Seungcheol walks up the familiar footpath to Jihoon’s front door as an innocent bubble floats in front of him. He looks up to see Jihoon half leaning out her window, shooting bubbles out of the bubble gun Seungcheol won for her at their date to the carnival last week.

He grins. She’s smiling a little as she watches them shoot into the late morning sun, her strawberry streaked hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. Seungcheol feels his heart thud dully. He’s so whipped.

He clears his throat. “So, should I start quoting Romeo & Juliet?” he calls and she looks away from her bubbles to look down at him.

Jihoon’s expression changes to frown at him. Seungcheol agrees with his mind that he’s in love, because he loves her scowling face too.

“You know they died, right?” Jihoon deadpans.

“It’s a famous love story!” Seungcheol cries.

“It’s a stupid love story,” Jihoon retorts. “Besides, I doubt you could even quote it, knowing your goldfish memory,”

“Hey!” Seungcheol protests.

Jihoon steps away from the window with a sigh. “I’m coming down,”

Seungcheol pouts, but she’s gone, and he wonders if he sulks in the car enough, whether she’ll give him extra kisses.

Except then she steps outside as she calls goodbye to her mother and Seungcheol nearly drops the book he had brought for her. His jaw definitely drops.

She’s wearing a pale pink dress that barely reaches mid-thigh, collarbones showing beneath thin straps, a small white purse swinging from her shoulder. It’s summer. It makes sense for her to wear short dresses. But Seungcheol still isn’t used to the idea that he’s her boyfriend and he’s actually allowed to oggle at her (and maybe touch her).

Jihoon makes a face as she steps up to him and touches his chin to shut his mouth. “Did the sun fry your brain? What’s wrong with you?”

Seungcheol responds by grabbing her face and kissing her deeply. Jihoon is a little startled but responds easily and Seungcheol feels his heart flop about like a dying fish. He’s so whipped.

He lets go somewhat reluctantly, but with a content smile. “Just thinking that I’m one damn lucky guy,” he murmurs, kissing her nose as a blush spreads across her face.

He takes her hand and pulls her down her footpath to his car waiting outside as Jihoon mumbles something like, “Your shirt is wrinkled,” but she’s too embarrassed for it to have the heat she clearly intended.

Seungcheol likes a lot of things. He likes winning soccer matches, going to karaoke with friends, getting bonus pay from work. He likes running by the river, listening to music, buying things on sale. Making out with Jihoon though, might just top the list.

Jihoon opens against his, and Seungcheol almost forgets to breathe, focussing solely on capturing again. He wonders if he’ll ever get sick of kissing Jihoon. It’s been a month and it’s still as electrifying as the first time he came over and they made out on her couch instead of watching the movie. The memory burns in his chest, and he moves his hand from her waist to her neck to pull her closer.

Obviously they get interrupted by Mingyu banging on Seungcheol’s car door and yelling at them to stop eating each other’s faces and get out.

Jihoon hides her embarrassment when she pulls away by clearing and checking her make-up in the mirror. As she steps out of the car, she fixes her hair and doesn’t meet anyone’s gaze for a moment, while Seungcheol glares at Mingyu.

“You guys were late, that’s not my fault,” he grumbles, immediately reaching for Jihoon’s hand as she rounds the front of the car.

“Seungkwan knocked on the window but you guys didn’t even notice,” Hansol says. Seungkwan, by his side, hides her pink face by shuffling to hide behind him.

Junhui saves them all by walking right between them all and saying, “Well now we’re all here, let’s go~!”

Jihoon detaches from Seungcheol to grab Junhui’s arm. “Happy birthday, Junhui,” she says, a picture of innocence as she smiles up at Junhui.

“Thanks, Jihoon,” Junhui smiles, then she leans over slightly to whisper in Jihoon’s ear, “by the way, your lip gloss is still a little smudged,”

Jihoon flushes red and immediately rushes off to the bathrooms. Seungcheol is stopped from following her by Mingyu throwing an arm around his shoulders and dragging him through the lobby, excitedly oggling at everything. Seungkwan shares a glance with Hansol before scuttling after her.

Wonwoo follows, hands in his pockets, an eyebrow raised. “Don’t get us kicked out before we even get to the restaurant,” he says. “I got the reservation and the discount for the restaurant, but it’s not like we can do whatever we want. My parents are the managers of the club, not the owners.”

Mingyu’s face is sheepish, but that disappears as Minghao and Junhui appear by his side. “Woooow! Jie, look! The pool is so big!!” Minghao’s eyes are wide in amazement. Mingyu watches her, smile fond as she leans over the little wall to peer at the pool, her long brown hair falling forward over her shoulders.

Junhui beside her smiles before ruffling her hair a little. “Such a kid,” she grins. Minghao pouts but then gets distracted by something else.

Mingyu turns to Wonwoo. “Thanks again, for this,” he murmurs. “I know it was a big thing to ask your parents for the favour,”

Wonwoo clears his throat. “Sure, no problem,” he says quickly, glancing at Junhui. She recently cut her hair to a bob cut and dyed it blonde, and Wonwoo thinks it suits her.

When he turns back to Mingyu, the younger is grinning widely. “You’re still interested in her, aren’t you?” he waggles his eyebrows.

“Eh?” Seungcheol is now tuning into the conversation, and Wonwoo wants the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Getting kicked out is more realistic, and Wonwoo regrets that he didn’t let it happen, because now he has to face Mingyu and all his teasing.

Wonwoo hates that he can’t think of a witty, topic-diverting answer, because now Mingyu is filling Seungcheol in, and -eating grins are blooming on both their faces.

Where the hell is Jihoon? Wonwoo wonders. She can at least control Seungcheol. Wonwoo knows Minghao has Mingyu wrapped around her little finger, if only because she could pin him down with one arm tied behind her back.

As if summoned, Jihoon appears a moment later, and Seungcheol immediately wraps an arm around her, fussing over her, while Jihoon seems back to her usual stand-offish demeanour.

Seungkwan hustles them all into the restaurant and somehow Wonwoo ends up next to the birthday girl. He blames the fact they’re all couples. Seriously, can’t couples separate for one meal?

But then he notices Junhui struggling to read some of the unnecessarily fancy named menu items, and since Minghao is distracted by the bread, Wonwoo quietly points out some of the words.

“Thanks!” the smile Junhui directs at him is almost blinding and it takes Wonwoo a second to answer.

“No problem…” he murmurs, before seeing Mingyu and Seungcheol’s matching grins and scowling at them before hiding his face behind a menu.

Lunch is going to be a long affair.

“Let’s gooooo~!” Seungkwan loops an arm with Minghao and the two of them excitedly skip ahead.

“Where are we going?” Jihoon asks.

“Shouldn’t we wait a bit after eating?” Junhui laughs at the two younger girls.

“Wait a bit for what?” Jihoon asks, looking thoroughly confused.

“Swimming, noona,” Hansol says. “We’re at the country club, we may as well, since we’re here,”

“Swimming? I didn’t know we were going swimming,” Jihoon stares at them all. “I don’t have a swimsuit,”

“But I told Seungcheol-hyung, and he was meant to tell you,” Mingyu says.

Jihoon’s gaze slides to Seungcheol beside her, her boyfriend slowly becoming rigid.

“Oops….?” Seungcheol grins bashfully, hoping to be forgiven. If Jihoon is seriously mad, he’s done for. He’ll never see the light of day again.

For a moment, it looks like Jihoon is deciding between killing her boyfriend or never talking to him again, which is more torturous for him. In the end, she seems to decide the latter is better punishment for him, and she turns away, following Minghao and Seungkwan, stalking to the pool without a word.

Seungcheol makes a high displeased noise, and follows after her.

Hansol and Mingyu laugh and follow after the girls, chatting about how they’re going to dive bomb into the pool.

Wonwoo and Junhui are left behind and Wonwoo wonders how this keeps happening (and he doesn’t put it past Mingyu to plan something like this, he’s just surprised it’s working, somehow).

“You’re not going to go with them?” Junhui asks. “Get changed and jump in the pool?”

Wonwoo clears his throat. “No, I uh,” he rubs a hand at the back of his head, “I’m not going to join you guys. I’ll just stay by the side. Jihoon will be alone anyway,”

Junhui looks surprised. “You’re not swimming?” she asks.

“No,” Wonwoo smiles a little. “Don’t worry, go ahead, you should enjoy it while you’re here. It’s your birthday after all,”

Junhui makes a thoughtful face for a moment, and Wonwoo wonders what she’s thinking, before he’s called over by Jihoon, standing under an umbrella by the pool, ignoring her boyfriend who is trying to get her attention. Jihoon is good at the ignoring game when she wants to be.

Wonwoo smiles at Junhui before jogging over to her, and Junhui watches him, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment before she joins the other girls in the changerooms.