Warning: talking about death (nobody actually dies or is in danger of dying but I figured this was something I should warn people about)

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It was the kind of day when the weather is just ing beautiful, where you feel like you actually have to do something, and the girls were doing just that. 

Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, and Vivi all happened to have the day off so it was really no problem to meet at Haseul's in the early afternoon, just to hang out. Of course, there was no question that Yeojin would come along to whatever they were doing, so the group of five quickly set out, dressed in sneakers and the few nice-ish clothes they all had, reserved for the few times when they wouldn't get sandy. 

Turns out, something doesn't have to be much. The girls decided to go into town (there's a town?, Haseul had asked) and walk around. None of the girls went there too often; it was kind of a touristy place, down by the touristy beach. But there were just enough locals around, you could tell, to still make it okay. 

After so much time spent walking the gravel and the beach, the paved ground was hard, solid beneath her feet. The line up of restaurants and gift shops and ancient ice cream parlors and one little pharmacy with sunscreen and tum's for toursit emergencies stretched on for only a few blocks. At the end was a windswept pier that seemed to reach out onto eternity, covered in coral and creaking with old age. She had to squint to see the couple sitting out on the edge, dangling their feet high above the ocean. 

Haseul let out a soft exhale as a cool breeze passed between her arms and torso, fluttering her hair and the lace on her soft white dress. The sun was hot but the wind was cool and she was as comfortable here as should would have been laying on the couch at home. The air tasted like salty ice cream on her tongue; she could see the young kids on vacation the drippings of their cookies and cream cones off of their hands, but the wind brought over that briney ocean scent to cut through it. Those children laughed and screamed and ran across the street, mindless of the (admittedly very few) cars that drove by. And their parents watched from either sidewalk, soft smiles on their lips, soaking up their own vacation, trying to get whatever relaxation they could out of the trip. 

Maybe Haseul had been here, in the town area of Egret Cove before. Back when she was little. When things were easy. 

No. Haseul physically shook her head. Things were easy when she was young, yes, but weren't they for so many people? 

And easy didn't mean better. A childhood was incomporable to teen years. Neither was better than the other. 

And things were good now.

Haseul took that in, in a salty breath, and looked around. It was nearing dinner time and she could smell the fishhouses and beachside eateries beginning to start their evenings. Mmh, she was hungry. They would all probably eat dinner out here; she could practically feel the fork in her hand....

But right now her hand was grasping Vivi's. Oh. Did that feel good. It felt good on her fingertips, Vivi's warmth mixing with her own. But it felt good on the inside too, at the bottom of her belly where the butterflies still lived. Vivi was her girlfriend, and she could hold her hand while walking down the street, so everyone would know. And Vivi wanted everyone to know. 

"How do you like it?" Vivi asked. 

"It's nice. I actually think I did come here, when I was really little. So I don't remember it that well." 

"I see," Vivi nodded and answered in that quiet little way of hers. Haseul could see her smile to herself out of the corner of her eye. And when Vivi squeezed her know, a secret little I like you I like you I like you, Haseul couldn't stop herself from shivering. Her own little I like you too back. 

"Are you guys hungry?" Heejin suddenly turned back and asked. Her, Hyunjin, and Yeojin had been walking a few paces ahead, laughing and talking animatedly while Vivi and Haseul had ambled behind in almost silence. 

"Hell yeah!" Haseul called back, Vivi and herself trotting a little quicker to catch up with the other girls. Vivi smiled at her as everyone stood in a circle in front of a restaurant. 

"I was kinda thinking we could eat here for dinner. It's a little expensive, but it's fancy. And since you're....you're, you know, going soon...we should do nice things, right?" 

It broke Haseul's heart a little to see the usually unflappable Hyunjin get...sad, especially over her. It hurt Haseul more that she was right; that she would have to leave soon. But it healed her to think that her new friends were thinking of her, trying their best to make her last week or so special before she goes back to the place that now, she has quite a hard time calling home. 

"Yeah, that sounds really great!" Haseul answered. 

"Let's go!" Yeojin said a little too loudly, and the girls headed inside. 

It was a fancy place; Haseul could immediately tell. It was one of those restaurants with leather seated booths, big windows, waiters in suits, and the scent of bread and red wine heavy inside. This place was definitely going to be expensive, yes, but Haseul didn't care. They'd all been working, she could handle herself and Yeojin's meal. Anyways, was there anything more fun than doing the things your parents considered special occasion things all by yourself, with your own silly teen friends in tow? 

They approached the host's stand and a waiter gave them all an up and down look. Looking around at the other clientel in the place, teenagers didn't normally come in here by themselves. But he stood up straight and cleared his throat anyways. 

"Table for five?" 

"Yup!" Yeojin answered for them. "And could we get a booth please?" 

The waiter paused, looking down at the ten year old. "O-of course." The older girls all shared a giggle, and let themselves be seated. 

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By the time the girls finished eating the sun had begun to set, that soft orange light filling the town and their hair. All of them shared a smile. 

"God that was good," Hyunjin spoke. "Even though the waiters totally thought we were gonna dine and dash."

Yeojin scoffed. "Give them some credit. I'm sure kids from Bells Hills come here and do that all the time." 

"Well, I'm totally stuffed," Vivi added. 

"Honestly, I'm not really ready to go home yet," Heejin said. 

