“Ahhh, bee-yoo-tee-ful Cally-for-nee-ah!” Byunghun cried. He threw his arms up in the air the second we stepped outside of the airport. A massive smile had manifested across his lips and he beamed as he looked around. The sky was a beautiful shade of robin’s egg blue and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Palm trees lined he sides of the roads in the distance, indicating we had arrived in paradise at last.

                “Finally,” Min Neul gasped. She stood behind Byunghun and beside Jonghyun, leaning against the handle of her suitcase.

                “This airport is huge,” Changhyun huffed, leaning against the handle of his suitcase as well. We had just walked from the Tom Bradley International Terminal, where our Korean Air flight had landed. It had taken us nearly an hour and a half to wait for everyone to claim their luggage and then walk the entire length of the airport just to get to the rental car booth in Parking Lot D. Uncle Sunho had arranged for us to rent two rental vans while we were here.

                Uncle Sunho and my father had gone to the rental car booth while the rest of us were waiting on the sidewalk, hot California sun beating down on us. The air in California was dry and steamy, unlike the thick blanket of humidity that engulfed Seoul back home. I missed the feeling of the dry air here; it made me realize how much I missed being in California.

                “I know,” Hyerin agreed, “I thought we’d never make it out of there.”

                “At least it was air conditioned in there,” Daniel replied, fanning himself with his hand.

                Mom chuckled. “Welcome to California, kids!”

                Byunghun took a deep breath of fresh air. “I missed this,” he said longingly.

                I smiled as I stepped closer to him. “I did, too.”

                “Look!” Changhyun cried, pointing somewhere in the distance. “All the signs are in English!”

                “Ricky, we’re in America,” Channhee stated matter-of-factly.

                Everyone laughed except Changhyun, who crossed his arms. “By the time we go back home, I want to be able to read every sign here.”

                Byunghun looked up at one of the signs. “’Parking Lot D Car Rentals’,” he read out loud in English.

                Changhyun stuck his tongue out. “Stop showing off.”

                At that moment, Byunghun’s back pocket started singing “High High” by GD&TOP. Minsoo and Chanhee snickered. Byunghun’s eyes grew wide as his hand flew to his pocket. Blushing slightly, he pulled out his phone. “Sorry,” he muttered to nobody in particular, glancing down at the screen. Instantly, his eyes lit up again and he inhaled a sharp gasp.

                “Who could be calling L.Joe-hyung? Kirin’s right here!” Daniel giggled, causing everyone to laugh.

                “No, no, everyone shut up! It’s my mom!” Byunghun cried amidst the noise, holding a hand up. Instantly, the laughter ceased. He had a genuine, wide smile on his face as he pressed the screen with his thumb and held the phone up to his ear. “Mom! Hi!” he cried excitedly in English.

                The air around us was quite, but Byunghun’s mother’s voice on the other end was inaudible. Still, I listened intently, wishing to hear her voice. Byunghun’s mother was a mystery to me. He talked of her so little that sometimes I even forgot she existed. But somewhere in the world was the woman who held Byunghun in her arms when he was an infant, lit the candles on his birthday cake when he was a child, and lived thousands of miles away from him now that he was a teenager—and I wanted nothing more than to meet her.

                “Yes , we landed safely!...About an hour ago…Yes, the flight was good. Long, but good…” A smile flashed in my direction. “Yeah, everyone is here. I can’t wait for you to meet everyone! Especially Kirin, Mom, you’re going to love her!...” A long pause. A chuckle. “Yeah? I can’t wait. Really, Mom, I’m so excited to finally see you again…How’s Byunghee? Still studying hard?...well, he always does. Anything to make you proud, Mom…Yeah?...Okay…Yeah, the guys are dying to meet you too! And Kirin has two friends here, too…” He paused, laughed, nodded. “Yes, Mom, I promise. Don’t worry…Alright…it was so nice talking to you again!...Yes. I will…Okay, see you soon! I love you! Bye.”

                Byunghun was looking down at his feet, but I could still see the smile that had spread across his lips. Behind the orange curtain, his beautiful eyes were undoubtedly the shape of rainbows.

                “Your mom,” I said softly, a smile growing on my own face.

                Byunghun nodded. He lifted his face back up to the sun. “It’s so nice to hear her voice again.”

