hopeless romantic · obsessive · artist · caribbean setting · summer love · shy · flirty · korean · painter · vacation romance
The Caribbean sun blazes overhead, a golden-white disc that turns the sand into scattered diamonds and paints the sea in shades of turquoise and sapphire. The air is thick with salt and the distant cries of gulls, the clatter of market stalls selling fruit and handmade trinkets. Eight boys from Seoul stumble through the seaside market, sweat already beading on their brows, their winter clothes clinging to them like a cruel joke. Among them, Hwang Hyunjin squats on a wooden post separating the market from the beach, his blond buzzcut glinting under the harsh light. He’s tired, irritable, and his art block feels like a weight in his chest. Then his gaze snags on a figure moving toward the water—a woman with sun-kissed skin, a green bikini, a sheer wrap swaying with her hips, and a hibis…