9 One Last Time

“C’mon now, we have to leave in 3 hours to not miss the flight.” Baekhyun stands at the front door together with the luggages Youngkyun is counting over and over again, making sure nothing is forgotten. “Tzuyu! Don’t you have something like this?” Youngkyun raises Jennie’s grizzly teddy bear.

“I don’t have and I don’t need!” Tzuyu yells back. “Can you hand me the bag of sandwiches, please?” she asks Jennie who is checking the stoves.

“Why would you bring sandwiches? We’re staying at a hotel,” Jennie says but hands Tzuyu the bag of sandwiches nevertheless.

“Youngkyun likes this stuff.”

Jennie looks at her with the looks of ‘something-is-going-on-right-but-I-am-just-missing-it’.

“It’s a no, Jennie. Whatever you’re thinking, please brush it off.” After Tzuyu checks her hand luggage and as soon as she knows she’s ready to go, she goes to the front door only to be greeted by Youngkyun. “Did you bring my sandwiches?”

“I did, glutton.”

“Thanks, sweaty.”

During the whole hour drive to Gimpo Airport, Youngkyun munched on Tzuyu’s sandwiches.

“Man, what are those sandwiches? You look really into it,” Baekhyun asked when they already parked at the airport. Youngkyun sat beside Baekhyun the whole ride, taking turns in driving.

“It’s what Tzuyu has prepared for me.” Youngkyun smiles proudly at his cousin. “It’s chocolate hazelnut spread with peanut butter in it.”

“Aren’t you going to have a concert soon?”

Youngkyun nods.

“You’re not going to watch what you eat?”

“My voice is what matters the most, Baekhyun.” Youngkyun looked at the backseat and found Jennie sleeping peacefully while Tzuyu sleeps hugging Jennie’s teddy bear. “And she said she doesn’t need one.”

“Jennie, we’re here.” Jennie is a light sleeper. With Baekhyun just softly waking her up, she wakes up.

But Tzuyu…

“Yah! Aren’t you going to wake up yet? Yah, Chou Tzuyu! There’s fire!” Youngkyun has been making noise for 5 minutes now to wake her up but to no avail. Baekhyun and Jennie have already entered the airport and are currently eating brunch. “Tzuyu! I think your mom’s here. Omygod, where do I hide?”

“Brhghh,” Tzuyu just made inaudible noises and changes position. She is now occupying the whole backseat, lying there as if it’s her bed.

“Tzuyu! I’m pregnant!” Youngkyun mustered his voice and made it seem it’s a woman’s.

“Omygod, Jennie! What did Baekhyun do to you?” Tzuyu sits rather abrupt and straight.

“Oh you know, just the usual.” Youngkyun winks at her and gets out of the car to open the backseat door. “Let’s go.” He extends his hand to Tzuyu to help her out.

Tzuyu rolls her eyes and reaches onto Youngkyun’s hand. “You know what? That was gross.”

“I didn’t ask you to imagine it, did I?” Youngkyun laughs and when Tzuyu finally stands, he throws his arm over her shoulder.

“Hey, there’s a lot of people here.”

“Hmm, I don’t care. I’m just doing this so that you won’t lose your balance because you know, you’re still a sleepyhead.”

Before heading out the restaurant to board, the four go over their plan again for the whole trip one last time.

“So, we’re going to check in at Jeju Jungmun resort as soon as we set foot on Jeju and then bask under the sun at Jungmun Saekdal beach,” Jennie starts.

“And then travel to Hyeopjae Beach in Jeju-si at night to party!” Baekhyun finishes.

Youngkyun and Tzuyu nod.

“Okay, let’s make this trip a memorable one!”  Baekhyun claps his hands in excitement causing Jennie to hold his hands because he quite looks retarded doing it.

