LEENA POV

I take a deep breathe, blink my eyes while my feet first step on the sandy beach. Everything is surreal. The flight from Incheon to Brisbane Airport, the ferry ride, even the ocean breeze filling my nostrils right now seem like a dream to me, a dream too good to be true.

I’m not entirely sure of why did I accept his offer—yes, an offer, that’s the word he used—to travel across half the hemisphere. It’s for Clarence, he needs a warmer atmosphere for better recovery. And what could the place be if not Queensland? To be exact, Moreton Island aka “The Gem of Southeast Queensland”. Yes, I remember seeing that title on a tourist guide some backpackers holding in the ferry.  

As much as I wish to convince myself that the only reason getting me here is my son, deep down in my heart I know there’s something else. The way he acted that night, it keeps lingering in my head.

The way he fidgeted, stammered when he took all the blame on him, cursing himself for giving that goddamn ice-cream to Clarence that sent him into hospital; the way he questioned the doctor about Clarence’s condition, was he really all good to be discharged when the doctor reassured for the umpteenth times that Clarence’s as healthy as a horse; the way he took Clarence in his embrace, from his room in the hospital to the car, and from the car all the way to his room in our house.

Not that I’m complaining. It’s obvious that he cares about Clarence, he cares like Clarence is his own. Clarence said he’d get himself hospitalized every week if that means he gets so much love. He earned himself a smack from two hands, mine and Seunghyun’s.

Seunghyun brought up the offer again the next day Clarence’s discharged. Clarence had no idea where Queensland is, but he squealed when Seunghyun told him there would be beaches, dolphins, sunshine and pretty girls. What else I can do other than nodded and gave in when two pairs of puppy eyes looked pitifully at me? Two voices squealed.

He’s a man of his words. I haven’t spent a penny since we left Seoul. When I arrived at the airport in Australia, someone was already there to pick us up and send us to the jetty to board the ferry. I can’t help but opened my mouth in awe when our accommodation for the coming days first came into sight—which is where I’m standing in right now.

It’s a resort located atop the hill, each houses is separated from each other, providing personal privacy to customers. The best part is you can overlook the ocean from the deck of your house. It’d be perfect if I’ve wine and some snacks with me. Speaking of wine…

I haven’t seen him since we arrived, hell I haven’t seen him since the day I decided to come to Queensland, he left for Sydney the next day.

We ended up sleeping through the first day, jet lag had gotten the better of us. We still felt groggy on the second day, but taking a stroll along the beach was the best remedy.

I’ve Clarence’s inhaler with me all the time though, I can’t take any chances that fine sands get into his system. Apart from this, it’s unassailable that he’s getting better and happiness is all over his face.

“Halmoni!” I follow the direction his little finger pointing at. Two ladies are walking towards us, one holding arm of the other. I haven’t met the young lady before, that I’m positive. It’s the old lady beside her that got me squeeze my brain. I must have seen her somewhere because she looks familiar, but I can’t recall where and when.

Clarence stands up on his feet and runs towards the old lady, with his open arms, leaving me under the canopy. The old lady stiffens at first, but she opens her arms as well when Clarence jumps into her, a smile cracks her face.

Clarence pulls her towards the canopy, the young lady follows behind them. My heartbeat accelerates, my palms become clammy. When did he know someone I can’t even address her name? What if my father sent her to spy on us?

I stand up from the lounge chair, try to force a smile on my face. “Are you Seunghyun’s friend?” she smiles, holding Clarence’s hand while his another holding mine.

Seunghyun?

Realisation hits me as I look into her eyes. She has the same eyes as him, the eyes that can drown your soul. We met once in the hospital the night Clarence was hospitalized. I was so occupied with Clarence’s condition that I didn’t really pay attention to anyone else.

I bow immediately, “Ne, annyeonghasaeyo omoni, Leena-imnida.” The fact I go all nervous just because his mother’s standing few inches from me gets me even restless, I’ll deal with that silly thought later.

A head pops out from behind his mother, “Annyeong, Leena, I’m that ’ noona,” she sends me a bright smile, waving her hand in the air. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out they are siblings. She’s pretty, and she has the eyes. Just how am I supposed to talk to them while looking into their eyes? Wait, I don’t mean that I’ve intention to talk to his family, it’s just a supposition. Yep, that has to be it.  

It’s the smile that makes them different. She looks so cheerful everytime she speaks, the smile never leave her face. When she’s not talking, her eyes and her slightly arched up lips let you know that she’s listening, listen with her heart but not just ears. Seunghyun radiates so much chills when he’s alone, his lips pursed, brows furrowed, eyes looking far into distance. I saw that a couple of times when he sat on the balcony, so immersed in his own world that he didn’t realise I was few feet from him. It made me wonder what’d happened in his past to break him to this extent.

