You couldn’t believe you had actually done it.

Life was stable of late, you had landed a decent paying office intern position right out of university and whilst days could be long and stressful, you had grown accustomed to the routine expected of you. When time permitted you would meet up with your two best friends Miyoung and Jihee, normally for dinner and renting out a noraebang room afterwards to sing into the early morning. Your family was in regular contact and in the weekends you would travel the two hours back to your hometown to complete your filial duties before returning back to the city for the new week of work.

Everything was very much so the same old every day.

And whilst you found immense comfort in having the confines of your daily expectations, your mind was growing bored. There was nothing to excite you when your eyes opened in the morning and like a robot you would get up to prepare for your work day, spooning food that soon began to lose it’s taste into your mouth three times a day, and then ironing your clothes for the following day before collapsing in your bed to pass the time until it all started again.

As a child, you had been a dreamer. You had wanted to explore the world, to dance to your own beat. To meet someone who would bring magic into your world and grow old with them. At twenty-four, you were grateful for your accomplishments but they weren’t satisfying your soul. There was no music to dance to, no dream to follow. Your wild and carefree days had been replaced with a monotone of adult responsibilities. You wanted something incredible, something so magical to occur in your life again to save you from the incessant buzz that was growing inside your head.

And that’s why you had done it.

You had never travelled alone before, not seeing the need to disrupt the flow of your schedule for something that wasn’t necessary. Family vacations had consisted of going to your Aunt’s every summer to help on their farm for a couple of weeks. The only thing you had ever done alone was move to Seoul and that was due to study and work. Your teenage years had confined your carefree childhood, shaping you to not expect much more than to get into a good university and job before getting married.

And because you hadn’t once questioned this systematic way of viewing the world, those who knew you had reacted to your JejuIsland vacation negatively.

“I don’t have any hours free to just drop everything to go play at the beach with you, Y/N. Can’t you plan it for six months time, then I’ll be free. Wah, you couldn’t even consider your friends’ schedules huh?” Miyoung had pouted at you, and you shook your head, knowing you couldn’t even wait another month.

“This is so unlike you,” Jihee had added in, both girls nodding their heads in unison. “You never do anything out of the ordinary. You’re not dying are you?!”

Your mother hadn’t been very supportive either. “You mean you won’t be able to come home and help me with your father’s vegetable garden? Why do you need to see the beach for? It’s just water. Come home on time, hm?”

“What’s this?” your manager had asked, holding up the printed request of your week off. “Have you got a family emergency?”

“No sir, I just have some personal-”

“Then you don’t need to take this time off right now, do you?” he’d cut in, shaking his head.

“I have enough vacation hours racked up for this though.”

“I don’t care, interns don’t get holidays, managers don’t even leave this place unless they’re dead. I expect you in here on Monday.”

You realised as you stared at the beach in front of you, the waves crashing and rolling into the shore, that the reactions you had received from your sudden need to escape everything was worth it. You grinned giddily at the vast blue ocean, taking in deep breaths of the salty air and dug your toes into the warm sand.

You would placate your friends when you were back. The garden will still be there to attend to. And your manager would be waiting with your warning in a week’s time.

Nothing seemed to frighten you anymore, not whilst you stood there.

You felt free.

 

 

The feeling was short lived. The sea had revitalised you but after two days of soul searching and rebuilding your psyche, you felt lost with what to do for the remaining time on the beautiful island. Although you had used your extensive researching skills to plan your entire trip, travelling alone definitely had its cons. You had never been a very sociable person, used to having your head buried in a book than out at a club, and you had always gotten by with the casual interactions you had in your lifestyle. A colleague to chat with over your lunch break, online friends to discuss your common interests when you couldn’t sleep, and Miyoung and Jihee met up with you at least once a week. You were self-sufficient by nature.

In the foreign island though you were aware of just how lonely your life actually was.

You had joined a travel group and although the excursions were interesting, you found yourself craving a person to be at your side. Someone to point out the magical views to, someone to laugh with, to share a meal with. Everyone had come with another, mothers travelling together now their grown children had moved out, older couples adding more memories to their life-books, and young lovers documenting their every step for social media. They all found their purpose for being here.

Now the salty air was an exact representation of your mood.

