Kai kicks the door open and stalks in, leaving a glistening trail of water behind him.  He sets Iseul down on the couch for a while, throws a towel over the bed and then picks her up again to set her on the bed. 

“She’s all wet..” he murmurs to himself.  “She’s gonna get a fever if she stays like this for too long..
To take her clothes off, or not?  Making up his mind, Kai draws the curtains close and turns of all the lights.  He doesn’t stumble in the dark.  After all, he lives in the dark.  He moves as quick as a rumor, as quiet as a fox, slipping to the bathroom to get another towel to cover Iseul with and back to the bed where she lays.  Slowly, Kai rolls her over to her side and bends her arm to tuck it under he cheek—putting her in recovery position as he saw D.O. once did when Baekhyun lost consciousness during a gang brawl.  He said it’s to open the airways.  Kai nudges open with a finger and waits.

Now what?

Should he pat her on the back??  Or...? Kai doesn’t know. 

He decides to get her out of her soaking wet clothes first, before anything else.  At least that way she won’t get a fever.  Slowly, in the darkness, he reaches around her and tries to pull her wet shirt off, every move steady and calculated.  A single misstep, a little slip, and Iseul would lose her trust in him.  If she had any in the first place, that is.  Kai successfully strips her off her wet clothes and throws it on the floor.  He covers her body with the warm, dry towel in his hand before another article comes off.  Slowly pulling her pants off, he hears her breaths deepening and then shortly after, a light series of coughs—and then a panicked, pained gasp. 

She’s awake.

“N-no-“ He hears her whisper to herself, moving around in the dark.  “My clothes.  The light—“

“Iseul.”  Kai whispers, his voice warm and gentle.  “Relax.  It’s just me.”

“Kai?” she asks, her voice a strangled whisper. Laced with obvious fear and disbelief.  “Just.. you?  You.. the dark.. my clothes.. WHAT DID YOU DO?!  GET AWAY FROM ME!!”  she screams, kicking her legs.  Her mind is a haze and her breaths are short and unsteady.  A nyctiphobic person may experience breathing difficulties in the dark.  “I SAID GET AWAY!!”

“I didn’t—“

“GET AWAY FROM ME KAI!!” She screams again with equal panic and anger, if not only more.  “GET OUT!!  You fu—“

“I was only going to undress you!  I turned the lights off so I wouldn’t see anything!!” Kai defends himself and swiftly dodges her blows.  “I’m not lying!  Trust me!!”

“Why the hell would you want to undress me?!” she snaps, her voice an octave higher than usual.  “Don’t you ing come near me.”

“To prevent you from getting a fever!  Your clothes were wet, hello?”

“But still, you could’ve gotten someone else to do it!  You—“

“I’m your husband!!  Would it make any sense if I ask some other person to take care of you?  Aren’t I supposed to have seen and know every single part of you?  Dammit Iseul, I didn’t do anything!  I even put a towel around you so I wouldn’t see even the OUTLINE of your body!” Kai yells, panting. 

Iseul stops thrashing around and feels herself.  True, she can feel a layer of soft cotton over her.  Her senses relax, but not completely, as she tries to reach for Kai’s hand in the dark.  “Are you still there?” she asks, a little unsure. 

“Yes.”  Kai answers.  Iseul’s cold fingers find his and wraps themselves tightly around his.  Kai tenses a little at the contact, but only for a glitch of a second.  He relaxes again.  “Do you feel okay?”

“Can you turn one light on before anything else?” she requests breathlessly.  “I really can’t..”

“But I might see you..”

“But you wouldn’t.”

There’s a beat of silence in the dark before Kai says okay and gets up to switch on the light bulb furthest from them, allowing only the faintest of light to shine through. 

“Thank you.” Iseul says in a small voice, while trying to wriggle free out of her soaking wet shorts.  She suddenly remembers something and feels a new bolt of panic zap through her nerves.  “Kai.  Jongguk?  Did he.. Did I..”

“You saved him.” Kai tells her gently as he sits down next to her.  “He’s okay.  He’s with the other parents and teachers.” 

“Oh God.”  Iseul breathes out a cry of relief.  “Thank God.  Thank God it went well.  I haven’t done CPR since back in high school when I was on the first aid team--  I was so scared I’d... And I wasn’t even breathing properly.. I was so scared he wouldn’t... he wouldn’t...” she stops, choking on the unvoiceable words hanging as thick as blood in the air. 

“Sshh.” Kai tries to be gentle.  “He’s okay.  You saved him.  He’s fine.”

