Renjun’s Playlist for Love Songs my Boyfriend Recommended that I Have Not Listened To

Love is a Temple-Alok ft Iro

“How many stars do you think are up there?”

“Millions.”

“How much grains of sand are there on the beach?”

“Millions.”

“How long do you think we will be together?”

“Eternity.”

******************

“Hyuck, calm down.” Renjun giggled, putting a hand on Donghyuck’s shoulder. “That’s your third burger tonight.”

“I’m just really hungry.” Donghyuck mumbled with his mouth full. “We skipped lunch and climbed up a mountain. How are you not scarfing down your food like animals?”

“Because we are civilised human beings with manners.” Jeno teased.

“Screw manners. My stomach is still empty.”

“Speaking of empty, we have to find a place to stop for gas tomorrow.” Mark said, slurping his McDonald’s soda. It’s not their first choice to go for McDonald’s but they were so hungry they stopped at the first restaurant they saw when they came into town. Donghyuck and Jeno even had a fight to see who got to line up first. Jeno won by a hair.

“How long do we have until Scarwood Palace?” Renjun asked.

“At least a day or two, especially since we keep stopping like this.” Jeno said. “I can’t even find it on the map. We got to stop for internet so that I can look it up or something.”

“What do you think it’s going to be like?” Renjun asked. “I have always heard of it as a child, but then again I read somewhere that the place was abandoned or sold off.”

“Hey, we’re on an adventure.” Mark said. “Let’s just enjoy until we get there and see what happens.”

“Why did you want to go there in the first place?” Donghyuck asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve always had a strange fascination for that place as a child.” Mark grinned. “Imagine. A mysterious castle where one of the wisest men in history once lived. Imagine the parties he must have had, the stories he could have told, the history that runs through it’s walls…they say that if you come to Scarwood Palace, you find the answers that you seek.”

“What do you seek then? Do you have a burning question that you need answered?”

“Mark wants to know which college he’s going to.” Jeno spoke up.

“Unless you find a ghost who could hack into the university system I don’t think you would find the answer there.”

“A ghost on the computer.” Renjun giggled. “Sounds funny.”

“It’s not about my college applications.” Mark shook his head. “It’s about…I don’t know…I just really want to go there. It’s a childhood dream of mine.”

“Are you having second thoughts about something?”

Mark didn’t answer that question, because he didn’t know how to. Donghyuck noticed the change of expression in his face, and he knew he should not press the issue anymore. He took a napkin and brought it to Mark’s face, wiping his bottom lip.

“Ketchup stain.”

“Thanks.”

Nobody noticed the little eyebrow wiggles Jeno was giving Renjun.

******************

“We’re lost.”

“We are not lost.” Jeno sighed for the umpteenth time as they took a small curve down a very dark, very bumpy, and very deserted country road. “We’re driving off course, isn’t that the whole point of this trip?”

“This is not off course, we are going into the middle of nowhere.” Renjun complained, bringing his hands around his arms. “Can we please stop and get directions?”

“Sure, let’s ask that owl we just passed.” Donghyuck climbed to the front from the back. “Turn around and head back to the highway.”

“I don’t remember how we even came in here.” Jeno confessed, still focused on the road because it would be too dangerous if he got distracted.

“It’s too late to go any further.” Mark said. “Let’s stop without going any….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A wild deer just appeared in front of them and the whole van screamed. Jeno swerved to the right and he stepped on the pedal by mistake, the van going faster and further than anticipated. Everyone was bumping around in the back wildly. Renjun was thrown from side to side like a rag doll and Mark and Donghyuck kept knocking into each other as their things were all thrown about.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH

“Holy what was that?!?!?!” Jeno gasped, leaning against the steering wheel.

“There are wild animals in this place!!” Renjun wailed loudly. “Let’s get out of here!!”

“We can’t!! It’s too dark, there’s no phone reception and I don’t remember how we even came in here!” Jeno waved his hands frantically. “What do we do?”

“Let’s get down.” Mark said.

“Down?!?!? Has the ride knocked your brains out?! What is there is a bear waiting outside to chew us into little pieces and snakes that want to all our blood?!” Donghyuck flung himself on top of the mattress. “OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE MOTHER I AM SO SORRY I HAVE BEEN SUCH A BAD SON I BROKE YOUR MUG AND SAID JAEHYUN DID IT I AM SO…”

“Shh!!” Mark shushed him, fishing for a flashlight. “Let’s just get down to see where we are, and if it’s a safe enough spot, we’ll just camp here for tonight, wait for the sun to come out tomorrow morning and find our way out of here. Come on.”

“All of us?!”

