"And do you think I care?" a voice slipped through the locked door, attracting my full attention since there was no one else in the area.
It was still night and already deep as it was but there was a person nearby.
"I hope your game crashes." on second thought, maybe more than just one person.
"Come on, the game cannot be over till it is over." they replied.
"Are we breaking the rules then?" I overheard the other individual speak, seemingly getting back down beside the other.
The sound of suppressed laughs went on later, perhaps they decided to play a little more although, we were told to rest up.
'Breaking the rules, huh?' since it is summer, and we're on break...
"It wouldn't hurt to have some fun."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wake up, night owlers!!" Sora's voice clashed with me banging on some metal pans from inside the kitchen, we clearly have plans on our list to make this summer fun.
But here we are...
"What is taking you people so long to get up?" my slightly older friend asked with her mouth cupped with her hands, trying to make her voice louder.
"Of course, you just had to have a restless night. AGAIN!"
I heard her shout at them after hearing an excuse, however, I, on the other hand, was occupied preparing breakfast with Sihyeon-noona...
"This is a revolution!" yelled Sora from the other room while running across the corridors.
"Will you please let me read a book in peace??"
My breakfast partner, Sihyeon, replied with rage in her voice as she slammed a book entitled 'The Snow Introduction'.
"I am trying to give everyone the best break they can ever have."
Sora stopped in front of the kitchen counter with a yellow star-shaped pillow getting dragged around, her sleeves were also dangling since her nightgown was oversized.
--Lee Haesu's Point of View--
'Given the fact that things aren't going too well, I would love to make things feel more like hell.' I wrote in my journal as the others were getting ready for our trip to the woods.
Not having that much time left since it took us a while to get everyone in this cabin to prepare themselves enough before going out into the wilderness.
'Apparently, none of us are willing to stay indoors today... They're already tired of the sea.' but then again, it is cold weather we have around here.
So, going in the water is definitely not the best idea that a person can think of...
"Sea water, what is going on with you these days?" my older friend questioned me with a seriously concerned tone in his voice.
It sounded a lot deeper than usual but who am I to judge how people talk?
"What makes you say that?" I replied while putting on some lip gloss before tying my hair up, realizing that I did not have a scrunchie in hand.
"Do you have a-" he didn't even let me finish asking.
"I know you well enough to know that you would never bring your own hair tie around..." he commented, or more like criticized me.
"You call that a hair tie? Women call it a scrunchie!" I argued with him, stating what he clearly doesn't know.
"Whatever you call it, Sea water, it still ties up your hair."
He stormed off in a not-so-childish way. "Of course, that is what's important."
Sungyeon-Oppa made me think for quite a moment, picking up the pace as soon as someone yelled my name, summoning everyone outside using a megaphone.
"Let's move out as quickly as the sand falls from the top of this glass hour!!"
Yua placed her arm around her older friends. I leaned on the window frame, unlocking the aperture to hear them wait for the remainder of us.
'Not giving a damn about their time~' they both wasted my time earlier this year when my sister, Honey Lou, had only arrived from New York.
'With that in mind, I wonder how things would have been if we weren't reunited...' honestly, I don't even remember why we even started off on the wrong foot.
"Oh, right." I whispered to myself in the most gloomy way I could, reminiscing those times when we were still younger.
Too innocent and clueless.
Too manipulated and groomed by our family, including their relatives.
"I hated that feeling." the fact that as the first daughter in our family.
Even in such an early phase in life, they wasted no time, of course...
Putting all the burden on my shoulders so that they can enjoy their life when we're older...
"I may not be logical at times, however, that is clearly not the actual concept of building a family." a family is supposed to be your supporting scaffold in life, and yet!
Here we are now...
'So, I decided to protect myself and avoid getting stuck in a path that I don't want.'
They told us to focus on our education, extracurriculars, and creating an image for ourselves that our family helped us attain over time but when I met my aunt Eun...
