DongHae POV

"Next please," I heard the person behind the counter call loudly.
The person standing in front of me moved forward a few steps and asked for a ticket when he reached the counter. Soon the exchange of cash and ticket would take place, and then it was finally my turn.
Immediately I tightened my grip on the young man named Hyuk, who was standing right next to me. The man looked bashfully up at me and gave me a shy smile. I smiled at him encouragingly. With a short head movement I told him that we had to walk a few steps forward. I felt how he also strengthened his grip on me now and took a cautious step forward. With shaky and small steps we walked up to the counter where the seller was impatiently waiting for us.

When we arrived at the counter, we were immediately greeted by an unfriendly-looking salesman. I noticed how the young merman next to me began to make himself smaller out of fear when he saw the grumpy man in front of us. Like a small child Hyuk tried to hide behind me and clung himself even closer to me. I patted his hand to calm him down a bit and turned back to the ticket seller.

Impatiently thumped the seller his fingers on the table in front of him and waited for me to tell him what kind of cards I wanted to purchase. Without hesitation I told him in what cards I was interested in and pulled out my wallet. I took the amount he told me out of my wallet and pushed the small bundle of money through the narrow gap in the pane.

After the seller had controlled the amount with a very critical eye, he quickly gave me two cards and told me in a slightly bored tone that the bus that would take us to the ground, was right behind the gate. The seller raised his eyes and was about to call the next customer forward when his gaze got stuck on Hyuk. Amused by the behavior of the merman, he looked at the dainty man behind me and pulled mockingly one side of the mouth upward. I feel how Hyuk began to tremble slightly and clung himself even tighter to me.

"Have fun", wished the seller with sardonic voice and a still crooked smile.
"Thank you. We will", I said friendly and turned to leave.
I had decided to ignore the mocking tone in his voice as well as his sardonic gaze. It wasn't of any use to start a fight right now over such as small matter.

My sudden movement came a bit too surprisedly for Hyuk. Although he tried to turn to the gate as well, he started to stumble dangerously. I immediately pulled him closer to me to support him again. The young man looked up at me thankfully and smiled at me sheepishly.

"Thanks," he said meekly which let a slight read veil form around his nose again.
Seeing the light red color in his face made my heart beat faster. In order to support him better I put my right arm around his waist which made my hand rest calmly on his hip. I took a deep breath to calm down the raging beats in my chest.
"No big deal. Your walking already got quite good. Come to think of it that you took your first steps today you improved a lot already", I praised him and smiled at him encouragingly while I led him through the entrance to the station.

"Do you really think so?" Hyuk asked with twinkling eyes.
"Yes, I do", I said while nodding resolutely.
Clearly satisfied with my answer Hyuk let a beautiful smile appear on his face.
Hyuk looked at his surroundings with sparkling eyes. With interest he watched how a small child was playing with a new-looking doll while we were waiting for the arrival of the little bus.
My eyes, however, rested solely on him. They wandered over his nearly perfect facial features. The face, that had been so close to mine when I woke up this morning. A gentle smile began to form on my face when I thought of the relaxed facial expression I had seen while he was sleeping soundly in my arms.

My mind wandered to yesterday. The smile that had previously formed on my face dripped slowly away again. For quite a long time I tried to figure out a way to help the young man but I just couldn't find a solution to his problem. I tried to get to know more about that thing that he had to find, but the mere mention of that thing made him break out in tears again. It almost seemed as if he had given himself up at the very moment he had learned that he was on the wrong continent. Although he tried to put a good face on the matter, his eyes were giving him away.

"Where are we going?", I heard him suddenly ask.
"You'll see," I said and smiled at him playfully.
Hyuk cocked his head as he looked at me and pushed his lower lip forward.
I started to laugh out loud at the sight and shortly ruffled with my free hand through his blue hair. Surprised over my unusual movement Hyuk ducked his head a little and looked at me with wide eyes. Slight fear appeared in his eyes. He immediately relaxed again when he noticed that I didn't want to hurt him.

The small colored bus with the gigantic elephant head suddenly appeared after a bend and held a little later in front of the waiting crowd. The small doors had hardly opened when the large mass started moving with big steps towards the bus. I strengthened my gripped on the young merman so I won't lose him. Hyuk immediately did the same. Afraid of getting separated from me he leaned against me and clung himself tighter on me.

It didn't take us long until we found a place in the small car. We had hardly sat on our seats when the driver drove away. Surprised by the sudden movement Hyuk stared outside with wide eyes. He had his mouth slightly open in astonishment.
"Look! Look! The world moves", he said fascinated while starring at the moving landscape.

I smiled. Slowly, I moved closer to him and started playing with his hair. I enjoyed the feeling of his soft hair against my fingers. It seemed to me as if it had been ages since the last time I had done anything like this. I missed to have someone around me. I missed my HyukJae.

As if I had burnt my fingers, I hastily pulled my hand away from his hair and starred outside. Inwardly, I railed at me for what I had done a few seconds ago. How could I do such a thing? How could I enjoy it when the person with whom I always had done it with was no longer with me?
A silent tear formed itself at the simple thought of him and found halting its way down on my cheek.

Hyuk, who had noticed my sudden change, looked at me with questioning eyes. When he discovered the tear he stretched out his hand and I wiped it gently away. The light touch of his hand on my skin left a pleasant tingling sensation. I closed my eyes and thereby let another tear appear. Again I felt him gently wiped the tear away from my cheek. When I opened my eyes again, he smiled at me encouragingly.

The car slowed down. When I glanced outside, I realized that we would reach our destination soon. Ahead of us the small rose garden to which the little car has to travel to, come in sight. At the sight of the approaching entrance a faint smile crept back onto my face.

"We're almost there", I informed the merman, who still looked at me with a worried expression.
Immediately, he let his eyes wander back outside. His face lit up when he saw the beauty of the small garden next to him. Excited, he tugged my sleeve and asked me again where we were going to. Again I didn't tell him anything. He would see soon enough where I was bringing him to.
Hyuk let himself sink deeper into his seat while pouting and turning his eyes away from me.

Somehow, he looked cute when he was pouting.

I quickly shook my head to get that thought out of my head. I couldn't and shouldn't think like that.

The car stopped abruptly in front of the gate and let the passengers get off. Everyone around us got up and got off the vehicle.
I helped Hyuk to get on his feet and pulled him closer to me again to help him walk. Carefully made the young merman one step after another. His legs began to tremble dangerously under him.

"We will walk around a little bit. I hope that's okay with you", I warned him.
In response Hyuk nodded while biting softly on his lower lip. Concern spread in his eyes.
"Don't worry. I'm with you. If necessary, I'll carry you there. I promise", I said encouragingly, and immediately earned a shy smile in return.

Step by step we got closer to the place I aimed for. The road that was so familiar to me seemed to be incredibly long today. Because of the small steps we were taking it took us forever to even reach the small bridge we had to cross over. Again and again we made little breaks so he won't be overexert. Despite the many breaks that we took, we soon reached the place I wanted to show him; the Australian Pavilion of the Seoul zoo.

"Welcome to Australia", I shouted happily and pointed to the entrance of the pavilion.
Hyuk looked