The couple were quickly instructed to pack up their things and head their separate ways without a moment to spare. Minah could only give Wonik a brief goodbye before the staff had come to collect her from the room.
They gave her some guidance towards the front lobby and just told her that there would be a green car waiting for her outside.
Minah was anxiously playing around with the hem of her dress while carrying her luggage. As she approached the front doors of the hotel, she could clearly see a sports car parked right outside the entrance with a man leaning against the passenger seat door.
The first thing that came to her mind was that this was definitely a man, and not a boy. At least physically.
Minah instantly noticed how big he was, with his muscles filling out his black polo and white pants nicely. She was also slightly jealous at how good he looked with his tanned skin compared to her pasty white self.
This guy could literally crush my head with his bare hands, Mina thought when she got a glimpse of his literally bulging muscles.
Get it together girl, stop staring at his biceps.
"Oh, good morning," the male immediately greeted her when he saw her walk through the doors.
"Let me take that," he said, quickly taking her bag and putting it in the back.
"Thank you," she couldn't help but go back to her shy mode as he opened the door for her and helped her get on the car.
Minah was really unsure on how to act around the new contestant. The guys from the island were all very handsome, but this new person had a fierce look to him.
He looked incredibly intimidating.
Hot but scary... He looks like he could be a thug, Minah's nose twitched at her own thoughts.
Minah looked straight ahead as the guy got onto the driver's seat.
"May I know your name?" He slightly leaned forward to try to get a better look at the female.
"Ah- my name is Seo Minah."
"Mmm," the male smiled slightly, "nice to meet you, I'm Lee Jinseok."
Minah's cheeks started to redden the longer she felt his eyes on her.
"Do you know what's going on?" she asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Oh, well, we're going back to Inferno right? Have you been there already?" Jinseok asked, thinking that Minah was just completely new to the show.
"Me? Oh yes, I got to Inferno yesterday, what about you?" she finally turned to face him, her curiosity winning over her shyness.
"Yesterday? But I didn't see you back at the island," Jinseok's eyebrows shot up in confusion.
"You were in Inferno too?!" Minah sat up, "wait a minute..."
"How many people were at the island with you?" She asked, feeling incredibly suspicious.
"Six, including myself," Jinseok revealed.
"Woah!" Minah's eyes widened when she figured out the devious plans of the production people.
"There must be two Inferno's!"
"Eh?!" It was now Jinseok's turn to be shocked.
"We were also six people back at the island where I came from," Minah explained, "I ended up matching with one of the guys, so we came here to Paradise. Did you also come here with a girl?"
"Mmm," he nodded, "but there was an announcement in the morning telling us to leave separately."
"Same here. I think now they're going to send us to different islands. They're going to mix the contestants from both islands," Minah gasped at the sudden plot twist.
"Woah, that's insane," Jinseok started chuckling when he started understanding what was going on, "well I guess we'll find out what island we'll end up going to."
Jinseok shook his head while laughing lightly, thinking about how radical the production team was this season.
Unbeknownst to him, Minah was feeling flustered by the charming sound of his low toned voice.
This man is lethal to me! Minah started fidgeting with her purse and absentmindedly looking inside for something to distract herself with.
"Would you like a pastry?"
"Eh?" Jinseok turned to look at the girl.
Minah was looking at him with innocent eyes while holding out what looked to be a strawberry strudel wrapped in some parchment paper.
"What in the world? Where did you get that?"
"I ordered some pastries togo before I left the suit," Minah answered without missing a beat, "don't tell anyone thought, I don't think we're supposed to take anything back to Inferno," she started whispering as if there weren't microphones tied around their bodies.
At this point, Jinseok couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud.
"Yo- you! I can't believe-"
Jinseok looked at her in between laughs, and noticed that she had also started laughing at the absurdity of her own actions.
"Hey! I don't know how it is over at your island, but we only had carrots and canned chicken! That's seriously not enough for me to survive!" Minah joked.
"Look, if you don't want my pastries you should have said so!" she giggled even harder when she noticed Jinseok wiping away some tears from how much he was laughing.
Definitely not a thug, she thought jokingly.
"You seriously stole food from the hotel and are planning to sneak it back into the island?" he chuckled.
"I didn't steal it! I told you that I just ordered it togo!" Minah pouted.
"You thief," Jinseok couldn't help but tease her.
"Wuah! That's it! No pastries for you!"
"Wait- no! I do want some!" Jinseok shook his head, still laughing, "I didn't eat much this morning!"