As the fourth day began, you dragged your feet to the meetup point for today’s venture. It wasn’t that you were against riding horses down the beach; in fact, you had been looking forward to this moment the most when you first looked into your tour package deal. But you didn’t want to be the one riding alone, whilst the rest all chatted and shared memories with each other.

“Alright team!” Seho, the tour guide said with his engaging tone, clapping his hands together. “We have two exciting things to discuss. First, we’ll be riding down the beach in half an hour and spend the morning up in the saddle before stopping at the Shark Shack for lunch. And secondly, we have a late arrival to our squad, please give a warm welcome to Hwang Minhyun, his flight had wound up being detoured and so he’s only just made it to Jeju yesterday. A round of applause please!”

You clapped your hands softly as you eyed the newcomer, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he bowed lightly in greeting. His shy smile reached up to his eyes and he looked at each member of the group, his attention finally falling upon you. It made you quickly avert your focus, a small blush crossing your cheeks. You weren’t sure why you felt the need to look away; everyone else had been looking at the tall boy as well.

“Alright, in five minutes we’ll walk down to the beach; make sure you’re all ready to go.” Seho then stepped off to talk with one of the mothers in the group.

Minhyun awkwardly stood at the opposite end of the group, watching on as everyone chatted with each other after greeting him. You smiled to yourself as he chewed on his lip, trying to decipher who to talk to first. You had done the same thing on the first day and whilst everyone had been kind to you, they all stuck to those they knew. Feeling a sense of confidence to ease his awkwardness, you stepped around a couple pulling peace signs into their outstretched phones and moved closer to him. He seemed relieved at your arrival, smiling more brightly at you.

“Travelling alone?” he asked and you nodded. He did the same thing and for a moment you didn’t say anything. And then you both turned to each other, about to say something. Minhyun laughed and gestured for you to go first. “I’m Y/N.”

“Minhyun.” He then clamped his eyes shut momentarily before laughing again. “Uh, you knew that.”

Seho interrupted your barely started conversation to encourage everyone to follow him down the wooden steps beside you all and onto the beach. For a moment you focused on getting down onto the soft sand and Minhyun fell into step beside you, pulling off his plaid shirt to tie around his waist in the growing morning heat. Your eyes diverted from his well-defined arms that were now showing out of his plain white tee, another blush rising on your skin.

“Do you like horses?” you blurted out, hoping to distract your feeble thoughts.

“I like animals but I’m not exactly sure how much I’ll enjoy riding yet. You?”

“I rode as a kid on my Aunt’s farm.”

“I see.” The silence returned and you both attempted to find more to talk about, a common desperation for connection with another person hanging between you. Minhyun cleared his throat. “It’s a bit odd being alone, right? I thought I’d feel at peace being by the beach.”

“Instead you find yourself looking for someone instead of the sea,” you responded, Minhyun nodding.

“I arrived yesterday afternoon and it was great to finally be here. Admittedly, now I feel a little out of my depth, I’m too much of a homebody I’ve realised.”

You smiled at him, nodding your head. “I was escaping the daily grind in hopes to find something magical to revitalise me enough to return to that same schedule again.”

“Do you miss it?” You nodded and he laughed. “I was stuck in Japan for two days whilst they redirected the flight back to here. I realised the hassle of change was more stressful than my job has been.”

For some reason, since neither of you knew each other, it was becoming easier to talk about yourselves as there were no social expectations to maintain like in your normal life. It was a unique way to build a connection with another person.

“It sounds so sad when you hear it out loud though, right?” you asked, seeing the horses ahead, but enjoying the conversation you were having that you didn’t feel the usual joy you did when you saw the majestic animals. “We paid all this money looking for something to change in our worlds but the actual change itself has us wanting our normalcy back.”

“Maybe we need the change though,” Minhyun murmured, his eyes capturing yours for a moment. He then smiled and looked ahead. “Maybe we’re here because our former selves need us to return different somehow.”

You pondered his words, evoking deeper contemplation than you thought you’d be having at ten in the morning. He nudged you lightly, surprising you somewhat. He himself blushed; amazed that he had done such a thing.

Pointing ahead at the horses, he then looked down at you. “Will I fall off?”

“Only if you do something to warrant it.” You grinned at his expression, his eyes wide at your lack of reassurance. “But if you do, the best thing is to get back up in the saddle again.”

“Why?”

