7.00 a.m.

The whole team got up early to get ready for their training. Minsun had informed Chef Im of their schedule beforehand so the breakdfast was prepared early too. The boys were eating when the girls came down, but what made them stopped eating and paid attention to the girls was when Munhwa appeared with a cast on her leg and a crutch, with Minsun carefullly helping her down the steps.

“Munhwa, what happened to your leg?” Taecyeon asked as the girls took their seats. 

“She fell from the staircase. Fortunately, Wooyoung was there to give her emergency treatment, so it wasn’t that bad,” Coach Cho said and then looked at Wooyoung.

Wooyoung just continued eating, as if he wasn’t listening at all. Minsun stared at him suspiciously.

“It’s strange to see Munhwa getting hurt,” Jaebum shrugged. “You were never careless,”

“Oh,” Munhwa faked a chuckle, “I got excited I guess.”

“Since Munhwa is hurt, she wont be joining our training. Gohee, is it okay if I ask you to do the documentation for their training instead?” Coach Cho asked. Usually, Coach Cho will took part in most of their training regime as well, and Munhwa would watch for them. She timed their dashing records, or count their push ups and how many laps they had ran as well as keeping records and notes of each and every member’s performance whenever Coach Cho mentiond them.

“Sure, I’m here to help anyway. Minsun will always be available too, right?”

Minsun nodded. “Sure. Ask me anything you might need.” 




All the boys left for their training since early morning, after they warmed up a bit after breakfast. They jogged along the beach dragging a tyre with rope tied aorund their waist, and ran for 2 hours. Then, they continued with agility practice at the basketball court. Gohee made herself available during this practice, timing everyone and taking notes on everyone’s performance. Since she had been hanging out with them during their practice from time to time, she had a little basic knowledge in basketball so she pretty much knew Munhwa’s role and how to fill it. Minsun asked beforehand if she was needed but the boys all were worried for Munhwa and asked Minsun to keep her company.

And that was exactly what she did.

Apparently, Munhwa was amazed to find the dressing table was filled with all kind of branded cosmetics. The fact that she was most amazed at was that Minsun never touched them. Munhwa managed to convince her that she should at least try that Chanel nail color.

The girls sat across from each other on the floor at the balcony from Minsun’s room. Munhwa stretched her hurt leg and bent the other one. She placed one of Minsun’s hand on her knee and carefully painted the pale pink shade on Minsun’s healthy and well-cared nails.

“Your nails are pretty,” Munhwa complimented.

“Really?” Minsun lazily rested her chin on her other arm which held onto the opposite shoulder. She had both legs bent so that she could place her arm on them. She got a little dazed as she quietly watched Munhwa painting her nails. Minsun wasn’t bad at styling at all, but she juts preferred to keep her appearance simple and nothing attention-grabbing. She couldn’t care less about Chanel or whatever brand cosmetics out there, but somehow, sitting together with Munhwa, acting like how girls should while letting the breeze from the beach washed on their face was very relaxing.

“Yeah,” Munhwa’s answer came short since she was focusing on not smearing the color on Minsun’s skin. 

“Do you always color your nails?” Minsun asked gently, her voice almost blended with the calming breeze, but Munhwa managed to hear her.

“I used to play with it sometimes, with my best friend. Back when we were so much younger,” Munhwa paused for a while, and then spoke again when something crossed her mind.

“Now that I talk about it, I think you’re really similar with her, Minsun,”

“How?”

“She had a lot of secrets because she didn’t want people to carry her burden, which made everyone surprised later on. She didn’t have much friends, but not because she was snobby. She was in fact someone who constantly worried of the people around her, so she tend to distant herself from others so that she didn’t hurt them. She was kind, and always ready to lend her help to anyone who asked. I really like her a lot,”

“Why are you describing her in the past tense?”

“Because she is no longer a part of this world. She had been sick for a long time before she finally left.” Munhwa smiled softly. Somehow, Minsun looked appalled, but Munhwa could get the hint behind that expresson. Just like her deceased friend, Subin, when they first knew each other, Minsun must be worrying about the people she might hurt in case she had to break her commitment from the relationship she had. Munhwa guessed she reminded Minsun why she was so cold and distant in the first place.

“You know what?” Munhwa added, “For me, it’s all about trust. I believe true friends never betray each other, even when they have to separate, the trust will always bind them together. That was what kept me and her stay friends. So, I would like to ask you favor,”

Minsun seemed a little insecure. “…What is it?”

Munhwa smile reasssuringly at her, “Open up a bit, and lean on us a little. You will never hurt anyone, I promise you,” she smiled softly.

Minsun tucked the lower part of her face behind her arm, her eyes avoiding Munhwa’s, and she just kept watching her fingers that was being painted on Munhwa’s knee.

