Muchangpo Beach 
5.30 p.m.

It’s been a little over a week since they had been staying at Minsun’s expensive summer villa. However, as breathtaking as the beach was, the boys never really had any time to enjoy any of their 5-stars rated vacation to make full use of the time they had to practice. They would go out in the early morning and will only finish their routines late evening. By that time they would be too exhausted to do anything anymore, even if it was just a stroll along the beach.

Now that they were ready to go back by tomorrow morning, they finally had their ‘real’ summer vacation on the last day. For a change, they left basketball behind and decided to enjoy what other people usually would at the beach, volleyball.

“I want to be on Jaebum hyung’s team!” Chansung raised his arm straight before he glomped on Jaebum. The senior, yet smaller guy was taken by surprise and squirmed his way out from Chansung’s big hug on him but to no avail. 

“Chansung ah! Let me go, I can’t breathe!”

“Can I join?” Munhwa who had been sitting under the umbrella with Gohee and Minsun suddenly stood up and walked towards the boys. The girls had been sporting a rather humble looking swimsuit, but they still managed to get the boys dropping their jaws at the uncommon sight of their long, slender legs, especialy Gohee who had the best figure and the prettiest out of the three. Jaebum had been sending her a few looks, telling her to cover up a little, but Gohee knew how to be cheeky to. It was fun to see Jaebum jealous sometimes, because he was the one who usually made her the jealous one with his fans and what not. Gohee pretended that she didn’t see his looks and acted as usual.

“If Munhwa is playing, then we would like to join too,” Gohee added. She loked over at Minsun, and the girl smiled lightly and nodded as she stood up along with Gohee. 

“Sounds fun. Mind if I join?” Nichkhun’s voice suddenly was heard, which stopped all the commotion just now. The school president who had just came out of the house walked to the group of boys who was still deciding who was joining whose team which made all heads turned to Nichkhun. His presence was still awkward among the boys, even though they did admit that Nichkhun was a nice guy in general. It was just that things turned awkward for them when both him and Taecyeon stood in the same room, even though the team captain never said anything about the school president, not even something like to stay away from him.

“Well, sure,” Jaebum answered on behalf of the basketball team. Other boys weren’t really sure how to act around Nichkhun when Taecyeon was around and thus couldn’t really say much. Apart from Taecyeon, as the oldest, Jaebum automatically picked up the burden of keeping the atmosphere light among them.

“Well, since Khun is here, why don’t we split it into Khun’s team and my team? Chansung and Taecyeon will be on my side.” Jaebum started counting the people there. Then, his eyes came across Gohee’s. “Gohee, will you join my team?”

She looked at Minsun and the others first, not sure what was Jaebum planning in his head.

“Yeah, sure,” came her late reply.

“I’ll take one more people. So who’s joining me and who’s joining Khun?”

Junho cleared his throat. “I’ll go to Khun sunbae’s team.” Junho volunteered himself, since Jaebum’s team already had three boys.

Khun looked at Minsun who was standing quietlya few distance awy from the group of people, looking unsure.

“Hey, Minsun. Would you like to join my team?” Khun shouted.

She looked as if she was caught offguard, not knowing how to react to Khun’s sudden invitation.

“Are you joining Khun’s team, Minsun?” Taecyeon suddenly spoke after being quiet ever since Khun arrived.

“I’ll let you choose yourself.” Khun looked straight at Taecyeon’s fierce eyes even though he was talking to Minsun. Minsun could feel that the two had started their cold war already. There were as if electric sparks coming out of their eyes from the way they looked at each other. Taecyeon seemed unpleased that she was about to join Khun’s team but then, Khun still needed more team mates.

“So, which team, Minsun?” Khun pushed his questions further.

Minsun stayed silence, but still contemplating of which group to join. She wished she didn’t have to play right then, it felt as if she was becoming a trophy and whoever got cosen by her would be the winner. She didn’t want those boys to have that kind of thoughts, but then it felt awkward if she pulled out at that time.

Coach Cho who had been watching this whole time started to sense something weird in the air. He leaned sideways to Wooyoung who was eating his ice cream to whisper to him.

“Is something going on between those two?” He looked at Nichkhun and Taecyeon back and forth.                   