                “When do we get to meet her, hyung?” Jonghyun asked.

                “Hopefully soon,” Byunghun answered.

                “For sure soon,” I corrected him, slipping my arm through his to pull him close to me.

                “Really?” he asked, his eyes shining with hope.

                If I had the power to, I would have brought him right then and there. “Really.”

                Just then, two vans pulled up to the curb. One was deep red and the other was steel gray. “All aboard,” my father called playfully from the driver’s seat of the red van.

                “Boys, start loading the suitcases, please,” Uncle Sunho announced from the driver’s seat of the gray van.

                Minsoo popped the trunk of the gray van. He loaded his suitcase in the back. The rest of the boys dragged their suitcases over to Minsoo and left them on the curb before piling into the van.

                “Thanks,” Minsoo said sarcastically, staring at the five heavy suitcases his dongsaengs were too lazy to load themselves.

                “No problem!” Changhyun cried as he hoped in the van behind Chanhee.

                “I’ll help you, hyung,” Jonghyun spoke up.

                Min Neul giggled from the sidelines. She eyed Jonghyun’s bare arms as he lifted up Daniel’s heavy suitcases, loving the way his muscles bulged.

                Minsoo smiled appreciatively. “Thanks, Jonghyun.”  

                “You’re welcome, hyung.”

                Meanwhile, Mom popped the trunk of the red van. Hyerin, Min Neul and I wheeled our suitcases over.

                 “Oppa,” Min Neul said sweetly, capturing Jonghyun’s attention right away. “Can you lift my suitcase too?”

                Jonghyun smiled. “Of course.” He took a hold of Min Neul’s purple suitcase and lifted it up into the back of the van with ease.

                Min Neul beamed. “Thanks.”

                “Anything for my Goddess,” Jonghyun winked.

                “Thank you so much, Jonghyun!” Mom said admiringly, smiling at Teen Top’s maknae.

                “No problem, Mrs. Lee,” Jonghyun answered sweetly. He turned to Hyerin and me. “Can I help you with your suitcases too?”

                “Kirin, I’ll help you with yours!” Byunghun cried, sticking his head out of the gray van.

                “I got it, hyung,” Jonghyun said. He grabbed both of our suitcases and hoisted them into the trunk. He even put my mother and father’s suitcases in the truck as well.

                “Thanks Jonghyun,” Hyerin and I answered.

                “You’re welcome,” Jonghyun answered. He turned around to glance at the gray van a few feet ahead. “No thanks to any of you!”

                “Hey, I offered to help!” Byunghun cried.

                “If you all had put your own suitcases in here I could have helped Hyerin!” C.A.P defended.

                “Are we ready to go yet?” Uncle Sunho called, sticking his head out of the window.

                “Yes,” Jonghyun called. He turned to Min Neul. “See you soon?” He winked at her one more time before jogging over to the gray van and hopping in the front seat.

                Min Neul stood on the sidewalk with hung open. I giggled as Hyerin waved her hand in front of her sister’s face. “Is she alive?”

                Min Neul slowly shook her head in response to my question. “If I don’t get my hands on that boy tonight I’ll—”

                “Girls!” Mom called from the front seat of the red van. “Let’s get going!”

                The ride from LAX Airport to the property we were renting wasn’t long. I looked out of the window for nearly the entire ride, glancing dreamily up at palm trees stretching up to the cloudless sky. Fancy apartment buildings and modern-looking condominiums lined the streets on both sides. Hyerin and Min Neul were marveling at the modern architecture and Americans everywhere. It was nice being able to look out the window and see a variety of different types of people bustling around Los Angeles. South Korea was pretty much a homogenous society; not America. Every type of person could be found in America, especially in a big city like LA. I wished I was in the same car as Byunghun so I could see the look on his face as he looked around. I’m sure he was smiling, his eyes the shape of rainbows.

                Dad turned a corner and we drove down what looked like a suburban area of Los Angeles. We turned down a few more streets until he started slowing down. The gray van Uncle Sunho drove ahead of us suddenly turned into a driveway. I felt a warm, excited feeling in the pit of my stomach and a smile blossom on my face.