“How long you’ve been here, Leena-ssi?” I blink my eyes and look at her as we walk side by side along the beach, the setting sun is warming her face. “Uh… Today’s our third day here, what about you, eonni?”

“We arrived this morning, slept for eight hours and decided it’s time to move my lazy ,” she answers, her iconic cheerful laughter slips out from .

I feel comfortable around her, she’s warm, kind yet so cool. How can a person be warm and cool at the same time? Definitely she can.

While we’re having our casual conversation along the beach, Clarence and omoni stay under the canopy. I can’t say the fact that Clarence can get along with omoni doesn’t surprise me. She’d tried to keep a poker face, to show she’s unconcerned about him, but when Clarence attempted a conversation in his less than inadequate Korean, a benign smile crawls across her face.

“Oh my God! How can you do that?” eonni yells in surprise when greet her across the house from the deck. I scowl, confused. Her house is next to mine, but even so the houses are separated at least twenty yards apart.

The policy of this resort to guarantee the greatest privacy for their customers had caused us to yell at the top of our voice from the deck. I suggested we can share the house since there’re five rooms in each houses but eonni shrugged at my suggestion, “That dumdass had paid everything anyway, and I believe he’d be glad that you can have some family time with your son.”

“How can you pull that off when you’re already a mother to a son?! I’m a mother as well but look at me, the world’s unfair!” she points at me from head to toe, and put her hands on her hips, pouting.

I look down at myself, a sheer oversized shirt with a neon orange bikini underneath it, and a pair of short jeans. I blush upon her words, “Aniyo, eonni, you look good as ever, remember the guy checking you out last night?” We burst out in laughter as we recall the brawny Caucasian finally walked to our table to offer us a drink after looking at her for one whole night, only to be shown the ring on her finger.

In fact, I’ve this self-abasement complex with my body, especially when I’m in Korea where most of the girls are so tiny compared to me. I’ve a rather huge frame, 5’5 feet with my broad shoulder. And let’s not mention my . Workout is essential to make sure nothing superfluous is added to my already huge frame. But why would I need workout when I’ve Clarence? Raising him alone had only depleted me.

I smile at the thought. At least he saved me the money for gym.

“That dumdass is still in bed?” she asks while we’re sunbathing on the beach. We’d just had our breakfast and omoni decided to take Clarence to dolphin feeding before head back to her room. He jumped in excitement pecked a kiss on omoni’s cheek.

“That ” is Seunghyun, I get that part. But the latter part confuses me. It’s my fourth day here and I haven’t seen the jerk. No phone calls, no texts, nothing.

My expression has probably sold me out. “You haven’t seen him here, have you?” “No,” I shake my head, heaving a sigh but hold it back before eonni could see it. “Maybe you should check your rooms.”

I turn over to take a good look at her, scrunching my brows, “My rooms?” She’s laying on her stomach, resting her head on her crossed arms, enjoying the shower of sunrays on her skin. Her eyes are closed, “Hmm… I got a text from him last night, saying he’s finally here, and he’d be heading to your place,” she answers nonchalantly.

“But I was with Clarence the whole night, I didn’t see him.” “That’s why you need to check your rooms, and bathrooms too, that can sleep in anywhere.”

I fail to laugh if she’s trying to make a joke.

He’s here? He’s here but he didn’t even let me know?

“How long have you been in a relationship with him?” she asks softly, her eyes still closed.

I lay back on my back, putting an arm over my eyes, “Eonni~~ We’re not in a relationship, we’re just neighbours, maybe friends, maybe good friends…” She chuckles when I stutter, struggling on which word describes our relationship better. Wait, not a relationship!

“Leena-ssi, be it neighbours or friends or whatever it is, promise me, be patient with him, my brother can be childish and stubborn sometimes.”

I sit up and look at her as I sense the change in her tone. Her gaze meets mine. I gulp before I answer, “O…Okay.”

Blame the eyes! How can I refuse when the pair of dark orbs are looking at you as if they can look into your soul and draws you spiralling into theirs?

After the sunbathing, I went to eonni’s house to look for Clarence, they should be back by then. But he’s sleeping soundly and it’d be too cruel to wake the little angel up, so I decided to leave him with omoni and pick him up later for dinner.