Wooyoung who was quietly watching on the side line shrugged. “You have no idea,”

Unlike how he was usually, Wooyoung was quite quiet the last few days. He observed people more than bugging them. He only gave short answers to questions directed at him. Coach Cho scratched his nape. Kids these days are so difficult to understand, he thought.

“Wooyoung.”

“Huh?” Wooyoung snapped out of his long thoughts, surprised when Minsun suddenly called out his name.

“Which team are you in?” She asked.

“Huh?”

“I’ll go to the team you choose.”

Everyone was surprised at Minsun’s statement, so now all eyes were on Wooyoung.

“Well,” he glanced over Jaebum’s team who only lacked one more player while Khun needed three more people.

Wooyoung sighed. He scratched his nape and then quickly came up with a solution.

“Then, Minsun and I will join Khun sunbae’s team with Coach Cho, and Munhwa can be on Jaebum hyung’s team.” 

Wooyoung wanted them to start playing already. He didn’t want to see drama breaking out in front of his eyes and Taecyeon and Nichkhun fighting over Minsun. No one would benefit from that.

The game started out normally. It was fun and everyone was enjoying it. It was until Taecyeon saw how close Khun was with Minsun when he patted her back or head from time to time everytime she returned a good ball, and the way he smiled and laughed with her as if forcing Taecyeon to think that Khun was showing off his close relationship with Minsun, even though he wasn’t sure if that was his real intention. His anger and jealousy continued to build up and Taecyeon started to play more seriously, so serious that even his team mates couldn’t keep up with him.

Khun realized his gameplay change and adjusted himself to Taecyeon’s frequency, and later on the game became totally theirs. The rest of the students there could feel the tense between them both and couldn’t really participate in the game anymore. Minsun sighed that the game had to turn out that way eventually.

“Minsun ah!”

Minsun turned around to see Wooyoung reaching out to her. Both his hands were stretched out, aiming for her shoulder. Once his fingers touched her, Minsun was pushed a couple of steps behind. She almost lost her balance but managed to keep her feet on the ground.

“Wooyoung!” Several voices shouted in unison, including Nichkhun. Minsun and everyone else rushed to Wooyoung who fell on his back on the white sand after the ball hit him square on the head, not moving. Usually Munhwa would be the first person to run to his side whenever such things happened, but since she was on the other side of the net, Minsun arrived first by Wooyoung’s side.

“Wooyoung, are you okay?” She asked gently, managed to keep herself composed even though the boy was barely conscious at the momnet. The ball that was previously flying towards Minsun just now must have hit him really hard. Out of all the people, Taecyeon looked the most sorry because the ball came from him.

“Hey, kid. Can you hear me?” Coach Cho softly tapped Wooyoung’s chubby cheeks.

“Ugh…” Wooyoung muttered. All he was seeing were blurry faces surrounding him, calling his name loudly, making his ears binged. He didn’t know being hit with a  ball could be that bad. His head was spinning and he couldn’t even get up.

“Wooyoung, come on, wake up!” Taecyeon yelled as he pillowed Wooyoung’s head with his strong arms.

“Ugh… hyung, you’re lucky that you’re older than me or else…” Wooyoung closed his eyes and shook his head a bit before opening his eyes again, but all he saw were still blurry people hovering above him. He was slowly losing his consciousness as black blurry dots started to fog his sight until the sunny, blue sky turned pitch black.




“Uh…” Wooyoung slowly lifted his eye lids. The painful spinning sensation he had felt before he passed out just now had gone, replaced by a cold, refreshing sensation around his temple. But then, he realized that there was someone by his side, dabbing wet towels on his head. He caught her, by his hunch, wrist since his sight was a still a bit blurry and he couldn’t really see who it was.

He heard her surprised gasp when he pulled down her hand, signaling her that he was feeling okay already. So he was right. She must be Munhwa. Or if not…

Wooyoung shook his head and slowly forced himself up.

“Are you sure-”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Wooyoung said lazily. She sounded like Minsun, and when he turned to his left, he was right to see her sitting there. He realized that he was brought back in the villa again. She stilll had the wet towel in her hand. From her face, Wooyoung could tell she was worried, and maybe felt bad that Wooyoung had to get hit in her place. 

