You stumbled out to your kitchen still half-asleep that morning, mumbling a half-hearted 'good morning' to the staff members you passed on your way there. Your father was already at the breakfast bar, being served by the private chef also on staff. The chef started on another plate for you, and you groaned aloud as you stretched, cracking your back in at least eight different places.
"Good morning, my dear," your father took a sip of his coffee as his eyes never left the report he was reading on his laptop.
"Morning, Papa," you rested your head on your arms, already feeling your eyes closing again.
"You got any plans for today?"
"Nope, why?"
"I have a semi-formal meeting with Jaesung and some of his associates."
You let out a grunt of acknowledgement, eyes drifting shut completely.
"At the Jung estate."
Your eyes shot open again as you sat up straight, trying to conceal your excitement as you asked, "Oh, really?"
"Jaesung says Jaehyun might be home as well, if you'd like to accompany me. You seemed to be getting along well again at the party."
"Y-Yeah, sure. I'll come," you fought to keep your voice level as you agreed, nearly bursting at the seams with elation.
Your father nodded, finally glancing over at you from the computer screen, "We leave in thirty minutes, okay?"
Nodding, you eagerly dug into your breakfast, needing to get ready to leave as soon as possible.
After scarfing your food down, you had just made it back into your room when your phone buzzed with a message.
[jaehyun: bring a swimsuit]
☆
You'd just finished your formalities with Mr. and Mrs. Jung but had yet to see Jaehyun. You had a small bag at your feet carrying the promised swim suit that you picked up as you went to follow them further into the house. As your father and Mr. Jung broke off towards a hallway that you knew led to a small conference room, Mrs. Jung led you to the tea room, gesturing for you to sit across the little table from her.
"You really have grown up so beautiful, Y/N," she smiled at you as she poured you a cup of tea.
"Thank you, Mrs. Jung. The redecoration in here is amazing, it's changed so much since I was younger," you complimented her back, nodding for her to drop a couple sugar cubes into your tea.
"Oh, we got this done a few years ago. I forgot how long it's been," she had a wistful look on her face as she looked around the room. "How have you and your father been?"
"We've been well," you absentmindedly droned on about a few key things that have happened in the past ten years of your life, truly focused on the fact that Jaehyun was nowhere in sight.
Just as Mrs. Jung was recounting a story of her own youth—one that took place at a horseback riding camp—a familiar head poked into the room, one that made you grin. Jaehyun waited patiently for his mother to finish her story before fully entering the room, finally getting her attention, "Hi Mom, hi Y/N."
"Oh, Jaehyun!" His mother seems practically relieved that he's there, beckoning him over, "I have a few things to attend to for your birthday gala. Would you mind entertaining Y/N while she waits for her father?"
"Of course not," he replied cordially as his mother stands up.
"I'm sorry, Y/N. It was wonderful to see you again."
"It's not a problem, it was great to catch up with you as well, Mrs. Jung," you gave your farewell to her, trying not to come off as excited as you were for her to finally leave you with Jaehyun.
When the sounds of her footsteps had faded away, Jaehyun offered you a hand up with a grin, "Hi, little."
You felt yourself turn warm at the nickname that used to infuriate you when you were younger, responding with a quiet, "Hi, Jaehyun," as you placed your hand in his and stood up.
"Did you bring it?"
"Yep," you picked up your bag with your other hand as he started leading you down the halls.
☆
Swimming in the beginning of winter probably would've been bad. But the Jung's had an indoor pool, a new development since the last time you were there. You were sitting on the edge of the pool, dipping your feet into the medium-depth, still somewhat cool water as you watched Jaehyun with mild amusement. He was at the deep end, standing on the small platform a few feet above the water.
Earlier you had mentioned the flips the two of you used to do into their outdoor pool when you were younger, and he insistently claimed that he could still do them. Not like he was ever stellar at them, but there were a couple times where he actually stuck the landing.
He was right at the edge, readjusting the grip of his toes.
"Oh, come on!" You yelled out at him, snorting as he nearly lost his balance.
He managed to stay upright, glaring at you, "Shush!"
You mimicked zipping your mouth and throwing away the key as he readied himself again. He wound his arms before leaping off the platform. And practically faceplanting right onto the water with a sharp smack! that made you wince in sympathy.
As he came up for air, he let out a hiss, hand coming up to rub his chest. You were cackling as he swam towards you, seeing that his chest was already turning red from the force of it.
"You suck," you managed to say between laughs, earning an eyeroll from him.