Walking out of the bathroom attached to my bedroom, I put a towel over my shoulder to rub my dripping wet hair. “Maybe you should check your rooms.” Eonni’s words ring in my head. Driven by curiosity, I gingerly open the door to the room next to mine. I shrug upon seeing the room. No sign of people living here. Eonni could have been joking. I chance a glance to the other rooms across the living room, pondering should I try all of them. Sighing, I move my legs towards one of the rooms. Just why on earth would we need a house with five rooms when it’s just me and Clarence?

I turn the knob and hold the door slightly ajar just so I can get a peek into the room. The sight makes me frown. A suitcase is lying in the middle of the room wide open, garments are scattered on the floor, blanket is crumpled at the foot of the bed. I stay in silence for a moment. Dead silence. Nobody is here. I push the door open to let myself in.

Eonni could be right, the is here. No, he was here. He’s probably in the middle of another photoshoot now, in god knows where.

I walk over to the bed, smoothen the bed sheet before spreading the blanket on it. Looking at the bed, I smirk. If I ever lost my company, I could apply for housekeeping at the hotel. Satisfied with the bed, I turn to gather the scattered clothes from the floor. I shake my head in amusement, even Clarence knows the dirty clothes belong to laundry basket, not the floor. Just how old Choi Seunghyun is?

I turn over frantically as I hear a cracking sound behind me. I didn’t check the bathroom! My eyes widen and my body stiffens upon the sight. Standing by the bathroom door is a man, a towel is draped over his head as he’s using it to dry his hair. And that’s the only covered part of his body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!” we scream at the very top of our lungs. The gathered clothes fall back down on the floor. He moves his hands to cover his private area, then he moves them back to cover his chest as he realises his it’s exposed as well. In the end his hands travel back and forth bewilderedly between his chest and…that.

“Ahhhh!!!” I let out another scream. Hands covering my eyes, I turn my back to him, still screaming at the top of my voice.

“Hey, hey, stop! It’s me!” he yells behind me. I obey, hands still over my eyes. “I’m going back to the bathroom, just don’t scream again, okay?” I nod frantically in response.

I turn over and peep between my fingers as I hear he close the bathroom door. “I’m…I’m leaving,” I stammer before I flee the scene.

Slamming the door behind me, I slump onto my bed, trying to catch my breath. For God’s sake I’m in a bathrobe and he’s in… Oh no he’s in nothing… I bury my face into the bed, hoping to pass out right away.

Why was he in that room anyway? “Maybe you should check your rooms.” Right, eonni told me he’d be there. Why was I in that room then? I should have just left when I saw the suitcase, or the clothes on the floor, or the crumpled bed sheet. Oh dear God, why did I go all “cleaning ahjumma mode” back there?

When my breathing finally comes back intact, my cheeks flush the next second as the scene replays in my mind. As much as I was surprised by the sudden display of his body, I did manage to catch few glances of him before I covered my eyes. Now that the embarrassment of running into the him has gradually faded away, my human instinct takes control instead. The well-toned abs, the strong yet subtle biceps, the firm thighs, I can feel my face burning at all these inviting features playing in my head. The burning sensation gets worse as I recall what made me scream again and cover my eyes. My gaze moved from his face to his chest, down to the abs and thighs, and it moved back up in between his abs and thighs. “Arrgghhh…” I pull a pillow over my head, suffocating myself would be a better plan.

“Something happened between you two?” eonni whispers into my ears when we’re having dinner together. I steal a glance at the man sitting at the other end of the table, “No, what could have happened? We’re fine,” I gulp down a whole glass of water.

She raises a brow, “Were you checking out my brother? I swear I saw you checking out my brother.” Her words make me jump in my seat, “Eonni, keep your voice down!” I purr, squeezing her hand.

“Only if you tell me what had happened, you’re not talking to each other,” she crosses her arms over her chest. I bite down on my lip, hands pinching my lap. How am I supposed to tell you that I’ve seen without stirring up another misunderstanding? No, I’m not telling anyone, I’d take this to my grave.

“Not telling?” “Eonni….” “Fine, guess I’d just ask another person in interest then,” turning her head to his direction, she yells, “Ya, jashik-ah, what’s goin….” I send a big chunk of watermelon into , stopping whatever she’s blurting out, “Eonni, it’s really sweet and juicy, isn’t it?” I put up my best smile, pretend to have all my attention on her, ignoring the questioning looks from the other three at the table.

SEUNGHYUN POV

Holding his little hands in mine while he rides on my shoulder, strolling along the beach with the salty breeze blows over my face is like a dream for me. The fact that the strong bond built between us despite the short time we’ve known each other doesn’t feel real either. The test result doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

It’s my first day with my family and them in here. I wrapped up the photoshoot in Queensland yesterday and took the midnight flight to get to here. I had been here with Big Bang members so I know they would love this place. I didn’t get to see any of them since it’s over midnight when I arrived. I was dead tired by then and all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and buried myself under blanket. The last thing I managed to do before I passed out in my bed was sending a text to noona, telling her I’d arrived and I’d be with Leena and Clarence.