Wooyoung squinted his eyes and had a clearer look at Minsun. She had a low v-neck, beige colored tunic over her swimsuit, which still exposed a generous amount of skin of her lower body part, and that wasn’t bad at all to his eyes. But then, Wooyoung quickly shook the thought off, because Minsun was always sharp and quick and she might knew that he was checking her out.

Wooyoung gulped, and then quickly cleared his throat.

“How long had it been since I passed out?” He asked again to see that the sun was almost setting, and that everyone else was having fun at the beach from the large, full-height window in his room. Probably Taecyeon or Coach Cho brought him in since it was cooler inside. The girls and boys were playing in the water while Taecyeon and Coach Jo was busy grilling some food for their barbecue party tonight. Minsun too looked at them before she turned to Wooyoung again.

“Not long,” Minsun shook her head a couple times. “About 10 minutes?”

“10 minutes?” Wooyoung’s eyebrows raised. He seemed surprise at the fact that it wasn’t that long since he passed out and yet, “Only ten minutes and they had forgotten all about me?!”

H e seemed to be a bit upset as he bent one knee up and put his weight on one hand as the other scratched the back of his head.

“Argh… whatever, as long as everything is still okay…” he sighed as he continued watching his friends playing in the water a little too hard without him.

“What do you mean?”

Wooyoung sighed again. “Just imagine if you passed out instead. I bet World War III would break out and none of them could laugh so carefreely like that right now,” he mumbled a bit.

When Minsun thought about it again, Wooyoung made a lot sense. Imagine how it would be if the ball that came form Taecyeon hit her, Nichkhun would surely blame Taecyeon for that and they would start fighting again and things would turn awkward for the rest of the guys here. Since tonight was the last night for them to be here, they would lose the only chance for them  to have fun, and things would be difficult between her, Nichkhun and Taecyeon, if Wooyoung hadn’t saved her.

“Oh, well. I guess that’s the price I have to pay for trying to keep the world peaceful.” Wooyoung added, this time loking more relaxed than before. His eyes were stuck at the setting sun that looked as if it was disappearing into the sea bit by bit. The way he thinks seemed to be simple, but it showed how much he cared for the people around, even though he would never admit it easily if Minsun asked him.

Minsun smiled gently as she put the towel in the basin on the bedside table. 

“You worry too much,” Minsun said, still smiling lightly like before.

“How can I not after knowing what happened between you guys.” He admitted calmly. Around Minsun, he had learnt how to admit his weakness, his real feelings or to show her his fear and not be ashamed of it. Because she showed him hers. Because he simply think she didn’t give a damn about those. And that made him comfortable.

“You did?”

“Well, let’s just say I was passing that room when Nichkhun was telling you about what happened between Taecyeon hyung and him,”

“Wow… You gotta be the best eavesdropper I’ve ever met.” Minsun said with her eyes slightly widened than usual, amused at Wooyoung’s ability in collecting information.

Wooyoung narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her, which made Minsun smiled earnestly. 

That smile again. That precious smile which only few have seen. For some reason, Wooyoung felt good that Minsun was able to smile like that in front of him.

“I’m complimenting you,”

“Well,” Wooyoung loosened a bit. “I guess that’s fine,”

And Minsun continued smiling like that as she too watched until the sun completely swallowed bythe sea and the sky turned purplish and darker by every passing minute. That day, she saw another side of Wooyoung, and he had given her a better impression of himself. 

Thank you, Wooyoung ah.

Minsun secretly said in her head, because she didn’t want it to get to Wooyoung’s head.




7.30 p.m.

“RUN!” 

Wooyoung screamed. He plugged his ears with his fingers and ran away from the firecracker he had just lit up just a few seconds ago. Another couple of boys too lit up a firecrackers nearby the beach, and all three fireworks shot up to the sky almost simultaneously, beautifully decorating the dark sky with colourful sparks. A lot of them took the chance to capture the short-lived moment with their handphone cameras. The rest on the other hand were found enjoying the grilled food, especially Chansung and Junho who also busily scoping the area for any possible new materials to be uploaded on their gossip blog. For a start, their eyes zoomed in on Taecyeon who was busy grilling the food at the time. Who knew something might come up between him and Minsun, and maybe, Nichkhun.

