Submersion
Chapter 1: Fun and When It Spoils
In a place of community like my town, when word comes around of something that's about anyone, it travels quickly. This is something all children learn when growing up, unless they never leave their rooms. Yawning a little, I tell my dad goodbye as I get out of his car near the pool building door with my gym bag in hand. It's been a week since that writing was found on the walls. It could be seen as soon as you walked into the pool area: Your existence disgusts me, Park Jimin.
Jimin is a strong person who would never let those words get to him personally. The six of us were there to support him nonetheless, as was anyone in the community who had a mouth of wisdom. My friends and I are thankful they decided to quickly clean the mess so business could go on. It's a popular spot for young adults to meet who like to exercise in the winter or bad weather. We've had April Showers, alright, and we've been having cold nights, so the parks are dangerously icy. Dad drives away to an all-day date with my mom as I enter the building, and my phone receives a text. I look at my phone to see that Seokjin had texted me, and unlock it to answer him.
>Are you at the pool yet? We're waiting in the locker room for you.)
(Yes, I just got here.<</em>
I pay the entrance fee, take a lock for a locker, and take a left to enter the men's area. I catch Jimin's eyes, and he gives me his famous eye-smile that always killed the girls in high school. He's wearing his favorite pair of nylon swim trunks, which are light blue with pink stripes down the legs. "Hey, you made it."
"Yeah, and I was almost late. Forgot to set my alarm."
"You would've been fine, Hoseok." Seokjin says, wearing polyester, dust pink swim trunks with white decorative strings. He sits on a bench with Jungkook, who wears polyester, racing red swim trunks with white cotton strings. Namjoon leans on the left wall to the pool door with Yoongi, the showers in the back just past the doors, the changing stalls and bathroom cubicles are on the right. Namjoon wears black nylon swim trunks with gold snake-like patterns on the bottoms of the legs, and Yoongi wears nylon, neon green swim trunks with black bottoms.
"Ah, thanks."
"Are we going swimming, now?" Jungkook asks.
"I thought we were going to wait for Taehyung?" Jimin asks.
"Taehyung has a cold, he isn't coming today." Namjoon says.
"Aw." Jimin drops his shoulders.
Seokjin sighs and stands up, patting Jungkook's head. "OK, get changed quickly Hoseok. We'll try to wait for you a little longer." I nod in reply, and the guys head towards the pools, Yoongi opening the door and going in first. Namjoon holds it open for Jimin and Jungkook, but Seokjin insists Namjoon enter first, so Namjoon obliges to his request.
Seokjin sends me his princely smile, and I return it with my cheeky smile, then he closes the door. I pick a locker and put my bag in it, taking out my polyester, black swim trunks with dark green circles down the legs. I go into a changing room and strip, slipping into my trunks, then put away my clothes and shower before entering the pool area. My ears are immediately greeted by Jungkook's and Jimin's exclaims as they climb the eight foot tall slide to the left by the deep pool. Its deepest end is six feet, which is where the slide drops into, and its lowest depth is three feet.
Namjoon wades in the deep pool around the four foot mark with Seokjin, and they seem to be talking, but I can't hear over Jimin and Jungkook. There's a large, circular hot tub beyond the deep pool, eight lounge chairs circling it. I look right to the shallow pool, its depths one to three feet, and the lazy river on the left connects to it. There are three girls and a boy playing amongst themselves, and four people in suits sit and stand in the lounge chairs by the window on the right wall. The smallest girl, who is foreign and has a small round head and small arms but looks familiar from somewhere, splashes water at a very pretty Korean girl who could pass for a celebrity.
They have long hair to their shoulder blades; the shorter girl has forehead bangs, and the second girl has bangs sideswept to the right. The Korean girl wears a black and purple striped one-piece swimsuit. But, it's hard to tell what the foreign girl is wearing under her oversized, navy blue shirt. All I can see is a black bikini bottom. But, her chest is evidently large, so she's probably self-conscious. I feel a little sad for her, confidence is an important thing, and she's pretty cute.