But Iseul won’t hear any of it.  “Kai,” she rasps, tears b in her eyes.  “I’m so sorry.  I really didn’t notice... I was just massaging my toe for a while and then he was gone—“ she hiccups a bit.  “I’m so sorry Kai.. I..” she fumbles for words.  “I.. please don’t fire m—“

“Iseul.” Kai stops her for a while by placing a hand on top of her trembling, cold ones for a while.  A tiny zap of electricity trickle between the two.  “Stop.  I’m not mad at you and I won’t fire you.  I won’t exactly say that it’s okay, but what you did clearly makes up for all of it.  You jumped into the water not knowing how to swim, and then you, still gasping for breath and still choking, did a CPR on my son to save him even though you’re dead tired... Iseul, thank you.” Kai says, before clearing his throat. “Thank you.”

Iseul looks at him, unfallen tears still blurring her eyes.  “I really thought he was going to die.”  She says in a trembling voice.  “He was in the water for so long...”

“A little longer then.. he..” Kai stops himself.  “Anyway, you came to him just in time.  And you saved him.  That’s all that matters.”

Iseul blinks her tears back into her eyes and nods in agreement.  “Well then, thank you, too.  For taking care of me.  Thanks for being honest.”

“Yeah.”  Kai replies shortly.  He’s never been good with sincere and heartfelt words so he doesn’t really know what else he should say..

“I’m going to shower.” Iseul informs him, clutching the towel closely to her chest.  “Can you..”

“Oh  Right.”  Kai clears his throat and moves away from the edge of the bed, allowing Iseul to get up and make her way into the bathroom.  Looking away as Iseul, clad in only a white towel and her undergarments, gets up and walks past him, Kai stares at the wooden ground beneath him until he hears the bathroom door clicks shut.  Then he gets up to look for Jongguk.

ISEUL’S POV

I sit in the bathtub, staring lifelessly at the lukewarm water gushing out of the tap.  Absently wetting my fingers with it, my mind unconsciously replays images of Kai.  Another different side of Kai.  E.L James wise, another different shade.  How he spoke in the softest, gentlest tones and how he grabbed my hand and his thumb over my wrist lightly, how his eyes looked so soft and so kind, compared to how they usually looked every day.  How he didn’t look mad. 

I still find it hard to believe that it was indeed Kai.  Who would’ve guessed that he would be so respectful and honest to a woman too?  It’s like every day, I’m seeing a new side of him.  His honest, let-loose side yesterday by the ocean, his playful side last night during the sharing session, and his warm and caring side today.  I wonder what else is he doing to reveal....

My fingers lather the silky liquid soap over my skin slowly, like I’m rubbing life back into me.  I am never, ever, EVER doing that again.  Every single part of me feels so goddamn clogged! My nose hurts, my eyes feel prickly, and most of all, now I’m going to have to reuse some of yesterday’s clothes because I didn’t bring spares! 

As I’m wrapping my hair into a big towel turban around 20 minutes later, I hear the door open and my heart unexpectedly jumps a little.  He’s back.  Oh God, he’s back.  Why do I feel nervous?  It’s not like we did anything.  It’s not like nothing special happened.  Maybe it’s because I now know a different side to him, so it feels like he’s a different person.  A much more humane person who I don’t hate so much anymore. 

After making sure I look presentable, I step out of the bathroom, to find Kai pulling some clothes out of a plastic bag.  “You went shopping?” I ask in disbelief, cracking a small smile.

“For you.”  He says unexpectedly, tossing me the clothes he has in his hands.  “I’m pretty sure someone here didn’t pack properly and is in need of clean clothes now.  So I, as your responsible pretend husband, took the liberty of doing a little, quick, shopping for you.”

I catch them and blink at him, half in awe and half in suspicion.  Holding them out before me, I now understand Kai’s definition of shopping—a grey muscle tank that might’ve come from the men’s department and a pair white shorts which could probably pass as an item on clearance.  “Where did you get these?” I ask him. 

“That little hut down there.” He answers, vague as ever.  Clears up a lot, Kai, THANK YOU.  “You can always not wear them if you don’t like them.  They were on clearance anyway.”  Kai shrugs, lazily throwing himself on the bed. 

“N-no, they’re fine.”  I quickly say.  , was my face really that obvious?  Anyway, see?  Clearance items!  But fine, I guess I should be grateful.  “Thanks.”  I add. 

I step back into the bathroom and change into the clothes he got for me, which somehow fall on me perfectly.   Drying my hair with a towel as I emerge back outside, I find him plugging a hairdryer into an electrical socket.  Wait, what?  Whoa. Did he hit his head somewhere?  Why is he being so nice?!

“Hairdryer.”  He says, waving the object around in the air as if I didn’t know what it was. 