“So… How’s everything going?” Minsun slowly neared the barbecue grill to have a look at the things there. Originally Taecyeon and Jaebum was grilling the food together but just now Taecyeon urged Jaebum to have a break and eat together with Gohee, so right now he was alone by the barbecue grill at the patio. 

“Oh, don’t worry about me. Everything’s fine here.” Taecyeon replied without even looking up from whatever he was doing.

“Why don’t you have a seat and eat something? I’ll take over,”

“It’s okay. I’ll just finish this last bag of sausages and then get another boys or two to take over.”

“Then you won’t mind if I lend a hand, would you?” Minsun went around the grills and took a spot by Taecyeon’s side and started helping him with the grilling. Now that they were finally standing side by side in their own space, they both realized that they hadn’t really talked to each other privately since their awkward moment at the basketball court on the first night they were here. It had been a little over a week since that incident. They started to feel the awkward air hovering above them when they found no topics to talk about.

“So…” Taecyeon started, but still wasn’t sure what to talk about.

“Yeah,” came Minsun’s short reply. They both secretly cringed inside for making the situation between them awkward.

“Um… how was Wooyoung? He didn’t want to talk to me when I checked on him this evening,” Taecyeon said, which made Minsun laughed. 

“If you mean his head, then he’s not quite right in his mind, just as he always is, not because of the ball,”

Taecyeon laughed at her light reply. And then his smile faded from his lips. 

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“…For what?”

“For being ridiculously childish this evening. I’m not sure what Khun told you about me, but he must have said something. It’s just, whenever we meet, it feels like I was back in the past again, right at the moment when our friendship ended. When we were younger and foolish and scared.” He paused. Minsusn didn’t say anything, but gave him the time for him to continue.

“I’m not exactly sure if I’ve changed for good since then though. So, I will understand if you are angry at me, or hate me, or…” Taecyeon chuckled.

“I’m not a person who judge people from his past though.” Minsun smiled when Taecyeon looked at her. His eyes as if questioning her if she really meant it.

Minsun continued, this time, her voice gentler and slower, “But… do you regret it? The decision you made in the past?”

“I do. Still am. Actually, I hate Khun more at the fact that he is, in a way, right. I wish I could just turn back time and fix everything. But, that is not possible so the only option for me is to move on and just be a better person,”

“Don’t worry. Whatever happened between you guys have nothng to do with me,”

Taecyeon looked at Minsun again and smiled a lopsided smile. “Thanks. That meant a lot for me.”

Minsun smiled back at him.




“Oh, it’s so beautiful…” Chansung mumbled while looking into the screen of his cellphone. Junho who was sitting by his side nodded in agreement, his small eyes now wet with tears, touched to see such beautiful moment between Minsun and Taecyeon caught with their cameras. 

“They looked sooooooo perfect together!” Chansung almost squealed like a fangirl, if it wasn’t because of his deep voice, and Junho could only nod because his voice was already stuck at his throat. Wooyoung who saw the interaction between the two boys looked on with disgust. He shook his head and then stole a glance towards Minsun and Taecyeon who contineud with the grilling again. However, his eagle-like eyes caught something else too in the far distance. It was that guy.

The school president.

Wooyong swore he saw Nichkhun watching Minsun from afar, with probably a sad expression on his face (Wooyoung guessed, based on how his shoulders looked hunched from afar) before he turned around and looked at the sea, all alone when everyone else was having fun and enjoying the food. He wondered if Minsun knew that Nichkhun was there looking at her? Because if she did, she would never let Khun isolate himself like that, looking sad, no?

Wooyoung walked to the table with the food near Taecyeon and Minsun, but the two weren’t even disturbed with his presence.

Were these two dating for real or what? Wooyoung scrunched up his eyebrows as his hands smoothly picking up various food to fill his plate and within seconds his plate was already full. Wooyoung gave the couple one last glance, but they were still busy with the grlling and didn’t even notice his stare so Wooyoung just walked off towards the beach.

Towards where Nichkhun Horvejkul was.

Wooyoung stood behind him to see if he could feel his presence, but Khun seemed to be lost in deep thoughts, so Wooyoung stepped forward and positioned himself right by his side.

“Oh, hey. Wooyoung.”

Wooyoung just raised his eyebrows as his greetings since his cheeks was too full with food.

“How was your head?”

