Deer Luhan,

I don’t think “I’m glad I’m not in your situation” works here because I kind of am in your situation.

Leigh

One of the problems of filling your lungs with air so that you can go underwater without drowning is that you float.  Normally, this wouldn’t have been something that bothered me – in fact, in most cases, the science behind this would have – and, indeed, on past occasions, had – made me extremely happy.  Not dying, after all, is kind of important if you want to stay alive.  The problem here was that these intruders apparently wanted to talk to Luhan, and Luhan was on the pool edge more or less directly in line with where I had gone to ground… or water, and that meant that floating or moving meant that I would be visible, or at the very least attract unwanted attention.  And that was not a good thing.  For the first time in my life, I found myself clinging to the overhang from the pool ledge, not to help me haul myself out of the water, but to ensure I stayed under the surface.

Fortunately, one of the boys spotted my predicament, and before I’d spent thirty seconds like that with my eyes screwed shut and hoping nobody would look down into the pool, there was a body pressing me up against the pool wall and an arm around me, holding me firmly against a chest while the other arm presumably rested on the pool edge and whoever it was pretended to be interested in the conversation, conveniently hiding me from view.

To be honest, I couldn’t really work out what was going on beyond the fact that whatever it was was probably a big deal for one reason or another.  Sound carried, of course, but it was distorted and muffled by the water and also somewhat muted by the fact that I had most of my face and one ear buried in somebody’s chest.  I reckoned I could sort of make out Luhan’s voice, possibly Xiumin’s, and definitely a hysterical girl’s alongside the tones of the manager and some other guy.  The fact that this was urgent was also pretty obvious by the twin facts that they had burst in during our free time when we were supposed to be left undisturbed and that they hadn’t solved whatever problem it was after two minutes and thirteen seconds.  I knew it had taken them that long because that time was the longest I’d managed to hold my breath underwater and my lungs were really beginning to burn – and the blasted chest compressor was only making things worse.  I squirmed a little against the person holding me, hoping to somehow convey the fact that I needed air.

The arm around me only tightened.  I decided to attempt putting on a British stiff upper lip and flattened my nose against the chest muscles in front of me so that I couldn’t accidentally inhale water.

I lasted probably ten seconds before it really became unbearable and I had to push myself away.  The arm circling me constricted again and this time I struggled against it, a stream of bubbles escaping my mouth.  For a few seconds, he managed to hold me in place, but then my panic got the better of me and I started thrashing about.  My throat felt like somebody was rubbing sandpaper over it; the air in my lungs was refusing to stay there and pushing itself relentlessly as a tank into my airpipe in an attempt to escape.  The pressure in my mouth built up until I couldn’t take it anymore and the air burst out.  A split second later, chlorinated water hit my tastebuds and I panicked even more.  Some of it went down my windpipe and I started choking, hitting my fists desperately on his chest.  I needed oxygen.  I needed to surface and lie on the poolside like a beached whale and cough up all the water.  I needed to get out.

He clearly didn’t get the message, because next thing I knew I was sandwich filling for him and the pool wall again, just with his arm having crept up a fair way so that he was able to pinch my nostrils shut.  Distressed, I attempted to flail about.  Why doesn’t he get that I need air?

I gave up hope totally when we began to sink.  Why do I have to die in a swimming pool? I complained mentally.  If I have to die young, couldn’t it at least be noble, like saving somebody’s life rather than hiding like a coward?

And then there was a mouth against mine, moving gently but firmly to force mine open, and I experienced the rather odd feeling of somebody breathing into me.  My body reacted before my brain did, gulping down the recycled air like it was pure oxygen while my mind was still going eww! like there was no tomorrow.  I also have to admit I was frightfully glad there was no water left in my mouth for me to cough into his, because that would have been extremely embarrassing and probably rather ungrateful.

The air wasn’t much, but it was enough to stop me panicking, and once he sensed I was calmer, he withdrew a little, closing his mouth in a manner of finality that indicated I needed to close mine too, and his lips lingered several seconds longer than necessary against mine before he pulled his head away entirely and tucked mine back against his chest.  I felt us rising a little – he was clearly going back to the surface, and the fact he didn’t allow me up too meant that the intruders were still there – and then we were right back to square one, except this time I had a lot less oxygen in my system.

His chest rumbled as he said something, and I thought I heard Luhan’s voice chipping in with a word or two of agreement.  More voices weighed in, followed by a short silence.  Then, just as my lungs were beginning to burn again, his arm was gone from around me and the comfort of his chest vanished, and I found myself bobbing to the surface of the pool alone.

I spent the first few moments inhaling the glorious air around me before I opened my eyes to see what was going on.  Our visitors had vanished, needless to say, and Luhan along with them.  Xiumin was fussing over D.O. and everybody else was still in the water.

Except—

“Why’d Sehun run off?” demanded Chanyeol from where he was leaning against the pool edge just a few metres to my right.  “He’s still It.”

Nobody was entirely sure where Luhan had gone and Xiumin said it was serious, so when Sehun didn’t return, we decided to call it a day and packed up, especially since D.O. was starting to look really ill again.

“And you call me dumb,” Kai chided gently as he tucked a nearly-passed-out D.O. in.  “Why were you even swimming in your condition?”

D.O. mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over, trying to remove the duvet, so I sat on him.  He didn’t have the strength to protest.

“I’m going to go shower,” Kai announced, crawling off the bed.  “See you in, like, two hours.”

I rolled my eyes at him and then looked down when D.O. tugged on my sleeve.  He was mumbling again.

This time, I understood him.  “Kai, D.O.’s saying he should switch beds with me or you at least shouldn’t be in the same one as him because he doesn’t want you to get sick as well.”

Kai let out a soft snort.  “I’m probably incubating what he has already.  Might as well stay.  You should be the one keeping your distance.”

D.O. coughed as if to emphasise this, and I felt a couple of warm bursts of hot air hitting my leg.  “Ah… yeah.  Well, I have a nice little camp bed to myself.  It’s okay.”

I got up so I was no longer squishing D.O., and Kai promptly disappeared into the bathroom.  With a sigh, I flopped down on my own bed.

D.O.’s gentle, rhythmic breathing had barely begun to fill th