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Lia, refreshed from a long sleep, entered the living room utterly confused at what she'd just witnessed with her eyes. She rubbed them profusely to make sure she was definitely seeing what her eyes were showing. They were. Her head lying on Kyungsoo's chest, Ara was fast asleep. They both were; the chance of them awakening anytime soon quite slim. They must've slept later than the rest of the family.

Lia left the room and closed the door behind her. She wanted to wait until her younger sister woke up so she could interrogate what she just witnessed.

It wasn't till an hour later when Ara began stirring and opening her eyes. She yawned lazily before she began adjusting to her surroundings. Looking up, her eyes caught Kyungsoo's who was also awake. She gasped and sat up immediately.

"Good morning to you too," he stretched and sat up too, groaning because his arms were both numb.

"How come you didn't wake my fat ass up?"

Kyungsoo shrugged. "You were in a deep sleep...didn't want to wake you up."

But the truth was he was mesmerized. Mesmerized at the fact that he would ever be this intimate with Ara so quickly: how her chesnut colored hair shone in the morning sunlight peeking from the window blinds, the couple of freckles scattered near her left ear, how long her eyelashes were—

Clearly Kyungsoo was getting carried away by his thoughts.

"I'm going to use the bathroom," Ara announced before standing up and stretching. "There's some spare toothbrushes in the kitchen cabinet. The kitchen's across the hall to your left."

"Thanks."

She left the room to allow him to hyperventilate. Did that actually happen? He was meant to be professional...there's no way he should be this close to someone that has no intimate relationship with him. Ara and him were just friends. Just friends.

When Ara got out of the bathroom feeling awake from a quick shower, she bumped into her older sister. Lia gave her a once over, pulling her into their shared room. It looked exactly the same — the bunkbed at the edge of the room with their desk and Lia's numerous celebrity posters on the wall as the girl has not learnt to grow up from her obsessions.

"What the hell did I just see?" She began. Lia wasn't very good with keeping calm in situations like this, she didn't want anything bad to happen to her innocent younger sister and obviously thought the worst.

"I don't even know myself," Ara admitted in similar bewilderment. "I was crying last night a--and he comforted me. We fell asleep, but I didn't expect to literally be sleeping on him."

"Trust me, you're lucky Mom didn't see. She would cry, probably. Or slapped you. But don't blame me for being so shocked — you told me there was nothing between you!"

She shook her head defensively. "There isn't! I promise it wasn't anything we wanted to do. It just...happened."

"Okay," Lia sighed afterwards whilst leaving the room. "Just be careful next time, yeah?"

"There won't be a next time, trust me on that."

Lia let out a laugh and bounded down the stairs. "I kind of have to. You're my sister."

—

Later on during the day when both Ara's Mom and Lia had to take her Dad to the hospital for an appointment, Ara and Kyungsoo hung around the kitchen just chilling. It seemed his plan to leave in the morning faltered, him deciding it would be best to leave when Ara did. He enjoyed her family's presence and wanted to get away from all of Juhyun's issues back at Seoul.

"Do you want to do anything whilst my family are gone?" Ara questioned, twiddling with a fork mindlessly.

He nodded. "Yeah, can you give me a tour around the area? I've never been to Busan, actually, so this would be quite interesting for me."

"Yeah, sure."

She knew the neighborhood very well, it was all second nature to her. Growing up until she was the ripe age of eighteen, it gave her the ability to recall everything in the small area. Giving a tour was easy stuff.

They left the house and began the tour. Firstly, the large park across the street. It was practically Ara's childhood in several acres of land — where she first learnt to ride her bike, where her parents once lost her whilst she was playing hide and seek with Lia, and of course where her first crush Jongin first asked her out. Ugh.

"This is my childhood park," she started in a loud voice to amplify how special the place was to her heart. She was grinning unconsciously because of its value to her. "I practically lived here, let's say that. I even studied for my college entrance exams on that bench."

She pointed to a faraway bench, Kyungsoo chuckling at her excited demeanour. "That's cool. I never had a park near my house, probably because I lived where all the big skyscraper buildings were."

"You were rich?"

"No," he responded, scoffing. "There were small apartments there too. For my small family."

Ara was curious to how his family were. Did he have siblings? "You've never told me about your family."

"There was nothing to say, honestly. I lived with my parents and older brother. My parents still visit me often because they live a ten minutes drive away, but my brother? Lives in Japan with his Japanese wife."

"No way!" She gasped curiously. "When did he move?"

"Three years ago. He hasn't come back since because my parents didn't approve of her."

"That's so sad. How come they didn't approve of her?"

He exhaled whilst raising a brow. "She wasn't Korean."

That's when Ara was speechless for about a second. Then she frowned. "Why do our parents have to be so traditional?"

"Beats me. I guess we're the enlightened generation."

They finally left the park through the pathway and reached an institution. Brown bricked, guarded with black iron gates, it looked like a prison to Kyungsoo. But to Ara, that was where she found herself.

"That's my high school!" She squealed from beside him. "It looks daunting, but trust me! They painted the inside with all of these bright colors. Kind of reminds me of you."

Kyungsoo turned to her in feigned offence. "Excuse me?"

"It's nice, really. On the outside, you come off as cold and monotone, but as I got to know you, you're actually a big softie and kind."

In his head, Kyungsoo had the biggest smile. Her metaphor was very adorable, he had to admit, but he attempted to maintain the whole cold persona. "Is that so?"

"I hope you're no longer offended," she teased. "Let's go to the beach."

The beach was closeby, about a five minute walk from where they already were. It was suprisingly empty too, even if it was a weekend where not many people worked. The sea was gently lapping on the sand, high rise buildings behind the beach. It was contrasting; something so natural and beautiful surrounded by man–made creations.

Before Kyungsoo could even run to the sea to paddle, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Jongdae.

His background was quite loud. Kyungsoo swore he could hear Chanyeol and Baekhyun bickering in the background. "Kyungsoo! Where are you?"

"I'm in Busan, why?"

Jongdae was incredulous. "Busan? Why are you in Busan? Isn't that the other side of the country?"

"I'm visiting a friend's family," he replied with a roll of his eyes. He may have forgotten to bring this up to his friends.

"W--wait! Ara's family is from Busan!" Baekhyun shouted in the background. "I remember someone telling me! He's with Ara!"

The other guys with him (his idiotic friends) started hollering and screaming out Ara's name. Sehun was even giggling weirdly.

Kyungsoo didn't even realize that he was blushing deeply. "Shut the hell up, okay? I went to drop her off there and now I'm staying. It wasn't planned."

"You drove her all the way to Busan? Are you being freaking serious, Do Kyungsoo? It's not across Seoul or something, it's across the damn country!" Jongdae yelped with his already loud voice.

"I'm very much aware of that—"

"—this is all too much to handle," Chanyeol cried from beside Jongdae. "My heart!"

"You guys are such idiots, oh my God."

Jongdae laughed. "When are you back?"

"Tomorrow night? I'm not very sure, but definitely before Monday."

"Good, because we have work. You're missing tomorrow, but don't worry. I'll say you've been sick. But Juhyun's seriously wondering why you've disappeared. Oh, when she hears about this! She'll just about combust."

Rolling his eyes, Kyungsoo bit his lip. "I should be combusting too then. She's getting married!"

"True. Well, see you. We're doing shots right now and you're killing the vibe with the cuteness. Bye bye, Kyungsoo. We love you!"

"Hate you too, bye."

Ara already took her shoes off and was paddling in the sea with her jeans rolled up to her knees. She waddled towards Kyungsoo with wonder to who called him.

"Who called?"

"My lovely best friend who I've really been questioning our friendship."

Giggling, Ara already knew who he was talking about. "What did he want this time?"

"I seemed to have forgot the tiny information that I was across the country," Kyungsoo sarcastically mentioned. "Yeah, he was shocked that I drove you all the way here."

"I'm shocked too. What made you want to do such a big deed for me?"

He took off his shoes and socks also to walk into the biting cold yet refreshing water. "Simple. You deserve to see your family just as much as everyone else. It must be hard to not see them in a regular basis, so this is the least I could do for you. Especially when you've been so helpful to my daughter."

Ara was touched. Wait, touched was an understatement. "What I do for Kyungri isn't close to what you did for me. It's really kind of you, thank you so much."

"Don't mention it. I don't regret it one bit, your family's sweet. And your Mom's food is amazing."

