3. hongkong

if you are to choose between hongkong or macau, maybe you can't choose one of them easily. hongkong and macau are indeed beautiful; they have both asian and european side so it will be a nice trip if you visit whether hongkong or macau. but for yixing, it's not difficult to choose between those two.

he'll definitely choose hongkong.

not because he hates macau, not because hongkong is more beautiful. in fact, for yixing, hongkong and macau both are the golds of china.

it's because the memories in hongkong can't be forgotten just as easy as blinking.

and since that one fine summer day in hongkong, he started to think of why the reporter guy named wu fan was always there wherever he may go. it had happened twice before, when they were in thailand and LA. when they first met in thailand, actually it was accidentally meet-up between them two. but then, the 'coincidence' meet-up in LA was truly unexpected. yixing had just attended justin timberlake's concert and wu fan was about to collect article about hollywood. and then, hongkong.

just so you know, they met again.

still, accidentally.

and yixing will never forget those days with wu fan in hongkong.

-

it was a fine summer day when yixing landed safely in hongkong international airport. he decided to spend his salary from part-time job as a clothing-line shopkeeper and his savings on a vacation to hongkong. again, alone. he had no friends in hongkong and well, he had prepared everything (according to him it was already 'everything') such as map and dictionary of cantonese. he didn't forget to bring the tourism in hongkong guide book, too. he just couldn't wait to eat starch porridge and hotpot. or claypot. anything 'so canton'.

he took a bus ride, heading to hongkong island. he had already booked a motel there, and he also had booked one in kowloon too. so apparently he was gonna spend about five days there, and with his budget he could only wander around the north of hongkong island and kowloon. but of course, he had marked the attractive places to visit in those two.

the sun was in process to go down, and yixing found it better if he just took a rest after flight from beijing, but it wasn't that easy. instead, he was planning to visit victoria park. yes park, not peak. who knows he would see the symphony of light?

surprisingly, he motel he had booked was near the victoria park. it made all become much easier, right? so he decided to drop his belongings to the motel first then go to the victoria park afterward. thanks to wu fan for giving him his camera. wu fan decided to buy the new one because he wanted yixing to learn how to snap photos beautifully with professional camera. he even mailed him photobooks. yixing only rolled his eyes when receiving them because oh god, wu fan is too full of himself... well.

but it worked actually. for an amateur and non-photographer, yixing's photos are good enough. like how he snapped photos of victoria park's scenery. he was in a very good mood so his photos were sort of good, too.

until he snapped a photo of a familiar stranger approaching.

-

at cafe and two cups of americano. two guys sitting across each other. one guy was really tall, while the other one was smaller. and they knew each other.

"it's funny," the tall guy named wu fan (yeah, wu fan) said. "i'm not even following nor stalking you, but can you believe me it's our third accidental encounter?"

yixing drank his iced americano from the straw before answering, "well i doubt it."

wu fan raises his eyebrow.

"you do stalking me, fan," yixing grinned widely.

the reporter laughed. "how ridiculous! i've been here since yesterday!"

"really? what for? are you in duty again?"

wu fan nodded. "now it's for the culinary section. i have collected some, anyway. do you want to take a look?"

"sure, sure," and yixing moved next to wu fan, along with his chair. wu fan his camera and yixing found out that his new camera was just the same with his old one which now on his hands. yixing frowned a bit but maybe wu fan was just used to use that kind of camera or the better cameras are too expensive he couldn't handle.

yixing began exploring the photos in wu fan's camera. there were a lot of photos of local food in hongkong which successfully drove yixing hungry. wife cake, pineapple bun, egg tart, and starch porridge's photos were there. with a bit edit, the photo would look amazing, to be honest. a bit edit, because the photos were for magazine.

without yixing knowing, wu fan had been watching him in that close distance. of course yixing was too clueless to realize that. wu fan wasn't even listening to whatever yixing said. he just hummed to anything he didn't understand. wu fan could clearly see the dimple on his cheeks and he felt the urge to kiss poke that. ah, who cared about people looking at them superciliously.

"wu fa--ouch!" yixing yelled in pain when his forehead knocked wu fan's nose. the tall guy was also groaning. "it hurts!"

