She opened her eyes.

Slowly, small droplets dwindled down her face, her hair drenched like lifeless seaweed. Her heart beating.

==========

It was a summer a year ago.

Normally such events that occurred to what seemed like a lifetime ago would disintegrate naturally. She will never forget; however, for when she closed her eyes, every now and then it would reappear as if no time had actually passed.

Sooyoung was seventeen then; somewhat mature, but still very awkward in her own skin. She had a lifetime of knowledge left to learn.

Summer had started and as her friends had slowly disappeared before her eyes with plans filled out, Sooyoung found herself as the sole loner with months to spare and nothing to do. She made it her mission to find excitement in her stagnant life, a thrill seeker she decided to be.

Spending the summer at a rental house on a remote random island with a handful of strangers sounded like a brilliant idea. And so there she was, sitting atop a large rock randomly placed along the coast with her feet sunk into the warm sand.

She had no idea how she had found such a serene spot, but she was glad that she had stumbled upon the place.

It was like a secret location, for only her to experience…it seemed like no one would ever appear.

But then she saw him from the far distance, a god like figure that glistened from the soft kiss of rays from the sun. In a place where mankind seemed to cease to exist, he came floating into the picture. His body moved with one like the waves, swimming like an Olympian, he was gold—a winner in her eyes. She found herself transfixed with the nameless man as she soon found that it was custom to see him grace the shores every morning.

Strangely however, he would drift away from her gaze without trouble. Within a millisecond, the man would fall off from the canvas much to her dismay.

But then one day, as if noticing her hidden desire to know everything about him, the man placed himself next to her. The stone rock of a chair dripped wet from the excess of water that hung from his board shorts, the little flicks somehow falling precisely onto her small feet. Sooyoung would always remember the strange satisfying sensation of the blend of heat from the sand with that of the cool water.

It was the perfect balance. 

She didn’t dare to speak; afraid that by doing so may make everything disappear. Nor did she have the courage to take a good look at him; her head remained frozen at a standstill staring down onto the coast of the ocean.

But she wanted to. No doubt about it.

For days she had drawn him out from her imagination, a figment of everything amazing.

“What’s your dream?”

He asked out of the blue; a voice very weak with a subtle sense of loneliness.

She bit the bait using it as an excuse to finally turn towards him. He was beautiful. Just like how she had imagined, how she knew he would be. His skin sparkled like the sun and his eyes deep as the sea.

“Nothing in particular…” Sooyoung replied delicately.

“I want to feel alive. I want to get to that point right there,” He lifted his finger and pointed out to the horizon.

That was his dream, to exist in that space where the sky and water met, where two things intertwined to became one.

She didn’t understand it then.

That nameless man had a name and his name was Changmin.

She found out that day. And from that day onwards, she slowly found his quirks like uncovered pieces of treasure.

==========

They became inseparable. As if physically attached by the hip, she followed him and vice versa.

The duo would meet in the morning out by the water. He was always present before her, already dipped inside nature. Sooyoung would watch him everyday. The progress in distance he’d swim itched its way further from her grips.

She hated the idea, hated the fact that he was getting closer to what seemed like a ridiculous childish dream of his.

Therefore a sense of relief electrified her happiness whenever he’d hit that limit and return back to the shore, return back to her.

He would greet her drenched wet with the smell of the ocean drunk on his bare skin. Sooyoung would welcome him with hands wide open, a towel ready.

“You should stop doing that…” she said concerned by the extreme heavily breathing that escaped his mouth.

“Hmm?” he smiled weakly as he drew his hand lightly around her small waist.

“No one can swim that far Changmin…so stop okay? You don’t necessarily have to achieve a dream…”

“Sooyoung do you realize your name means swimming?” he kissed the top of her head before placing his chin over her, securing the girl in her spot.

“Are you trying to say that I bring you some sort of luck?” she teased.

“Precisely,” he laughed. “My dream came true. I’ve reached that spot.”

“Liar~ it’s still impossible to swim to the horizon. I’ll marry the person that’s able to do so without hesitating~,” she mocked as she ran her fingertips gently above his arms. 

“I love you,” he said smiling the most perfect smile known to man.

Turning her around like a precious ballerina, he pleased her with the touch of his lips along hers.

The faint words I do would then follow after, but Sooyoung never would hear it.

They would sit on that stone that they called theirs killing time by doing nothing more than memorize the sound of each other’s breathing and no one wou