“Yes come on!” Mark tossed another flashlight at Jeno, and the four of them got down. The first thing they felt was a soft breeze against their faces, a hint of saltiness in the air, and the sound of waves washing against the shore.

“We must be by the shore.” Jeno waved his flashlight around, watching the waves pound against some rocks.

“I don’t see any hills or cliffsides near us.”

“Good.” Donghyuck breathed. “That means we’re by the beach. Tomorrow we can just follow the shoreline to a famous beach with tourists and find out how to get out of here.”

“It looks like we have to sleep here tonight.”

WOO WOO

“Jeno!!!” Renjun ran into his boyfriend’s arms, burying his face in his chest. “What was that?”

“It’s just an owl. They won’t hurt you.”

“Ahhh!!” he squirmed as some more rustling could be heard. “Oh god I’m scared.”

“Let’s get in the van. You’ll be safe. No one will hurt you.” Jeno rubbed the back of his head sweetly, kissing his temple.

“God I’m going to throw up.”

“What’s wrong? Motion sickness?” Mark asked Donghyuck.

“No. Love sickness.”

******************

The nights by the beach were cold and windy. Even with all doors closed and only two of the windows opened, Mark could still feel his toes shrink up because of the cold. Renjun and Jeno have already cuddled up tightly, Jeno’s nose buried in Renjun’s hair as he spent the last hour or so trying to calm his lover down.

“Hyuck?” Mark called softly. “Are you up?”

There was no reply, so Mark turned around. Donghyuck was not in his place, and his pillows and blanket have disappeared. “Hyuck? Hyuck?” Mark got up, slowly opening the door of the van and he saw a blanket drooping from the top of the van.

“Hyuck? Donghyuck?”

“Mark!”

“What are you doing up there?”

“You should come up here! There’s more space and the stars are beautiful! Bring your blankets and pillows!”

It took some effort, but Mark finally got up, pillows and blankets in tow. He laid down and his eyes widen in the magnificence of the beauty above him. Millions of twinkling stars were above him, illuminating the night sky like the lights in a city. The sky was not a canvas of black, but rather whites and purples and dark blues. He was so taken aback by its beauty all he could say was:

“Wow.”

“I know right?” Donghyuck breathed, and Mark could imagine him smiling. “It’s beautiful.”

“How could something so dark be so beautiful?”

“There’s beauty in everything.” Donghyuck replied. “We just have to see it differently.”

“Ooooo…” Mark teased. “Since when are you so poetic?”

“Hey, this mouth can do more than just spit savagery,” Donghyuck sneered jokingly. “This mouth can sing, tell stories and jokes, and according to my exes, a darn good kisser too.”

“You had an ex?”

“Exes.” Donghyuck said, tucking his hands behind his head.

“How come I didn’t know that?”

“You were too busy with your own life.” Donghyuck shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I only dated two people.”

“Who did you date?”

“There was Somi from biology, but then she went back to her old boyfriend. Then there was Jaemin from the football team.”

“Oh yeah. I remember Jaemin, but I didn’t know about Somi. You dated both boys and girls?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “They were both really hot in their own way.”

“So you’re biual? How long have you known?”

“Since I was 12 I guess. I don’t really remember.” His voice was a soft timbre against the sounds of the leaves rustling due to the ocean breeze. “I talked to Jaehyun about it and he said I was entitled to fall in love with anyone I wanted.”

“What about your mum?”

“All she wanted to know was if I was using condoms and if Jaemin liked pork pies for dinner.” He laughed. “She really liked him, and was pretty disappointed we broke up. Dad on the other hand just said ‘don’t bring back a baby or I’ll throw you out of the house’. I guess he was more into fishing than my love life.”

“That’s nice.” Mark said. “I didn’t even tell my dad about my first kiss. He would have a fit. I think he would skin Jennie if he knew that I kissed her.”

“You kissed Jennie? The captain of the cheer-leading squad?!?!”

“Technically, she kissed me first.” Mark said. “We were partners in chemistry class and she just kissed me, but she said I reminded her of a dead fish.”

“.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes, sniggering slightly. “Who is she to judge? She’s been ing Dongho and he looks like the lovechild of the Hulk Hogan and a celery stick.”

“Hyuck!” Mark slapped the younger’s arm lightly as they giggled together. “It wasn’t all that bad. She had cherry lipstick on and she knew what she was doing.”

“You should have let your dad skin her apart.” Donghyuck laughed.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Was there someone else after her?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Not even my brother?”

“You…” Mark bolted up, looking at Donghyuck, who was just lying down and tapping his feet carelessly. “How did you…”

“Oh come on, it’s not that hard to figure out.” Donghyuck waved a hand carelessly, as if he was swatting a fly. “You get that dopey, dazed-out look every time you see him, and you’re always trying to impress him.”

