Ning Yi Zhuo is just a kid. 

Of course, what does she know about love, right? What does she know about the fluttering in her stomach, the sweaty palms, the adrenaline rush— the whole shebang. Nothing, right?

She's just a kid. 

But she thinks whoever the would tell her that whatever she feels is invalid deserves a punch right in the gut. 

She had read about this in tons of books, watched this in tons of movies, and listened about this in million of songs—but feeling it is a totally different thing. 

How does she know it's love and not anything else? 

Simple.

She knows nothing about love to know it isn't one. 

So if anyone—even Minjeong—tells her that she's not in love, she's pretty sure she'll give them the hand.

It began like this:

What? I like seeing pretty girls in my feed.

Ningning remembers, she remembers she shrugged about it, she remembers being nonchalant and she most importantly remembers how loud her heart was banging in her chest. It was total love at first sight.

Okay, shut up, it was a happy crush.

It's not like she had been stalking the profile of the girl for a few months now. It's not like the only reason she wanted to visit Minjeong during the campus basketball playoff was to get a glimpse of the girl. Ningning thinks no one can really blame her.

But when did Ningning realize she likes the girl that way?

It was all because of that ing camp.

It was when the Blue team decided to change tactics, leaving Ningning guarding the camp and Jaemin chasing the Reds. They got Minjeong and Yeji as hostages but for some reason, when she looks back, it was just Yeji smiling at her in all her moonlit glory. 

It was bewildering—how someone can be as beautiful as that under the moonlight. 

She remembers not being able to look at Yeji's face because she knows if she sees that smile directed at her again, she'll combust. But it's literally like all the movies she watched because the next second her eyes are being magnetized as if she's being called to just look at her.

Yeji smiles at her again and Ningning thought she might have peed her pants a little. 

Ew.

The girl smiled her 5K-megawatt smile and Ningning wanted to yell at the moon and tell it to just hide in shame. She sees the girl tap the seat beside her (it's just a dead root of a tree, but sure) and Ningning felt hypnotized, following right away. 

"So, you're a freshie?" Yeji asks her and Ningning never understood how the word freshie could sound that good.

Yeji knows.

Of course, she does. She knows that kind of look whenever it's directed at her. And Ningning wasn't really blessed with subtlety, always blushing and left speechless whenever she's around. It's cute, Yeji thinks. 

"Ye- yeah." 

"And you're from Winter's former school? SMU?" 

"Yeah..."

"Do you know any other words than that?"

"Yea— umm. Well, yeah." 

Yeji chuckles and Ningning thinks that must have been the best sound she heard in her whole life. Mozart? Beethoven? Debussy? Nope—Yeji.

"You're cute." Yeji comments and poked Ningning's cheeks. 

-

"Enough daydreaming Ning Yi Zhuo, we're here!" Chaeryeong yells at her friend staring into empty space as soon as they arrived. The car has long stopped but Ningning was still staring outside the window, partly lost in her train of thoughts, partly because she didn't want to come out and see the other girl. 

Eventually, she got no other choice but to head out and wow—

Giselle-unnie is rich rich.

Ningning gasped at the modern two-story house painted with the industrial age color highlighted with probably anchor gray. It's still a good few meters from the beach, but damn, the Uchinaga's Beach House is indeed something. 

Ningning helps her friends in unloading their bags and some other things they brought, following the rest of them and entering the beach house. 

If Ningning thinks the outside was amazing, the interior was breathtaking.

She's contemplating if she should still go out and swim at the beach or just stay inside all day long. She wouldn't mind. 

The first floor was vast— right upon entering the double-doored entrance, they're met with a spacious living room with a huge comfy-looking couch and carpeted floor. From the other end, she sees a way to what looks like the dining room, and if she looks up she can see the staircase leading to probably more rooms and their rich grandeur.

She heard Lia scream from the other side of the house and she sees Giselle shaking her head.

"She must have seen the pool." The owner of the beach house commented.

Damn, there's even a pool?

The gang settled in after almost half an hour, the girls heading to their respective room announcements with Karina still bitter about sleeping in a different room than Winter. She thinks she'll just sneak out at night like she usually does when she's sleeping over at Winter's and maybe, just maybe, they'll have a moment alone together.

They all decided to gather up in the living room, the majority of them occupying the large couch, Somi and Vernon sitting on the carpeted floor, Chae and Winter sharing one single-seater lazy boy recliner. Chae is literally sitting on top of Winter, which resulted in Karina's sour mood.

"So what's the plan?" Giselle started, placing down a plate of cookies, and Hyunjin following behind her with a tray of cold refreshments.

"Is there a seafood market near?"Lia asked. 

"I believe so, a fifteen-minute walk away from here." Hyunjin answered.

"How late are we allowed to stay on the beachside?" Ryujin asked.

"I don't think there's a curfew here, but there would be coastguards checking up every once in a while. I'd say don't go out after 10PM." Giselle said, looking pointedly at Karina. "We don't want a repeat of that camping trip, do we?" She sees Karina roll her eyes.

"Well then, three days here and we got plenty of things to do right? Let's take a breather for the afternoon then I'll head out to the market to buy seafood we can grill tonight." Giselle continued. 

"Can I come with?" Yuna chimed in.

"She loves cooking, and looking for fresh ingredients," Ryujin commented. "I'll come too."

"Yeah let's go together later then." Lia added, earning a scoff from Karina. "What?" Lia barked, staring at Karina with her right eyebrow arched. 

Lia sees Karina mouth the word whipped at her. 

"Winter, Chae, wanna come with us? It'll be fun!" Lia looked at the youngsters basically cuddling in their seats now.

"Gyeoul, let's ka ja!" Chae tells the girl, her hands grabbing Winter's to encircle it tightly on her waist. 

Lia smirks at Karina's reaction, knowing damn well this ticks the other. Lia bets that before this trip ends, Karina's just gonna blow.

-

Lia was wrong. It wasn't even the end of the first day and Karina's blowing hard.

"My Gyeouuuuul~ choco needs a hug."

"Gyeoulieeeee come er I need you~"

"Gyeouuuuuul~"

"My Gyeoul—"

"Min-min baby, can you come and help your Min-min unnie with this one?" Karina yells from the kitchen, preparing the seafood the rest of their friends bought from the market. 

Karina initially wanted to come too, but Giselle was eyeing her suspiciously already and she didn't want to explain that yes, she's indeed jealous of the two. She resulted in throwing Lia menacing looks instead, and if Karina's being honest, the whole two hours the rest were away was just pure torture. She's not sure if Chaeryeong is just earnestly trying to push her buttons, but being all over her Min-min baby is just too much. 

She's already having a worst than bad day and it's not even six pm on the first day. 

"Coming~" Winter sing-songs as she skips towards the kitchen, unaware of the quandary she's put the older into.

Lia hears this and walks to the kitchen too, looking at Karina with judgy eyes.

"M