Chaewon couldn't even smell the chlorine damp coming off the pool water anymore. Her job had ruined that. It wasn't like she ever liked pools anyway... until that one summer she met Yujin Ahn.

It was her first summer as a pool cleaner. It didn't sound very fancy, and it definitely wasn't. You had to get up early to filter all the pools from leaves and twigs and other stuff that had fallen in it overnight. You had to make sure the temperature was exactly 20.5 degrees and you had to throw in exactly two chlorine tablets every day in every pool. There were about 120 pools to be cleaned, all before midday. The pools belonged to large villas, which on their turn belonged to a large holiday park. People often rented them because they stayed here for a week or two, then moved out again.

It was a boring job, but at least she was off early and she was able to wear her headphones. The wage was good enough for a summer job. Little did Chaewon know that a certain person had signed in that week to stay all summer. And she had always been week for y brunettes who looked hella good in bikinis. How she could've managed those first two weeks, was a mystery to her, even now.

It started off unknowingly. It wasn't Chaewon's first job, so she picked up the rhythm pretty well. Filter, temperature, chlorine, next pool. It only took her a couple of days to get a good routine. In a matter of time, she had her own route through the park.
Most people were still asleep when she came to filter the pools, since she'd start at 7 AM every morning. She always went around the back, opening the entrance to the pool with a key. It was common to keep fences around your pool, in case of alligators who lived at the lakes nearby wanted to visit. It took her often only ten minutes - five if she was doing well - to clean a pool, then she'd move over to the next one. She had to clean 40 pools every day, the others were taken care of by her colleagues. One of the first pools on her route, was of the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.

Chaewon didn't know any better when she stepped through the entrance of the fence of villa 203 at half past seven that one morning. She didn't know who had rented it — sometimes the houses were empty — and she didn't care at that time. When there were people, they'd often ignore her, like she wasn't even there. After all, she was just some employee who was there to make their lives easier, right? Most people stayed asleep a little longer, especially the younger ones in their teens or mid-twenties, so often Chaewon didn't even encounter the guests. She liked it that way; a job with little or no social contact.

With her dip net across her shoulder and one earplug in her ear, she walked in. She ran with her hair across her freshly dyed pink hair — she had thought it was a good idea to dye it in a fresh colour, only regretting it after she saw how pink it actually turned out to be. Chaewon opened the top button of her shirt. The emblem of the holiday park showing proudly on her chest.

She walked over to the pool, placing her bag with the necessities on the ground. Chaewon was just about to take her net and start cleaning up the leaves, when her eyes fell on something big... and red, floating in the water. It was a huge inflatable bed with a... with a girl?

Chaewon frowned her eyebrows at the sight of it. The girl wore swimming clothes — duh — but her sunglasses as well. She didn't seem to be wet at all, at the sight of her dry hair. Only the tips who touched the water were wettened a little bit. She laid on her back, with her fingers dangling in the water. But that was all. There was no magazine or book she seemed to be reading, nor did she have a phone to entertain herself with. She just... laid there.

 Right at the moment Chaewon wanted to touch the drifting red monstrosity with the end of her dip net, the girl suddenly moved, getting up. Chaewon looked at her, startled, and took her net away quickly, as she sat up straight and stretched her body with a moan. Chaewon's throat tightened for a second.

The girl at first didn't seem to notice Chaewon at all, she just stretched and eventually took her sunglasses off, blinking against the fresh morning sun. She ran with long slender fingers, that seemed excellent for playing a piano, through her hair, fixing the way they perfectly fell over her shoulder and onto her back into a way that seemed even more beautiful.
Then, when Chaewon thought she ought to make a noise to announce her presence, the girl looked up to her. Her heart stopped for a moment when two bright brown eyes fixed upon her. She opened to say something, but nothing came out. A beautiful smile appeared on the girl's face, a smile brighter than the sun that was currently burning Chaewon's uncovered arms. When she smiled, her eyes squinted a little bit together into an eye-smile with dimples on top of her cheeks that she had never seen anyone do so cutely before.

"Will you be cleaning my pool from now on?" the girl asked, still with her bright dimpled-smile.

There was this obvious accent sounding through in her voice, making it only more attractive, besides the fact that it was ringing like a bell and was so velvet-y that all Chaewon could do was compare it to her favourite song. To Chaewon that sounded as: "I am going to ruin your life from now on."

And God, she ing did.

From that day, Chaewon decided not to go past her pool anymore around that time. The next day, she made sure she was there an hour earlier than she had done the previous day, but the girl was still there.