"Well you should have thought about it before you called me a thief," Minah chuckled before taking a big bite from her strudel.
Jinseok just leaned back, looking at the girl with a big smile on his face, not really caring that she was too shy to meet his eyes.
She certainly was an interesting one.
He gazed at her for a second before he snapped back to reality and turned the ignition key to the car.
"Here, I have a strawberry danish too," Minah suddenly extended her hand shyly, offering him the dessert.
Jinseok's mouth twitched. One single thought crossed his mind at that moment.
Cute.
Kyuhyun covered his face with his notes as he laughed.
"She ordered food togo!"
"She's so funny! I can't!" Jin-kyung was also laughing together with the others.
"How many pastries did she order?" Jinyoung joked, "her purse looks small, but she had two in there already."
"This girl is seriously obsessed with food!"
"But like, look at our man!" Hanhae shook his head, "I think Jinseok is interested!"
"What about Minyoung though?"
"Look, he's smiling so much already," Da-hee nodded excitedly, "I kind of think they'd be cute together."
"More so than Wonik and Minah?"
"Mmm, maybe? I think... since we know their professions, Jinseok and Minah would be such a cute couple," Da-hee added.
"I can already imagine Minah as the professional architect arriving home just to be greeted by Jinseok and his delicious baking," she giggled.
"I think if she finds out what Jinseok's job is, she'd probably just propose to him," Jinyoung joked.
"Just so she can have him bake for her," Hanhae laughed loudly.
Minah and Jinseok started talking about pastries during the drive to the port. Once they made it to the helicopter, Jinseok took their bags and secured them on the aircraft before gently helping her into her seat. He didn't even bother with his own seat belt until he had secured hers around her waist.
"Is this good?" he asked as he slightly tightened it. Minah nodded, not wanting to look at him since she knew that her cheeks were already red again. Why do I have to be so pale? She cursed at her white skin since it blushed way too easily for her comfort.
"Oh! Hello!"
Minah almost jumped when the door suddenly slid open to reveal Minkyu and a woman that she wasn't familiar with.
"Ah! Minah!" Minkyu smiled widely when he saw his fellow Inferno contestant.
"Minkyu! You're here too!"
"Ah, you two come from the same island?" Jinseok looked at Minah.
"Yeah, we met yesterday," she nodded.
"Did you guys go to Paradise together?" the new woman asked.
"We didn't, we went with other people."
"Ah so it's the same as us then. I'm Choi Hyeseon by the way."
Minah smiled when the new girl bowed at her politely. She quickly returned the gesture before introducing herself. Hyeseon was very pretty with her short straight hair and bright smile.
"So you know what's going on then?" Hyeseon turned to Jinseok with a wide smile.
"I think so? Minah figured it out, she said that there's probably two Inferno's," Jinseok nodded.
"Isn't that crazy? A whole new group of people!" Hyeseon chuckled.
Just then, the helicopter engine turned on, signaling their departure. The contestants were quick to put their ear protectors on just as the vehicle took off.
"I think they're back," Gyuri whispered from where she was sitting besides Minwoo. The two of them were the only ones that had remained at Inferno so they had the chance to talk and get to know each other a little bit better.
"I can hear them coming."
"Oh," Minwoo looked confused when he saw Hyeseon walking together with a man that he didn't recognize.
"Hello," Gyuri and Minwoo both stood up and bowed as the other two contestants joined them.
"It's nice to meet you," Minkyu greeted them.
"I don't think we've met," Minwoo smiled, although he looked confused.
"It must be a surprise for you guys too," Hyeseon giggled.
"Yeah, definitely."
Minkyu introduced himself while Gyuri and Minwoo did the same.
"You must be a new contestant?" Gyuri asked.
"Yes, but I'm not the only one," Minkyu added right on time as Jinseok and Minah walked up to them.
"Eh? More people?" Minwoo gasped when he realized that the girl walking next to Jinseok was not Minyoung.
Minah was wearing a very pretty seafoam green dress with thick straps. Her hair was once again styled into an up do, leaving a few strands to frame her face. She was also wearing cute gold strappy heels that matched well with her necklace.
Her appearance contrasted so much with Jinseok that they almost looked funny together.
"Hello everyone," Minah was quick to introduce herself, not wanting to appear rude.
"Hi, I'm Choi Minwoo," the male shook her hand before Gyuri stepped over to do the same.
Once everyone knew each other's names, they all took a seat to try to talk about what was going on.
"Did you two come from the same place?" Gyuri turned to look at Minkyu.
