01 ~ surface~~*~~
For you, time seemed to stop whenever you looked towards the sky from under the sea. The mesmerizing rays of sunshine would dance gracefully through the water, illuminating the seabed with many different shapes.
You would let the current nudge you around as you held your breath - trying to stay underwater for as long as your lungs allowed.
Something felt different this time. The water seemed bizarre. It was restless, almost violent.
Worried, you reached for the surface. The sudden anxiety did not help contain the oxygen in your lungs. Breathing in a hurtful breath of water, you choked.
"Are you awake? Can you hear me?"
It hurt when you coughed out seawater, but the rush of fresh night air made up for it.
Night air.
Opening your eyes, you found yourself looking at the dark sky. Millions of tiny twinkling lights decorated it. The beautiful full moon dipped at the edge of the horizon. Yet you weren't paying much attention to it all - because the man holding your shoulders blocked half your view.
"Are you feeling better?"
His voice sounded very familiar. Instead of pondering about that fact, you concluded that it was probably because you were comforted. Comforted because you were not lost to the deep sea, but still very much alive, in the hands of a good-looking man.
Good-looking? Understatement.
As his brows furrowed in worry - waiting for an answer - your gaze wandered across his face. His eyebrows were not quite the beautiful arch - but still neatly shaped, sitting above his alluring brown eyes. His nose was not the type of tall ones you swooned over, but it still looked very handsome. When your gaze finally fell on his lips, you were almost sure you knew who this person was. Just almost.
You were never too sure of the things you saw out at sea anymore.
It was when he started chuckling that you stopped visually exploring his face. As if only realizing what you had done, you moved to keep your blush hidden in the messy tangles of your drenched hair.
"Are you alright?" He rephrased, trying not to chuckle further over the fact that you were gawking at your rescuer.
Rescuer.
"What happened?" You asked, taking a look around. It dawned upon you that you were at the beach again. Perhaps it was another sleepwalking nightmare. It had been awhile. You could not decide if you were more annoyed or scared.
"Maybe you could tell me instead - but before that, are you alright?" Instead of waiting for an answer this time, he took of his jacket and wrapped it around your shivering form. Surprised by his unexpected gesture, you thank him and assured him you were quite alright. "All thanks to you." Breathing a small sigh of relief, you smiled at him in appreciation.
"Were you awake?" He asked, moving to sit next to you. Your raised an eyebrow at his action, words failing you for a moment. Usually, when you woke up at the beach - your aunt would frantically bring you home and insist that you get a hot shower. Usually, you thought - normal humans would send whoever they find sleeping at the beach home immediately. Not sit beside them and wait for an explanation. Did this man have no where to go?
"Oh me? I don't have a curfew. I'll get back to the hotel in a bit. Do you have a curfew?" Realizing that you had asked out loud, you apologized. "No, I don't. But are you alright sitting here without a jacket?"
"I'm more worried about you sitting here all drenched - even if you have a jacket." He grinned. "But, I am curious. So I hope at least, you could tell me what's going on before I send you home, if that's alright."
Never had you met someone so intrigued and intriguing.
"I, uhm, I was sleepwalking. I think?" What else could you have said? That was all you knew about your abnormal midnight habit.
"Really? Is that all there is to it?" A look of disappointment settled on his face, but went as quickly as it came.
"Well... I never bothered to know it as anything else. Why do you ask? What happened? Didn't you find me sleeping here?"
He raised an eyebrow at your questions, replying with his own. "Is that what you think you did? Sleepwalking here... to lie by the waves?"
"Why do you look so furious? Did I offend while I was unconscious?" This conversation, this situation, this
man - was making you uneasy.
"Did you offend me?" He looked as if he was going to go crazy. You shifted away, just a little - hoping he did not notice.
"Here I am, on my vacation - at long last - and I thought to myself, it would be great to take a relaxing walk on the beach, since the sky is clear and the moon is full. As I was walking, this dog comes up to me, barking - and nudges me, drags me over to this side of the beach, and I see you almost submerged under the sea! I thought you were committing suicide! You know you sleepwalk, don't you? Did you not know you did not just stop by the edge of the water? It was like the sea was calling out to you! You were walking into it, deeper and deeper -" He paused, after his chain of loud words and whispered embarrassedly. "I was scared."
"Scared?" As much as you were disturbed by what he just told you, you couldn't help but want to ask about him as well.
"Scared that I'll have to see someone take their own life on the very first night of my vacation. Scared that I'd have dive into the sea to save her. I don't quite like swimming in the sea at night."
"Phobia?"
"Yeah." He turned to smile at you. "Something like that."
