“I’m sure you all know why we are here today. It’s time for our first challenge,” Junmyeon started. It was Wednesday and after two days in the villa together, it was time for their first challenge. They had all gathered on a beach, standing in the burning sun.

“I’m gonna get sunburned for sure,” Dia muttered, already realizing she had forgotten to put on sunscreen.

“You’re not the only one,” Seong Yeon mumbled.

They had all had to leave their stuff at the villa, so it wasn’t like they had it with them either.

“This better not be a long challenge,” the first said, trying to position herself next to people in such a way that their shadows covered her.

“Our first challenge will be done by the boys! And remember, if you win the challenge, you get to pick one of these lovely girls to go on a romantic date together.”

 “But we barely know them…” Sunggyu commented.

“That’s exactly why you are going on a date if you win, right? What better way to get to know someone than spending some quality time together?”

“How would we pick?” JB asked.

“However you want. You can base it on look, or on the little interaction you’ve had. I did say to get to know each other, didn’t I?” Junmyeon looked at the contestants, some of them nodding.

“I won’t be chosen then, since it’s based on look,” Elea muttered, and Hye poked her.

“Don’t say that. You’re pretty.”

“So what’s the game?” Hoya asked.

“It’s a game of strength.” Junmyeon declared and a few of the guys sighed, while others looked happier. Right away, they looked at the others, trying to figure out how strong they would be.

“Piece of cake,” Hoya muttered.

“This is gonna be awful,” Sunggyu whined.

“Are we playing it here on the beach?” Baekhyun inquired.

“We are. Here we have ten ropes, tied together in the middle. You all have to take one of the ropes, and basically pull. It’s like a ten-way tug of war! Your goal is to get to one of these cards. They are positioned in a circle. Everyone starts out in the middle and needs to go to the outside to get their card. The fastest three get to pick their dates.”

“But if we’ll all tied together… That means we have to fight against nine others who are pulling us backwards? That’s insane,” Sungyeol exclaimed.

“It will certainly be fun to watch, though,” Jaelyn remarked with a smile.

“This is gonna be hell,” Myungsoo muttered.

“Do your best everyone!” Hee-Jin cheered as the boys started walking to their places.

Sunggyu stood the closest to the girls, next to him Myungsoo, then Xiumin, Chanyeol, Mark, JB, Baekhyun, Hoya, Woohyun and Sungyeol.

“I wonder if it will go fast,” Yerin wondered out loud.

“I certainly hope so,” Dia mumbled, her skin already getting lightly pink from the sun.

“It’s no fun if it ends soon, let them work for it,” Jaelyn commented.

“I wonder who’s the strongest,” Hye mentioned.

“Are you guys ready? Are you alright with the positions you have chosen?” Junmyeon asked and when the boys nodded, he smiled.

“Alright then, ready, set, go!”

“Why would the position matter? It’s about strength right?” Elea muttered.

“But if your side is stronger, I guess it would be easier?” Yerin suggested. And as she said, JB and Hoya seemed to be moving forward the most, but they were also pulling Baekhyun with them, because he was standing in between them.

They only moved slowly, crawling forward while the boys on the other side were trying their hardest to stop them. But even though they struggled, they were slowly being pulled backwards. The girls started cheering and at times laughing at their expressions. It wasn’t an exciting match to watch, since everyone just kept being at almost the same spot, only moving slightly forward or backwards. That didn’t mean they weren’t trying, though, and all of the boys were completely sweaty by now.

“I feel hot even from watching,” Hee-jin commented.

“Are you sure it’s not just the sun?” Seong Yeon suggested.

“Oh… That could be it as well…”

“It’s taking rather long,” Hye muttered.

“Here, some bottles of water,” Junmyeon stated and passed around bottles to the girls. “We can’t have you getting dehydrated… Too bad we can’t give them to the guys.”

“Are they going to get dehydrated?” Seulyi asked. “That’s awful.”

“Can’t we do something for them?” Hyun Mi asked.

“We can only cheer them on, so they finish the challenge sooner.”

“Is it really that difficult?” Jaelyn questioned.

“Of course it is!” Chanyeol yelled out, instantly moving backwards a few steps when he lost his focus.

