“I’m getting hungry. We should buy dinner.” Johnny suggested while they were walking back along the shore to the house. 

“Sokcho is famous for crab.” Nari wondered.

“There’s a restaurant I know, their food is amazing and they have the best crab.”

“Cool, then we can order takeout, or someone can go there and buy.” Johnny said while shared a knowing look with Nari. 

“One!” the girl shouted and crouched down.

“Two!”

“Three!” Haechan and Johnny followed after.

“Then it’s set. Hyemi and Jeffrey go and buy us dinner.” Nari announced.

Haechan shot an offended look at Nari. He didn’t realize it was one of her stupid methods to let the two spend time together. “Stop doing that!” he mouthed to Nari when noticed Hyemi’s troubled expression, the other girl mouthing back the word what.

Hyemi felt her stomach turn in her body. “Can’t you come with us?” she tugged at Haechan’s shirt with pleading eyes. During the day she and Jaehyun occasionally were left alone and Hyemi was nauseous by then. Every time Jaehyun looked her in the eyes, she felt her head spinning. Every time his hand would brush against hers, chills ran down her spine. She was scared and confused. She didn’t like the signals her body was giving so thought the best was to avoid being alone with him for the rest of the day.

Hyemi pouted with trembling lips as she was holding Haechan’s shirt firmly in her grip. Seeing Haechan weakening, Nari butted in. “You’re incapable of doing basic tasks.” She shot him a glance then turned to Hyemi and Jaehyun. “You two go and bring food and drink.” 

“Come on Hyemi, I show you around.” Jaehyun placed his hand on the small of her back and pushed her lightly. “We’ll be back in an hour. Here’s the key.” 

They watched the two retreating figure and Haechan poked Nari in her side. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, Nari. Stop pushing them, it doesn’t work when you aggressively intervene.”

“What are you talking about Chaebol? I wasn’t aggressive at all.” She faked a gasp. 

Johnny let out a sigh. Haechan’s additional growl was the beginning of an at least twenty minutes worth of bickering. He wished he could have gone with Hyemi and Jaehyun.

The two followed the way along the glimmering ocean to the crab restaurant Jaehyun was talking about. The huge crab figure attached to the building was the indicator that indeed it was the place. Upon entering they saw a few aquariums filled with different kinds of crabs, the smell of the sea lingering in the air.

“Do you like crabs?” he asked while they were waiting in line.

“I rarely eat it.” she shrugged. 

“I think you’ll like it. I come here every time with my cousin’s family and I swear to god their sea food is the best I’ve ever tried.” he reassured then turned to the man behind the counter, taking an order of snow crab feast with sashimi, snow crab ramen and steamed snow crab.

Hyemi wandered around the restaurant, inspecting every fish tank and its tenants. She tapped lightly on the glass and chuckled when a funny looking fish swam closer. Jaehyun joined her after paying.

“Have you spent much time in Sokcho?” she turned to him.

“Yeah, most of my summer holidays. At first I thought my aunt and uncle were generous to let me stay here but later I found out I was mostly babysitting Jisung.”

Hyemi chuckled. “Still you got to see the beach.”

Jaehyun nodded. “You’re right. I’m not complaining, it was fun.”

“We used to go to Wangsan beach but…” she paused for a second, Jaehyun catching the happiness in her eyes dim. “Not anymore.”

“Park Sungjong’s nephew!” the man behind the counter called, Jaehyun turning to him. “The ferry will arrive in 10 minutes then we’ll have fresh crabs. D’ya wanna wait for it? We’ll finish your order in 40 minutes then.”

“Sure, thank you.” he nodded. We’ll be back in 40 minutes then. Come on, I have an idea.” he winked at Hyemi, grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the restaurant. 

In a blink of an eye, Hyemi was grasping the handrails of a manual boat, that takes them to a different part of Sokcho. Jaehyun didn’t answer her questions about their journey, saying it was a surprise, so the girl thought the best is to let him be and wait for the said surprise. The ride was short but exciting. The boat was swaying, floating through the waves and Hyemi’s pink hair swept across her face in the salty, cool summer wind. As soon as they got off the boat, they had a clear view at the small village in front of them.  

