‘Three, two,’ I leaned forwards staring intently at the tiny hole not even two meters away, ‘one….go!’ Charging forwards I sprinted to the hole skidding to a stop, ignoring the rocks and shells that dug into the bottom of my flip flops, ‘dig!’

 ‘Why do you get the shovel,’ Myungsoo hissed as he used his cupped hands to dig around the hole.

 ‘Because your mom likes me more than you,’ I grinned at him before tossing the bright blue plastic shovel at him. ‘Here you wimp, I’ll be the manly one and use my hands.’

 ‘Keep your femininity to yourself,’ he snapped jokingly as he threw it back at me before grabbing one of the many shells lying around and using it to dig faster. ‘Hurry, the brat’s going to beat us,’ he sent a glare to his brother that was rushing digging with my two older brother.

 ‘No he’s not, they’re not even at the right hole, it doesn’t matter how fast they dig if there’s no geoduck,’ grinning I dug faster into the damp sand. ‘Besides I’ve caught one before, they never have.’

 ‘You have?’ Keeping his eyes fixed on the ground he tried to work up conversation. We were still very awkward with each other, I mean we hadn’t actually talked until yesterday on the ferry. Our mothers just randomly ran into each other at the resort and decided it would be fun to hang out, then implemented this ridiculous contest onto us. And of course what spurns conversation better than competition.

 ‘Yeah, I did it with my mom and aunt,’ I glanced over at her group hearing her squeal. She was busy digging with his parents, where as my ever fun loving dad was on the sidelines glaring at us. Most likely annoyed that we hadn’t hounded him to join him, or actually more like we had done this without consulting him first. I looked back at him and stared at him blankly before we both grinned, hearing Myungsoo’s moms shrieking laughter.

 ‘They’re bonding well,’ nodding over to the parents I flicked the sand into the air watching with my mouth agape as it splattered against his shirt before slowly dropping off in moist clumps.

 ‘Aha, oops,’ smiling apologetically I continued shovelling looking up every time I lifted a new shovelful, paranoid that he would retaliate.

 ‘Oops she says,’ he muttered in korean as he continued with his shovelling.

 ‘What are you two talking about.’

 ‘I accidently hit him with sand,’ I looked up while biting my lip watching as my father slowly knelt down between us.

 ‘Hand me the shovel,’ he held out his hand, his eyes widening expectantly, his non verbal threat hanging clearly in the air.

 ‘Yes papa,’ I handed it to him quickly picking up a shell as well, following after Myungsoo’s lead.

 ‘So, Xiumin joined EXO, right?’ Puffing out my cheeks I glanced at my father anxiously before focusing on the digging, glad for the distraction Myungsoo was providing.

 Breathing out all of the air I stored in my cheeks slowly I nodded, ‘yeah, apparently it split into two divisions, he’s part of EXO-M or Mandarin.’

 ‘You don’t think they’ll do two different languages for the contest, do you?’ Wrinkling my nose I stared at the damp sand before getting distracted when I saw the white shell.

 ‘I see it!’ Forgetting about his comment I grabbed onto it my eyes widening as I felt it try and pull away. ‘Hurry! It’s strong!’ Nodding he started digging faster, accidently scrapping my hand with his shell in the process. ‘Careful!’

 ‘I’m sorry! Are you okay?’

 ‘We’ll check later, win first,’ I snapped pushing my knees into the ground as I tried to push my weight down to keep the shellfish from getting away.

 ‘You’re going to lose, Jaida!’ Peter yelled from his hole, breathing out I glanced up at where they were to see the three of them were still digging.

 ‘No, you will! It’s probably gone by now! If it was there at all!’ He lifted his head to glare at me and I just stuck my tongue out at him before looking down at the geoduck.

 ‘Faster! It’s getting away!’

 ‘I’m digging! I’m digging!’ Myungsoo’s korean slipped out showing his annoyance as he dug faster, meanwhile, dads shovel was barely moving.

 ‘Don’t talk back to me! Use that energy to dig, slave!’ He tsked, as he dug faster, until I pulled the geoduck out, falling on my back as I did. ‘We won! We got it first!’ Jumping up I waved it in the air before lowering it and staring at it, ‘I forgot it looked this weird.’ I scratched my head, grimacing as I remembered that my fingers were caked in sand, rocks, and broken shell. The geoduck was really strange looking, at the bottom was the shell and what was like a neck s out from the bottom and shot up at least 30 cm away from the shell.

 ‘Cool,’ I grinned at Myungsoo and waved it in front of his face.

 ‘Do you want to hold it?’

 ‘Sure,’ he took it out of my hand before flipping it in his hands, frowning. ‘Blood,’ using his free hand he took my hand in his and looked at it.

 ‘What?’

