Stars

Just my luck, I had rolled over in my sleep. I opened my eyes to see Leo staring at me. But I tried to keep calm and cool. “Good morning.” I said quietly. I was suddenly scared that my morning breath was not best. I don’t usually check my morning breath because, well, I don’t wake up next to a babe every morning. “Good morning.” Leo smiled. I quickly got out of bed to brush my teeth and wash my face. When I come back out I see Leo walking around with no shirt on and I feel my face get hot. “Breakfast is at 7:00.” He said. “We should probably get ready.” I check the time; 6:39am. “Um…OK, alright.” I said as I tried to avert my eyes from his beautiful arms and defined abs. I think Leo was able to see how nervous and distracted I was because he asked what was wrong and walked over to me. I tried to get away, but he trapped me. My back was against the wall and his hands were by my ears pressing against the wall. His bare chest made my head spin and his bed hair made my heart melt.
“What’s the matter? Your face is all red.” He smirked lightly.
Damn you Leo. He knows what’s making me like this; he just chooses to tease me.
“Nothing.” I stuttered.
He leaned close to me and angles his face. His sharp jawline made me insane.
Leo’s phone started ringing and I felt relief, but he didn’t move away. He stayed in place for a moment before dropping his arms and sighing deeply. He walked over to his phone which was on the bed and answered the call. I held my hand on my chest and felt my heart race. That was so embarrassing. The mood shifted quickly as Leo angrily hung up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “My manager is telling me to come back when I clearly told him I was busy for the weekend. I understand he wants to get ready for the world tour, but I told him I wasn’t available this weekend.” He said. He checked the time on his phone. “We’d better leave for breakfast soon.”

It was a lovely day on Sunday, but it was also our last day. Saturday afternoon went by so fast. This mini cruise should have boarded on Friday night, so we have two days and one night instead of one and a half days and one night. Leo told me to change into my swimsuit so we could go to the on deck pool. I came out in a black one piece swimsuit, I saw Leo raise his eyebrow and it made me feel insecure. The reason I don’t wear two piece is because I feel exposed and feel as if everyone is watching and judging me. We walked out onto the deck and acquire folding beach chairs. We set them out on the side of the pool and sat there. I quickly rubbed sunscreen onto my arms, legs and face because I couldn’t wait to go on the big water slide. “Let me rub sunscreen onto your back.” Leo said. A chill ran up my spine. “It’s OK, I’ve already done it.” I sprung up and headed for the water slide while Leo took out his book and read. I became acquainted with other girls my age while riding the slide. Three girls; Minhee, Sujung and Gayun but she’d rather be called Vanessa because “I don’t like my Korean name.” she said. Vanessa was a beautiful half cast, half Korean half Australian. All the girls were pretty, cute and beautiful. That Korean beauty gene. They all spoke English because they learnt it in school, some more fluent than others. I was happy that they put in the effort of trying to break the communication barrier. “Would you like the play volleyball with us?” Vanessa smiled. “Sure.” I said. I expected it to be indoor volleyball like the booklet said but they set up a net inside the pool. The pool was very big so our game didn’t disturb many people. The girls waved over to their other friends and they all joined in our game of volleyball. Vanessa introduced me to all of them. She pointed to the first girl, “Melinda, this is Hyorin,” she pointed to the next boy, “this is Seungpyo,” she pointed to the next boy, “this is Hyun” and she pointed to the last boy, “and this is my brother Yijung.” He smiled charmingly at me and it made butterflies in my stomach. “Everyone, this is Melinda. She’s not very good at Hangul so try to communicate through English.” Vanessa laughed lightly. They were all around the same age as me, and it felt good to be myself and not try to impress and act mature around people older than me. I spend a lot of time around Leo, Jeesun and VIXX and sometime I forget that I’m only a teenager. “Let’s start our volley ball game.” Yijung smiled. Yijung and Vanessa decided to be team captains because they were siblings. They played rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to choose their team mate first. Vanessa picked Minhee. I suddenly felt something inside my heart, like I didn’t belong. Was I going to be the kid who was chosen last because no one wanted them? “Melinda.” I heard someone say. I snap back to reality to see Yijung waving over to me. “Melinda come on, you’re on my team.” He smiled. I felt relief and my heart jumped. Yijung chose me first. The teams were all settled; Vanessa, Minhee, Hyorin and Seungpyo verses Yijung, Me, Sejung and Hyun.

We were winning big time. We lost count of the scores because half the time we were all mucking around. Yijung was some sort of volleyball master or something, he would hit the ball with such grace, make it look as easy as breathing and get it over the net. It was amazing. Plus we were playing in water, moving around when the water is up to your waist is very hard. By the end of it, we were all very tired. Baking in the sun and doing water sports. We all decided to take a break and then go play some pool (billiards). I made my way back to Leo, but saw two women sitting next to him. By the looks of it, they were all over him. I decided to ignore the two women and just dried myself off with a towel. “Melinda how was the waterslide?” Leo asked. “It was good.” I said, not making eye contact with him. “And the volleyball? I saw you, you were great.” I could hear a smile in his voice. But I could also hear the two young women giggling and whispering to each other. “My friends and I are going to go inside to play pool for a bit.” I saw as I set the towel down. “You can stay here.” I said. He nodded and continued reading his book. This is a cruise where people can relax, he can have fun with those two ladies until we get back. I guess he deserves a break. I walk over to Vanessa and ask her when and where to meet. “A couple of the others have already gone back to their rooms to change. Just meet at the pool room after you have changed or showered or whatever you intend to do.” She smiled brightly. Vanessa had a nice aura around her that I grew attached to quickly. Its hard to realize that I wont be seeing her after today.

I took a quick shower, changed and went to the pool room to see Yijung, Hyun and Seungpyo standing around one of the pool tables laughing. “Ah, it’s Melinda!” Yijung said happily. “Now we can play doubles.”
“I’ve never played pool before.” I squeaked.
“That’s OK, you can be on my team and I can teach you.” Yijung said.
While the other boys set up the table, Yijung explained the game to me. The rules weren’t confusing, but aiming and angling the rod was difficult. When it was my turn, I bent over the table and held the rod, aiming at the striped number 10 ball. I felt a hand creep on mine and I froze. “You’re holding it wrong. If you hold it like this the ball will jump and spin to the side.” Yijung said. He slid his hands where mine were and positioned himself on top of me. I bit my bottom lip and silently told myself to stay calm. He moved my hands and aimed at the center of the white ball. “If you aim in the middle, it’ll go straight. If you aim down, it’ll jump up.” He grabbed the back of the rod and hit the white ball. It clashed with the 10 ball and it went in the pocket. “We got it in!” I said happily. I turned around in his arms and smiled at him. He smiled back. Then I remembered the position that we were in. So I put the rod between us and gave it to him. “Um…It’s your turn.” I said nervously. His friends gave me a look and a smile. I have never been so embarrassed in my life.

When the girls finally arrived, we had finished our game. Unfortunately someone who is extremely good paired with someone who sucks didn’t beat two average people in a game of pool. I kept hitting the white ball into the pocket or missing the ball all together, letting the other team get two free shots. Yijung and I sat on the couch while the others played a game of pool.
“Sorry we lost. I’m not very good at this game.” I sighed.
“That’s alright. It’s just a bit of fun.” He laughed. “You’ll get better with practice…maybe after this cruise we can go and play pool together.”
My heart skipped a beat. Did – Did he just ask me out on a date? I looked at him in the eye and he smiled handsomely. No, it’s not a date. He’s probably the boyfriend of one of the other girls, or someone back home. We’re just friends. Anyways, I have Leo, I guess.
“Sure. That’ll be fun.” I said.
“Um, I’ll get your number, so we can arrange when to meet.” He said confidently.
I combed my hair to the side of my neck with my hands and we exchanged phone numbers.
“You got sun burnt.” Yijung said.
“Did I?” I asked.
“Right here.” He lightly touched the back of my neck.
“I wonder if its just more than my back that is sun burnt.” I said.
He dragged my shirt down to reveal my shoulder.
“Hey what are you – “ I stammered.
“Your shoulders are burnt too.” He said with a worried look.
“Hey Gayun! Did you bring the aloe vera gel?” He shouted across the room.
“Yeah!” She shouted back.
A bottle of green gel was sent flying across the room and Yijung caught it.
“Excuse me.” Yijung said with a smile.
“Sorry what?”
“I can’t apply this if your shirt is still on.”
My face became hot and my cheeks flashed red.
“Just show me your back.” He laughed. “You don’t have to take off your shirt, no need to get embarrassed.”
I turned to face away from him and slipped the back of my shirt over my head. I cautiously useed the shirt to cover my front.
“Sorry, I just need to…” Yijung started.
He unclipped my bra and applied a cold substance on my back. I jolted.
“Yijung what are you doing?” Hyun shouted with a laugh.
“He’s getting ‘in’.” Seongpyo laughed. The two friends hi fived each other.
“Yijung what are you doing?” Vanessa shouted. She sounded a tad angry.
“She’s sunburnt!” He called back to them. I could feel my face becoming really hot and red, I was scared that I might have looked like a tomato. “Melinda.” Said a familiar voice.
Leo stood in the doorway. My bra was quickly fastened before Leo grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the pool room. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Notes

this is a really long chapter sorry guys hehe ^^;; I think this story is going to turn out differently to what i initially expected it to because of Yijung...but we'll see :D