Although he had stopped keeping count, Mingyu was pretty sure it was almost 25 days since he’d been trapped here.

If this was the universe’s doing, the universe was cruel.

Nothing had really changed, but he was slowly beginning to realize something rather odd about himself.

Every time he went out into the water, or so much as stared at the water, he sensed an unusual, sick feeling sticking to the sides of his stomach. The feeling crept up his esophagus, to the point where it made him nauseous.

He had only experienced that once since he came here, but now it was becoming more and more frequent. So much so that Mingyu would spend all day shut inside his house, with all the windows closed and blinds drawn so he wouldn’t have to see, or hear the rush of the ocean.

One day, he found himself sitting back on the couch, aimlessly watching TV again: or at least trying to. It had taken him forever to find one single thing playing that he hadn’t watched yet, considering the same set of shows and movies aired again and again, every day for him.

Anyway, the more he watched, the more the images and words simply blurred together and fell from his mind.

By the time the end credits rolled by, Mingyu realized that he had no idea what had happened during the episode whatsoever.

He shook his head with a sigh, massaging his nose-bridge with his thumb and index finger.

At that moment, he heard the tinkle of chimes and turned to see that he had forgotten to close one of the windows in the kitchen.

Mingyu grumbled to himself, getting up from the couch. Unfortunately for him, he probably should have watched where he was going, because he ended up walking straight into the petite square table that sat between the two couches in his living room.

His toe crashed painfully against the leg of the table, knocking over a picture frame. He silently cursed, falling to the ground and cringing in pain until the stinging finally dulled into a fainter throb.

He sighed, rubbing the sore spot on his toe before he finally got up. He glanced over at the fallen picture frame and set it back up.

Mingyu could recall the day he first looked at this picture. It was before he even had any recollection of who Jeon Wonwoo was.

Now he could look at the photo more knowingly, and take his time to notice the details.

The picture was of the two of them. Wonwoo’s arms were slung around him, his head tilted to rest on Mingyu’s shoulder. The photo seemed to be taken at night with lanterns strung in the background, and crowds of people dressed all summery milled behind them. Wonwoo beamed and his eyes sparkled in the lighting, clutching a stuffed fox doll with the hand that wasn’t around Mingyu.

The first and last time Mingyu had looked at this, he had cried. Random and confusing tears had bubbled in his eyes, and he didn’t even know why. He thought back on that day and shook his head. The worst part was, he still didn’t know why he had cried.

He refused to look at this photo again.

At least until today…

There were no tears threatening to spill at the back of Mingyu’s eyes now.
However, there was a strange new feeling curling in his chest.

Mingyu eyes softened and the world seemed to slow down around him as he continued to stare, clutching the frame in his hands.

The tinkle of chimes and distant discomforting sound of tides washing against the sand could faintly be heard in the background.

***

It was only on Monday, the final day of the colourful fanfare of Labour Day, when the two were having breakfast, that Wonwoo asked him, “Hey, I was thinking, did you want to go to the Labour Day fair by the beach in the evening?”

Mingyu looked up feeling oddly elated at the question. “Yeah sure why not,” he beamed.

Wonwoo nodded, “Yeah it’ll be fun. I um, know a good restaurant nearby that we can have dinner at.”

Mingyu had his elbow propped up on the table with his chin leaning against his palms. Slowly he angled his face down, so that his hand would cover up the wide grin that was spreading across his lips.

“What?” Wonwoo demanded.

Mingyu’s smile grew wider. “Nothing.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Wonwoo halfheartedly glared at him.

He couldn’t suppress his giggles now. “If you’re going to ask me out on a date, say it properly.”

A pale pink spread across Wonwoo’s cheeks. He opened his mouth as if to retort, but then closed it again.

“I liked you better all shy and embarrassed,” Wonwoo finally grumbled. “You know, always shoving your fist into your mouth like a tool.”

“Hey! I did not do that!” He responded indignantly.

“You kind of did.”

Mingyu was sitting perpendicular to Wonwoo on the dining table, so he simply slid over his chair and pinched Wonwoo’s cheeks. The guy pretty much had zero baby fat in those cheeks, but he still managed anyway.

