Her first night at her grandmother's had been, all in all, more relaxing than she expected. 

Once Haseul woke up from her nap the girls had gotten pizza delivered for dinner. Soon after Haseul just went back to her room (as Yeojin insisted she needed some 'minecraft time'), and after a couple of hours of unpacking and watching TV she fell asleep. 

But, clearly her first full day in Egret Cove would be quite so easy. Once Haseul woke up at eleven am, shuffling into the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast with still sleepy eyes, Yeojin came running up to her. 

"Ah!" Haseul said tiredly as Yeojin ran up to her, already dressed in a hoodie, shorts, and sunglasses, her swimsuit visible underneath. 

"Where have you been? Hurry up!" 

"Wait, whah?" 

"We're going to the beach!" 

"We are?"

"Yes, we are!"

"Um...."

"You're coming with me. Come on, do you have anything better to do?" Yeah Haseul was still kind of tired, but Yeojin was right. She really didn't have anything better to do. 

"Alright, alright, I'll come. Just...give me a few minutes." 

Yeojin whined loudly. "Be fast." 

Haseul sighed but quickly grabbed some cereal, scarfing it down before rushing back to her room. She washed up faster than she could have thought, but froze when it came time to change out of her pajamas. 

She paused as she opened the top drawer of her bureau. Sitting before her was the one swimsuit she brought (yes, she knew how stupid it was to only bring one swimsuit when you're spending the summer in a beach town). It was an emerald green one piece with a deep back, both otherwise the most normal, almost boring swimsuit one could possibly imagine. 

She should put it on. Haseul knew she should just put it on. But wearing it meant something: it meant she was willing to hang out at the beach in just that. It meant she felt good about going into the water. Neither of those were things she wanted to do, but if she didn't end up wearing it, she would just feel stupid and silly (and Yeojin would probably make fun of her too). 

"Fine," she mumbled out loud, pulling the one piece on. "But I won't take off the rest of my clothes." 

Over her swimsuit she wore a oversized cream sweater and some plaid cargo shorts, taking the shortest of glances in the mirror before grabbing her bag and throwing a green baseball cap over her messy bob. She stepped out of her room to see Yeojin standing right in front of it, waiting. 

"Finally ready?" 

"I went as quickly as I could!" 

Yeojin looked her up and down. "Where's your swimsuit?" 

"Under this sweater." 

"You're gonna be too hot." 

"A breeze might pick up!?" 

Yeojin sighed. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go. I'm BORED." 

With a small chuckle Haseul followed behind her much shorter cousin into the doorway. They both slipped on flip flops (Yeojin's basically encrusted with sand) and Yeojin grabbed a folded up sheet out of the cabinet before they headed out the door. Haseul turned around to check the lock but Yeojin was already jiggling it to make sure it closed, then making sure she had her keys. 

"Should I drive?" Haseul asked. 

Yeojin snorted. "No way. It's only a few blocks from here. How do you think I get anywhere?" 

Haseul hummed at that and began heading to the left but Yeojin tugged her sweater away, leading her towards the right. 

"Wait...I thought the beach was that way?" Haseul pointed in the direction she had thought to go. 

"Nope! No. Well...technically there's a beach that way, I guess. But not a good beach." 

"I only ever remember going to the beach that way..." 

"I guess you've only been to the bad beaches then. The one that's packed with tourists every day in the summer." 

"Alrighty then. Show me this different beach." 

The two girls fell silent as they walked down the road. There wasn't a real sidewalk but there weren't any cars either, so it wasn't a problem. The houses were just as quirky as they had been on the road Haseul drove down the day before, multicolored with weird art and sculptures and untamed lawns and sand everywhere. The air smelled like the ocean, stronger and stronger with every step, and a smile came to Haseul's lips. 

"Do you do this a lot?" 

"Every day," Yeojin answered. "Take the bus to school, bus back, then go to the beach until it's almost dark." 

"You go with your friends, right?" 

