I lifted myself from the cold water of the stream and padded over to where our pile of towels and discarded clothes were sitting on the bank.

                “Why are you getting out?” one of my friends called.

                “Just taking a break,” I said, wrapping a towel around my shoulders and sitting at the picnic table in the shade.  It was warm outside and my friends and I were trying to make the most of the last days of summer by going on a day trip to a local nature spot.  There were families and other groups of people farther down on either side of our area.  The balmy breeze carried laughter and distant shouts. 

                I patted my hair dry and watched the others splash about.

                “Ah, I’m hungry,” one boy said as he came ashore.  He stood beside me and ruffled his dyed-blond hair, spraying drops of water everywhere.

                “Hey, Jeon Wonwoo!” I exclaimed in fake annoyance.  He only laughed and sat next to me, our bare shoulders touching. 

                I peered into one of the bags of food we brought.  There were big red fruits at the top.

                “Whoa, are these pomegranates?” I asked, pulling one out.  I inspected it.  “How do we eat this?”

                “You’ve never had a pomegranate before?” Wonwoo said in disbelief.  “I love these!”

                “Really?”  I wrinkled my nose as he searched for a knife to cut the fruit up with.

                He took the pomegranate from my hands and placed it on a paper plate, starting to slice it up.  I watched as he separated the little red seeds from the rind.  When he was finished, the plate was full of them. 

                “So we just chew off the red stuff?”  He nodded and put handful in his mouth.  A few moments later, he spat the clean seeds into the grass behind us.

                “Gross.”

                He shrugged.  “Maybe a pomegranate plant will grow here,” he said with a pink-tinged grin. 

                I popped some in my mouth.  The taste was slightly bitter and reminded me of the time my mother offered me a sip of her wine.  I glanced at Wonwoo and spat the seed at him.  It hit his shoulder and bounced off.

                “Ugh, who’s the gross one now?”  He pretended to be disgusted but then shot his own projectile at me.  I laughed and smacked his arm.

                “Hey, stop flirting over there!” someone yelled from the water. 

                With embarrassed snickers, we declared a ceasefire and continued to eat the fruit. 

                When we were almost done, Wonwoo decided to get creative.  He squished a seed in between his fingers and the red juice squirted out.

                “Give me your arm,” he said, taking my wrist and lowering it onto the table.  He began drawing something onto my forearm with his finger. 

                He pulled away just as the others were getting out of the water.  On the pale skin of my arm, he’d written his name.

                “Your new tattoo,” he said, the remaining juice off his fingers.

                “Thanks,” I replied sarcastically.  “Hand me that water bottle so I can wash it off,” I told one of my other friends.  She glanced at my arm and then at the gutted pomegranate and snorted.

                “You can try, but I don’t think that’s going anywhere.”

                “What are you talking about?”

                “Didn’t you know?  Pomegranate juice stains.”

                My eyes widened.  I looked from my arm to Wonwoo, whose shoulders were shaking from trying to keep the laughter in.

                “WONWOO!”

                He couldn’t hold it in any longer, and soon everyone around the table was in hysterics.  I tried to sulk, but even then, I couldn’t help but smile a bit.  Wonwoo took my wrist again.

                “You know what this means?” he asked.

                “What?”

                He leaned in close to my ear.  “It means that you’re mine.”