“Death isn’t the end. It’s the beginning.”

– Jennifer Love Hewitt

“Is this a house or what?” Kyungsoo’s jaw drops dramatically as they have reached the vacation house. The house is so magnificently big that at the same time, it is plausible to the Jung’s standard. It would be completely odd if they had a small vacation house, would not it?

“Seriously I’m telling you, I’ve never thought there’d be a big house like this near the beach,” Jongin basically says the same thing, could not conceal his amazement as he peers at the house. Albeit he comes from quite a well-off family, he has never stepped on a house as grand as this one.

Lu Han and Yoona only crack up at the two best friend’s comments of admiration whilst the owner of the vacation house remains neutral, as though she is not unaffected by their praises.

“Stop the praise at once and let’s just go inside.” The younger female steps forward and unlocks the door with the keys she had brought in the first place.

It turns out that once the door is opened broadly, a refined, handsome image of a teenager – likely to be around the same age of them – has a big, welcoming smile across his dazzling feature as he stands at the entrance, as if already waiting for their arrival.

“Daehyun oppa?” Krystal lungs forwards and instantly loops her arms around the older male’s waist. “What are you doing here?”

The embrace lasts for a minute as Daehyun parts it sensibly. “Your mom said you’ll stay here for a couple of days with your friends so I thought to drop by for a moment.”

“Ah, I see.” Krystal nods with a bright smile and turns her attention back to her friends. “By the way, this is my cousin, Jung Daehyun. His father is my mother’s older brother. He lives around this neighborhood with his family.”

“Hello,” he greets them after the introduction, the warm smile never leaves his face. “As Krystal said, I’m Jung Daehyun. It’s really nice meeting this little girl’s friends since she never brought anyone to come see me. I guess all of you are really close to Krystal.”

“Aish, oppa.” She puckers her lips, slightly annoyed. “You don’t need to spill out anything to them, for God’s sake!”

Daehyun merely lets out a laugh. “They will know it, sooner or later.”

“Whatever!”

“How are old are you, Daehyun-ssi?” Lu Han throws a question after the rest of them have introduced themselves to him.

“17,” he answers concisely. “What about you?”

“I guess we’re same then.” It does make sense for them to be in the same age since Daehyun does not look like he is younger than him. He has a sort of mature, adult-like face.

///

Upon Daehyun’s departure, the others start roaming the house from the living room to the kitchen. The Jung’s vacation house is a double-storeyed bungalow in which should be defined as the epitome of perfection. Undeniably, this vacation house is the place where mostly everyone is craving to stay.

Supposedly, there are quite a number of maids and butlers in the house but Krystal had abstained their presence during their stay. She does not want them to make her friends feel like a bunch of spoiled brats. They should do anything including cooking on their own.

“Does your family always come here during vacation?” Yoona sends her a questioning look.

“We haven’t been here like, three years?” Krystal chuckles. “Mom and dad are too busy to have a break of their busy lives, I guess.”

Born with a silver spoon in , her parents barely spend time with her; her father, Jung Yoonha, leads a multi-construction company and practically deems the office as his so-called number one house. Meanwhile, her mother, Kim Heesok, is too busy to cuddle with her two daughters – she has the tendency to hang with her prosperous group members during broad daylight and only stick at home at night.

That is why before the summer breaks start, Krystal had invited Lu Han and Yoona to spend their summer with her at her family's vacation house near the beach. She has no other friends besides them and her childhood friend, Park Sunyoung. Gladly to say, Jongin and Kyungsoo wanted to join them after hearing the word ‘beach’. Being the nature enthusiast, they think (only Jongin, though) summer would not be complete with the presence of beach.

“Why your sister, Jessica-ssi, didn’t join us?” Lu Han asks inquisitively.

“Sica unnie’s too busy tending her boyfriend,” Krystal says matter-of-factly as she curls up an adorable pout. She had asked her to come along but the latter ingeniously refused with the name of Kim Jongdae, her younger boyfriend.

Just as they are about to move into another subject, Jongin and Kyungsoo come back from the brief tour upstairs.

“From what I’ve counted, there are six bedrooms upstairs,” Kyungsoo says excitedly. “So, how do we divide the rooms?”

“Minus three,” Krystal notes. “The master bedroom is my parents’ and the other two are belonged to my grandma and Sica unnie.”

“I’m staying with Kyungsoo!” Jongin grins widely.

“And of course, Yoona and I…” He glances up at his girlfriend with a cheeky grin before turning to them. “… will use in separate rooms,” he sighs. It would not look appropriate for them to share a room, though Lu Han really wants to do that badly.

Krystal jumps in exhilaration. “Then Yoona unnie’s going to sleep in my room and Lu Han oppa could sleep alone!”

Alone. He clicks his tongue in tiny displeasure. He reckons he would literally not have a single chance to spend time alone with his cherished girlfriend.

///

Lu Han rummages his stuff in the bagpack wholeheartedly since the last five minutes but he finds nothing.

“Damn it,” he mutters under his heavy breath, wiping beads of sweat off his temple. “Where did I put it?”

However, in the long run and it seems like the odds in his favour today, he manages to stumble upon it after ping the hidden compartment of the bag. He forgot he had put in there in the first place.

Flipping the box with a significant beam, Lu Han opens the box ajar and a diamond ring (surprisingly) is in it. It was actually belonged to his late mother and according to his uncle, his mother had once told her brother that his son should give pass the ring to the one he sincerely loves from the bottom of his heart.

He contemplates whe