“I’ll have the crab legs, please, with the wild grain rice and a kimchi,” Dara closed her menu and handed it back to the server.

“And for you, Jae?” asked Mr. Kim.

“Same with Dara, dad.” The Kims knew he’d gotten sick last night. He suspected they also knew he’d had a drink, but they didn’t say anything about it. Jaejoong was relieved. If his dad brought it up, he would have felt even more irresponsible and stupid for not handling his alcohol well. He knew that they trusted him and Kris when it comes to drinking and partying. He didn’t want to break that trust.

“The Korean Crab House is a landmark here in the shore,” Mrs. Kim said, taking a piece of warm bread from the bread basket. “We try to come here as often as can during the summer. The food is excellent.”

The restaurant sat on an inlet, on the other side of the Parkway. Many of the summer residents kept their boats docked in one of the many slips that were available.

“I love the way they’ve got it set up,” Dara remarked. It was an old Korean house that had been completely refurbished.

“It’s nice,” Jaejoong said, smiling at her. She looked really pretty tonight. Her hair was pulled back on the sides, making her cheekbones look ever more pronounced. Beauty, thy name is Dara.

“Miss?” The server handed Dara, Mrs. Kim, Kris and I each a large plastic bib with a picture of a giant red crab on it.

“That’s in the case they spill all over themselves,” informed Hayi from the seat beside Jaejoong. “That’s why I ordered popcorn shrimp. Nice and neat.”

Kris laughed. “Hey, baby. You could have used that bib earlier today, huh?”

Dara raised her eyebrows meaningfully, “Don’t go there, Kris.”

Kris took a bite of the kimchi that the server had just placed in front of him. “You wouldn’t have believed what happened,” he said to Hayi and his parents between mouthfuls. “Dara had been hanging out with the girls on the beach, right? But then she decided to come in and cool off, so Jae hyung let her use his raft.”

“Kris,” Dara warned again, giving him a pointed look.

“Come on baby, this is a good story. They’ll think it’s funny.” He patted her arm and kissed her cheek. “So anyway, I’m watching her go out, right? And this killer wave comes along, and Dara and her raft catch it and come flying in on it. So then…”

“Does anyone want a grilled pepper?” Jaejoong offered, holding up the plate. He could see that Dara was growing increasingly annoyed. Is Kris on another planet or what? Shut up already! Look at your girlfriend. He couldn’t stand to see her upset.

“I’ll have one,” Dara said, yanking one one.

“Like I was saying,” Kris continued, “Dara comes flying in on her raft. She stands up, all proud and all of how well she did, facing the ocean, not realizing something’s missing.”

At this point Kris began to laugh uncontrollably. “There was my baby stood, baring it all, I mean all, for the whole ocean to see while the we were all shocked in the sand as her bikini top goes missing.”

“Cocktail sauce, anyone?” Jaejoong asked desperately. He wanted to whack his brother’s head.

Mrs. Kim put down her fork. “I think that’s enough, Kris.”

“I and Jae hyung finally managed to run towards her and cover her up. Jae hyung had to search for the raft and gave it to Dara and she clung to it like a life preserver or something,” Kris said between laughs. “Next time you better wear one-piece baby when you’re going on the raft.”

Jaejoong glanced at Dara. Her jaw was set. She was all red. “I don’t think I’ll be going out rafting again anytime soon,” she said curtly.

No one said anything for a few minutes.

Kris rubbed Dara’s arm. “Hey, baby, don’t get bent out of shape or anything. It’s pretty funny, you have to admit.”

“Not to me, it wasn’t.” Dara dabbed with her napkin.

“Face it, Kris, you wouldn’t like it if you lose your swim trunks out there in the middle of doing some awesome board move,” Jaejoong told him.

“This is the kind of thing I thought you’d find funny, Jae hyung,” Kris said, turning to his brother. “When did you lose your sense of humor?”

“I just don’t think making fun of someone, especially in front of other people, is very funny,” Jaejoong said quietly.

“Neither do I,” Dara said. Just then the waiter hustled over, depositing his food-laden tray on a nearby cart.

“Crab legs!” he sang out.

**

Baby, I think you’re acting a little ridiculous here.” Kris put his arm around her.

She shrugged it off. “That’s exactly the problem.”

Kris, Dara and Jaejoong were wedged in the backseat of the Kims’ car. The food at the Crab House had been great, but the bikini top mishap had cast a shadow over the meal.

“Quit moping, baby, please,” Kris said, tickling her in the ribs. “No one actually saw it. You were facing the ocean and we covered you as fast as we could. Jae hyung even swam to look for the raft and covered you with it.”

Jaejoong sighed. Didn’t he see enough was enough?

“Kris, drop it, okay? The non-joke’s over!” Jaejoong exclaimed. It was like Kris was going out of his way to make Dara mad. And he was doing an extremely good job of it.

Kris grumbled something under his breath and leaned back. “Come on, you’re both making a mountain out of a…a molehill.” He started to laugh. “Sorry baby, no pun intended there.”

Even Jaejoong had to crack a smile at that one.

But not Dara. In fact, when Jaejoong laughed, she got even more annoyed looking than she’d been all night long. Her eyes looked at him as if to say, You’re making fun of me now too?

He couldn’t win