Yeojin shrugged. "Most of the time. When they're busy I just go alone." 

"Wait...grandma lets you just walk around by yourself?" 

"Haseul, I'm ten! I'm not a baby. I go everywhere by myself. My friends live pretty close by and usually I just stay by this beach. But sometimes I go to the dock, or pick up dinner for us at the diner. She gave me a phone for emergencies." Yeojin paused to show Haseul her old flip phone, covered in stickers. "And I just have to be home by dark unless I'm having a sleepover. Those are the only rules." 

"Wow..." Haseul mumbled. This was not the Yeojin she remembered, the little girl that clung to her grandma's leg at all times. Even so young she'd become so independent and self sufficient. Haseul knew part of it was probably necessity, because of her situation. But Yeojin had always had a streak of strength to her.

"Haseul...I'm a preteen, which is basically a teenager, and teenagers are basically adults. Don't hold me back! Anyways, I go with my friends most of the time." 

"Speaking of...where are your friends?" Haseul had thought it was a bit weird that Yeojin was so insistent on them going to the beach together; wouldn't she rather hang out with someone her own age.

Yeojin groaned loudly at the mention of her friends. "Ugh. All of their families decided to go on vacation for the whole summer and they abandoned me here!" 

"Go on vacation? When they live five minutes away from the beach!" 

"I know! It's so stupid and rude of them." 

"Where did they even go?" 

"One of them went to Las Vegas...another went camping...one went to Europe...one went to visit their grandma in Iowa...just, random place. That aren't here." 

"That really is so rude of them." Haseul realized now why Yeojin wanted her to hang today: really, she didn't have anyone in town but grandma and her, and clearly their grandmother wasn't healthy enough to do very much with them. Probably, Yeojin was going to want to hang with her every day. 

But if it was like this, Haseul didn't think she'd mind very much. Yeojin had always been a pretty cool kid and clearly, she still was one. 

"Here's the entrance," Yeojin said. Haseul furrowed her eyebrows; she didn't see anything, but Yeojin turned off of the road. The ten year old began to lead her down a path between two houses, just two lines of stone put in place over the sand. It cut so close that Haseul could see into both of their living rooms through the windows. 

"Isn't this private property?" 

"Technically? Yes. But nobody cares, especially not the owners of these houses. I've never seen the people who live on the left but a couple of old ladies live on the right. Sometimes they'll sell lemonade through the window." 

Haseul smiled at the thought and felt more at ease, walking carefully between the two homes. 

And suddenly...they were there. 

It was a stunning beach. It wasn't like beaches in photos of Hawaii or the Caribbean, but Haseul had to admit it was the most stunning beach she'd seen in person, for sure. It stretched on for ages and ages in either direction. The sand was a soft cream color and the water was dark, but very much blue. It was too dark to see through at this distance but Haseul knew that if she was close to the water, she'd be able to see all the way to the bottom. 

Despite its beauty, it was practically empty. She could see a few couples, young and old, a family, and a lifeguard tower with a lone figure on it, but that was it. She quickly figured that was the reason the beach had remained so beautiful. 

"Holy ," Haseul mumbled. 

"Language!" Yeojin cried. 

Haseul rolled her eyes. "Sorry. But...this beach is really beautiful. What's it called? How come we've never been before?" 

"This beach doesn't really have a name. But we call it Our Beach." 

"We?" 

"The locals. We've named it Our Beach because its ours. The tourists don't know about it and they'll never know, we make sure of that. We hide it as best we can, so we can keep it nice, and for us. The people of Egret Cove." 

Haseul hummed at that. "How come you're showing me now?" 

"Well, grandma always thought that since you guys didn't live here, it should still be kept a secret. But since you're gonna stay here the whole summer, I decided it was okay to show you. Plus, we're gonna go to the beach a lot, and I don't wanna have to go to the touristy beaches." 

"Hm. Makes sense." 

