Kasumi’s POV

Later in the night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I was busy thinking about the conversation I had with Zico earlier. I remembered everything he said to me and his words just kept replaying in my mind and I couldn’t shut them out.

I still couldn’t believe that Zico confessed to me. I might’ve suspected U-Kwon liking me so when he confessed to me, it didn’t come as much of a surprise, but I was surprised when Zico confessed. He was the last person I actually expected to confess. Well, one of the last. I knew Hoya would never like me, too. But that’s beside the point.

But what am I going to do?

I can’t deny the fact that I was still in love with Woohyun despite the fact that he had hurt me and cheated on me after he had won over my trust. But I also could not deny the fact that it was Zico and the rest of Block-B who brought color back into my black-and-white life after the breakup with Woohyun. He understood me than Woohyun did, and he was patient with me, whereas Woohyun was always jumpy and ready to go. Zico was, too, but he always took my thoughts into consideration.

I sighed, turning over in my bed. I opened my eyes to see Krystal sitting up, careful not to creak the bed as she did.

“Are you okay?” she whispered from across the room. “You keep tossing and turning.”

I nodded. “I’m all right,” I whispered back. “Go back to sleep.”

Krystal nodded sleepily and went back to sleepy. But I, on the other hand, sighed as I lied back down in bed, trying to sleep. But again, I replayed the scene at the beach earlier in my mind once more. I remembered Zico’s exact words, his serious face expression when he told me how he felt about me . . . everything.

I closed my eyes as I recalled each thing he said to me.

“Sumi-yah, it’s been three months since you guys broke up. It’s quite a long time, you know, and now summer is coming. Have you ever thought that maybe . . . you are better off without him? Like, maybe you deserve so much better than him?”

“When he left, you spent all your energy holding on to him. But you’re the one who broke up with him, you know.”

 “You could be happy if you let go. You could be happy if you let yourself fall in love with someone else.”

“You could be happy with me.”

“I’m not saying you don’t love him anymore. I’m not stupid. But it’s possible to love more than one person at a time, Sumi-yah.”

“A doesn’t know what it’s like to be in love.”

“Look. All I’m saying is to think about it, all right? I’m not looking for an answer now. But I want you to think about what I can offer you. And all that I ask for you is a chance to prove to you that I can be that one guy in your life that you will fall in love with, like truly fall in love with.”

“It’s better than keeping my feelings hidden. If you say no, then I’ll back off.”

“He thought that he wasn’t enough, but he knew that I like you, and somehow he thought that I would be able to give you what you needed because he can’t. Because I can give you what Woohyun was supposed to have given you — love and trust.”

“You should know that I would never hurt you that way. I may not be able to guarantee that your heart will never hurt when you’re with me, but I can promise you it won’t hurt that way.”

“Kasumi, I love you, and I will wait for you. In the end, this is your choice. I’m not going to force you. If you don’t like me, and see no chance in ever being with me, that’s fine. But if you think you do . . . I’m not going to give up on that hope.”

I opened my eyes and stared up to the ceiling in darkness. The night was dead and quiet. My hearing senses grew sharper. I could hear were the light snores from my friends, the occasional toss-and-turn from them, the faint buzzing sound of the fan as it spun around in its place to blow cool air around the room, and then I heard an owl hooting from outside. I listened closely and I could hear the waves’ tides as they break on the shore, making a soft crashing resonance.

I reached for my phone beside my pillow and saw that it was already four in the morning. A lot of us had been able to stay up until one since it was our last night but then the teachers ushered us all back to bed. We were leaving tomorrow afternoon. I can’t believe the trip was already ending. It was just too fast.

I closed my eyes again and tried to sleep. But after ten minutes of restless tosses and turns, I got up, grabbing my pencil and notebook, and headed outside.

Zico’s POV

I couldn’t sleep so I got out from my bed and silently walked out to the lobby, careful not to wake my friends or Sung Jong and Myungsoo as I did. I needed someplace to breathe and I wasn’t going to get it from my room.

When I reached the lobby, I saw a girl looking out of the window, to the vast ocean. She had her head bowed down but I recognized the green-and-grey striped hoodie. I went up to her and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. “Sumi-yah?”

She whirled around, startled, and I saw that she had been drawing. “Jiho Oppa!” Kasumi exclaimed and nearly dropped her pencil. Then she noticed I was in my jammies, making me wished I had thought of getting dressed. “Can’t sleep?”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I admitted. “You too?” When she nodded, I looked at her drawing of the ocean at night. “It’s really beautiful,” I breathed.

Kasumi held an unreadable expression on her face. “Thanks.”

Something struck me. “I must’ve upset you if I had stirred your artistic side up,” I went on, frowning thoughtfully.

“What did you say?” she gaped at me.

I shrugged. “You draw or paint whenever you are upset. Was my confession that upsetting? If it was, I’m sorry.”

“No!” she blurted out without thinking and at once her cheeks went pink. “It didn’t upset me. I just upset myself. I was thinking too much. But you did nothing wrong.”

I tugged her elbow gently and we went to sit on the couch there. “Aren’t your feet tired from standing?” I wanted to know.

“A bit,” she admitted.

I watched in silent fascination as she continued to draw, her hands skillfully getting every detail right, moving so fast and accurately. It was truly amazing. My breath got caught just by watching her and when I looked up, I felt this overpowering urge to kiss her. She was so . . . beautiful when she’s concentrating hard that it was sort of cute.

Kasumi looked up, sensing that I watching her. She blinked a couple of times before she locked eyes with me.

And a gust of wind had to ruin the moment by making me shiver. From the corner of my eyes, I saw that she was taking her hoodie off. I shook my head, holding my hands up. “Don’t,” I told her. “You’ll feel cold.”

“But you are cold,” she argued. She laid it out on both our legs. “Here, at least now we’ll feel warm in some ways and cold in other ways.”

When I’m with you, I’ll always be warm.

Kasumi went back to her masterpiece while I continued looking. My eyes wandered over to her shoulders and I realized she was wearing a thin singlet, exposing skin. A lump formed in my throat and before I even knew what was happening, I had leaned over, kissing her shoulder blade hungrily.

Kasumi tensed up. “O – Oppa —?” She turned to look at me the same time I looked at her.

That was when time stopped for the both of us.

Not taking my eyes even once off her, I lifted my head up to kiss her on the lips, closing my eyes. Kasumi, surprisingly, responded, wrapping her arms around my neck as I edged a bit closer to her. I took her pencil and notebook away, putting them on the coffee table in front of us before I turned my full attention toward her. I cupped her face with my hands as I leaned backward, falling onto the couch as my fingers entwined into her hair, securing her face to mine. She flattened a palm against my chest tenderly, the other hand creeping to the back of my head.

Our breaths grew uneven as our kisses grew more desperate as we clung onto each other as if we were each other’s oxygen tank. I pressed my back against the couch, pulling her close to me so she wouldn’t fall off. Her chest heaved up and down against my own unstable chest as my left hand moved down to her shoulder, to her arm, her elbow, to her waist, wrapping my arm around her.

“Kasumi,” I breathed between kisses.

“Oppa . . .”

Her breath smelled nice with that toothpaste minty taste, her strawberry scent overwhelming me with such power that I lost all train of thoughts, losing myself. I needed her, wanted her, needed her touch, wanted to hold her forever like this.

The last time I remembered was Kasumi pulling