Every once in a while, it seemed like someone gained the advantage, but only seconds later, it was gone. The girls were now sitting on the sand, no long feeling like cheering. What kind of boring game was this? It seemed like it would take forever.

“Can’t I go back to the villa for a second?” Dia asked Junmyeon, but he shook his head.

“Not until the challenge is over.”

“Damn.” She was really getting uneasy now, her skin getting redder and redder. It wouldn’t be long before her skin would be matching her hair.

“If only I had brought sunscreen,” Hee-jin said softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I should have thought of it myself,” Dia replied with a smile. “But thanks anyway.”

“I didn’t actually do much though.”

“Still thanks. I just wish they would hurry up and get this game over with.”

“They seem to be moving forward!” Yerin suddenly shouted.

“JB and Hoya are working together, aren’t they?” Elea commented.

“Oh are they?” Seulyi and Hyun Mi stated. They had each only been looking at one guy each, Seulyi at Myungsoo and Hyun Mi at Woohyun.

“They do seem to be moving forward at the same time, dragging the others with them,” Hye agreed.

Seeing the boys finally getting closer to their cards made the girls stand up again. Slowly but surely, three of the boys were going forward. Who would be first? Was it JB? Hoya? Or Baekhyun, who just happened to be standing in between the two stronger boys?

The first one to reach his card was JB. As soon as he grabbed it, he got pulled to the side by Hoya. Thinking quickly, Baekhyun grabbed some sand, tossing it in front of the stronger boy, distracting him long enough to grab his own card before Hoya could grab his. When they had grabbed their cards, they let go of the rope, and slowly the others reached the end as well. A whistle signaling the end of the challenge sounded and the boys all collapsed on the floor, exhausted.

Slowly but surely, one after the other got up, and Junmyeon handed them each a bottle of water, which they quickly gobbled down. They were all sweating and tired from the difficult challenge, feeling like they had worked hard, but the girls had just been bored.

“Are you okay? Here, wear this.”

Dia looked up when she heard a voice, staring into the smiling, if a bit sweaty, face of Mark. He was holding out a jacket, that he had previously been wearing.

“I’m fine, it’s okay,” the girl muttered, thinking about how sweaty the jacket must be. She didn’t want to wear that. But when she looked at her already red arms, she sighed. “On the other hand… I guess I better wear it.”

“Yes, or you’re gonna look ridiculous tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Dia said, slightly sarcastically because of his previous comment while putting on his jacket. It was hot and sweaty and she felt like she instantly needed a shower… But at least she wouldn’t get even more sunburned than she already was.

“So, our winners have been decided. JB, Baekhyun and Hoya get to pick their girl and will go on a spectacular date! You will be canoeing together on the large river nearby, admits of the beautiful scenery,” Junmyeon announced.

“So they can choose now?” Sunggyu asked.

“Yes, they can. So JB, who do you want to go on a date with?” Junmyeon asked.

“I’ll go on a date with Kimmi.”

“Alright, Kimmi, come over here and join JB. You’re the first couple to go on a lovely date. Next up is Baekhyun. Who are you gonna choose?”

“Canoeing right? Sounds like fun,” the boy said as Kimmi joined JB. “I’ll go with Seulyi, I guess.”

“You guess? If you’re not sure then pick someone else.”

“Don’t be like that, just join me already,” Baekhyun said with a slight frown.

“What if I don’t want to?” Seulyi mumbled, eyeing Myungsoo.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Today the boys get to choose,” Junmyeon answered.

“Okay, I get it,” Seulyi said reluctantly, walking over to Baekhyun.

“For the last one, Hoya. Who is going to be your date today?”

“I think I’ll go with Hee-Jin,” Hoya said simply, surprising the girl in question.

“Well, canoeing does sounds like fun,” she muttered as she walked towards the boy. She wasn’t so sure about the whole date aspect, though.

“Alright, our three couples going on a date can follow me, the others can go back to the villa, or enjoy some time on the beach,” Junmyeon stated.

“Let’s play beach volleyball or something!” Yerin suggested.

“Sounds like a plan!” Chanyeol agreed.