Wooyoung forced the half-chewed food down his esophagus and nodded to Khun. “Good. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so childish, as a school president, I shouldn’t have-”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Wooyoung quickly cut off Khun’s apology. “I’m already cool about it okay? Team captain or school president, things gotta happen when they gotta happen. Here,”

Wooyoung stabbed a piece of meat and a sausage with an extra fork he brought along just now and handed it to Khun.

“I see that you haven’t eaten.”

Khun smiled at the bright kid and accepted his offering gratefully even though he didn’t really feel like eating anything at all. Especially when he saw Minsun so happy around these guys, something that he himself wasn’t sure if he could do it. He always thought that he was protecting her or that he was the only person who was able to make her smile, but after witnessing all that was happening here several days ago, he told himself that he shouldn’t be so posessive over Minsun if he wasn’t even trying hard enough for her.

“Thanks,” Khun muttered, and then looked at the wide sea again. The fork Wooyoung handed him remained static in his hand, and it didn’t seem like he was going to eat it anytime soon.

Wooyoung continued to eye him curiously. He did seemed sad, Wooyoung thought. But nobody was around and this was a good chance anyway so he would never let it pass.

“Can I ask you something?” Wooyoung asked.

“Sure,”

“You know, I heard that you’re rich too. As rich as Minsun. Probably richer.”

Khun chuckled at Wooyoung’s straightforwardness.

“So,” Wooyoung continued, “Why would you go to such a regular, old school? I mean, for Minsun, she told us because she wanted to live with her grandmother, but how about you?”

“Hm… If I tell you, would you keep it a secret?”

What? Another secret? But Wooyoung loves secrets anyway so the younger guy nodded quickly.

“Honestly, it was because of Minsun.”

“Eh?”

“Yeah,” Khun nodded and his smile widened looking at Wooyoung’s funny expression. “We were very close since we were younger, but that bond seemed to loosen as we grew up. I want to be closer to her, to keep my eyes on her and protect her, just like how a big brother would over his little sister,”

Wooyoung’s jaw almost dropped but he quickly shook his head and pulled himself together. Wow. He didn’t know Khun’s feelings towards Minsun was that deep. He gave up expensive, prestigious and famous school just to be with Minsun in that school with that bald, alzheimer-prone old guy as its principal? Sure they looked close and all, but Minsun pretty much seemed emotionless the whole time, no matter with whom she was so Wooyoung never thought they were that close.

“Little sister, really? Don’t you have a crush on her or something?” Wooyoung started to feel greedy and dug deeper.

“Why do you think so?”

“Everyone here thinks so. You know, ‘cause you and Taecyeon are sort of like, yeah, fighting, um, over her?”

Khun averted his eyes towards the sea again. “Maybe.” Khun shrugged.

“Maybe?!”

“Yeah, maybe. Who knows?” Khun looked at Wooyoung again and returned the fork in Wooyoung’s hand.

“Minsun has always been a loner, but you and Minsun seem pretty close.” Khun added.

“Oh, well, um, let’s just say there was an accident, and I saved her,” Wooyoung smiled proudly, “and, I guess she was just thankful to me so we kind of get close from then on.”

“Oh, really? I thought it was Taecyeon who saved her, you know, from the bullies?”

“Oh, that? Well, if it wasn’t because of me, Taecyeon and Minsun wouldn’t even meet,”

“I see. So you’re the one who started everything, huh?”

“W-What do you mean with ‘everything’?” 

Khun shrugged with a kight smile on his lips as he reached out his hand and pinched Wooyoung’s cheeks and then patted it gently as he left him a message.

“Take good care of my Minsun, okay? If she ever get hurt, I’ll hunt for your head first.”

Wooyoung’s head nodded on itself, as if he was bewitched by Khun’s handsome smile. How could he look so gentle and charming and handsome while uttering such brutal threat? Khun pulled away his hand from Wooyoung’s chubby cheek and then put it into his bermuda’s pocket and walked towards the patio.

“Oppa, there you are!” Minsun exclaimed. She ran down the small steps from the patio onto the white sand to get to Nichkhun. Her mood must be very good that night for her to look that cheerful.

“Were you looking for me?” Khun slowly made his way towards her, leaving Wooyung standing like a statue behind.

“Yeah. Where have you been?”