"so does my nose!" wu fan roared, rubbing his nose and making sure it wasn't bleeding. and it wasn't.

yixing was busy rubbing his forehead and thanks god he didn't accidentally drop the camera or else it would be scattered into bits and wu fan would be jobless.

after feeling better, yixing continued exploring the photos. wu fan rested his chin on his palm while his elbow supported his body on the table. he looked at yixing who seemed not noticing and it was fun. yixing's stare when he's serious doing something is really amusing. and actually, ridiculous. and wu fan enjoyed it a lot. wu fan was wrong that yixing looked like his ex. actually no. but this feeling when yixing around him was exactly similar to the feeling his ex gave to him. he just didn't know why. but watching yixing like this, he was happy enough. the way he smiled, the way he his lips, the way his face went blank, the way--

"don't stare at me like that or you'll be in love with me," yixing remarked.

wu fan just laughed, not saying anything.

-

yixing wasn't so surprised knowing wu fan booked a room in the same motel with his. something he didn't even realize was that he ended up being in wu fan's room without dropping his belongings into his room first. he watched wu fan editing the photos on his laptop and began typing his article. seemed like he had taken some notes about the taste or something. yixing joked about wu fan becoming food critic instead of traveler, and wu fan just replied with "i'm a multi-talented reporter."

yixing also took out his laptop and began editing photos from his camera. he ran a blog ever since he accepted the camera from wu fan just to put photos of scenery he had been collecting into a place which could never be erased. someday if he lose his memory card or even the camera, he will still have the back-ups in his blog. he realized the fact that he's really forgetful so yeah.

then, yixing began to feel his eyes were being so heavy when he was uploading some photos of victoria park. moreover, he lay down on kris' bed with laptop on his lap, head leaning onto the mountain of pillows. and yes, slowly, his eyes closed, driving himself into the dreamland.

where he dreamed of wu fan kissing his forehead like he did when he was about to leave LA.

...a dream, right?

-

yixing woke up just to realize that he was still in wu fan's motel room, but he didn't find wu fan anywhere. his laptop had already turned off and it was on the desk. the sun was already rising high, yixing couldn't take the sunlight when he opened the curtain. that was when someone unlocked the door from outside.

"oh, good timing. you're awake already?" said wu fan. it seemed like he had taken a bath and ready to go on a hongkong adventure.

yixing nodded in response. "yeah... a few minutes ago. you..." yixing cleared his throat, not too sure if he should say what was on his mind. "...where did you..."

"sleep?" wu fan smirked when yixing nodded. "don't worry, i didn't sleep here with you. i slept in your room, and i locked this room because i was afraid someone might sneak inside to do something bad to you."

yixing exhaled in relief. "thank you, wu fan. you're the best."

wu fan was taken a back for a while. when yixing shot him a questioning look, wu fan forced a chuckle.

"oh yeah, of course i am. um... any plans for today?" he asked.

yixing shook his head. "not in particular... i'm flexible. but i want to wander around hongkong island..."

wu fan smiled. "okay. go bathe and wear comfortable shirt. today's gonna be a long day. and of course, hot."

yixing didn't need to be told twice to rush into the bathroom.

-

by comfortable shirt, wu fan didn't expect yixing to wear white wifebeater, and yixing didn't realize that wu fan was staring... at his fair-skinned arms. but well, the weather was kinda hot, so yixing thought it would be good if he just wore wifebeater.

for some reasons, wu fan thought it was a wrong idea.

the first destination was a restaurant which sold hotpot and claypot. it was still morning and they took them as breakfast. no matter hotpot and claypot were suitable more for lunch and dinner, but wu fan thought it would be better if he didn't obey the rules. and, who could resist those meals anyway?

"wu fan, later i want to eat wife cake, egg tart, and pineapple bun... please?" yixing asked with full mouth.

wu fan smiled.

"i think i have taken the photos of them...?" wu fan teased.

and wu fan did it; yixing pouted.

"fine. i'll go around by myself and buy a lot of snacks!" he threatened.

wu fan couldn't help but laugh.

"you should see yourself right now, yixing. it's hilarious. and by any chance, do you know hongkong well?" he smirked and raised an eyebrow.

and as wu fan expected, yixing didn't know. "but i have map! i'm sure i'll survive!"