"Yeah, we did."
"There's actually a total of six of us," Minkyu looked off to the sea, "we came from the long island over there," he pointed at the direction where the other Inferno was.
"We got there yesterday."
"What?" Minwoo and Gyuri were practically speechless.
"He came from a different Inferno," Hyeseon nodded.
"No way!"
"We both went to Paradise, but with different people," Minah added, "but then this morning, there was an announcement saying that we wouldn't be returning together with the people we matched."
"Woah!"
"That was the same for us too," Hyeseon nodded, "I think they switched our partners and so Minkyu and Minah ended up coming to our island while Gwanhee and Minyoung were sent to the other one together with their partners," she pointed at Minkyu and Minah.
"Wonik and Hajeong," Minah nodded, "so each island basically gets two new contestants."
Minah started walking towards her new sleeping area, wanting to touch up her sunscreen and makeup, when Jinseok appeared next to her.
"I left your luggage by your bed," he said as he walked next to her.
"Ah, thank you so much," she smiled shyly.
"Do you have more food hidden away in there? Your bag felt suspiciously heavy."
"What! It wasn't that heavy!" Minah instinctively slapped his arm jokingly, but then pulled back instantly when she realized what she did. She freaked out a little bit since she didn't know if he was okay with physical touch, especially since they barely know each other. The last thing she wanted was for her to upset the intimidating looking guy.
"Are you sure about that? My arm felt sore after I carried it all the way here!" Jinseok joked, bumping her shoulder gently, "if you contraband some more food, you should share it with me or I'll tell the staff."
Minah squeaked, "you wouldn't dare!"
Jinseok laughed, "so you do have more food!"
Minah looked around discreetly before she leaned closer to him and whispered, "I took some croissants and chocolate chip cookies too. If you promise not to tell anyone then I'll share them with you."
Jinseok smiled widely, lifting his arm and wiggling his pinky finger.
"I promise."
Minah felt her heart warm up at the silliness of this whole interaction. She quietly giggled as she linked pinky fingers with the buff man, both smiling at each other.
"My heart!" Hanhae clutched at his chest in mock pain, "this is too wholesome!"
"I seriously can't believe this is happening," Jin-kyung laughed loudly, "does she actually have more snacks in her bag!?"
"I think it's the cutest and funniest thing ever," Jinyoung smiled widely, "I love that she shamelessly brought food from Paradise without permission."
"I just hope that the staff won't take it away from her," Kyuhyun chuckled.
"Oh, that would totally break her heart."
"Let's talk about the pairings for a second though," Jin-kyung changed topics as she looked at her notes.
"Jinseok sounded pretty set on Minyoung at the beginning, but I can't help but think that he connects pretty well with Minah even though they've just met."
"I think Minah could get closer to Jinseok than Wonik, especially since she's on this island now," Da-hee nodded.
It didn't help that they had watched a few scenes of how things were going on the other island and Wonik didn't seem to interact much with Minyoung or the other girls.
"Wonik doesn't seem that interested in anyone over there," Jinyoung added, "so far I think he's set on Minah."
"I think I'm doomed," Minah couldn't help but whisper as the group were walking through the hills of the island. Once the contestants had refreshed themselves, they had all decided to head over to the dinning area to see what food they had received from the staff.
"Why?"
"My friend helped pack my luggage for the show... She only packed heels..." Minah mumbled, "I'm bound to find my demise in this island, it's way more rocky than the one Minkyu and I came from."
"Is your island really different?" Gyuri asked.
"Yeah, it definitely has fewer hills," Minkyu nodded.
"Ah so it's flat?" Minwoo said.
Minah shook her head, "not exactly, but we don't have anything this steep. This definitely feels like a higher level difficulty island," she joked.
"So ours is a bit more hellish?" Hyeseon laughed.
"I'd say a lot more," Jinseok chuckled as they approached the last downhill of the hike.
"Here," he stretched his arm towards Minah when he noticed she had started lagging behind, "we can't have you tripping," he chuckled.
"Ah, thank you," Minah shyly wrapped her hand around his bicep and quickly averted her eyes towards the ground, but this just humored Jinseok even more.
"How do you choose to join a dating show, but struggle to look at people?" he couldn't help but tease her.
Minah scrunched her face, "I just thought I could do it! Meet new people and what not!"
"But I guess it's easier said than done," she grumbled.
"Come on," Jinseok chuckled, "you're already holding my arm, it's not like I'm gonna bite you if you look at me."