“I know.”  I hold in the urge to roll my eyes.  “From where?”

“Some mother brought it along.” He shrugs.

“You went around asking for a hairdryer from other moms?” I ask before I can phrase it into a nicer question. 

“I just asked a random one nearby and coincidentally she had one with her.” Kai shrugs again. 

“Wow.” I laugh.  “How exactly did you randomly ask them?  I mean, did you poke her or—“

“No.  For the hairdryer I had to socialize with a bunch of strangers for 5 damn minutes.  Then when I felt like we’ve talked enough I straightly asked for the hairdryer.   I had to socialize!!  Me!!!  Join in on that meaningless, small talk that I despise!” Kai rants, waving his arms in the air.

“No one asked you to get me a hairdryer.” I mumble to myself.

“Yah.”  Kai glares at me.  “Shut up and be grateful.”

“I am!  Thank you.” I say, before turning the hairdryer on. 

It’s only a few seconds before Kai’s twitchy mouth can’t help but unleash another protest.  “What the hell.  IT’S SO NOISY!”

I whip around in irritation.  “What the hell?!  You know it’s a hairdryer!”

“But it’s a lot louder than how I remembered it in the salon!!”  Kai groans, pressing a pillow over his ears.  “Turn the power down!”

“Every hairdryer is like this!!”

“No!!  This one sounds like a dying truck!” Kai yells over the noise.  “Turn it to lower power!!”

“No!  I have thick hair!  With slower power the quickest it’s going to dry completely is an hour later!!” I rebut. 

“Then do it for an hour!”

“IT’S TIRING!” I shriek in irritation.  “My arms will hurt!  And I’m ing tired!”

“Aish!!” 

Before I can clock what’s happening, an irritated Kai jumps off his bed and onto my bed, where I’m sitting cross-legged drying my hair with the dryer plugged in a nearby socket.  “Give me that.”

“What?  Wh—“

I stop short halfway when Kai snatches the hairdryer out of my grip and somehow... for some reason.... starts drying my hair for me.  Can somebody just yell WTF for me right now?  Why... is he doing this?!  Why the is he.. why the is he drying my hair for me?!  This isn’t a K-drama.  This isn’t supposed to happen!  WHY?!

“Ooommmo.  Acting like a real hubby aren’t you now?” I tease.  “Get your hands off my hair, mister.  Let me do it myself.”

“Your limbs need a goddamn break.”

“Oh God, I’m not as weak as I look okay?  I can do it—“

“Shut up and let me help you!” Kai cuts me off impatiently.  “Just sit there and be quiet.  Didn’t you say you were tired?”

“Urgh.”  I grumble.  “How you can be so mean and so nice at the same time?!” I ask before I can refrain myself. 

“I’m definitely not nice.”  Kai mumbles, but I catch it.

“Why not?  You are.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I—“  I stop.  “Okay.  Fine.  But you’re not not nice either.”

Kai is silent for a while but his fingers keep on working through my hair, tousling it, ruffling it, drying it thoroughly.  Oh God, I hope my hair smells nice.  I hope it doesn’t smell like salt and sweat like it did! 

“Kai?”

“Hmm?” he hums, just barely audible over the sound of the hairdryer.

“You really don’t have to dry my hair for me.”

“Just let me.”

I’m silenced by that.  Afterall, what else should I say?  For a while, all I hear is the whirring of the hairdryer before Kai breaks the static noise.  “Do you think you’ve caught a fever?”

“Jesus Kai why would I get a fever?  I just.. only.. nearly drowned..” I say slowly, realizing how bad that sounded—trying to downplay the fact that I’ve nearly sunk to the ocean bed.  “Well, I don’t think drowning gives you a fever.” 

“Being in wet clothes for a long time does, idiot.”  Kai snaps and I shrink a little. 

“I don’t think so, though.”  I mumble.  “I feel fine.”

“Fine then.”  Kai says dismissively. 

“Where’s Jongguk?  How is he?” I ask. 

“Kids’ activity.  He’s fine.” 

“Should we go keep an eye on him?  Do his ears and nose sting?  Kai, he might have a fever—“

“For ’s sake calm down and give yourself a break Iseul!  He’s perfectly f-i-n-e!!”  Kai barks and I immediately shut up.  “Your body needs to rest, you idiot, can you not give it the rest it needs?!”

“I don’t know why you think I am as weak as those girls in K-dramas who faint only after getting rained on a little.  I’m perfectly fine as well!”  I argue, crossing my arms.  “And when I say I’m fine, I mean it!  So let’s go and find Jongguk!”

