It was mid-morning of the following day, and the weather, while still pleasant, had cooled a little, and it was slightly overcast. Since in the past few days their group had indulged in a range of activities, from sightseeing to horseback riding to various sports, none of them felt inclined this morning to do more than relax on the spacious decks near the plaza of the main building.

Ji Hoo was reading aloud from a book of poetry, though it was hard to tell who was his intended audience; Jan Di and Jun Pyo, though nearby, seemed more interested in each other. Woo Bin and Yi Jung were chatting with the other girls, and, as Ga Eul watched them discreetly out of the corner of her eye, they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

She was the only one with really nothing to do, and it was at times like these, when they had no particular organized activity that she chafed at having to be in attendance. She was enjoying their impromptu visit to New Caledonia, she really was--it was like something out of a dream, really, all the things they were doing, and seeing, and eating for the first time--but at moments like this, when the others were paired off (with the exception of Ji Hoo, but he seemed to be in a different place than the rest of them, anyway), it was more than awkward.

For her, at least. She didn't think anyone else was feeling it.

Ga Eul sipped a little aimlessly from her tropical fruit drink, realized it was already empty only after she registered the sound of the straw sucking at air, and set it down with a small sigh. Auditorily, there was so much going on; the Korean poetry mingled with the English conversations interspersed with murmurs between Jan Di and Jun Pyo which, though not intended for her ears, were heard by them anyway; the unfamiliar birds and small insect sounds in the lush leafy canopy above their heads; and farther out, to the beach below, the ever-present rushing of the ocean.

That, at least she liked to listen to, she thought, rolling her eyes at something Yi Jung had just said to one of the women. She hadn't fully understood it, but the smoothness of his tone was irritating, as was the delighted giggle of the girl's in reply.

Honestly, how shallow do you have to be to hang on a man's every word like that?

Ga Eul frowned at her skirt, the edge of which she'd just noticed had a loose thread. She picked it off, and part of it unraveled. Well, at least she now had an excuse to go back to the cabins and change--though she didn't really want to sit alone in the cabins, either--she'd already spent a few hours doing that on this trip already.

Jun Pyo kept trying to catch Jan Di's hand, and she kept pulling away, whilst making a face at him. They were pretty adorable, Ga Eul had to admit, but it was kind of unbearable to sit there with everyone else so relaxed and comfortable, and she felt so out of place.

Her eyes met Yi Jung's as she glanced over in his direction and he happened to look at her at the same time. He gave her his cool smile but she felt, perhaps mistakenly, that there was something mocking in it. At once piqued, she edged out of her chair, and pausing by her friend, murmured her intentions to go for a walk.

"Are you OK?" Jan Di wanted to know, a little anxiously. "Do you want me to come?" It was clear, though, while her offer was genuine, she would rather stay where she was.

And so Ga Eul demurred, excusing herself to Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo as well; basic manners demanded that she at least give a head bob to the other members of F4 but they weren't looking at her at that moment anyway and she had no desire to go over there and actually announce her departure. She didn't want to make Woo Bin feel bad because she knew he would if he realized she was being left out--he was that kind of guy, who wanted to make everyone happy. And as for Yi Jung, well, she simply didn't want to look him in the eye any more than she had to right now.

It was one thing, after all, to sit there in silence and be ignored by everybody; it was another thing entirely to have someone openly acknowledge her isolation and...and dare to make fun of it. If that's what he'd been doing. She didn't know. She just hadn't been able to stay there any longer.

Ga Eul made her way down to the beach, intending to return to the cabin first to change clothes and then go for the walk; but she saw the paddleboat that she and ...er, that...that person that she was trying to forget about...had taken out earlier that week, and on a whim, she climbed into it again and determinedly set out in the water. The waves were gentle enough, though the sky was overcast. The repetitive motion of her legs soothed her rather ruffled spirit. She took a deep breath of salt-tinged air, at last feeling free of the little society that they had (she felt) so haphazardly formed here.

I won't go far...just to the point there, and then turn around...

Focusing on the not very distant coastal point out ahead of her, however, she didn't notice the rapidly gathering clouds to the south...