dedicated to the prince himself; happy birthday, lee sungyeol. 

Rendezvous (n); a meeting at an agreed time and place.

She was nineteen when she walked back home from school and caught a glimpse of him on the sidewalk. He was wearing that sleeveless black top and that ripped jeans with a lollipop stick stuck out between his lips, and he was lifting the boxes from the moving-truck – he was her new neighbor. And when he saw her for the first time, his gaze was flat and unwelcoming, he didn’t even smile, but neither was she; they were just exchanging glances for seconds before they turned away their heads from each other. She didn’t think about the short meeting much – she wasn’t exactly a social butterfly either, so the least thing she would do was giving a damn about it – so it wasn’t that surprising it took a week for her to learn that his name is Lee Sungyeol.

When he introduced himself in front of the class for the first time, she swore that almost every girl was swooning over him. She probably would too – if only she put so much attention to boys – he was tall and his face was well defined, his shoulder was board and his body screams out manliness. And he seems to be playing the bad boy card with his cold demeanor – but he did not after all – she could tell that he was a very friendly person with the way he talks with the other students. The first time she saw him smiling was when one of the boys in the cafeteria broke a stupid lame joke, which also made him laughing. Since then, his smile never left his face and she never really wanted to admit it, but it was one of the most engaging thing she ever seen.

And it was exactly three weeks after their short meeting when he leaned to the gate that separates his and her house. “I never really learn your name,”. He was his lollipop when he stopped her from her track with his statement. “We are in the same class, aren’t we?”. He raised his eyebrow. “We are,” She replied shortly. “Great, I’m Lee Sungyeol,”. He smiled and it was the first time she noticed that his gum showed up when he smiled – it was kind of cute. “Uh, you kind of introduce yourself in front of the class the other day, so, yeah, I kind of know your name,” She replied nonchalantly. “You’re cute,”. He grinned cheekily before he got off the gate and left her dumbfounded. 

“You should talk to me more at school,”. She thought the conversation was over before he showed up in front of her gate and stood there like a lost child. “Why?”. She didn’t meant to offend him but from his frown, he was obviously not pleased by her reaction. “Because, why not?”. He was still frowning and it almost looked like it hurt him not talking to her. “Just because?” She replied and caused him fell into a silence. “That’s it? I thought you didn’t like me because you didn’t smile when we first met,” He said. “You didn’t smile when we first met,” She replied him with the same statement. “I thought you didn’t care,”. He shrugged. “I thought you didn’t care,”. She raised her eyebrow. “Well, I care, do you?”.

And goodness, she didn’t even realize she did until then, when she saw his face beamed like a child in a candy store, like he could actually took some and bring it home. The way his eyes sparkle was astonishing – so much innocence radiated from it, like he genuinely wanted her to say yes. And so, she said no.

---

“It kills you to talk to me, doesn’t it?”. He was leaning at the table as he watched her trying to finish the paperwork she had been working since a week ago. “Yes,” She answered shortly before her focus was back to her essay. “We have been friends for like a year and I could count on how many times we actually have an actual conversation,”. He retorted. “Friends means mutual feelings, Sungyeol,” She replied. “We aren’t friends?” He snapped back with a frown. “Woman, you did not just tell me that we are not friends,”.

She was twenty and in college, and Sungyeol just couldn’t let her off his sight. She thought that he was a decent companion for her and she thought she did a great job on being a bad companion for him, but apparently not bad enough for him to leave her alone. Sungyeol was someone who carried the world inside his head, something she was not. He was something else – something diverting, something absorbing. He was an art, his mind was painted in full abstract color and his bone was made of crazy ideas – everything she was not, everything she didn’t want to be anymore.

But Sungyeol weren’t made from a piece of fragile paper, he was a thick metal. He was hard to guess and it was not because he was good at concealing his emotions – goodness, he was terrible at it – mostly because he was too unpredictable and he didn’t know how to play by the book. She knows it, the fact that someone like Sungyeol will be forever curious with things he can’t understand, things he can’t comprehend with his mind, things like her, things like someone who was so colorless, will sure interest him. And that explained why he keeps following her even though she was trying her very best to ignore his presence, because he was persistent like that.