"I'm Ahn Yujin. Well, many just call me Yuj! You can call me whatever you want though."

Chaewon softly cursed under her breath. Yujin was a name that suited her beauty perfectly and it made her more uncomfortable by the second. She almost tripped over a loose tile, causing her to lose her dip net in the pool. She cursed again, a little bit louder. Yujin didn't respond to her '...' and continued to look at her like she was an interesting art piece.

"What's yours?" Yujin asked.

Chaewon stayed silent for a moment before looking up. At the moment she wanted to tell the stranger her name, Yujin let herself slide in the pool. She immediately let herself go completely underwater. Yujin swam up towards the net, which had sunken to the bottom, and grabbed it. She came up again, and offered her her dip net back. Chaewon just stood there, with widened eyes.

Chaewon had been impressed when she was all dry, but seeing the drops of pool water run down her partly uncovered body made her almost drool. Her hair was pushed back and fell slick over her back. When she regained her consciousness enough to reclaim her net, their hands brushed past each other's and she almost had a hard attack. They felt so soft..

"So, your name?" the brunette asked again, whilst she pulled up the corners of into that bright smile, she had showed her yesterday. That bright smile that made her cheeks feel like hellfire.

"C-Chaewon," she stuttered. Yujin chuckled for a moment.

"Mind if I call you Chae?"

"N-no," she forced out. God, Yujin could call her anything she wanted to. How could she be so weak for someone who she just met a day ago? It already felt like something more was growing than just common attraction.

"Okay, Chae it is then!" the brunette chirped happily. Chaewon just nodded, trying to hide her burning cheeks by looking down to the ground. If someone'd notice, she could always say it was because of the health, right? She quickly cleared the pool and threw in some chlorine tablets before trying to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

In the next few days, she tried cleaning the pool at different times, hoping she'd find a standard time where Yujin wasn't laying in the pool, practically waiting for her to turn up. Every time she'd try to talk, and every time Chaewon would become extremely flustered up 'till a moment where is wasn't fun anymore.

It turned out, after a few awkward meet ups, that around noon, she was mostly inside the house, so that was the time she picked to clean the pool of villa 203. Chaewon did notice that her house mates were out around noon quite often, but they were not causing her stomach to turn and her insides to turn into a soft mess whenever she caught their gaze, so she didn't mind them as much as she minded Yujin. They were quite a duo; some girl with a cheeky grin called Yena and a short girl with bright red hair called Yuri. While Yujin seemed a bit quieter and relaxer, the other two seemed to be constantly beaming around. Yujin would lay with a magazine on her inflatable red bed, while Yena and Yuri jumped around in the pool. Chaewon couldn't help to wonder how a girl like Yujin could be around such energetic people all the time, but then she reminded herself that it was none of her business. She was just a pool cleaner.

Cleaning villa 203's pool as one of the last on her list was actually one of the best ideas she came of. It went on for weeks, actually, until the very last week of summer. Everyday she'd make sure to clean the pool at a time the brunette wasn't there. Every day she would ask her boss when the costumers in villa 203 would sign out. He always told her they'd sign out at the very last day of the summer vacation. They were here already for weeks and Chaewon's tiny crush on the beauty hadn't gotten any less. It wasn't like she didn't want to be around Yujin. She seemed like a genuine nice person, someone she'd actually love to hang out with, but when she tried to be around her... her body just rejected being normal. Her insides twisted until it hurt, clenched until she couldn't speak and her cheeks flared up until it felt like she was on fire. She suddenly became twenty times as clumsy than she normally was and she couldn't get a normal word out of without talking nonsense or stuttering extremely. Chaewon wasn't a smooth talker in general, but Yujin made it so much worse. She really hated it to be so helpless. Chaewon was normally a very independent person, but with Yujin it felt like she would give up so much to be with her. You could easily say that she was an admirer from afar.

Chaewon had never been good in handling crushes and now too she hoped that the feelings for the hot brunette would probably go away if she'd just stopped seeing her. Previously, she had mostly succeeded though, but only after a while. She just hoped she wouldn't fall any further for Yujin nor would encounter her anymore before she signed out. After that she'd be able to fully get over her, because they wouldn't see each other anymore. Of course, that went horribly wrong.

There were only six days left until Yujin and her friends would sign out. Chaewon told herself that there could impossibly happen something bad now. She had never been really smart.

Chaewon was walking her usual round across the park. Fishing out some leaves here, sprinkling in some chlorine tablets. It was easy and time consuming, but her skin had nicely tanned over summer and she liked it more that way than her usual close-to-white skin. It felt more natural.