“No!  You are going to sleep as soon as I finish drying your hair!  No objections!”

“Yah, I thought I’m the babysitter in this family?”

“You’re on break because your body needs one!  I’ll take care of Jongguk tonight.  Just go get some rest.”

“For the last time, I can handle a bit of seawater in my lungs and lactic acid in my muscles okay?  I’m not like those weak girls in—“

Kai turns the hairdryer off and I feel him combing through my hair with his fingers.  “And for the last time, I get it, but unlike those girls in Kdramas that you keep mentioning, you actually need some rest.  So go give your body the rest it deserves.”

I open my mouth, about to argue again, but close it back shut, realizing that it’s pointless arguing with Kai once he’s made his mind up.  “Fine.” 

“Sleep.” Kai orders as he gets off my bed. 

I make a face at him but comply anyway, pulling the covers over my lap.  “But I want to join in on tonight’s activities..”

“Yah, Iseul!”

“But Kai!”  I clasp my hands together.  “I can’t miss out!  Moments like these don’t happen every day, and I don’t go to the beach that often either so I can’t skip this!  I can’t skip tonight’s bonfire and karoake, being cooped up in the room when I’m not even sick!  Pleeeeaaasseeee I wanna go!”  I beg Kai, pouting a bit. 

Kai looks at me, tousles his hair and sighs. 

God, I love it when he messes his hair up like that.

Wait, what?

“Sleep for an hour first.”  He finally says.  “Jongguk’s kids-only thing ends in an hour.  Then I’ll wake you up and we can all go and join in on the activities.”

“Really?!”  I beam, clapping my hands.  “Okei!” I immediately lay down and pull the covers all over me.   I roll over to my side to face Kai, who’s sitting on his bed.  “But what are you going to do?”

“When?”

“Now.  For an hour.”

“I don’t know.  Take care of stuff back at home?  I need to contact people.” 

“Oh.”  I say.  Hesitating for a moment, I pose another question.  I feel like I’m always asking him too much stuff and I’m afraid he might yell at me any moment now.  “Where are you going to be?”

“Here, of course.” He answers irritatedly.  “Why, do you want me to sleep with you in your bed?”

“No!  In fact, I want you outside so I can sleep peacefully knowing that you won’t be watching me like a creep while I sleep or anything.” I retort, proud at myself for burning him.  Ha! 

“Why would I want to watch a sleeping Shrek?!”

OMO, WHAT DO I SAY NOW?!  Quick brain, I need you to think of a good comeback NOW!!

Processing processing....

Kai smirks at my silence.  “Just shut up and go to sleep.  See?  Your brain’s waterlogged, Shrek.”

“I don’t look like Shrek!!!” I shriek adamantly.

“You look like the female Shrek.  The she-Shrek.”

“Well, then that makes me a ing princess.” I answer haughtily.

“A green, fat, cursed princess.  Hmm, sounds just like you!”

“Well, you’re Shrek himself!  Green and big and smelly and gross and alone in life with absolutely zero taste in fashion!”

“Are you insulting the clothes I got for you?” Kai asks, glaring at me.

“No, I’m insulting Shrek’s clothes in the movie.. it’s so ugly!” I smile apologetically.  “Sorry it came out like that.”

Kai tchs. “Go to sleep, Fiona.”

“Oh!  You know her name!  Oh God, you are secretly a Disney fan!”

“Idiot, it’s not even Disney.  Shrek is by Dreamworks.”

“Wha—Oh right.  It’s at Universal Studios..”

“Go to sleep.”  Kai says for the nth time.

“But I’m not sleeepyyyy~!” I sing, stretching my arms.

“Oh my God.”  Kai mutters, his patience wearing thin.  “Fine then.  Go do whatever the hell you like and get sick.”

”Yah, are you mad at me?  Again?!  Already?!”  I cry in disbelief. 

He ignore me and continues typing on his phone.  Oh, I see.  We’re back to Phase 1 now.  The Cyborg Phase.  Defeatedly, I roll over to my other side, pull the covers over my head, close my eyes and try to sleep. 

I don’t know where we’re going with Kai, but wherever we are, we’re not getting there anytime soon and I know it.  See?  Like I’ve said before, he’s honestly an oyster.  My mind drifts back to when we were at the beach a day ago, the first time I’ve seen him in another light.  I wish he’d just stay in that light forever. 

Anyway, enough about Kai.  I... am so not sleepy.  I shift a little and a lock of hair falls over my cheeks.  I stare at it a little, thinking of how Kai dried it for me a little while ago.  Did he really do that?  Or was I imagining things?  I can’t believe he dried my hair for me.  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just a normal act of kindness but all the K-dramas I’ve watched made it seem... romantic.  Well, in my case, almost romantic.  Something seemingly romantic is never fully romantic with Kai.  But I can’t help rewinding my mind to when he dried my hair.  His fingers, softly combing through my hair...

