52-2

I look down at the water in fear as I cling onto him for dear life. "Maybe that's what you do but I don't—" and then he dunks me into the water, face and all. When I resubmerge I have to spit out water and wipe my eyes. "You brat!" I swipe at his head but he dodges me. A mischevious smile paints his face as he grabs my flailing body, pulling me against him as I try to push him away. "You look so sexy in your bathing suit," he says into my ear with a cheeky grin. I begrudgingly look at him, a frown still on my face. "I know," I mumble shamelessly. He laughs brightly. "Someone's confident today." "I'm always confident buddy, don't you know me by now? What's the use in being insecure when you can't change what you've got." "Well queen of confidence, not everyone is blessed with a body as smoking as yours." He looks down at my lips, his teeth still showing with a smile as he leans in more and more. "Smoking huh? What part is most smoking to you?" I hold onto his face, moving my eyes between his and the beauty marks on his face. "It's a toss-up between your thighs and your ass." I gasp in surprise when his hands aggressively grasp my butt. "But I think the ass wins." I burst into laughter. Hearing such words leave his mouth, a face that looks so young and sweet, is always a shock to me. We play around some more in the water, enjoying this much-needed vacation. The mood is light, until Jaewook's laugh slowly fades away, that same distant, pensive look covering his face once again. I sigh, upset that the light-hearted fun only lasted so long. "Will you tell me now?" I ask as I swim around him. He's silent for a moment, looking into the water. "Okay. I just—you have enough going on I didn't want to add anything else for you to think about." I patiently wait as he turns to look off to the endless ocean. "I got accepted to the Korean National Police University. The orientation starts just after my birthday." As much as I don't want it to, I feel my heart drop. And then I immediately scold myself for it. "But I can't go. I can only afford one semester, I don't have enough money." Oh, that's why he's upset. The selfish part of me wants him to be sad that, if he went, we would barely get to see each other. KNPU isn't like other university's, it's stricter and mandatory for them to live in dorms. From what I've heard from a friend of Zen's, students barely have time to go on their phones. I'd only see him during Winter and Summer breaks. But I'm the one that encouraged him to find a passion and work for it. I'm proud of him. Almost a year ago he had no desire to even do well in school. "That's great, that you were accepted. I wish you told me sooner, we could have celebrated." "What's there to celebrate if I can't even go. I did well at the end of school, but not enough to get a scholarship." "Jaewook," I scold, "It's worth celebrating. Do you realize just how much you improved academically within a year? It's almost insane how easily you pick things up. You should be so proud." "I am, I just—" he looks down at the water surrounding him. I grab his hands under the water and search for his eyes. "We'll find a way, okay? Don't worry about it right now. We'll deal with it when we get home. For now, let's just celebrate the fact that you made it. You made it, baby!" I pull a wide smile and move closer to him. "You did it!" Finally, a shy smile fights through his worry. "I had a hot tutor to help me. It kept the material interesting." "Oh really?" I'm happy to hear him playing around again. "She must have been really good." I wrap my legs around him and watch his lips move as he talks. "She was amazing. She taught me everything." His eyes are fixated on my own lips, suggesting that he's not just speaking about math anymore. "Oh everything, huh?" He hums against my lips. "Like how to turn her on," his tongue curls in his mouth as his eyes flick up to look at mine, now dark and playful. "I don't remember teaching you that." "Who said it was you?" He jokes. "Bastard," I say as I push him away, only for him to hug me in return. "I know I said your bikini looks hot, but I just can't help but think it would be even hotter if it was off your body." The feigned childlike curiosity on his face causes me to open my mouth in shock. Before I can scold him, I feel his hands sneak their way to my back. I feel his fingers pull at my strings and my eyes widen. "Jaewook! Stop or I'll kill you!" "What? No one's here. It's just us." And just like that, he pulls the strings loose. I scream at him, holding onto my front in delighted panic. He stops my yelling by kissing me all too deeply, lips devouring mine in the way that suggests that he wants to take things further. Despite my playing around, I accept his advances. The chaos and strain in our relationship the past month have meant that we haven't had sex in much too long, not since before the incident. I didn't even realize this until now, as he looks at me with deep eyes, eyes that speak all they need to. We've been so lost, and only now are we finding each other again. So I clutch onto my bikini top as we let passion take over. I can only be relieved when I feel him walk towards the shore, holding onto me still with my legs around his torso. We barely make it back to the cottage. ...