“Let’s do that,” Hyun Mi also stated, smiling happily when Woohyun also decided to join. Having been stuck in the villa for two days together now, most of them were pretty excited at the idea of playing at the beach.

Dia on the other hand, was already returning. There was no way she would stay any longer out in the sun than she had to. She was already sunburned enough as it is, and would definitely not be having a good few days coming.

“Let’s make teams!” Elea suggested.

“Alright, I want in the team with the pretty girls,” Woohyun exclaimed.

“Which team would that be?” Hyun Mi asked him.

“Obviously your team,” he replied without a second of hesitation.

“Fine by me,” the girl smiled. “So who else will join our team?”

“I’m in!” Sungyeol said and turned to Seong Yeon. “How about you?”

“Me?”

“Will you join our team?” he asked with a smile. The girl just nodded.

“I’ll join you guys too,” Jaelyn commented.

“Alright, that makes us a team of five right now,” Woohyun commented. “Anyone else wants to join our team?”

“There need to be two teams to play, remember?” Yerin laughed.  “Who’ll join me?”

“Me,” Chanyeol replied.

“I’m in too,” Sunggyu added.

“Sounds like fun,” Xiumin said with a smile.

“I’m not going to play. It’s way too hot, I’m heading back to the villa,” Myungsoo said.

“I agree, it’s way too hot,” Hye nodded. “I’ll go back with you.”

“I’ll join the game,” Elea decided, joining Yerin’s team while Hye en Myungsoo started walking back to the villa.

“So how was the first challenge?” Hye asked Myungsoo as they both started the fifteen minute walk towards the villa.

“How do you think it was? It was awful,” he replied shortly.

“I sure am glad I didn’t have to do it,” Hye agreed with a smile.

 “Yeah, and the heat didn’t help either.”

“Well, you weren’t last, so that’s something.”

“You expected me to be last?” He asked with a frown.

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying it’s good that you’re not.”

“I guess so.”

“You don’t care about winning?” She asked him, a tad surprised.

“I just want to figure out the perfect matches. That’s all.”

“It is a fun puzzle. I wonder if we’ll be able to figure it out soon.”

“We get to send one of the couples to the truth booth. So we’ll figure something out today,” Myungsoo reasoned.

“Oh, that’s true. Who are you going to choose?”

“I don’t know… At least Seulyi and Baekhyun seems unlikely, since she didn’t really seem to like him all that much,” Myungsoo continued.

“Hmm, So one of the other two couples then. I guess that makes the most sense, yes.”

 ---

“Mark, what are you going to do?” Yerin asked.

Mark scanned the area. The girl in his jacket had already disappeared.

“I guess I’ll join you.”

“Alright, then it will be Hyun Mi, Woohyun, Seong Yeon, Sungyeol and Jaelyn against me, Chanyeol, Sunggyu, Elea, Mark and Xiumin. Everyone okay with that?” Yerin asked the others. They all nodded.

“Since your team has less people, you can serve first,” Chanyeol added.

“We’ll take you up on that,” Woohyun said.

“Do we have a ball…?” Sunggyu then asked. The others laughed, feeling stupid they hadn’t thought about this before. It was one of the camera people who arranged one for them, and after a short break, they could finally start the game, starting with a serve from Jaelyn.

The guys were pretty athletic, the girls not so much. But even though the boys were good at sports, playing on a beach gave them a new challenge. The sand tended to move away from them when they ran, and more than once one of the boys ended up in the sand.

“Are you okay?” Elea asked as she pulled up a laughing Xiumin.

“I’m fine, just a bit sandy,” he grinned while he started dusting himself off.

“You’re not a bit sandy, you are very sandy!” Elea commented, softly brushing the sand of his clothes.

“Thank you!” He smiled at her once they were done, and he was sort of clean again.

“No problem.”

“Are you guys gonna play, or are you gonna keep flirting?” Jaelyn teased, making the both of them turn slightly pink.

“We’re playing of course!” Elea said quickly.

“Alright, let’s play then,” Chanyeol exclaimed as he served the ball with quite some force.

Both Woohyun and Hyun Mi dashed forward towards the ball, but Hyun Mi was closer and managed to block it.