The other Korean girl who could easily be an idol has hair to her shoulders with forehead bangs and a large chest. She must be confident with her body, which is nice to see. She wears a pink, yellow and orange striped bikini top and bottom. The Korean boy has roughly cut, short blond hair and a face that reminds me of Seokjin and someone else, too. He wears silver polyester swim trunks with sky blue strings and thin lines of the same color above the bottom.
"Hoseok, are you coming in?" Seokjin asks.
I smile and nod a little, then walk to the four foot mark and dive in. I surface and shake my head and wipe my face. "Ah, the water's good." I look around a little, eyes narrowed a bit. "Where did Yoongi go?"
"He went to get pool toys from the bin, over there." Seokjin answers. "See? He's coming back now." I look behind me to see Yoongi with his arms full of six pool noodles and two medium-sized beach balls.
I laugh and ask, "Is this what they call poolside service?"
"Want to find out?" Yoongi throws the pool toys at me, and I squeak, covering my head with my arms as the noodles slipp around me. One ball drops beside me, but I watch the other bounce into the other pool.
"Watch out!" The tall Korean girl bounces it back like a volleyball, and I jump up to catch it. "Sorry!"
"It's OK!" She replies. As Yoongi sits on the edge of the pool, I hear Jungkook scream as he comes down the slide, taking a plunge and surfacing a good distance from the slide.
"Are you coming?" Jungkook yells, pulling himself onto the edge of the pool.
"That was a pathetic splash! You're buying, Jungkook!" Jimin replies.
"What are you guys playing for, this time?" Namjoon asks.
"Ice cream sandwiches." Jungkook answers.
"It's barely the beginning of April, and you want ice cream?" I laugh.
"We've done it before. Ice cream is good any time."
"Hey, stop talking and watch me, Jungkook!" Jimin shouts.
"Then, come down!" Jungkook replies. Hardly a moment later, I hear Jimin joyfully holler as he slides. He sends a lot of water flying, for being so small.
Jimin surfaces near Jungkook, who laughs. "What's so funny?"
"That was such a small splash, aha ha ha!"
"I think Jimin's splash was a lot bigger than yours, Jungkook." Namjoon says.
"I agree." I add, Seokjin and Yoongi nodding. Jimin laughs and applauds himself, and Jungkook groans before laughing and slipping into the pool. "Come play over here, guys. Yoongi brought the pool noodles."
They give a small 'OK' and swim over to us as someone's phone plays Strength by HOLOGRAM, a big agency's new, five member boy group. 'The ground you build on, the air you breathe in.' The boy on the other side stops pushing around the short haired girl and hoists himself onto the edge. Jimin and Jungkook grab pool noodles and start a war with Seokjin and Namjoon while Suga makes his way to the stairs of the pool. 'The fire you seek when drenched in rain, the divine leader you need.' He dries his hands on a towel laying on a chair and is given his phone by a suited person.
"Hello, Daekeun. Yes, we're at the pool already." Daekeun... and, this guy's face... oh, this is Hwang Taeho of HOLOGRAM, the cool and Silk Voice leader known for his chocolate abs. I recognize the short haired girl to be his sister, Hwang Hyejae, a main vocal of HOST from another big agency. She's nicknamed Hypejae for her overkill aegyo and fanservice, and is also known for being a great model.
"No, the other girls aren't here, yet. Yes, Haeun and Eunju came." I jump a little as my tapped shoulder snaps me out of a trance. Oh, it's Yoongi.
"Do you know them?" He asks.
"Not personally. The boy is Hwang Taeho and the short haired girl is his sister, Eunju. They're both idols."
"Daekeun, she's a great person, if you would give her the time of day..."
As Taeho sighs and lowers his phone, the short girl says, "He really can't get over my weird body, can he?" She scoffs and begins to exit the pool. "Took me long enough to like my own face."
"Eunju, wait." The other girl grabs her wrist as the small girl freezes. "Don't let Daekeun tell you what to do. Please stay." Eunju, and her unique body...
"Oh, the small girl is a popular Canadian MC of Hello! EXO-L, Hello! ST☆RLIGHT and Hello! ONCE, Young Eunju. The fourth girl is Mun Haeun, an assistant teacher and dancer, Eunju's best friend." I say, looking to Yoongi who nods.
