CHAPTER 23: Family Outing

“Mwo? Are you crazy?” Min Ah tried not to talk too loudly, but the news that Ha Ni invited Jin Woo to the family outing was insane.

“Shhhh. Your voice.” Ha NI motioned for them to find a more secluded table to avoid the lunch hour noise and also to prevent anyone from overhearing their conversation.

“Don’t Shhhh me, Oh Ha Ni. I don’t know how you brain functions anymore.”

Ha Ni just shrugged. “Well, Ommoni said it’s okay since Jin Woo’s a friend of Seung Jo and me…”

“Jin Woo WAS a friend of Seung Jo. Past tense.”

Ha Ni laughed. “Exactly. I want to help in reconciling them. And I think bringing them together in an amiable environment is the first step.”

Min Ah shook her head and gave up. “You’re asking for trouble, girl.”

Oh Ha Ni paid no heed. Once she set her heart to something, there’s no stopping her.

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“Ha Ni-ah, Min Ah, can you please help me put these inside the baskets? Boys, carry everything to the van, okay?! We’re almost ready to go.” Ommoni set everyone in motion and then they were in the road in no time.

The seating arrangement inside the van was a rather awkward one. At least for Ha Ni, Seung Jo and Jin Woo. All three were seated side by side, with Ha Ni in between the two boys. Min Ah could only do so much to hide her uneasiness.

Eun Jo meanwhile eyed Jin Woo with admiration. Sure, his brother was his personal idol, but then Jin Woo’s excellent manners and obvious intellect also charmed Eun Jo into liking him easily.

“Jin Woo-hyung! Is it true you went to high school with my hyung? That you have been close friends ever since?” Eun Jo asked, trying to confirm Ha NI’s account that Jin Woo was invited by virtue of his closeness to Seung Jo. To Eun Jo, any close friend of his Hyung must be great like him, too.

Jin Woo nodded.

“How come I don’t remember you coming to our house, then?”

Jin Woo looked sideways at Ha Ni as if asking for aid. Ha Ni luckily answered for him, quite prepared for such questions after having practiced answers the previous night.

“Eun Jo-ah, do you really see you brother bring his friends to the house?”

Ommoni agreed. “I’ve always told him to let his friends hang out in the house but Seung Jo prefers to go out.”

Eun Jo nodded, quite satisfied with their answers. “I heard you also went to study in America. When I grow up, I want to go there too. You must have learned a lot. Right, Jin Woo-hyung?”

“Right.”

“I want to go to that school you went to and have meet people and eat all kinds of steaks and…” Eun Jo prattled on, his esteem for Jin Woo continuously escalating.

Seung Jo cleared his throat and spoke, “When you go to America, Eun Jo, it should be for good reasons. Not just to have fun or to escape liabilities.”

‘Oh-oh’ Ha Ni thought.

Min Ah acted quickly to maintain the positive mood. “Heyy!!! Let’s play a game!”

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The pristine white artificial beach sand and blue waters were quite enticing that Min Ah and Ha Ni hurriedly changed to their swim attires right after helping Ommoni in setting up their picnic tables. Min Ah’s swimsuit was a black two-piece suit with a sheer cover-all. Ha Ni, on the other hand, donned a pastel one-piece which Min Ah insisted that she buy for the outing. Quite embarrassed at having a lot of people see her in a swimsuit, she also tried to put on a shirt cover which Min Ah desperately tried to remove.

“Are you a grade school student?!” Min Ah scolded.

Ommoni also supported Min Ah’s view and coaxed Ha Ni to feel comfortable. Afterall, she was not wearing anything too revealing.

Jin Woo, on the other hand, tried averting his gaze so as not to embarrass Ha Ni more.

Quite the opposite, Seung Jo smirked and loudly announced that Ha Ni need not feel embarrassed since her figure was not that far from a child’s.

“With your baby fats and all…” he teased. Naturally, his comment earned him a slap from his mother and a glare from his father.

“Yah!” Ha Ni chose a less civilized way to react --- she hurl at him her slippers, which he gleefully dodged.

Hyung is behaving oddly; he never makes fun of people. Except for Ha Ni-noona. And Noona is always taking Hyung’s bait. These grown-ups are really getting weird. Eun Jo thought.