“Auch! Why so hard,” she complained, her arms already turning red.

“Are you okay?” Woohyun asked, taking her arms in his hand and softly rubbing them.

“I am,” Hyun Mi muttered, becoming totally red.

“Should I rub your cheeks too? They’re as red as your arms,” he teased.

“We totally chose the wrong game,” Mark muttered.

“Or the right one,” Yerin stated. “It seems like a great way to find our perfect matches, right?”

“I’ll serve next,” Sunggyu stated and although he tried, the ball only ended up in the net.

“Aish, that wasn’t good,” he muttered slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t mind! You’ll do better next time!” Sungyeol shouted from the other side of the net, as he served the ball back. Sunggyu swiftly blocked it, passing it towards Yerin, who gave it to Mark, who smashed it down.

“See?” Sungyeol stated with a wry smile. “Already beating us, Sunggyu.”

“Apparently your encouragement worked really well,” Seong Yeon commented. “Not good if it causes us to lose, though.”

“Alright, I’ll just encourage you and the others of my team and then we’ll win for sure.”

“I hope so,” Seong Yeon mumbled.

“You better start now, then, or we are really going to lose,” Jaelyn commented just as Mark was getting ready to serve.

“Alright, Jaelyn, do your best, you can take him on! Seong Yeon, they can’t beat you, you’re too amazing. Let’s take them down, Woohyun, Hyun Mi! Together we can do this!” Sungyeol started.

And as he said it, Jaelyn stopped the ball, giving Seong Yeon the opportunity to smash it over the net.

Yerin dove for the ball, managing to just barely keep it from the ground. Chanyeol moved forward to pass it along, but slipped on the sand, landing right on top of the girl just as she was getting up, in the most cliché kind of way possible.

“Who would have thought I’d ever have something this cliché happen to me,” he muttered as he got up, much to the delight of the others.

“That was hilarious!” Jaelyn exclaimed.

“Do these things even happen in real life?” Seong Yeon commented.

“Well, they obviously do, as you just saw,” Yerin said dryly, her face slightly flushed.

“That looked like the lamest drama ever,” Hyun Mi stated.

“You didn’t actually do that on purpose, right?” Elea asked, staring at the boy with suspicion in her eyes.

“Why would I do that? We even lost the point and everything. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to time it this perfectly,” Chanyeol argued.

“I guess that’s right… But it seemed so unrealistic,” Sunggyu stated.

“Let’s just continue the game already?” Yerin said, really wanting the topic to change.

---

Dia had reached the house by herself, removed Mark’s jacket, put it on a couch and taken some cucumber from the fridge. She then started cutting them up, they would relieve her sunburn a little and since she was sunburned almost everywhere, she needed a lot of it.

As she was cutting, Myungsoo walked into the house and when he noticed her, frowned. He had meant to go take a shower first, after sweating so much during the game. Hye had decided to head to the pool in the mean time.

“What are you doing?” he asked her, as the girl continued cutting up more and more cucumber.

“Cutting up cucumber for on my sunburn,” she explained.

“That much?”

She gestured towards her arms and legs, and he nodded.

“I guess you do need that much. But how are you going to put it on yourself?”

“Obviously…” Dia started but then turned silent. How was she going to do this? She was mostly burned on her shoulders, face, arms and legs… But while lying down, it was impossible to place the slices of cucumber on top of herself.

“I didn’t think of that,” she then admitted. Myungsoo sighed loudly.

“Stupid,” he muttered before gesturing to the couch.

“Lie down, I’ll do it.”

“Really?” she asked surprised.

“Not if you don’t hurry up.”

She quickly obliged, lying down on the couch. Myungsoo took the bowl of cucumbers off the counter, before softly placing them on her sunburned skin.

“You look like a lobster,” he commented.

“I know. And it’s only going to get worse,” she replied.

“So tomorrow you’re going to be even redder?”

“If that’s possible. I just hope it won’t hurt too much,” she replied with a small shrug, causing several of the pieces to fall.

“Don’t move. I won’t keep putting them on, I want to shower.”

“Sorry.”

“And don’t talk, your face is red as well.” He scolded her as he started placing slices on her eyes and cheeks.