"shush, stop being a kid. shut up and eat your meals. after this i'll take you to some attractive places."

yixing couldn't stop being a kid because he then obeyed wu fan's order.

but he didn't know why the hotpot and claypot tasted nicer than before.

-

yixing didn't expect his journey after having breakfast was visiting shrine, cathedral, and even mosque. he remembered very well that wu fan was in his duty to collect article about local cuisine of hongkong, but then why he took him to those places? what yixing expected was wu fan to buy him cakes or something delicious. after all he's a growing-up kid, okay (or he thought so). but, he also had to thank wu fan because he could take many nice photos.

when they visited mosque named ammar and osman ramju sadick, there were people praying, or muslims call it shalat. a few hongkong citizens and quite a lot of foreigners who maybe live in hongkong for work did shalat. yixing wanted to snap a photo of them doing shalat but a guy who looked like south east asian gestured to him not to take any photos of them doing shalat. yixing bowed deeply to ask apologizes but the guy just smiled and saying something in cantonese which yixing immediately turned to wu fan.

"what did he say?" yixing asked when the guy has gone.

"he said it's okay, don't bow too deep," wu fan smiled. "well, go continue taking photos. this mosque is pretty nice. and the people here too."

"i assume you had been here before?"

wu fan answered with a hum. "when i was still student like you."

yixing retorted, "excuse you, mr. wu, but i think our isn't so far."

"i'm too smart so i graduate faster," wu fan simply said.

"ugh! is that how you tease me who's still struggling for graduation?"

"whoa calm down, don't be like high school girl getting mad at her crush," wu fan shot a glare to yixing.

"if i were a girl, i would've loved another guy, not you."

"then do you love me?"

"what?!" yixing almost choked on his own saliva. "oh god wu-yi-fan. no way in hell!"

wu fan laughed. "yes way in heaven, zhang yixing. why, i can see you're blushing."

yixing slapped wu fan's shoulder so hard and the tall guy groaned so loud in pain. "keep dreaming."

yes, because yixing expected nothing for something called love. 'love' word nowadays was too easy to say, without knowing what would happen next. love is something abstract, vaguely exists, and wait--what is love actually?

yixing found a small group of discussion around the mosque. they were females only, and they all wore hijab. they spoke in english and gave yixing a hard time to understand but when he looked at wu fan, he could see the reporter was paying attention to the females there. eventually, he smiled and chuckled a bit. yixing made an assumption about wu fan liking one of the females there.

when yixing was about to ask, wu fan grabbed his wrist already. "if you're done already let's move to the next destination."

yixing couldn't even say anything but what he remembered, he was being dragged into a shrine. happy valley shrine.

wu fan walked closer to the praying spot there but he only closed his eyes. yixing wondered if he was actually praying, speaking heart-to-heart with god, or... sleeping?

"don't you want to make a wish?" wu fan suddenly said with eyes still closed.

oh, so wu fan was making a wish. "wish like what, what to wish?"

"i dunno," wu fan shrugged. "your study? your parents letting you dance? whatever you want to wish."

"oh well... yeah..." yixing hesitantly closed his eyes like wu fan did.

"don't forget to wish about your love life. i know a guy like you has no lover."

"if it wasn't shrine i'd make sure i'd rip off your head."

"lame blackmail. same as cutting my balls."

"whatever."

and they remained silent. yixing did listen to wu fan. he prayed for his study, for his parents letting him dance again, and... his love life. he had no lovers before, not even dating someone or something. but he once had a big crush on his junior in high school, who later became his very best friend.

whom yixing told wu fan he wanted to be a nurse because of his friend--the friend who passed away. no matter what, the said friend still has the special spot in yixing's heart. both as friend and big crush.

