You’ve made some questionable decisions in your life. Some caused you pain, some made you a different person. But, this, this was a whole other level. If anything happens, you could possibly be descending to the heavens, or at least that was where you hoped to go.

            “Ya, Yoo Youngjae! Are you sure you can actually surf?”

            You were standing with your             board in hand and watching your boyfriend paddle out into the incoming wave. Youngjae turned to look at you and the momentary distraction had him submerged. He came up, sputtering and spitting out water. “What the hell?” He was giving you his patented pursed lips, narrowed eyed, look of indignation.

            “You told me you were going to teach me how to surf. It looks more like you’re trying to test and learn and then use me as a guinea pig instead.”

            “Hey, hey. Now that is completely untrue.” He was walking out of the water now and towards you. You backed away, not wanting to be sprayed by his salty sea water. Youngjae placed his arm around you, not caring when you squirmed. “How could I bear to watch my little sea urchin drown?”

            “What did you just call me?” You ignored the people around you. They could listen in for you all cared.

            Youngjae laughingly placed a kiss on the top of your head. “Well right now you’re certainly prickly like one.” You rolled your eyes but inside your heart was already melting. There was something about Youngjae’s lame jokes that always made things a little okay.

            “How many times have you been surfing?” You were watching him suspiciously as he angled the surfboard once more towards the ocean.

            “Sweetie, you’ve asked me this question at least twenty times on the car ride over already.” His response was to your question, but you could tell his concentration was not on you.

            “Yeah, and you’ve answered it every time just as flippantly.”

            Youngjae stood up and shook his hair out of his eyes. “Are you afraid that I’m not qualified? I have a license. You know in South Korea you’re not allowed to teach surfing unless you have a license, right?” He was speaking logically, but something in his tone made you feel like he was just lying his way out of a dilemma. When he saw your eyes narrow, he decided to evoke the pathos route. “Babe, you don’t believe me. You don’t believe that your boyfriend is a qualified surfer and would never want to harm you.” He was slowly letting his face fall, trying to make you feel bad. It would have worked, if you didn’t know what he was doing.

            “I saw you miss that wave out there. I also saw you nearly fall off your board.”

            “That was just a show to let you know what not to do.”

            You were still disbelieving. It wasn’t the first time Youngjae had pretended to know something to impress you. You wracked your brains, trying to think of when he could possibly have mastered surfing. He grew up in the city for goodness’ sakes. Where could he have gone to the ocean?

            A look of understanding dawned. Youngjae bit his lip and shook his head. “Aish. I can read your thoughts written on your beautiful face. You’re thinking how can a city boy like me learn how to be a surfer?” You scowled. Sometimes the chemistry between the two of you could be a bane. “My best friend is from Busan. I’d go visit him and we would surf the oceans together.”

            That was plausible. “Okay, so teacher, how do I start?”

            A smug Youngjae was also a pleased Youngjae. He held the board in front of him. “First, we’re going to work on your balance. You’re going to go into the shallow end with your stomach on the board.”

            You got on reluctantly but not without hearing a click and you turned around. There was now a long leash that was clipped onto you. “What the hell?”

            “Standard procedure,” Youngjae grinned. “This is in case you can’t control the wave coming and I need to pull you back to me.”

            Again, that seemed correct, but there was still a tiny worm of distrust in your heart. Your boyfriend was known to pull some interesting pranks. “Okay, first watch me. When you’re on your stomach, you want to keep your chest up and your lower back arched. Make sure your feet are also a little raised. Definitely keep them on the board and now slowly paddle with your hands. Try to make sure you go fast enough to meet that wave. You see that incoming wave? I’m going to make it.”

            Watching Youngjae make his way towards the swell of water and safely roll with it dispelled all worries you had about his expertise. He picked up his chest along with the incoming crash of the water. He turned around and paddled back to you.

            “Are you ready to try?” Gone was the laughing teasing. He looked serious. “This place has smaller waves, so it should be okay for you.”

            You took in a deep breath and nodded. “Will you be holding onto me?”

            “Of course.”

            The first try was a little awkward and Youngjae laid his board next to you to demonstrate. When you finally got the hang of it, you were too focused and forgot to lift your chest up. You came away sputtering as you tried to get the water out of your nose. He rubbed circles on your back as you recovered.

            “Are you okay?”

            You nodded. “Let’s go again.”

            The two of you spent a good half hour learning how to paddle before you decided you wanted to try balancing. “Can we stand up now?”

            “Yes. Now the proper stance, you want to keep your legs spread shoulder-width apart. You want to keep your front foot in the middle. This is the controlling leg. Your back leg will be slightly more flexible, as it will help you adjust to the waves. But we’re going to just work on being upright.”

            You followed Youngjae’s stance on the sand. “Now usually the transition from paddling to standing is a quick one. You want to be able to hope up quickly move your feet forward. Use your arms. Place them on the board and quickly jump up into a squatting position, one foot in front of the other. Make sure your arms are in the same place next to each other when you push up.”

            The day passed quickly before Youngjae allowed you to try on the water. You wobbled slightly. “Make sure you bend your knees to absorb the shock. Do you see that incoming wave? Paddle to it and when you’re about a short distance away, jump up and try to catch it.”

            It was comforting to know that your boyfriend was behind you. You slipped and the moment you felt yourself drop into the water, his arms came around you. “Got you,” he whispered. You tried again and again until you finally made it. The exhilaration you felt when you paddled back to Youngjae was immeasurable.

            “Did you see that? That was one of the bigger waves too!”

            He smiled. “You did very well.”

            “Again!”

            Youngjae chuckled and tilted his chin at the ocean. “There’s another wave coming. Grab that.”

            An hour later, you were utterly sore and collapsed in his arms. “Thank you.”

            He your wet hair. “Still not trusting that I’m a professional surfer?”

            “Well, I don’t know about professional.”

            “You know this lack of trust doesn’t bode very well for our relationship.”

            You managed to find some strength to pick yourself up away from him to stare at the slightly wounded expression on his features. “You have been known to be tricking me from even before our relationship began.”

            “I would never do anything to hurt you though.”

            You pouted and pursed your lips at him. “Okay, I apologize. Forgive me?”

            He wavered and you leaned in to kiss him. “This is an apology.” You pecked him again. “And this is in gratitude for teaching me.”

T$ PLEASE RELEASE MORE TEASERS. I AM READY FOR MY END