“Done. Just lay still for a while.”

He looked at the girl once more before walking to the bathroom. She looked like some kind of weird monster from a horror movie, covered in those green slices. If someone entered the house, they would surely be scared.

---

“So we have arrived. Three canoes, one for each couple,” Junmyeon stated. They had reached a large river, with relatively calm water. The three canoes that had been prepared weren’t that big, the couples would end up sitting very close together.

“So, what is the idea?” Seulyi asked.

“It’s simple, you just enter the canoe and start peddling. And have fun together,” Junmyeon explained. “There is really nothing else to it, just a fun, relaxed date.”

“Except for the part where we have no choice,” the girl muttered.

“Now, now, I’m sure you’ll have fun once you are actually on the date,” Junmyeon countered.

“I’m sure you will, canoeing is gonna be so much fun!” Hee-Jin agreed.

“Alright, put on your life vests, get in the canoes, and have fun!”

As soon as Junmyeon had spoke these words, the three couples were handed vests and walked to the little boats.

“Need a hand?” JB asked, offering Kimmi one as she got in the boat, before taking place after her.

“Thanks.”

“Have you canoed before?”

“I haven’t, have you?”

“Just once, but I’m sure we’ll be alright,” JB said as he took the peddles, pushing them off from the shore.

“So shaky,” Kimmi exclaimed, the boat swaying left and right. JB laughed softly.

“As long as we’re careful, we’ll be alright. But we shouldn’t make any sudden movements.”

“I’ll try and sit still then.”

They slowly moved across the river, trying to get their peddling synchronized. After a while they were solidly going forward and had time to look at their surroundings. The river was surrounded by tropical forest; trees, bushes and flowers in all kinds of colours.

“Look, it’s some kind of bird!” JB pointed out, leaning even closer to Kimmi in the process. The bird was quite unusual and as she was looking at it, she didn’t realize how close he was until she moved upright again, bumping into him. They apologized at the same time and for a while were quiet, just focusing on moving the peddles through the water. It didn’t take them long to start talking again. The surroundings were spectacular, and soon they were pointing out all the special things they saw to each other.

“Look, there! Another bird!”

“Did you see that flower? It was huge!”

---

Baekhyun and Seulyi were putting on their life vests, Seulyi struggling a bit with hers.

“Do you need help?” Baekhyun asked her but the girl shook her head.

“I’m fine. Just a second… and it will be done.”

“Take your time,” he said with a sigh.

Not much later, they could finally get into the canoes, Baekhyun getting in first, followed by Seulyi.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Baekhyun started.

“I guess so.” Seulyi agreed. “Why did you pick me?”

“I don’t know. Seemed like it would be fun? You’re pretty?” he replied with a shrug.

“That’s all? Just because I’m pretty?”

“What is wrong with that? It’s not like I know any of the girls… And this date is a great way to get to know you, right?”

“I guess.”

“So why are you so against it? Am I that awful?”

“How should I know, I barely know you.”

“That’s why I don’t get it.”

“I just don’t want to date just anyone…”

“But that’s kind of the point of this game. Why did you join it, then?” He asked her.

“To meet my perfect match. And I just know it’s not you.”

“How?”

“Because it has to be Myungsoo.”

“Myungsoo, the quiet boring guy? You’re into that?”

“He’s not boring!” Seulyi retorted.

“If you say so. But you are right, then it can’t be me. Since I’m neither boring, nor quiet,” Baekhyun agreed.

“So let’s just canoe and get this date over with.”

“Alright. I guess that’s one girl who would never be my perfect match,” he muttered.

“You got that right.”

---

“So you’re mostly here for the money?” Kimmi asked JB. “But why?”

“It’s a lot of money to earn in ten weeks right? My mom has a lot of medical bills…”

“We better make sure we win, then. We can all use it, I’m sure,” Kimmi said softly.

“Besides, it’s fun, more fun than working.”

“It is! I mean, where else would you get paid for having a holiday.”

“We still have to win though,” JB reminded her.

“So, what are you thinking? Can we get the matches?”

“It’s a bit too soon to tell… I can’t say I have any idea yet. How about you?”

“I’m not sure… I think… I don’t know either. I guess it depends on how the dates go,” Kimmi replied.

