The week had dragged until Saturday finally reared it's head. It had taken long enough. Niether Ravi or Taekwoon could wait for their balloon ride. It was a feeling grossly similar to that of a small child in the week leading up to Christmas when the festivities are at their highest. However, Ravi's excitement took second place to the fear he felt as he stared at the contraption tied to the ground in front of him. He suddenly remembered a very vital piece of information: he was deathly afraid of heights.

.

"I- It's bigger than I expected," he stammered, swallowing thickly as all of the saliva in his mouth began to disappear. His eyes fell on the large, heavy- looking basket and all the sandbags attached to it. "H- How does it even float?" He didn't even realise he was sweating until he felt Taekwoon's hand squeeze his. The writer's dark eyes were full of concern. "Are you okay?" He whispered "You're looking a little green."

"I-" He hiccuped "I'm fine. Are you okay?" He tried to keep his face impassive and voice steady but it all betrayed him within a matter of seconds. Taekwoon sighed and let go of his hand, wiping the dampness from his palm onto his jeans "We can go home if you want."

Ravi spun round and bit his lip, trying to control his rapidly increasing breathing rate. "What? N- No! I promised you we would do this, right?" 

"Well, yeah but-"

"It'll be fine. Let's hurry up, hm? It's almost time for our slot."

Taekwoon shot him a concerned look but nodded, reluctantly moving towards the red balloon and flashing his best semi- fake smile. "Hello, sir," he greeted the owner politely. The man was shorter than them by at least a head, middle-aged, his face tanned and covered in innumerable wrinkles. The creases in his skin deepened when his mouth curved into a wide grin "Hello there!" He cried "You are my two o'clock, I believe?"

"Yes," Ravi grinned giving a slight bow "And you are Mr Min Soo?"

"Min Soo was my father," the man told him, his smile dropping ever so slightly "I am Kim Min Dae. This is my business now but I couldn't bare to change the name. Sentiment, you know?"

Taekwoon nodded, his face scrunching a little in what seemed to be deep understanding. "Of course." he muttered, casting his gaze down. Ravi had seen that look before and nudged the writer with his shoulder lightly- a small effort to snap him back to reality before he fell too deep. It worked. Taekwoon seemed to jerk and his head snapped up "I- I am sorry for your loss."

"Ah, don't be," Min Dae waved his hand dismissively "It wasn't anybody's fault. He was old anyhow and Cancer isn't exactly a thing that's easy to stop, is it?"

This caused a painfully awkward silence between the three men. Ravi bit his tongue, wishing the elder had just kept his mouth shut instead of feeling the need to go into such details. Why did people not think? Eventually, he decided he couldn't handle the tension any more and raised his eyebrows "So, should we get started. I don't know about you Taekwoon, but I'm really anxious to start!" That was the biggest lie he had ever told. If it was up to him, they would be back into the car right now heading to an activity not involving an oversized party balloon and a couple of sacks filled with beach sand. 

But he had