Lay managed to buy the food quiet fast and he immediately prepared to cook dinner, but his mother was already awake and shooed him away. She told him with a calm smile that she would cook and he could have fun outside. He didn’t need to be told twice therefore he quickly watered the orchid Aunt Song gave his family the other day and dashed out of the house with a thankful goodbye.

The sun shone down, sending its fiery power upon the earth's surface. Like usual, Lay forgot to bring his cap to protect his head from the heat, yet he didn't want to go back since he was inside his house way too long for his own liking. He was strolling around the beach with his bare feet digging into the warm sand, which he could feel tickling the smooth spaces between his toes, when he heard someone calling his name.

“Lay!” He looked up and saw a jumpy girl waving her hands enthusiastically, “Hey, Lay!”

Even a blind person could tell it was Amber. He jogged towards her with a smile on his face and waved back at her. Lay went closer to her as she stood next to rows of boats. “What are you doing?”

“Luna wants to go fishing.” She pointed at the girl behind her who was dressed in white, talking to a man, probably in his mid-forties. Although she wore a sun hat which already covered her head and shoulders, she also hid herself under a white, wide umbrella; surely because it reflected the piercing heat from the sun. Nonetheless, Lay was amused by her appearance.

“No matter how many times I tell her I don’t want to, she insists that I come. And duh, fishing is so boring,” Amber grimaced and pretended to throw up at the thought of it.

“It is not boring. You just don’t fish in the right way. If you did, you would love it,” Luna said and waved tentatively at Lay as she saw him. 

“Yeah sure. If only Kris and Victoria weren’t busy, I wouldn’t be here, you know?” The other girl rolled her eyes.

Luna sighed, focusing her attention on the other young woman, “Then find me another person.” She turned her head to talk with the man again, ignoring Amber’s complaints.

“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Amber looked at Lay and grinned. “Why don’t you go fishing with her?”

The boy lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Me?”

“Yep.” Amber put her hand on his shoulder and lowered her voice, “That would be three with one blow. I would be free from the torture of fishing, Luna could fish happily and you would have the honor to get on Uncle Choi’s boat. So what do you think?”

“Amber!” Luna warned and knitted her eyebrows as she faced the boy next to Amber. “You don’t have to. Really.”

“Oh, come on!” Amber huffed and clasped her hands together, begging Lay to switch with her. “What Luna meant is come with her, but don’t feel as if you were forced to do that.”

Lay rubbed his hands together, folding and unfolding them several times. “To be honest, I’d like to go on the boat,” he admitted as he looked towards the shorter girl. Luna's messy black hair was pinned up in a red fluffy bun and some fallen strands swayed along lightly with the wind. He noticed how she stared blankly at them both and how her squinted eyes thanks to the sun, formed into two half moons. The girl was a riddle to him. The contradicting things she said and did confused him to no end. But he wasn't better either. On one side, he wished he could understand her thoughts, but on the other hand, he wanted to take it all slow and solve her like a detective solving an unsolvable case. He just loved mysteries too much.

Luna looked at Lay and forced a smile. Neither was sure if it was a happy or flustered expression, but it was a smile so he responded with one of his own. She played with her fingers with a frown on her face, seemingly in deep thought about something. When she lifted her head and tore her eyes from her hands, she breathed out through her nose and darted her eyes towards the boy. "If you're sure," she added indulgingly, looking at him under her long lashes.

“Perfect!” Amber pushed Lay towards Luna and smiled widely. “Have fun you two! Bye Uncle!”

Uncle Choi laughed out loud as Amber ran away as fast as possible, just so she could escape fishing. His grey hair was cut short and most of his body features were hidden under the simple stripped black and white t-shirt and his wide pants. “So it’s the three of us now.” He climbed onto his boat and gestured the others to follow him.

"Well," Luna began after she was on the boat. “Sorry about Amber. She always finds an excuse for things she doesn't like," she explained apologetically without looking at him.

Lay laughed while climbing up the boat and shook his head. "If you don't mind it, then I don't mind it either. And of course if the owner of the ship doesn't mind it, it can't be all that bad."

Luna shrugged her shoulders, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. "You're not bad, are you?"

The boy was surprised by her question, but chuckled, pretending it was a mere joke, although he couldn't find a teasing smile. Her expression was serious and he recognized her narrowed gaze. "I'm as harmless as a human could be."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw how his whole body suddenly started shining. The color of his skin turned yellowish and a transparent light blinked bright like the sun. He had to squish his eyes shut, unless he wanted to be blinded by the radiant light from his own skin. The hair on his neck stood on end, despite the heat that developed from his heart and crawled outwards, resulting in his beating heart threatening to explode if it didn't stop. His head ached and he heard a drum banging continuously inside himself, making him wince at every pound he felt. Just when he realized that neither Luna nor Uncle Choi asked him what happened, the light disappeared as fast as it appeared. 

