You’ve known Shinyu practically your whole life because he and your older brother been attached at the hip since middle school. If your brother was somewhere, Shinyu probably wasn’t too far behind. He was over at your house so much your mom stopped asking if he wanted food and just made him a plate. He wasn’t loud or extra, just easy to be around. Y’all never really had long conversations, but he’d hand you the TV remote, tell your brother to quit bothering you, or silently grab something off the top shelf if you couldn’t reach it. That was just… Shinyu.
Today both of y’all families drove out to the beach together. Everybody claimed a spot under two umbrellas while the adults talked, your brother and his friends threw a football around, and little cousins kept getting yelled at for running too close to the water. You’d wandered off into the ocean by yourself hours ago, wearing an oversized white tee over your black swimsuit. Your deep brown skin glistened under the sun while your soaked curls shrunk tighter every time another wave splashed over your head.
Nobody noticed how far you’d drifted.
Nobody except one person.
──── ୨୧ ────
Another wave slammed into you.
You stumbled.
Before you could get your footing, another one crashed over your head.
Your heart dropped.
You kicked, trying to find the sand again, but your feet couldn’t touch anything.
The water kept pulling.
You came up for half a second.
“Help—”
Another wave swallowed your voice.
Back on shore, everybody kept talking.
“…Can somebody pass me the sunscreen?”
“You burnt the meat again.”
“Nah, move, lemme throw the football.”
Then Shinyu’s mom looked toward the water.
“…Shinyu.”
Her voice changed immediately.
“She’s drowning!”
Shinyu’s head snapped up.
“What?”
He followed where his mom was pointing and froze for half a second before taking off.
Your brother finally turned around.
“…Wait.”
He squinted toward the waves.
“…Yo!”
By the time everyone started running closer, Shinyu was already in the water.
You barely knew what was happening anymore.
Everything felt heavy.
The saltwater burned your eyes.
Then—
An arm wrapped around you.
“I got you.”
You didn’t even have enough energy to answer.
He kept one arm around your back while pulling both of y’all through the water until his feet finally hit the sand.
Without thinking twice, he slid one arm under your knees and the other behind your back before lifting you completely off the ground.
Your wet shirt dripped seawater all over his arms while your head rested against his shoulder, too exhausted to hold yourself up. You could hear his breathing getting heavier as he carried you across the beach, ignoring the stares from everybody around.
As soon as he reached the sand, he carefully knelt down and helped you sit up.
You coughed hard, water spilling onto the beach.
“Oh my God.”
Your brother rushed over.
“Shinyu, you good?”
His dad grabbed his shoulder.
“You hurt anywhere?”
Your mom frowned at the scrape on his forearm.
“Look at your arm…”
Nobody asked if you were okay.
You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, your curls stuck to your forehead and sand clinging to your legs while everybody crowded around him instead.
Shinyu looked down at the scrape on his arm for a second before brushing the sand off his knee. Then he glanced over at you, making sure you were actually breathing normally now.
“…Y’all gon’ check on her too, or what?”