Villa 203's pool was her last pool for that day, like she always did. She opened the fence and got through, closing it behind her. She whistled along with song that blasted through her one earplug, loving the beat. Chaewon placed her bag on the ground and took her dip net off her shoulder. At the moment she wanted to dip it into the water, she heard an angelic voice.
"Are you avoiding me?"

Chaewon almost fell in the water by hearing Yujin's voice suddenly out of nowhere. She caught her balance just in time. Slowly she let out a shaky breath, while her eyes searched for the brunette. She was seated in the corner of the pool, with her arms draped over the edge. Without her pink bed Chaewon hadn't recognized her that quickly. Her hair was wet; the sun made it sparkle like a diamond. Her eyes were bright, but contained some annoyance right now. Chaewon felt like she was about to be grounded.

"I-I, what," she stuttered. Yujin stood up and got out of the pool. Chaewon wanted to run away as quickly as possible, but this was her last pool, she had to clean this one. And she probably wouldn't get far; that fierce look in the girl's eyes told her that she wasn't going to let her escape now. At this moment, she wasn't flustered by Yujin's body in a bikini, but a little scared and definitely ashamed.

"You're avoiding me," Yujin said again. This time it was a statement instead of a question. She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head a little bit to the left.
 

"W-what do you mean?" Chaewon asked softly. She had to look up a little bit, which made the other girl even more scary. Chaewon tried to back up a little, but could only take two steps back until her back hit the fence. Yujin had no problem taking a few steps towards her, until they were so close their bellies almost touched. She gulped audibly.

"At the beginning of the holiday you were always here at exactly half past seven. We met a couple of times but after that you simply disappeared. You always seemed very unwilling to come here when I was around, but Yena and Yuri told me you were actually very cheerful when they were out in the pool and you stopped by. So, are you avoiding me or what?" the brunette said strictly. Her voice had become a little high-pitched and loud, probably due to the fact that she actually seemed really angry with Chaewon. In another situation the sight of Yujin frowning her eyebrows and placing her hands on her hips would be funny, but Chaewon felt far from laughing. All Chaewon could do was blink helplessly. Because she had, in fact, been avoiding Yujin, probably not for the reasons Yujin thought. All of a sudden, Yujin's gaze softened a bit.

"This is your last pool right? It's always your last pool.." she said. Chaewon nodded slowly, wondering how she'd even know that. For a moment she wondered if Yujin had also been watching her, but her mind wiped out that thought rather quickly. That'd be ridiculous, right?

"Yeah," she muttered. Yujin smiled, which brought back the incredibly cute dimpled-smile. She could just feel her intestines melt together into a stinky mess, although she did not quite understand why Yujin was so nice to her again..

"Want a drink?" the taller girl asked. Before Chaewon could even answer, Yujin had skipped back inside. She stayed helplessly behind, uncomfortably waiting for the other girl to come back.

A few moments later, she came back with two big glasses filled with an orange-y drink. Yujin smiled brightly, causing Chaewon to look down from the eye-smile, a little shy. She pushed the glass in Chaewon's hand. From the smell of it, the drink definitely contained alcohol, even though it was only a quarter to twelve. She wasn't really supposed to drink under working time... But then again, she was neither allowed to interfere with the guests more than necessary.

"Drink up, it's great! I made it myself!" Yujin exclaimed. Chaewon wasn't much of an alcohol drinker, but ah well.. how could she say no to her?

Chaewon brought the glass to her lips and took a careful sip. A sweet taste immediately spread through . It was almost not noticeable that there was alcohol mixed in the beverage.

Yujin grinned when she saw Chaewon's positively surprised face. "It's good, right?" she asked.

"What is it?" Chaewon asked in response. It wasn't like she was going to turn it down anymore, but she sure liked to know what she was poisoning her body with. Yujin smiled kindly.

"It's mimosa, great right?" she replied. "It mainly consists of champagne and orange juice."
Chaewon took another sip, a bigger one this time. It sure was nice, even refreshing after a few hours of work. A silence fell between the two girls. Chaewon hopped from one leg to the other, a little uncomfortable. She didn't understand why Yujin was being so kind to her. She had confessed into avoiding her and all out of a sudden she was offered a drink? It had seemed like the brunette's angry mood had disappeared suddenly. Had she forgiven her already? She needed to know.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she blurted out, after a few minutes. Yujin looked up from her drink and smiled again. Chaewon looked up. Her hands gripped the glass hard nervously.

"For the same reason you avoided me," she said. Chaewon's eyebrows frowned together instantly and she couldn't help but to stare at the smiling brunette. She opened to say something, completely forgotten her drink, when Yujin started to fan air at herself with her hand.