"may you rest in peace, may angels embrace you in heaven, may you recover from your illness," he whispered, more to himself. "seeing you in pain gave me pain as well, you know. but i'm sure you're smiling widely now."

yixing exhales. "i have to move on, right?" and when saying this, he turned his head just to find out that wu fan was already staring at him, worried and full of questions. wu fan didn't need to ask 'why' because yixing already knew it but he didn't want to answer any single 'why'. what yixing needed was the answer 'yes' for his previous question.

and wu fan reached for yixing's hand, squeezing it a bit without letting go of their gaze-locking. yixing knew; he knew he should move on. maybe the big question left was only this one: how do i move on?

they walked hand-in-hand to the next destination that was a cathedral named saint john. when they arrived there, a wedding party was being held so they couldn't enter the cathedral freely. but it was a very good object, at least for yixing. he asked permission to wu fan to release his hand from his grip and he did it. yixing snapped some photos of the couple, and of course the cathedral itself. wu fan stepped back just to snap photo of yixing snapping photos of the couple. wait, it sounds ridiculous. but that's how it was.

"someday you'll find your true love," wu fan said, making himself stand beside yixing again. "and get married. and have children."

"it's not... that easy," yixing said. "marriage is including commitment. i'm... i think i'm not ready yet. even to be in any kind of relationships."

wu fan fell silence for a while. "is that so? even open relationship?"

"well... maybe open relationship will do. by open relationship, i don't mean buddies."

hearing that, wu fan smiled. "really you're not ready yet for serious relationship, are you?"

yixing let out a soft laugh. "that's what i said few seconds ago, giant baby."

-

the next day, both yixing and wu fan went to kowloon. of course they visited a restaurant just to eat wonton noodle as brunch (because it was too late to call it breakfast). they didn't chat too much, just eat and busy with their own laptop. wu fan sent some files to his colleague because he ran out of memory space in his mmc. thanks god the wifi was truly superb so the process of sending photos to his colleague didn't take much time. time to do massive clean-up for his mmc.

except this one.

"i'm done posting some to my blog. i'm finished eating this wonton noodle--wu fan, oh god," yixing raised his voice, "you haven't eaten your meal!"

wu fan cursed when he realized the noodle was already expanding.

-

flower market was really nice. since they sold many kinds of flower, wu fan and yixing smelled the scent of flower wherever they went. and maybe, they smelled nice too.

it was already afternoon, blame wu fan for ordering another bowl of wonton noodle and yixing had to eat wu fan's 'ex'-wonton noodle which already expanded and cold. and of course he had to take photos of it. what makes it so long was because wu fan settled everything to make the wonton noodle looked yummy. yixing swore he could order another more.

yixing, the must-post-this-one blogger, of course couldn't stop snapping some photos of the flowers. he even asked the florist about the flowers, like 'what kind of message does rose represent?' or 'what's the difference between one rose and a bucket of rose?' and yada yada yada. wu fan even wondered who actually the reporter is but yixing just defended himself as 'curious yixing for you'.

when yixing got back to wu fan, the latter was talking with someone on the phone but qiuckly hung up when yixing approached him.

"why, am i gonna disturb you?" yixing frowned.

wu fan forces a laugh. "no... just my important business with a friend," he convinced. "anyway have you done? maybe we can move to another place?"

yixing agreed. they then went to the goldfish market. many children were there with their parents, buying goldfishes or just taking look. goldfish has some ability to make everyone who looks at it relax more even after a long tiring day. for yixing and wu fan, too. yixing happily teased the goldfish swimming inside a plastic bag. yixing himself asked wu fan to take photos of him with the goldfish using his camera of course, not wu fan's, and with a long sigh wu fan obeyed the younger guy.

"ah, what to do," yixing started to whine. "i want to buy one and keep it in my house, but i'm going back to beijing, not changsha, and oh god i dunno how to keep it alive when i'm on plane. i don't wanna hurt this cutie..."

wu fan smiled, but more like mocking.

but yixing didn't have any idea about wu fan was struggling inside his brain. he felt the warm feeling inside his heart again. like, full of happiness, comfortable feeling, and so on and so on and--

yixing didn't understand 'love', everybody.

but wu fan wasn't any better.

-

wu fan and yixing walked back to their motel. they need to rest before going to temple street night market. on the way to motel, wu fan just couldn't let go of yixing's hand. yixing also found himself was already used to it. just maybe the weather was too hot so yixing was uneasy because his hand was sweating, but wu fan seemed not to mind. anyway, he'd clean up later.