The both of you sat in silence, staring out into the horizon. Thoughts of why your aunt never told you that you sleepwalked to dangerously played in your head. Or maybe this was the first time. But why today? Why now? Oh, and the dog -
"By the way, I'm Seung Ho." The man turned to you suddenly, a perfect smile on his face.
Introducing yourself, you thanked him. "The dog you mentioned, was it a large brown dog?"
He nodded. "Yours?"
"Yeah. Leo."
"Leo." He repeated, nodding.
"Where did he go?"
"I'm not sure. I wasn't paying attention to anything else while I dragged you out." You thought his tone softened when he said those words, but then again - it might have just been you expecting too much from this meeting with a handsome stranger you thought you knew.
"Why did you even bother? I thought you were afraid. No offense, I'm just curious." You stuck your tongue out at him, earning yourself a warm chuckle from him.
Seung Ho pointed at himself and asked in exaggerated disbelief. "You expect me to leave a drowning girl?" Laughing at his ability to be a drama king despite earlier events, you assured him it was only out of curiosity. "I don't know, maybe you thought I was a sea-fairy, and I would grant you a wish if you pulled me out." You suggested.
Laughing, Seung Ho said perhaps it was so.
"If so, what is your wish?" You absently drew in the sand and turned to look at him. Seung Ho took his time, and you once again found your gaze traveling across his side profile. His lashes, his eyes that seemed lost in thought, his nose, then his sinfully seductive lips.
"Are you staring at me again?" He grinned. Lowering your head in embarrassment that he caught you in the act
again, you lied that it was because he looked familiar. "Maybe you've seen me on TV?" He suggested.
"I know. I'm an A+." You confessed, trying not to look at him. You could already foresee that he would ask you why you did not mention earlier, or something along the lines of that.
"Yet you pretended not to know me. Or were you too shocked from your midnight bath in the sea?"
"That - the shock, and I guess, I wasn't really sure it was you till you introduced yourself. For all I know, there might be someone else who looks just like you from around here!"
"Is that why you said I look familiar?"
"Ye- I mean, why do you keep asking weird questions?" You demanded, wrapping his jacket tighter around yourself. "You make me want to ask those questions." He grabbed your chin without warning, making you look at him. "Let's play a game."
"A game?" Knowing who he really was made you less wary around him, and instead of fidgeting - you let him hold your chin.
"Truth or Dare." He breathed onto your lips. Since when was his face so close to yours?
"Alright. But I go first."
"Sure." His voice was barely above a whisper. When you looked into his eyes, you saw a fiery, desperate, insatiable need for something.
"Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." His breath on your lips made it hard to think. Instead of feeling disappointed that he didn't choose dare, you could not wait to ask him your question. Never mind not being able to get an autograph from a dare, never mind not being able to get your photo taken with him.
"What is the real reason you saved me?" It seemed like the only thing that mattered to you, for a reason you did not know.
His eyes seemed to flicker upon hearing your question, a grin crept across his face. "Well, since you did ask - it's because you look like someone I've met before, but lost contact with."
"Who?" His face seemed to be getting closer, and you found it harder to breathe.
"Only one question a time, dear." You felt heat rising to your cheeks when the last word rolled off his tongue. "Now, my turn - Truth or Dare?"
Mentally weighing the pros and cons of each option, you came to a conclusion that a Dare seemed less disadvantageous in this situation.
As if you said a -
his magic word, Seung Ho's face lit up with glee. "Come on then."
"Where to?"
Not answering, he pulled you up and led you towards the sea, into the waves that lapped at your feet. "I thought you didn't like swimming in the sea at night! And your jacket is going to be drenched with sea water!" You half-shouted at him, wondering why he pulled you out of the sea only to drag you back in.
Pushing you down so that you were sitting with half your body submerged in the water, he bent over you - a sudden look of uncertainty in his eyes. "Do I have the right to ask what's going on?" You tried.
Shaking his head, Seung Ho reminded you that you chose a Dare, and it wasn't even your turn. "But don't I get to know what the Dare is?"
"Oh, excuse my forgetfulness. Of course you do."
Holding your chin and tilting your face upwards, he asked urgently. "I dare you to let me kiss you - here, now."
"Dare accepted." You whispered, wondering if he really meant it.
In a spilt second, Seung Ho's lips were pressed demandingly on yours. You felt his hand at the back of your neck, pushing you closer towards him - as if you could.
A million thoughts raced through your mind.
The fact that you were kissing Seung Ho.
The softness of his lips.
The desperation of the kiss.
Why was it that he came here for his vacation, of all places?
What did he mean by someone he met before?
A particular thought that you tried pushing into the depths of you mind but kept resurfacing disturbed you:
Why did this situation, this kiss, his lips - all seem so familiar?