 “So… you think we could be one?” he hesitantly asked her.

“I feel like we could be… I mean, it’s a fun date. Though I bet that’s not enough to say we’re a perfect match…

---

“Let’s go! It’s gonna be so much fun!” Hee-Jin exclaimed, smiling at Hoya. Her smile faded a bit looking at his face. He didn’t seem all that happy to be here, and she suddenly worried this might not work out that well.

“Put your life vest on, before you hurt yourself.”

“But I can swim!” she pouted.

“It’s better to be safe, though.”

“Alright, alright. How does this work,” she mumbled.

“Come here,” Hoya ordered and when she listened, helped her into life vest.

“There you go.”

“Thanks,” Hee-Jin said softly. He was quite intimidating to her and she didn’t really feel like sitting in a canoe with him.

“No problem. Let’s go then. You like canoeing, right?”

“I do.”

 They entered the canoe in silence. Every once in a while Hee-Jin excitedly pointed at something before quickly shutting again. She didn’t want to bother him.

“It’s okay to enjoy yourself.”

It was a simple statement, but one that made Hee-Jin turn around to look at Hoya.

“What?”

“You’re trying to be quiet, right? You don’t have to be.”

“But…”

“If you want to be quiet that’s fine too.”

“Do you… not like canoeing?” Hee-Jin tried, facing forward again.

“I like it, why?”

“You seem… bored?”

“I do? I guess I’m just a bit… nervous or something…”

“You are nervous? No way!” Once more she turned around, this time with a lot more force. The sudden movement made the canoe sway dangerously and the couple reacted by leaning to the other side. This didn’t help much, seeing as they now collapsed the boat to the other side, landing the both of them in the water.

“It’s cold!” Hee-Jin exclaimed once she got her head out of the water.

“Are you okay?” Hoya resurfaced not much later.

“I’m fine, how about you?”

“I’m good. Let’s get the boat upright again.”

This was easier said than done. The boat was quite heavy and turning it without being able to touch the ground was a near-impossible task.

“Alright, let’s push at three,” Hee-Jin suggested and Hoya nodded.

“One, two, three!”

They pushed and pushed and for a second, they thought they had made it, only to have the canoe flip upside down again because they had pushed too hard.

“Alright, once more.”

When they finally had the canoe upright, Hoya helped Hee-Jin into it before climbing in himself.

“We did it!” Hee-jin exclaimed.

“Thank god, it would have been far to swim back.”

“At least we can canoe again. I’m sorry for making us capsize.”

“That’s okay. At least it broke the awkwardness… I think,” Hoya spoke with a small smile.

“I’m sure it did,” Hee-Jin said happily. “You’re not as scary as you seem.”

“I seem scary?”

“Well, you look kind of intimidating.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t mean to insult you,” Hee-Jin quickly apologized.

“You didn’t. But I guess to be able to play this game properly, I should at least try to be less scary, right?”

“I guess that would work better. At least I now know you’re not scary?”

 “That’s definitely a good thing.”

---

Hye had been swimming in the pool for a while, but when Myungsoo still hadn’t returned after twenty minutes, she decided to go see if he’d ditched her. When she entered the villa, she noticed something greenish from the corner of her eyes. The sight of Dia, covered in green, slimy-looking stuff freaked her out quite a bit and she screamed loudly. The sudden scream in its turn woke the sleeping girl who jumped of the couch in surprise, dropping cucumbers all over the place.

“What were you doing? Why were you green?” Hye exclaimed when she realized it had been Dia all along and not some gross animal.

“I was sleeping…” the girl muttered. “With cucumber on me, against the sunburn…”

“You do look rather red…”

“I know,” Dia commented and started picking up the pieces of cucumber. They were now everywhere.

“I’ll help you. I’m sorry for spooking you,” Hye commented.

“I’m sorry too. I didn’t think I’d look that scary. And thanks.”

“It is partly my fault too after all.”

At that point, Myungsoo entered the room, his hair still wet from the shower.

“What is going on?”

“I got scared from the cucumbers on Dia,” Hye explained.

“And then I got scared from Hye screaming,” the other girl added. Myungsoo sighed loudly.

