So here's what I've discovered after two days of living with the Lee's. Jae seuk is a real estate agent who also rents houses at the beach during the holiday breaks. He's a real nice guy who's absolutely loaded. A bigger catch than my father ever was. Unfortunately for him, Jae seuk's been plagued with an unfaithful wife (his first wife left him and their children for the pool boy) and the two brattiest kids on this side of the planet. These kids are total terrors!!!

Shoo is ten. She's rude, crude, and terribly shrewd. Nothing ever escapes her hawk-like eyes, and nothing ever escapes her scathing tongue either. Her younger brother Hoon is eight. He believes himself to be the King of Comedy and lucky for me, I've become his newest target.

Life with the Lee's, in one word, .

My mom must have noticed my misery, because on the third night, she came into my room to have a "talk".

"Hey sweetheart," she said while sitting upon my bed. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Fine."

Mom was looking real concerned. "Are you sure? Do you like it here? Come on, you can tell me the truth."

"I like it here. It's just that, well, I'm not really used to it much."

My mom put her arm around me and continued talking. "I just wanted to make sure that you really are find. I know that the divorce was really hard on you, and now I'm married again...I just want you to be happy."

"And I want you to be happy. Mom, I don't care about the divorce anymore. That was decades ago! I'm over it. Besides, Jae seuk seems like a good man. He treats you well, I can see it."

Mommy smiled. "Yeah, he does treat me well. Like a queen." Her smile was so sincere, so sweet. Her face was the epitome of love and happiness, something I never saw when she was married to my dad.

She kept on talking. "Well, anyway, I just wanted to tell you to go out tomorrow. To the beach, I mean. You haven't been out there and it's absolutely beautiful! Plus, there are several young people out there that are your age. You should go and make friends."

I thought about this. It really does sound like a good idea.

I nodded. "Yeah, I think I will go out there tomorrow."

My mommy smiled. I could tell that she was feeling triumphant. "Good night, sweetie."

I kissed her on the cheek. "Night, Mom."

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Before the sun even came up the next morning, I was already awake. I wanted to go for a swim before anybody else crowded the beach.

When I stepped outside, the sun was just peeking above the ocean's surface. I breathed in the salty air and felt refreshed already.

When I approached the beach, I layed down a towel and placed my back pack upon it. I stripped off my sweats and took off my sandals. The sand was cool and soft beneath my toes.

I ran right into the water and was shocked at how cold it was! I was so tempted to run back onto the shore, but I forced myself to keep on swimming. I'll get used to the temperature.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I kept swimming until my arms got too tired. When I came back from the water, panting and dripping wet, I noticed three people sitting on my towel.

"Hi!" said the girl.

I was completely flustered! I didn't know what to say, so I just mumbled, "Um, hi."

The long hair boy reached into my back pack and pulled out a towel. "Here's your towel."

I took it wordlessly, still stunned at the fact that three strangers were sitting upon my towel and rummaging through my things.

The girl stood up and held out her hand. "My name's Uie."

I tentatively stuck my hand out as well. "I'm Kahi."

Uie brushed back a wisp of hair then introduced the two boys. "This is Jaejoong." She pointed to the long hair one. "And this isYunho."

Yunho jumped up at the sound of his name and grabbed my hand for a shake.

I felt like an idiot. The only sounds I could make were "Uhhh..." Yeah, great job Kahi. Real attractive.

Uie grinned. "You're probably wondering what we were doing on your towel, huh?"

"Um, actually, yeah." That was all I could managed. I kept noticing Yunho looking at me. Why is he looking at me?

"We want to be your friends," said Uie. She stated that so bluntly it caught me offguard.

"Oh." I could feel myself blushing. "Okay."

Uie gave me a great big smile and put her arm around me. "Great! Now we've added a new member to the group! We're going to have so much fun!"

************************************************************

And I did have lots of fun with them. Those three were nothing like the friends I had back at home, or even those from college. But Uie really stood out from the rest of them. We became inseparable ever since and evolved into best friends. But best friends aren't supposed to hurt each other.