The morning was bright and blissful. Although the season is currently in summer, the morning sun thankfully wasn’t burning hot so, Eun Mi took this chance to go grocery shopping while she sent her parents out to a little date.

With the money that Eun Mi earned, she thought that she would send her parents out on a date since they worked so hard. Since the news of Yeomin’s company letting Eun Mi’s mother go came to her, her mother has been out and about to search for a place to work. Even though Eun Mi said that she didn’t need to, her mother insists.

Eun Mi walked towards the apartment with her hands filled with bags, stumbling on the steps, she made her way up. “Kris?” Eun Mi cocked her head to the side and blinked her round eyes.

Kris averted his attention from the ground to the figure which called his name. Immediately, the corners of the lips lifted up. “Hi,” he said.

“What are you doing here?” Eun Mi asked.

Kris thought for a moment. *What am I doing here? I was just bored and somehow, my legs brought me here.* “I’m just bored. Open the door,” he pointed. “I’ve been waiting here for 30 minutes.”

“No one told you to wait,” Eun Mi scoffed. As soon as she turned the door knob, Kris laid himself out on the couch. Even though his legs were dangling out of the couch due to his tall figure, he wanted nothing more than to place himself down.  Well, lying down and speaking to Eun Mi.

“Yeah, go ahead and treat this like your own house,” Eun Mi whispered as she packed the groceries away.

Kris got up from the couch and walked over to Eun Mi. He started to grab some of the groceries and helped out.

“Why are you so nice all of a sudden?” Eun Mi spoke.

“I told you I’ll make you believe me,” he replied.

Eun Mi stood there staring at Kris as she recalled back to the day Kris confessed his feelings towards her.

“OI. Lee Eun Mi,” Kris clapped his hands in front of her face.

Eun Mi snapped out of her daze and looked at him. “What?”

“Want to go to the beach?” Kris smiled.

“The beach? Why do you want to go to the beach all of a sudden?”

“I just want to go. Come on,” he grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

“Wait, let me get my bag,” Eun Mi quickly grabbed her bag as she walked out of her apartment.

With her wrist still in Kris’ grasp, she let him pull her to wherever. Seeing Kris pulling her away from his car, her eyebrows raised. “Your car is over there,” she pointed with her free hand.

“We’re not taking the car,” Kris smiled.

“Then are we taking the bus?”

Kris didn’t reply to Eun Mi as he continued to pull her away.

“It comes at 10:38 so we’ll probably be at Gyeongpo beach before 12? Good enough,” Kris sat down the seat.

“Woah, a person like you know how to take the bus,” Eun Mi laughed.

Kris shot her an offended look and snorted, “Don’t underestimate my power.”

“Why are we going to the beach? I don’t want to swim,” Eun Mi muttered the last part.

“We’re not swimming,” he stated.

After a few minutes, the bus arrived and they both hoped on.

“Please scan your card,” the driver instructed.

Kris, who has never been on a bus, took out his credit card from his wallet and pressed it against the scanner. The bus driver looked at Kris weirdly and so did everyone else on the bus. Eun Mi hung her head down low due to major embarrassment.

“Why isn’t this working?” Kris uttered.

“2 please ahjusshi,” Eun Mi spoke and pushed Kris to the side, taking out her card and tapping it on the scanner.

“Oh,” Kris whispered, his ears turning red.

They both moved towards the back seat and seated themselves down. Eun Mi hid her head while Kris just smiled to the front trying to hide his embarrassment.

“You’re so embarrassing,” Eun Mi hissed.

“You love me,” he crossed his legs and arms.

Eun Mi shook her head and stared out the window.

A few minutes passed and the two didn’t say a word. Eun Mi focused on what was happening out the window while Kris was staring at Eun Mi with a smile.

“What are we doing at the beach if we’re not swimming?” Eun Mi asked, breaking the silence.

“Build sandcastles, eat…” Kris bobbed his head up and down.

“That’s it? Build sandcastles and eat?” Eun Mi’s mouth hung open.

“Something like that,” he shrugged.

“And you pull me out to the beach just to do those? Oh my god,” she sighed.

“It’ll be fun, trust me,” Kris slung an arm over her shoulder.

Eun Mi glared at Kris before slapping his arm away.

*What kind of skin ship could we do at the beach?* Kris thought as he smirked mischievously.

“The beach!” Kris exclaimed as he hoped off the bus.

Eun Mi was gasping as she looked beyond the horizon. The shimmering sunlight shone upon the golden sand making it sparkle, the waves crashing against the shore brought a feel of relaxation. This excited Eun Mi as she couldn’t wait to feel the sand. She had always loved the beach; however she never dared to enter the waters because of her traumatic event.

