“Good. So that’s how you’re coming at me.”
Though they sprayed water wildly from below, Yechan giggled and dodged excitedly this way and that.
“Ah! I got hit.”
Ian, who had been innocently passing by to the side, got drenched with all that water. But both the person spraying water and the person getting hit were all giggling.
Since they hadn’t prepared for water play, the white t-shirts distributed as sponsorships clung tightly to their bodies.
Seeing Yechan and Hyunsu without their tops on, Siwoo waded through the water and walked up to sit down. He was planning to take off the t-shirt that clung stickily to him. If it had been a different color, he might have kept it on a bit longer, but with his skin color showing through the thin white t-shirt, it seemed like it would look strange instead.
“Yes!! Siwoo-hyung came to this side, so he’s on our team.”
At Ian’s smiling words wearing a rash guard, Luca on the opposite side protested that there was no such thing, but that didn’t change anything.
“Since you called me in, everyone be prepared.”
Siwoo grabbed the hem of his t-shirt with both hands and took it off in one motion, then tossed it. Then he roughly shook out his wet hair with his hands.
“You’re playing water polo? We need to get ready and leave now though?”
At the news that the filming members who had been playing separately had gathered, the PD came out with sparkling eyes. Contrary to the PD’s words, the cameras were quickly set up around the pool.
“Let us play just a little more before we go!”
“How did you divide the teams?”
“We just did it in the order people entered the water. What does the winning team get?”
Bouncing the ball by himself with his hand, Yechan started making a deal with the PD.
“What do you want?”
“Give us lots of spending money when we do the team tours.”
“There are three tour teams, but the game right now is two teams.”
“Oh. You’re right.”
At innocent Yechan’s words, Luca tapped his back and whispered quietly in Yechan’s ear.
“Tell him let’s go eat something expensive for dinner tonight.”
“Buy everything the winning team wants to eat!”
As expected, simple and lively Yechan raised his hand high and spoke loudly, and the PD shook his head. For these renowned stars and precious Alphas to have such modest dreams.
“Hey! I said let’s eat something expensive. What’s good about only the winning team eating everything! What if we lose!”
At Luca’s words playfully continuing to tap and scold Yechan who had said something different from his advice, a small smile formed on Siwoo’s lips. It was such a comfortable and natural atmosphere.
They said everyone had worked with PD-nim at least once, and he was envious of that for no reason.
Something suddenly approached right in front of Siwoo’s eyes as he stood there blankly watching them, topless and shaking out his hair. Startled by the sudden event, Siwoo took a few steps back. Soon confirming it was a camera, he lowered the hand that had been shaking his hair and waved it slightly.
To the camera that didn’t easily back away, he threw a finger heart and sent a hand kiss too.
While Siwoo was making cute expressions and playing around in front of the camera, something was suddenly put over his head out of nowhere.
“Are you crazy?”
Even harsh words reached Siwoo’s ears as he stood there blankly in the sudden situation. His vision was blocked for a moment, but soon what had covered his eyes disappeared. In the place where the camera had been just moments ago was a well-tanned bare chest.
“What are you doing not wearing this? Do I need to dress you?”
Siwoo looked around blankly. The camera director was still at a slightly distant spot. And Luca-hyung, Yechan, and Louis were playing by bouncing the ball. When he turned his head again, he saw Evan looking down at him with a scary expression.
“Why this?”
Siwoo looked down at the dark blue t-shirt put on his body. He remembered that Evan had received a t-shirt of this color this morning. The first thought that came to mind was whether sending finger hearts and hand kisses toward the camera had been the wrong action.
“Where do you fearlessly strip off like that? Don’t you have a rash guard?”
But only after hearing Evan’s continued words did he realize he’d said that because he was topless. A rash guard? Of course he didn’t have one. Because there was no mention of water play. Louis and Ian wearing rash guards were the strange ones. Yechan, Luca-hyung, and Hyunsu-hyung too had all so naturally stood by the pool, taken off their t-shirts, tossed them aside, and entered the water.
“Why would I have a rash guard?”
A sulky feeling suddenly rose up. Honestly, he’d admit what he should admit. His body wasn’t as robust as the Alphas walking around in front of him now. And he didn’t have sculpted muscles that were well-defined.
Still, because he’d consistently danced, he had no excess fat. His body wasn’t one where muscles formed easily, so he didn’t have clearly visible six-pack abs, but he didn’t think it was so terrible that it couldn’t be seen.
“Come in with clothes on. Don’t think about taking them off.”
Along with words like a command, a wide-brimmed hat was placed on Siwoo’s head. He heard a splash sound, and as if he’d never been angry at him, Evan laughed and stylishly hit back the ball Luca-hyung had sent.
Let’s not create unnecessary trouble.