                “We’re arrived!” Dad announced, unbuckling his seat belt. Hyerin, Min Neul and I squealed as we slid open the van doors and hopped outside. Mom, Dad and Uncle Sunho began unloading the suitcases from the trunks of the vans; the rest of us stood on the driveway, staring up at the house.

                It was a massive two-story townhouse with walls of cream-colored stucco. It had a faded orange tile roof and dark colored wooden door with large glass panels. The recessed windows were long and narrow and rounded at the top with dark orange shutters on both sides. The massive house had a small alcove where the front door was, and cement steps leading up to it. The front lawn was neatly trimmed, with a few patches of dead grass spotted here and there. There were large bushes lining the sides of the sidewalk leading up to the cement steps. There rest of the houses on the street looked somewhat identical; they looked like typical Los Angeles homes.

                “Well? What do you think?” Uncle Sunho asked, his hands on his hips.

                “Sunho, this is beautiful!” my mom gushed as she looked up at the estate.

                “You did well, Sunho.” My dad patted his brother on the back.

                “This house is absolutely beautiful,” Hyerin gushed.

                “I can’t believe we’re staying here,” Daniel marveled, his dark eyes wide with delight.

                “Now, it’s a multi-family house. So that means there’s two units, one upstairs and one downstairs. There are three bedrooms per unit, and two bathrooms per unit. There are a kitchen and a living space downstairs and a small den upstairs,” Uncle Sunho explained.

                “Can we go inside now?” Changhyun asked eagerly.

                “Everyone grab your suitcases, and we can head inside,” Mom replied. In a flash, all suitcases had been claimed. We walked from the driveway to the pathway and up the steps. Only about half of us fit on the tiny porch by the front door. Uncle Sunho fiddled with the key to the house for a few seconds until he finally turned the doorknob and opened the front door. All twelve of us practically flooded inside.

                The house was even more spacious on the inside. The door opened to reveal a large room with burgundy tile floors and cream colored walls. There was a beautiful wooden staircase that led to the upper unit upstairs. There were arches on both the left and right walls, one leading to the kitchen area and the other leading to the living room of the lower unit.

                “Now, I thought the boys and I could have the upper unit and you and the girls could have the lower unit,” Uncle Sunho said. “That way, it would be easier for you to have company over.”

                “That will work out perfectly,” my father said.

                 “How many bedrooms again?” my mom asked.

                 “Three upstairs, three downstairs,” Uncle Sunho responded.

                Mom glanced down at the nine kids, thinking a moment. She turned to my father. “What if the three girls share a room? That way Sunho could have his own room,” my mom said. “Then the boys can pair off in groups of two upstairs.”

                “That sounds like a good plan,” Uncle Sunho nodded.

                Naturally, Chanhee and Byunghun exchanged smiles as they nodded to each other. They would obviously be rooming together. The maknae’s of Teen Top generally stuck together, which meant Minsoo and Daniel made the other pair. Hyerin, Min Neul and I squeezed each other’s hands, squealing with excitement.

                “Well? Can we go explore?” I asked the adults eagerly.

                “Go for it,” Uncle Sunho chuckled.

                The boys, Hyerin, Min Neul and I ditched our suitcases and took off running in all directions of the house. Chanhee, Minsoo and Hyerin headed for the kitchen. Daniel and Changhyun took off for the living room. Min Neul, Changjo, Byunghun and I flew upstairs.

                The staircase led to a long hallway. There were two archways leading to a kitchen and a living room, and wooden doors leading to the bedrooms. The floor-plan was open and airy, as the wide windows let in tons of natural light and the walls were painted a rich cream color. The same tile was on the floor in the kitchen and living room, but the bedrooms had soft, plush carpet in a light shade of tan.

                “Whoa!” Min Neul marveled as she looked around.

                “This place is amazing!” Jonghyun cried, spinning in a circle.

                Byunghun’s eyes were dazzling as he looked around. “This is way nicer than my house was when I lived here.”

                “This is nicer than my house in Seoul,” I giggled, admiring the ornate molding that covered the entire ceiling.

                Suddenly my mother appeared at the top of the staircase. “So whattya think?” she asked, her arms stretched out at her sides. “Beautiful, right?”
                “Mrs. Lee, this house is gorgeous!” Byunghun cried.

                “Thank you so much!” Min Neul exclaimed.