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Eun Jo joined the girls in their swim, but avoided getting too far out into deep side of the pool because he has not yet learned to swim correctly. If there was another thing he idolized about his brother, it was his skill in swimming.

While Eun Jo was playing toss ball with Ha Ni and Min Ah in the water, Jin Woo and Seung Jo just sat by the poolside benches, far apart and no word passed between them. Seung Jo had his earphones stuck in his ears and Jin Woo watched the others play.

Occasionally, Seung Jo called out to them and targeted Ha Ni with another of his ingenious teasing.

“Yah Oh Ha Ni! How could you win against them with those short legs of yours?!” OR “Yah Oh Ha Ni! You really look like a puffer fish… a cute one… but yeah, a puffer fish… with no eyes.”  OR “Eun Jo-ah, go easy on the elderly.” To which Ha Ni only retorted by raising her fist at him.

Jin Woo, of course, said nothing of that sort. He just kept gesturing “Hwaiting!” at them while they play.

The sun was blazing down strongly so Ommoni decided to call them back to their beach hut for refreshments. “Children, come and eat some snacks!”

Seung Jo was the first one to follow his mother back to the hut. Jin Woo would have waited for Ha Ni to get back too, if not for Min Ah who casually dragged him she passed by.

Ha Ni and Eun Jo were the last ones left in the pool, half playing and half getting out of the water. The beach ball accidentally slipped from Eun Jo’s grasp and fell back into the water.  The artificial waves carried it to the farther side of the pool.

“Noona!” Eun Jo called Ha Ni and pointed at the ball.

“Aish!” Ha Ni pouted. “Okay, run along and save me something really cold to drink.”

Eun Jo laughed and waved as he ran to the direction of their hut, while Ha Ni went to back to the water to fetch the ball. She initially walked, and then eventually had to swim halfway into the pool for the ball was already farther and farther from the gutter after being swept away by the pool’s artificial waves.

Being the accident-magnet that she was, her legs chose that opportune time to develop leg cramps. >_<

She was already in the deep parts of the water when she felt the pain in her legs. Panic seized her for there were very few people in the pool at the time. Even the lifeguard was nowhere in sight. Her head bobbed in and out of the water, her arms flapping frantically. Sheer terror and all the water gushing into prevented her from screaming for help.

Eun Jo fortunately came back to the poolside with her favourite ice cold drink. Alarmed when he saw his noona struggling in the water, Eun Jo cried loudly for help. He looked around for the lifeguard but saw none, so he shouted more loudly and called the attention of his hyung before finally deciding to wade back into the pool and attempt to save his Ha Ni noona himself.

The hut not being too far from the pool, Seung Jo saw Eun Jo desperately waving his arms and calling for help. Jerking the earphone from his ear, he sprinted to the pool area. Jin Woo and Min Ah’s gaze followed Seung Jo and ran after him, sensing trouble. Ommoni and CEO Baek ran as well.

Seung Jo quickly jumped into the water, closely followed by Jin Woo and Min Ah. The two reached Eun Jo first, who was almost drowning too. Seung Jo passed his brother to Min Ah and Jin Woo before proceeding to swim up to Ha Ni. She was already too tired from too much squirming in the water and passed out just as Seung Jo reached her.

Min Ah assisted Seung Jo in pulling Ha Ni, while Jin Woo carried Eun Jo back to the pool side.

“Eun Jo-ah! My baby boy!” Ommoni cried as she hugged Eun Jo after he was placed on the bench, coughing violently.

An unconscious Oh Ha Ni was brought in shortly after Eun Jo and was laid on another bench. Min Ah and Jin Woo attended to her while Seung Jo tried catching his breath, the adrenaline rush already ebbing away.

A crying Min Ah lightly tapped Ha Ni’s cheeks, trying to wake her up. “Oh Ha Ni! Come on!”

Jin Woo stepped in and lowered his head to hers. In a few moments, he was performing CPR on her.

Seung Jo’s eyes were hard, but he did not utter a word.

After several attempts, Jin Woo succeeded. Ha Ni gained back consciousness and coughed up water. Min Ah immediately hugged her; Jin Woo stood by the side, adjacent to Seung Jo whoses face was rigid and unreadable.