“If you don’t do it, you won’t get back up again.” You both shared a knowing glance, wondering just how entangled this ride would become into your thought process on life.

 

 

An hour into the ride, Minhyun had finally stopped looking around for anything to throw off his balance, his own seat improving on the steady bay horse beneath him. You had been given one of the younger horses due to your knowledge of riding and the challenges she was giving you were more exhilarating than you expected. She was a sensitive black little mare, not enough encouragement and she would drag her feet, but just the slightest amount of forwardness would send her shooting off. Instead of worrying and trying to place her in a confined tempo, you laughed, enjoying the way she would have a say in how she would be ridden. She reminded you of your youth and as you trotted alongside Minhyun, you couldn’t help but smile brightly at him, feeling the sense of freedom you had when you first arrived at Jeju.

It caused him to spend a lot more time looking over at you, his own smile playing on his lips. “You look happy.”

“She’s a lot of fun,” you admitted, patting her neck gently. The mare flicked her head to the side at your touch and then snorted, picking up her steps more energetically. The urge to run was strong within you, to feel her fly. You envisioned the fields of the farm in your childhood, running along barefoot in your summer dress, laughing and picking the wildflowers as you played. The mare had a similar feel and you could sense her keen interest, horses being in tune with the subtle movements of our bodies.

And then you stopped imagining it, knowing the rest of the travel group was here to plod along at a steady pace. To keep everyone at ease, and follow what was expected.

Minhyun noticed your sigh. “Why don’t you ask to do it at the end of the ride?”

“Do what?” you asked, blinking out of your thoughts and looking over at the taller boy.

“Run free.”

“They probably won’t want the horses learning to move faster than a trot down the beach so new riders won’t worry about falling off,” you explained, shaking your head softly. Minhyun pursed his lips together. Smiling and letting out a small laugh you shook your closest hand at him. “Honestly it’s just good to be enjoying this now.”

“It’s not what you want to do though,” he observed and you dropped the reins you held, wondering how he was able to infiltrate your thoughts. Minhyun’s eyes darted ahead and then back at you suddenly. “Ah, Y/N, you might want to look ahead!”

You turned at the last second, not paying attention to the cluster of rocks up ahead, the little mare sidestepping to save you both quickly. However, since you had let go of the reins, your balance wasn’t as steady with the lack of direction. Scrambling to grab them, you pulled a little too much to steady her and suddenly she threw her shoulder forward, your body rolling off neatly into the sand.

For a second you sat there, trying to decipher why you were on the ground.

And then you laughed, the mare standing next to you and snorting at your odd behaviour.

“Are you alright?!” Minhyun asked, jumping down off his own horse and leading it over to your side. The instructor also came to check on you and you smiled brightly up at them both, nodding at their questions over your safety.

“I’m fine, I needed that wake-up call,” you told them, taking Minhyun’s hand and getting back up to your feet. There was a slight ache in your ankle from the dodgy landing, but you managed to get back up in the saddle, patting the mare in apology.

“And here I was worrying I was going to fall off today,” the tall boy beside you commented and you both grinned, though his eyes continued to search over you, ensuring you were truly okay.

It comforted you knowing there was someone at your side when you had taken your first fall in life in a while.

 

 

You had opted out of going sightseeing at some caves in the afternoon, your ankle now hurting a lot more than it had earlier on. You had been checked out due to Minhyun’s insistence at lunchtime and the local hospital had assured it was a simple sprain. You had been given instruction to let it rest today, and that was it, Minhyun somehow managing to convince you that resting was all you would be doing now. He hadn’t been in your life for more than four hours now and you found he fell into it effortlessly, despite his nagging at you over your injury.

And so despite having seen more than enough of it, you both had walked out to the beach, taking a seat in the sand and staring out, the deep blue reaching as far as you could view it. Your conversation flowed from topics over likes and dislikes, and you discovered a mutual love for books and literature. You both held office jobs and lived alone in Seoul, with a small group of close friends. But there were differences too, he liked spicy food and you didn’t, and he liked to clean as a hobby, whilst you begrudgingly designated Thursday evening as your only time in the week to briefly tidy up before heading home to your family the following evening. It was nice to be able to talk about yourself to someone you didn’t know, and know there wasn’t judgement passed from either of you.

“I’m sorry you’re missing out on the caves,” you mentioned after you finished discussing a bit about your family and Minhyun waved his hand at you.

