* * *

It was late at night when they arrived in Koh Samui.

A five-star resort complex with a sleek, modern atmosphere, and within it, the most romantic private pool villa had been assigned as Hari’s accommodation.

Even at a glance it was breathtakingly beautiful, but with a grueling schedule ahead the next day, there was no time to take it in leisurely. She needed to shake off the exhaustion of the long flight.

Jisang checked Hari’s room thoroughly one last time before returning to his own.

He and the other staff members were staying in the main hotel building.

The next day.

Hari was up before dawn, finished with hair and makeup, and the photo shoot began early in the morning.

Six outfits in total. Four locations in total.

One shot at the resort’s infinity pool, two at Maenam Beach on the north side of Koh Samui, one on a yacht at midday, and one each at a row of shops and a beach pub at dusk.

The schedule allowed two days, but the editor in charge had asked them to try to wrap everything up in one day if possible, since rain was forecast for the next.

If they finished early, Hari would have the whole next day free, so she had no reason to refuse.

Perched on the railing of the infinity pool for a shot, Hari listened as the photographer made a careful, tentative request.

“Hari. Could you be a little more conscious of your eyes? The concept is ‘a holiday with your first love,’ so, as though the person taking your photo right now is your lover.”

Hari slipped into character without missing a beat.

It wasn’t difficult. The person she could imagine as a lover was right there, watching her.

Thanks to that, the shoot was going smoothly until the yacht brought a crisis.

“Hari, lean back a little more. Try to look relaxed.”

“Like this?”

“Just a little more.”

The photographer wanted her to release the tension in her body and lean against the yacht’s railing.

Hari, grasping only half of what was meant, shifted herself back a little at a time.

“Isn’t she leaning too far?”

“She’s going to fall.”

A few staff members were murmuring when, sure enough, Hari tipped backward in an instant.

“Eek!”

A short scream, and then the sound of a splash.

There were three safety personnel stationed on the yacht, of course.

But before any of them could throw a float, Jisang had already sprinted to the edge and thrown himself into the water. It was a near-perfect, elegant dive.

‘Can’t breathe.’

Even as she sank, Hari didn’t think she was going to die.

Acting on instinct would have meant flailing, but she was sharp enough to recognize that flailing would drain her energy and make things worse.

She had heard that going limp would make the body rise on its own, but whether from inexperience or tension she couldn’t control, she kept sinking deeper.

The increasing pressure of the water made it harder and harder to hold her breath.

Her clouding mind, even now, found it oddly remarkable that sunlight could filter down so beautifully beneath the surface.

And then, cutting through that light, she saw a man diving into the water.

Watching Jisang swim toward her with that effortlessly graceful form, Hari let out the breath she had been carefully holding.

‘This man really does keep saving me, over and over.’

Almost as though he was born to keep me alive.

Jisang wrapped his firm arm around her waist. Hari finally let her body go slack and leaned into him without resistance.

Even with her breath running out, his face was clear to her.

She herself was strangely calm about having fallen in, but this man looked like he was terrified something might happen to her.

“Pah.”

When the two of them broke the surface, a float was thrown to them.

With the float’s help they climbed safely back onto the yacht, and the staff gathered around.

“Hari, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry. That was an unreasonable thing to ask of you.”

“That must have been terrifying. Do you think you can keep shooting?”

Jisang climbed up after her and moved past the group as though nothing had happened, finding a quiet spot off to the side.

He pushed his wet hair back with one hand.

Watching the water dripping from his hair, Hari swallowed.

Unaware that her entire attention was on him, Jisang began casually undoing the buttons of his soaked shirt.

The wet fabric clinging to his skin was already breathtakingly attractive, but when he pulled the shirt off entirely and revealed the solid lines of his bare torso, every person on the yacht, regardless of gender, turned to look.

Whether he was aware of the stares or not, Jisang wrung the wet shirt out, shook it a couple of times, and put it back on.

Before he buttoned it, he ran a hand through his damp, falling hair with the same casual indifference, and the sight of it was beautiful enough to make her dizzy.

‘Oh…… I like Cha Jisang.’

There was no denying it anymore.

Every nerve in her body stood on end around Cha Jisang, and her body, which had always been awkward with physical contact from men, received his touch without resistance.

There were moments now when she felt uneasy if he wasn’t nearby, and her heart had already been reaching for him with quiet urgency.

Acknowledging the deep feeling that had taken root inside her, she found, strangely, that it made her want to cry.

It felt like she had finally become an adult.

From that point on, she didn’t know how she got through the rest of the shoot. But the photographer surprised her with a compliment.

“Hari. Your eyes and your whole presence are so much more alive than before.”

He said it was exactly right for the concept of a holiday with a first love.

‘Of course it is.’

Because this isn’t acting. Because I’ve genuinely fallen in love. She answered only in her heart and smiled quietly.

She had been stealing glances at his face between shots, and the look in her eyes had come from the flutter of that. Hari decided to keep that to herself, her secret alone, until the very end.

* * *

The production team had arranged a lavish dinner party for Hari, who had gone without food all day.

She hadn’t grimaced once through the relentless schedule. Every member of the staff came to her one by one to express their gratitude, and by the end of it Hari was even more drained.

She had barely managed to find a seat at a table overlooking the sea when Jisang set a plate of various foods in front of her and pulled out a chair to sit.

“Eat.”

“I’ve eaten enough.”

“If you drink without eating, you’ll pay for it with a hangover.”

“I’m only having this much champagne.”

“Eat anyway.”

Jisang even picked up her fork, speared a piece of apple mango from the plate, and held it out to her.

Hari had no choice but to take the fork, and in doing so her hand brushed his, and she couldn’t hide the small flinch.

Her heart lurched wildly.

Jisang watched as though waiting to confirm she would eat. Hari put the apple mango in her mouth and stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye.

She had been trying to look without being caught, but their eyes met anyway, and to keep the atmosphere from going awkward she had to pull something out to say.

“……You’re a good swimmer.”

Jisang shrugged as though the observation were too obvious to warrant a response.

“I was in the navy.”

“Could you teach someone, then?”

“I’d be better than most swim instructors.”

Hari swooped in like a hawk.

“Then teach me.”

Jisang accepted it with surprising ease.

“Sure. We have plenty of time tomorrow.”

But Hari made a show of draining the rest of her champagne in one go and set the glass down with a deliberate thud.

Then she stood up and announced boldly.

“I’ll go change into my swimsuit.”

“……Pardon?”

“Meet me at the infinity pool.”

“Now?”

Jisang lifted his wrist to check the time, then looked around, and lowered his voice as though worried someone might hear.

“There are too many people watching. The main pool lights go off at nine as well.”

“Really?”

Unfortunately for Jisang, those reasons alone were not enough to break Hari’s resolve.

“Then my room will do.”

“What?”

“My room is a pool villa.”

He couldn’t quite hide his surprise, a slight crease appearing at the bridge of his nose, and Hari pressed her advantage.

“Go change into your swimsuit and come right over. Understood?”

Her steps as she headed back to her villa were light and bouncy, full of barely contained excitement.

Just you wait, Cha Jisang. I’m going to seduce you, starting now.

And I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

* * *

Hari had been given all the outfits from today’s photo shoot as gifts from the sponsors.

Three swimsuits among them, and Hari chose the white bikini.