A small cough escaped his throat and he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. He lied. The light came because he lied. Unlike when other people lied, it was worse for him than hearing other people lying. The symptoms came out whenever he let an untruth slip through his lips. Perhaps it was a way of telling him that he should pay attention to his words and never lie unnecessarily. 

To be honest, he did think that he was harmless compared to his father’s family. Sometimes he asked God why He gave him such a weak ability, when he sincerely wished he could be as strong as his family was. He really did wished he could be like the others and the thought of it made him mad at himself.

"Lay?" Luna asked and approached him, inquisitiveness written on her face. Lay looked back at her and plastered a small smile on his face. Luna took it as an 'okay status' and looked at the older man. “Uncle, this is Lay,” she pointed at the male next to her, her gaze still on Lay and he hoped that she couldn't see his nervous fidgeting. "Lay, this is Uncle Choi. We got the key to the lighthouse from him,” she explained as she formally introduced the two.

“Hello,” Lay bowed and walked towards the man who stood next to the steering wheel of the boat. His hand touched its surface and felt the rough and stable wood while interest blossomed on his face as he inspected the vessel. “This is a nice boat. When I was younger, I wanted to explore the sea with a boat.” 

The man opposite him laughed merrily and nodded along in understanding. "My grandfather used to dream the same as you." He paused to start the engine. "But he slipped and fell down a stone ravine. Since then his physical capabilities have worsened." With a light sigh, he pointed at the lighthouse. Lay followed his direction and saw the ant-sized ancient building. "He was, however, a better light house keeper. And he was more than happy to be at least able to do something related to ships."

"My mother would say; someone who doesn't search for happiness in ephemeral things is a wise person," Lay cleared his throat, excusing himself for putting in his two cents about the matter.

 “Agreed, kid. He found his own happiness through things that would stay even when he got older and until his spirit left this world. Guarding the lighthouse brought others joy and he loved seeing people smiling.” Uncle Choi nodded as well and gave Lay an approving laugh.

Luna smiled lightly and nodded in quiet agreement, and he figured the expression was directed at him, although her eyes were kept on her feet while she carried a fishing pole. "Lay is new to the area but he found the light house quick enough," she added and turned around looking at Lay, as if she wondered if he was fine with her telling about that.

He signed a thank you with a meaningful look and continued the conversation, "I visit it as much as I can."

Uncle Choi sent him a warm smile and led the boat further into the sea. "And how do you feel about it?"

"I loved it," Lay answered simply, watching how Luna carried a container that looked like an ice box with its sapphire blue lid. Hurriedly, he stepped closer to her to give her a hand, but his actions seemed to startle her for she jumped and moved away almost immediately when he reached out to hold the handle. The edge of the box fell on the ship with a loud thud, followed by the lid right after. He was right regarding the assumption of it being an ice box as he saw some cold drinks buried under see-through ice cubes.

Her eyes widened and she raised her eyebrows slightly as she closed the box. "You sur-"

"Surprised you?" he interrupted her with a playful voice. "My friends back in my hometown always tell me to stop popping out of nowhere. I guess my feet are just less noisy and faster than others."

Lay waited until she slowly focused onto his eyes, but she instantly dropped them as she recognized his scanning gaze. Lifting it up again, she managed to hold his stare the second time. Somehow he was quite giddy and for whatever reason it was, his nerves were running high at the moment. Crooking a smile in satisfaction after he was assured that she wouldn't look away, he nodded to himself. "You have my permission to hit me every time I make your heart stop beating." He smirked, glad that the short, silent mood was lightened up and swung his feet next to Uncle Choi where he figured he was supposed to set the box.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Without needing to maintain his focus on the startled girl, he could sense her heaving a breath as he turned away. He didn't know if it was right or wrong, but he would bet that she was wearing a relieved smile at his words.

Uncle Choi who quietly observed their performance darted his eyes on Lay. The boy frowned and looked around the boat. "Should I not put it next to you, Sir?"

The man kept his eyes on the younger one for awhile, and then shook his head with a smile. "No, you put it just right."

Lay pulled the box further upward until the bottom reached his thighs and walked on. His thick veins showed up under his thin and slightly tanned skin like the famous nil was plastered multiple times on his arm.