Oh God. 

I need to stop.

You see?  You see?!!  This is what happens when you’ve been single for too long.  You’ll turn any meaningless gesture into something bigger.  You start bringing feelings into everything!  You’ll start imagining stuff, over-analyzing stuff, and most of all, misinterpreting stuff!  You start thinking about every single thing that happens to you!  You start overthinking!!  And that’s definitely not what I need right now!! 

I really should just go to sleep. 

Kai’s right, sleep is what I need.

I close my eyes and will myself to go to sleep... but fail.  I really am not sleepy right now!  Dammit, where is my phone?!  I should’ve hidden it with me—

.

.

It was in my pocket. 

It was in my pants pocket!!

Remember how we googled every single item on the scavenger hunt list??  I had it in my pocket!!  It was in my pants pocket!

And my pants..

Went with me for a little swimming-slash-drowning in the ocean!!

Which only means..

.

ing... !!

It..

It...

IT PROBABLY DROWNED!!

Upon realizing this, I can’t pretend to sleep any longer.

“!” I yell, sitting upright.

Kai immediately looks at me in annoyance.  “What the he—“

“Oh !!” I immediately spring off the bed and into the bathroom, where I hung my wet clothes to dry.  Oh God, please.. please.. PLEASE let it still be in my pants pocket—

I feel inside the wet pockets of the shorts I was wearing earlier today.  It has to be in here.  It can’t be anywhere else!  I definitely did not leave it at the beach, especially because I was massaging my toe and not playing with it—and when I saw Jongguk in the ocean I jumped straight in without a moment’s desitation.  I utter a silent prayer in my heart.  Please, please let it be in the— .  It’s not in there.  I can’t.. I can’t find it.. 

I emerge from the bathroom.  Kai has probably just noticed the distressed look on my face and he puts down his phone.  “What is it?”

“My phone drowned.”  I say glumly, too tired to say anything more than that.  I plop down on my bed.

“What?”  Kai asks, sitting upright.  “Oh, right.. you went into the ocean— Are you sure you didn’t leave it at the beach?”

I shake my head sadly.

Kai is silent for a few moments, searching for the right words to say.  “I..” he stops.  Then he stretch out his arm towards me.  I look at him in confusion, before looking down at his hand.  Then I realize what he’s doing.  He’s offering his phone to me.  “Is there anyone you were about to call or text or something?”

“Not really.” I shake my head.  Inside, my mind is doing somersaults.  Is he really offering his phone for me to use? 

I knew it.  Under that permanent cyborg mask, Kai is really a nice person. 

“Use my phone.” He offers, but it came out more like an order.

“No no, I’m good.  I can use a payphone later when we get back, or when we come across one.”

“Yah, I’m offering my phone to you right now, so if you want to call anyone, use it!” he barks and as usual, I flinch a little hearing his sharp voice.  I still wonder how he can be so nice and so mean at the same time.  His eyes soften a little.  “I mean, you can always use my phone if you want.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think I need to use it right now.  I wasn’t about to text or call anyone.  I just suddenly remembered about it.”  I sigh softly.  “Well, there goes all my photos and contacts and music and movies.”

I lay back down and close my eyes.  I’m really pissed at myself.  How could I not remember that I had my phone with me?!  Now what do I do?  I’m going to have to get a new one, but that’s not going to fix everything.  I have a lot of files on that phone!  Screenshots of important informations.  Recordings of important stuff.  Memorable pictures.  Contacts.  Everything.  You can’t just lose a phone without back-upping it, get a new one and get on with life! 

Now I really feel like sleeping.  I’ve just lost too many things at once, I want to lose myself in dreamland too. 

I don’t know how long I’ve closed my eyes already, but suddenly I remember another thing I’ve lost. 

Kai’s photo by the sea.

The photo where he looked so at home in all the peaceful shades of blue and serenity. 

Dammit.

It’s 9.30 at night, 3 hours after I’ve discovered the loss of my phone, and I’m still not over it.  I’m still not over how I’ve lost EVERYTHING like that in a span of minutes and I’m still not over how I could’ve been so stupid.  If I didn’t let Jongguk out of my sight, I wouldn’t have lost it.  Even if I had to jump in the ocean anyway, I could have taken out my phone and throw it on the sand first or something.  But instead... INSTEAD!  I went running off to the sea with my most prized possession like a bloody idiot. And the consequences are as follows: