The first time Sana met Mina, it was at the oceanside. In the future, it would become apparent why, but then, Mina was just a mysterious figure sitting on a jagged rock, overlooking the waves, wrapped in a towel, wind making her hair stick to her face. 

Sana had been walking for a few minutes—down the tampered grassy path that led from the beach house to the beach, a place she often would take solitary walks in the morning. The beach was rarely ever occupied, and that's what forced Sana to raise an eyebrow when she noticed the girl sitting on the rocks watching the waves splash precariously close to her feet. 

Sana didn't always tend to find herself drawn to other people, but there was something about the girl that was entrancing—maybe it was magic. 

She walked down the beach, her flip flops  leaving prints in the sand, and considered how awkwardly underdressed she felt—wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a tank. Sana wasn't one to only like someone only because of looks, but the girl's beauty still made her stomach turn with anxiety.

"Hey." she called out. "Um, I don't normally see anyone else out here."

The girl turned, and her face went bright red, standing up on the edge of the rock.

"What's your name?" Sana called out.

The girl only looked flustered, turning right and left, before she suddenly turned and made a jump into the water, her towel falling onto the ground.

Sana gasped, and ran faster towards the small cluster of rocks. 

"I'm sorry!" she shouted, suddenly worried she had caused something awful. Her feet stumbled up the rocks, fingers gripping on for whatever support she could get, before she tugged herself up over the ledge to see just the crumpled towel waiting. Sana dashed for the very edge of the beachside, looking for any sort of sign the girl was there, but there was nothing. She was gone. Sana knelt down, and touched the towel with her right hand, gazing out on the water. 

"I need more sleep." she muttered.

"You took her towel?"

"Yeah, so if she comes back, I can have a reason to talk to her!" Sana sat inside The Seashell, a small coffee shop located just a few blocks from her beach house, sipping an iced Americano with gusto. Momo, the shops only employee besides it's owner Junmyeon, sat across from her, flabbergasted. 

"That's not romantic!" Momo remarked, tucking hair behind her ear. "That's just creepy."

"How do you know I was trying to be romantic!" Sana huffed.

"I've known you for a long time." the barista chuckled. "You've got a weakness for cute girls." 

It was true—Sana had known Momo since she had started vacationing at the beach house when she was little—and now Momo was a grown adult, who unlike Sana, wasn't going to college, but was working to maintain her own income so she could one day move out to a big city. 

Sana stirred her straw in her drink, knocking around pieces of ice and sighing. "I might as well find some love here, you know. I'm so bored of the gross guys and straight girls at school." 

"Well, tell me how it goes." Momo replied, standing up from her seat across from Sana, picking up some dishes and heading back behind the counter. "I feel like a girl who jumped into the ocean just not to talk to you may not be as mutually interested as you think." 

"Maybe she's magic. Like a sea nymph." Sana replied, eyes sparkling with hope.

The girl behind the counter let out a fond laugh. "Minatozaki Sana, always the idealist." She leaned against the wall. "Hey, I should probably get back to work. You know how Junmyeon gets." 

"But you're barely even busy!" Sana whined, tilting her head back. 

"I'm his only employee. I really need to clock these hours in Sana, I'm so close to just saving up enough that I can get the out of here." 

Sana pouted. "I know." She murmured, gazing down at the floor. 

"Listen, we can hang out after I'm officially off work. I'll text you. You've got that big old house to spend time in! You're fine." Momo picked up Sana’s empty glass and gave her a smile that almost read as pity—which wasn’t a big deal. Sana knew her life was sad. She could deal with it. 

It was a cold night—and yet Sana was outside. Momo had never come over, and so Sana found herself, barefoot, standing at the edge of the tides, watching as the water lapped over her feet. It was odd, thinking about how she was here alone, unattended. She was so used to her father or mother being here with her, or a friend at least, but now, it was just her. The house was all hers, which had been a fantasy when she was a child, but now felt like a reminder that she was an adult, on her own. Why was she so sad about it? She had asked for this, after all. 

The moon was almost full, reflecting over the waves. Sana tightened the strings on her hoodie, about ready to head back inside, when she noticed something. Down by the rocks where she had spotted the girl that morning, there was a dark silhouette, crawling out of the water. She was ready to run over, but held herself back for a second. Momo had always told her she was too impulsive, anyway. 

The figure pulled herself—Sana could now see that it was the same person she encountered earlier—onto the shore, peeking behind rocks, as if looking for something.

Sana moved closer, bare feet quiet on the sand. 

The girl was wearing just a swimsuit, even though it was almost 10pm on a chilly night. It was all so odd—she seemed to be frantically looking by the rocks, like she had lost her phone. Maybe it was her towel she was looking for? 

“I have your towel!” Sana impulsively shouted.

The girl turned around fast, and their eyes met. Then she saw the mysterious girl’s eyes, glowing a bright teal. Her skin felt like it was crawling—was it anxiety, amazement? There was something in those eyes—like the shade of a pool on a summer day—that radiated through the night. 

Face becoming more and more illuminated, the girl stepped towards Sana.

She felt her head spinning. She may have gotten herself into bigger trouble than she expected.