Siwoo looked at Evan, then without complaint put on the t-shirt hanging around his neck. He must have found the sight of him undressed unpleasant. But did he have to say it so seriously like that? The loose fit showing their physique difference wasn’t to his liking, nothing was to his liking. But there was no time to hesitate because of the people waiting for him to come in.
If he wanted revenge, they should be on opposite teams, so why were they on the same team?
“Wow. Hyunsu-hyung! Are you only targeting Louis right now? Louis, wait. I’ll get revenge for you.”
To score points, one had to aim for the opponent’s weak spot. After all, it was faster to target the Omegas than the Alphas who were born with excellent athletic ability. Already for the third time, Louis flailed trying to catch the ball and kept going underwater alone.
“This is really too much. Yechan-ah, Luca-hyung. Punish them!”
Along with Louis’s words as he shook his head vigorously, the ball flew over. The ball that Yechan confidently sent bounced beautifully off Siwoo’s head and went outside.
“Bwahahaha.”
It was a game that couldn’t be played properly. If they’d been made to play soccer or basketball on solid ground, it would have been exciting, but everyone was trying water polo for the first time. Floundering in the water was the first priority, and when they threw their whole body to catch the ball, what followed was diving. The ball often lost direction and flew somewhere helplessly.
“Yechan-ah. It’s war! Evan-hyung and Hyunsu-hyung, what are you doing? You have to protect Louis and me!”
Though his head hit by the ball didn’t hurt, Siwoo stood there blankly in the funny and absurd situation. Ian, who had come next to Siwoo at some point and was touching Siwoo’s head, made the laughter that had barely been contained spread again.
“Ian. You don’t need to protect me though?”
“When there are two Alphas, why is hyung draining your strength?”
“I have good stamina too though?”
“Yes.”
Why did this conversation end so futilely? Ian’s affirmative answer given with a bright smile became a dagger that pierced his heart instead.
He would show them a proper performance no matter what. Though they said Alphas were great, hardworking Betas weren’t to be taken lightly either. Though Siwoo wasn’t usually one to get fired up, an unnecessary stubbornness arose.
Since he swam fairly well too, following the ball around wasn’t a problem.
At first everyone fumbled around and was a mess, but soon they gradually learned with their bodies and the number of times passing the ball increased.
A rare opportunity. Seeing the ball flying straight toward him, Siwoo jumped up with all his might. And though he caught the ball precisely and stylishly, since he lost his body’s balance, falling into the water was natural.
Even as he entered the water with a splash, judging by the cheers he heard, he’d definitely scored a point.
“Yes!!”
Coming up from the water, before he could even wipe his face with his hand, Siwoo staggered at the force of someone hugging him. Fortunately, since they were holding him, he didn’t fall back in, but with that force grabbing and shaking him wildly, he felt like a fluttering leaf.
“Well done. Well done. Well done.”
Did Hyunsu-hyung have this much strength? Until Luca shouted to hurry and play the game, Siwoo flailed in Hyunsu’s embrace.
Since the score went up each time he properly caught the ball coming over, Siwoo, excited for the first time in a while, threw his body around flying everywhere.
“Do it moderately.”
After scoring another point and standing up panting in the water, Siwoo staggered at the force grabbing and pulling his arm.
“Huh?”
“Don’t work so hard.”
Don’t work so hard at what? At Evan’s sudden words, Siwoo looked at him blankly.
“What’s the point of winning?”
What’s the point of winning—there was eating lots of delicious things for dinner, but he’d been having fun laughing and playing for once.
“It’s fun.”
“Do you know how many times you’ve fallen in right now? Is this fun?”
This is fun, of course. Then what’s fun for you?
As they were absorbed in their own conversation in the middle of everything, a ball flying fiercely hit Evan’s head beautifully and bounced away.
“Ah. This is too hard. Who suggested doing this? It was Yechan, right?”
It was good when playing, but Hyunsu, who was drying his hair with a prepared towel, looked at Yechan still remaining alone in the pool playing by bouncing the ball.
“It’s fun though.”
“It is fun. The problem is it’s tiring. Still, we won thanks to our Siwoo.”
Siwoo, who had escaped from the pool and was wringing out water while holding the end of his dripping t-shirt, entered Hyunsu’s embrace again. Did Alphas originally like skinship this much?
Siwoo, who had spent quite a long time in groups, recalled the feelings from that time and stood like a scarecrow waiting for him to let go.
“Now, there’s no time. Everyone hurry up, get ready and come out. We’ll decide the afternoon tour teams while eating lunch. Originally the plan was to finish the tour, come back, and eat dinner together. Let’s just have each assigned team eat dinner and come back.”
At the PD’s urging words as he pushed members still lingering around the pool unable to escape the afterglow indoors, everyone moved without complaint.
“But how do we divide the afternoon teams?”
Except for curious Louis.