Haseul gazed down the street towards the big pier, the wind whipping her hair into her face. "Wanna go down there?" 

"Omigosh yes, it'll be so pretty," Heejin answered. 

So the girls walked down the streets to that major plank of wood. Mostly, the children were gone but the town was still bustling, late dinners and college kids emerging from bars, the laughter still loud even as the sun sank beneath the sky. It was cooler but still not cold, and as they came closer and closer to that crashing salty mass of the ocean, Haseul smiled to herself. 

It was nice. 

This was nice. 

Life was good; life was nice. 

Before she even realized they had reached the pier, her first step onto it letting out a loud creak. 

"Is this even safe?" Haseul asked with a laugh. 

Hyunjin shrugged. "Probably. I mean, it hasn't desintigrated into the water as long as I've been alive." 

"At least, not yet," Vivi quietly mumbled back. Haseul looked down at the craggy coral covered beams, worn and washed away by the water. She made a face to herself but kept on walking. 

She really hadn't noticed but a few minutes later, she turned back to see that lost in her own daydreams, she had walked far ahead of the other girls and was almost at the end. Turning around she locked eyes with Yeojin, and the ten year old ran to catch up with her, Heejin, Hyunjin, and Vivi lost in conversation. 

"Trying to get rid of us, are you?" Yeojin teased. 

"No way. I was just thinking." 

"You do that a lot, don't you?" 

Haseul chuckled. "Isn't that a good thing?" 

Yeojin shrugged, falling silent for a moment, her expression turning serious. "Depends on what you think about." 

And then, the girls reached the edge of the pier. Haseul couldn't do anything for a moment but look: the sun dipping itself into the ocean, brilliant blues and pinks and peaches lighting up the twilight sky. The gentle back and forth of the waves, the wind on the foaming water, Yeojin's slow breaths and her own. Haseul didn't bother with a cell phone picture; that could never capture it. But she closed and opened her eyes herself, as if she was taking her own picture inside of her mind to remember forever. 

"They're so far behind," Yeojin spoke, breaking the moment. Haseul turned her head and Yeojin was right; Vivi, Heejin, and Hyunjin looked like specks behind them. 

"Yeah," Haseul breathed out. "Wanna sit?" 

Yeojin didn't answer but sat herself down on the edge of the pier, her feet dangling over. Worry flashed in Haseul's mind for a moment before forcing herself to calm down; Yeojin wasn't a baby, she knew what she was doing. And she sat down beside her. 

Yeojin was unusually quiet. She must have been thinking too. 

The ocean noise and the distant chatter of those out and about, having fun, filled their silence until Yeojin turned to her. 

"Are you scared to go back?" 

Haseul hummed. "A little," she said, and it was the truth. She was scared, but only a little. It wasn't the best place to be, but it was a vast improvement from how she felt before. The fact that she was, specifically, scared to go back meant something though. And it meant something too that Yeojin used that word. Haseul wondered if she meant it. 

A lightbulb in Haseul's head. 

"Are you scared? For me to leave?" 

Yeojin sighed. "A little." 

Haseul's deep surprise gave way to immediate worry. "R-Really? But, aren't you excited that your friends will come back? To start middle school? To-" 

"It's not that," she interrupted. Haseul gripped the wood of the pier tight. "What-" she stopped again and sighed. "Grandma's kinda old. Like, okay, I know most ten year olds see anyone older than middle school age as old but, like, I was raised by my grandma, so I know what old actually is, and grandma is old." 

Haseul swallowed. 

"I...what happens if she..." She hiccuped and Haseul could feel herself tearing up too. Yeojin looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. Haseul looked away too, sharply, scrunching her face. She melted all the time but at least this once she had to be strong. 

Yeojin sighed again, already sounding more steady, and continued. "I know I was really, really young when my parents died. But...I remember it. Not really, like, people telling me it happened, or the funeral, or that stuff. But I remember how I felt. I wondered...how could I live without my mom and dad? Who would take care of me? Would I always be alone, forever? And, and once grandma dies...I really will be alone, right? I...I just get so scared sometimes. It's been better this summer, since there's been a grown up around...but once you go I'll be afraid again." 

Haseul let out a heartbroken sigh. "Oh Yeojin." She couldn't stop herself from reaching over to hug her little cousin tight. "You're not going to be alone. I promise. No matter what happens you're not going to be alone." 

"But what if-"

"You'll come stay with me. If I'm still living with my parents, at college, or on my own, you'll stay with me. Wherever I have a home, you'll have a home too, Yeojin. You're not alone, you're not alone, I promise." 

Yeojin didn't say anything anymore, just burying her tiny head in the crook of Haseul's shoulder. She couldn't imagine, really, being so young and worrying about that sort of thing. 

She said what she thought. 

"You're the bravest girl I know, Yeojin. But you don't have to be brave all the time. You can be scared." 

Yeojin breathed in and out before pulling away. She rubbed her eyes a little too hard and gazed up at Haseul, looking like a little girl, for once. 

"Do you promise?" 

Haseul sighed again. "I promise one hundred, thousand, million percent yes." 

Yeojin managed a small smile. "Okay. I...I think that makes me feel a little better." 

She turned out to gaze at the horizon again, and Haseul followed suit. The sun had finally sunk beneath the ocean but there was still light in the sky. Yeojin rested her head on Haseul's shoulder, and she smiled to herself.