She wasn’t sure if she can do that yet, but then, she had let them stepped into her life farther than she had planned anyway.




5.00 p.m.

Dinner was still a couple of hours away, but the girls had returned from strolling along the beach. They were surprised to see the living room looking somewhat like a post-war battlefield. The boys were all unconscious and scattered around the living room like dead bodies. Some even sleep with a game controller in his hand and the television still on. Some slept on the sofa with his head hanging down by the edge of the sofa. They all seemed to be very tired from the training session which lasted the whole day and were now fast asleep while waiting for dinner.

“Oh my god, look at that!” Gohee whispered while pointing at Jaebum. He was sitting on the floor with his back leaning on the sofa. His head was turned to the side, which where Taecyeon’s head was. Taecyeon was the one who had his head hanging from the sofa, but what made Gohee giggled quietly was that Jaebum looked like he was kissing Taecyeon’s cheek.

Gohee slowly creeped by their side and pulled out her mobile phone, ready to take picture of the rare, valuable moment. Munhwa who watched from the side, pressed on her stomach so that she didn’t burst laughing out loud, followed by Minsun’s rare giggle. 

Munhwa elbowed Minsun. The latter turned her head to her side.

“Let’s take some pictures too,”

Minsun nodded. They scanned the living room, finding their next target, and Munhwa’s eyes caught her ‘anti fan’ as she had called him behind him. Minsun looked at the direction, and there was Wooyoung. He was lying on the sofa across the one Taecyeon slept at. It was funny how he had his thumb and his index finger under his chin with his mouth wide open like that.

Munhwa clamped her lips together and narrowed her eyes at him, as if she was ahrboring some sort of anger towards him, from Minsun’s oint of view. But then, that was just natural since Wooyoung was always bullying her.

“I’m going to revenge on him a bit.” She turned to Minsun and said with a mischievous smile. Munhwa quickly ran upstairs withot explaining, and then returned back as fast with something in her hand. It was a lipstick. A bright, chili red one. She carefully placed the lipstick on Wooyoung’s lips and smeared it all over it. For the finishing touch, Munhwa drew a big heart on one of his chubby cheeks.

Minsun almost burst out laughing, but she quickly covered and held back which caused her body to jerk. Munhwa turned to Minsun and made a small high-five with her and then quickly snapped a picture.

Wooyoung’s eyes slowly opened up, and the girls quickly hid any evidence which might rise suspicion.

“Wha… What are you doing?” Wooyoung asked while yawning at the same time.

“Nothing.”
“Nothing!”

Both Minusn and Munhwa answered simultaneously and shook their head. They both had a perfect poker face on.

“You look suspicious…” Wooyoung frowned as he got up and stared at both girls back and forth. They kept a straight face and pretended like nothing happened. Gohee who watched from behind secretly smiled and tried hard to not laugh.

“Oh yeah, I’m going to the provision store!” Minsun blurted with her straight face as an attempt to distract Wooyoung from his suspicion. “Would you like anything?” She looked at Wooyoung first. Wooyoung seemd a little confused, probably still not fully awake.

“Does this house ever lacks anything? I think you have everything we ever need here…” He said while scratching his head.

“But we don’t have ice cream. How about some ice cream for everyone?” Minsun looked at Munhwa.

“But dinner is almost ready. How about tomorrow?”

“It’s okay. The shop is only 10-minutes away,”

“Wait. You’re really buying ice cream for all of us?” Wooyoung sprung to his feet and looked energetic all of a sudden. “I want to come along!”

“You can just tell me the flavor you want. No need to come along,”
“No! I want to choose my own ice cream!” Wooyoung insisted.

Minsun looked to Munhwa, and the girl shrugged, holding abck her smile. Minsun thought it would be funny to see how Wooyoung would react when he knew about his face later, so she decided to keep it a secret. It was Munhwa’s revenge anyway, Minsun was just doing her favour by staying out of the matter. 

“Fine. Let’s go now before the dinner is ready.”





“Why am I, ugh, the one, ugh, who do the, ugh, cycling?!” Minsun complained out loud when they had to go up a hill. Wooyoung was sitting on the pasenger seat behind her, shamelessly holding tight onto her waist, glancing down the hill and shivered when he thought of the possible consequences if they ever fall down.

“Because I’m tired like crazy and in this case, I don’t even have the energy to keep cycling and we might fall down this hill.” He said while tightening his hold on Minsun’s waist, which bothered her a bit. She slapped his hand.

“Don’t touch me!”

“But I have to!”

Minsun put both her legs down and stepped on the ground hard so that the bicyle would not tumble over.

“Get off, quick!” Minsun shut her eyes tight, trying to force out her remaining strength.

“What? Why? Are you leaving me here?”

