The Childhood Friend Pulls Out Her Secret Weapon
The childhood friend pulls out her secret weapon.
How could anyone's skin be this soft? Even though she was clearly an adult, Chaeyeon's body had the smooth, yielding feel of a baby's cheek.
"Take your time rubbing it in... that way the cream soaks in better."
Cheeks flushed, Chaeyeon made the request, and Sihyun—who had been lost in admiration of her skin—finally snapped back to himself.
What the hell am I doing right now?
He had chosen to break up for a reason. And yet here he was, getting swept up by a temptation this cheap...
Realizing how pathetic he was being, Sihyun clenched his teeth. He wiped the sunscreen still clinging to his hands onto his own arm, then spoke in a deliberately flat voice.
"I don't think we're the kind of people who do this for each other anymore. Why don't you just ask Sohee when she gets here?"
"Sohee said she's running late getting drinks ready at the pension."
"Then ask one of the other girls. Don't go asking some random guy like me."
Some random guy. The line he drew made Chaeyeon turn around with startled eyes. When she saw the sunscreen had vanished from his hands, her voice turned sulky.
"...You used to put it on for me just fine."
Sihyun didn't catch every word of her grumbling, but he could feel her disappointment well enough. After fastening the hook of her bikini, he spoke in a low, heavy voice.
"Don't expect the old me from me. I regret the time I spent dating you down to my bones."
"......."
Chaeyeon lowered her head and clenched fistfuls of sand. Her eyelids trembled. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then forced the words out with difficulty.
"I... I don't regr—"
"Sihyun!"
Yerin's bright, clear voice cut Chaeyeon's sentence clean in half. She slipped between them, grabbed Sihyun's arm, and tugged.
"Hurry up and get up. I want to swim already!"
"You just got here and you're already—"
Sihyun started to complain, then trailed off as he stared blankly at Yerin's body.
A chest that looked like every calorie she'd ever eaten had gone straight into mid-range development?
Hips so full that even a skimpy swimsuit struggled to cover them?
Neither of those was what had seized his attention. The figure—no, the item—that locked his gaze was...
That bikini. It's the exact same one Chaeyeon's wearing.
Chaeyeon's black bikini, only switched to white—same model, same cut. Why was Yerin wearing it? The question pulled his eyes toward her, and the corner of Yerin's mouth curved upward in pure satisfaction.
"Brand-new swimsuit. How does it look? Suit me?"
Sihyun glanced back and forth between Chaeyeon and Yerin without thinking. Where Chaeyeon's figure was pleasantly attractive, Yerin's was superior—overwhelming, even. It almost looked like a completely different swimsuit.
"Yeah... it suits you."
Heat flooded his face as he turned his head away, eyes darting, unsure where to look. Chaeyeon's expression twisted at the sight. Yerin, wearing a victor's smile, led Sihyun toward the water.
Earlier he said he thought of me like family~
In the old days he would have just praised her with a blank face. Whatever wind had blown through him, the Sihyun of right now was very much aware of her.
Guess looking up those mixed-bath photos paid off?
Was this kind of revealing outfit his type? It was a little embarrassing, but his reaction more than made up for the risk. Yerin giggled where he couldn't see, then suggested brightly,
"Before we swim, let's stretch!"
"Sure..."
Sihyun tried to stretch while carefully not looking in Yerin's direction. She watched his flustered efforts with open fondness, then...
"You were with Chaeyeon earlier. What were you two doing?"
...narrowed her eyes and began the interrogation.
"Nothing."
"Liar. I saw you two talking with my own eyes."
Yerin stopped stretching, stepped right up to him, and locked his gaze on hers.
"Be honest. What did you talk about?"
"It really wasn't anything... If you can even call it a conversation, Chaeyeon just asked me to put sunscreen on her back."
"What. She said that!?"
Yerin ground her teeth at Chaeyeon's shameless little seduction. She glared at Sihyun with blazing eyes and gripped his wrist hard.
"So what did you do? Did you put it on her?"
"No. I just told her to ask Sohee and turned her down."
"Really!?"
She'd confidently asked and gotten rejected—how mortifying that must have been. Yerin snorted toward where Chaeyeon was sitting, then ruffled Sihyun's hair for a long moment as praise.
After finishing their stretches, the two of them headed into the sea. Yerin swept her wet hair back with both hands, caught Sihyun's, and asked,
"Come to think of it, you used to be terrible at swimming. Want me to teach you while we're here?"
The last time Yerin had gone to a pool with Sihyun was back in high school. Back then he had paddled around like a turtle in a life vest, and she had delighted in unfastening and refastening the straps just to mess with him.
He was so cute then.
Every time she half-stripped the vest off him, he would cling to her body. Whenever that terrified boy relied on her, Yerin had tasted a joy she couldn't put into words.
I'll do the exact same thing this time~
Under the pretext of teaching him to swim, she was already hatching a wicked little plan when—
"Nah, no need. I'm good at swimming now."
—unexpected news made her tilt her head.
"How come?"
"After we went to the pool that time, I started going to swimming lessons."
The memory that lived fondly in Yerin's mind was pure black history to Sihyun. After getting thoroughly teased at the pool, he had thrown himself into practice for a long stretch so he would never look that pathetic again.
This is an unexpected development...