“Abai village.” Jaehyun enlightened her. “This village was built by refugees who fled North Korea during the Korean War.”

Hyemi nodded acknowledging, looking around the street, inspecting the small houses. The breeze brought the mouth-watering scent of food and the girl felt her stomach grumble in protest. Jaehyun held her wrist and pulled her with him to a food stall. 

“But we have dinner soon.” 

“It’s okay.” the male brushed her concern off. “It’s just a snack. We’ll buy some for the others anyway, but you have to try this. It’s a specialty of Sokcho.”

Hyemi studied the appetizing looking fried food but her eyes widened when she heard Jaehyun ordering. “Squid sundae?” she shivered. “No way!”

“Trust me, it’s really good.”

“I don’t like blood sausage and I definitely don’t like blood sausage stuffed with squid either.” she protested. 

Jaehyun thanked the lady and paid then turned to Hyemi with puppy eyes. “Have a bite for me, hm?” he held the sundae piece in front of Hyemi’s face and she couldn’t deny that the scent was delicious. 

She locked gazes with Jaehyun and her heart melted. He pouted like a little child, asking for a new toy. His lips trembled and he let out a soft mewl. Hyemi closed her eyes as she let out a defeated sigh and shrugged. 

“Okay, it won’t kill to have a bite.” she accepted the snack and took a careful, small bite. The texture was unexpectedly chewy but it was packed with tons of flavor. After her first cautious bite she took a braver, bigger one. 

Jaehyun watched her with a satisfied, smug grin. “Good, isn’t it?” he mocked, Hyemi answering with a mouth full of squid sundae. 

“Sha’ ahp!” 

Despite her concerns, spending time alone with Jaehyun turned out great. They walked around the small village, eat the squid sundae then took the boat and went back to the restaurant to get their order. 

Once they were back and joined the group, they decided to take everything to the beach since the weather was still warm. They sat on blankets, the food in the middle along with bottles of beer. Light chatter and laughter filled the air, merging with the sound of the crashing waves while they were eating and drinking. 

Hyemi was struggling to open her crab but fortunately Jaehyun came to her rescue and helped her. “Here.” he held the meat with his chopsticks. The girl opened , letting him feed her. “Good?” he inquired. 

“Yeah, it’s really good.” she nodded happily. “Better than the squid sundae though.” she added, Jaehyun snickering at her comment. 

“Took you guys long enough to get our food, didn’t you?” Nari wiggled her eyebrows. 

Hyemi’s cheeks burned and she choked on her food a little, Jaehyun giving her a bottle of water and remarked Nari. “While we were waiting for fresh crabs we took a detour to Abai village to get you guys squid sundae.” 

“How generous.” Haechan mocked a smile, Nari smacking his head. “Hey, give me a kimchi pancake!” he nudged Nari.

“Nothing left.” 

“There’s one over there.” Haechan cocked his head towards the plate in front of Nari, the girl immediately shoved the said food into . 

“See? Nothing left.” she managed to say with full of food.

“Childish .” Haechan growled as Nari smiled happily, munching on the pancake. Johnny shook his head dismissively to which Haechan snorted. “Get off your high horse. You and Hyemi.” he pointed at them. “Were the same when we were kids.”

“Yeah,” the girl nodded. “The difference is that we’ve grown up. You two haven’t.”

“Burn.” Johnny high fived the girl.

“Ah, this is so nice.” Nari leaned back, her body resting against Johnny’s shoulder.

“We should go to beaches more often.” Haechan added.

Johnny gave him a side glance. “Among us you’re the one who go to beaches regularly.” he held his hand in front of him as he counted his fingers. “Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Hawaii, Spain. And this was just your last year, am I right?”

“The life of chaebols truly is different.” Nari sighed. 

“Don’t go hard on him.” Hyemi cut in. “His family mostly goes because of business. He doesn’t have much time to relax on those trips.”

“What exactly your parents do?” Jaehyun asked.

“It’s-” Haechan started but Johnny butted in immediately.

