Floating

I sat on the steps of the pool, submerged only until my knees and waist. Wiggling my toes under the water, I thought that it was colder than I thought—probably because the late afternoon was disappearing. Face stoic, Luhan sat with his head against the handrail beside us. He waited beside me like he was expecting me to do some sort of trick to amaze and entertain, or rather actually go in the pool.

“You call this swimming? Come here.”

I let him lead me deeper into the pool. Luhan moved faster than me and my arms that were flailing to get me forward faster didn’t help much. “I haven’t been swimming in a while. I forgot it felt like this.”

Luhan circled to face me. “Like what? A giant bathtub?”

“Shut up.” I splashed at him.

Frowning through his now-wet face, he positioned his palms toward me to attack in a similar way, but I shrieked and shielded myself with my arms.

“Don’t! I’m trying to keep my hair dry.” I shook my ponytail purposefully, pointing at it.

“You’re such a girl."

“Try growing your hair long until it takes forever to dry. I didn’t bring a hair blower, you know. The one in our bathroom .” I stopped pacing further into the pool when the water was just at my chest. The white blouse I had over top of my bathing suit now clung to my skin and I wondered if the fabric was a safe match with the chlorine in the water.

“I will gladly never feel the pain of wet and long hair.” He glided effortlessly sideways. “Anyways, how do you like my friends?”

“They’re...” I glanced at the villa. “Interesting. A lot of fun actually, I like them.”

Luhan beamed at my answer, satisfied that I got along with them as well as he could. “Good, they like you too.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, but just stay away from Jongdae. He likes you the most.”

I blinked. “Why?”

He laughed at some memory that I wasn't present to see. “If he didn’t think we were both engaged, he’d probably turn into your personal stalker.”

“Thanks for the warning.” I reached to push his damp bangs into his face, covering his eyes. “But he’s funny. I like funny guys.”

Pouting, he flicked his hair away. “What? I’m not funny then?”

“I said funny guys.”

“Wha—?!” Luhan’s jaw dropped, appalled. “What do you mean? I’m all man. A manly man.” He thumped his chest with a fist.

I raised a brow at him in fake doubt. “Really?”

“Yes do you need me to flex for you or something? Oh wait, I get it now.” He paddled an inch at my direction with a smug grin. “This is all part of your plan to see my very manly biceps.”

“Gross. I’m leaving.” I turned away.

“I was just kidding!” Laughing, Luhan made a grab for my hand and kept me rooted in place. He stole a glance at the windows out of fear that we would be found because it sounded like Baekhyun was calling out for our names. Since there were so many of them, it should have taken a while until they'd notice someone was missing and who. Luhan absent-mindedly played with my ring from underneath the water, spinning it with his thumb. “It’s weird. You get along with guys really easily. You’re the type to have a lot of male friends then.”

By then he was just throwing out random observations. I pondered over his statement before I shook my head. “Not really. I have a few.”

Luhan’s lips turned in a twisted smile. He shook my hand. “Who do you trust the most out of all of them?”

The first name that had popped in my mind was him—Luhan. But was that true? Even if I said it, would he believe me or just assume I was saying his name to be nice? Even if was just being nice, why did I still automatically think of him first? “I don’t know, I have to think.” I swayed from side to side, buying myself time.

“How about that guy with the greasy hair that you brought to work once?”

I cringed at the sudden horrifying flashbacks. “That was my cousin and his mom kicked him out of the house and he had to stick with me for the day. It was annoying.”

“If not him, then whoooo?” Luhan whined and tugged at my arm in clear impatience. “I want to know.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter