☀️

She took in a deep breath of the fresh ocean breeze as she rested by the waves. “This is so nice.” She told herself, closing her eyes.

“EUNHEE!” A high pitched voice called, ruining her mood.

Aish. She mentally cursed as she turned to the voice’s origin with a simper.

“We need to practice everyday.”

It’s been 2 weeks since the homeroom teacher had appointed Eunhee as the class’ talent show representative.

Jiyoung may be Eunhee’s best friend, but that didn’t stop her from being a strict manager; insisting to practice singing everyday until the performance. And by “everyday”, she meant every single day for 5 hours straight

Thus, she convinced her family to take a trip to the same place Eunhee’s go every summer.    

“You can stop giving me that smile now. I know it’s fake.” Jiyoung told her friend upon reaching her resting spot.

Eunhee sighed. “Do we really have to practice? This is the only day I look forward to every summer.” She whined.

“Yes.” Her unwavering friend replied. “If you refuse to practice, I’ll quit as your manager.”

She smiled from ear-to-ear at Jiyoung’s words.

“Scratch that.” She countered immediately after seeing Eunhee’s reaction. “You’ll just have to pay me back for all the services I provided.”

Eunhee rolled her eyes and grunted. “Fine. Let’s go.” She replied, knowing how much her rich friend spent for her.

Her manager laughed, knowing that she won against the stubborn girl. “Don’t forget to bring your vocal coach.” She reminded, pointing to the boy who was too concentrated on building a sand castle to join their conversation.

“Baekhyun.” She called him as they walk back from Jiyoung’s vacation home after today’s practice.

He looked at her and replied, “Hm?”

“Are you really fine?” She asked without looking back at him, remembering what her best friend had said to her about the alien.

“Of course! I have your flashlight.” He giddily replied.

She stopped her steps and so did he. “Not about the darkness.” “I’m talking about what happened the other night. You almost got hit by a car, remember?”

His lack of response made her look at him.

“Baekhyun?”

.

.

.

“Umma…” A little boy whimpered.

.

.

“I don’t… I’m fine.” He replied with a forced smile and continued walking.

Eunhee looked at him with concern as she matched with his quick footsteps. “You don’t have to smile all the time, you know. It’s normal for people to be sad or get scared sometimes.”

“But I’m not like you people. Where I’m from, everybody smiles.” He said, keeping his awkward grin on.

“Right…” She reacted with a sigh. “Then let’s do this.”

“Do what?”

“As long as you’re on Earth, you are free to feel anything and express it whenever you want. You can be sad, angry, afraid, anything.”

The boy curved his brows. “Can I really do that?”

“Of course!” She replied, mimicking his voice, causing both of them to laugh.

The two then continued to smile and chat until they reached their temporary beach house.

“Eunhee.” Baekhyun called as he stood in front of the open front door, eyes wide at the sight of an unfamiliar yet intimidating man sitting next to the girl’s father in the living room floor.

She turned around and asked, “What?”

“You told?” He asked back, disbelief in his eyes as he looked at her.

“Told who? What are you talking about?” She replied, looking as confused as he was.

Step by step, he backed away from the front door. “I thought I could trust you.” He said to her, shaking his head before running farther away from the one place he could finally call home.

“Baekhyun!” She shouted and immediately ran after him.

“Was that Eunhee?” The strange man asked, taking a peek at the door to find the answer to his question.  

“Isn’t she going inside to greet her uncle?” He added with a chuckle.