Jackson was huffing as he climbed out onto the backyard with his arms full of blankets. It was such a huge heap that he almost could not see in front of him. They were going to wash the blankets today as part of springtime cleaning. The weather had turned warm and sunny. Jackson stopped and peeped over the heap to find Youngji crouching on the grass beside a huge flat tub holding a hose and filling it with water. She was wearing the same white shirt with rolled up sleeves and blue shorts. Jackson thanked the warm weather that allowed such gorgeous legs to be on display.

Youngji was so intent on filling the tubs with water that she did not notice him coming from the side, until he dumped the whole heap of blankets on top of her.

“Yah!” she shouted, startled. The cry was muffled underneath the load.

Jackson chuckled for a while and immediately put on an innocent expression as he helped her out of the tangled sheets.

“You did that purposely!”cried Youngji.

“I was carrying them like this, and could not see in front of me” Jackson gestured and replied calmly.

Youngji gave a pointed look at him, not convinced at all.

“We can’t put all of them in one tub, they won’t fit” said Jackson, to dodge further accusation.

“I know,” said Youngji frowning, “go get that other tub and fill it with water”.

While Jackson dragged the large tub to place it beside the first one, Youngji was sorting the sheets into two heaps.

“Pass that hose” said Jackson with an outstretched hand.

Youngji’s lips twitched and she innocently passed the hose with the water full force, all the while keeping her head down as if busy sorting the sheets.

“Yah!” sputtered Jackson as the water hit him square on the face. “Why…?” he said wiping the water off.

“Oh, I was sorting like this, I could not see….”said Youngji while biting her lower lip and clearly grinning.

Jackson could not stay annoyed with that face, he took one look at the running hose pipe in his hand. But, as if she could read his mind, Youngji warned,”Don’t even think of it. At this rate we won’t be able to finish anything today!”

She was right, and Jackson calmly set about filling the other tub while his mind was devising other means of payback.

With the tubs filled and frothing with detergent, they put in one heap of sheets into each of them.

“Now the fun part!” exclaimed Youngji kicking off her flip flops. She eagerly stepped into the tub of wet sheets and giggled at the squelching sounds. Jackson was only delayed a moment as he hitched his low riding shorts up where they actually should have been on his waist. He stepped into the other tub.

“This is not as easy as it looks” observed Jackson; the lumpy sheets were not giving a firm foothold. Nevertheless, they kept stepping on the sheets to wash them thoroughly.

“This is tiring” said Youngji after a while. She was bent over and clasping her thighs. It sure was like a workout for the legs.

“I thought you always boasted about your athletic thighs” said Jackson. He couldn’t help but admire them, for all different reasons.

Youngji sighed and said, “That was before I went on a diet.”

Jackson frowned as he found himself agreeing. She had lost weight and did look weaker. But what she lost in physicality, she made it up with her cheerful spirit.

“Move over”, said Jackson and helped himself into Youngji’s tub.

“What are you…” started Youngji but was distracted as she tried to make room for Jackson.

“If we do it together, its faster and less tiring”, said Jackson. He seriously doubted this decision as he had not expected to be standing so close together and it was making him nervous.

“I suppose you’re right….yah!” cried Youngji as she slipped along the inside of the tub. Jackson caught her flailing arms and steadied her.

“Hold on”, said Jackson, chuckling. He released her left hand but kept supporting her by holding onto her right elbow. “See, this could work…”, and then he slipped.

While trying to find his balance again he had unwittingly grabbed onto Youngji’s waist with his right hand. He did not realize this till he was steady again. The awareness only brought a smile which he quickly covered up.

“This sure is slippery”, said Jackson feigning innocence.

Youngji was all too aware of the hand on her slim waist, even the warmth radiating from the palm. She assumed it was accidental and waited for Jackson to realize and remove his grip. But, when nothing happened, Youngji looked up into his eyes questioningly. Jackson was looking at her face till then, but immediately averted his gaze as she looked up. He pretended to be busy finding a better foothold.

