“___-ah, come on! We have to get there before the lines are too long!” Niel grabbed your hand and dragged you through the parking lot towards a large crowd waiting at the gate to go in.

“Slow down! We’ll get there!” He turned back and looked at you, his eyes wild with excitement. He looked at you with his puppy-dog eyes, and let out a great sigh. You sighed as well, then nodded your head and once again found yourself being guided by his surprisingly strong arm, through the crowd, towards the gate. Still holding your hand, the two of you maneuvered your way through the crowd and eventually got to the pay-counter.

“Two please,” he said, in his perfect English voice that he’d obviously been practicing for a while to impress you. He turned to you and smiled an accomplished smile – you couldn’t help but laugh at his cuteness.

“That’ll be $26.50 please,” the lady behind the counter said. Niel stood still, clearly at a loss for words, as he did not predict she would ask another question. Coming to his rescue, you pulled the money from his wallet in the pocket of his swim trunks and gave it to the ticket lady, in exchange for your wristbands.

“You’re welcome,” you said, as you grabbed his hand and pulled him through the gates and into the water park.

 

                “Waah…” Niel stood there, shocked and in awe of all the big, towering water-slides. Everywhere you looked, there were kids, teens, and adults running around, heading towards the slides. From a distance, you could hear the joyful screams of those brave enough to conquer the biggest slide of all – The ‘Red River Rapids.’ The slide stood taller than all the others, towering over all surrounding trees.

“So, where should we start?” you ask him, trying to get his attention back. Niel turned and looked at you, suddenly seeming to have lost 10 or so years.

“Oh, I saw the perfect one! Let’s go!” Niel tried to pull you towards the slide you knew he had his eyes on – a big, green one with a steep drop at the top and many twists and turns – but you held stood firm.

“Wait! We have to find a spot somewhere to leave all our things,” you tell him, and he looks at you with such a heart broken look, you just want to wrap your arms around his waist and embrace him in a hug – but there’d be time for that later. Together, you find a picnic table under a tree on a small patch of grass and place your things on it. You take off your shirt and shorts, revealing a red-and-white striped bikini top and matching bottoms. Niel stood there, gaping at you, until you gave him ‘the look’ which suggested that he had 5 seconds to turn away before being tackled. Quickly and effortlessly, he took off his shirt, revealing a surprisingly toned body. He then grabbed a hair-tie from the pocket of his swim trunks and tied the back of his hair into a cute little ponytail. You found yourself giving the same look you warned him about, and quickly looked away (not before he caught you looking, and smiled cutely to himself).

“Now can we go on the slides?” he asked, in his cute and impatient voice. You walked up to him, placed your hands on the back of his neck, and planted your lips firmly on his. Then, pulling away, you turn your head to face his ear, and whispered something very softly.

“Let’s go.”

 

                For that whole afternoon, Niel took you from slide to slide. Though the rules stated that there’s only one slider allowed at a time, that didn’t stop him from sneaking onto a slide with you every now and again. Though having a very fun time, you could see in his eyes that there was one thing he really wanted to do, but was clearly too afraid to say it. So, you confronted him about it.

“What’s wrong?” you ask as he has his back turned to you, looking for the next slide he wanted to take. “I can tell something’s not right. Want to tell me?” Niel turned and faced you, and took both of your hands in his – cold, wet, and wrinkly from all the sliding, yet still baby soft.

“Jagiya… There’s this one slide I really want to go on, but I know you won’t want to go on it.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to go on it?”

“Well… I know you don’t like heights, and this one is the tallest of them all.” This was true – you were absolutely terrified of really tall heights, which did make you reluctant to respond to him. You were about to admit to him that he was right, and you weren’t ready to go on the slide, when you looked up and saw the look in his eyes.  It was like all the stress in his life had melted away, and he was just a normal teenager, having a fun day with his girlfriend – there was no Teen Top, no busy schedules, no Korea period – and you could tell that made him very relaxed. Though you were terrified of heights, you decided to yourself that this boy was worth it.

“Don’t worry! I got over my fear a while ago. I’d be more than happy to go on the ‘Red River Rapids’!” you tell him. You automatically know you’ve made the right choice, when you see his eyes brighten up even more than they had before.

“You’re the best ____-ah! We have to go over here, since this ride needs tubes.” He put his slender yet strong arm around your waist – putting you at his side – and walked towards the stack of yellow and blue tubes. Together, you grabbed a couple’s tube and made your way up to the top of the slide.

“Here goes nothing,” you think to yourself.

 

                Though Niel was right beside you, your heart was still pounding as you made your way up the stairs to the top pool of the slide. Together, you placed your tube into the water, and he helped you get into the front.

“Careful, there, you got it now. Yah, don’t trip! There, okay? Okay!” After helping you, he hopped in himself, putting on leg on either side of you (you couldn’t help but blush a little).

“Okay, are you guys ready?” the attendant in the pool asked.

“Ne!” Niel shouted, clearly more excited than ever.

“Uh, yep!” you say nervously. Niel caught the tone of nervousness in your voice, for he put his hands around your waist and rested his head against your shoulder.

“You can do it jagi! I’m right here…” he whispered into your shoulder, then raised his head and kissed the side of your neck – something he knew you loved. He was right to do it too, because you immediately felt calmed down. However, just as the calmness was spreading over you, the attendant pushed the tube from the pool and down the slide you flew!

 

                At that moment, you understood why it was called ‘Red River Rapids.’Every turn was steep, bumpy, and fast. At first, you tried to contain your fear, having Niel sitting right behind you. However, you knew it was too much for you, and began to scream uncontrollably – partly from the thrill of it, mostly from the terror of it.

“It’s okay, I got you!” Niel yelled from behind you, trying to get you to hear him over your screams. “Here, look at me!” He moved his hands from your waist to your shoulders, and turned your body so you were mostly facing him. He leaned in and gave you a nice, sweet kiss that automatically stopped any and all reasons for screaming. Just then, the tube hit the final turn and the two of you went flying off the tube and onto the slide. Niel made a great effort to hold on to you, but it was just no use. By the time you hit the water, you had been riding down the slide without a tube for quite some distance.

“Niel??” you screamed, once you emerged from the water. “Niel?!”

“Right here!!” you heard his voice from behind you, and quickly turned around to find yourself in his arms. You planted your face in his chest, your head resting under his neck.

“N… n… never again…” you stuttered to him, trying to make your words audible so he got the message.

“My brave, brave girlfriend. You’re too perfect, you know right?” Squeezing you tighter, he planted a kiss on the top of your head, once again relaxing all the tensed muscles in your body. You felt so good, so comfortable, being in his arms. You wanted the moment to last forever, but unfortunately, the lifeguard was yelling at you two for being in the way of the next riders coming down the slide. Reluctantly, you moved out of the way, and to the side of the pool.

“Now,” smiled Niel, helping you out of the pool. “Want to go again?”

~Fin