The park was huge. It being a Saturday morning, most of the people there were families with young children, and I thought the eight of us looked rather out of place.
I looked around us, taking in the surroundings. There was a water feature running through the whole park: a waterfall-style fountain at one end with a meandering, shin-deep “river” that ran from it to a gentle fountain where children could play. There was also a bicycle rental store, a playground, a snack store and the rest of the area was an open space to play and to fly kites.
“Yeah! Let’s have fun!” Woohyun cried.
We rode bicycles, had ice-cream, and played in the water. While playing in the water, the boys started to get rough, and they began jumping across the wide, flowing “river” and pushing the younger ones like Myungsoo and Sungjong into the water whenever they could. Hoya was pushed in a few times as well, and I laughed. Sungjong, being the youngest, was pushed in the most, and even when he put on his shoes and said he wasn’t going to play, Sunggyu pushed him in and he fell, getting all wet.
“Ahh! Hyungs!!!” He groaned, pulling a crying face. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him when all his hyungs did was laugh.
Hoya ended up being pushed in by Sungyeol, and he just sat in there, with the water nearly up to his chest. I stretched out my hand to help him out, but once he got hold of my hand, he suddenly pulled, and I fell in. I screamed, both in frustration and for fun, and he caught me, chuckling to himself. I got all wet too, and honestly I was glad I had decided to wear a dark-coloured T-shirt that day. I hit him, and he laughed.
“Yah, yah, we don’t need you two to be so lovey-dovey over there,” Woohyun called, leaping over us. Once his left foot landed on the other side, Hoya grabbed it, causing him to lose his balance and land in the water with a splash. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt, and he laughed it off.
After playing for a long time, they started getting tired. Everyone had gotten soaked with the water, and I wondered if perhaps there was much less water in the fountain because of us. I was thankful we didn’t get into trouble for that.
There was a raised, sloping platform that resembled a concrete hill, for landscaping purposes, but we all lay on it in a row – Sunggyu, Woohyun, Myungsoo, Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Hoya, me and then Sungjong – to dry off in the sun. I chatted with Sungjong as the boys started to nod off one by one, and soon Sungjong did too. I sat back up, slowly stroking Hoya’s hair to get it out of his eyes. I smiled at his sleeping face, then looked out at all the other people around. Parents playing with their children, teaching them to ride a bike, or fly a kite – things I faintly remember doing with my own parents before I got old enough to take care of myself. A tear escaped my eye, and I quickly wiped it away, smiling at the little children who ran past. Staring off into the distance, I lost myself in my thoughts.
Sunggyu was the first to wake up, and he yawned loudly while stretching. My attention turned to him, and he looked around before looking at me.
“Oh, Sujeong-ah~” He laughed embarrassedly. “Did we all fall asleep?”
I nodded and laughed. “But we should head home soon. Should we wake them up?” I was already pretty much dry, but I was sure that the boys’ backs were not.
“Ah, yes. We’d better dry off.”
I immediately turned to Hoya and placed a kiss next to his eye, where he would feel it easily. Then, I poked Sungjong in his side and he woke up with a yowl. I laughed and ran over to Sunggyu’s side before either of them could see it was me. I busied myself with trying to wake up the sleeping log Dongwoo while they shouted at each other.
“Yah! Hoya-hyung! Did you poke me?!”
“I didn’t! Why would I poke you?!”
I giggled to myself as I poked Dongwoo. He didn’t even move.
“He won’t wake up like that,” Myungsoo said as he stretched. “Let me take care of it.”
“Sujeong-ah, can you resolve that, please?” Sunggyu asked as he pointed to Hoya and Sungjong. Sungjong had his arms folded, while Hoya simply scratched his head.
“Sungjongie~” I called, poking his side as I approached. He nearly screeched and jumped aside.
“Noona! It was you, wasn’t it?” He said with a pout. I laughed and turned to kiss Hoya’s cheek.
“Good morning, sunshines,” I teased, messing up Sungjong’s hair.
“Yah! Lee Sungjong! Why aren’t you mad at her too?”
“I can’t be mad at noona,” the maknae replied, sticking out his tongue.
“Why you little—!”
Eventually, they dried off and we were all headed home. Hoya and I walked home, while the rest took a bus. It was already about five, and the while the sun still shone brightly, the weather was slowly beginning to cool down. Because I hadn’t slept, I found myself getting sleepy on the way home.
“You look tired,” Hoya noted worriedly. “Will you fall sick?”
“No, no, I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep like that in the middle of nowhere.” I waved it off like it was nothing, but then I stumbled a little.
“Aish, come on,” he said, and without warning he stopped in front of me, with his back facing me. “Get on.”
I hesitated, but he insisted, and soon we were headed home with me on his back. Once home, he kissed me goodbye and told me to get some rest.
I took a shower and got changed, then I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. It had been a fun day, and I finally got to see the fun-loving side of Infinite once more. Particularly, I had seen a different, playful side to the usually charismatic leader that day, and it made me realise that no matter what, we were all still growing up, and that sometimes the decisions we made, even the leaders’ decisions, could be either too ambitious or just not the right decisions. I decided there and then to be a better manager to the best of my ability, and with that, I fell peacefully asleep.
