Somehow, someway It finally arrived. And Kim Jaejoong was totally, completely ready for it.

“It” was the trip to the shore that he’d been fantasizing about all summer long. Not only fantasizing about, but working for. A few hours after his classes a day, five painful days a week, Jaejoong had lose it. Not that he didn’t like his part-time job including the perks such as flirting with the girls – but he wanted to have some real fun this summer.

After all, this was the summer before he graduates next year.

Next summer he’d be getting ready for real life – real job. All Jaejoong wanted now was to kick back and relax. And that’s just what was going to happen.

For years Jaejoong had listened to his younger brother Kris, talk about the shore haven outside of Seoul, the new summer community where their father and their stepmother spent July and August. They bought a beach house, which Jaejoong have never been to yet. It sounded like paradise to Jaejoong…boating, swimming, excellent Boogie boarding and maybe, even surfing. The beach stretched for miles…a beach filled with pretty girls in tiny bikinis, ready for summer fun and romance.

There had always been some reason or another that prevented Jaejoong from going. After their parents divorced, Jaejoong stayed with his mother while Kris was with their father. Since both of their parents love them, they maintained a decent relationship; making Jaejoong and Kris lived close to each other and even go to the same University. A few years ago, their father remarried and Kris has been living with his so-called “complete family.” They invited him to visit the shore a couple of times after they bought it but he wasn’t able to go. Last summer for instance, he’d been mowing lawns and t hedges, the summer before that he’d volunteered at a camp for kids with cancer, the summer before that his mother had been traveling through New England…

This year the two weeks of August had dangled temptingly in front of his stock-boy weary eyes all summer. He’d thought they’d never get here.

But at long last, they had.

Jaejoong eyed the pair of black Levi’s that lay on his bed…next to the brown ones with patches, and the three pairs of blue ones in various degrees of fade.

“Jae, you’re only going to the shore for two weeks, not two month,” Jaejoong’s mother hurried into his room, a pile of freshly washed underwear and socks in her arms. “I thought you might need these,” she said, handing them over.

“Thanks,” Jaejoong sighed. “I just want to make sure I’ve got the right stuff.”

Mrs.Kim’s eyes flickered over the bed. “Definitely leave room for the underwear.” She pursed her lips. “A couple of pairs of shorts, some T-shirts, your board shorts, and one nice outfit, and you’ll be fine.” Mrs. Kim tapped her watch. “Better hurry, sweetie. That girl’s expecting you at nine-thirty this morning, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. She is,” Jaejoong said.

“Well, don’t keep her waiting,” Mrs.Kim said, ruffling his hair on the way out. “And breakfast’s ready.”

That girl. That girl was Dara Park. Kris’ new girlfriend. Actually she wasn’t really all that new. Kris had been seeing her for a few months. But Jaejoong hadn’t met her yet. My brother’s girlfriend, and I don’t even know her.

Dara went to YGU, while Kris and Jaejoong both went to SMU. Back in May, SMU and YGU had held a student council exchange day. Ten representatives from SMU went to YGU, and ten representatives from YGU spend the day at SMU. The official objective was: Learn about the other university, see what its classes were like, and bring back any inventive ideas to your own university. Of course that wasn’t what really went on. What really happened was: You got the day off from your classes, everyone at the other school was dying to get to know you if you were attractive, and the only thing you wanted to bring back was a phone number.

If you were lucky, that is. And Kris was always lucky. Not only did the junior student council officer/pre-law student Kris Kim come back with some excellent fund-raiser ideas for the next year’s batch, he came back with the prized possession of his college years. The unlisted phone number of YGU’s most likely to wow, Dara Park.

Kris had been raving about Dara ever since. At first, Jaejoong had been bothered by the whole deal. He was used to spending most of his free time hanging out with his brother. Shooting hoops, rooting for their favorite team in sports, playing video games in both of their houses, going out for bulgogi or pizza. But when Dara came on the scene, Jaejoong took a backseat. He had dated several girls, but he never put them between his relationship with his brother. Girls came and went. They could never replace the bond he shared with his brother.

This wasn’t the first time Kris had fallen for some girl. But by the way he talked, it sounded as if it might be the last. According to Kris, Dara was the most breathtaking creature ever to step on South Korea’s soil. Kris had wanted to introduce Dara to Jaejoong, but it seemed like every time Dara was free, Jaejoong was working. And when Jaejoong was available, Dara was either with her friends or at her own part-time job at the mall. Somehow they just hadn’t gotten around to meeting each other.

But that was about to change.

Jaejoong smiled as he stuffed his black jeans and one pair of the blue into his duffel bag. Kris and Jaejoong were really close. With only 1 year apart, they spent most of their time together growing up. Even when their parents got divorced, they still managed to hangout. They even have the same set of friends. Kris wasn’t like other people he knew. He was fearless. A born leader. So it was no surprise that when it came to girls, they fell for him big time.

Jaejoong guessed that’s probably how Dara Park would be. When Kris had asked him if he’d mind giving her a lift to the shore, he’d said yes without a moment’s thought. He wasn’t crazy about an eight-hour road trip with a stranger, but she couldn’t be that bad if Kris liked her. And although he was a little bummed that it wouldn’t be just him and Kris hanging out, he decided that it wasn’t all that bad. It’d be nice to have some company.

**

At nine-forty five Jaejoong finally pulled his car up to 12th Street. The house was a sprawling brick ranch back from the road, enc