"Come on, let's go in!" Yeojin cried, kicking off her flip flops by the entrance, on top of a big pile of flip flops. Haseul figured everyone just left their flip flops there, knowing nobody would take it. So Haseul slipped off her flip flops as well and followed Yeojin into the expanse of sand. 

It was definitely warm between her toes but not too hot, not burning at all. Yeojin ran along and Haseul jogged after her until Yeojin flopped in the sand. She quickly got up, shaking herself like a dog, and put the sheet on the sand, sitting down on it. 

Panting, Haseul sat down next to her as Yeojin pulled some more things out of her bag: a towel, a jug of orange juice, and three tomatoes. 

"...what's that?" 

"Snacks," Yeojin answered matter of factly. When she noticed Haseul was still confused, she sighed. "Okay, this was all we had around the house." 

"Who does the grocery shopping?" 

"Grocery shopping? Nobody. I just go to the corner store when we need something." 

Haseul frowned at that. "I'll go grocery shopping for us soon then. I have a car and everything; we can get a lot of stuff at a time." 

Yeojin gasped, taking a bite directly out of the tomato. "Oh my gosh, that would be really nice." Haseul simply watched as Yeojin inhaled the tomato, took a sip of orange juice directly from the jug, and stripped down to her swimsuit. "Well, I'm gonna go in the water." The ten year old dashed down the beach before turning around, looking confused. "Aren't you coming?" 

"Um, I'm okay. I'll just watch you." 

"You're wearing a swimsuit, right?" 

"Yeah, I am." 

"Lame!"

"I-I can't swim!" Haseul answered, and it was the truth.

"Even more lame!" Yeojin whined but turned around anyways, splashing into the water. She giggled to herself and swam around, ducking under to look at shells and make her hair all silky like a mermaid. 

Haseul just watched her with a soft smile. She could easily see that under an older person's watchful gaze, Yeojin felt like she could be free, the kid she deserved to be. But while keeping one eye on her little cousin, she let some of her gaze drift to everyone else. 

People were still sparse, but the closest thing was the lifeguard tower. It was tall enough to look over everything, Haseul's eyes going up until she reached the top where the lifeguard sat. And Haseul froze. 

The lifeguard was a girl, a beautiful girl, probably around Haseul's age or a touch older. And she was probably the most beautiful girl Haseul thought she'd ever seen in her life. She had long brown hair with a hint of bangs, tied up in a ponytail, and looked amazing in her lifeguard grade swimsuit. She was clearly confident but not an , looking over the beach and water with a gentle smile. Haseul could tell she was even keeping a careful eye on Yeojin. 

"Haseul!" she heard Yeojin shout. Panicked she turned around, hoping to god Yeojin wasn't drowning. Again, she couldn't swim; and only the cute lifeguard would be there to save her. Haseul breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Yeojin was fine, just sternly staring at her with her hands on her hips. 

"Come on, you're not even gonna put your feet in?" 

"Who's gonna watch the stuff?" 

"The lifeguard? I dunno. People don't steal stuff here, me and my friends leave our stuff all the time. Just come on!" 

Haseul thought for a moment then got up with a sigh; the water did look nice and cool and she was starting to get really hot. She walked down the sand until she got to the cooler sand before finally, putting her toes in. 

She shuddered then released a soft sigh of relief. It was cold but it really just felt refreshing, and she stepped in further. 

"Come closer!" Yeojin called from far deeper in the ocean. 

"I'm only gonna go to my shorts." Haseul waded in further, until she knew that if she went deeper, her shorts would get wet. 

"Agh!" Yeojin cried, but swam back close to her. She started reaching for Haseul's hands until the teenager made a panicked expression.

"If you pull me under, you're dead to me." 

"AGH!" Yeojin yelled. "Fine. But this summer, I'm gonna make you get all the way in. You're gonna be in so much water your hair will get wet." 

Haseul chuckled. "Try me." 

But maybe, further down the line, that would be something she might not mind.