[CONTENTID2]"All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name." Andre Breton[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID1]

Sunggyu thought high school was much different once he stepped through its threshold. For one, there were many girls and their coquettish gazes never left his face. Although, they did sneer in disgust when they realised he carried a disability. Never the less, they retained an air of mystery that was piquant even for him. Since he spent years with Heeyeon, a tomboy, speculating ‘real’ girls was a new hobby.

Their hair was always neatly combed and fruity scents wafted in the air if they ever passed by. Some had skirts that rose above their knees; despite going against protocol, they surprisingly got away with it. Sunggyu hesitated from yielding to their requests of joining their inner circles. Instead, he waited for three years until Heeyeon finally arrived at the same school.

During the years, he learnt that Heeyeon’s dad used to be an officer. His wife passed away when Heeyeon was a toddler, and he suffered an imminent accident that left him crippled for life. Now a pensionary, the man with the rugged face bore more burdens in his heart than the crooked bents on his shoulders. Despite his harsh mannerisms, he was a kind man, and he treated Sunggyu with heart-wrenching respect everytime Heeyeon welcomed him to her ramshackled house.

Noticing how close the girl was to their son, the Kims instantly agreed to pay for Heeyeon’s education in a good school. It wasn’t often that their reticent son opened up to other children, let alone a girl, so the Kims were desperate that he should not face the ruckus of high school in solitude. Some secretly argued that the Kims acted in a frugal manner, that they were subsequently preventing their mute child from forming deep relationships with other children from his own social status, but the Kims, whether they knew or not, turned a blind eye to their ostracisms.

When Heeyeon entered the large, spacious school, it was as if she was meant for it. Her hair was no longer unruly, and she was more concerned about keeping her face clean. This was amusing for Sunggyu since he always thought Heeyeon was a person who put her physiognomy as the last thing she’d care about. Still, he wondered why the girls stopped fluttering around him when Heeyeon was around.

They talked about her behind her back, particularly due to the fact that she preferred all things that boys did: playing sports, wearing tracksuits, arm-wrestling and climbing trees. There were often times where she crawled up trunks like a spider to save an old woman’s stranded kitten.

Sometimes, Sunggyu often mused how he could keep up with her alacrity. She was vivacity personified and she was always one step ahead than the rest of the world. Then again, she was him. She represented all the words that he could never say, the voice that never existed. She became that the air that he breathed, the dream that was reality, and the starry wish that twinkled under the gloaming.

At the age of thirteen, Heeyeon was taller than other girls, and rather spindly in figure too. Sunggyu often frowned when she incessantly compared their heights together, rejoicing how she was almost as tall as he was. It made him feel a bit inferior but then again, Heeyeon outgrew him in wit, calibre-- and in maths too.

He anxiously waited for her to enter high school so he could make her do his math homework. Astonishingly, Heeyeon obliged without resistance and was glad to help him when needed. She could never let him go and he never found the answer as to why that was. They were inextricable like glue, forever trapped inside a vessel of fate because their meeting was meant to be.

They were meant to be-- Sunggyu realised this one night while lying restively on his bed in a room of obsidian. His heart was pumping with a strange sensation; it was as if the spark of friendship that he shared with her only grew stronger; only flickered brighter until extinguishing it became impossible. Perhaps this friendship was to remain immortal until the day he should breathe his last breath, or perhaps their souls would intertwine until the depths of eternity swallowed the earth into oblivion.

One weekend, the two set off for a lake nearby to go fishing. Heeyeon’s brother tagged along because he was forced to go by his father. While Heeyeon and Sunggyu waited by the pier with their fishing rods (Heeyeon was restless and impatient whereas Sunggyu was the opposite), Heeyeon’s brother wasted no time in irritating Ryeowook with ludicrous questions just to laugh at the butler who would clutch his hair in frustration.

‘Does it run in the family?’ Sunggyu turned to Heeyeon.

The mist of dawn settled over them as they watched the placid waves ruffle over the lake. Their legs swung over the corner of the bridge. Heeyeon’s cheeks held a natural blush and water vapour condensed every time she talked.