"Yeah, she does have a knack for cooking," she said as she splashed some water around. Her Mom's cooking was delicious and Ara knew she would gain some weight while being here with them.

The seaweed was a little disgusting tredging on, it seemed for Kyungsoo. He cringed and shivered everytime the slimy strips went near his feet, cowering away to feel yet another batch of seaweed curl around his ankles.

"Ugh, if seaweed wasn't so tasty I think I would wish they didn't exist," he huffed after a while of fighting a battle that he would never win.

Ara grinned at his freaked out self. "You came to its' house, what do you expect?"

"Stop using logic on me. It makes me feel inferior."

"Basically making you feel what you already are?"

He suddenly mustered up the courage to pull out a long strand of green seaweed and threw it perfectly to land atop Ara's newly washed hair. She squealed, threw it back into the sea, and scowled at the proud person standing right in front of her.

"You did not just do that, Do Kyungsoo. Remember that this is my city that you're totally unfamiliar with and I can easily just leave you to your demise!"

"You'd never do that," he told her, knowing Ara would probably die in guilt. She was a just person, always doing what she believed was right.

"I know I wouldn't, but it's possible!"

An hour after arguing hopelessly, they left the sea with wrinkled feet from staying in the sea too long. It was dark now, the time probably almost eleven in the night. They couldn't believe it got so late quickly. For some reason, when they were with each other, time zoomed like the speed of light. A pity, really. They began their return back home through the neighborhood where houses were filled with people who had returned from work and school, and the local shops were beginning to close down. Unlike the forever vibrant and rich market situated right in the centre of Ara's area. The pair walked through it, feeling peckish when they smelled the market stall food. They hadn't eaten since the afternoon, and they could really do with some food.

"I'm feeling like American–style food," Ara said once she saw a stall selling the American delicacies. She really wanted a hot dog.

"Really? Same when I come to think about it."

Both edged towards the stall to a middle aged man who was awfully smiley for someone working through the wee hours of the night. They explained their orders and the man was onto it like quicksand. A couple minutes later and both Ara and Kyungsoo were holding onto warm, enticing food. The latter insisted on paying, giving the man cash before Ara could protest.

"Thank you, and I hope you two stay together forever," the man winked rather creepily. "I don't know about you, but I adore young love."

The pair were going to retort but realized they were too exhausted to. So they left the stall and made their way back home eating. Ara with her abnormally delicious hotdog and Kyungsoo's cheese fries.

"Do you want some?" He found himself asking after a few minutes of pure silence to eat up his fries. Ara then eyed up the small box and nodded.

"I love cheese fries!"

Picking up a fry smothered with stringy cheese using his wooden fork, Kyungsoo directly popped it into her open mouth with flourish. She bit into it, eyes widening and lips curling.

"It's lovely," she mumbled. "I can just taste the natural sea salt too, you know?"

Kyungsoo simply smiled at her response before changing the topic. "How are you? You know, dealing with your Dad's illness."

"I'm getting used to it. I didn't know that it had gotten so bad. Yesterday's never occured in the few years since my Dad got diagnosed. Never has he forgotten me. I guess it kinda just got to me that my own Dad forgot me."

When Ara was getting emotionally distressed from the remnants of last night, he put the fork into the box and gently linked his arm between Ara's. "Don't ever forget that your Dad does and will always love you. The disease may affect his present and future, but it will never affect his past."

Despite having their arms linked in a way that could be interpreted as a relationship by bystanders, Ara seriously did not give a damn. She felt safe, warm, cared for. Something she really needed after a rocky start with her family.

That night? The pair embarked in yet another deep and serious conversation through the night to early morning when the sun was prematurely peeking out of its hibernation, and birds chirped melodically. The upcoming wedding, future and even pasts came up frequently as they sat cross–legged in the living room where Kyungsoo was sleeping in for the weekend. And when both their eyelids began to sag in exhaustion and one too many yawns leaked through their mouths, they called it a night. Well, technically morning.

Ara didn't even regret it when she voluntarily perched herself next to Kyungsoo whilst he was beginning to fall asleep, snoozing in his arms for the second time that weekend.

—»

Hey, so this marks the end of Ara and Kyungsoo's weekend in Busan! It's very very cute how he supports her — are there any men like Kyungsoo in this world, please? Thank you thank you thank you for voting and commenting, please continue aha! Sending love to all of you x.