                “Oh, don’t thank me. Thank Uncle Sunho,” Mom replied with a smile.

                “Hey!” Jonghyun called out suddenly. He was nowhere to be found, until he stuck his head out of a doorframe. “Check out these bedrooms!”

                Byunghun, Min Neul, my mother and I peered into the bedroom Jonghyun was in. Sure enough, we were staring into a rectangular room with white walls and a tan carpet. There were two big windows on the wall directly opposite of the door. Sure enough, there were two wooden bed-frames neatly adorned with fluffy, white comforter and pillow sets. Matching oak night-stands were situated beside the beds, and matching wooden dressers were situated against the right wall.

                “It looks just like a hotel,” Byunghun commented, eyeing the neat, wrinkle-free sheets and plentiful tan throw pillows.

                Jonghyun flopped down on one of the beds, letting the white feather-down comforter puffed out around him. He moaned in pleasure. “I could get used to this,” he sighed dreamily.

                 Across the hall was a full bathroom, situated with a full bathtub and showerhead, a porcelain sink, and a sleek white toilet. Fluffy white towels hung on the stainless-steel racks, and there was even a tower warmer in the far corner. There was even a small den-like room with a desk and miniature book shelf. Min Neul was spinning in the desk chair and Jonghyun and I were watching her in amusement. Suddenly, Byunghun pressed his forehead against the glass window and let out a sharp gasp. “No way!” he cried.

                The three of us stopped giggling and turned to shoot him curious glances. When Byunghun turned around to face us, he was smiling radiantly. “There’s a pool in the backyard!”

                “NO WAY!” Jonghyun and I cried. We pressed out faces against the glass like Byunghun and peered out into the backyard. Sure enough, there was a large, rectangular in-ground pool surrounded by concrete on the left side of the lawn. The other half of the backyard was covered in neatly trimmed grass. A tall, wooden fence ran around the entire perimeter of the backyard. There were no trees, but there were a few bushes planted in the far right corner. The water in the calm water shone so brightly I wanted to burst right through the window and dive in head-first.

                Suddenly the door to the backyard slid open. We watched as Chanhee, Minsoo, Niel, Changhyun and Hyerin sprinted outside, heading straight to the pool. The five of them stood at the edge of the water, their mouths agape. Niel was animatedly talking with his hands, making excited gestures. Chanhee and Hyerin were nodding vigorously at whatever Niel was saying. Changhyun knelt down and stuck both his hands straight in the water. Minsoo said something to him; something that brought a smile to Changhyun’s face. Without warning, he splashed a wave of water up at Minsoo, grinning deviously. Minsoo swiftly jumped backwards in response. Everyone watching from inside and outside laughed, but no one laughed harder than Changhyun. He looked positively gleeful.

                “Anyone wanna go swimming?” Byunghun asked excitedly.

                 “I will!” Changjo cried.

                “I will too,” I declared.

                Min Neul yawned. “I’m too tired.”

                “Suit yourself,” Byunghun shrugged. He and Changjo took off running out of the room and down the stairs to fetch their suitcases.

                “You’re not going swimming?” I asked.

                Min Neul shrugged. “I’m tired!”

                I giggled. “I am, too. Traveling always makes me tired.”

                “But it was worth it,” Min Neul sighed dreamily. She turned to look back out of the window. “I can’t believe we’re really here. I mean, can you imagine the crazy stuff we’re going to do? There’s the pool, the ocean, this gigantic house…” Min Neul sighed deeply, still gazing outside. “I want this summer to be memorable.”
                “It will,” I assured her. “It’ll be the best summer yet. I just know it.”

                Suddenly we heard footsteps in the hallway. Min Neul and I abruptly turned around to find Byunghun and Jonghyun standing in the doorway. Neither of them wore socks, shoes, or jeans; both were dressed in a bathing suit. Byunghun’s shorts were black with neon-colored squares arranged in a neat pattern all over them. Jonghyun’s shorts were cherry red with thick white stripes up the sides. Their shorts hung low on their hips and neither of them wore shirts.

                I think our jaws involuntarily dropped.

                 Jonghyun smiled a shy smile and Byunghun smirked. “Are you two coming or what?” Byunghun asked. Suddenly he folded his arms across his chest, nonchalantly revealing arm muscles that I had never seen before

                “Y-yeah!” I stuttered, unable to take my eyes off puny Byunghun’s somehow muscular upper body.