“Why do you want me to talk to you so bad, Sungyeol?”. She sighed deeply, when he won’t stop staring at her like she was some kind of experiment object. “I am curious at the things inside your head,” He replied with a smile. “I know,”. “I know you know, so let me inside, talk to me, woman, I don’t understand because you are probably the only person who won’t talk to me,” He said as he tapped the side of her arms playfully. “Then let’s stay that way,” She replied. “You really like me, do you? Is it your way so I will stay bothering you for the rest of your life?”. He was grinning smugly when he said that. “What will you do after you know what’s inside my head?”. She raised her eyebrow; she wasn’t exactly sure why she was asking the question. “I’ll understand you, and it will be enough for me,”.

She wanted to say no, that it was hard, because when you were in the bright side of the land, you won’t be able to understand what it’s like to be inside the pitch black hole – when life was all delight and fun, you won’t be able to fully understand what it’s like to be all gloomy and timid. And she really, wanted to tell him that. That no matter how hard he tried, he will always be curious, and trying to figure out what she was thinking was a waste of time. Because when you are beautifully shaped, you won’t be able to understand what it’s like to be ripped at every edge.

---

“The sky were surprisingly clear tonight, oh, it’s actually nice that I’m taking you out from your shady room, isn’t it?”. Sungyeol grinned at her proudly as if he just done something noble. “I like my shady room more,”. She shrugged. “I know, but you actually agreed to my invitation nonetheless so, you are sick of it at some point,”. He chuckled and it lit his eyes up. “Don’t insult my room, Sungyeol,” She replied nonchalantly. “Do you see the stars? Ah, clear sky is always the best,”.

It was weird though for him to say that, the stars were actually living inside his eyes; goodness, why bother to go out and wait until the cloudless sky came just to see stars when he could actually see it in on his reflection. She was twenty-one when she actually have that kind of thought. She should have realized it sooner, that no matter how serious and cold he looked on the outside at some point, the stars stayed still. Spending more time with him wasn’t harmful, but still dangerous, for her at least. He was the epitome of an abundance of joy and desire, daydream and carelessness – everything she has put aside for a very long time – but he was that kind of person who could actually make her wanted to taste all of that once again.

“Is there any darker color than black?” He suddenly asked out of the blue. “I don’t know, probably my soul,”. She shrugged nonchalantly. “I like black,”. He grinned at her cheekily. “It’s a boring color, Sungyeol, you don’t fit in our community,” She replied. “You know, black is such a mysterious color, and I like being nosy about mysterious thing,”. He smiled at her, which kind of weird for her. Oh, there’s goes another thing she wanted to shut down forever – warmth. “Black doesn’t give you a straight answer, they demand you to search for it, because you don’t know what’s inside,” He said, and it completely made no sense to her.

She hated it that she actually starting enjoy the time with him, to the extent she agreed to accompany him to went out in the middle of the night, just because he can’t sleep. She doesn’t hate him, but she starting to hate herself instead. Everything that play around emotion will end up hurting the people involved. “Maybe that’s why people like black,” He said all of the sudden. “Why?”. She raised her eyebrow as she was truly expecting his answer, but instead she saw him looking right into her eyes and goodness, she swore, the stars on his eyes were even brighter than the one in the sky. “Maybe some people just wanted to hide themselves, you know, they don’t want to give you straight answer, because they demand to be found instead, and they won’t tell you what’s inside,”.

---

She was walking carefully on the line – she doesn’t want to step out from the border, that’s what she is. He was the catastrophe, the one who wanted to live his life recklessly. He tried to dive into her minds, but she shut it down quicker then a blink of an eye. Maybe she didn’t realize that he actually could imagine what’s behind the entire plain black wall around her – it almost like he already known her even before she tell him. Maybe she also didn’t realized that sometimes he managed to caught the sparkle in her eyes – and he swore he could took a glimpse of the galaxy when she did that.

She thought that he was the chaos, but he somehow believed that her soul was a bigger chaos than he will ever be. There are thunders striking between his veins, but somehow he believed that her heart was a bigger raging storm. Oh, maybe she should hide all of that away behind her black, maybe that kind of beauty was not meant to be for everyone to see, but he wanted to – he wanted to from the first time he saw her, from the first time he talked to her, from the first time she agreed to listen to his nonsense. He wanted to know her untold story, he wanted to listen to every piece of her life – he wanted all the beauty hiding inside her, for himself.

He loves adventure, he enjoys the rhapsody, and he loves all the amusing things – and that’s also probably why he likes her. He wanted to see all the wonders, he wanted to make little secret rendezvous in every place he placed his foot on. But she was something else – something soulless, something intriguing, something mysterious something captivating – she was one of the wonders he would love to ex