“Don’t be, I’m more comfortable here.”

You smiled, this was better than following along with the others and their loud chatter and photo taking.

“How’s your leg feeling?” he asked and you looked down at it, noticing the swelling had lessened a little. Minhyun had insisted on you placing your foot up as soon as you had sat down and had placed his bag down on the sand and then took his shirt from around his waist off for an impromptu footrest. Thanks to his quick thinking, you were feeling less pain.

“It’s looking a lot better than before, don’t you think? Maybe we could go do something else soon?”

“Like?” Minhyun rested his head on his knees, looking over at you. You smiled, liking how easy he seemed to be around you now. “Nothing involving a lot of walking, okay.”

“I saw a place we might both enjoy,” you said, trying to get to your feet. Minhyun was up first and held out his hand for you to take, steadying you in his strong grip. You placed your foot down on the sand and tested how much weight you could put through it, smiling brightly at being able to disperse yourself more evenly without the pain from earlier. “Oh good, it’s better!”

“Just take it easy though,” Minhyun instructed, handing you your bag and picking up his own belongings. You nodded too quickly at him and then walked off a bit, your fifth stride faltering and the pain flared back up in your leg. “I told you!”

His arms were around your waist and stopping you from falling for a second time today. Your breath hitched in your throat, and embarrassment coursed through you. His arms reluctantly let you go and you sighed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. How far is this place from here?” Minhyun questioned and you looked up to the row of stores, noticing it further down the road. You pointed and he seemed to accept it was in walking distance, holding out his arm for you to brace against as you hobbled along.

The walk was silent, Minhyun watching that you took each step with the least amount of pressure through your leg, and you trying to focus on walking and not on his varying grip against you. It was tense and you were thankful for the shop arrival, a smile crossing both of your faces as you stepped in.

After greeting the clerk of the bookstore, Minhyun helped you down the three steps into the main floor of the building, both of you soaking in the reams of novels and non-fiction. For awhile you perused the shelves in your own worlds and you were able to use the shelving to hold yourself upright.

“Have you found something to read?” a voice asked, and you turned to Minhyun, a couple of books within his grip. You then nodded, holding up a thick novel. He smiled. “Should we go purchase them and then sit down?”

There was a small seated area and a couple of the chairs were occupied so Minhyun ushered you the couch, sitting down and then gesturing you to do the same. Without much thought, he then reached for your leg, your eyes widening in shock. He maneuvered you so your injured leg was propped up on his bag on his lap again and instantly pulled the book in his hand up to his face, his flush of colour over his cheeks barely noticed by you. All the same, you smiled to yourself, getting immersed in the story of your choice quickly.

Time passed and you both flicked from page to page, barely aware of each other. It was comfortable, and you soon forgot that you had only met him earlier in the day. You knew you would never allow someone back in Seoul into your world so easily as you had Minhyun, and you smiled to yourself as you thought this, your eyes glancing towards him and then back into your book.

From sitting so long and with your leg up in an unnatural position though, your bottom was starting to ache, and without diverting your eyes from the novel, you placed a hand down and shifted a little. It was as you did this that you realised your hand had accidentally placed over Minhyun’s, his own arm outstretched so he could be comfortable in his own seating. You went to pull back as soon as you were balanced again but his hand turned over and grabbed yours, making you freeze up at his touch. Your eyes snapped up to his, the deep umber of his eyes captivating you for a moment. He then went back to his book, his hand remaining attached to yours.

Smiling shyly, you bit your lip, liking the feeling of him against you, your attention struggling to fall back into the book in your hand.

“Maybe the change we needed in ourselves is here,” he said softly, not lifting his eyes from the book but you could tell he wasn’t reading anymore.

Glancing down at his hand again in yours, you noticed his thumb was running over the back of yours lightly. You felt every part of you awakening in a way you hadn’t expected to feel at another person’s touch.

“I think you might be right,” you answered, Minhyun biting his lip to suppress an elated grin, his eyes trying to take in the words in front of him unsuccessfully.

You had escaped to Jeju without knowing what you needed in life and now with your hand in his, you realised you had a growing sense of hope for your remaining stay on the island, and further, for a new element to your daily life.

Someone who would change the old out and introduce something new, allowing you to start dreaming again.