Only it wasn’t the kind of memorable they were expecting…

It was already 7 in the evening when they arrived at Hyeopjae Beach. As expected there were a lot of people in the area. Some are lying on blankets with their buddies as if they’re on a picnic while others are lying on folding beach beds. There were also some who are playing beach volleyball and some who were dipping in the beach water. Not to mention those who are in groups sitting in tables and bar stools sipping alcoholic beverages from the fountain of youth. It was already dark, making it impossible to tell if it was EXO’s Baekhyun or BlackPink’s Jennie partying or if it is SF9’s Hwiyoung with an unknown woman on a date at the beach. As if it was really a date…

The four has rented a place near the beach (aside from the hotel that they checked in to) where they got themselves ready for the night ahead. This trip is only overnight because of the busy schedules of everyone: Baekhyun is near on finishing his solo album and will have fansign events soon and who knows, maybe a solo concert tour too, Jennie is going to be in a drama, Youngkyun is going to have a world tour with SF9, and Tzuyu will be the official photographer of SF9 on the said tour. Everyone is going to be busy that is why for the last time before the busy season starts; they are going to seize the whole night and a day.

“Hey, Tzuyu. Let’s wear whatever we want tonight!” Jennie exclaims.

“Sure, we will.” Tzuyu flashes her mischievous grin at her roommate and the two ladies started changing their outfits.

Meanwhile, at the boys’ room, both are currently working out. Baekhyun is doing some abs workout while Youngkyun does some push ups.

“Youngkyun, do you think my abs is now more visible?”

“Try harder.”

Baekhyun and Youngkyun continue on making their muscles more prominent for a few more minutes before they agreed that it can’t be helped especially Youngkyun, who devoured all 7 sandwiches on the way to the airport.

They went out of their room and waited for the girls at the living room.

“What’s taking you two so long?” Baekhyun sighs exasperatedly.

“Wait up!” The two girls shout from inside their room.

“Are they still applying makeup? I just don’t get it; they’re going to swim, right? Why are they still ap-,” Youngkyun didn’t get to finish his sentence as the two girls already came out of the room.

“Let’s go!” Jennie and Tzuyu no longer waited for the guys. They bolted out of the vacation house and blended in with the crowd.

“These girls can really be such a pain in the ,” Baekhyun shakes his head as he stands from his seat and follows suit. Youngkyun quite got annoyed how he got ready first but it was the girls who went out before him.

“You didn’t really mean it when you said I’d be your official photographer, right?” Tzuyu asks Youngkyun when they were now alone. Baekhyun and Jennie have decided to go back to Jungmun resort before they do anything stupid.

“I meant it, Tzuyu. Okay, sorry if I took it as yes even though you didn’t answer. I just really want..,” he pauses.

“You want what, Youngkyun?”

“To be with you more.” Youngkyun looks straight into her eyes as if he just didn’t drop the bomb.

“Will I earn a million bucks on that project?” Tzuyu attempts to dodge what Youngkyun has just thrown her way and conceal the feelings of having the butterflies in her stomach flutter so wild.

“If you want a million bucks then, just look at the mirror.”

Trying to suppress the tingling feeling, Tzuyu hands Youngkyun a bottle of beer. To which he kindly refuses. “I still have to drive us back to Jejungmun, silly girl. I’d have us both safe.” He winks. If Tzuyu wasn’t as dirty minded as she is in reality, she wouldn’t have to punch Youngkyun at his arms but she did… “What? Drunk driving is wrong!”

“Let’s just pretend you didn’t say anything and I didn’t punch you or what.”

Youngkyun turns serious. He puts down the beer Tzuyu is holding and holds her hand. “But can I not pretend that you don’t have any effect on me at all?”

Tzuyu smiles. “And can I not pretend that I’m disgusted with you when you really don’t and that…,” Tzuyu is cut off by Youngkyun.

“Thank you.”