“What?” She perked a brow. “What runs in the family? Are you making fun of me because I talk too much or something? I can tie you around my rod and use you as bait for fishing, ya know that right?”

Her answer caused him to smirk and this only aggravated her further.

‘No, I was talking about your ability to annoy others. Heechul is just as good at it. How do you do it so well?’

“Well, excuse me, mister I-Know-Everything.” She rolled her eyes, and crinkled her nose. “There’s no one as annoying as you in this whole damn universe and you want me to prove you why that is?”

Sunggyu lifted his hands to protest but Heeyeon intercepted, “Firstly, you hide all your secrets. You know every single detail about me but I don’t know anything that goes on in your damn head. That damn thing must be be chained or something cos it seems that you don’t like sharing how you feel. Secondly, you bully me into doing your maths homework-”

Sunggyu scoffed at this.

“-and still, I’m too nice to say no. Not even an utter of thanks. That’s how much you appreciate me. Thirdly, you make one lazy assistant for a guard like me. I’m the one climbing trees. I’m the one rescuing cats. I’m the one chasing the bullies. Ya know what, Sunggyu? You can fish here by yourself.” Heeyeon gathered her fishing rod into her arms. “I’m going to the other side of the lake and fish by myself.”

Perplexed but too stubborn to pacify her anger, Sunggyu waved at her dismissively. ‘Fine, be that way. I’m better at fishing anyway. Don’t need to waste my time in teaching you.’

A gasp of consternation emitted from her lips. “The cheek! Well Mister Kim Sunggyu, let’s see who can catch the largest fish.”

‘Challenge accepted, Miss Ahn Heeyeon.’

He chuckled to himself, unable to contain the giddy shiver in his shoulders when she stuck her tongue out at him and stomped away from the pier. Sunggyu returned his attention to the large overcast of the lake ahead of him. The world drowned in silence and he inhaled sharply when his senses screamed for some noise.

His nerves tingled and Heeyeon’s voice echoed inside his head. His heart suddenly longed for her, and the power of her presence and her aura frightened him. The fishing rod shook in his hands, which were now clammy with anxiety.

Had he come to care for her this much? Had she become not only a person, but a part of destiny that lit up his whole life?

He stared over his shoulder to peek at her minuscule figure in the distance, but it was hard to predict what she doing from that far away. When half an hour passed, Sunggyu sighed in defeat. He his fishing rod aside, scrambled to his feet and ran towards her direction, his boots crunching over rimy grass.

When he was by her side, scarlet-faced and breathless, clutching the cramp on his side; she turned around and grinned widely at him.

“Where’s your fish, Sunggyu? You came back here empty handed? Well, guess what, chap? I caught a whale.” She pointed at a blubbery mess not too far from she remained.

Sunggyu’s eyebrows furrowed. The initial irritation panged at him once again and he regretted pelting across the field to reach her. He was such a fool...

In doing so, he let Heeyeon win the bet. Then it hit him that there was no lake on earth that catered for whales so he chortled to himself.

‘Stop messing around’. He pushed her shoulder gently and Heeyeon pouted.

“Don’t be giving me that sort of look, ya eejit.” She stuck her tongue out at him, a habit that ensued subconsciously on her part. “Remember? I won the bet so that means I’m better than you. Besides, he looks like a whale in all shapes and form. Just look at the size of his teeth. I bet he’s half dugong.”

At the mention of ‘he’, Sunggyu’s eyes enlarged and his heart rummaged inside his chest. He hurriedly scurried towards the ‘whale’ and noticed that it was no whale at all, but a boy who was close in age. The victim wore a diving suit and he shivered, teeth chattering against his own will.

Sunggyu shook his shoulder but the boy slapped his wrist away.

“Don’t bother with him, Gyu-goo,” Heeyeon called out to him, “The whale’s been like that to me aswell. Apparently he almost drowned had the great guard Ahn Heeyeon not caught him with her rod in time.”

The boy groaned and coughed out water from his lungs. Sunggyu rubbed his back to encourage smooth motion. The scent of clay and rain hovered around them.

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