"i'm assuming you loved your deceased friend?" wu fan suddenly asked out of the blue.

yixing looked up. "i just grew affection towards him."

wu fan stared at yixing. "you..."

"like guys, maybe," yixing finished wu fan's sentence. "that's why i'm wondering if i told you earlier about that maybe you wouldn't have been intertwining your hand with mine. this," he pointed out their laced hands, "can make my hopes up. i hope you know what you're doing, wu fan."

in fact, wu fan really knew what he was doing.  he knew he was getting into somewhere he once had been there. so he just smile while his hand tightened the grip.

"don't worry, yixing. i know."

-

temple street night market was full of people and wu fan had to hold yixing's hand all the way because he was afraid losing yixing in the crowded place. but at least they were able to buy souvenirs and of course snacks. wu fan noticed about yixing having new piercing on his left earlobe, so he convinced him to buy more earrings but yixing said no ("this is still new, i need pure gold okay?"). he preferred another souvenirs like bracelets or necklace. and yixing had to remind wu fan about not to make his hopes up by paying all the stuffs he wanted to buy. and wu fan, once again, said he knew what he was doing ("yes of course i know what i'm doing, i'm giving them away to you. for free. because you know, sometimes being too rich is awesome but also tiring--" "oh please shut up!").

they kept walking and walking, until they stopped in front of queue in front of a fortune-teller. only a few people were lining up, maybe because the others were busy buying souvenirs.

both yixing and wu fan cleared their throat and it made them chuckle.

"no need to go there, right?" wu fan nervously asked.

"yeah. we're not high school girl or something," yixing rubbed his own nape, not daring to look at wu fan's eyes. "let the life goes on with full of mystery, shall we?"

"of course. let's just, uh... maybe eat these snacks? before i drag you to another place."

"oh, sure."

they took a seat not far from the fortune-teller to eat their snacks like pineapple bun, wife cake, and egg tart (because yixing begged so) and chatted casually. yixing asked about what place wu fan would visit after that, but wu fan kept it a secret. yixing guessed about watching symphony of light and wu fan just simply answered with "you almost get there~" so yixing wondered more if symphony of light was the nearest answer, then what the real answer would be?

"whoa," someone said, making the two guys startle. "surely three times encountering each other isn't a coincidence, right?"

wu fan and yixing looked at each other.

"and oh boy, the one with dimple," she pointed yixing, making the latter widened his eyes, "tonight will be one of the most awesome night for you. maybe typhoon will haunt you one day but after all there's always rainbow after rain, don't you think?"

she laughed, bringing along her stuffs before going away from there, leaving the two guys dumbfounded. but since she spoke in cantonese, only wu fan who understood. yixing only knew some words but he was completely clueless about what she said.

"well, she's just crazy i guess? let's go," wu fan said to yixing before the shorter guy had a chance to ask.

yixing groaned when wu fan already walked away.

-

"wu fan, i'm going to kill you if you dare to me or something."

yixing heard wu fan let out soft laughter. "no."

"seriously, where are we now? can i take off the blindfold?"

"not yet, yixing. just please shut up and i'll guide you professionally, okay?"

"wu fan--"

"please trust me," wu fan's voice became adamant then, and yixing stopped being like a girl in pms.

yixing could feel he was being dragged to a place above water or something, and a soft voice that belonged to wu fan saying "okay, thank you!" and soon he could hear the sound of door closing. yixing's heartbeat grew faster when wu fan untied the blindfold.

"please close your eyes still, open them when i count to three," wu fan ordered. "one... two..."

yixing felt really uneasy.

"two and a half..."

"damn, wu fan don't play with me!" yixing groaned.

wu fan laughed. "sorry, sorry," he said. "...three."

slowly, yixing opened his eyes. and he mentally freaked out--good thing he could manage to calm down. he knew where it was.

he was in a yacht.

a freaking yacht.

with the scent of rose--in fact, the yacht was full of white roses.

yixing's lips parted and his face went blank. he only muttered "holy rose..."

and when wu fan asked him "how?" yixing dared to look at him. wu fan asked again, "do you like it?"

"why...?" yixing's gaze still locked on wu fan's.

"i just feel like doing it," wu fan smiled. "you seemed to really love white rose when we were in flower market. so here, i give them to you."