                Min Neul made a muffled sort of sound comparable to a baby goat bleating with a tennis ball lodged in its throat. She nodded slowly, her eyes probably fixed on Jonghyun’s tone arms.

                “We’ll be waiting,” Jonghyun practically sang as he and Byunghun sauntered away down the hall, leaving their faint-hearted girlfriends to revel in their shirtless glory.

                Wide-eyed, I turned to Min Neul. “Wanna go swimming?”

                Wide-eyed, Min Neul turned to me. “Hell yeah!”

                Outside, cicadas were screeching somewhere in the distance. They’re really bad in Korea too, maybe even worse than they are here. After a few days, their loud noises become extremely irritating, but I must admit that I love hearing them for the first time every year. It was always a dead giveaway that summer had finally arrived. And judging by the heat of the sun, summer was currently in full-swing.

                Min Neul and I strolled out of the house in our bathing suits with t-shirts over them. Rolled-up towels were in our arms. The sun shone so brightly, I wished I had brought my sunglasses outside. They would have been too hard to wear in the pool, though, which was exactly where we were headed. The boys were already splashing around in the pool—except for Minsoo. He and Hyerin were sitting on the side of the pool, letting their feet dangle in the shallower end.

                “Noona! Min Neul!” Changhyun cried with a bright smile. He squinted as he looked up at us and waved his hands frantically. Min Neul and I cracked smiles and waved back at him.

                “Look who finally decided to show up,” Chanhee giggled, self-consciously flattening his wet hair against his forehead. The shallower part of the pool was only three feet deep, so much of Chanhee was exposed. I had to force myself not to choke on my spit as I looked at him. He had a smooth chest and a flat, fatless stomach. I always thought Chanhee had a nice body, but I had never seen him shirtless before. He didn’t have muscles like Minsoo or Jonghyun, but he certainly had a drool-worthy body.

                Byunghun abruptly turned around. His orange hair stuck up at odd angles, revealing his dark-colored roots that really needed to be dyed orange again. “Kirin!” he exclaimed as soon as his looked at me. His eyes were the shape of rainbows; not just because the sun was in his eyes, but because he was smiling. He swam over to the edge of the pool and propped himself up on his elbows, his flexing his biceps once again. I made a mental note to touch them as soon as I could. He watched as Min Neul and I set our towels down on the glass-top table beside the back door. There were five chairs situated around the table, which were each covered by the boys’ unused towels.

                I gripped the bottom of my t-shirt and pulled it up over my head. I heard someone whistle; it had been Byunghun. Min Neul laughed and I instantly felt my face turn red, the color of my bathing suit. It was a red bikini with tiny white polka dots and ruffles on the top. I once read in some girly magazine that ruffles on top were supposed to fill you out; I had been with Min Neul and Hyerin when I read the magazine, and they had instantly poked fun at me by telling me to keep that advice in mind. Easy for them to say; they were both perfectly curvy. I had sourly stuck my tongue out in response, but I had secretly kept that in mind when I went bathing suit shopping.

                “Oh, stop it,” I giggled, walking over to the edge of the pool with Min Neul. She had stripped off her t-shirt too to reveal her dark and light purple striped bathing suit. I caught Changhyun eye her up and down, a covert smile growing on his lips.

                “Ya, Changhyun!” Minsoo kicked his leg up to splash water in his dark-haired dongsaeng’s direction. “What are you staring at?”

                “Nothing,” Changhyun replied quickly, snapping his neck in the other direction.

                I looked at Minsoo and Hyerin. “You’re not going swimming?”

                They shook their heads. “I can’t swim,” Minsoo responded.

                “Well I know that,” I giggled. “Why aren’t you, Hyerin?”

                Hyerin shrugged. “I didn’t want Minsoo to be all alone on the side of the pool,” she said sweetly. She laced her fingers between Minsoo’s, which brought a smile to his handsome face.

                “We should teach Minsoo-hyung to swim this summer,” declared Daniel.

                “Absolutely not,” Minsoo retorted. He kicked his legs up again. “This is as close as swimming as I’ll get.”

                Changhyun giggled. “He’s afraid of water.”

