It was such a hard thing for Rina to admit. She didn’t think it was even possible. She’s only known him for a few weeks; how could her feelings develop this fast? She shook her head and traced the patterns of the chair leg beside her. Love did strange things, she guessed. Snorting, she let the side of her head hit the side of the chair. It is not love, she stressed in her head. It couldn’t be! The two weren’t even friends, let alone acquaintances. The only thing that linked the two together were their parents. Having been reunited after fifteen years of silence, they went crazy and rented out a beach house. And now here they were, two families stuck together for the next three months. Whoopee.

“Why are you sitting on the floor?”

Rina stiffened at the voice, but forced herself to relax. She clung to the chair leg and kept her face hidden away from him in fear that he might see her red eyes, indicating how much she was crying for the past few hours. She could hear him take a seat on the couch a few feet away and fought to keep herself from running away. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of backing down. This was her house too… At least for the next three months. Clearing as silently as she could, she replied back to him. “It’s comfortable here.” She winced when her voice came out softer than she planned.

“Yeah?” Rina could hear the slight amusement in his voice and berated her heart for beating faster. Thankfully, he left her alone after that and turned the tv on.

She let herself slink back in her thoughts. She thought about the past few weeks and how her parents called her while she was still back in the states. She had been laying in her bed and was woken up by the sound of her ringtone. Sleepily, she picked up the phone and was nagged by her parents for still being asleep this late in the day. Through all the nagging, her parents had barely mentioned to her that they bought a ticket for her to fly back to South Korea before hanging up.

One side of Rina’s lip tilted up at the memory of herself looking at the phone confusedly, not knowing what was going on. Later on, she called back her parents even though it was midnight on the other side. They had a proper conversation, and her parents informed her how they were reunited with their best friends; people who stuck with them ever since high school but unfortunately drifted apart due to them moving around the world a lot.

Her parents wanted her to come and meet them and at their excited care free voice, Rina couldn’t say no. She hadn’t seen her parents this happy in a long time, and ever since she applied for college in the United States, her relationship with them was a little strained.

After rearranging everything and taking a leave from UCLA, Rina flew from California to Seoul. What Rina wished her parents would tell her before she agreed to go was of the Kim family’s son. Maybe if she was warned about the gorgeous boy she wouldn’t have fallen in love. Or in like? Either way she was attracted to him and that alone caused her a lot of problems.

They were polite to each other at first. Their parents met up a lot for dinners and tagged the two along. Rina was lucky that she was still fluent in her mother language or otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to interact very much with the Kim family. Then during a barbeque their parents had stated that they rented out a beach house away from the city life. Rina was hesitant to agree. Her parents didn’t say anything about how long she was going to stay. She realized they did it on purpose so she had no choice but to stay once she was here. Himchan on the other hand didn’t mind too much. He had acquaintances all over the place so he knew he wouldn’t be bored during their stay.

It was when they arrived at the beach house that things started to get out of hand. Their parents forced the two together on outings while they went to bond over the lost time. It was awkward at first, two twenty two year olds forced to spend time together because of their parents. They grew out of it though, and soon got along. They got to know each other, and during that short amount of time Rina had slowly started to fall for Himchan. That is until Himchan’s acquaintances found out where he was staying.

They whisked him away and Rina was forced to follow seeing as she didn’t know anyone else in the area. She got to see the sides of Himchan she didn’t even think was there; not approving any of it one bit. Eventually she confronted him about it, and it turned out to be one big fight. Her eyes watered at the memory. After that he no longer acted like the Himchan during their alone time together, and instead acted like a jackass who played around, whether it was girls or friends or, or—no. Damn it, no. Rina promised herself she wouldn’t think about it anymore. About him anymore. Kind of impossible though, she scowled inwardly. Living in the same house prevented that from happening.

She her dry lips and cleared once more, putting away any vulnerable feelings that had crawled out to the back of her mind. She didn’t need Himchan catching them and using it to his advantage like he had been the past few days. She scowled, wondering if he even cared about her.

For a split second, her heart skipped a beat at the thought of him caring. Did he? Sometimes it felt like it—even after the dramatic turn of his personality. Tentatively, she opened .

“Himchan?”

“Mmm.” He flipped to the next channel in hope of something interesting to watch.

Rina winced and realized what she was doing. Was she crazy? Why would she ask something like that to him? It would have just added even more drama to their complicated… Complicated what? Friendship? Relationship? Rina didn’t even know. “N-nothing.”

The twenty two year old got up, making sure Himchan couldn’t get a view of her face. With her back to him, she headed over to the kitchen where there was a patio door. She could escape the house from there and take a walk on the beach to recover from Himchan’s presence. She scowled, hating what he made her turn into. Back in the U.S. she wasn’t as shy or as fragile like she was in Korea.

“Yoon Mi.”

Rina stopped in her steps and winced at his use of her Korean name. For some reason he was bent on calling her that rather than her American name. With her back still to Himchan, she started to play with her fingers while waiting for Himchan to continue.

“You know if the rents are gonna be here tonight?”

Rina shook her head. “No, they said they were going to visit some friend and won’t be back until the next day.”

“Good,” she heard Himchan murmur. “Was gonna have some friends over.”

Rina sighed, knowing what that meant. She waved her hand in a careless manner before continuing to walk. She could still hear Himchan’s words as she continued her walk down the beach, or at least what she thought he said. When she had stepped out onto the patio, she could’ve sworn he said he was sorry. I’m sorry too, she in her lower lip and nibbled on it softly. Sorry for falling for you.