"but may i remind you that this can make my hopes up? wu fan, please, you don't know what you're doing, i swear."

wu fan shook his head. "i know what i am doing, yixing."

yixing sighed exasperatedly. "whatever wu fan," he retorted.

he spread his gaze to the whole room in the yacht. king size bed--yixing thought something obscene (sleeping with wu fan)--but he swore he wouldn't do that because he didn't want to. simple.

"of all flowers, why rose? and of all colors of rose, why white?" yixing asked, approaching a rose on the bed and took it. he sniffed at it, and he felt relax because of its scent.

and wu fan took yixing's free hand into his. "rose, because it means something, which is a warm feeling inside my heart whenever you're around me," he said. "white, because it contains all colors. spectrum."

yixing froze on his spot. is wu fan confessing?

"come on, i'll show you the best thing in hongkong."

and again, wu fan took the lead of yixing's step. he brought yixing upstairs, and soon the latter could see the most wanted view in hongkong.

symphony of light.

yixing became so excited. he smiled wider than ever. he even laughed in happiness, enjoying the very great scene in front of his eyes.

"wu fan look! this is great!" yixing chirped, pointing at the light dancing around the buildings. "waaaaahh!!!"

wu fan took steps to stand behind yixing.

"oh my god this is just great," yixing said. he turned his body, quite surprised when wu fan was already behind him. "thank you, wu fan."

but then, something unexpected happened.

wu fan leaned closer, only to capture yixing's lips with his own.

no rush. just a soft kiss, but wu fan demanded a kiss back by nipping yixing's lower lip.

but yixing didn't kiss back.

and wu fan pulled away.

"i know you're surprised, but i think you already know," wu fan whispered. "you said i didn't know what i was doing, but in fact, i knew, i know."

yixing's mouth was still closed, but his gaze fell to wu fan's eyes.

"i know you don't believe in love, so i'll say i'm growing affection towards you, yixing," wu fan then took yixing's hands, "and i'm not lying."

a long pause only to be filled with staring competition between wu fan and yixing. many things filling up yixing's brain. he suddenly recalled his deceased friend, whom was his major crush, and he didn't want wu fan to be a replacement--that was too fast for him to say yes. only three times of encountering anyway. and could he even trust this guy who was standing in front of him, the one who had just kissed him?

"wu fan," yixing eventually said, "i think you know my answer so--"

"i don't want an answer now. let the time answer. and i'll be continuing to show you that i can be your lover, your friend to spend the rest of your life with, and yours only," wu fan said. "even though you're going to reject me, the important thing i want is, please, let me help you to move on."

move on. something yixing must do, but it was the most difficult thing to do. and this guy offered a helping hand. for him to walk by his own feet. those fierce eyes softened, indicating a sincere feeling.

"fine," yixing whispered. "let it just flow, okay?"

wu fan smiled. he gathered yixing into his embrace and said, "yes, yixing. thank you," with a kiss on yixing's forehead.

and they spent the rest of the night watching the symphony of light, in each other's embrace.

-

the next day, yixing took wu fan to the airport. wu fan had to go back or his boss would get him fired. meanwhile yixing, his flight would happen at evening.

"anyway yixing, i'm about to go to kazan in russia," wu fan told the younger guy. "i want you to go with me there. if that's okay with you."

yixing looked up.

"if you don't want it, i can understand--"

"i'll think about it," yixing answered with smile. "after all my blog will be much better if i add photos of another part in the world, won't it?"

wu fan was glad that yixing didn't become so awkward after his confession last night--and after they slept together on one bed, separated by bolsters between them, in the yacht.

wu fan bid farewell with a kiss on yixing's right cheek, where his dimple stayed. yixing just smiled awkwardly.

yixing stayed at the airport because the gap between wu fan's flight and his was close enough. so, he waited for his flight with uploading photos from his camera.

but strangely, the photos he had snapped were gone.

and only one photo left there.

photo of someone vaguely familiar to yixing.

a/n:

um... hi? oh god i'm sorry for chapter :< anyway, the subscribers are increasing so i'm thankful ^^

anyway, you can talk to me via twitter tumblr and also ask.fm, maybe you want to give critics or something :)