I was shy and didn’t’ want to come out of the washroom. I stayed in there for 15 minutes. I was wearing a black bikini and it made my curves show. I wasn’t embarrassed, just shy. That’s probably because Min Hyuk, or rather, no one, has ever seen me in a bikini before. I gathered up all my courage and walked out of there, confident.

To my surprise, Min Hyuk was nowhere to be seen when I got out. Weird... I thought girls took a longer time to get ready.Oh well... Where’s the sunblock? Oh, there it is. Why am I talking to myself?  I grabbed the bottle of sunscreen on the bed and walked back into the washroom, amused by myself.

I squeezed the bottle and it squirted out a sizeable amount of the product. After spreading some cream on my legs, tummy, I put some on my back. I put extra on my face because I tended to get sunburns there easily. After I was satisfied, I quickly wore a loose shirt over my bathing suit.

I didn’t notice when Min Hyuk came in. He just stared at me through the mirror.

“You ready?” he said, slightly breathless, like he’d been running before this or something.

I was shocked by his presence. “YAH! Don’t creep on me like that!” I said, putting my hand to my chest as I stumbled backwards.

He was speechless for a while and seemed to be in deep thought. I waved a hand in front of his face to catch his attention.

“Neh? Ah, mian.” He looked like he was about to say something else but decided not to.

“Oppa, are you okay? We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We could do something else together.”

“ANIYO! I want to go! Sorry, just a bit stressed.”

He looked a bit dazed. I felt dizzy just from looking at Min Hyuk, who was currently shirtless.

“Don’t be stressed, oppa. Relax,” I calmly told him as I put my hands on either sides of his face.

“Neh, kaja,” he smiled.

We both brought our Raybans and cameras along. We strolled by the beach and snapped some great shots of the things around us, like the palm trees and the sky meeting the sea on the horizon. It was so calming; the sand under your feet and the sound of the waves calling out to you. It was memorable. The breeze was soft and played with strands of my hair.

After a while, it became awkward. Neither Min Hyuk nor I spoke as we walked side by side. The back of our hands kept brushing against each other. I had the urge to hold Min Hyuk’s strong hand but I didn’t want to surprise him. I was also scared that he might think I was rushing into things or something. I didn’t want him to think that at all. It’s just that, that urge is so hard to not think about.Gah! This is killing me!

Suddenly, as if he read my mind, I felt his fingers playing with mine, intertwining them, and in the end, making the spaces between my fingers fit perfectly with his. It was like a puzzle; meant to be perfectly fitted together.

I looked at him and smiled after seeing his expression. His lips were turned up in the corners too.

I loved the feeling. It felt right and it was a perfect picture.

“Oppa, I’m glad we’re here. Gomawoyo,” I said, my expression unwavering.

“I should be the one feeling honoured. Thank you for coming with me,” he said as he stopped near the water.

I gave a glamorous smile and said, “Oppa, isn’t it hot? I feel hot. Let’s swim now.”

“Neh. Last one in the water gets a punishment!” he shouted as he jumped in the water.

“That’s not fair! I wasn’t ready.” I cautiously took out my shirt, revealing my barely covered body to the world. I folded my shirt neatly and kept it aside with the cameras and glasses somewhere it couldn’t be seen.

I walked into the water slowly and approached Min Hyuk, who held a stunned expression. I had to walk quite far in since the water wasn’t really deep at first. I reached Min Hyuk when the water level reached my mid-section.

“Wow.”

I smirked. I got that from guys sometimes. But Min Hyuk’s reaction was the one that really counted. In fact, I was a bit glad that he thought I looked hot in a bikini.

To avoid more awkward moments, I splashed water on Min Hyuk.

“This is war,” he said and splashed back. Soon, it became a water fight.

Suddenly, a glass bottle floated towards me. Tsk, inconsiderate people.

“Omo! Oppa! It’s a bottle,” I said, running to it. “I’ll go put it on shore. We wouldn’t want anything to get hurt.” I was a big environmentalist when it came to things like these.

“Yeah, it could be dangerous,” voiced Min Hyuk, concerned as well.

 I struggled towards it and lifted it up, inspecting it. It was a beer bottle, just as I expected. I walked back to shore to place the bottle in the nearby trashcan. Then, something dropped out of the bottle. Oh? What’s this?

I picked it up to inspect it. It was a piece of paper with some drawings on it. The markings on the paper looked alien to me. It caught my attention immediately. It was old by looking at the colour; yellowish. I then realised what it was. It was a map. And like all treasure maps, ‘X’ marked the spot.

My eyes widened in excitement. I ran back to Min Hyuk eagerly after disposing of the beer bottle.

“Oppa, look what I found,” I waved it in the air as I ran towards Min Hyuk. “It’s a treasure map! Let’s follow it!”

“Lemme see.” He took it from me and studied it curiously. “Aniyo, it could be risky. How do we know it’s real? Someone who was drunk might have just drawn random stuff and made it look like a treasure map.”

“We don’t. That’s why we should do it. And the paper’s like ancient, so I don’t think it could be fake. Come on, oppa! We’ll never know till we try.”

After much thought, Min Hyuk agreed, “But if I have a bad feeling later on, we’re going to come back, araso?”

My head bobbed enthusiastically.