she had learned from Donghae before.

“Good girl,” complimented the grinning guy.

The encouragement secretly made her stomach churn and Yoona felt her face heated up. Suddenly she had the urge to duck her head into the water. 

To Be Continued 

I don't normally do this, but you guys have been TOO nice, so I'll just respond here for your comments last chapter. I cannot promise I’ll be able to do the same thing for the upcoming chapters, but I’ll try my best...I think I'll just post my reply back in the comment box provided by AFF for this & next chapters, I hope you understand. 

(I wanted to reply to the comments from the earlier chapters too, but perhaps it’ll be better if I focus it for the last chapter at the time being. But for those who have commented in the past, thank you, thank you very much!):

@itssasa: aah, thank you. You reading my story has been such an honor (I really LOVE your yoonhae stories and your writing style). Haha, yeah, I couldn't believe myself that I'm making a 'reality show' fiction (which I also don't normally favor). And thanks for sharing your feelings regarding the first love, it gives me more perspective (since I don't think I've ever had a first love, haha). Thank you very much. XD

@sushisoju: hey sushi!! Darla, thanks for the long comment. Didn't expect it! Haha, no, I think I'm still really lousy when it comes to characterization. I was even worse in the past, but I'm trying to hone my skill in characterizing. Thank you for  supporting me and sending me those walls!

@msdadvocate_yoong: Ahaha, I think it's dull because somehow I think they lack interaction. But I'm glad if you like the focus on characterization. And haha, yeah, I just re-watched Hello, Baby episodes and found how hilarious YoonSic were. Especially when they played prank with the food. Oh, and don't worry, only comment when you feel like it. I completely understand that life out there can be pretty demanding ;D

@KyuMinnieParkJiSung: Well, here goes chapter 7, *wink. yeaah, I SINCERELY hope that Yoonhae will be real. (Or as my personal belief says: they ARE ALREADY real, haha). Thank you for commenting!

@SONE_PYROS: Hi, Hilda! Good to hear from you! Hahaha, just like what I said to msdadvocate_yoong, I think it was dull because the interaction was too...timid, for my taste. I'll make sure to heat things up soon. Thank you for commenting!

@ghesiwa: Ghesi... somehow you bring out the new perspective in me with your "I'm recharged" comment. I didn't realize him to be fishy there, but you're right! Omo, Hae could be fishy again, hahaa. And, ooh, you really made my day when you said you could believe this pairing are real. Because that's exactly one of the purpose why I'm writing this fanfic, so thank you!!

@ 1380MC: Wow, thank you for saying it made sense. T-T. I’ve been really afraid about the pacing and stuff, because in the past, it’s always been my weakest point in writing (I tend to rush chapters a lot). Yup, I’m giving you update now. XD, hope you enjoy

@ Describe: Thank you very much!! :D. Here goes the update!

@YoongieLove: I’m glad Yoonhae is your OTP! Though I cannot exactly say that Yoonhae is my only OTP, but surely (torn between Heesica, actually) Yoonhae makes me grin a lot lately. Thanks for commenting!

@lemonlime: hahahahahahaha, LOL! I literally laughed when I read your comment. Yeah, that could have been Eunhyuk, hahaha. By the way, do update your story, will you? I’m waiting….!

@dongho_maniac97: haha, I’m glad if you like it. Here goes chapter 7 and thanks for commenting!