"Like you could do any better."
"I'm not the one who claimed that I was good at them."
Jaehyun had reached you, able to stand in this depth, his shoulders and freshly pink skin just below them now much clearer to you as they were out of the water. You were still snickering as he stopped in front of you with a slight pout.
"You're mean."
"And?"
He reached his hands out towards you, palms facing you and fingers spread. You took the clue, lacing your own with his, the simple gesture making your stomach do flip-flops. His thumbs rubbed yours soothingly for a moment.
Right before he yanked you into the water with him.
Your screech of surprise was cut off as you went under, fully enveloped by the shockingly cool water for a moment. Coming up with murder in your eyes, you pounced on Jaehyun, determined to shove his head underwater in retaliation. He was unfortunately much stronger than when he was ten years ago, simply laughing at your feeble attempts.
Giving up on drowning him, you instead smacked his head as your payback before moving to get off of him. His hands settled on your hips as you did so, encouraging you to stay there, your legs wrapped around his waist and arms taking purchase around his neck. You looked down at him with an eyebrow raised, earning that same innocent and dimpled smile.
You brushed a few wet strands of hair back from his forehead as you continued admiring him. He leaned up, and you closed your eyes as you think he's going to kiss you. You were half-right, he so coyly kissed just the corner of your mouth.
"I hate you," you mumbled as he goes back to press another feather-light peck to the other corner.
"If this is you hating me," he squeezed your sides, making you giggle and squirm at the slightly ticklish feeling. "Then please, despise me."
And he finally kissed you again, pressing his lips to yours in a sweet and prolonged moment.
☆
You weren't sure how long you'd been like this for, neither of you speaking as you shared kisses of varying length and intensity. But you were sure that your fathers' meeting would be over soon, your forehead falling to rest in the crook of his neck in disappointment.
"What's up, little?" He questioned as he continued gently walking the two of you through the shallower end of the pool, the water still hiding most of your bodies from the stale and warm air of the indoor facility.
"Nothin'..." you covered up your sour mood with a gentle kiss on his bare skin that was right underneath your mouth.
"Y/N."
"Jae."
"What's up?"
You sighed, not wanting to admit your pitiful need to just be with him, unsure yourself of what this was or where this was going. Distracting from the topic, you brought up something that had been lingering in the back of your mind, "So... a birthday gala?"
When Jaehyun chuckled, you could feel it against you, and you brought your face back out in time to see the small smile that crossed his face, one that made your heart flutter.
"Yeah, my parents have thrown me a birthday gala every year since my eighteenth birthday," he explained. "My mom has started planning for it even earlier this year than normal."
"Two months isn't that early."
"You remember my birthday?"
"Yeah, Valentine's Boy," you pinched his nose in an attempt to get the awestruck look off his face.
It was still there as he nodded, and he leaned up to kiss you again, soft and quick. You were about to ask what that was for when you heard your phone go off from the pool deck. It was the text tone you'd set for your father and turned up extra loud so you could know exactly when he tried to get a hold of you.
Jaehyun let out a disappointed sigh from where he had already been moving in for another kiss, reluctantly letting you go for you to swim over to the side of the pool and pull yourself out. Drying off your hands, you turned your phone on to read the message.
[papa: meet me at the car in ten]
Right as you groaned in disappointment, a pair of arms came to wrap around your waist, a wet chest pressed against your back as Jaehyun rested his chin on your shoulder.
"Are you leaving soon?"
"Yeah, ten minutes."
He makes a noise of acknowledgement, making no move to let you go.
"Jae, that means I have to go change."
"You can change in five minutes, right?"
"I have to meet him at the car in ten minutes."
Jaehyun stepped back from you with a disappointed sigh, and you had a disgruntled look on your face as well, regretting that whole conversation. But you couldn't make your father wait.
☆
After you emerged from the room you were changing in, you kept toweling your hair off, knowing that there was no way you could avoid having wet hair when you went to your dad. But maybe he wouldn't notice your hair being damp.
Jaehyun had dried off as well and thrown a shirt back on, offering his hand out for you to take. You laced your fingers with his without hesitation, feeling a heavy reluctance to leave.
The two of you stopped some distance from the main wing of the house, and you hugged him tightly, "Bye, Jaehyun."
"Bye, little," he kissed your forehead, then your nose, then your lips. "I'll see you again soon, okay? We'll go out, just the two of us, nothing to do with our fathers."
"I'd like that."
