“What are you doing?” You leaned back and gave Youngjae a distasteful look. “You keep moving in closer next to me. Move. I need my personal space.”

            Your neighbor scowled and leaned back against his chair. “Gosh, I thought you were talking to me. And your headphones are so loud, I can hear it. I just wanted to see what you were blasting. Disturbing my peace.” He stuck his tongue out at you.

            You huffed and went back to jamming to your iPod. Whoever decided it was a good idea to slap the two of you together and make you go to the beach together was an idiot. Right, your mothers really had to get over the whole matchmaking thing.

            You snuck a look at Youngjae. He was dressed plainly in a beige shirt and was currently reclining in the bus seat across from you. He was intently playing a game on his phone and you saw his tongue peek out in concentration. Okay, so maybe he was a bit good looking. He scowled and his apple cheeks lifted. Scratch that, he was very good looking.

            “Hey, do you know how to dig for clams?” you ask him. You prop your feet up on his seat, well aware how flirty you were being.

            He looked up from his phone and glances at the leg next to his. “Er, no? Do I look like a country boy?”

            You groaned. “What were our mothers thinking?”

            He scoffs. “I can tell you what they were thinking, and I’m telling you clams had nothing to do with it. They’re just being ahjummas.”

            You nod, glad he understood. “Okay, I guess we can always use the nets they gave us.”

            He looked at you. “Are we really going to bring back clams for them? Do you think these clams are edible? I don’t want to die prematurely.”

            “Don’t be a sissy. My dad’s taken them before. I think my mom put them in butter sauce before. Trust me. She wouldn’t want to poison us.”

            Youngjae gives you a suspicious squint before going back to his phone. You nudged him with your feet. “Talk to me. You’re so boring. What was the point of coming with me if you won’t talk to me?”

            He sighed. “Okay, so shoot. Go ahead and talk. You know, I don’t remember our talking much before. How’s your life?”

            You grinned. “That’s because I was always so shy of the aloof Oppa next door. You never wanted to talk to me. I remember when you helped chase that dog away from me but when I wanted to thank you, you just walked back into the house.”

            He laughed, remembering as well. “Yeah, well, I was scared you would be too clingy. I didn’t need a four year old scrambling after me as I explored my way around the world.”

            “You were six! Isn’t that a bit too sophisticated for a six year old to be thinking about?” You blurt out, absolutely indignant. Youngjae only shrugged.

            “It’s in my nature to be well above my age.” On impulse, you stuck your tongue out at him and he tsked. “Unlike some people.”

            He was infuriating as always, but damn if he hadn’t grown to be extremely attractive. You looked out the window and pouted. You could see the road getting narrower and smell the sea salt from the open window. You couldn’t help but get excited and pointed at the approaching sand.

            “Look! I can’t wait to go swimming!”

            “Swimming? But you said we were here to catch crabs. You can go swim but I’m not diving in after you if you drown. I refuse.”

            The bus rolls to a stop and you jump down, thanking the driver. Within seconds you were splashing into the water. You pulled up your shorts and yanked off your shirt, completely diving in. It wasn’t until you looked back that you saw Youngjae struggling with the net and traps. He scowled when he came upon the beach.

            “Yeah, make me carry everything, why don’t you? Ah!” He let out a scream of pure terror. “Put on a shirt! I don’t need to see you in your underwear! No, no, no,” he shook his head. He looked horrified and quickly ducked his head down to study the various nets.

            “Okay, so we can get crabs too. Give it to me,” you ignored his comment. He refused to look at you and you rolled your eyes. “Aish, you’re acting like a forty year old . Never seen a girl topless?”

            “Atrocious, disgraceful,” he was muttering. What was he, a grandmother?

            You snatched the nets from him and filled it with bait. “Take the sticks and go dig holes in the sand. Nearer to the tides would be better. Go and I’ll get the crabs.” Just to a bit, you leaned down so he could see your chest and you heard him sigh.

            “Impossible.”

            You watched him as he trudged through the slightly muddy area and set down to catch the clams. Youngjae looked adorable, sitting there and sifting through the mud. “Here, clammy clams, come on, the sooner I can fill this sack, the sooner I can spare disturbing you guys.” You watched him diligently pick at the different ones and examine them.

            After what seemed like hours, you finally captured enough crab for the two families and walked up to Youngjae. He was scowling.

            “None of these crabs are big enough. I can’t believe this.”

            You knelt down next to him and dig another hole and pointed at them. “You’re not looking hard enough, dimwit. You need to sift the opposite direction of the tide. Like this,” you show him. After a few tries, Youngjae unearthed an entire colony of clams and he jumped up, excited.

            “Oh yeah! Thank you!” impulsively, he hugged you.

            You grin and tiptoe up, kissing him. “Oppa so adorable.”

            Immediately, Youngjae turned red and he touched his finger to his lips, almost unbelieving what had just happened. “Did you just-”

            “Kiss you?” You smiled at him. “Yeah, I guess that’s my way of telling you I’ve always been a secret admirer.”

            He laughs and pulls you to him, kissing you again, this time deeper and more passionately. “Okay, now help me get more clams.”

            You sat down next to him. “I guess our moms knew what they were doing.”

plot request 

I HOPE THIS IS FLUFFY ENOUGH FOR YOU, UNNI? :P