~Summer 1999, Goheung Province~

Eight girls were riding a boat owned by one of their parents as they traveled back to their province from the city. They would spend their summer back in their hometown to enjoy the breezy air of the ocean, and of course to hang out with one of their best friends who, in some cases, doesn't go to school.

Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu, the three youngest, were peacefully enjoying the view of their island as the boat approached the shore. Momo and Sana were acting like Jack and Rose from 'Titanic' as Sana spread her arms out while Momo hugs her from the back. Mina was silently laughing at their antics as she playfully sang the soundtrack of the movie. Jeongyeon and Jihyo were feeling the salty breeze hitting their faces when Jihyo noticed a person jumping like a bunny with one foot at the end of the shore while waving her hands up excitedly.

"Nayeon unnie!" Jihyo shouted as she also waved her arms up.

"Jihyo-ya!"

The others heard them and gathered with them to call Nayeon.

"UNNIE!"

"NAYEON UNNIE!"

"IM NAYEON!"

They all shouted simultaneously as they waved their hands up. Sana even climbed up the edge of the boat for Nayeon to see them better. The others were not that worried that Sana might fall down since out of all of them, she's the second best swimmer after Nayeon.

"JEONGYEON-AH!"

~~~~

Jeongyeon could still hear how Nayeon called her name that day. Gyehoon, Youngjae, and the two other producers worriedly looked at her as she spaced out while listening to the song.

~~~~

They continued to call each other, more like shout at each other, with happy smiles plastered on their faces.

Couldn't contain her excitement to see Nayeon up close, Chaeyoung jumped in the water without fear although the boat was still meters away from the shore. For your information, all of them can swim. Who wouldn't learn how to swim when you lived in an island since birth? Of course all of them learned how to swim. The eight of them only left the island to attend high school at the city and would come back every summer for Nayeon.

The others followed Chaeyoung in the water except Momo, who is suffering from her ankle injury from her last run.

At their school, all of them had joined a sport. Momo and Chaeyoung joined athletics, Sana joined swimming, Tzuyu joined archery, Dahyun joined softball, Mina and Jihyo joined volleyball, and Jeongyeon joined soccer.

Nayeon saw what they did, so of course she joined them as she jumped in the water. She swam towards them as they greeted each other. Nayeon missed her friends so much since she haven't seen them for like, nine months. They would send letters or call each other on payphone, obviously, but that's not enough.

Growing up in the island with them gave her separation anxiety when she heard that her friends would leave for high school in the city. But Jeongyeon assured her that they would be back every summer and promised to spend most of their time together to hang out whenever they come back. Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, and Mina were in their last year in high school next school year while Chaeyoung, Dahyun, and Tzuyu still have two more years.

Nayeon got used to her friends leaving for months as she held onto Jeongyeon's promise.

"Unnie! How are you?" Dahyun wrapped her arms around Nayeon as they hugged in the water.

"Unnie! I'm wearing your bracelet!" Tzuyu bragged as she showed Nayeon her arm with the bracelet made by the older girl before they left last year.

"All of us wore it, unnie!" Chaeyoung added and joined the embrace. Not only Tzuyu, but of course Nayeon made bracelets with their initials for all of them.

"I'm glad! I wore mine, too!" Nayeon beamed.

"Hey! You girls are playing in the water when you just arrived?" Momo asked from above the shore. All of them looked up to her and laughed. Nayeon worriedly looked at her foot with a cast.

"You're just envious you can't swim with us right now." Jeongyeon mocked and the rest of them laughed.

"What happened to you, Momo-ya?" Nayeon worriedly asked as she swam towards her.

"Just an injury from my last run two months ago, unnie. I got sprained. But don't worry, it's almost healed." Momo assured.

"D-does it hurt a lot?" Nayeon added.

"Nah. Not at all. Don't worry about me, unnie." Momo smiled assuringly and gestured Nayeon to continue swimming. Nayeon gave her one last worried glance before swimming back to Jeongyeon and the others.

They continued to play in the water, splashing salt water in each other's faces, including the injured girl. Momo whined when her cast got wet.

After that, Dahyun's father, who owns the boat, called them so they decided to get their things from the boat and head home.

~~~~

Jeongyeon woke up from her trance and lightly shook her head as soon as the song stopped playing.

"U-um, Today..." She paused when she met her husband's eyes. He mouthed 'focus' while worriedly looking at her. Jeongyeon assured him with a smile and a nod as she cleared her throat. "Oh, actually today... um... this program would probably rarely go along with the manuscript."

Jeongyeon puts down the paper and cleared her throat again as she nervously chuckled.

"I have to apologize for the awkwardness because... the name of the listener who sent the story sounds familiar. That's why I got shocked for a moment." Jeongyeon added as she eyed Gyehoon, who obviously is worried of what's happening. She looked away and turned to the letter with a sad smile. "She was my friend back then. A really, really close friend."

~~~~

"Hurry up!" Jihyo shouted as she and Sana raced along the beachside. Eight of them were walking home after playing in the water. Dahyun was carrying Momo on her back while Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, and Mina carried all their things.

Behind them, Jeongyeon was effortlessly carrying Nayeon on her back while Nayeon held Jeongyeon's bag. The overly excited Sana came back running towards them and playfully slapped Nayeon's butt and ran away again to chase Jihyo.

Chaeyoung and Nayeon exchanged casual conversations while Jeongyeon quietly listens to them as she secretly smiled. Of course, she can't go unnoticed by Chaeyoung, but since the short girl (all of them actually) was aware of Jeongyeon's feelings for Nayeon, she tried not to tease her.