"Yah! Don't say that!" Minah broke into giggles, finally looking at the man in his eyes. Her face blossomed into a lovely red once again, feeling flustered at the proximity of their faces and how their arms were still intertwined.
"What do you guys think we got today?" Minkyu wondered out loud as he walked over to the large boxes behind the table.
"Carrots again?"
"Maybe chicken breast?" Hyeseon asked.
"Please tell me it's something decent," Minah whispered to herself.
"Oh! It's cucumbers and chicken?" Minwoo smiled.
"Ah, what a relief!" Gyuri giggled.
"Oh!" Minah perked up instantly, "I have an idea!"
The other contestants looked at her curiously except for Minkyu, who already trusted her kitchen abilities from their previous stay at Inferno.
"Let's peel and cut those into thin slices so we can make cucumber salad," Minah started examining the vegetables with renewed excitement.
"Cucumber salad? But we don't have any seasonings or dressings," Hyeseon looked at her with confusion.
"Umm... I might have... brought some from the hotel..."
"Bu- but I promise that I paid for those myself!" Minah started protesting when she saw everyone's shocked expressions.
"The hotel staff said we could order anything so I just requested if I could get some extra containers and bottles of spices and dressings, and I paid with my own card."
Jinseok sat down and covered his face with both hands, but it was clear that he was laughing by the way that his shoulders were shaking.
Minah, who had switched purses when she got to the island, had grabbed a medium sized Prada bucket bag that matched with her green dress and had stuffed it with the stuff she had gotten at the hotel. Much to everyone's astonishment, she just opened her purse and started pulling out different containers.
She had salt, pepper, sugar, and even chili powder.
The rest of the cast burst out laughing when they noticed that the last thing she had taken out from the bag was a bottle of vinegar.
"This is literally perfect for cucumber salad." Minah whispered to herself, happy about her haul. There were more ingredients she wished she had, but these were enough to make a basic dressing.
"Alright chef," Minkyu said in between laughs, grabbing the bucket with cucumbers "what do you want us to do?'
"We can start washing and chopping the cucumbers," Minah tried to ignore the remaining gazes of the other contestants, "making the actual dressing is super quick so I'll do that at the end."
Minkyu was quick to start on the washing with Minah next to him so that she could start peeling, but Gyuri interjected them.
"I want to peel them before we eat."
"Ah, okay," Minah didn't mind giving up her spot, "let me know when you guys are done so I can cut it all together."
"Yes chef!" Minkyu gave her a cute salute, earning a light giggle from her.
"Meanwhile, I guess we can start opening up the cans," Minah moved over to Minwoo and Hyeseon.
"What should I do?" Minah looked up and found Jinseok looking at her with a smile.
"Oh? I guess... Maybe peeling the cucumbers? They gave us many so I'm sure it'll be better if Gyuri and Minkyu have some help, plus you can start putting the peeled ones in this bowl so I can start cutting too," she smiled at him shyly before she went back to scooping the chicken out of the cans and into the plates.
"Well it's great that I'm a master peeler then," Jinseok puffed out his chest jokingly.
"A master peeler?" she couldn't resist looking at him with raised eyebrows, "that sounds like nonsense."
"What?! You just look! I'll show you!" Jinseok quickly grabbed a cucumber and started peeling it off to the side of the camp all by himself.
This made Minah, Gyuri and Minkyu laugh.
"He just! I mean-" Gyuri giggled.
"He just went off and started by himself," Minkyu chuckled as he washed the rest of the vegetables.
"He looks kind of funny," Minwoo laughed lightly.
"He is our master peeler," Hyeseon joked.
"Well I guess he wasn't lying then," Minah couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the burly man handling the small peeler. It didn't help that he had changed out of his black shirt and into an oversized lavender one. Or at least Minah thought it was an oversized shirt, but the more she looked at him the more she noticed how well the fabric hugged his chest and shoulders.
Bad Minah, stop staring!
On top of that, Minkyu and Minwoo were really well built too, with their wide shoulders and toned arms. The women watching the show were really in for a treat, she thought.
Her mind quickly flashed back to the previous night, and the time she spent with Wonik.
He is also incredibly handsome. I couldn't even look at him when we were using the bathtub, Mina thought, blushing lightly at the memory of the shirtless man. She honestly missed him a little, since she felt like they had started to become comfortable with each other. But the people here were super nice too, not to mention that the women here seemed more relaxed and less competitive than her old island.