When I finally opened my eyes again, it’s twelve hours later. I had been up for 36hours in Queensland, twelve hours of sleeping can barely recharge my long drained energy. I struggled to drag myself to the bathroom despite the warm bed begging me not to leave. I’ve more important people to see. I’ve missed them even it’s been just a couple of days.

Well, when I said I’ve missed them, I didn’t expect to see her in such embarrassing predicament. In my whole life, exposing my skin is my biggest taboo. I wear long sleeves all the time, be it winter or summer. Hell, I even had my socks on when I was on a yacht with my members. But she’s there when I stepped out of the bathroom, .

She must be freaking out. Remember the last time I mistook her as a fan of mine? Another time I took her son away from her without giving her a heads up? The “self-embarrassing documentary of T.O.P” can go on forever. But, this, exposing every inch of my body tops everything above, and I believe it will stay on top for like…forever! She must be thinking I’m some kind of nudomania freak. I’m screwed.

During the inevitable dinner with my family, I chose the seat farthest from hers when I saw her sitting next to noona. I chanced glances at her every now and then during the dinner. It’s a good news that she and Clarence seemed to be getting along with my family, that’s my intention for sending four of them here in the first place. Our gazes met for a couple of times, both of us avert our eyes right away. My heart pounced crazily under my chest.

“Ya, jashik-ah—” I wasted no time to look at noona, it’s in my bone to respond to whatever names she crowned on me. Over all these years, jashik and sound like “my lovely dongsaeng” to me.

I regretted the moment I turn my head, blame my retarded brain. I saw her shoving something into noona’s mouth which stopped her sentence midway. She whispered something to noona with a big smile on her face. She didn’t look at me, not even a glance.

It’s confirmed, I’m screwed.

“Uncle Superman, why are you not talking? Are you unhappy?” the little adult on my shoulder asks. “Hmm? No, I was just enjoying it here. I like the sound made by those waves.” It’s not entirely a lie, the sound of waves splashing on the beach always has the soothing effect on me.

I bounce him a little, causing him to giggle on my shoulder.

“Clarence-ah,” noona catches up from behind and stops beside us, she gestures to put down Clarence to which I obey with a curious look. She whispers something mischievously into Clarence’s ear. The latter looks at her with his widened innocent eyes, but nods enthusiastically at last. Something’s not right.

Noona stands up and holds his hand in hers before walking towards eomma who is talking to Leena few feet behind us. Again, noona whispers something to eomma while smirking at me. Eomma has the same expression on Clarence’s face, but she smiles and nods nonetheless. Alarm blares stridently in my head.

She walks briskly towards me, still holding Clarence’s hand. I frown at her cunning smile. “Clarence will stay with us tonight.”

What does that mean? I deepen my frowns.

“So… Whatever it is between two of you, settle it tonight,” she sends me a gummy smile before comes near me and whisper, “Make good use of the big house, there are plenty spaces for vigorous exercises,” she walks away to join eomma before I could respond. “We won’t eavesdrop, promise!” she shouts over her shoulder before walking towards her house with Clarence and eomma.

I stand still as I watch them leaving, until they disappear from my sight. “What did eonni say to you?” I blink when I hear her voice. My eyes are sore and dry from the staring. My brain is barely functioning, interpretation of noona’s words is still in progress. “Uh… She said Clarence will be staying with them for a night.”

She looks at me in disbelief, “What? Clarence can’t sleep without me, I need to go get him.” She runs up to the resort. I sigh and follow behind her.

We’ve been banging on the door for at least fifteen minutes. But nobody is answering. I would have thought nobody’s in the house if I didn’t know better.

I feel my phone vibrate in my jeans pocket. I fish it out and notice there’s a message from noona. Tell Leena her son’s safe and sound with me and eomma. She’ll see him at breakfast tomorrow. We’re going to sleep now.

I show her the message. When she looks at me with pleadful eyes, I shrug, telling her there’s nothing I can do.

My phone vibrates again. I slide my index finger over the screen to open the text, but i shove it back to my pocket as soon as I read the text. Stop banging on the goddamn door and save some energy for tonight. ^.<

“Is that from eonni? What did she say?” I straighten my body to compose myself against the burning sensation on my face, “Nothing! Noona says goodnight!”

A/N:

The resort described here is Tangalooma Hilltop Haven.

Disclaimer: Sadly, we don't own any of the places above. :(