The summer sun was still high in the sky when Yeonjun family arrived at the beach resort.

The air smelled like salt and sunscreen. Waves rolled lazily toward the shore, sparkling under the bright blue sky. Children ran along the sand with plastic buckets, couples walked hand in hand, and somewhere nearby a radio played soft music.

Choi Yeonjun stepped out of the car last. He pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, stretching his arms above his head like he’d been cramped for hours. “Finally,” he muttered. “If we drove one more minute I was going to jump out.”

His older sister snorted from the other side of the car. “Drama queen. You slept half the ride.” Yeonjun ignored her and looked toward the ocean.

The beach stretched wide and bright in front of him. For a moment, Yeonjun just stood there. The ocean always did that to him. Made everything feel quieter inside his head. The endless blue stretching toward the horizon had a strange calming effect, like the world suddenly slowed down just enough for him to breathe properly again.

The wind lifted a few strands of his dark hair, and he squinted slightly behind his sunglasses, watching the sunlight glitter across the waves. Okay… maybe this trip wouldn’t be as boring as he expected.

His family was already unloading bags from the trunk, his father dragging a cooler while his sister struggled with two beach chairs at once.

“Don’t just stand there admiring yourself,” his mother called. “Grab something.” Yeonjun rolled his eyes but walked over anyway, lifting one of the suitcases and slinging it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing.

Their family had rented a small cottage close to the water. But Yeonjun barely lasted ten minutes inside.

The ocean was right there. Calling him. Eventually he slipped back outside, walking down the sandy path that led directly to the beach. The warmth of the sand spread under his feet as he stepped closer to the shoreline.

Families had already claimed spots with colorful umbrellas. Kids built messy sandcastles while teenagers played beach volleyball. Yeonjun walked slowly along the edge of the water, letting the waves brush against his ankles.

The water was colder than it looked. Every time a wave rolled in and brushed over Yeonjun’s ankles, he flinched slightly before getting used to it again. Yeonjun walked with his hands loosely in his pockets, following the thin line where the sea met the sand.

The beach stretched endlessly in both directions.

Somewhere behind him, a group of teenagers shouted as someone missed a volleyball serve. That was when he noticed another family arriving further down the beach. They were louder than most. Someone was arguing about where to set up the umbrella. Another person was laughing while trying to drag a cooler through the sand.

And among them—There was a boy. Around Yeonjun’s age. Messy dark hair. A loose white shirt hanging over black swim trunks. He moved like someone who had grown up near the ocean, completely comfortable in the sand and sun.

He kept walking until the crowds thinned slightly, until the voices blurred into the background noise of the waves but then it happened suddenly.

It arrived in the form of that same boy sprinting across the sand like his life depended on it. Yeonjun barely had time to register what was happening before someone slammed directly into him.

Hard

The impact sent both of them stumbling. Yeonjun lost his balance instantly, his foot slipping in the wet sand as the next wave rushed forward. And a second later—They both went down. Straight into the water. Cold seawater splashed everywhere, soaking Yeonjun from head to toe.

For a moment the world was just salt, foam, and shock. When he finally sat up, dripping and stunned, his sunglasses were gone and his hair was plastered to his forehead. Yeonjun’s first instinct was to glare, but all he could do was sputter, wiping water from his eyes and trying not to swallow any of the salty sea. “What the—” A loud, breathless laugh cut him off. “You… you just ran into me!”