As soon as Lay put the box in the right place, Uncle Choi patted his back. "Boy, I tell you something," he paused, creating the familiar curiosity inside Lay, "Please... take care of..." he trailed off, looking at somewhere behind Lay's neck.

The boy followed his view and knitted his eyebrows as he examined nothing but trees from the forest that looked like the broccoli he usually avoided eating. Other than that there was the lighthouse in the middle of the broccoli field. "I will," he finally promised, still wondering if they were talking about the same topic.

Uncle Choi only smiled and slightly shook his head. "Not just the lighthouse, boy."

But before Lay could ask further, he was distracted by a voice calling his name. 

"Do you even like fishing?"

He wanted to tell her he did, but it would be a lie and seeing himself lying twice was too much for one day. Or ever. Even if it might level up his attractiveness for Luna. "Heh. I'm actually more the action type." Lay smiled sheepishly and brushed his hand through his short hair.

"You should've told me that..." she sighed and stopped preparing the fishing utensils. "And you didn't have to come with us." Her tone was lowered, probably in order to make her sentence as inaudible as possible; nonetheless Lay could recognize the frustration coming from her melody.

"I like it here," he uttered defiantly after he heard her response. "I don't regret it."

He didn't really know if she said it because of guilt or because she wished he wasn't there. In secret, he hoped that it wasn't the latter, because he definitely knew that he was totally fine with Amber 'forcing' him to take her place.

Luna took some bait and stuck it on the fishing hook. The frown on her face seemed to tell Lay that she was deep in thought. He didn’t know if it was something good or not, but the wrinkled eyebrows and snub nose along with her rosy lips complimented her whole features very well and he thought she looked amazingly pretty.

"I’m fine with watching you fishing," the young boy said and bit the corner of his bottom lip before giving her a genuine smile.

Luna shook her head and fixated her vision on the older man. "Uncle Choi, is the water shallow enough to swim?"

"I believe so," he answered nonchalantly and looked down at the open sea reflecting the sun, making it seem like a twin sister of the fire ball. "In case your clothes stay wet when we get back, you could use some of mine. My hut is near here; although I highly doubt that your clothes would take long to dry out."

Lay nodded contently. He couldn’t deny his small disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to talk more with Luna (and of course with Uncle Choi too), but splashing in the water swimming around in this hot scorching weather would be paradise for him. 

The wind which accompanied the three people before was long gone and Lay didn’t want to miss the chance of escaping the muggy atmosphere. Especially after the permission he technically received from the others.

Once he wiped off the dripping sweat trickling down his forehead to his temple, Lay came closer to Luna and put his foot on the railing. He stole a last glance at Luna who was busy throwing the string out of the boat. To his left, Uncle Choi sat down and wrote a few little things on a sheet of paper. Probably counting something as Lay saw the calculator on the small table.

He gruffly pulled off his sky blue t-shirt from his muscled body and after the head hole left his head, he searched for Luna’s gaze and found them staring back at him. 

"Staring is rude, Luna!" a mocking voice bantered from behind and Lay couldn’t hide his bashful smile at Uncle Choi’s comment. The girl immediately tore her eyes off of him. He heard how she hissed under her breath, but wasn’t able to guess if it was because of annoyance or embarrassment. Either way he himself felt embarrassed, but kept the smile he wore so easily despite his burning cheeks.

Lay cleared his throat and threw his sandals away from his feet. "Don’t you swim too, Sir?"

"Unfortunately, no. I have something to do," he stated, holding up the calculator.

"Alright then." To Lay's luck, he wore the shorts his mother washed the other day. They were actually used for swimming, but he sometimes used it on normal occasions because they were easy to wear and quite comfortable for running around and other activities he preferred to do in his free time.

As he was about to jump in with full power, a chilly hand impeded his action and pulled him back to the boat. Luna immediately put her hand next to her again, then looked at him with knitted eyebrows.

“You’ll scare away the fish if you jump.”

Her disgruntled protest made Lay chuckle unintentionally. He reflexively messed up the girl’s hair and curled up his lips. “Sorry, won’t happen again.”

Luna turned her head and covered her face with some long strands of her loosened hair. The loud laughter of Uncle Choi resonated through Lay's ears and he rubbed his nose cheekily. 

 author's note 

Thank you so much for your comments and subscriptions. Also to Amalya, because I doubt I would be able to write anything, if you hadn't remind me and push me to write at least something heh. Never thought that I would update this fic after only a week (believe me, it's a miracle). 

Some questions to you readers, please answer :)

1) How's the description and foreword? Does it sound attractive?

2) Is the story interesting enough? How do you feel when you read it?

» layout credit

11/ October/ 2013