Lie Again! Chapter 103

<Chapter 103. In the Middle of the Summer (2)>

 

The grocery shopping party returned just as the round, burning sun began to crawl toward the horizon. Riley, having placed a large paper bag in the arms of each kid who had followed her out, instructed them to leave the bags in the kitchen.

 

As the sound of presence reached them, Joey, Ruth, and Dustin emerged from the pool wrapped in towels to greet the group.

 

As Emily turned around after placing a paper bag on the dining table, her eyes met Ruth’s as he entered the living room. After a moment of unnatural freezing, Ruth bluntly avoided her gaze and walked toward Riley.

 

Immediately pouting, Emily glared at his retreating back. Olivia came out of the kitchen, linked her arm with Emily’s, and suggested they change out of their sticky clothes first. Only then did Emily’s eyes drop from the boy who had turned his back on her.

 

In the blue eyes of the doll-like girl as she whirled toward the second-floor stairs, a single drop of blue sorrow fell. Her expression wavered precariously, like a cup filled to the brim with water.

 

“Where are Jin and Evan?”

 

Riley asked, fanning herself with her hand as she faced the kids approaching the kitchen. Due to the sweltering weather, beads of sweat were forming on the bridge of her nose.

 

“Those two went out for a walk by themselves.”

 

It had been quite a while since the two had slipped away by themselves and vanished. They had been fooling around by the shore just a while ago, but when the others opened their eyes after a brief nap, they had disappeared again.

 

Hearing Ruth’s words, Riley marveled at how good it was to be young in this heat, clicking her tongue before telling him to give them a call.

 

“Riley, do we have more people coming later?” 

 

It feels like at least ten more people need to show up… 

 

Dustin muttered while rummaging through the paper bags containing the groceries. Still unable to erase the sensation of the hot dogs that had filled his stomach earlier, he looked weary at the sight of the enormous amount of meat.

 

“Oh, please. When I was your age, I feel like I could have digested iron.”

 

“Whoa! Are all of these fireworks?”

 

Joey let out an exclamation as she opened a large box on the floor. It was filled with bundles of sparklers.

 

“So there was another American here who is plagued with a disease that forces them to pop fireworks whenever July 4th comes around…” 

 

Ruth, wearing the same expression as Dustin, shook his head. He had known since Thanksgiving, but it was clear that Ivy’s “big hand” for hosting was a maternal inheritance.

 

“I wanted to buy more Roman candles too, but they were all sold out and only one was left.”

 

“It’s okay! we watched everyone else’s for free.”

 

Joey smiled brightly and pointed outside past the balcony. The faint sound of gunpowder popping could still be heard coming from the beach.

 

“Wow, Riley, we wouldn’t be able to use all of these even if we stayed up all night.” 

 

“Then we’ll just stay up all night.”

 

As Jonathan organized the supplies and marveled at the roughly one hundred sparklers, Riley gave a hearty shrug as if to ask what the problem was.

 

* * *

 

By the time Jin and Evan arrived, the barbecue party was already in full swing. Jeers poured out toward the two, who were carrying a green cat plush and had disheveled hair as if they had been caught in a heavy wind.

 

“Go away! Go away!” 

 

“Boo! Coming on a trip together and then disappearing just the two of you!”

 

Evan, with a shameless face, led the blushing and laughing Jin through the crowd to squeeze into a spot. However, before he could even look around the table, he was caught by the scruff of the neck by Jonathan.

 

“Where do you think you’re sitting, punk? If you have a conscience, get over here and work.”

 

Jonathan stood before the barbecue grill, clicking his tongs together. Ruth and Dustin were already working hard, grilling and carrying meat amidst the dense smoke.

 

Seeing this, Evan let out a single sigh and stood up to join them.

 

“Jin, what were you doing?”

 

“We went to the beach out front and… well, we went on a big exploration.”

 

Ivy whispered the question to Jin, who was laughing as she watched Jonathan and Evan bicker over who was useless.

 

Jin, who had been reflexively answering the questions easily, paused and gave a wide smile, substituting the word “exploration” for their three or four-hour absence. It seemed she wanted to keep the half-day date as something belonging only to the two of them.

 

“What is this thing?”

 

It seemed Jin might spill the details if Ivy coaxed her a bit more, but instead, Ivy pointed to the ugly doll sitting on Jin’s lap.

 

The bizarre green cat looked exactly as if someone had mashed together potatoes that had started to sprout and then stuck two ears on top.

 

“Trophy. Isn’t it cute?”

 

“…As long as it’s cute to your eyes, Jin, that’s all that matters.”

