[CONTENTID1]Almost Paradise![/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]A SELECTION OF CHOCOLATE BOYS[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

“Almost PARADISE!” Baekhyun sang, lifting his suitcases into the air as they stepped out into the small, reservoir on the island.

The island belonged to Sungyeol’s family and was surrounded by aquamarine, warm ocean. The soothing rhythm of waves washed over the white shore. An effulgent sun blazed in the azure sky. A few white clouds rolled by lazily. Tropical bird sang coquettish songs. Everything resembled a paradise indeed.

Suzy held her hand over her straw sun-hat as she gaped at the view before her. Jongin took her luggage from her hand and demanded that he hold it for her. She sent him a grin and allowed him to join Sungyeol, Chanyeol and Myungsoo in the front row. Baekhyun whistled, tried to emulate Jongin’s chivalry but it did not work.

Suzy had also invited Woobin and Himchan along. She asked Luhan and Changmin but they refused; one due to extreme shyness and the other because of lab work. Woobin was talking of a tale long forgotten to Himchan who appeared to be too busy adjusting his sunglasses and admiring his adonis reflection in a compact mirror. Woobin’s words sifted through one ear and out the other.

“What happened to Jongin?” Krystal asked, catching up with Suzy while Nana laughed at a lame, erted joke from Baekhyun.

“Huh?” Suzy blinked at her.

“Jongin-- he’s usually an a*****e but it’s like he changed,” she said.

Suzy just gave her friend a secret smile. “Jongin’s a nice guy. You should get to know him more.”

“Oh?” Krystal seemed addled. “What’re you implying?”

“Give him a chance.”

Taekwoon still donned in his dark suit appeared oddly out of place in the bright setting. He walked with the air of a professional yet Suzy noticed the stains on the armpits of his suit and the perspiration that glimmered on his forehead. He wiped the sweat from his brow, a weary exhale escaped his lips. Next to him were Joonmyun and Jieun, who were strolling closer to the waves, hand in hand.

It was official that the two were now dating. The Sweety gang did not find the news shocking. They had seen it coming. Suzy was happy for both of her friends but it made her realise how she lacked love in her own life. During her first year in college, she often wondered if she would cross paths with her ‘fated-one’, someone she was meant to be with until the end of eternity. However, it seemed that none of it was supposed to occur.

In any case, Suzy adored her friends more than the inexistent Prince Charming in her life. Friendship was stronger than love. The love between friends and family was inextricable and they were joined forever until their last breaths. She cherished them, the memories she created with them and she knew she would hold these memories to the grave.

Life in general was unpredictable but Suzy was grateful for the friends and family in her life. She often prayed that they would never part and remain this insouciant for a long time to come.

At the end of the esplanade were thatched huts that were pedestaled on wooden bridges over the ocean. The placid waves simmered in and out, like melodic whispers that left an aura of serenity in the vicinity.

“It’s time for some fun!” Sungyeol yelled in excitement.

Suzy and the girls took one hut for themselves while the boys split two huts between them. The girls stripped down to their bathing suits. Krystal and Nana were bold enough to wear bikinis-- the latter wearing bold crimson two piece with jingles around the waist and the former a lime green one with frilly bows.

Suzy’s eyes widened when she saw their rather sculpted bodies. It made her shrivel at herself and she refrained from walking to the beach in her own bikini. She chose to wear a white tunic over her suit while Jieun wore a sleeveless top and denim shorts.

“They're asking for attention,” the quiet girl murmured as Suzy let her long tresses out of her bun and curtain over her back.

“I think Baekhyun is gonna be delighted,” Suzy added her own two cents.

The girls imagined the stars in that ert’s eyes and dirtier thoughts inside his head. They shivered at even imagining what would simper inside his head while he stared with licentious intentions at Nana and Krystal’s curves.

As Suzy slipped on her flip-flops and stepped out into the glow of the white sun, she almost gasped at the number of shirtless men that ran around the beach. However, this boisterous activity was instantly shadowed over by Woobin, who stormed the premises in his sculpted glory. He had a figure that Michelangelo would have gladly emulated on his sculptures, and while Woobin stalked around the beach with his chiselled abs, the other men transformed back into boys and some-- like Chanyeol, Sungyeol and Baekhyun-- even threw back on their white shirts and tied the buttons.

The only person who was still in his suit was poor Taekwoon who leaned against a palm tree and surveyed the area like the sly hawk that he was. Suzy decided to go over to him but a voice yelled for her attention.

She paused and searched for the source and her eyes fell upon Himchan, who was spreading a blanket over the sand, donned in black trunks. The sun’s reflection filmed off his sunglasses as he waved a tube of sunscreen at her.

“Hey!” he called, voice laced with derision. “Changzy! Come here and help me with my sunscreen. I can’t reach my back.”

Suzy frowned indignantly at him. “Go and ask someone else.”

There was no way in the name of everything that was good, that Himchan would make her massage the sunscreen onto his back. The idea sent a profusion of heat to her face and she shook the lascivious thought aside. Sighing in defeat, she stomped towards him and beckoned him to sit down.

Himchan probed his tongue at her and she shot him an equally decadent glare while he lied down his stomach. The urge to stomp on his back was tempting but Suzy had to inhale more oxygen in order to mollify her overwrought nerves.

“Right, loser,” Himchan said. “Get to it!”

“You could at least say the magic word.”

“Magic word? Like what? You want me to try a Forbidden Curse?”

“Oh shut up,” Suzy snapped. She squirted a palmful of cream and bent on her knees, pausing when she noticed the expanse of Himchan’s back.

Her nerves tingled. ran dry. Why was she finding the ordeal so intimate? It was just sunscreen-- sunscreen over the back of a pretty boy who could potentially become her husband!

No! No! She would not allow such thoughts to invade her mind. Swallowing thickly, Suzy allowed her palms to fall squat on his back.

He jumped and yelped in shock. “That’s cold!”

“You should have expected it,” she countered.

“Just get a move on, loser. Before my beautiful skin burns because of your laziness!”

“Hey!”

She had no choice but gently rub the sunscreen into his pale skin. He smirked and sighed in satisfaction while she was certain that her face as crimson as a bruised tomato. A flicker of movement disturbed the periphery of her vision. She perked a brow as she saw Baekhyun spread another blanket beside her.

“Yo,” he greeted her with a foxy grin.

Suzy simply rolled her eyebrows. “What is it, Baekhyun?”

“Just wanna protect myself from the sun, yenno?” he sniggered, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Suzy’s mouth gaped open when Nana strutted to them.

“Nana?”

“Oh hi Suzy! Hello Himchan!” the older girl said with unaltered enthusiasm.

“Shut up loser,” came Himchan’s reply. “Don’t disturb me when I’m daydreaming, got it?”

“Awh, he’s still such a meanie,” Nana guffawed.

“I’m ready!” Baekhyun said excitedly, in a voice that made Suzy want to spill her breakfast all over the sand.

The ert lied on his stomach while Nana spread sunscreen on his back. Baekhyun shrieked in hysteria. His eyes rolled back inside his head, and his smile was wide with pleasure and happiness. It was possibly the first time that Baekhyun endured euphoria in reality. He was ecstatic, with froth gurgling in his mouth and stars gleaming in his eyes. He then fell face first into the sand.

Nana pouted and patted his shoulder but Baekhyun did not stir.

“Did he just faint?”

A shadow loomed over them-- the shadow of Woobin, and Suzy’s breath hitched in like a rag in a thistled bush. She stammered, unable to form coherent sentences when his perfect abs derailed all virtuous thoughts in her mind. The only time she felt this way back when Changmin ripped his shirt apart in his rock concert.

Nana giggled and shrugged. A suggestive smirk played at her lips as she winked at Suzy’s way. The latter merely rolled her eyes and hoped that her face was not as red as Nana’s swimsuit. She could always pretend that her skin is sensitive to the sun...

Himchan stirred impatiently, sat up and lifted his chin like the canterous fart that he was.

“Is there an eclipse!?” He tore his sunglasses off and sent a venomous glower towards Woobin. “Nope, it’s just gigantosaurus. Whatcha think you’re doing, you abominable freak of nature? Unshield the sun!”

“Him. Chan,” Woobin chuckled, arms akimbo as if he was a father admonishing a child. “Why’re you using my chocolate-caramel as your slave? Her hands were not made for work.”

“Chocolate-caramel?” Nana gasped. “Awh, that’s so cute. Are you two-”

“No!” Himchan and Suzy cut in quickly. They paused and stared at each other. It made Suzy ponder why someone as nefarious as Himchan even spoke up for her.

For a long moment, she was trapped in his gaze, seeing something else entirely, a whole new world that did not consist of just himself, but perhaps there was space for her too.

“Suzy? Nana?”

Suzy got to her feet as she noticed someone walking over to them. Nana hopped over Baekhyun’s unconscious body and jumped up and down in excitement. Kim Junsu strolled over to them in his tee and shorts. Something struck Suzy as she glanced between Woobin and then Junsu.

“What’re you doing here?” Nana questioned.

Junsu chuckled good-naturedly. “I sing in a bar here. Maybe I can treat you guys to dinner later?”

“That would be, like, awesome!”

Sometimes, fate was the master of their lives and decided to toy with them at the most unexpected times. Her nerves trembled and a knot of emotion clogged inside . She did not know why but her eyes pricked with tears. No one seemed to notice-- except Woobin.

Suzy always placed Woobin in a category where height diminished wit. She always conjectured that Woobin was all brawns and no brains. Little did she know that Woobin was one of the most empathetic souls out in the world. He quickly picked up someone’s emotions as if he was a detective.

Himchan was not too happy with his lack of sun so he groused to himself as he picked up his blanket and traipsed away from them.

Despite knowing the truth about their bond, Suzy never had the chance of letting Woobin know who his half brother was.

Woobin glanced at Junsu. “...hello.”

A soft smile spread across Junsu’s face. “Hello.”

“Are you--” Woobin hesitated. “Are you searching for anyone?”

“How did you know?” Junsu chuckled, in his good natured mien.

“I’m searching for someone too.”

“I’m looking for my half-brother.”

“Really? Me too!”

“...I hope you find him.”

“Me too..