ˏˋ°•*⁀ ➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗈𝗇
𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻（𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻）/𝗺əˈ𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘆(ə)𝗻/
❝𝖺 𝗉𝗂𝖾𝖼𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗃𝖾𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗋𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗉𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝖺𝗅，𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗇 𝖺𝗌 𝖺 𝗉𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖺𝗇𝗍．❞

"I'm freezing, I wanna go inside!" Mya shivered, trying to cover herself. The three of you hadn't thought to bring cover-ups outside, since you'd been so excited to head down to the beach as fast as possible. Apparently, you were paying for it now.

"Do you want my shirt?" Jeongin asked immediately, grabbing a white t-shirt off his towel and offering it to her.

"I- no, I... uh, I'm okay, I should just go inside," Mya graced him with the hint of a smile through quavering lips before turning toward the beach house, then glancing back at you and Riley, a silent invitation in her eyes.

Riley nodded and came to stand next to Mya, before saying, "We should totally try and play some video games when we get back. What do y'all think?"

"I'm down!" Han said enthusiastically, grinning. "I wanna try Mario Kart."

"I'm totally in!" You agreed, smiling at your friends, just to solidify that you were okay.

"I'll make dinner while you play," Minho offered.

Everyone else agreed, and decided to leave so they could start getting warm and ready.

Mya and Riley glanced at you, hoping you'd go with them to get ready as well.

But since Minho had dropped that information bomb on your head in his typical dry, casual infuriatingly Minho way, you knew you weren't ready to go inside just yet. You just needed some time to clear your head, alone.

You shook your head, and your friends turned and unquestioningly started walking away. You were all so close, you could just tell when one of the others needed some time alone.

Chan, Han, and Seungmin shrugged and followed the two girls back to the house. Changbin stood a few feet away with Lanhua, and you swore you could see heart emojis popping out of his eyes. Maybe that relationship could turn into something serious.

"You wanna come back with us?" Changbin was asking, clearly trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice. "We have the whole beach house to ourselves, it's pretty nice."

Lanhua laughed and shook her head. "I think I better get back home, my dogs will be crying for dinner in a few minutes," she replied. "But I'd love to see you again, soon."

As Changbin's mouth opened and closed like a fish gulping water, you turned away, a small smile on your face. Cute.

Minho, who still stood next to you, fixed you with a stare, squinting his eyes down at you. "You good?"

You nodded, shooting him a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just wanna hang out on the beach for a bit. You go on!"

"If you say so," Minho brushed past you as he began making his way through the sand. "Holler if you need anything, ya know, if a fish starts trying to drown you or something."

You quirked an eyebrow. "You'd actually care if I was drowning?"

"You're right, don't holler for anything unless you're dead," Minho agreed, trying his best to keep a straight face.

"Will do," you fake saluted at him, and he walked away, only emitting a small huff of air from his nose to indicate he was joking.

Hyunjin made sure you were going to be safe three whole times before catching up with Minho, who was already halfway up the sandy hill.

That just left you and Felix. Why did it always end up like that? You didn't have anything to say to him.

Felix just stood there in front of you, an unreadable expression on his face. You weren't entirely sure what he was thinking. Usually he was so expressive.

"Are you gonna be okay, Laska?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.

You nodded silently, not trusting your voice. You didn't think you could stay unemotional around him. You wished you could just climb into his head and read his mind. Was he upset? Mad? Or just as confused as you were?

Felix rested his hands on his hips, as if he was searching for some pockets to put them in. But since he was still in his dolphin-print pastel yellow swim trunks (which you totally didn't notice and nearly die of cuteness overload), all he could do was rest them there awkwardly.

You looked down at your feet, swaying side to side, unsure of what to do or say. When you looked back up, for a second you swore you saw a look of undeniable hurt in his eyes. But right when you met his gaze, the look disappeared. Trick of the moonlight. You told yourself.

You almost thought he looked jealous.

As your eyes met, Felix's face suddenly softened a bit. "Erm, well, if you need anything, you can always call, okay? You know that, right?"

You nodded again. "Yeah," you said, your voice coming out weak and scratchy. Clearing your throat hastily, you added, "I-I know. Thanks Lix."

That seemed to satisfy whatever he'd been looking for, because he shot you a smile. It looked almost... melancholy, that same expression look you'd seen in his eyes moments before. A mix of disappointment and sadness, but there was something else there too. Like a spark, a sense of... protectiveness. You couldn't help but melt a little at that, but a simultaneously a sense of anxiety that crept into you at the sight, your heart ramping up a few notches. Had you hurt Felix's feelings? Had you even  made him feel jealous?? If so, what had you done?

"Well, no matter how hard I try to look cool, which isn't a lot, I'm actually starting to freeze out here too so I'm gonna go inside. I'll see ya soon, yeah?" Felix ducked his head, averting his gaze from yours this time.

Almost like he was scared to look at you.