Before Minah could get deeper in her thoughts, Hyeseon called her over to ask for more instructions.
Once the cucumbers were peeled, Minah pulled out the cutting board and knife. Minkyu was unsurprised by the speed with which she started cutting but the rest couldn't help but eye her in shock. Obviously, the first thing they thought was that she must have some sort of job related to cooking.
"Woah, you're so good at that!" Hyeseon stared in shock at how Minah was able to chop quickly without getting injured.
"You're even doing that thing that I see a lot of professional chef's do," Minwoo said, "the way that you curl your fingers while holding the cucumbers down."
"Eh?" Minah looked confused at what he was referring to.
Minwoo walked over and pointed at her left hand.
"Ah, that's how you should hold the food when cutting so that you keep your fingers away from the knife," Minah easily explained, "here, why don't you try?"
Minah pushed the board over to a surprised Minwoo and stood next to him.
"You need to put your hand like this and hold the knife like this," she didn't really think much about what she was doing or how things looked for the rest of the group before she grabbed his hands and started positioning them properly.
"And when you start cutting, you start inching this hand away whenever the knife gets too close."
In Minah's mind, all she was doing was helping out a person learn how to properly cook, but to the rest of the contestants and viewers, this looked like a bold and flirty move. She wasn't looking at Minwoo and had kept her eyes on the board to make sure he didn't get injured, so she didn't notice how everyone else's attention was on her, including the male she was helping out.
"And that's pretty much it!" Minah smiled for a moment before her shyness came back, "you think you got it down?"
"Uh- Um, I think so," Minwoo mumbled, face beet red. Minah, fully unaware of the flustered state she had left the male in, went back to chopping the cucumbers without much of a word towards him.
"I swear to God, I can't get a read on this girl," Kyuhyun chuckled, "she had Minwoo practically under her thumb for a moment and then she just went back to chopping like nothing had happened!"
"He was so red," Jinyoung nodded.
"There's just no way she didn't know she was doing right?!" Hanhae exclaimed.
"Did you see Jinseok and Minkyu though?" Da-hee giggled.
"I don't know if Minkyu is interested in Minah romantically, but he kept on looking at her, especially when she was teaching Minwoo," Jin-kyung nodded.
"I'm jealous," Hanhae chuckled, "I want to live romantic drama moments like that."
"Also, I can't believe she took out a bottle of vinegar from a luxury brand bag."
"She literally stuffed a Prada bag with spices!" Kyuhyun shook with laughter.
"But I think that's what makes her so funny!" Jinyoung chuckled.
"That will definitely leave an impression on everyone," Kyuhyun nodded.
The cast were quick to finish up making the meal thanks to Minah's instructions. Everyone ended up with a bowl of chicken breast and were able to enjoy it with a side of fresh cucumber salad.
"I'm so happy that I ended up in the same island as you," Hyeseon joked, "as much as I like vegetables, eating them ran and unseasoned is really not my type of meal."
The rest of the contestants started nodding.
"Eating the carrots was the hardest thing," Minwoo chuckled.
"Plus they were cut so big," Gyuri joined in, remembering the big chunky pieces of carrot that they had tried to eat.
Minkyu shook his head in humor, "I guess I'm blessed to have been at the same Inferno as Minah since yesterday. She chopped the carrots in small pieces and mixed it together with the chicken breast."
"Wuah, that sounds way much better than what we did," Jinseok sighed, "you should have come to our island to begin with," he gently nudged Minah's shoulder, earning a pretty blush from her.
"I mean, it wasn't much," she tried to say, "plus everyone helped prepare the food so it's not like it was only me. And today too, you guys did most of the work."
"Yeah but you gave the instructions and also brought the condiments," Jinseok interjected, "which I still can't get over."
"Omg, yes," Hyeseon started laughing at the memory, "was that all you got from the hotel?"
"Oh... um... maybe?" Minah's nose twitched at the question.
In the background, you could also hear Jinseok trying to muffle his laugh by pretending to cough.
"Y-yeah! That's all I brought from there!"
[Intercom Chiming]
Singles.
Today, another Paradise couple matching session will take place.
The matching will commence in one hour.
"Wuah," Minah whispered. I just wanted to go and take a nap, she lamented silently.
"In one hour?" Minwoo wondered.
"That's so quick," Gyuri nodded.
Minah, who was just quietly staring at her cup, felt someone touch her shoulder.
"Do you want to go on a walk with me?"
✷ 🎀 𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇'𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈 🎀✷
Can you guess who that was? 🤭🤭🤭