Water Park, Part 3
The reason I was so shocked had to be this.
“Uwaaaah!!”
Right now, the sight of Park Siwoo before my eyes was incredibly cool.
The way his wet hair glistened, water droplets sliding from his neck down to his collarbones… plus the steady thump of his heartbeat right next to me, like one of those movie moments.
My cheeks burned red, but luckily Siwoo didn’t notice.
After all, he was too busy worrying about the water dripping onto me from his hair.
He turned his head, shook it out, then decided it wasn’t enough and ran his fingers through his hair again.
Now his hair was slicked back in that pomade style…
‘My heart is racing so fast it might explode…’
Just looking at him made my chest flutter nonstop.
“Let’s get up now.”
“Mmm…”
The staff were already coming, so I pushed myself up from the bench.
But every few seconds my eyes kept drifting back to him.
Because of what just happened, I could hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
Then I finally spoke up.
“Huh? Is something wrong?”
“N-no… nothing at all…”
Siwoo noticed me staring, but I couldn’t look away.
After all, his appearance was so perfect it stole my breath every time.
I’d always thought his usual round face was cute, but this slicked-back style? My eyes simply wouldn’t leave him.
I was about to keep staring when…
Siwoo turned to me with a perfect timing.
“What should we ride next?”
I pointed at the first ride I saw.
“That one!”
But then…
“Sia, there are a lot of people. Let’s hold hands.”
Siwoo reached out his hand smoothly.
My heart felt like it would explode.
“Y-yes…”
I held out my hand shyly.
The moment our palms touched, the warmth traveled from my hand up my arm, warming my entire body.
While I trailed after Siwoo, carefully dodging the crowd, I kept glancing up at him.
I’d seen him like this a thousand times, but today… he looked even more amazing.
Finally, a loud
Steam was rising from my head.
‘Eeeek! Just like Mom said, I came here to show off in front of Siwoo…!’
When I told Siwoo I’d come to the water park, I was so confident.
“You have to win in the water park! Remember?”
“I’ll make sure to drag him in completely!”
I’d even told Kim Jieun this morning with a big smile.
“I’ll make him fall head over heels for me today, so wait and see!”
I was so sure I was going to win, but instead I was the one racing my own heart.
It was frustrating.
On top of that, there was one more thing gnawing at me…
“…”
“Why?”
“It’s nothing.”
It was nothing, but people kept staring.
Of course there were stares directed at me, but I ignored those flies.
The stares that actually mattered were the ones aimed at Siwoo.
A lot of passersby kept glancing at him.
Especially the girls at the water park.
They’d glance once, look away, then glance back.
My radar caught every single one.
Siwoo still didn’t seem to notice, but I could sense his heightened sensitivity.
At first it was just a couple, so I brushed it off, but the stares kept piling up.
‘Eeeek!!’
I was jealous.
My Siwoo was being eyed by other girls.
So I chose the simplest solution.
LT__strong__Warak!
“Si… Sia…?”
“It looks like we’ll bump…”
“…”
I clung to his arm.
This way, no one would stare at him.
‘My… my Siwoo…’
My possessiveness only grew stronger.
※※※※※※
LT__strong__Warak!
“Si… Sia…?”
I was heading to the waterslide, but suddenly Sia clung to my arm.
The sudden weight and softness made me look down.
Sia was indeed hugging my arm.
I blinked in surprise.
Sia’s voice trembled a little.
“It looks like we’ll bump…”
“…” She was clinging because she was worried we’d collide… Honestly, I doubted it was the real reason.
After all, the crowd wasn’t that dense.
But I didn’t push her away.
I just wanted her to feel safe.
The park was huge, so finding the right line was tricky.
But long queues waited ahead, signs everywhere.
“Wow… the line is super long…”
“Yeah… I wish they sold passes like at amusement parks…”
“Too bad…”
Amusement parks sold fast-pass tickets, but here there were none.
And time was running out, so I had to decide quickly.
“What do you want to do, Sia?”
“I… want to try riding, but…”
“Then let’s ride.”
“Eek…!”
Since we’d planned to spend the whole day together, I didn’t hesitate and headed to the queue.
Sia peeked at me nervously.
“Um… if it’s too long, we can skip, right?”
Even she thought the line was long and we could skip.
“I thought riding now would get us back just in time for lunch.”
“…I see…”
“That’s not the real reason, is it?”
“Yes!”
Now that her hesitation was solved, all that was left was waiting in line while we talked.
We didn’t have much to say.
We talked about things at home, things we didn’t know about school yet, and summer vacation plans.
The first topic was how we’d spend the summer.
We were still first-years, so we didn’t need to study hard, but entrance exams required some review.
Math and English were already done, so we decided to study the weaker subjects together.
But as we chatted about studying…
“But we came to play, why do we have to talk about studying?”
Sia pouted.
I changed the subject.
“Hey, Sia, is it okay not to take pictures?”
“Pictures?”
“You said we’d take some earlier, right?”
“Oh… yeah… Then let’s take one now?”
“Here?”
“Yeah, this spot has a great view!”
“Okay, great.”
The ride we were going to take was on a slight hill, and we’d have to climb a tower staircase, so the height was decent.
In return, we’d get a panoramic view of the entire water park and the distant scenery.
Of course, taking pictures here could be rude, but…
LT__strong__Click!
LT__strong__Click! Click!
There were only couples around, and other couples were already snapping photos, so it was fine.
Sia pulled out her phone, so I leaned in close.
“Siwoo, just flip your hair once.”
“Hair? Like what?”
“…Like when it was wet.”
“Oh… okay.”
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I slicked my hair back as requested.
“How does it look?”
“…Good. Thanks. Now let’s take the picture.”
“Okay.”
After we took each other’s photos…
“Let’s do a selfie.”
“Sure.”
After the selfie, I checked the photos we’d taken together.
They turned out pretty well.
“Yeah, great.”
“Glad you think so. Should I post it?”
“…I’m thinking about it.”
“What… since we can take more, pick the best one.”
“…Yeah.”
“Sia? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… let’s go up.”
“Huh? Okay.”
Something felt off for a second, but I shrugged it off and kept climbing.
Just as we reached the top, a surprise happened.
“Currently, two-person tubes are not operating! Only four-person tubes are available, so please understand!”
Two- and four-person tubes used to run separately, but suddenly only four-person was allowed.
If I didn’t want the four-person, we’d have to go back down…
I didn’t want to wait longer, so we stayed on the four-person tube.
A different couple joined us.
They looked like adults.
“…”
Even if they were adults, I didn’t space out staring at Sia.
When I felt my gaze, they coughed awkwardly and looked away.
The four of us sat in a cross shape on the tube.
Sia sat on my right, the other man on my left.
I felt a little uneasy at first, thinking the man might sit next to Sia, but it worked out okay.
Once we were seated…
“All aboard!”
The tube started sliding down with the current.