Youngji stared at him for a second and then noticed the upturned corners of his mouth. He was acting! Youngji gritted her teeth, freed both her arms, grabbed Jackson’s hands and pushed away to release herself from his hold. This movement caused her to lean backwards and she lost her balance. Jackson too was surprised by her sudden push and could not catch her before it was too late

.

Youngji landed on the ground with a loud thud with her feet still dangling in the tub. She winced at the pain from the fall, but what annoyed her more was Jackson who was laughing at her. “I told you I’ll get even with you” he said tauntingly.

“I won’t leave you…you Wang Jackson!” cried Youngji. She hooked her right foot around his left leg and yanked. She had expected to make him fall backwards and suffer the same way as she did. Instead, Jackson’s feet were tangled in the sheets and he started falling forwards, over her!

Too late to scramble backwards, Youngji shut her eyes and crossed her arms over her face to avoid the impact, while Jackson tried to brace himself with both his hands on either side of her. He did manage to break the fall, but the wet mud on the ground made his hands to slip and he fell forwards.

When the crazy moment passed, Youngji opened her eyes to find herself flat on the ground, heaving with a heaviness on her chest. The impact had driven the wind out of her lungs, if not crush her. She looked down to find Jackson sprawling over her, with his face buried in her chest!

Jackson was acutely aware of every breath that Youngji took, even her pounding heartbeat. Though he wanted to lie like that forever, he was concerned if Youngji was hurt. He tried to heave himself up. His feet that were tangled in the sheets had caused the tub to tip over while he fell and all the soapy water was spilled, leaving both of them in the muddy puddle. Neither his hands on the soapy mud nor his feet in the tangled sheets were helping him to get up, and he plopped right back onto her again.

“Wang….Jackson….Get….up…!” said Youngji, through gritted teeth. She was beginning to blush hotly thinking of how they must be looking right now.

“I would gladly, if only my hands…” said Jackson struggling. He gave up for a moment and looked up into Youngji’s face. She had mud splattered over her hair and face and was frowning. Even then she could not hide that cute blush that was all over her cheeks and nose. At least she wasn’t hurt, thought Jackson. His gaze travelled downwards and he noticed that they were soaked completely, especially Youngji. Her thin shirt was stuck to her skin, driving Jackson’s imagination wild. He mentally slapped himself.

Jackson smiled and said, “I don’t know if the sheets are clean or not, but we sure are dirty now.”

Youngji started smiling too and both of them ended up laughing.

“When are you planning to say CUT, PDnim?” asked Jackson turning sideways.

“As soon as you get up, Jackson.” The PD was chuckling too and so were many of the crew.

“You don’t realize that I’m truly stuck now?” asked Jackson seriously.

“Oh really?” asked the PD incredulously, “I thought you were just enjoying your moment, like always.”

“PDnim please!” exclaimed Youngji, with her face reddening even more.

“All right. Somebody help them. And it’s a wrap!” shouted the PD.

Later, everybody huddled at the monitor. Jackson and Youngji we both wrapped in huge towels. There was a collective “OH” when the scene of their fall was playing.

“That looked like it hurt” said the PD without taking his eyes off the screen.

“You have no idea! Look at my palms, they are all bruised!” exclaimed Jackson turning his palms up for everyone to see.

“Hah! That’s hardly a scratch!” said Youngji. “It’s I who am bruised thoroughly!” said Youngji pouting.

“Really?” Jackson moved closer to her and with an impish smile whispered in her ear, “Where?”

Youngji jerked her head and looked straight into his eyes and said, “You know where!”

Jackson simply shrugged and shook his head no. “I don’t know. Show me!”he said.

Youngji’s eyes grew wide and she felt her face growing hot.

“Show what?” asked the PD absentmindedly.

“It’s just that Youngji was claiming… ”started Jackson, but could not finish as Youngji kicked his shin.

“He just asked me to show him how much it hurts to fall like that.” Said Youngji coolly, smiling even as Jackson glared at her, clutching his leg.

“Now we are even, Wang Jackson” said Youngji as she looked at the screen while biting her lower lip to stop her laughter.

Jackson sighed. There was really no way he could stay annoyed at that face.