“Well then, I can safely say I like you even more all flustered like this,” Mingyu cooed. “It’s cute. And less intimidating than when you were trying to hit on me.”

“You’re so annoying,” Wonwoo grunted, but his glare had turned into something more like fond exasperation.

“Yeah, but you’re stuck with me,” Mingyu teased.

He moved closer to brush their noses together and Wonwoo cracked a little smile at that.

“Ofcourse.”

Mingyu smirked and leaned in to steal a couple pecks, taking Wonwoo’s waist and turning it from the table to fully to face him.

Wonwoo moved slightly towards him, rather eagerly, and rested his knees between Mingyu’s as he lazily wrapped his thin arms around his neck, tugging him closer.

Soon enough, there was a soft and sweet pressure of Wonwoo’s lips against his. Mingyu’s eyes fluttered shut.

The kiss was steadier than yesterday’s, less hasty and clumsy in the rush of the thunderstorm. It was slower and deeper, as if the two had all the time in the world.

Wasn’t that right though?

Time was on their side.

The evening was warm and glowing with the sun in the midst of setting. There seemed to be this unshakable upbeat feeling in the air as Mingyu and Wonwoo stepped out of their car, having finally found a roadside parking spot after ages of waiting and searching.

Colourful decorations and lanterns were strung above their heads through the glowing street. Squeals of children and a general buzz of conversation and laughter surrounded them, accompanied by jumbles of music coming from every store.

They strolled by the road parallel to the crowded beach, and stood there for a minute to watch the Labour Day family tournament events that were being held there.

Children and adults alike were stumbling through the beach with burlap sacks, trying to reach a red tape that stretched across the sand many meters away from them— all the while family members screamed with support from the sidelines.

“You see, that one guy?” Wonwoo nudged Mingyu by the shoulder, head motioning towards a tall man who was stumbling in his burlap sack, tripping over his own feet every time he tried to get back up. “That would be you.”

Just at that moment, a tiny agile boy raced past the man in his little bag, as if it was an extension of his own feet, and Wonwoo grinned. “And that, would be me.”

“You’re so mean,” Mingyu whined, but Wonwoo’s eyes almost looked as though they were shimmering among the lanterns and lights of the area, and his mouth was pulled into a teasing smirk, and Mingyu could only felt his heart spiral in happiness.

“It’s the truth. I mean look at your clumsy giraffe limbs,” Wonwoo poked the side of his thigh.

“Ok, enough of this slander,” Mingyu laughed and intertwined their fingers, steering them back towards the fair filled streets. “What do you want to do first?”

“Um, anything really is…” Wonwoo’s eyes scanned the booths before lighting up. “Oh! I’ve always really wanted to try those lame games you see in carnivals and stuff.”

“Ok then, lame carnival game it is,” Mingyu declared and headed over to the stall that Wonwoo was eyeing: the ring toss.

Wonwoo turned out to be a pretty terrible ring toss player and obviously ended up with no prize at the end.

“Hey it’s ok,” Mingyu clapped him on the back.

Wonwoo set his face into a huffed up pout. He blew out his cheeks before saying, “I thought I’d be better than that.”

“Have you not played these kinds of games before?” Mingyu laughed.

“Nope,” Wonwoo responded simply. “I always thought they’d be a waste of money. And I was right.”

Mingyu quickly scanned the area, searching for a booth he knew he’d be good at, before his eyes landed on the tiny rectangle designated for shooting hoops. A typical thin crowd of people surrounded the place, spectating the passing rounds of players (currently, the guy who was playing was miserably failing). He nudged Wonwoo and pointed in its direction.

“Hey let’s go to that one.”

Wonwoo allowed himself to be led to the stall where Mingyu paid for 5 tries on the net. If he got at least 3 in, he’d be able to pick out one of the big prizes.

Wonwoo stood outside, leaning against the rubber padded blue boards lining the tiny “court” as you could call it, and watched Mingyu, giving him a small thumbs up as a form of encouragement.

Mingyu’s smile grew wide as he turned to face the net. He lined himself up to the white line on the ground and took a shot. The ball went through, slipping easily through the net without touching the rim, and Mingyu turned his head over his shoulder to give Wonwoo a sharp-pointed smirk.

Wonwoo only shook his head with a smile, as if to say, “Get 3 in