"It's so hot here, come to the pool with me," she said. Yujin smiled again and touched her hand for a moment — definitely intentional — before walking off to the pool. She sat down and let her legs dangle in the water. The girl closed her eyes, leaning on her arms behind her back and let a soft moan escape from , which immediately let Chaewon's throat tighten some more. As if she wasn't flustered enough. The sun made her skin almost sparkle.
"Ah, this is better..."

When Chaewon didn't join her, she opened one of her eyes and looked in her direction.
"So, are you going to join me or what?" she laughed. Chaewon nodded quickly. She placed her glass on the ground and started to untie the laces of her sneakers. She took them, and her socks, off, before joining Yujin at the poolside. She sat down next to the brunette and slowly let her feet join Yujin's. Even she sighed out of pleasure. Chaewon let the sun warm her skin and the water cool her feet. She isn't much of a summer person, but this was nice.

They sat like that for a while; their legs dangling in the cool water and their eyes closed, enjoying the sun and each other's presence. Chaewon started to feel more and more comfortable around the brunette. The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable anymore, it was rather pleasant. She was still wondering about what Yujin had said to her though, that she was nice to her for the same reason she was avoiding her. Did she mean that she actually liked Chaewon? Or did Yujin think Chaewon was avoiding her because of something else? She let out a short sigh. Why were feelings and thoughts so exhausting?

After some time, Yujin opened her eyes again. She looked up at the pink-haired girl next to her and smiled weakly for a moment. Chaewon was not aware of all of this, she still had her eyes closed. Yujin bit down on her lip and exhaled slowly.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked, in a sudden rush of courage. Chaewon opened her eyes, disturbed by the sudden question. It immediately made her mind race again though. Why would Yujin ask her that, if she wasn't interested in her too? To be nice? You could ask so many different things if you wanted to be nice, right?

The pink-haired looked down at the water and shook her head. "I don't like boys much," she said softly. It wasn't a direct confession that she was gay, but she still wanted to give a hint. It had been a while since she pretended to be something she was not for the sake of someone else, and it had hurt her every time she had to pretend some boy was handsome while in fact she couldn't care less. She wasn't interested, but she was too scared to admit she liked girls. It somehow felt comfortable to tell Yujin that though — or at least hint to it. It almost felt like they had known each other for forever.

She noticed the brunette looking at her, but Chaewon kept staring at the water. She slowly kicked her feet up and down, making small waves. Again, she could not see how the other girl was smiling at her.

"I understand. They always mess up anyway," Yujin chuckled. Chaewon bit down upon her lip.

"So, do you have a boyfriend...?" she asked softly, almost inaudibly. She was already dreading the answer. What if she said yes? It wasn't like Chaewon was hitting on her but she sure was interested. The thought of Yujin kissing a boy made everything twenty times more awkward again.

"Nope. I used to have one a while ago, but we eventually didn't fit anymore," she said. Chaewon's heart dropped. So she is into guys...

She bit down upon her lip. Yujin's laugh made her look up, confused.
"But that was five years ago, y'know. You honestly didn't think I'd offer my alcohol to a girl while having a boyfriend? Come on.." she said chuckling. Chaewon blinked, still a bit confused. Eventually, she chuckled along, letting a small smile consume her face. Yujin lifted her hand. The tips of her fingers found the corner of Chaewon's mouth, pulling up her smile even more. Chaewon froze but let the brunette touch her without pulling back. God, her hands seemed even softer than the last time she had accidentally touched them. They seemed to linger way too long on her face, and Yujin eventually came to notice that too, because she pulled them back quickly, laughing softly to herself afterwards.

"So, now tell me something about you! We have a whole summer to talk about," she said. "I want to see that beautiful smile more." Chaewon was happy to talk.

Her feet and lower legs had eventually become numb, but Chaewon had gladly been willing to sacrifice the feeling in her legs for more minutes with Yujin.

She turned out to be even greater than Chaewon thought she was. She had a close relationship with her family, though not so much with her dad anymore because she lived a little out of town. Her mother died when she was 13. When she told about that, there seemed to be a sad veil covering her eyes. They weren't tears, but she sure had trouble talking about it. Chaewon praised her courageousness that she talked about that with her, whilst they didn't even know each other very long. As soon as the topic changed, her cheerful mood appeared again. Chaewon stayed amazed how much energy she had and that she could talk with such interest and kindness about stuff.

Chaewon had long forgotten about her job. Yujin just had that effect on her. Her boss must be rigid right now, because s