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Wrapped in thick towels, Oh Ha Ni and Eun Jo sat by the barbecue grill and watched as the CEO Baek and Jin Woo cook meat and some vegetables for dinner. Min Ah stood by the table and helped Ommoni set the plates and cups.

“Good thing you are an expert in first aid, Jin Woo. We are truly grateful for your help to Ha Ni. If something bad happened to her, I don’t know how I would face her parents,” CEO Baek said.

Eun Jo agreed. “You’re really great, hyung! Did you learn that in America, too?”

Min Ah also chirped in her compliments.

Jin Woo scratched his nape, embarrassed by the praise. “It’s nothing, sir. It’s just lucky I had a little training as part of my studies in the US.” He glanced at Ha Ni and gave her a small smile, to which Ha Ni smiled back.

Ommoni was silently preparing the table and listening to their talk. The distress ucased by the incident was already fading in her. Inwardly, her mind was racing. Though she would never admit it, she was already very set to making a match between her son and Ha Ni. By the looks of it, Jin Woo was smitten by Ha Ni, and Ommoni would not just stand and let someone, however nice and handsome, take away her future daughter-in-law. (A/N: Dear ommoni, if you only knew :P )

Aish! Where is Seung Jo when he’s needed? He should be here, not letting Jin Woo take all the credit. Thankfully I’m here and a mom does what she can.

Ommoni broke her silence and joined in the conversation. “Eun Jo, your brother is such a fast runner. He responded quickly once he saw you.”

Eun Jo nodded. “Yes he did. And he reached noona before anyone else.”

“Yes, yes! He’s been a great swimmer since he was young. Your hyung would have made it to national competitions if his schedule weren’t so packed with academics, office duties and tennis. Plus his other extracurricular involvements. Such a busy kid. With lots of time for social life, too,” Ommoni recounted excitedly before turning to Jin Woo. “How about you, Jin Woo-ah, have you been also doing a lot? It must be tiring, right?” (A/N: That’s sly, ommoni!)

 “Busy here and there, but I’m getting by. Thank you for your concern, ommoni” Jin Woo replied politely.

Ommoni inwardly gnashed her teeth in annoyance and guilt. Such a nice kid! What can I do with such a boy? Where is Seung Jo????

“Seung Jo?! Where is that boy?” Ommoni loudly asked and called for her son.

Ha Ni answered her. “I saw him walking to that direction with his guitar…”

“Aish!” Ommoni complained a little too loudly that all of them looked at her in confusion.

Min Ah’s  gut feel told her Ommoni sensed Jin Woo’s feelings for Ha Ni, and Ommoni was not okay with it. Ah ha…am I guessing Ommoni’s intentions correctly? Interesting…

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Jin Woo volunteered to go with Ha Ni when she said she wanted to walk around after their heavy dinner. Min Ah stayed with Ommoni to help with cleaning up. Eun Jo, on the other hand, went busy playing his Android games again. Seung Jo had not returned after he walked away with his guitar.

Still engulfed in a thick blanket and with a mug of hot chocolate in hand, Ha Ni talked animatedly with Jin Woo while walking.

“When I was younger, I had to learn swimming the hard way. My parents did not want me to take lessons coz I might drown. Crazy, isn’t it? I will really drown if I will not learn how to swim.”

Jin Woo only nodded, a cue for Ha Ni to continue talking to shun away any awkward silence.

“Well I studied secretly. Only Min Ah knew. We taught ourselves how to swim in their pool when her parents were not around. We couldn’t risk them seeing us and casually mentioning it to my parents, right?”

Jin Woo nodded again.

“We eventually learned how to do things properly, with the help of instructional vids and Min Ah’s boyfriend. But he wasn’t her boyfriend back then. Then my parents found it out when I got into a swimming bet. Of course, I lost. I was grounded for a week. Not for learning how to swim nor for getting myself into a bet. I was grounded for being stealthy.”

“You’re fond of joining bets…” Jin Woo said absentmindedly.

“Oh, it depends on the situation. That was because my classmate insisted that I could not have learned how to swim on my own. That bet in the bar was only my second-----------------------”

“Oh Ha Ni, I like you.” Jin Woo dropped a bomb.

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A/N: Thank you for continuous patronage :P