“And then you decided to start screaming. You two get scared too easily.” He had already turned around, heading back to the bathroom.

“Thanks for checking up on us,” Dia called after him.

“I wasn’t.”

“He’s a surprisingly good person, isn’t he?” Hye commented and Dia nodded.

“He is.”

---

After a few hours, Junmyeon gathered all of them, but the three dating couples, to the living room.

“As you all know, after the dates, one couple gets send to the truth booth, where they will find out if they are a perfect match or not. Which couple is going is up to you. I hope you have thought about it already. On this tv screen behind me, the three couples will be depicted. Click on the couple you want to vote for. You will go one at the time, so the voting is anonymous.”

“So, we get to decide who to send in? We’ll learn something no matter what the result, but a match would be best, right?” Yerin commented.

“Maybe we should discuss this,” Elea added. “To see which one is the most likely perfect match.”

“Not Seulyi and Baekhyun, that’s for sure,” Jaelyn commented. “Seulyi didn’t like getting picked at all.

“How about Hoya and Hee-Jin?” Dia suggested.

“She looked terrified of him, though,” Chanyeol commented.

“Are you sure you aren’t saying that because you are jealous of him? Since she was your favourite?” Woohyun teased.

“But I don’t feel like it’s JB and Kimmi either…” Seong Yeon commented.

“Hee-Jin belongs with Chanyeol,” Hyun Mi declared. “I support you, Chanyeol!”

“But at least we all agree it has to be either Hee-Jin and Hoya or JB and Kimmi, right?” Yerin commented.

“I’d say Kimmi and JB,” Sungyeol commented. “They look good together.”

“But the others don’t?” Xiumin asked. “Just based on looks, they all could be a couple, right?”

“They did seem the most comfortable with their date,” Sunggyu commented.

“But who knows what happened on the date. Maybe they don’t even like each other after talking? And maybe now Baekhyun and Seulyi are happy? Anything can happen… How should we even decide this,” Seong Yeon sighed. “This is an impossible task.”

“In the end, we can only pick a couple, and hope it works out,” Yerin stated.

---

After they each had voted on the couple they wanted to send to the truth booth, the couples returned from their dates. Seulyi and Baekhyun still didn’t seem to get along, to the relief of everyone. At least they had eliminated the one unlikely match correctly.

Where Hoya and Hee-Jin had been kind of awkward before, they were now both happily chatting and somehow dripping wet.

“Weren’t you supposed to be in a boat?” Sungyeol teased.

“That was the idea…” Hoya replied dryly.

“Hee-Jin!!” Hyun Mi called out as soon as she saw her cousin enter the villa. “Come, come. I want to know everything!”

“We just canoed,” Hee-Jin replied, but Hyun Mi wasn’t satisfied with just that and dragged her cousin from the room, ready to hear all the details of her date with Hoya.

“Kimmi, how was the date?” Both Elea and Seong Yeon had instantly swarmed her. Both were interested in JB, so they wanted to know how he had been, and if Kimmi had had fun.

“It was fun,” was all the reply they got from the girl.

“Doesn’t tell us anything.”

“There’s no time to talk now. Everyone, come to the living room. We will now announce which couple will get send to the truth booth,” Junmyeon announced. When they had all arrived, he pushed a button on a remote, and on the television screen, a picture of Kimmi and JB popped up.

“Tonight, JB and Kimmi will be heading towards the truth booth. Good luck!”

He pointed out where they had to go, then went back to the living room again.

“When they get their result in the truth booth, you will be able to see it as well, on this screen.”

---

“What do you think will happen?” Kimmi softly asked JB as they were walking through the dark towards the small cabin called the truth booth.

“I’m… I’m not sure. We’re either a match or not, I guess.”

“Yes, that’s obvious but… I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous, I guess,” the girl admitted.

“Me too.”

Once they had reached the truth booth, JB stopped Kimmi.

“No matter what’s gonna happen, I had a great time on our date. So thanks.”

“I had a great time as well,” Kimmi agreed.

“Let’s go inside then, and hear whether or not we are a match,” JB suggested, holding the door open for her. When they walked inside they were greeted by a computer screen, showing their pictures.

