Chapter 33: Minhyuk’s POV

            “Why is she still sitting there?” Kyung asked.

            Yun-Ae was under the umbrella reading her book. The guys wanted her to come and swim with us and have been trying to convince her to all morning but so far, they hadn’t succeeded.

            “Where are you going?” Zico asked as I began to swim back.

            “To keep her company,” I replied.

            “The things he’ll do for her,” P.O. laughed

            “Having fun?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist from behind her while she was engrossed in her book.  

            “Could you please not scare me like that oppa?” Yun-Ae requested, still somewhat startled from the hug.

            She usually doesn’t have a problem with me doing that.

            “I’m sorry,” I said, taking a seat next to her.

            “It’s okay,” Yun-Ae said as she rummaged through her bag. “Do you want anything to eat? I brought snacks,”

            “No, I'm fine,” I replied.

            Although she was talking to me, she seemed really distant. Something must be bothering her.

            “Did I do something?” I asked.

            “No you didn’t. Why?” Yun-Ae asked.

            “Then what’s bothering you?” I asked. “You’re not usually like this,”

            “Okay, this is going to sound pretty pathetic to you but I don't like going in the water," She admitted. "I know how to swim and everything, just not well. And after watching a girl nearly drown at the pool one summer," 

            “You're afraid,” I finished. “I get it. If you want me to, I’ll stay here with you,” I said as I gently kissed her temple and gave her a one armed hug.  

            “It's weird. Because I want to go in,” Yun-Ae said as she hugged her knees to her chest. “But every time I even go near the water, I get scared, thinking that I’ll get dragged away, so I just stay on the beach,”

            “Would you feel safe if you went with me?” I asked.

            “I guess,” She said quietly.

            “Well come on,” I said, standing up and then I extending a hand out to her.

            “You know, maybe we should go back,” Yun-Ae said once we were centimeters away from the water.

            “Just trust me,” I said, giving her hand a slight squeeze. “I won’t let anything happen to you,”

            Although it took a lot of stops and a lot of me trying to calm her down, we eventually got out to where the water came up to Yun-Ae’s hips.

            “Hey! Yun-Ae’s finally in the water!” Jaehyo exclaimed when he finally realized that Yun-Ae and I were a few feet away from them.

            “Do you want to head over to where the others are?” I asked. “Because I can always ask them to come back out here,”

            “No, it’s okay, I’ll go out there,” Yun-Ae said as she let out a shaky breath.

            Knowing that she wasn’t really comfortable with going in water that came up to her shoulders and everyone else’s waists, I allowed her to hold onto me as we got further and further from the seashore.

            Eventually, Yun-Ae got more comfortable in the water. She still wasn't able to swim around and splash the others, but it still was a large improvement from before.