The sun had not yet risen, slowly and unhurriedly climbing over the horizon and illuminating the land brighter and brighter. Darkness lingered in the cracks and among the rocks, unwilling to leave. The sound of the sea seemed like background noise and sounded enchanting and much more magical than the sound of the sea from the speaker of the computer that Hayden turned on for himself - sometimes it helped to relax tense nerves.

but standing on the seashore and listening to the sound of the waves live is much better than he imagined.

You asked Hayden to go to the sea with you - early in the morning, when the sun was just rising and there was no one else - to splash in the water and just be kids for a while. Hayden didn't want to get up in the morning when it was still dark and come here, but how could he resist your persuasion?

In the end, Hayden clearly didn't regret going along with you.

Hey, no, it's not that he really enjoyed building a sand castle with you! And it's not because the gentle breeze was ruffling his blond curls so pleasantly, playing with them!

The wet sand beneath your fingers refused to take the desired shape, sliding to the side. Under your palms, the sand was like a pliable piece of play dough, from which you could make anything, if you knew how to use it. Hayden did not think that building a castle with you would hit his ego so hard. He did not get along with sand as well as you, clumsily trying to give it the desired shape.

"How do you even do that?" Hayden laughed, shaking his hands in frustration and throwing away clumps of sand. He hadn't originally intended to ask you for advice, but he was definitely not going to lag behind you in building a sand castle now!

"My castle is like a piece of..." Hayden trailed off, not quite saying "shit" and biting his tongue under your stern gaze. "Ahem... my castle is just awful compared to yours. Maybe you could share a secret, huh?"