                Hyerin pouted. “Don’t make fun of him,” she defended.

                 I chuckled and put my hands on my hips. “Swimming isn’t hard at all. I bet we all could teach you.”

                Minsoo skeptically looked down at the water. “Maybe some other time.”

                “Suit yourself,” I shrugged. With that, I took a leap forward and plunged cannon-ball style into the deep end. The water was six feet deep, a full foot over my head. I didn’t mind one bit; water didn’t scare me at all.

                When I reached the surface of the water, everyone was cheering.

                “That dive was definitely a ten,” Byunghun chuckled.

                “That wasn’t a dive,” Min Neul retorted.

                Byunghun stuck his tongue out. “I still give her a ten.”

                “10 points out of 10!” the five other boys sang. I laughed in delight at the 2PM reference as I treaded in the deep end. The water wasn’t cold at all; it was actually pretty warm. It was still refreshing enough to cool you down on a hot day like today, though.

                “Isn’t the water too deep for you?” Min Neul teased me.

                “Very funny,” I rolled my eyes playfully.

                At that very moment, the glass door slid open and my mother, father and uncle walked out into the backyard. They stood at the edge of the pool and smiled down at us.

                “How’s the water?” Uncle Sunho asked.

                “Amazing!” Daniel cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Everyone shouted in agreement.

                Uncle Sunho chuckled. “What do you think of the house, kids?”

                “It’s gorgeous!” Min Neul gushed.

                “It’s way better than what I expected!” Changhyun giggled.

                Uncle Sunho threw his head back and laughed. “Well, I knew there would be an awful lot of us coming to California. I thought about getting two smaller, separate houses but I figured you kids have worked so hard this year that you deserved a nice place to stay in. And you’d all have more fun if you were together, anyway.”

                “We sure will,” Byunghun answered, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

                “Anyway, we came out here to tell you all that because this is a rental property, there are a few thinks we need to buy at a store,” Mom explained.

                “Some food, toiletries, maybe some movies and games for all of you,” Dad added.

                “We were planning on going all together, but…” Mom gestured to the seven of us in the swimming pool, “I highly doubt any of you would like to come.”

                Minsoo shrugged. “I’ll come,” he spoke up.

                “I’ll come too, then,” Hyerin added. The two stood up together.

                “Anyone else want to come?” Dad asked. He received collective head-shakes from the seven swimmers. He chuckled and nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

                “We plan to leave in about ten minutes. We hope to be back by five so I can start making dinner for everyone. If there’s anything you need, please tell one of us within the next ten minutes,” Mom stated. “I have a list, but if there’s something else you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

                “Uncle Sunho will be staying here with the rest of you kids,” Dad explained.

                I completely disagreed with that. We were plenty old enough to be home alone on our own.

                “We’re eighteen!” I cried, gesturing to Byunghun, Chanhee and me. “We’re not kids!”

                “Not in America,” Dad answered. “You’re only seventeen here.”

                I pouted playfully. “What difference does that make?”

                “I think we would all feel better if there was an adult home. Is that understood?” my mother asked, her hands on her hips. She waited until she saw seven heads nod in confirmation. “Good.”

                “If we’re ready to go, we should leave now,” my father said, checking his watch. “I’m awfully tired from all the traveling we did today.”

                “Yes, I agree,” Mom said. She glanced back at us. “Sunho, you’re in charge.”

                “Yes m’am,” Uncle Sunho answered with a salute.

                “We’ll be back soon,” Dad said before he, Mom, Minsoo and Hyerin walked back into the house. I heard my dad say something about Hyerin and Minsoo’s first trip to an American store, which made me chuckle slightly.

                Uncle Sunho rubbed his eyes with his hands. “Well I don’t know about any of you, but I’m wiped out.”

                “I am too,” Chanhee agreed. “Swimming made me even more tired.”

                “Me too,” Changhyun added with a yawn.
                “I think I’m going to get out,” Changjo stated.

                Min Neul was on his heels, but her eyes were elsewhere. “Me too,” she added.

                Byunghun turned to look at me. “Well? What do you want to do?”

                 “I kind of want to stay in the pool,” I admitted.
                Byunghun smiled. “Then I will, too.”