“Hurry up!” Kris called.

“Okay!” Eun Mi yelled as she ran towards him.

They both took off their footwear as they let the soft sand touch their foot. Choosing a place to sit, they both looked out at the waves.

Kris looked over at Eun Mi and remembered why she didn’t like the water. *I’ll make her get over her fear.*

“Kris, did I really kiss you the other night?” Eun Mi spoke.

“I don’t know,” he smiled.

“Aish. You’re so annoying,” Eun Mi grabbed a handful of sand and threw it back down.

“This is why you like me,” Kris nodded.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“Are you always this cocky?” Eun Mi joked.

“No,” Kris looked down at the sand.

Eun Mi noticed the sudden change of tone in Kris’ voice as she turned over to him. He looked down and she started to worry. Did she say something wrong?

“Wu Yifan,” Kris said.

“Who’s that?”

 “Wu Yifan is the little poor boy who craves for attention. Ever since he was old enough to attend kindergarten, his parents would always be out of the house or the country leaving him alone in a huge house with a nanny and butler,” he paused. “Every time he saw other children playing with their parents, he always wanted to do the same thing. However, whenever he asked they would always tell him ‘I’m busy’ or ‘Go play with your toys’. Yifan started to feel left out and it all stayed the same until high school. His mother then showed him off to her friends and then he became the elite kid. He would get tutored about management after school and he barely had any time for himself. Even though he didn’t want to study management his parents forced him to and said that he will have to run the company in the future and they cannot have a failure running the company.”

“Kris,” Eun Mi softened.

“He then started becoming cold to everyone. Soon, he became one of those popular kids however; they only focused on his looks. Even though he loved the attention, he wanted more. He wanted his parents’ attention. That never happened. Graduation was supposed to be one of the best days of his life but when he went to receive the award, he was let down. He scanned everywhere in hoping that his parents would come. They never did.”

Kris looked up at the sky and back down again. Was he trying to keep his tears in? Eun Mi was shocked at Kris’ sudden behaviour and she didn’t know what to do. As Kris told the story, she pitied him. All he wanted was a loving family, but he never got one.

“Ever since then, I became Kris. I’d prefer being called Kris. Kris now had gained some attention and a little interest from his parents. Although his parents will make future plans for him, at least they gave him more attention. Still, it’s not everything and it he will never probably have a loving family,” Kris sighed. “So yeah, you can call me cocky.”

Eun Mi started to regret calling him cocky. She never knew that he had problems within his family. She only thought that all rich people are the same and that money is all they need. She was wrong.

“Anyways, let’s go!” Kris hoped up and brushed off the sand from his pants.

“Go where?” Eun Mi blinked at him.

He pointed his finger out towards the sea and Eun Mi followed the direction. “I am not going out there,” she shook her head.

“Come on,” he urged as he pulled her up. “You need to get over your fear of water. Plus, it’s not even deep.”

“Fear of water?” Eun Mi raised a brow.

“Yes. Fear of water. You told me about what happened when you were drunk,” he sent a cheeky grin.

“Oh no,” she knocked her forehead. “Stupid me.”

Kris grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to the waters. Eun Mi was slightly trembling as she got closer and closer and then she stopped.

“I can’t do this,” she shook her head and took a step back.

Kris noticed Eun Mi as she trembled and he wrapped his jacket around her. He bent down to roll up his trousers and smiled. “Yes, you can. Come on!” He walked into the waters. “See, they only reach my ankles.”

Eun Mi had all her attention on the waters as she took no notice that Kris had given her his jacket. “I can’t,” she muttered.

Kris looked at her fragile figure as he hesitated whether to let her stay on shore or drag her out. He took option number 2. *She needs to do this!*

He extended his hands towards Eun Mi and spoke, “You can do this. I know you can. Trust me, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Eun Mi looked into Kris’ eyes as she nervously bit her lips. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and exhaling. *I can do this.* With small steps, she stepped forward and soon, the tips of her toes touched the refreshing water.

She slightly flinched and was about to turn her heels but Kris’ voice made her go further.

“Come on, nearly there,” he said.

Eun Mi reached out her hand and placed it softly on Kris’. He intertwined their fingers together as he pulled her closer to him. Within a matter of seconds, she was keeping a firm grasp on his arms as she stuck closely to him.

Kris liked this.

Not only that he got her to enter the waters, he had skin ship with her. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

It took a while but eventually Eun Mi calmed down as she let go of his arms, but not his hands. She finally got the feel of beach water all thanks to Kris. Due to the events that happened today, with Kris telling her about his life and helping her get in the waters, she knew she could trust him.