Tzuyu stands up, wanting to put an end to the cheesy air and removes the see-through dress covering her body. “Let’s swim!” She runs off to the water. Youngkyun is shocked to see her running so brave with only her bikinis covering her up. Instead of running after her, he’s walking rather slowly—still unable to brush off the shock. He scans the place again. Wearing something like hers isn’t unusual, he thinks. But having people turn heads and watch her…that’s not usual. Upon realizing that, he runs after Tzuyu and stops right in front of her.

“What?” Tzuyu describes Youngkyun’s expression as…well…fathomless.

Youngkyun takes off his shirt and dresses the clueless Tzuyu with his shirt. “Yah, Youngkyun!” Tzuyu chided hoping that he will stop dressing her. But he continues dressing her and when he’s done, he storms off back to their seat, leaving Tzuyu dressed in his shirt at the beach water confused.

Meanwhile, at the Jejungmun resort where the four checked in earlier in the afternoon, Baekhyun and Jennie continued their drinking session at the pool. It was almost midnight and they have downed a case of beer.

“You know I love you so much, right?” Baekhyun asks Jennie for the nth time already.

“I know.” Jennie sighs in annoyance. To her, Drunk Baekhyun is the hardest one to tame. Not really wild but you know, hard-headed. If you ask him to stop, the more he will continue. So now, in the hopes of shutting him up, she just answers to every question Baekhyun asks her.

“I love you, Jennie.” Baekhyun opens his arms wide and wait for Jennie to come closer to him and envelop her in a tight hug to which she obliged.

“I know,” she answers. It wasn’t even a question but what is she supposed to say back, right?

“But how come you have never said that you love me back, huh?” Silence filled the air and only the ripples of water can be heard. Drunk Baekhyun isn’t only hard-headed but is also a truthful one. One, two, three minutes. Jennie thought Baekhyun has actually fell asleep while hugging her but was she wrong. “It’s okay if you still won’t, Jennie. I don’t mind how long it will take you to finally feel the same as I do.”

It was already two in the morning when Youngkyun and Tzuyu arrived at the hotel. Baekhyun and Jennie have already gone to their beds. In their room, there are still 4 rooms inside. They all agreed to have separate rooms on this trip to get the full relaxing experience that they want to achieve. Since Tzuyu is a heavy drinker and it’s already 2AM, she isn’t just wasted…she’s blackout wasted. Thanks to Youngkyun being thoughtful, Tzuyu has quite calmed down now if it wasn’t for the coffee that makes her calm…

“Don’t be too badly behaved, Tzuyu. I’m carrying you to your room. If you keep on banging your head to an imaginary jam then, you’d wake up at a hospital!” Youngkyun struggles to keep Tzuyu still.

“O sole mio te quierrrrrooo noooooon nae taeyang! Taeyangie! Taeyang oppa really dances so well. How long does he practice? Do you practice that much too? You’re good too! Youngkyun is good in dancing! Can I hear Youngkyun rap? Oh! Can I hear you dance?” Tzuyu giggles to herself. Youngkyun shakes his head and tries his best not to have Tzuyu’s head bang the wall.

When he finally drops Tzuyu on her bed, he throws the blanket over her and props her head on the pillow. When Tzuyu sleeps, she looks like an angel but when she’s awake, she still looks like one but less than, he thinks. Wanting to capture the beauty he’s seeing, he goes over the coffee table where Tzuyu’s camera is placed. He turns it on and looks through the lenses…

***

“But how about us?”

“We won’t work out anymore. Your career won’t even workout. All those seven years of training will go to waste! And I don’t want that to happen to you, please.”

“What if it will? What if people will accept it? They’re here because of my music, Tzuyu. Not because I’m single.”

“Whether people will accept it or not, this won’t workout. I’m sorry, Juho.”

***

“Juho?” Youngkyun’s voice trembled. He almost dropped the camera but he, himself, has dropped on his knees on the floor. Being able to see Tzuyu’s past through the camera lenses isn’t the first thing that bothered him. It was Tzuyu and Juho—what is Juho doing there? Why does it seem like they were breaking up? Tzuyu………and Juho?