                “I’m going inside,” Changhyun announced, trudging up the cement steps out of the water. Min Neul handed him a towel, to which he blushed and thanked her for. I swore I saw him look her up and down again before he took the towel from her hand.

                Chanhee, Changhyun, Jonghyun and Min Neul paraded into the house one by one. Uncle Sunho followed them. “I’m going to take a nap inside,” he informed Byunghun and I. He slid open the glass door, but turned around at the last minute to gaze at us with a serious expression. “I can trust you two out here by yourself, correct?” he asked in English.

                “Of course, Uncle Sunho,” I answered back assuredly.

                “Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Byunghun added.

                Uncle Sunho smiled. “Just checking.” With that, he slid the glass door closed behind him.

                A cicada was screeching in the distance. I waited until the noise died in the distance died down before I turned to Byunghun. I was positive we were alone now. I looked up at him and smiled shyly. “I didn’t think they’d leave us alone that easily,” I chuckled.

                 “I know, I thought we’d have to be the ones to go back inside,” he agreed.

                I smiled as I took a step closer to him. We were standing almost in the center of the pool, where it was four feet deep. Byunghun took a step closer to me and I took a step back. Before I knew what was happening, my back was pressed against the side of the pool.

                 Byunghun slipped his hand around my waist as he spoke. “I was worried about that, you know.”

                “About what?” I asked, suddenly feeling dizzy. Maybe it was the heat. No, the pool water was cool enough. Maybe it was the exhaustion. No, I was more alert than ever. Maybe it was the fact that Byunghun was standing so close he was practically whispering in my ear, his floppy orange hair dripping wet and his lips twisted into a smirk.

                “Being alone with you,” he answered, dropping his gaze. “I’m glad the guys and Hyerin ad Min Neul came along, but I was really looking forward to spending the summer with you.”

                I looked up at his angelic face and smiled. “I told you, we’d be able to spend time together just you and me. I promised.”

                Byunghun smirked. “You’re better at keeping promises than I am,” he said softly. He was referring to the many promises he had made me back in the wintertime, about how we could go on a real date like other couples go on. Byunghun made a lot of promises but broke every one of them. That had ultimately led to our break up in March. After three lonely months, we finally got back together. Looking back, we were stupid for even breaking up in the first place. But now that that was behind us, we could appreciate each other a little more. I made a promise to myself to never let Byunghun slip away from me that easily again, and that was a promise I would never break.

                I pulled myself closer to him, enjoying the feeling of him being so close to me. “We have no choice but to be together this summer.” I answered back playfully, “You know, technically we’re living together.”

                 Byunghun laughed. “Yeah, we are.” He leaned down slowly to kiss me. Chest-to-chest, he wrapped both arms tightly around my waist and I ran my fingers through the back of his wet hair. There was something incredibly y about kissing someone in a pool. You’re both soaking wet and hardly wearing any clothing, but that was entirely appropriate.

                Slowly, my hands migrated from Byunghun’s neck, past his shoulders and down to his biceps. I gripped them loosely, wondering for a second if this was really the same Byunghun. We hadn’t even been back together for three weeks yet, but he was significantly stronger than I remembered.

                I took my wet lips off Byunghun’s. “When did these get here?” I asked, gripping his arms tighter.

                Byunghun laughed. “We broke up for three months. I had to channel that anger and depression somewhere.”

                “So you started working out?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

                 “Actually, I just composed a lot of songs,” Byunghun chuckled. “But I did start working out with Minsoo-hyung and Jonghyun a little more.”

                I ran my hands down his biceps, liking the curve of his muscles against my wet palms. “Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten back together so soon, I joked.

                “So soon? HA!” Byunghun threw his head back. When he looked back at me, he was smiling and his eyes were the shape of rainbows. “We didn’t get back together soon enough, if you ask me.” He pressed his forehead against mine and held it there for a few seconds, his lips dangerously close to mine. He was obviously daring me to kiss him first, and I didn’t keep him waiting for long. I pressed my lips against his, and my body against his.

                Another cicada was screeching somewhere in the yard. An ice cream truck was playing a gleeful tune in the distance. A few houses down, someone was mowing the lawn. The water made calm splotching sounds as it maneuvered around our bodies. Here with Byunghun under the California sun, it was finally starting to feel like summer.