Chapter 43: Road Trip

*Rena*

"So, where are we off to now?" Sayuri asked, giggling as she jumped in her seat like a little kid.

Purpura snickered. "Seems Sou isn't the only one with a childish mindset here."

"I'm not a child," Sayuri said. She and Souta both pouted.

"Nor am I!" Souta said, huffing.

The new guy snickered. "I said 'mindset'."

I smirked. I was liking this new guy.

Sehun huffed. "Regret bringing him now, Sou?"

Souta looked down and shook his head. He snickered. "We banter like this all the time."

Sayuri smiled. "You must be close."

He blushed slightly.

I narrowed my eyes at Souta. That guy... How many guys did he like? Seriously, did no one but me see through his innocent act? Surely Ava had to.

"We're heading to the water park," Kai said, smiling.

I frowned. "A water park? Who decided that?" I glared at Souta in front of me.

He shook his head. "It wasn't me! I left the planning to the others!"

My boyfriend snickered. "Kai decided."

Ava nodded.

Sayuri sighed. "I wasn't sure if you would like it, but he insisted."

I grumbled. "Kai!"

My twin brother laughed slightly. "I figured this is a good chance to do some rehabilitation training. We... Can't exactly afford a pool, so I figured..."

I smiled slightly at my brother and looked down at my chair. Kai, always thinking of me. Was transporting through this limo also his idea? Or Sekin's? The limo was thankfully wide enough to fit my chair, and it had contraptions to lock it into place too. I felt weird being in the middle, though. Yet, the others hardly paid me much attention, talking amongst themselves. It felt as if I were intruding.

I gasped as I felt a hand over mine. Sekin smiled. "I can help you learn how to swim."

My cheeks warmed.

"He's a great swimmer!" Sou exclaimed.

Purpura hummed and looked down.

Sehun smiled. "What? Can you not swim?"

The amethyst eyed boy grumbled. "W-who said that I couldn't? I'm perfect. I can do anything I put my mind into."

Perfect? Wow, this guy had a big head or what? Even my lovely Sekin had his flaws. I... had a lot of them. My hands curled around my kneecaps. Kai used to tell me not to see my health issues as a flaw, but sometimes, I couldn't help it. My legs and frail body made me feel different from everyone. Constantly moving and getting too sick to go to school made that worse.

I felt a pat on my back, this time, it was my brother.

"If you don't want to go to the water park, we can go elsewhere," he said, frowning.

I shook my head and smiled. "It's fine."

My eyes returned to the ground. Self-pitying was maybe my worst issue. If only I had the confidence of Purpura, or even that of Sekin and Ava. I'd tried to get over it by acting assertive like Ava did, but I was not anywhere as good at it as she was.

"You sure?" Kai asked.

I nodded. While, I didn't think I would be able to do much, I didn't want to stop my brother and the others from having fun. I'd already taken a lot of Kai's time. The only time he had gotten to spend with his new friends was at school. While I didn't like them, he sure did. I didn't want him to get hurt, though. It was hard to balance that feeling with what he wanted.

The same went for my boyfriend. Sekin and I often got into fights because I would get jealous of Souta. But I couldn't help it. I knew Sekin liked that boy back. It was as clear as day. Yet, Sekin still went out with me. It was likely out of pity, but I didn't want to lose him either. If I had to go through with this to please Kai and my boyfriend, I would.

Sekin sighed. "You don't need to push yourself, Ren," he whispered, patting my arm.

I smiled at him and patted his hand. "I'll be okay, Sek."

He scratched the back of his head. "Alright, but if you start to look ill, Kai and I are going to take you back home."

"Okay," I said. Arguing with him would do me no good. Both of us were equally stubborn. He would usually be the one to resign himself after our back and forth, but I doubted he would in this case. When it came to my health, both my boyfriend and my brother were unyielding.

He smiled and hugged me from the side.

"Aww, how cute," Sayuri said, leaning toward us.

Sehun chuckled.

I pouted as my face felt as if it were on fire.

"Don't tease them, Sayu, Sehun," Ava said, sighing.

I smiled slightly. At least someone was on my side.

Sekin let go of me and laughed nervously. "Sorry about that."

"Why are you apologizing? Sayu and Sehun were the ones teasing us," I said.

"I was just making a comment," Sayu said, frowning.

I sighed. "It's okay."

"Oh, we're here," Kai said, grinning.

We stepped out of the car and into the large parking lot. It was quite lively for a weekend morning.

"Well, let's go in," Kai said, pointing at the huge indoor waterpark.

Kai smiled as he and Sekin opened the door and help me get out. The others took the other exit.

"Woah, it's huge!" Souta said, stepping out of the car.

He barely noticed? Was he on the slow side? Well, he had been busy chatting away with Purpura for most of the ride, explaining what a waterpark was like.

Purpura nodded, eyes wide.

Sekin smiled. "They say it's the biggest in the world."

Sayuri whistled. "That's pretty awesome!"

"Yeah, it sure is," Sehun said, chuckling.

Ava grabbed her girlfriend's hand. "Come on, let's go get changed!"

Purpura gasped as we all got out.

Sekin patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, we can get you some swim trunks at the shop." He glanced at me. "You too, Rena."

My face reddened. I glanced at Kai. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you have no swim clothes to begin with, so I figured we could get you some here."

The girls backpedaled. "Hmph, we can't leave the boys to decide for you," Ava said, putting her hands on her hips.

Sayuri nodded. "We can help you pick something super cute!"

I blushed. I wasn't sure. The two were lesbians, so having them help me pick out a swimsuit was not much better than the guys helping me. If I didn't dislike Sou so much, I would've felt more comfortable with him around.

"Leave it to me," Kai said, smiling. He narrowed his eyes at my boyfriend. "I fear if you pick it, it'll be something too provocative."

"Hey! I'm not a pervert!"

I giggled and blushed. "Well, sometimes you can be."

He gulped. "D-don't say that! You're way worse than I am!"

My face reddened more.

Souta smirked. "Oh? Should've figured the one who called me a pervert was herself one."

I grumbled. I wanted to whack the kid over the head with a fan. We were not the same! Were we?

Kai sighed and pushed my chair forward. He smiled at me. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

Hopefully, but I doubted I would be having much fun. Ugh, maybe I was just being a debbie downer...