“I’m just taking a stroll.”

“You haven’t eaten, don’t you? I grilled some pork for you. Let’s find a place to sit and eat together,” naturally, just like close siblings, Wooyoung witnessed with his own eyes the deep bond between them as Minsun grabbed for Khun’s fingers, probably out of habit and dragged him away. Wooyoung could understood slightly better at Khun’s confession just now. Even though Minsun never showed it, they indeed shared a close bond, just like siblings, or maybe even more than that.

And again, he realized that his existence was ignored.

Wooyoung wanted to pull his hair out of his head if he wasn’t holding a plate full of meat for being a bystander again. Was he born into this world to watch all these dramas going about?!






Miryung High
7.30 a.m.

Minsun stepped off the bus in a good feeling. The summer vacation had finally ended and they were back at school again. Other students might be excited to meet each other again, but some might be a bit moody and still in vacation mood, however, Minsun couldn’t stand long holidays. She just couldn’t stand having nothing much to do, and since her parents were back home, they would never let her do part time jobs and started bringing her to events and parties, which she didn’t like at all. She just loved staying busy and study everyday.

“Man… Minsun… You can’t be that heartless,” Wooyoung said in a whiny tone as he closley followed her from behind.

“Oh, no, of course I’m not.” Minsun replied indifferently and kept looking straight, ignoring the whiny Wooyoung behind.

“Then help me.”

“Oh, but if it’s about your homework, then it’s your problem. And if you need help with the formulas, you can always referred back to the notes I gave you before. There, I helped you enough.” 

“Minsun is a meanie!!!” Wooyoung started shouting like a spoilt little kid whose mother wouldn’t buy him candy. It was embarrassing, yes, but Minsun tried hard to not sigh and kept her face as straight as possible, and quickened her pace of walking wishing Wooyoung would get left behind quickly. However, he was much taller so of course he could catch up easily.

“Hi, Minsun, good morning!” A couple of girls passed by and brightly greeted Minsun and then giggled to each other afterwards. Minsun realized those girls from the class next to her.

Minsun stopped in the middle of her walking, which made Wooyoung to bump into her back. Wooyoung wondered what was going on but when he looked around, he sawMinsun watching the previous two girls walking towards the building until they were gone from their sight.

“What’s wrong with you?” He asked. His lips slightly pouting.

“They said hi to me,” she mumbled, her eyes were still stuck on the spot the two girls were last seen.

“Yeah, they did so- WAIT THEY DID.” Wooyoung too looked at the same spot. “Hey, Minsun, they said hi to you. They even called out your name!”

That was what made her wondered. A lot of people didn’t know her before the scandal broke out, and afterwards, even if she was slightly more known, most girls hated her. Besides, she had always been a loner so other than her Mathematic Club members, nobody ever greeted or talked to her unless it was really important. 

“Hey, Minsun, Wooyoung!” A deep, yet cheerful voice came from behind them. Both Minsun and Wooyoung turned around automatically and saw Taecyeon heading towards them.

“Hey, hyung. You know just now-”

A  fit of giggles and squeals dissolved into the air which stole the attention of all three. They looked around to see girls and boys excitedly gossiping with each other and even took pictures, as if they were a bunch of celebrities.

“Wh- uh, what’s going on?” Taecyeon looked around anxiously. He almost got a panic attack when people suddenly paid a lot more interest towards him, but he was really glad that the girls weren’t rushing at him or he might just faint right then and there. However, he realized that both Wooyoung and Minsun too had no idea when they shook their head and shrugged.




“Woah, look at the feedback!” Chansung’s eyes widened at the sight in front of him. He realized that a lot of students, especially girls began following around whenever they see Taecyeon or Minsun around.

“We did it, Channie!” Junho raised his hands high and received a high-five on his palm from Chansung. They managed to make Taecyeon and Minsun a hot topic in their school by reporting on them from time to time on their gossip blog. Now, they both were celebrities thanks to this ‘Channuneo’.

“They’re the Brangelina of our school now!” Chansung giggled excitedly.

“Eh? I thought Jaebum hyung and Gohee nuna are the Brangelina of our school?”

“Nah. They’re old stuffs, we need something new and sensational!”

Again, the two boys exchanged their conglatulatory hand shake.