candy
                                                                                                                                                                                    
chapter three

Cara hummed, “maybe you’ll run into him again?” Mia shrugged and pushed Cara towards the door. The girls left the hotel, returning to their own just down the street a little further. It was less glamorous but still just as nice, the girls walked past all the loitering tourists in the lobby to the elevator. Their room had a nice view of the street leading to the ocean – if you looked hard enough, Mia believed you could see the water. Cara wasn’t so sure.

They had two beds, nicely made every day by the friendly workers in the hotel. They had a desk and a table, a TV that got a couple channels clearly, others were a little fuzzy, and a kitchenette, complete with a sink, a microwave and a mini-fridge. The room was a little larger than they were expecting, but still a little small.

Mia threw herself over her bed and sighed. “I don’t want to go out today,” she said, “I just want to stay here and be lazy.”

Cara shrugged. “Ok,” she hummed, walking to the desk where she flipped open a notebook. “we don’t have to do anything.” Mia nodded and rolled over. “But we’ll go to the beach tomorrow?”

“Yeah…” Mia hummed, “tomorrow. I can’t wait.”

It was by some spectacular twist of fate that all five boys wanted to do the same thing at the same time. On every normal occasion, they would drive their manager crazy; none of them ever wanted to do the same thing, especially with more than one other member. However, in coming to Jeju Island, they all had one thing on their minds: the beach.

Dressed in their beach best, the five boys high-tailed it to the waterline. They were grateful that no one really recognized them; it wasn’t fun having to wear disguises to the beach, like their manager wanted, and all five ditched the ball-caps and glasses the minute they got away.

“Heejun!” Woohyuk called, sly grin in place, “I bet I can beat you to the other pier!” in the far distance was the light outline of another pier, all white sand and tourists in between. It had to have been about a mile away, but Heejun still grinned and accepted the challenge. Jaewon drew the starting line and declared that the loser had to buy them all ice cream, to which Heejun smacked him over the head, saying the loser only had to buy the winner ice cream because the others weren’t racing. On Tony’s “3!” the boys dashed off, going as fast as their legs could carry them. Tony and Jaewon watched with interest to see who’d win, the dancer or the leader, while Kangta just sighed in mock boredom and plopped down on the sand, ignoring how hot it was.

“I’m going to check out the boardwalk,” Tony stated plainly, watching as his partner-in-crime ran off in the distance. He didn’t wait for the others to respond before trekking up to the long stretch of the boardwalk, lined with shops. He looked into shop after shop, finding something unappealing about each one and moved on.

“…how… much is this?” a girl asked, catching Tony’s attention. He stopped in his tracks and looked for the owner of the voice, and when he found her, he was in awe. She was beautiful; she had long, and surprisingly thick, black hair, the outermost layer was crimped, big black eyes hidden under thick eyelashes. Her skin was bronzed, contrasting the lightly colored sundress wonderfully; Tony wasn’t sure if it was naturally that way or if she tanned, but he didn’t really care. She was beautiful – and struggling to talk to the cashier.

In her hands she held a little fan, paper with a simple design on it. Tony decided to swoop in and help, not just because she was pretty and he was nice, but her accent sounded familiar. Touching her shoulder lightly – he couldn’t help but notice how soft her skin was – he asked, “What’s the problem?” in near-perfect English.

The girl’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise and started to ramble; she explained the whole problem to Tony who listened closely, but mostly to the sound of her voice, not her problem. But he did get the gist of it and turned to the cashier, “she just wants to know the price of the fan.”

The man blinked and spit out a number and the girl puckered her lips. Moments later, she fished through her bag and pulled out her wallet. She paid for the fan and thanked the man, thanked Tony and left. Tony blinked, struck dumb. “Hey!” he called, chasing after the girl. She was already a couple stores ahead but Tony caught up to her easily. Standing before her, he was dumbstruck again – all he could think of to ask was, “what’s your name?”

She laughed, only then did Tony realize he asked in a jumbled mess of Korean and English. “I’m Cara. You?”

“Tony.” The conversation fell silent after that and the two stood in an awkward silence. “So… do you have any plans?”

Cara shrugged. “Nope. Have dinner plans later, but right now I’m free. Why?”

Tony grinned. “Then, do you want to hang out with me?” he asked, and noticing the slight look of worry fall over Cara’s face, he added, “I’m not weird or crazy or anything; I promise.” After a moment’s hesitation, Cara shrugged and agreed, saying she had nothing else to do. Tony grinned and offered her his arm and they continued their stroll down the boardwalk.

It was only when the sun was beginning to set when the couple noticed the time. Cara quickly dismissed herself, saying she was going to be late for her dinner plans but she had a fabulous time with him. “If you want, this is where I’m staying,” Cara said, handing Tony a piece of paper with her hotel’s name on it and her room number.

Tony grinned. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow then?” he asked, holding the taxi door open for Cara.

Cara returned the smile, “Maybe you will.”

                                                                                                                                                                                    
end of chapter three