 ‘I cut your hand with the shell earlier,’ his thumb traced the outer skin by the jagged cut that ran along the side of my hand.

 ‘Oh,’ lowering my head to look at it closer I scrunched my nose starting to feel the pain the more I looked at the blood trailing out of the sand resting atop it. ‘I think it hurts…...’

 ‘Go clean your hand,’ my father grabbed my hand and pulled it out of Myungsoo’s.

 ‘Alright,’ I wrinkled my nose glancing over at the other two groups that were fighting for second and last place. Glancing at Myungsoo I smiled apologetically at him before walking back to the hotel room my mum and I were sharing. I could hear footsteps behind me feeling paranoia well up in me, I turned to face the person hoping I hadn’t just found a ert at the resort. Thankfully it was a completely alone Myungsoo, I don’t know what I would do if dad was with him, it would be so awkward. ‘Hi.’

 ‘Hey,’ he cleared his throat and walked beside me silently, not that it isn’t now, awkward I mean, the compulsive teasing of competition had disappeared and there was nothing left to spark a conversation. Opening the door to the outside washroom I walked up to the sink watching Myungsoo follow me in through the mirror. Mutely he got some paper towel, wet it and started cleaning the rocks and shells from the wound.

 ‘You don’t have to do that,’ I tried pulling my hand to my chest, his firm handle on my wrist shocked me.

 ‘I’m the one who cut you, I should at least help,’ I could barely make out his whisper as he looked down at my hand, his face completely obscured by his bangs.

 ‘Ah,’ I winced feeling a piece of shell dig into my hand.

 ‘Sorry.’

 ‘It’s alright.’ Puffing my cheeks out I decided to watch him clean out my wound, fascinated by how careful he was being. He would slowly brush the wound with the paper towel then wet a new part, he never used the same spot, trying to keep the wound as clean as possible.

 ‘Wash your hands, make sure the wounds clean,’ he lightly pushed my wrist towards the sink, stepping back as I admired the debris free cut.

 ‘Alright, thanks,’ clearing my throat I kept my eyes trained on the sink as I turned the knob. ‘Ah,’ I hissed as the soap bubbles hit my wound, sending a small spike of pain up my arm. Seeing movement in the mirror I looked up to see him stepping closer, looking ready to step in again and help. ‘I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt that bad,’ smiling at him I looked back down at my hands and finished washing them, watching the blood still seep out of my wound.

 ‘I should go to the desk...’

 ‘I can go with you,’ ripping a piece of paper towel out of the machine I pressed it against the cut to stop the bleeding.

 ‘Are you sure?’

 Laughing through my teeth I nodded, ‘it’s my hand that’s hurt not my foot, I can walk perfectly fine.’ His lips pulled up slightly, still remaining straight as he nodded. ‘If you keep babying me like this then I’ll make you show me what you have so far for the contest.’

 ‘Is that the only penalty? That’s not too bad,’ he retorted, keeping his gaze trained on the stone path as we walked to the front desk.

 ‘Really?’ I grinned as I leaned in closer to him. ‘You would show me?’

 ‘Yeah,’ nodding he pulled open the door, letting me through first before following after. Immediately after walking in I relaxed feeling the rush of cool air, I always loved the front desk area it was so fancy, like the rest of the resort. The place was covered in expensive stone floors and random fancy stone wall fountains. Clearing his throat he walked up to the desk, immediately catching the attention of the two ladies at the desk. ‘Hello, my friend accidently cut her hand,’ without asking he took my hand again and took the paper towel away showing them the cut. ‘She needs bandages.’

 ‘Oh! I’ll get you some,’ smiling courteously one of the ladies nodded and bent down to open some drawers. I was surprised they didn’t have a medical room of some kind, or maybe they did, I’m not sure. Either way it was still odd that they had medical stuff other than a safety kit at the desk. ‘We have some gauze,’ lifting up the neatly rolled cloth she put it down onto the top of the counter.

 ‘Thank you,’ grabbing it he immediately turned and left leaving me behind.

 ‘Wait up! I’m injured remember?’

 ‘I thought it was your hand, not your legs,’ he jabbed back, stopping so I could catch up to him.

 ‘Well it’s my heart now too,’ rolling his eyes he grabbed my wrist and pulled me close enough that he could wrap the gauze around my hand. ‘I can do this myself.’

 ‘Okay,’ nodding he stopped mid wrap and handed me the rest of the gauze before turning and facing the ocean, watching our families in the background as he waited for me to wrap it.

 Blinking I puffed out my cheeks and finished wrapping it, ‘thanks.’ Walking by him I started marching to the beach not looking back when I heard him following after me. I know I said that I could do it myself, but it would have still been nice for him to continue. Clearly he doesn’t speak female.

 ‘Jaehwa,’ he tsked and tugged on the lazi