'The woman that I recognize and acknowledge to be my mother.'
Things changed as soon as I reached the age of 6, on the other hand, Honey was only 3 years old during that time...
'At first, I was fine with all the things they did to me since I am all the more aware of their efforts, sacrifice, and role that they were told to do as grown-ups.'
That is until my sister was given to us.
"And by given... I mean, come around."
To put it simply, she was born into this cruel world.
"Sea water!" Sungyeon-Oppa whistled before calling me by my nickname, interrupting my train of thought as I went down memory lane to recall the very reason Honey and I developed this love-hate relationship...
'But that can wait, there is plenty of time, after all.'
"I'm coming down now, don't rush me!" I answered them all with a stern voice, bossing around other people as usual.
'It has become an unavoidable way of communicating.'
I think I can change, I just don't want to do it since I would not be where I am if it weren't for my unpleasant attitude, what a shame though.
'I can't help but imagine myself acting all nice and sweet like my sister...'
Come to think of it, I just realized something!
--Kim Young's Point of View--
"What took you so long?" my friend, Sungyeon-hyung was followed by Haesu, wrapping his hand around her in the friendliest vibe to avoid making his feelings obvious.
'I know about his feelings, yes.' we aren't really good at hiding our feelings, especially when it comes to love...
"Except for those who are not so expressive in their affections."
Well, in this case... 'I can have all the more chance to gather my courage and end our relationship since she grew a lot.'
I don't see the need to stick around with her any longer because soon I will be transferring to a different school for my last year of being in my senior year.
'Just like Jay and Sungyeon... We're also seniors, soon-to-be 12th graders.'
We only have a little bit of time left to resolve things before it is too late.
"I am still hoping that everything turns great." Sihyeon's words still linger around so if we're lucky, things end up on a good note between each and every one of us.
"Look at that! It is such a beauty."
Jihyun invited the rest of us to go up the valley, exploring the wilderness.
"Don't go there, Jihyun... That's where we bury our diseased family members." he pulled her in a different direction right before she led the others to a horrid place.
"Oh, I didn't notice those tombstones. Let's go there instead!" she pointed to a forest deep within the island as we went up the valley, seeing a huge view of the entire wilderness.
It was just us teenagers and young adolescents in a place like this.
"I wonder what kind of surprises are waiting for us."
Sihyeon commented, smirking briefly while passing by.
"Does she know that something is bound to happen again?" the rest of us shrugged the thought off, feeling already creeped out by the silence that fell in the air.
There were many of us together in the same place, however, things were not as fun as it seemed and so, we all decided to play a game before the sun settled.
"If it hadn't been for you, we would be enjoying this adventure!"
The students from Hyunjoo's school ganged up on Haesu, simply placing her hands in her pocket to fight the cold air.
"I am not at fault here because you people clearly took more time preparing yourselves than I did." she calmly replied.
Taunting them while our friends blocked the offenders from laying a hand on her.
"Why don't we just play a game?" Ji Eun suggested, letting go of my hand before anyone else noticed that we had been hanging so close to each other.
"What game do you have in mind?"
Shin Haru lasciviously smiled at my lover, making my blood boil in an instant. "Aha!" Min Oh stood from his spot, holding onto a noisy cricket that he captured alongside Sookyung.
"It has been taken captive, over!" our younger friend, Sora joined the both of them, completely ignoring the discussion we are seriously having at the moment.
"Will you three please focus?" Jay-Hyung tilted his head while putting his hands on his hips, everyone is really not having a blast right now.
"Why don't we play a game of tag? And the winning team chooses one of the losing teams to do everything they ask for a day. No refusals."
Ji Eun crossed her arms over her chest.
'I think she plans on getting revenge on him for drugging her the other night.'
They were practically holding a staring contest based on how long they have been eyeing one another now.
"Do we even have a flashlight, lantern, or anything that can help them see in the dark? Because this might take us till late at night to finish playing." Honey Lou checked.