Lifeguard Jeon

° T H I R T Y - O N E °

Dear Suzy, 

What's up? I'm getting totally crazed! You always write me back and now, nothing. Are you okay? Please tell me you are. I had all these scary dreams last night of you going out into the ocean and getting lost out there. The movie, Jaws? Okay, that's stupid, but what else could I think? You're not mad at me, are you? I can't think of anything I did wrong. I'd call you if I could get to the damn phone, but you know how stupid they are about that here. Write soon and give me good news, okay? Choi Jaeho likes someone else, but it's not who I thought it was. She's a lot different from what expected, so what does that say about me?

Love you,

Sulli

° ° ° ° °

Dear Sulli,

Oh my god, best friend, I'm so sorry I scared you. Actually I scared everyone here half to death, but I'm fine now, really. So much has happened that I don't where where to start. Yes, I did almost drown. Man, I think you're psychic! But guess who got me out and saved my life?

I know you already know.

I'll never say another bad word about him for the rest of my life.

He's so much more complicated than I ever realized, I now know. He has these powers. It's . . . well . . . supernatural, or at least I think it is, if that's possible. It sounds crazy, I know, but lately it's turning out that everything in my world isn't what it appears to be on the outside and things are happening that I can't explain, and maybe I never will.

I'll write as soon as I know more, I promise. All is well here for now and that's all that counts. I feel reborn. how is that possible?

Love you so much,

Suzy

And ugh, so sorry about Jaeho. Truthfully though, he never sounded like your type.

° ° ° ° °

No bikini now. A wrinkled T-shirt over a denim shorts. Far from beachside runway, but it's easy to slip on. I sneaked out of the hospital during shift change in the only outfit that Irene brought for me.

No attempt to cover the bandaged leg. Only now I'm not obsessed with my body anymore. All I care about is having a whole one. I could care less how I look compared to other girls.

Jin pushes the wheelchair and Irene holds the crutches as our pathetic group slowly makes its way, first to the car and then to the beach.

"This is crazy," Jin says to Irene, under his breath. She ignores him and I love her for that. I also love her for insisting that first, we drop off my parents off at her house so they can take a break to shower and rest.

"We'll be fine," Irene insists.

Appa agrees, to my surprise. Eomma doesn't raise any objection either, which tells me that they're probably just totally tired. I didn't realize they were up all night trying to get reservations, and then were forced to book indirect flights with long layovers because of bad weather. They must be dead.

I'm less than happy to go to the beach with an entourage.

Jin turns into the parking lot and rives as close as he can up to the sand. I'm glad he doesn't have a dune buggy or he'd mow down the beachgoers to get on top of the lifeguard's chair. He parks, pops the trunk, and then heaves out the wheelchair, struggling to unfold it. It must weigh a ton, but he doesn't complain. He and Irene help me get out of the truck and I hop over to the chair.