She could still remember the words he had spit out at her when they fought. Her heart panged at the memory.

Rina stood in front of Himchan, feeling helpless and scared as he towered over her, glaring at her with eyes filled with anger and irritation. The normal twinkle in his eyes had disappeared and was replaced with a black endless hole. She felt herself drown in it despite the fact that she was filled with fear from head to toe.

“Why are you even so hooked on this?”

“Why?”

“Yes, why.” He spit out.

“I just. I,” Rina stuttered helplessly as she shook herself mentally, trying to distract herself from his hypnotizing eyes.

“Can’t even keep up a conversation.” Rina winced as Himchan raked his eyes over her body. He was listing out all the things she was incapable of inside his head, she knew it. The thing was she wasn’t incapable of it all. It was all because of him. Stupid, stupid Himchan.

He started to turn and leave, but in a burst of confidence Rina grabbed his hand. He stiffened and ripped his hand out of her hold. Ignoring the sting of rejection, she met his cold eyes with an angry look of her own. Himchan paused and had to backtrack to remember what they were fighting about. The anger in Rina’s eyes had captured Himchan and reminded him of a goddess in war, but to hell if he was going to admit something like that. He figured it would cut through the tension and ruin the intensity of their fight. He always did that with her; interrupt her when she was in the middle of talking. She was just so serious, and all Himchan wanted to do was have fun.

“You changed, you know that? Ever since those friends of yours came in and whisked you away.”

Himchan chuckled lowly. “You sound jealous.”

A flash of irritation struck through her eyes and she could see Himchan’s body shiver from it. Good, she murmured in her thoughts. She was able to impact him just as much as he did her.

“It’s not jealousy, Himchan. Trust me when I say that. I couldn’t care less who you hang out with. We’re not some adolescent teenager trying to beat the other person with jealousy.” Rina narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. “The point is that you’ve changed. You’re acting like a careless right now. Playing with so many people and messing with their minds?” Rina shook her head, showing her disapproval.

Himchan scoffed, straightening his spine in defense. “Since when did the things I do matter? Just mind your own business Yoon Mi.”

“But that’s the thing! I can’t.”

“And why is that?” Rina winced at the mocking drawl in his voice.

“I-“ She sighed, slumping her shoulders and breaking eye contact. “I don’t know.”

Himchan chuckled darkly and grabbed her chin with his rough hands, jerking it up so their eyes met again. “This is why I hang out with them more than you. Why I leave your side once we get to public places.”

Rina’s heart practically stopped at the meaning of his words.

“I don’t hang out with people like you.”

She knew exactly what he was talking about. Weak, fragile and unconfident; always nervous. She couldn’t help it though. She only ever acted like that in front of him. Why? She had no idea. He turned her into a whole other type of person and she hated it.

At the next few words he said, she practically ran away in tears. Rina knew it just further proved his point at her being fragile, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to stay there any longer. Rina could feel more than one pair of eyes digging into her back, and wondered who the extra pair of eyes were. No doubt one of Himchan’s friends. The first pair was Himchan’s she knew that. They were probably going to make fun of her behind her back or something.

She slowed down when she realized she was out of Himchan’s view and sat at the nearest bus bench. I only felt sorry for you, the words repeated in her mind as the tears dripped from her face like a broken faucet. Himchan only hung out with her because he felt sorry. She chuckled bitterly. Of course. Their parents were close friends so they were forced to talk to one another, and all the friends she had made before she left for the US had lost contact with her. Unable to talk to them, she only had Himchan to rely on. Blindly, she accepted his invitations to hang out not realizing it was only out of politeness. Of course it was out of politeness! Just like back in the city. She scowled and rubbed at her eyes, brushing away the strands of mascara that clung onto her cheeks. God what was wrong with her? Why was she even acting like this? She could only figure one possibility, but immediately through the idea out the window. There was no way. She couldn’t be hurt because of that. Because she liked him. No. That was ridiculous.

It turned out that possibility was right. She did like him. Love even. Maybe.

Rina sighed and wrapped her arms around her torso, looking out at the ocean and admiring the view. She had always liked the color blue. It was such a fresh color, making her feel like all the negative things would just wash away from her body. She knew she shouldn’t be acting like this. If she was back in the states she would act like this didn’t bother her. Walk with her chin up high and pretend like nothing happen. Just like what Himchan was doing. She was stronger than this, she knew it. She also wanted Himchan to know too.

That’s it, she thought. When she came back she was going to act like herself again. Not the weakling that came out whenever she was around Himchan. She needed to take a stand and show him that who he thought she was, isn’t the real her, or she supposed not all of her. But for now, she would continue her walk on the beach and let her mind go. This was her time to relax and not think about Himchan. He didn’t need to be in her mind 24/7.

Rina nodded to herself despite the fact that she continued to think about Himchan. He only knew her as Yoon Mi, but for now he was going to see Rina. If Himchan can change right before her eyes, well then so can she. The only difference was she was going back to the real her while Himchan… Well who knows what he’s being. With that, she pushed all thoughts of him to the back of her mind and smiled her first real smile since she came here. 

And here's the snippet! 

Sorry if there are any mistakes on here. I didn't have much time to go through and edit. Look forward to the fic, yeah? ^^

Feedback would be wonderful as well.