"Aloha, aloha!" Seokjin greeted with a big smile.
"We're in Malaysia, hyung! We're in Malaysia," Jimin scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you that? Aish!"
"It doesn't matter. People here are friendly. They don't seem to mind my 'aloha'."
"They're laughing at you, hyung," Jimin whined. "Oh damn it, you're embarrassing me." He then strode away from Seokjin to Taehyung.
"Hey, get your bags off my arms or I'm tossing them into the drainage!"
"Oy!"
They arrived at the Bintulu Airport at half past three in the morning, but no one - except Yoongi and Jungkook - seemed to be tired. Jiah found it rare to have Wheein by her side before they left Korea when she usually hung around with Jisoo. On the other hand, Jisoo walked with Jungkook and Yoongi and had a delightful chat with the youngest one.
Jiah became concerned. Therefore, she spoke, "Is something going on with you and Jisoo?"
Tired Wheein looked at her, seemingly surprised at the start of the talk. She let out an awkward chuckle and waved a hand as she said, "Nah."
Jiah nodded her head slowly. "Mm-hm."
Wheein formed a weary smile, said nothing, and looked straight ahead. Jiah looked at her boss, and he only raised his shoulders.
A van waited for them outside, and a local middle-aged man approached them with Min Yoongi's name on a cardboard. Yoongi and the man casually spoke in English. Jiah heard that it had been a while since they visited, and Yoongi agreed, also asking some things regarding the district.
As they had a friendly chat, the rest put their bags in the back trunk with the help of the man. She noticed something was oddly cold with the atmosphere but was still clueless as to what it was, as everyone there greatly veiled the coldness from her and the innocent ones. After a while of shrugging it off, all of them hopped into the van.
For sure, Wheein sat with her and Hoseok, while Yoongi sat in the front passenger's seat. Seokjin sat between Jisoo and Jimin, and Taehyung sat across from them. The seating arrangements were peculiar, in her opinion.
Yoongi and the driver kept on conversing in English, Jiah and Hoseok were whispering to each other, trying to keep their voices low. And then, there was the rest. Quiet and tired.
"Wheein seems to be involved in their fight," Hoseok whispered.
Jiah whispered back, "Whose fight?"
"Seokjin and Jisoo's."
"You think so?"
The redhead boss nodded. "Besides, why was she avoiding them in the first place?"
"It could be Jisoo and Wheein who fought. You saw the way she answered me," Jiah said. Hoseok pulled away, looking at her with his lips curved downwards. She mimicked her boss's expression and added, "I hope they get okay soon."
**********
After a thirty-minute ride from the airport to Samalaju Resort, they retrieved their bags from the trunk and thanked the driver for the ride. They found it amusing when some of them slipped and thanked him in Korean, and the man replied to them in Korean as well. They were amazed that the Sea Dayak man - although a little sloppy with his pronunciation - spoke their language so well. Taehyung gave him two thumbs up.
"See? I told you, the people here are friendly," Seokjin said to Jimin. Jimin made a face.
Jiah and Yoongi went to the receptionist together to get their keys. After some time, they returned to the group and announced their roommates. Wheein was assigned with Jiah, Hoseok with Yoongi, Jimin with Jungkook and Taehyung, and the siblings would be together in one room.
Yoongi told them to go to their rooms to freshen up and rest, and they were to gather at the lobby by twelve for lunch.
On their way to their room, Jiah couldn't help but notice that Wheein appeared a bit down. Once she unlocked the door and inserted the card into the slot at the entrance, the lights lit up. She pushed the curtain. The day was still dark, but that didn't stop her from being impressed by the view. In awe of the sea view, she exclaimed, "Wow!"
It was four in the morning, with a small hint of yellow in the sky while the moon was still up. The sun would slowly rise in less than two hours, and she would love to stay up to see that.
"Wheein, do you want to see the sunrise with me?" she asked.
Wheein was unpacking her things on her single bed, looking at her with confusion. "Now?"
"If you want to join me, we can quickly freshen up and go to the gazebo over there," she said, pointing at the contemporary gazebo in front of the swimming pool.
"Oh... yeah, sure. Who's freshening up first?" she asked.
"You can go first," Jiah said, and Wheein nodded her head, unpacking some of her clothes, a few pieces of cotton, and makeup remover.
The bathroom door clicked shut. It might have been quiet for Wheein, but her sigh echoed from the bathroom, making Jiah wonder how heavy her worries were that they overshadowed the usually cheerful Wheein.
***********
The cool wind of the early morning had Jiah wearing her pastel pink sweater with 'NICE TEAM, cool moments' embroidered on the chest. She sat quietly with Wheein at the modern-designed pergola. The river calmly pushed and pulled its waves. Her baby hairs were blown back, revealing her forehead.
"Wheein," Jiah started. "Do you have anything you want to share with me?"
Wheein looked at her and snorted. "You better not start sounding like Namjoon, especially when he's not with us."
Confusion spread across Jiah's face. "What do you mean?"
The goth-styled woman chuckled and said, "He's a sentimental man. I don't remember where this happened, but he and Taehyung parasailed that time. He asked Taehyung to shout out his regrets. Namjoon got Taehyung flustered."
Jiah threw her head back and laughed. Waving her hand, she said, "Well, I'm not going that far. I just find it weird. You're not the same as I've seen you all this while. Is something troubling you?"
Silence. Wheein cast her gaze to the ground. Swaying her legs back and forth, her flip-flops scraped against the tiny rocks. She let out a breathy laugh and said, "I'm perfectly fine. I'm, maybe... having mood swings. My period is coming."
Forcing someone to tell wasn't an option for Jiah. She just held a smile for Wheein and said nothing.
Hoseok might be right. What if it was true that Wheein was involved in Seokjin and
Jisoo's fight? Knowing how close they were, there was a chance she was involved just to defend Jisoo, her best friend. But defending someone wouldn't cause a rift in their relationship.
The sun revealed itself to the bluish sky, smudging it with yellowish-orange and glittering the sea with its light.
The woman beside her exhaled a soft sigh. "I think it's worth coming here with you," she said cheerfully.
Jiah softly chuckled, relieved to hear her colleague's bright tone. Both of them were immersed in the beauty of the sunrise when her phone rang loudly. She fished out her phone from her sweater pocket, seeing Hoseok's name on the screen. She slid the green button, attaching her phone to her ear, and said, "Hello?" Putting on her flip-flops and hopping out of the gazebo, she motioned for Wheein to wait.
"Can you come with me to ask - oh!"
There, they stood in front of each other a few meters away. Both of them grinned as they walked closer.
"I didn't know you were here," Hoseok said. "I thought you were Jisoo."
Jiah made 'two' peace signs on both sides of her face. "It's me, boss," she said, earning a chuckle from him. As she looked down at his upper wear, it struck her that something looked familiar. She looked down at her sweater and then back at Hoseok's sweater. She said, "I didn't know we had similar sweaters."
Hoseok soon realized. He let out a flustered laugh, and as Jiah laughed out loud, he followed suit. "Nice team, huh?" he said.
The woman raised both of her arms and acted as if she flexed a muscle. "Yeeeah, we make a nice team!" she said.
His intention in finding her seemed to have been forgotten, or maybe it was intentionally forgotten. They just kept on laughing, forgetting that there was a spectator at the gazebo, smiling knowingly.