She easily could have been a part of Yoobin’s imagination. Try spending two weeks in a family resort at the time when you’re just old enough to be bored on a summer vacation with your parents, but not old enough to go anywhere on your own.

One starts to go insane.

Every day is the same, the same beach, the same restaurant, the same books, the same people, the same view.

And it’s beautiful; Yoobin isn’t an ungrateful brat, but it definitely gets overwhelming. It becomes too much, sitting around with the same people who have all the same things to tell you.

 “When did you become so gloomy?”

“Why don’t you find some friends?”

“You used to be so happy, what happened to you?”

“What will you do after you finish school?”

“You ought to be more enthusiastic about things, you can’t just let life throw you around.”

All the same, over and over, being drilled into her brain.

As if Yoobin didn’t know this. As if she hadn’t killed her ambitions early on because she’d realized they were stupid and unrealistic. As if she hadn’t become this way on purpose, knowing that it’s better to be an emotionless lump of coal than to feel too much.

When you’re numb, you can’t feel bad. If you don’t feel bad, you don’t bother people. They can’t say your sadness is affecting them.

When you don’t care about anything, you can’t be anxious. When you’re not anxious, people around you aren’t uncomfortable.

It’s better off this way, no one gets hurt.

And yet they aren’t happy. People are hard to please.

“You don’t smile as much as you used to.”

“How is there nothing you’re passionate about?”

“You used to love reading and singing, what happened to that?”

She wanted it all to stop and she wanted them to shut up. But she knew the best way to go was to just stay silent.

Fast forward a week into the vacation from hell.

Perhaps she’d only gotten there. Yoobin was hoping she was real.

Blonde hair blowin' in the summer wind

A blue eyed girl playing in the sand

Bent over her sand castle, Yoobin could see her slightly furrowed eyebrows and still lashes – she wasn’t blinking. It was an expression of pure focus. She was biting her lip, cheeks slightly puffed in effort.

It was ridiculous. How could anyone be so invested in such a silly task?

Yoobin watched as she ran to find a flag of some sort, one of those small things they put in your cocktail. She padded through the sand and landed hard on her knees, then carefully stuck the flag on top of the tower of her sand castle.

Then she looked up.

Yoobin bowed her head and buried her nose in the long forgotten book she was holding. She peeked over the edge and saw that the blonde girl was waving.

Yoobin looked around. Hesitantly, she waved back.

The girl was now beckoning her and Yoobin wasn’t sure she wanted to stand up. But she did.

She walked over and crouched by the sand castle – she didn’t like getting sand in places it shouldn’t be – on its opposite side so she wouldn’t be next to the stranger.

“It took me hours,” the girl said with a self satisfied smile playing on her lips.

“I hope you put sunscreen on,” Yoobin blurted out.

The girl treated it like the funniest thing she’d ever heard in her life. She held her stomach as she laughed hard, shaking her head. “I did, but I doubt it helped any. I’ve been here for a while.”

“You should take a dip, then. To cool down,” Yoobin suggested, not looking up from the castle.

She just knew that the sight she’d meet would be fatal. Crescent eyes, glossy lips stretched in a bright smile; high cheekbones and long lashes. Yoobin’s heart sped up.

“I probably should,” the girl said and stood up, dusting herself off. “Join me?”

Yoobin glanced up uncertainly. The sun was in her eyes so she couldn’t have a proper look at the girl, but it wasn’t such a bad thing. This way she had the chance to get her heart under control.

“Sure,” Yoobin said and stood, careful not to step on the castle.

As they went to the water, the girl said, “My name is Handong.”