one summer | winrina

➥ three

Minjeong bumped her head against the cool glass of the car.

Jimin's voice filled the silence separating the four people in the car. She talked about everything from the house, to the tourists, to her friends. Minjeong was only half listening, drowning in the awkwardness. She made the occasional "oh, yes" or "interesting" comment, which seemed to keep Jimin satisfied that she was paying attention.

"You'll love the house. We have a pool, because summer you know, and we have a game room upstairs also. I'm really good at shuffleboard, just saying, even though not a lot of people play shuffleboard. I can teach you. Dad's good at it too, but he's never got time to play so I usually just play against myself but that's not really entertaining," Jimin finished, gesturing with her hands to illustrate her playing shuffleboard. "I'm sure you're a quick learner. They say you like to study. Is that right?"

Minjeong turned to her in surprise. The girl's beautiful, dark feline eyes were fixed on her, questioning. "Really? Who told you that?"

"Your mom," the girl answered, and Minjeong frowned for a moment. She didn't have Jimin pegged as the immature type, but then Jimin laughed, filling the space with her giggle. "No, I mean your mother actually told me that."

"Ah. Of course she did." Minjeong chuckled awkwardly, but she was saved from Jimin's reply when Haesun announced, "We're here!"

Jimin was right, Minjeong thought to herself. The house really is great.

The house was large and white, with huge glass windows and a winding staircase in the front leading to a wooden balcony and second floor Minjeong could barely see over. The whole thing stood in front of a large pool and patio, complete with umbrellas and a backyard bar. "Wow, it's amazing. Do you guys go here every summer?"

Jimin nodded enthusiastically as she climbed out of the car and helped Minjeong with her bags. "Yeah. It's like a second home to me. I'll show you where you're staying," and then, "Ning!"

Minjeong turned, confused, and saw a girl in bike shorts and an oversized white T-shirt running towards them. Her long brown hair blew out behind her in a loose braid as she yelled, "Rina! It's so good to see you! You're finally back for the summer!"

I guess all of Jimin's friends are as excitable as she is, Minjeong mused as she watched Jimin and Ning hug each other tightly.

"This is Ning Yizhuo," Jimin told her as Ning smiled at Minjeong in a friendly way. "She's a really good friend of mine who lives in the area. We always see each other each summer, and she's-"

"-a little bit of an idiot," a new voice interjected, and a taller red-haired girl strolled into the conversation, wearing cargo shorts and a white tank top. "Ningning-ah, next time you're going to jump on Jimin like that, wear some real pants."

"Aeri!" Ning yelped, shoving the other girl away. "I am wearing pants! Aish! See?" She lifted her shirt to reveal her shorts, but Aeri shook her head and the two began to squabble. Minjeong looked at Jimin for help as Jimin's parents finished unloading the suitcases.

"They do that a lot," Jimin informed her with a laugh. "Come on, you two. Let's go inside and I'll show Minjeong where she's staying."

❃

Minjeong's room turned out to be a spacious, airy room right across from Jimin's. Jimin helped her unpack, placing her clothes in a drawer and making the bed in the corner of the room. Minjeong put her things on the desk in the other corner and followed Jimin, freshly changed out of her plane clothes into a T-shirt and cutoffs, into the other girl's room.

Jimin's room was the same size as Minjeong's, just much better decorated. It had posters of musicians and different foods on one wall, and a corkboard full of photographs hung over her cluttered desk. Her bed had a colorful spread on it, and the rug was fuzzy and comfortable. Ning and Aeri were flopped on the bed, on their phones, but they perked up when Jimin and Minjeong walked in.

"Minjeong, right?" Ning questioned. Minjeong nodded. "Where are you from?"

"Yangsan in Korea. Pretty far from here. You know it?"

Ningning shook her head no. "I'm from China. Moved here when I was seven. So I never really got the chance to go out much." She gave Minjeong a lopsided grin, and Minjeong could feel herself liking the girl's sweet energy. "How do you know Jimin?"

"Oh, well," Minjeong mumbled, looking at the pretty girl, who was staring at her curiously. She felt her heartbeat speed up a little and continued, "Our parents are friends with each other. We've only met a couple times, but that was only when we were both really small."

Ning nodded thoughtfully, then Aeri cut in. "How long will you be staying?"

"Two weeks and a half, I think."

Aeri nodded also, then said to Jimin, "Should we invite Jaehyun and Jeno? Jaemin also if he likes."

Jimin grinned brightly, nodding her head up and down. Minjeong noticed this caused her long black hair to slop over her shoulders in a sloppy, cute way. "Yes, yes! Can you text them? I haven't texted Jeno- uh, I mean the boys in a while."

Minjeong sighed to herself.

Of course the pretty girl she's living next to was straight with a crush in this neighborhood. Minjeong could only pray he wasn't one of the rumored stuck-up rich boys living in this city and was humanly decent.

Hopefully.

❃

Jeno turned out to be a boy their age with dark, choppy bangs and a sweet smile. He grinned brightly upon seeing Jimin for the first time, and thrust his hands deep in the pockets of his Bermuda shorts. "Rina! I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" She walked up to him, also smiling, and they went through a moment of awkwardness before they hugged.

Minjeong did a weird half-bow to the other boys, but one walked over to her and made conversation as Ning and Aeri pounced on the other one. "Hi, what's your name?"

"I'm Minjeong," she answered, looking up at the handsome dark-haired boy standing before her. "Who are you?"

"Jaehyun. Jeong Jaehyun," he replied, shrugging in reply. "You from Korea?"

She nodded, and the two of them walked to join the rest of the group.

"So we've all met!" Jimin said brightly, and Minjeong felt her eyes wander briefly to Minjeong before she spoke to the rest of the group.

It was nice she was trying to include Minjeong, but the awkwardness was starting to get to her. She smiled and stood a little off to the side. Jimin and her friends were all nice, but right now, all she wanted was to be back home in her apartment in Yangsan, alone.