“What do we have to do?” JB muttered.

“Put our hands on those pads, I guess?”

“When did they take our fingerprints in the first place? Besides, if our pictures are here, why would they need it?” JB complained.

“Let’s just do it now? We’re only going to get more nervous.”

They both placed their hands on the fingerprint scanner and as soon as their hands touched it, the screen turned black for just a few second, before showing in giant letters: NO MATCH.

“So… you’re not my perfect match after all,” Kimmi commented.

“I’m not…”

They stood there together staring at the screen for a few minutes, before Kimmi softly nudged JB.

“We should get back to the others.”

“Yes, we should,” he agreed.

---

“That was so nerve wrecking,” Hee-Jin commented. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to go.”

“I would have been there, so you would have been fine,” Hoya commented.

“You’re already thinking you are Hee-Jin’s perfect match?” Jaelyn asked Hoya.

“I could be, right?”

“You could. But probably not,” Chanyeol said, putting an arm around Hee-Jin’s  shoulders. “You’re too scary for a cute girl like this.”

“Am I really that scary?” Hoya muttered quietly.

“I wish they were a perfect match,” Seulyi commented. “That would have made everything so much easier.”

“Now all we can do is think about the match up,” Sunggyu commented.

 “Who will be picking this time, the boys or the girls?” Sungyeol asked.

“I’d say boys, since they did the challenge?” Yerin suggested.

“But I hope we get to pick,” Jaelyn added with a smile.

---

“It’s finally time for our first match up,” Junmyeon exclaimed excitedly. They had all gathered on the platform they had first met each other.

“Today, the boys will be choosing their perfect matches. Afterwards, we will reveal how many of those matches are correct. But it is up to you to find out which of the matches are correct! Good luck! We’ll start with the winner, JB. Who is your perfect match?”

“I know for sure that it isn’t Kimmi,” the boy started. “Which is a pity. So I had to rethink who to pick today. I’ll be going with Elea.”

“With me? But… Really?”

“Come forward Elea, and join JB, you can sit on those seats over there together. The second place of the challenge, Baekhyun. Who are you picking today?”

“Yerin.”

“I take it your date did not go very well? Let’s see how it went for Hoya. Hoya, who is your perfect match?”

“Hee-Jin.”

“Thank you for picking me,” Hee-Jin whispered to the tall grumpy guy as she sat down next to him.

One after the other the boys picked who they believed to be their perfect matches. Chanyeol picked Seulyi, Sunggyu went with Hye.

“The next up, Mark, who are you picking?”

“I’ll take Dia.”

The girl walked forward, trying very much not to sit too close to the boy, because although she had tried to treat it, her sunburn hurt pretty badly as soon as anything touched it.

“Someone has been spending too much time outside,” Junmyeon joked, earning him a glare.

“You were the one who said I couldn’t go to the villa for sunscreen.”

“I guess I did. I’m sorry. Let’s continue. Myungsoo, who is your perfect match?”

“Seong Yeon.”

“Eh? Okay… Really?” the girl walked up to the seats with Myungsoo, not quite understanding why he had picked her. They hadn’t really talked much, other than that short interaction when Dia had wanted to watch the stars.

“Xiumin, who is your pick?”

“I’ll go with Hyun Mi.”

“Woohyun, will you pick Kimmi or Jaelyn?”

“Well, my first choice got stolen already… But I’ll go with Kimmi.”

“That means Jaelyn and Sungyeol are the last perfect match. Everyone has picked their partner, so now it is time to see how many perfect matches you got right. Behind me, there are ten spotlights. One for each of the perfect matches. They will light up one by one, showing you how many perfect matches you have found this week. Let’s begin.”

The contestant each stared at the lights intently, as if their stares could help them light up. Boom. One spotlight went on. Cheers could be heard.

“At least one, so we’re on schedule!” Chanyeol cheered.

Boom. The second spot went on, and the cheers became louder.

“We’re doing well! This could work!” Sungyeol exclaimed.

They waited for the third spot to light up, but it didn’t. No more lights .

“The number of perfect matches you’ve found this week is two. Congratulations and I’ll see you guys at the next challenge.