Having Lee Donghyuck and a five year old work together on building a sandcastle was a guaranteed disaster, but it also brought laughter to the rest of their small group.
Donghyuck was good with children since he had younger siblings, and since he was mentally still a child too. If someone could entertain kids and befriend them quickly, that would be him. But the tan male often got too carried away, forgetting that he was already an adult and older than the kids.
Another thing that could cause some problems was his competitive nature. Renjun could just sigh when his best friend and the little boy glared at eachother. It was them helping the kid rebuild his castle, but why did Hyuck act as if it was his.
First they argued about which moulds to use for the towers, needing Renjun to interfere before one ended up crying. Hoping that the rest would continue smoothly, the Chinese warned his friend to be nice.
The little boy was still upset, despite winning their previous argument, but the mean Mister would always ruin his work. "No, you put too much water in it! Now the sand will fall apart because it's too wet!" The annoying voice complained again and threw away the wet sand from the moulds.
Lips pursed out and quivering the five year old boy was ready to throw a tantrum, but someone was quick to rescue him. Seol had kept a close eye on the two, and felt like smacking Donghyuck for being such a meanie... which she ended up doing.
"Ouch! What did I do?!" The tan male whined as he shot glares at the girl standing above him.
"I should have hit you harder, but I couldn't risk breaking the shovel! Consider yourself lucky. Now I want you to take a walk, cool your head and make Mark some company before returning. Understood?"
Ready to complain again Hyuck quickly shut up when the girl's serious face sent a chill down his spine. Huffing and puffing he stood up before dragging Renjun by his arms and leaving. Seol felt like she was babysitting, but the actual kids were the least problematic.
"Pretty Miss, why did you let the meanie take away Mister?"
"Yes, yes! The evil queen took away Mister prince! You need to save him!" The quiet little boy suddenly spoke up enthusiastically, confusing Seol.
"The evil queen? Prince?"
"Yes! I know your secret pretty Miss! I know that you are Snow White and that Mister is the prince. And that meanie is the evil queen trying to steal the prince from you."
Seol tried to hold back her smile listening to the cute boy, playing along with his story. "You knew?" This earned her energetic nods, and she once again had to fight her urge to just pinch his cute cheeks.
"But you made a small mistake." She gestured for him to come closer, before speaking quietly. "That meanie is actually a prince too. He was our best friend, but got captured by the evil queen and now she is controlling him."
The little one gasped audibly and covered his mouth, carefully listening to what the pretty lady told him. "Mister and I came here to try and break the curse that was put upon us. Only by freeing that meanie from the queen's control can the three of us break free."
"Miss, does the curse hurt you?" His round eyes were full of curiosity and worries, waiting for Seol to continue her story.
"Mhmm. This curse took away something that I like. You know, I used to always swim around and collect small clams when I was younger. But now I can't enter the water anymore."
Seeing the confused look on the boy's face she continued her story. "The curse doesn't allow me to be near the water or in the water for too long."
Before she could continue, a middle aged lady called for the boy and he quickly jumped to his feet. Forgetting their sandcastle the little one smiled at her and waved before running up to his sister and their mother, leaving the beach.
Turning back to the sea, Seol sighed as she recalled the story she just told. Was Hyuck really like the evil queen?
Smiling to herself, she slowly made her way to her two bickering friends, eager to tell them about their 'secret' identities. Seeing as the two were munching on Mark, may his inexistent soul rest in piece, she decided to torture them a bit.
"I am wHAt?! That little squirt is going to hear from me!" Donghyuck was fuming while Renjun tried not to choke to death on his watermelon. Seol on the other hand was laughing loudly before trying to take a slice of fruit for herself too.
Just as she was about to grab a piece a piercing pain shot trough her body, making her movements stop and her eyes screw shut. None of the males payed attention to her, arguing about the unfair distribution of roles they got.
Seol was silently praying for them to not question why she was so quiet, but a certain male already caught on. Donghyuck saw her hand abruptly stop and tremble slightly as she was about to pick up a piece of the watermelon.
Seeing as Renjun was still busy trying to cough out the piece of fruit that decided to go down the wrong pipe, he only took a quick glance at the girl.
Her face was even paler than usual, and by her pained expression he could tell that something was wrong. This time she could not blame it on carrying Mark, and Hyuck started doubting whether the said fruit ever had something to do with her pain at all.
Quickly averting his attention back to Renjun, he started complaining about how he was more suited to be the prince and the shorter was the evil genius. Not wanting him to worry about Seol's state, Hyuck distracted the male until he saw the girl's posture relax from the corner of his eye.
Something was definitely wrong. And both Renjun and Seol knew about it, deciding to keep it from him. Thinking about it, wasn't this similar to that time during school. The thing that led Seol to make a decision, which eventually ended up putting their relationship on thin ice.
Seeing Seol return to her playful self in a split second, Donghyuck's worries only grew. Despite their group resuming their relaxing afternoon at the beach, he was determined to talk with his friends that evening. Everything had to be cleared up.