"Yeah, she's still here. She's frozen after knowing what you wanted before I said anything, idiot." Taeho sneers.
Eunju sighs deeply and turns to Haeun with a frown. "How can I? My writing isn't helping me. I'm dizzy, let's go home before I do something stupid." She reenters the pool and wades over to hug Hyejae. "Tell Daekeun he won, I'm going home. Maybe I'll stay longer than 30 minutes, next time."
"Eunju..." Hyejae softly says. "Please don't go."
"Sorry. I'm... I'm sorry I'm not in HOST, too." Eunju takes a step back and smiles. "I'm glad you're singing for me, though." Hyejae smiles a little in return, then Eunju and Haeun exit the pool.
"Yeah, she's going. Good job." Taeho double takes. "I'm not agreeing with you! Eunju just got turned down again!"
"She has no job, and we're all worried, Daekeun. No, don't say anything else! Just come here, and don't bring her up again." He hangs up, and meets Eunju's eyes. She gives him a small smile, and he returns it. "Get some rest. You're getting two response letters tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. I'm looking forward to it."
"Good luck." He makes a fist of encouragement, and she returns it, waving to Hyejae who waves back before she and Haeun exit.
"Poor girl. Hope things work out for her." I comment.
"Hey, Hoseok, Yoongi!" Jungkook shouts. "Stop eavesdropping and start playing with us!" He throws us each a pool noodle. Yoongi sighs and looks to me with his signature sleepy eyes.
I laugh and hit his arm, then he yells and hits me back, and the real war began there. Eventually four other boys and eight other girls enter the area. They were pretty noisy and had a camera crew, so we were politely asked to leave by a few managers who sincerely apologized for the inconvenience, Namjoon replying that we understood. As we changed, Jimin hissed. "Hey, it's only 10:16. We were hardly playing for 30 minutes, too."
"Yeah, us and that poor girl." I comment. "I wonder which one of those guys is Daekeun, it's his fault the two girls left."
"Daekeun was the one with silver hair and a square face." Namjoon says. "He's known for being a little arrogant, but he's generally well-behaved. The group is new, so we don't know the members well."
"HOLOGRAM is alright, but on the verge of looking like a hot mess." Yoongi comments. "They sound good, though. Strength was well made, but Joy was weak for my taste."
Namjoon laughs. "I think they have a cool concept and good lyrics. Joy was a cute song, yes, but I liked Light best, it was almost hypnotizing. I saw his sister, Hyejae, too. HOST is interesting, it's too bad their storywriter didn't make the cut. Young Eunju was cute and smart."
"I saw her apologizing to Hyejae for not making it into the group." I say.
"Yeah, I saw... what's she up to?"
"She doesn't have a job. She's struggling to find a company to accept her writing, I guess."
"Ah, that's right. She's waiting for another group to star in the Hello! series, though EXO promised us a second season with their comeback. Eunju was featured as a character in part of her and Hyejae's agreement with the company when she didn't make the cut to use it. She hoped it would help her become a writer, but I guess it had no affect. I wish her luck."
I nod in agreement as Jimin and Jungkook race out of the locker room. Seokjin drops his shoulders as he watches. He puts his shirt on the bench, then opens the door to the main area. "Guys, we're not at a park. This isn't a place to run around."
"So?" I hear them reply, followed by laughter. It gets louder and further away as a door opens. Ah, they went outside.
"Well, at least they can burn off some more energy and make room for lunch after we visit the police station and pick up Taehyung." Seokjin sighs, continuing to put his shirt on. We finish getting dressed, then go outside to find Jimin and Jungkook just coming to rest nearby us. "Done?" They reply 'yes', bent over and panting. "Good, because Jongmoo is here."
A police car rolls up to the sidewalk, and Jungkook's dad, Officer Jongmoo, puts down his window. His partner, Officer Myeongna, sits in the front passenger seat. "You boys ready to go?" Jongmoo asks, and we answer 'yes, sir'. "Good, get in. We took the van just for you. We'll take our cars when we go for lunch so you're not illegally cramped in an eight-passenger van with eleven people." I laugh with Jungkook and Jimin a little, and we clamber in and buckle up, then pull into the street.
-Submersion-
