Chapter One;
If Only I had Gills

joohee

  Splash! I dove into the aqua-coloured water of the pool. Closing my eyes, I swam as deep as I could and reached out. Almost, I told myself, just a little bit longer. But I couldn’t wait any longer; my lungs were already running out of oxygen. I opened my mouth, welcoming fresh air; unfortunately the only thing that entered was the salty pool water.

   Now filled with filthy liquid, my lungs felt as if they were about to burst. I kicked and thrashed, willing myself to the surface however I only sank downwards more. I engulfed yet another mouthful of water and attempted to reach the fresh air. When my head popped out from underneath the blue water, I marked this attempt as a failure once again.

   It felt good to be breathing in air versus water. Especially since I didn’t have any gills.

   “Did you touch it yet?” My friend asked, refusing to remove her gaze from her book.

   I shook my head. “Not yet, Injung unnie, but rest assured, I will reach the bottom.”

   “Well hurry up, I have ballet classes in an hour.”

   “Why don’t you come in with me? It will be a lot more fun than reading a boring book.” In my opinion, nearly anything was better than reading a book. It’s not that I despised reading, but most of the time I didn’t understand what the words meant and therefore lost interest quickly.

   She raised her eyebrow at me. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

   I shrugged, her loss, and dove into the water once again.

   This time, when I reached for the pool’s bottom, I squinted and allowed myself the blurry sight of the water before me.

   The pool water’s chemicals stung my vulnerable eyes and nearly forced them shut. But I was determined to meet my goal. I must touch the bottom! I squinted hard and myself forward and closer to the wave-detailed pool floor tiles.

   Straining my fingers, I reached and reached. When I could almost feel the silky-smooth aqua-coloured tiles, I heard something; it sounded like the splash of water.

   Without faltering my reach, I head to see hundreds of bubbles enveloping a small male’s body. I squinted harder until I felt my eyes were small slits as large as staples.

   The bubbles began to float away and I was able to see the male’s face.
   It was him.

   Lee Byunghun, the boy I had a crush on since he became my friend last semester was directly beside me. Shirtless.

   Forgetting that I was underwater, I gaped at him. My eyes molested him and memorized his body. Those near-chocolate abs, that— my thoughts were cut off by water filling my mouth and choking me. Without taking my eyes off of Byunghun, I struggled and attempted to swim up once again, but I wasn’t even sure which direction was up at this point. Byunghun must’ve sensed my gaze burning into his skin because he opened his handsome, glimmering eyes to see me staring directly at him.

   He swam closer to me and dragged me up to the surface. I wondered if I was too heavy for him to lift and if I needed to lose some weight to please him.

   “Are you okay?” He asked his eyes wide and startled.

   Wow, he sure looks cute like that, I thought to myself as I stared dreamily into his eyes. He’s such a gentleman for saving me.

   “Um, miss?” He looked at me expectantly.

   Wait— he doesn’t know my name?

   I let out a high pitched wail and swam to the corner of the pool.

   “Why don’t you remember me? He doesn’t remember me!” I meant to shout as I flailed my arms and tears ran down my cheeks, but it just came out as mixed up sounds that no human being would be able to identify.

   “Sorry, miss, but did I do something to upset you?” Byunghun asked as he swam closer to comfort me.

   “He doesn’t know my name and I didn’t even touch the bottom of the pool!” I exclaimed and the tears began to multiply.

   All of the sudden, a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the water. I looked up to see Injung wrap a towel around me.

   “Sorry about her, Byunghun. Joohee, here, is just sad because she can’t reach the bottom of the pool in one dive yet.” Injung half-lied. “We’ll be going now.”

   Byunghun seemed happy to hear that he wasn't the one to cause my sadness. “See you later then,” he grinned at us.

   “Bye-bye Byunghun!” I called out pulling a happy-facade as I wiped the drying tears from my face.

   Injung dragged me by my arm out into the parking lot. I disobediently attempted to push her hand away and walk for myself, but her grip stayed firmly around my arm. “Injung unnie, I want to go back to play with Byunghun and maybe he’ll remember me,” I whined.

   “Quit squirming,” she scolded.

   I furrowed my brows, but did as she said and stopped hitting her.

   “I told you it was a bad idea to go swimming indoors,” she harshly whispered. “Just wait a few months and go outside.”

   The tears had stopped streaming down my face but my joy was killed.

   “Injung unnie, he doesn’t even know my name!” I shouted at her as she shoved me into the back seat.

   “Yeah, I know. I was there,” stated Injung flatly.

   “It’s rude to eavesdrop on people without their permission, unnie.” I pointed out. “And why do I have to sit in the back seat?”

   “First of all, why would anyone allow someone to eavesdrop on them? Secondly, I’m not your unnie; you are older than me by seven months. And lastly, you can’t sit in the front because last time you did, you were so terrified that you threw up.”

   I scoffed, but could think of no more to retort.

   “Are you better now?” Injung asked as if being with me was the worst part of her day.

   I mumbled more nonsense and buckled my seatbelt. The cool leather of the car’s seat stuck to my wet legs and made me uncomfortable.

   “How much longer until we’re home?” I whined.

   Injung sighed and scolded me for asking such a useless question.

   For a while, though, my mind was elsewhere; thinking about Byunghun. How could he forget my name? We had even been science partners last semester and he had tutored me with no prevail. I sighed, when will things get better? Tomorrow? The next day? Because I am tired of waiting.

   “We’re here,” Injung beamed excitedly.

   “Really?” My eyes brightened. That was faster than usual.

   But when I looked out the car window expecting to see the familiar forget-me-nots that flooded our dorm’s overgrown lawn, I saw the clean, freshly-trimmed red roses that grew in only one place I knew of.

   “Injung, I thought we were going home, not to your stupid ballet class.” I scowled at her impatiently.

“Joohee,” she frowned at me. “I told you my classes were starting. And if you’re uncomfortable in that wet bathing suit, there’s a clothing store around the block so no complaining.” She handed me a few dollar bills before leaving me alone in the small black car.