Jan Di, her forehead knitted into a frown, came up to the terrace where F4 was gathered about to begin lunch.
"What is it?" Jun Pyo wanted to know, his half-amused, slightly indulgent tone suggesting it was not an infrequent occurrence to see his would-be girlfriend with such an expression on her face.
"Ga Eul said she was going for a walk, but she's not back yet. And then I saw the paddle boat was gone."
"It's going to rain," Jun Pyo said dubiously, while the other members of F4 looked slightly concerned, with the exception of Yi Jung who was just looking thoughtful, as if he hadn't quite registered Jan Di's words. "She wouldn't have taken the boat out, would she?"
"I think she did. I walked down the beach but couldn't see any trace of her."
"It is raining," Ji Hoo remarked. Sure enough, the lightest of misty rains was beginning to fall. While there was no evidence beyond the gray sky that the weather was going to turn much worse, it was certainly not ideal conditions for being on the water. For a moment Jan Di and Jun Pyo just looked at each other, then Woo Bin rose, putting in, "I'll go look for her. I can take one of the jet skis--"
"No."
The interruption by Yi Jung came as a surprise to all gathered, mainly because of the abrupt manner in which it was delivered. He rose, putting a hand on Woo Bin's forearm. "I will go."
His friends shared a look amongst themselves. Jan Di looked slightly baffled, and as if she might question his offer, but after sharing a quick glance with Jun Pyo she inclined her head in Yi Jung's direction as if to accept his will in the matter.
Woo Bin said, "Okayyy," deliberately in English in an attempt to lighten the inexplicably tense mood, and sat back down, with a little smile.
"Strange," was Ji Hoo's mild comment, when Yi Jung had gone and was out of hearing distance.
"What is?" Jan Di asked, still looking with concern after the departed F4 member.
"He's angry."
"Why should he be angry?"
"Who knows?" Ji Hoo replied cryptically.
Jun Pyo and Woo Bin exchanged glances.
"Well, I certainly don't," Jan Di said with some impatience. "I don't know Yi Jung sunbae very well, and it's not as if I asked him to go, so why--"
"Ah, it's nothing, he probably just didn't want lunch to be late," Jun Pyo interrupted.
Jan Di glared at him, seeing this for the distraction that it was.
***
The waves were not yet at the point where they could be called rough, but they still called for careful maneuvering of the jetski across the ever-changing surface of the water. There was no sight of the paddleboat anywhere in the distance off to the east, so he had turned the craft in the opposite direction, hoping that Ga Eul would be somewhere just beyond the point. He only thought that far and no further. Of course she had to be there, it wasn't even raining that hard and she hadn't been gone that long, and unlike Jun Pyo she knew how to swim--didn't she? He could recall having seen her splashing about near the beach earlier that week but didn't know how that related to her ability to survive in deeper waters.
Though it was unlikely that she had fallen out, how much of a country idiot would you have to be to fall out of a paddleboat of all things? Still...she had been foolish enough to just wander off, like a child, so who knew.
This is why I dislike innocent girls...they are nothing but trouble.
It didn't take long to reach the point, and, swinging the jetski around in a wide half-circle to avoid the rocks straggling outwards from the shore, Yi Jung saw what he was looking for--the paddleboat.
But not its occupant.
The craft itself was bumping gently against the pebbles that lined the shore here, continuously pushed inward by the waves. Yi Jung tried to ignore the fact that his heart had suddenly began to pound, as if given a shot of adrenalin. He let the jetski slow itself down as he approached the boat. The rain misted lightly around his shoulders, not even hard enough to be threatening, just enough to be taunting.
He shouted her name in fierce irritation, and was rewarded a few seconds later by a flash of movement beyond the trees. Ga Eul came, frowning, out of the bushes, looking both puzzled and self-conscious.
Yi Jung let out a breath, willed his heart to return to normal, and glared at her, but it took a few moments before he could summon up the discipline to address her in a normal tone of voice. "What are you doing out here?"
"I...I wanted to be alone," she said, with a touch of defiance.
"In a rainstorm?"
"It's not raining that hard," Ga Eul argued, wrapping her arms around her body.
"Why didn't you come back sooner?"
"I tried, but...the waves kept pushing me back in here and I was getting tired, so I left the boat and I thought I would just walk back. It's not that far..."
He followed her glance to the massed trees and overgrowth, then looked at her bare legs and sandals and tried to imagine her fighting her way through the bushes back to the beach. Still, she probably would have rather done that than admit she'd been stupid. Yi Jung drew a hand across his forehead, damp with rain and salt-spray. For a moment he was at a loss for words.
"Why didn't someone else come?" Ga Eul said, still standing there as if she hadn't actually made the decision to let him take her back.
Because I didn't give them a choice. "You know, among well-educated people it's considered ill-mannered to complain when someone rescues you."
"I'm not complaining," she said, her cheeks tinting. "And I didn't need rescuing from anyone, I don't care how well-educated they are."
"Miss Ga Eul," he said, as coolly as he could. "Are you coming with me or not?"