“Get off, please! Quick!”

The bicycle started to shake as Minsun slowly losing her strength. Wooyoung finally realized the situation they were in and jumped off the bike. Minsun was heaving heavily as she too got off the bike and decided to just walk for the rest of their way to the provision store, which would take slightly longer, of course.

“I shoudnt have bring you along,” Minsun muttered under her breath while racing to catch up with her breathing again. She could already see the shop up front, in about another 5 meters more. They were now walking together; Minsun took along the bicycle. Within a few minutes, they arrived at the shop and their expressions brightened agaian. Well, at least, Woyoung did. The owner chuckle to see Wooyoung’ drawn face, but the boy was clueless about it. Minsun silently put a finger on her lips telling the shopkeeper ahjusshi to keep quiet about it and he smiled and winked back at Minsun. 

Instead of going straight to the ice cream box like Minsun did, Wooyoung was distracted at other stuffs. There were some cheap plastic toys and colourful kites, and all kinds of old school snacks he had during elementary school amongst the display items.They made him feel nostalgic, reiniscing how happy he was when he was a little child.

“Wooyoung, you said you want to choose your ice cream!” Minsun slightly shouted from where the ice cream box was. It was slightly hidden at the far back of the shop.

“Get me a chcocolate, wait, no, orange popsicle!” He shouted back, still deely fascinated by the wide range of colourful products on the display all over the shop.

Minsun pulled out a couple of orange popsicles from the box while muttering something to herself.
“And who said he wanted to pick the ice cream himself?”

Minsun walked back to the entrance where the register was with a bunch of different ice creams in her hands. Wooyoung was waiting there for her with some stuffs in his hands too, and a wide child-like grin on his bright face.

“Hey, Minsun! Let’s buy these too!”

Minsun looked over the things in his hands, “Firecrackers?”

Wooyoung nodded. “Let’s play them on the barbecue night!” 

“Do you have money with you?”

Wooyoung frowned, “Buy it for us!”

Again, Minsun muttered under her breath, “You thick face…” Thick-faced noisy Woo, she told herself quietly. That was what she would be calling him deep inside her mind.

So, Minsun ended up paying for some ice creams, firecrackers and also some snacks too. When they were about to leave from the shop, the sky rapidly darkened, thick black cloud started to gather in the sky. 

“Is it going to rain?” Woyoung asked while looking at the sky. They both were standing by the entrance of the shop with big plastic bags in their hands, filled with the goodies they had just bought.

“Seemed like it,” came Minsun’s monotoned answer. Before they took another step, rain suddenly came pouring down.They quickly retreated into the shop again.

“Why don’t you wait until the rain stops? You can put your ice cream in the fridge until then,” the old ahjusshi who owned the shop said with a warm smile on his face. Wooyoung happily thanked him and then took a seat on a wooden bench nearby the entrance. Minsun followed him right after.




Wooyoung quickly took a plastic snack-toy fan which would spin when the wind blew through its blades. There were a lot of small, colourful chocolate balls in its long, transparent holder and Wooyoung started munching on them. Minsun too took the same thing and followed him eating the chocolate candies, one by one unlike the boy who shoved a handfuls into his mouth at a time. From time to time, Minsun blew on the fan to see it turned.

“Man, this ,”

“Not really.”

Wooyoung looked at Minsun questioningly, almost looking annoyed since this girl always had something contradictory to say.

Minsun turned around to watch the rain outside.

“What do you mean?”

“I like it when it rains. It’s relaxing.”

Wooyoung tried to read deeper into the meaning of her words, but to no avail.

“Well, I like to sleep when it rains,”

“That’s because the sound of rain makes you feel calm,” Minsun briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before her eyes slowly opened up again. Wooyoung continued watching her as she carefully watched the rain, as if counting on each heavy drops as they hit the earth.

“Hey,” Wooyoung spoke.

“Hm?”

“I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“I know you like Jaebum hyung, but how do you feel about Taecyeon hyung?”

“Why do you pry on others’ privacy so much?” Minsun sighed, clearly not welcoming such questions.

“Aaah, answer me! I’m so curious!”

Minsun seemed to be careful as she took time to find the right words in her mind. 
“To me, Taecyeon sunbae is… a good friend.”

“Just a good friend?”

Minsun nodded. But memories from last night started to resurface. She could still vividly remember the feelings being held in his strong arms and looking straight into his sharp eyes. She was wavering under his strong yet gentle gaze. He was so overwhelming that she couldn’t help but get drawn to him in such close proximity. And that was when her heart started to beat faster and faster, and she wasn’t tell herself what was she going through at the time. 

Was she slowly falling for him? She never felt anthing towards him until last night.

She wasn’t sure about him, but she was a little distant with him today. She felt awkward whenever their eyes met, and she haven’t said a word to him today either.

