Notice: (*/)- means change narrator.
Everything is a work of fiction. The names, places, events, are all a work of fiction.
It's summer. The wind is blowing perfectly on my face and through my hair. I honestly prefer the season of summer, because I leave the country to go travel somewhere. So right now I'm in the south of Italy with my family. Enjoying the beaches and the lovely sceneries. My name is Kang Dahye, and yes I'm Korean. I'm turning 16 this fall. And by the start of the classes I'll be in highschool which is kind of a big deal for me since I'll be moving to a new school and we're also moving houses. I have two older siblings, they're twins, their names are Dojin and Minjae. And I also have a younger sister named Hyein, she's 3 years younger than me. At the moment we are on a yacht on the way to see free diving.
"Dahye-ya!" my mom calling for me from below the deck. I was tanning on the top deck. "Dahye-ya. Come here, let's eat." she calls for me one more time. I stood up and put my shirt on. I went downstairs to join them for lunch. I sat down while staring at the food. It was clear that I was hungry, I was just so busy daydreaming that I didn't feel hungry at all. I started eating the smoked salmon and it tasted like heaven. My brothers and my sister were sitting beside me and they were also eating. The twins are 3 years older than me. My parents sitting in front of us and they were also eating. "Do you want some wine yeobo?"("Yeobo" is the term married couples to adress each other) my dad asked my mom. "Wine already? It's still mid day. I might not get to free dive later." my mom said. My dad just laughed at her "Then I'll drink by myself... What about you three? Do you want some refreshments?" my dad looked at us. "Can I drink wine?" Dojin asked playfully. "That is if you want to go to jail for underaged drinking." my dad said. Dojin laughed and said "Then just iced tea for me." "Me too." Minjae and Hyein said. "I'll just have iced lemonade" I said.
Hours later we arrived at the location and I started to put on my snorkels and freediving fins. I jumped in the water first and my brothers followed after me. My mom also joined us. Dad and Hyein stayed on the boat since they weren't as interested to be in the water. As I was wondering under the ocean, I could hear nothing but the water. This is what I love the most whenever I'm swimming... It was because I couldn't hear a thing. The world goes quiet all of a sudden and all I could see was silent swimming creatures. The more I swam deeper, the more fishes started to also swim beside me.
It's night time now and we were staying at an Airbnb that was beside the beach. I'm in my bedroom lying down while chatting with my friends in our group chat. We were all excited for highschool, we're going to the same school but my house is just farther from them now. Suddenly our conversation shifted to some seonbaes("Seonbae" is the term koreans use to call people who are older than them in school or organization). School hasn't started yet but I'm learning so much about it already and also about people I haven't met yet. I laughed as I read their messages. I put down my phone and went to the bathroom to change into my bikini again for a night swim in the Airbnb's private pool.
I went outside to where the pool was. The pool had lights underneath the waters and just at the other side of the pool, it was the view of the beach. The moonlight reflected on the sea waters. I sat down at the edge of the pool to dip my feet first and stared at the pitch black sea and I could only hear the waves in my ear. I exhaled as I start to dip my whole body in the water.
The next few days, we spent our days just going around and venturing around the south of Italy. My dad prefers country sides than the city when we visit foreign countries. He said it's much peaceful. Today I asked my parents to go around town alone and they allowed me to go. I was walking on th streets alone carrying a digital camera to use for photography. I was wearing a white beach long skirt and a white tube top and paired it with regular slippers. This is my first time in the south of Italy, so I wanted to take pictures of the scenery before we leave tomorrow. Minutes after walking I saw a store that sells beach jewelries and some beach wear too. I went inside to maybe buy some souvenirs for my friends. For myself I bought 3 rings and 4 sets of earings and a necklace. For my friends I bought them each a pair of earing and a necklace. I also bought some for my sister Hyein.
The next day, it's time to go home. We were in the airport waiting for our time to board the plane. I was on my phone while my sister Hyein clinging on my left arm because she was still sleepy. We woke up at 5am to travel 5 hours to the capital of Italy to catch our flight back home. My dad was getting impatient because our flight got delayed for an hour. We woke up so early but still didn't get to board on time. We were all exhausted and just wanted to sleep. My mom was getting a coffee from a café inside the airport. I'm not really a big fan of coffee so mom just bought dad and my brothers coffee. I was just busy on my phone and posting the pictures I took from yesterday's walk, I captioned the post to "ci vediamo la prossima volta" means "see you next time" in Italian.
I can't imagine a summer without catching a flight so early in the morning. That feeling of the cold water in the morning while washing my face and an endless thought of what to do this summer. It all comes to an end and a new season slowly comes near.