“I'll get it!” Ryeowook quickly shouted before jumping at the cell-phone he dropped onto the ground. Kyuhyun returned into his straight standing position, watching Ryeowook fussily retrieving the fallen electronic.

Ryeowook seemed to be extra cautious about contact with Kyuhyun after they boarded the ship. They didn't share many words, they probably spoke less than three times so far, and they always stood with a standard distance between each other.

Kyuhyun shook off the rejection of aid and continued walking, arms crossed behind him.

“Umm...” Ryeowook grumbled, trying to start a conversation.

They were alone for the first time they started this cruise. The rest of the party already headed to the lounge while waiting for Kyuhyun to wrap up his work on the laptop and for Ryeowook to finish organizing his CD's that the party barraged moments before.

Kyuhyun didn't try to help fill in the silence, he continued without responding as if not hearing Ryeowook's effort.

Ryeowook walked closely behind Kyuhyun, his pace trying to match Kyuhyun's who had much longer legs than himself. They strode in large steps, the tapping of their shoes creating an interesting rhythm. Somehow, Ryeowook enjoyed this music they created.

Stopping brusquely, Ryeowook clashed into Kyuhyun's back. Kyuhyun quickly turned Ryeowook, who was now wide-eyed and nervous, by the shoulders to the right and walked into the nearest room by them, which happened to be a small entrance near the lounge. Kyuhyun released his grip on Ryeowook and they headed in the direction of the lounge.

Kyuhyun hadn't taken the time to look at Ryeowook, who's cheeks now flushed red. It was brief contact, very limited as well, but it had some sort of weird affect on Ryeowook.

They eventually found the duo, Eunhyuk and GaSeo, sitting at a rounded table chatting happily. Ryeowook noticed that Heechul was missing, but when Kyuhyun didn't ask about the absence of Heechul, Ryeowook decided it probably wasn't his place to question either.

“Sorry it took us so long,” Ryeowook apologized, realizing that none of them had started their breakfast. The wait wasn't too long, but long enough for Ryeowook to feel abashed.

“No worries,” Eunhyuk quickly comforted while ruffling Ryeowook's hair, “let's go get food.”

All four of them got to their feet, but as the trio headed towards the food bar Kyuhyun deftly slid aside and headed back towards the entrance.

He stood by the opening of the door, trying to listen in on the conversation taking place nearby. It was Heechul standing with a strange man, a strangely familiar man.

“Kyuhyun's here too?” the man asked with an accentuation.

“Yes, Kyuhyun is here too. How many times do you want me to repeat that?” Heechul answered impatiently.

“Idiots,” the man scolded softly, Kyuhyun could hear him pacing a bit farther from him in distance.

“Oh, stop it. The kid knows what he's doing,” Heechul remarked, his voice full of confidence. “But you... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at base?”

“They aren't going to keep anyone there for the time being, base has been trespassed so they're trying to change things, until then no ones gonna be near there.”

This voice... the face... it all seemed so familiar to Kyuhyun, but for some reason he couldn't remember. No, to be more precise, he couldn't remember the mans name.

“Oh,” Heechul replied candidly, not seeming to care very much, “well, why don't you join us?”

Kyuhyun started back to the lounge, not wanting the others to discover that he was gone for too long. As he started back, the trio were still trying to collect items off the food bar, closely inspecting each item for quality. Kyuhyun quickly grabbed a plate and several random foods closest to him and returned to the table.

'The kid knows what he's doing.'

This phrase repeated over and over in Kyuhyun's head. He never heard words like that come out of Heechul's lips. Those rosy red, thorn filled lips.

As expected, not long later Heechul and the man approached the table. Heechul darted a look at Kyuhyun, as if expecting him to recognize the man standing next to him.

“A friend?” GaSeo asked. The trio had finally returned with their plates filled with items.

“Yeah,” Heechul smiled, still looking at Kyuhyun, “he's going to be joining us for a while.”

Kyuhyun remained silent, eating the roll on his dish.

The man pulled a chair up to the table as Heechul sat down, “names Yesung.”

As if lighting had struck him, Kyuhyun's mind flushed with memories. Some of the memories he didn't mind too much, but others he wished he could have blocked in the back of his head. He let out a silent groan and peered at Yesung, who watched him bluntly.

“Kyuhyun ah, how's it going?” Yesung asked with a harsh smile, he could tell Kyuhyun recognized him now.

“Alright,” Kyuhyun answered, glaring at Heechul.

Heechul tried to keep himself from looking at Kyuhyun, whose eyes were piercing into the side of his head. He remained his cool and simply stood up, pulling Yesung along with him, and headed towards the food bar.

“A journey,” GaSeo uttered. She turned to Eunhyuk, who was rummaging through his plate quickly, “you weren't kidding when you said this would be a journey. We're picking up people as we go.”

Ryeowook laughed aloud, rubbing her hair gently.

As they continued eating and joking, Kyuhyun basked in memories that wouldn't seem to leave him alone anymore. Memories he would like to keep a secret, memories that tortured him... as a man.