“It’s a long and complicated story of an old man who’d dreamt big and built the Lee Corporation. Bless Great-grandpa Lee.” Johnny raised his beer.

“.” Haechan furrowed his eyebrows and punched Johnny in the arm. “You’ll regret treating me like this when your wife becomes my mistress.”

“Haechan-ah!” Hyemi warned. 

“Joking, I’m joking.” he quickly added.

“I like it here.” Nari closed her eyes. “Beach, good food, drinks, friends. It’s so nice.”

The alcohol they brought slowly but surely disappeared, driving the mood to become melancholy in the starry night. 

Haechan snorted and looked up with glossy eyes. “Yah, Mr Perfect.” he called, earning his attention. “Jaehyun-ah.” he said softly shifting his way to him. 

“Yeah?” he raised his eyebrows when Haechan casually sit on his lap and cupped his face. 

“Oh, great, he starts again.” Nari rolled her eyes and downed her last beer. She knew that face he made too well. In the past two years she’s seen it way too many times. “Make it quick, I don’t want to cry.” she growled and grabbed her purse in search of tissues. She grabbed a handful and threw some at Hyemi and Johnny. “Take it. You’ll need it.”

“What?” Jaehyun tilted his head to the side to see Nari. 

Haechan aggressively pulled his head back. “Look at me, Jaehyun-ah.”

“You’re scaring me.” he shifted in his seat.

“As you may have noticed, our friendship with Hyemi, Nari and Johnny is really strong.”

“Yes.” he nodded.

“We’re not afraid to show our affection, we kiss and hug. We tell each other things like I love you and I’m glad you’re my friend and so on.”

“I thought he’s already had his day this month.” Nari leaned closer to Johnny. 

“Jaehyun-ah!” Haechan cried out. His eyes teared up and a small pout formed on his lips. “We hug each other at least once a day and tell each other I love you because we’re afraid we might not have enough time to show our love.” his tears trailed down his cheek. 

Jaehyun froze. He didn’t expect him to go all serious, he thought he was just joking around. Nari rested her head on Johnny’s shoulder as her sobs shook her body. Johnny gave her a half hug, patting her arm as his eyes searched for Hyemi. She was sitting with her head hang low, hair covering her face, grasping her can so hard her fingers turned white. Johnny noticed how a teardrop fell on her hand.

“It’s so ing hard when you lose a loved one.” Haechan rested his forehead against Jaehyun’s as his tears flowed down his cheeks like small rivers. He shut his eyes close as he tried to gulp down his sobs and continue. “It’s so ing painful and when they’re not around anymore, all these thoughts haunt you. Like, did we tell them we loved them? Did we hug them? Did we argue too many times? Did we apologize properly?”

Nari was crying loudly by this time. She buried her face into Johnny’s neck as she bawled, while the man patted her back, telling her continuously that it will be alright. Hyemi was quietly sobbing and staring at her beer. Haechan leaned back and let out a whimper. He grabbed Jaehyun’s shoulders and gazed at him through his tears. His voice raised an octave as he continued.

“Did they realize how ing empty our lives would become once they’re gone? Did they know how ing hard it would be to move on? How ing unfair this world is?”

“Are they making fun of you again?” Hyemi squatted in front of the seven-year-old Haechan, the boy merely nodded. 

The girl turned towards the basketball field, where five 8 to 10 years old kids were playing and shouting. 

“Come on ! Don’t cry!” one of them yelled at them. “Call your daddy if it bothers you!”

Haechan hugged his legs to his chest as he tried to gulp down his forming tears. Those kids were making his life miserable since grade 1. The whole school knew that he was from a rich family so most of the kids were avoiding him, the others were picking on him. He was smaller than most, more quiet and more shy. Kids can be evil. They wanted a reaction. They wanted to see him cry, they wanted to see him use the power their family held. And for what? Just for fun. However, Haechan didn’t even once tell his parents that kids were bullying him. 

“You call him a but it was you who ate glue because thought it was milk!” Hyemi yelled back angrily then turned to Haechan.

“They’re right. I’m dumb.”

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