Week 4 // Yuna & Chaeryeong - Pool

A hundred years on, and Tranquility Base is no less fitting a name than when the first steps were taken on this very spot. It turns out that two hundred and forty thousand miles is the answer to the question of just how far you have to run to escape the troubles of normal life. Even among the gentrification, a haven of calm prevails, and all the excitement of the far-off metropolises never really makes it here.

Star treatment takes on a meaning up here that's never achieved down below. You take majesty in the sight of a full Earth rising over the horizon, the celestial theatre of shooting stars as the meteor showers pass by, and the luxury of knowing that the very place you're standing in is the greatest historical site known to mankind.

So when you gaze at planet Earth from outer space, take heart in the knowledge that you're looking at a place that most of the people here are only visiting to escape.

A giant leap for mankind, and for Yuna, a small step into the pool at Tranquility Base Hotel.

A space-faring interloper in the heated, still waters - she's an enigma in a bikini. A girl of such impossible proportions that are only contested by her companion. A head turner in a space where there's only one head to turn, and turn it you do.

She sinks into the nebula of tranquility and drifts away from the troubles of a life where not everyone understood that when you've got it, you flaunt it. There's too much gravity down there, in more ways than one.

You watch her surface from the water; water flows off her body as she takes steps back up onto the deck. You thought that the stars were the most beautiful things up here, but her smile is of a quality you can't quantify.

"You're the first other guest we have seen here," she states - a comment more probing than it sounds. Just what exactly did you do to earn a suite on the Moon?

"Business trip," you answer - and that's not quite a lie.

"Business? Up here?" she laughs. "There's business up here?"

"The cheese industry is booming."

She rolls her eyes, but doesn't hate the joke. "Oh, you're a comedian."

"In another life."

"This is another life." It's surprisingly profound for a woman in her twenties whom you recognise from billboards, social media, and computer screens.

"Well, if I'm not a businessman and you're not a model, then I guess we're nobody."

"Nobody, huh? How nice it is to be a nobody up here."

"Yeah, I think so too," you smile.

She looks at you - curious as to who you are and what you do, but knowing that she already knows the answer to those questions. You're an escapee like her, and here, you can both be nobody.

There's an inkling that she likes the idea of anonymity more than she likes you.

"Yuna." There's her friend, swimming in the ink-coloured water behind her.

Your gaze, along with Yuna's, moves past her perfect body and falls onto the woman slowly walking up the steps.

"Chaery." The name passes over her plump lips.

Another perfect specimen of womanly form, clad in a black one-piece that looks like it was moulded to her. She brings herself to Yuna's side, and fixes her dark, damp hair with one hand as she inspects you.

Yuna looks back at you. "Sorry, I forgot to ask your name."

You tell them, and they both repeat it back. It sounds so very different on their lips.

"So, what are you two doing up here?"

"Vacation," Chaery answers simply.

"Where's the rest of you?"

"Oh, he knows who we are," Chaeryeong confirms the obvious to Yuna, then continues, "They'll be up later. But the three of us can hang out for now, right?"

You swallow and shrug. "I'm not against it."

"Do you drink?" Chaeryeong asks.

"That depends on if you're offering."

She hooks her arm through Yuna's and drags her away. "Come on then. If we get you drunk enough, we'll find out everything about you."

You can't say you're not intrigued.

Science fiction is full of warnings about the first contact with an alien life form, but never anything about the first meeting with a pop idol. There are many ways that such a meeting could end up being equally hazardous to your health.

"So you just live up here? All year round?" Chaeryeong asks as she kicks her long leg in the pool. They're perched on either side of you, on the edge of a pool - on the edge of an act that perhaps hasn't been thought through too clearly.

"Most of the time."

"Alone?" Yuna asks, looking at you - to your eyes, to your lips, back to your eyes again.

"I have friends. Around places. It's sparse up here but not empty."

"Not what she meant by alone," Chaeryeong clarifies.

Your eyes drop to her leg, creamy thighs on display. "Oh, I see. No, there's no girlfriend."

"That's just hard to believe," Yuna says - a hand falling onto your thigh.

"A guy like you, single?"

"Who would I date up here?"

"Someone on a vacation, maybe."

"Could do, I guess. But if I were to date a tourist, I don't think they would be coming back. Long-distance relationships are hard enough when you're just a few thousand miles apart."

"Yeah, but maybe the occasional night of fun?" Yuna offers before glancing to Chaeryeong. They're both staring at you again. You can feel it in your core, this buzz that starts to rise.

"I've been known to have fun on occasion."

"Is that a yes?"

You swallow, look to her hand, then back into her gorgeous brown eyes. "To what?"