She had planned to use the lessons as an excuse for all sorts of skinship. Now anything she tried would be completely pointless. While Yerin was racking her brain for a new approach—
"Honestly, I think I'm better than you now."
—Sihyun dropped a provocation she couldn't just let slide.
"Ha."
Every time she visited her grandmother on the West Sea, Yerin had learned to swim straight from the haenyeo divers. She had grown up with the ocean; her skill was already among the best in the whole village.
"You want to settle this right now?"
"Obviously. I'm paying back that humiliation from the pool today."
A sudden swimming match. Yerin narrowed her eyes.
"Fine. Where's the finish line?"
Sihyun pointed at a rock about two hundred meters out.
"First one to touch that rock wins."
"Okay."
Yerin asked a nearby classmate to count them down.
Three.
Two.
One.
The moment the number hit zero, both of them launched into the water, arms and legs churning.
Lessons or not, it's all the same in the end.
Yerin planned to crush Sihyun's newly inflated pride right here. Of all things, challenging her at swimming? This was a matter of pride.
He should be falling behind by now.
She opened her eyes expecting to see him thrashing somewhere behind her. Instead—
With about eighty meters left to the rock, what filled her vision was Sihyun swimming right alongside her.
I already picked up the pace...
Yerin felt a jolt of alarm as he tried to overtake her. His skill had exceeded her expectations; she couldn't afford to coast any longer.
No more holding back.
She poured everything into her strokes. The sea was her home ground. The swimming ability she had honed since childhood was enough to make even the West Sea haenyeo click their tongues in admiration.
Ssshhh—
Yerin became a mermaid, slicing through the water at high speed. The result: she touched the rock first, roughly ten meters ahead.
"Hoo..."
The match had been so fierce that catching her breath came before savoring the win. Sihyun arrived moments later, gasping and grumbling.
"How the hell do you move that fast? Felt like I was racing a seal."
"Pfft... You're still ten years too early to beat me."
She said it, but honestly three years would probably be enough. That was how good Sihyun had become.
Next time I'll drag him to the West Sea and make him harvest seafood with me.
Far from resenting his growth, Yerin was delighted at the thought of living the haenyeo life with the guy she liked.
Leaving Yerin, who said she wanted to swim a bit more, I climbed back onto the sand. I ducked under the parasol again to escape the stinging sun. Luckily, Chaeyeon was nowhere in sight.
"Hoo... Didn't think I'd actually lose."
I sat in the shade, chewing over the hollow feeling while I recovered my strength. After a while, three classmates drifted over toward me.
Just coming to rest?
A lot of the second-year guys were already in the military, so all three were girls. We weren't particularly close; I figured they'd just sit nearby. But for some reason all three were looking at me with bright, interested eyes.
"Sihyun, I saw you swimming with Yerin earlier. You both looked amazing."
The sudden conversation sparked a vague unease, but I answered without showing it.
"Yerin's way better than me."
And of course, the moment Yerin's name left my mouth they all scooted closer.
"Right, Yerin!"
"What's the deal with you and Yerin?"
"And what happened with Chaeyeon?"
Figures. These three were the type who thrived on other people's love lives. Sensing a headache coming on, I irritably shook the water out of my hair.
"Look... just so we're clear, Yerin and I have known each other a long time, that's all. It's not whatever you're thinking."
"Really...? Weird. You two look so good together."
Another one leaned in close.
"Then how come you broke up? You used to be crazy about Chaeyeon."
The way I used to trail after Chaeyeon was famous even on campus. People had even nicknamed me "Chaeyeon-stalker."
"...I just got a little tired, that's all."
"Yeah, that tracks. Chaeyeon's personality is no joke."
"True. The fact you lasted over a year is impressive."
Two of them agreed with me. The third asked,
"So you're not thinking of dating Yerin?"
"Why would I date her? And while we're at it—don't go asking her stuff like this either. She feels the same way I do."
One of them shook her head.
"I don't think so. From what I've seen, Yerin's got feelings for you."
"Yeah. Even when you were dating Chaeyeon she used to look at you all envious... You never noticed?"
Yerin likes me?
Their baseless speculation scrambled my thoughts. We were so comfortable with each other that I'd never once considered she might feel that way.
"Lately you two have been looking super lovey-dovey. You should go for it."
"Yeah, we're rooting for you."
Their blatant cheering was so embarrassing I told them to knock it off and stood up.
"Aww, look, Sihyun's ears are red~"
"Since you're up anyway, go talk to Yerin."
I felt like an elementary-school kid getting teased about a crush. Ignoring them, I was about to head to the pension for a drink when—
"Look over there. Perfect timing—Yerin's waving."
Waving?
Curiosity got the better of me and I turned. Just like they said, Yerin was waving both hands in our direction.
Is she telling me to come back in?
Whether she just wanted to play again or had something to say, I decided to ask her myself and started toward the water.
The distance closed little by little. Yerin's blurry figure grew clearer, and something about it felt wrong.
Unlike earlier, when she had been leisurely enjoying the sea, her hands were thrashing. She would sink under, then briefly surface with a pained face—exactly the way I used to thrash when I was drowning.
"Yerin! Han Yerin!"
My heart went ice-cold as I dove into the water. As fast as I could, I poured every ounce of strength into swimming toward her.
And then...
Just as I closed half the distance, Yerin stopped coming back up.