 

Ivy looked strangely at Jin, who was holding the cat’s short front paws and waving them around.

 

Teenagers in love are suspicious creatures.

 

Ivy gave up on further questions and decided to just eat meat. Conveniently, another love-blinded teenager was placing a mountain-high plate of barbecue in front of Ivy and Jin.

 

The massive amount of meat that had weary Dustin was, as Riley promised, completely vanished into the kids’ iron-clad stomachs.

 

The pile of sparklers suffered the same fate. At the shore where they all walked together after dinner to digest their food, the kids played endlessly with the sparklers.

 

The thin wires became swords, magic wands, and letters embroidered in the air.

 

Against the dark navy sky, the crackling, sparkling embers scattered on the night breeze.

 

The rushing waves, a wide horizon that opened up the soul with not a single building blocking the view, and the sparklers burning one by one in the kids’ hands like fireflies.

 

Jin moved her eyes slowly, touring everything surrounding her. The rugged sea, the palm trees dancing in unison whenever the wind blew, the vivid stars lighting up the sky of the secluded Palm Beach, and the people bursting into laughter with stars in their eyes.

 

Joyful smiles were fixed on everyone’s faces. The boys were busy playing with the wires as if they were swords, while the girls took photos of each other despite their bickering.

 

Even Ivy, who had been afraid to hold one at first, was now waving hers around, staring at the light as if possessed. Beside her, Riley was lighting a new sparkler and handing it to the child every time the light faded.

 

Every scene was etched into her eyes like a photograph. Click, click, every time she closed and opened her eyes.

 

Strangely, her heart felt full. As if every one of these moments would remain in her memory forever.

 

Sizzle.

 

A hand approached and lightly bumped its sparkler against the one Jin was blankly holding. The two lights intertwined and burned brightly.

 

Jin turned her head and looked at the boy who had come to her side without her noticing. He was smiling, resting his chin on his hand with his elbow propped on his knee. His eyes, half-hidden by his large hand, curved gently toward Jin. The green eyes reflecting the beautifully twinkling light of the sparklers made her heart flutter.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

The two, staring at each other in silence, burst into a small laugh at the same time. There was no reason for it.

 

Jin moved her hand and playfully bumped her wire, its light fading, against Evan’s. The sparks reaching their end scattered their final embers into the air.

 

She knew. Nothing is eternal.

 

Movies end, stories reach their conclusion, and trains arrive at the terminal.

 

Just as love fades, memories scatter, and connections flow away in vain.

 

Even the belief that today, this night, this instant will become an eternity will likely grow distant in the future. Someday, only a vague feeling might remain, thinking, ‘There was definitely a moment like that, one I thought I’d remember.’

 

But Jin decided to try telling a lie. That this love would be endlessly vivid, that this connection would always be in its place. When the suspicion that it might have already ended raised its head, she would lie, and lie again, until she finally made it like the truth.

 

Even if this moment fades in the distant future, the fact that a moment so brilliant it seemed it would never change once pierced through her life will remain unchangeable.

 

“Hey, hey! I’m serious!”

 

A scream rang out from the distance. Lifting her gaze, she saw Dustin and Jonathan lifting Ruth by his arms and legs, carrying him toward the sea.

 

“If I go in, you guys are coming with—!”

 

The foam surged high. Ultimately, the two of them tossed him into the ocean. Ruth’s futile threat was submerged along with him into the seawater.

 

Ruth, standing up abruptly while soaking wet from head to toe, charged menacingly toward the fleeing Dustin and Jonathan. Watching the persistent chase, Jin let out a chuckle.

 

“Boys really like that kind of thing.”

 

“Jin, you forget sometimes.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m a boy who likes that kind of thing, too.”

 

“You, not again!”

 

Noticing what he was about to do, Jin stood up without delay and ran across the sandy beach. Evan, following leisurely behind her, shrugged his shoulders as if he had no such intention, but Jin did not let down her guard. She had too many memories of being fooled by Evan to trust him so easily.

 

However, it wasn’t Evan who stopped the fleeing Jin, but the others.

 

“It’s really hot today, isn’t it?”

 

Joey and Ruth, who had turned into soaked seaweed at some point after being caught by the boys, blocked Jin’s path. Their eyes gleamed like water ghosts with the single-minded thought that they couldn’t die alone. A pale Jin took a hesitant step back.

 

“No, I’m not hot at all right now, it’s actually perfect—!”

 

“Catch her!”

 

With Joey’s shout as a signal, the water ghosts nearby rushed in and grabbed Jin’s arms and legs.

 

Following a high-pitched scream, the foam rose refreshingly.