"By the way, how did Momo injured her ankle? Shouldn't she have some therapy for that or something?" Nayeon asked.

"Ah, she got it twisted from her last run two months ago. She already got her therapy for six weeks and they said maybe next week she can get rid of that cast," Chaeyoung chuckled, "She even joked about how she wanted to be carried just like you! That's why she made Dahyun carry her since that white lady lost in their bet."

"Gosh that silly girl. Whatever. You know Momo's in her golden age." Nayeon said.

"Marathon is not that easy, y'know?" Jihyo suddenly appeared beside Jeongyeon, huffing from the running she made but was still jogging in her place. Jeongyeon and Nayeon were startled because of that.

"Agreed! Momo unnie is really great!" Dahyun exclaimed and Momo pinched her cheeks. "Ow!"

"Momo is amazing when she runs. She looks so cool!" Nayeon commented. She continued to praise Momo, not noticing the quiet Jeongyeon with her signature stoic face.

"By the way, Momo and Tzuyu are pretty popular in school! Students drool over them when they pass buy." Mina said that surprised Nayeon.

"Really!? Momoring is so cool!" Nayeon praised, making Momo blush.

"What about me, unnie?" Tzuyu interjected.

"Oh sorry, Tzuyu-ya you're cool, too... I guess..." Nayeon teased that made the tallest girl glare at her. "Just kidding. You're really amazing, all of you are." She warmly smiled.

All of them were pretty popular in school because of their sport. Not only because of that, but also because they were outstanding in  doing it.

(Sana and Jihyo stopped running around when Sana fell down on her butt after slipping down the sand.) As they walked, Nayeon noticed that Jeongyeon was awfully quiet, which is not new, so she decided to call her out.

"What about Jeongyeon? How was she in school? Is she also popular?"

"Hell yeah! She's really popular that she even got a nickname!" Momo replied.

"Really? What is it?" Nayeon excitedly asked and turned her hear down to attempt to kiss Jeongyeon's cheek, but Jeongyeon, in her usual self, expertly dodged Nayeon before she could land one, even though she's carrying her.

"She's called, 'The Mute Goalkeeper' in our school. When guys, or even girls, approach her, she doesn't care." Tzuyu replied.

"Yeah! Why are you so awkward, Jeongyeon-ah?" Jihyo teased.

"Oh, oh, oh! Maybe she already likes someone!" Sana beamed and snatched Jeongyeon's bag from Nayeon's grasp and started to rummage through it.

"Yah, bring it back! Why would you carelessly unload other people's bag?" Jeongyeon whined, but she couldn't do anything since she's carrying Nayeon.

"Wah... is this for Nayeon?" Sana asked as she pulled out something from Jeongyeon's bag and handed it to Nayeon. Jeongyeon could only sigh.

"Wow! Is this their new album?" Nayeon happily said as she observed Jeongyeon's gift. She knows it's obviously for her because who else in the group loves listening to album tapes other that Nayeon?

"Is that what you bought in the market yesterday, Jeongyeon-ah?" Momo asked.

"Is it A-Ha's new album?" Mina asked. Jeongyeon nodded and smiled. She may not see Nayeon from her back but she knows the older girl is smiling.

"I've already listened to it. It's great. The songs are really good." Jeongyeon said.

"Thank you, Jeongyeonie! I'm always waiting for their songs to be played in the radio." Nayeon said and attempted to kiss Jeongyeon on her cheek, and this time, Jeongyeon couldn't dodge it so the others laughed.

They continued to walk while teasing Jeongyeon. The beachside was filled with laughter as the nine girls talked about their experiences in the city on their way home. It was a long walk, but they didn't feel tired at all.

"Stop, stop!" Nayeon suddenly tapped Jeongyeon's shoulder, telling her to put her down.

"It's alright, we're almost there unnie."

"Ah, why? I'm tired from being carried, too, y'know?" Nayeon reasoned and continued to tap Jeongyeon.

"Come here, unnie! I want to carry you." Tzuyu said and shoved the bags she's carrying to Sana and Jihyo.

"It's alright, Tzuyu-ya, we're almost there." Jeongyeon stubbornly declined and continued to walk.

"Yah Yoo Jeongyeon, put me down! We still have a long way, I know you're tired." Nayeon said.

"She's right, Jeongyeon unnie. Let Tzuyu carry her for now." Chaeyoung softly said. Jeongyeon sighed when Tzuyu was already crouching down two meters in front of them.

"Now don't be stubborn and put me down."

Jeongyeon crouched down carefully, the others guided Nayeon as she gets down from Jeongyeon's back. Since Tzuyu was ahead of them, she have to walk a few steps towards her.

Nayeon's left leg has an in-born defect which caused her to limp, or more like drag her left foot while she walks. She can stand, but it's really hard for her to walk. That's why she had her friends who would always offer to carry her around in their neighborhood when she wants to go somewhere. When they're not there, she would not leave their house and would only keep listening to the radio and the tapes Jeongyeon got for her from the city.

Most of the time, Jeongyeon would carry her more that the others. Because she said she didn't want to burden the others carrying a heavy bunny. The others know her reason, of course, that's why they let her be.

But sometimes, Nayeon would scold her for not letting their other friends carry her, like what's happening right now. She knows how stubborn Jeongyeon is, that's why she would always tap on her back nonstop or attempt to kiss her (which Jeongyeon 'hated') to make her put her down.

Nayeon dragged her left foot as she walked and reached Tzuyu's shoulder as the tall gurl effortlessly carried her on her back.

"You're really strong, Tzuyu-ya!"

"No, you're just light, unnie. Are you even eating?"

Nayeon only giggled as they continued their walk with full of laughter and smiles.