“Just… a good friend, I guess.”

“Does that mean you like him?”

“No,” Minsun shook her head, trying to look at a bigger picture and make clear of herself. “No, I don’t think so. I can’t say I like him. I just think he’s a good friend, and I enjoy his company, just like how friends are.”

Wooyoung nodded. Tough luck for Taecyeon hyung, he thought. But that guy probably knew how Minsun think of him already. Poor guy.

Wooyoung put the topic at rest and scanned around the shop, obviously looking bored. His stomach was already grumbling and he really was anticipating dinner so unlike Minsun, he didn’t welcome the rain at all. And then, his eyes spotted something that caught his interest. It was a little girl around four maybe, in a pretty white summer dress and her short black hair accentuate her chubby cheeks. She was so cute, especially at how she was counting on the candies on the display. From the way the shopkeeper ahjusshi checking on her from time to time, Wooyoung cold tell that the girl was probably his magnae daughter, or maybe his granddaughter.

“Hi!” Wooyoung waved and smiled brightly at the girl. The girl looked up, and when she saw him, she just stood there unmoving, staring at him with her innocent, big eyes.

“Hey, come here,” Wooyoung said, still smiling brightly but the girl refused tol take a step. When Wooyoung suddenly stood up, the little girl quickly ran to the shopkeeper ahjusshi and hid behind his legs, crying. Wooyoung was still in a daze at what just happened when he heard a fit of laughter from his behind. Usually Munhwa would do that, laughing from his behind, but this time, it was none other than Minsun. The shopkeeper joined the laughter as well.

“What did I do?” Wooyoung asked in a puzzle.

“You should look into the mirror.” Minsun said, bits of laughter in between her words.

“Hey, I’m cute okay! Why would litle children be scared of my face?” Wooyoung touched his cheek, but when he put away his finger, he saw red stains in his fingers.

“What the hell?” He took a sniff at his fingers but couldn’t point out what that chemical smell of the stain was. He started to frantically look around for a mirror. He found a pink toy hand mirror and rigorously picked it up and examined his face.

“WHAAAAAAA- WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!” Wooyoung quickly brushed away the lipstick on his lips with his hands. No wonder his lips felt sticky when he woke up previously. Then, he turned around at Minsun.

“Who did this?!”

Minsun shrugged.

“Damn! It must be Munhwa! Wait until I got back you ja#$bkd*whd!” Wooyoung rambled gibberish since he couldn’t really curse the girl he liked.

“What, isn’t spraining her legs enough?” Minsun asked.

“I- WHAT? Why would I-”

“I knew it.”

Wooyoung could just stare at her. Well, she was right, and there was nothing he could do to change facts, especially when it came from Minsun’s mouth. Just like how she knew about the frog in the kit. That girl was probably psychic, he should be more careful towards her.

“I really think you should be nicer to her.”

Wooyoung looked away. He suddenly felt so awkward. He rarely talked about his feelings with anyone at all. How could he be nice to Munhwa when all he did before was bullying her the whole time? What would she think of him then.

“Ah, my turn.” Minsun suddenly said. “Do you think Munhwa likes you too?”

“W-What do you mean ‘likes you too’?”

“Stop pretending. I know already.”

“Tch. How would I know? She’s a girl. What do you think?”

Minsun shrugged. “She doesn’t seem to despise you after all the things you did to her. But I can’t really say if she likes you, because she’s kind to everyone too,”

Wooyoung sighed. “…I know.” He muttered.

“If you don’t start being nice to her, I don’t think you would stand a chance,”

“Can we drop the topic, please?”

“Sure, not a poblem. You started it first anyway.” Minsun smiled. Her legs swininging back and forth, looking very relaxed.

Wooyoung narrowed his eyes at her. Minsun was good at being annoying too, he saw that. He really should be more careful around her.






“Junho, you’re there?” Chansung whispered from behind the large curtain at the large glass sliding doors which looked over the beach at the living room.

“Yeah,” Junho answered. He was hiding behind a sofa with a syrup bottle in his hand, ready to smear them on his face, and maybe to squirt them a bit when Wooyoung came in. However, when he was about to put the syrup on his face, the light went out, the air conditioner too suddenly turned off.

“Hey, Chan!” Junho called.

“It’s a black out!” Chansung replied.

“Chansung ah, I can’t see you…” Junho’s voice was a little shaky. It was so dark he could see light spots in his eye. He couldn’t see a thing until a lightning struck its flash lit up the room for a split second. He felt so insecure in the dark.

“AAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

“Huh?” Chansung looked up. Seemed like the scream came from upstairs. What was going-

“AAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

BAM!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

“Chansung! Chansung what happened?! Chansung aaaaaaah!”