“I am not.”

“Yes you are,” Donghyuck scoffed. “You were never competitive with me when Jaehyun is not around, but when he shows up suddenly you have to prove that you are stronger than me, faster than me, smarter than me. You always have to show that you are older and cooler so that you match up to his league and not mine.”

“Hyuck I…”

“You should never lie under the stars.” Donghyuck turned to his side, facing Mark. “Don’t you know that they are God’s eyes watching you from above?”

Mark laid down on his back, watching the stars twinkle from above him. Maybe if he stared hard enough, he could disappear into the galaxy and never come back.

“Do you still like him?”

“Who?”

“The Queen of England.” Donghyuck groaned. “My brother you egghead.”

“Oh,” Mark could feel his face heat up. “I don’t know. It has been a while.”

“How long have you had a crush on him?”

“I think almost two years.”

“You had a crush on him for two years and you didn’t say anything?”

“Come on, he’s not going to be interested in a high school kid.”

“You’ll be going to college soon.”

“Yeah but then I’ll be a freshman while he’s a senior. Who has ever heard of a senior dating a freshman?”

“So what’s the big deal? It’s just age.” Donghyuck shrugged. “It’s not like he’s 75 and you’re 15 years old. It’s only a couple of years. Who do they make it sound like a senior dating the new kid in college is some sort of forbidden relationship that you could be hung for?”

“Are you saying I should confess to Jaehyun?”

“If it makes you feel better and gets it out of your system.” Donghyuck said, turning on his back and his head tilted another way.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not you, okay?” Mark sighed. “I’m not as brave as you are. I’m not the kind to just speak up and express how I feel as freely as you do. I don’t have the guts to just confess like you would.”

“Why do you think I’m brave?”

“Because you confessed to Jaemin. Didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck mumbled. “but still I…”

“Still what?”

“Nothing.” Donghyuck replied.

Mark didn’t say anything after that. The two of them just stared up the sky, feeling the ocean breeze through their bodies as they squirmed under the sheets. Mark his side, facing Donghyuck. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

The last thing Mark saw before his eyes closed, were Donghyuck’s long lashes fluttering against the bottom ones, and the pale moonlight washing his skin in its gentle light.

******************

Mark felt the morning heat immediately through his blanket, and as he shrugged it off in an attempt to get more comfortable, he opened his eyes and saw, just in front of him, the morning sun, rising above the horizons.

“Wow…” he muttered again. A sunrise. The very first in his lifetime.

Mark looked at his side, and Donghyuck was no longer there. He climbed down the roof of the van carefully, slipped on his slippers, ran a hand through his hair to try and smoothen it out. Jeno and Renjun were still asleep inside the van. It was still pretty early anyways.

The call of the sea was alluring. Mark made his way to the shore, sand getting in between his toes. A tent was set up not too far from where they were, and two men were sitting in the tent, pouring themselves a cup of coffee. One of them flashed Mark a smile and beckoned him with a cup.

“Good morning. Coffee?”

“Er, no thank you I…”

“Oh we insist!” the other man handed him the cup anyways. “My name is Hansol and this is my boyfriend Yuta. We have been camping here for the past few nights too.”

“Well uhm… thank you. I’m Mark.” Mark smiled, shaking their hands. “Have you seen another guy? Tall, black hair…”

“Mark!” Mark turned to where his name was called and he saw Donghyuck coming towards him from the other end of the beach.

“Hyuck!”

“Look at all this stuff!” Donghyuck came with his hands full of seashells and odd shaped rocks. “Have you seen a shell shaped like this?”

“No,” Mark said, holding up a cone shaped shell. “It’s pretty.”

“Let’s get the rest of them up. Yuta and Hansol invited us for breakfast.”

“You know them?”

“I met them and talked to them for about an hour before you woke up.” He said. “They said they could show us the way out after breakfast. They are heading back to the city after this.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Donghyuck walked off towards the van while Mark turned to Yuta and Hansol.

“Thanks for inviting us for breakfast.”

“No problem.” Yuta smiled. “Your boyfriend is very nice.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Yeah, is he not?”

“Uhm…no. We’re just friends.”

“Really?” Hansol asked. “From the way he looked at you I could have sworn you two were together. Go figure eh?”

Mark looked at them in confusion. His eyes darted back to Donghyuck, who was getting into the van. He thought of Donghyuck running towards him in the sun, his hands full of shells and that child-like grin he had on his face. He thought of the night before, lying on the roof of the van, talking about love and laughing about it as well.

Donghyuck exited the van with Renjun in tow. He smiled at Mark and unknowingly, Mark smiled back.