“The last ferry left for the day.”
“What?!” What do you mean the last ferry left for the day?”
“I mean, it left. No more go to the mainland until one comes back. Which will be tomorrow morning,” Seungcheol explained.
Crap, you thought. Now you would have to spend even more time with him. He’d only made the trip out to the island to bring you money since you had lost your wallet. It was supposed to be your friend, Josh, who brought it, but somehow the person getting off the ferry with money for you was Seungcheol. He then, of course, insisted the two of you go on a walk around the island since he had traveled all that way to do you a favor. Really it was his fault you had missed the last ferry.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault we missed it,” Seungcheol remarked as he rubbed the back of his head.
Well, at least he admitted it and seemed genuinely sorry.
“I can see if there’s another boat to take. I’ll be right back,” he said jogging off back toward the docks.
You sighed as you watched him getting smaller and found the way he ran, almost hopping into the air as he rocked unto his tip toes kind of cute.
Twenty minutes later Seungcheol came back, obviously upset about not having found anything.
“It’s okay. I guess we will just have to wait ‘til tomorrow. Let’s go find a place to stay the night.”
“I’m already ahead of you. I asked the locals and they said there’s only one hotel on the island. Well apparently, it’s just a large house where a grandma rents out rooms, but it’s the closest thing to a hotel.”
“Alright,” you sighed for the umpteenth time that day. “Lead the way.”
“This is it?” you asked glancing at the plain and unimpressive two story house.
“Mhhmmm,” Seungcheol murmured. “Come on.”
The two of you went in and saw a little living room where older lady sat over to the side in a chair.
“Excuse me, do you have any rooms available?” Seungcheol asked.
“Ah, yes,” the old women got up looking you two over. “I have one room left.”
Seungcheol glanced at you. “Ah, only one room left? We would actually like two separate ones.”
The old women shook her her. “No. Only one left. Don’t be shy though. It is perfect for newlywed,” the old women mentioned as she motioned and walked down the hallway.
“Newlyweds?” you asked in a strangled voice.
The old woman stopped and turned. “You are newlyweds, right?” she asked suddenly suspicious.
“Yes, newlyweds. We are. She just didn’t recognize the word in Korean.” Seungcheol explained sending you a look.
The old woman nodded, turned and continued down the hall, mumbling on about how even though his wife was a foreigner she spoke Korean well.
“Here you go,” the old women opened the door to a small room. A very small room, you noted.
“Enjoy,” the old woman grinned, retreating down the hallway.
Seungcheol shut the door behind you, coming to stand next to you as you both glanced at the bedding folded in the corner.
Please let there be two separate mattresses. Please, you repeated in your head.
Seungcheol walked over to the pile unfolding the top cover and a mattress. Full size.
“I can just sleep on one edge and you can sleep on the other edge.”
“Yeah,” you managed to say, not being able to keep the dread out of your voice.
Seungcheol started putting the bed out as you kept staring, panicked thoughts flying around your head.
You are going to be stuck in a small room with Seungcheol. Stuck sharing a bed with him. I mean, you guess it wasn’t too bad. He was cute after all. No, wait. Don’t think things like that. What if he could read minds and heard what you said? Shit.
You came out of your daze, feeling your face heating up as you stared at his back.
“Alright, all done,” Seungcheol said rocking back unto his feet to get back up.
The man had a very nice backside.
Seungcheol turned and looked at you, the two of your eyes meeting.
“Um, I guess we should sleep. The ferry comes early right?”
“Yeah. Sleep would be good.”
“I’ll take the left side,” you commend as you took off your shoes.
“That’s fine with me,” Seungcheol said as he took his spot on the very edge of the right side, facing towards the wall.
Good, you thought, doing the same on your side of the mattress.
You were prone to nightmares and unfortunately tonight’s circumstances fueled their intensity. You always had the same one over and over, tossing and turning, crying out in your sleep, but never able to wake yourself.
These noises woke Seungcheol and he watched you for a bit, seeing you toss and turn, a look of distress upon your face. He hated seeing you like this and not knowing what to do. He felt practically helpless and rolled over so his arm was barely touching the side of your arm. This seemed to slow your fit a bit and Seungcheol smiled, glad he had helped you, if only just a bit.
Seungcheol woke up to you trashing about, worse than before. There was about two feet between you now as he must have rolled over during his sleep. Since it had worked before, Seungcheol pulled you toward him, rolling you into his arms, wrapping them around you after tucking your head between his neck and shoulders.
“It’s ok. I’m here. Everything will be OK,” Seungcheol whispered into your shoulder.
You opened your eyes in the morning and realized you were in the arms of Seungcheol.
Shit. How had that happened during the night?! You were on opposite sides of the mattress.
You tried to gently pull his arms from around you so he wouldn’t wake, but he started stirring and you froze.
Seungcheol was clearly awake as he let go of you and quickly stood up, almost falling over backwards.
“I’m sorry. Must have rolled over in the night. I didn’t mean…”
“It’s OK,” you blurted out. “An easy mistake,” you stood up yourself and turned away feeling your face heat up. Stupid face. “I’ll washup first,” you said exiting the room as fast as possible.
After washing up, you went to the main room where the old lady was making breakfast. You thanked her for the rice as you sat and nervously kept glancing down the hall for Seungcheol to appear.
A few minutes later, he came down the hall, hair still partially wet and tousled with a hint of a shadow on his jawline. You quickly looked down, suddenly becoming very interested in the grains of rice.
“Morning,” Seungcheol greeted the old lady, taking the bowl of rice she handed him.
“You two are up earlier than I thought you would be.”
“We have to catch the ferry this morning,” Seungcheol explained.
“Still, I could hear you two all night,” the old lady grinned as your face got even hotter than it had been. “Your wife was nervous to see you this morning, but don’t worry darling,” she said turning to you. “He was satisfied. He has that look I’ve seen many times in this hotel and know very well.”
Seungcheol began choking on his rice and suddenly all words, both English and Korean, seemed to fly out of your head.
After recovering from choking, Seungcheol thanked the grandma and asked to pay as you two had to get on the road. You let him handle everything, still not able to say a word.
The two of you got on the ferry and departed shortly thereafter. Now only three awkward hours riding next to each other until you could put some space between the two of you. In this proximity, all you could think about was being in his arms again and the feelings you had felt for that moment before he had woken up. Shock and surprise, yes. But also, something else. Comfort and relief? Something more? Could you possibly have feelings for him? Or was it just the circumstances? If you did, things could become complicated. Did he have feelings for you? What about Josh? He was your best friend and a good friends with Seungcheol too.
Wait, you thought. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. You weren’t even sure you liked the guy. You glanced over at Seungcheol as he played on his phone. You felt the corners of your mouth raising as his tongues moved slightly along his lip in concentration.
Shit, you thought. I think I like him.
For the next hour, you sat staring out at the water, testing these feelings out in your head.
I like him. I like Seungcheol.
It felt weird, but at the same time like you were finally being truthful with yourself.
“So, are we going to talk about this morning?” Seungcheol came up behind you asking, startling you from your thoughts. “Or are we going to pretend it didn’t happen?”
You continued staring out at the water, words failing you for what you wanted to say.
“I guess that settles it then. It was just a mistake like you said earlier. I won’t bring it up again,” he whispered walking away.
You wanted to say something but your vocal chords weren’t listening. Your brain was too busy over analyzing and processing everything Seungcheol had just said. Had he seemed happy when he said that or disappointed?
You finally turned around, but Seungcheol was nowhere in sight.