You nodded numbly, not sure what to do or say, and watched as Felix shuffled across the sand and up to the house. The light was already on, and you could see figures moving around in the kitchen, no doubt getting dinner started. Even from this distance, you could feel the happiness that radiated as they spent quality time together. You wanted to go back up there so you didn't miss out on the fun, but you had so many thoughts swirling around in your head, you knew that would just sour the mood.

"Maybe I'll go out for a swim," you muttered to yourself, glancing down at your beige swimsuit cover-up. It was definitely getting a little cold but you didn't mind. Once, you and Hyunjin had dived into an ice-cold lake in the middle of winter on a dare, and while Hyunjin had screamed like a child and jumped out immediately, you'd stayed in for over five minutes, until your entire body was numb and Mya ordered you out, because you might "get fucking hypothermia you idiot." (Mya's words, not yours). Despite Mya being right, the cold had seemed to calm you, and whether or not that was your body shutting down, you enjoyed it.

You began wading out into the water, up to your ankles. Your feet immediately froze to the point you couldn't feel them anymore, but it was refreshing. It took your mind off of everything that was going on in your life. Despite being on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, you couldn't help but feel angsty, a little restless. Maybe slightly unfulfilled. And you weren't sure why.

Fuck it. You thought to yourself as you gazed out across the vast ocean towards the quickly sinking sun. Without giving yourself a chance to overthink and back out, you ran a few more feet, your toes kicking up droplets of water, just to the place where it started getting deeper, and dove in head first.

The frigid temperature of the water momentarily took your breath away, so much so that you thought you might pass out. But after the shock wore off and you resurfaced to take your first deep breath, you knew you'd made the right decision.

Flipping onto your back, you started to float out further into the water, the sound of gentle waves crashing on the shore settling you into a peaceful lull. The tide was coming in, which meant you didn't have to float far from shore to stay at a proper depth. You enjoyed the comfort of the shore, the sand a few feet from your back.

Closing your eyes, you leaned your head into the water, letting the coolness enclose your ears. All you could hear was the bobbing of the water beneath you, and the occasional rush of waves as the sun set. It was the calmest you'd felt since the trip began.

You were so calm in fact, that you didn't even notice the colossal wave bearing down upon you.

The dark water loomed from the deepest depths of the ocean, threatening to come crashing onto the shore, exactly where you laid, blissfully unaware, your eyes closed and mouth turned up in a small half-smile.

But when you heard the roaring of water from beneath, you knew something bad was about to happen. You'd been swimming in the ocean enough times to tell when something wasn't right, and if you hadn't nearly fallen asleep in the water at that moment, you'd have ran for the sand awhile ago.

But now you didn't have nearly enough time to escape, and you knew it.

Before you could even attempt to swim away from the wave, it was there. Enclosing around you like a shadow, you could barely flip onto your back when it crashed down on you with the force of a thousand boulders.

You were forced underneath the water so hard, it felt like your back had broken. Salt water filled your eyes, nose, and ears, but you couldn't reach the surface to spit it out. Without your sight, you kicked your legs and pushed with your arms as hard as you could, but it made no difference. Another wave washed over you, and because you were so close to the shore, it broke right above you, shoving you against the bottom of the ocean and tumbling you in a full circle. As you floundered through the sandy depths, yet another wave smashed your head into the sand.

You tried to scream, but got a mouthful of sea water and sand. Throat burning from the salt, you tried one more time to push to the surface, when the current started pulling you back out to sea, so your feet couldn't touch the ground anymore. Since you were short, you were used to treading water, especially in the ocean. But you hadn't come up for a breath in two whole minutes, and you weren't nearly as confident.

Am I going to die like this?

The thought lanced through your head like a hot knife, and your heart rate sped up tenfold. You couldn't drown, not with your friends mere yards away, unable to see or hear you. You loved the ocean, and the ocean had always loved you back. You'd always felt in control while you were in the ocean. You could go out as far as you pleased, and go back inside when you were tired.

But right now? You couldn't even control when you took your next breath.

You hated being out of control. Not just hated, feared. Were terrified of it.

And as yet another wave crashed down upon you, now tumbling you deeper into the depths of the ocean, you knew you had been right to be afraid.

You were going to die, all because you had lost control.

laska's note—
hi y'all! i know this chapter doesn't have our guys in it much, but i swear the next few chapters or so will have some really fun (slightly filler) stuff that i know you're going to love! what did you think of this chapter? i know laska is being so dramatic (besides her drowning in the ocean lol) but what's new? she really is hyunjin's sister through and through lol. i'm looking forward to the next chapters i hope you are too! it's gonna be a lot of fun ;)

question of the day—
do you watch anime? if so, what are some of your faves?

my answer—
yes, my faves as of right now are haikyuu, jjk, spy x family, and free! i'm finally watching bungo stray dogs and i'm liking it so far!

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟭𝟮 - 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲
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