Donghae’s POV

I ended up sitting next to Hyukjae in the front seat with Kyu and Sungmin hyung sitting together in the back seat, with Kyu practically pressed up against the car door. I looked back at him from the front seat questioningly and he mumbled something about not wanting to sit next to a disgusting monkey. 

I wanted to ask Sungmin hyung if he would switch seats with me so that Kyu wouldn't sit like that the entire trip, but hyung looked so comfortable that I decided against it. I sighed and turned to sit properly in my seat again, watching the way Hyukjae pushed his sleeves a bit further up his arms before he slowly pulled out of the winding driveway. 

Hyukjae turned the car onto the curb and glanced at Sungmin hyung through the rearview mirror. “So where exactly are we going?”

“Oh, hold on. I’ve got the flyer.” Sungmin hyung pulled out a messily folded piece of paper from his back pocket. 

He read the address off the bottom and Kyu gave Sungmin hyung a weird look. “You mean Central Park?” Central Park was an enormous forest-y park in the middle of the city that was always buzzing with people due to the constant carnivals, concerts, walks and other events that gave people something fun to do in the summer. 

“Is that what it’s called?” Sungmin hyung asked uninterested. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not a nature person.”

Kyu scoffed and Hyukjae just rolled his eyes before he began driving. It was pretty quiet for the most part, only the soft hum of the radio filling the space. There wasn’t much traffic this morning so we were there in thirty minutes. 

We all piled out of the car when Hyukjae found a parking spot on the avenue. 

The three of us gathered onto the sidewalk around Sungmin hyung who looked pretty confident. “Come on guys. We have to head over to the south end of the park. That’s where the circus is being held,” he said, calling over his shoulder as he stalked away from our little group. 

“I feel like he doesn't know where he’s going,” Kyu deadpanned. “I mean, he didn't even know the name of this place. Do you guys really expect him to know where everything is?”

Hyukjae just shrugged and said that we should follow him either way. So we ended up trailing behind Sungmin hyung like a bunch a baby duckling. Soon enough, we found out that Kyu had been right. After wandering around for a while, Sungmin hyung turned to the three of us and proclaimed that he had no idea where we were anymore. 

Hyukjae looked like he had expected this and Kyu started grumbling about how much he hated this right now. 

“Why don’t we just ask for directions?” I suggested. There were a lot of people around. I’m sure one of them could help us. Hyukjae was the first to react, nodding to himself before flagging down a biker that was coming down the path. 

She stopped to a skidding halt. When she looked at who stepped in front of her, her eyes lit up. Hyukjae stood in front of her, flashing one of his photo-ready smiles. 

“I’m very sorry to disturb you on such a beautiful morning, miss.” The woman tossed her hair over her shoulder, pleased as if Hyukjae had just called her beautiful. “But do you happen to know in which direction we could find the south end of the park? We’re trying to find the circus.”

I didn't realize that I was frowning throughout the entire exchange until Kyu nudged me in the side, raising one of his eyebrows, which I didn't respond to.  

She gave some simple directions and then we were off again, this time with Hyukjae leading at the front. 

Arriving at the clearing, we saw the gigantic red and white pin-striped tent coming into view. It was huge! 

But as we moved closer, I noticed we were the only ones there. Hyukjae seemed to realize this too and turned around, looking quizzically at Sungmin. “Are you sure this is the right place? It doesn't even look to be in business.”

Sungmin hyung looked around confused before pulling the flyer out of his pocket again. Examining it, he let out a laugh. “Well, boys. Looks like we’ve got some extra time on our hands now.”

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously, moving to stand next to Sungmin’s side, peering down at the flyer in his hand. Before I got the chance to look at it, though, hyung was breaking the news to our little group. 

“It’s a night circus. The show doesn't start till 5.” Sungmin hyung shrugged as if nothing was wrong. 

Kyu let out an exasperated cry, throwing his hands in the air. “What the hell, you stupid rabbit man?! You didn’t even read the paper correctly. What kind of idiot are you that you can’t plan a simple day properly?!” 

Now I was feeling kind of sympathetic for Kyu. Of course, being Kyu, he was acting rude to Sungmin hyung but this was totally getting him riled up. So I went over to stand next to him and bumped him playfully. “It’s not too bad. We’ll just find something fun to do until then.” 

Kyu shot me an angry look, but I pouted, trying to make my best exaggerated puppy dog face. Kyu always found it funny, telling me that I looked like a creepy kid from a horror movie. And it actually worked because he calmed down a bit, but still huffed and threw ugly looks at Sungmin hyung who was checking his phone, completely ignoring Kyu’s little tirade.

I glanced over at Hyukjae. He was just looking blankly at me and Kyu. Well, isn't that embarrassing. I felt my cheeks heat up knowing that he saw me making that weird face. 

When he realized I saw him watching us, he looked away immediately, turning to Sungmin who was holding up his phone in a lion king pose attempting to get any bit of signal. 

“I hate to admit it, but Kyuhyun has a point. What’re we going to do till then? It’s 11 now, which means we’ve got six hours to waste,” Hyukjae said.

Sungmin hyung didn't reply for a moment, but then looked up from his phone. “It says here that there’s a gaming cafe nearby. Maybe we could head over,” he suggested. 

I brightened at the idea, knowing that it was the perfect thing to soothe Kyu and fix his grumpy mood. “Could we? It sounds like fun!” I chirped as everyone turned to look at me. 

“Fine,” Kyu grunted, but I knew that he was looking forward to going. Nothing lightened his mood like playing games. That and toffee, which Kyu had an unhealthy addiction to. 

Sungmin grinned in triumph. “Alright! Well, according to this map,” He said, waving his phone at us, “It says that we just need to head back this way, which’ll lead us outta the park, and then we just gotta walk a couple of blocks somewhere in that general direction," he exclaimed, pointing in a few vague directions.  

“That sounds too complicated for you to handle. Here, gimme your phone,” Hyukjae said, laying his hand out in front of Sungmin, waiting patiently for Sungmin hyung to do as he said. After a minute of fussing over how capable he was, Sungmin hyung gave up and slammed it in Hyukjae’s hand, muttering how annoying Hyukjae was being. Hyukjae just smirked and I giggled at the side. 

Following Hyukjae’s lead again, we headed out of the clearing where the tent was pitched up. After walking for a bit, we ended up on a broad path that we had taken before. Only, there was a lot more people now, briskly walking up the path. The four of us blended in with them, moving with the flow, but sticking close together since the crowd seemed to be getting larger by the second. I was walking next to Hyukjae and Sungmin and Kyu were tailing closely behind us.

A couple of girls walking in front of us were talking and I managed to pick up their conversation. It turns out all these people were headed to an outdoor concert of some really big star that was starting soon.

Soon the bustle of people was so much that I was getting bumped into as everyone hurried to move past us. Someone brushed by me with enough force to knock me into Hyukjae’s side. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked over to Hyukjae. “I think we should get off the path and wait out the crowd,” he spoke loudly, making sure I heard him over the noise of all the people around us. I nodded furiously in agreement. 

Hyukjae glanced over his shoulder to tell Kyu and Sungmin hyung but his eyes widen and I turned back as well. 

They weren’t there. 

I was staring into someone’s sweatshirt that was definitely not Kyu’s or Sungmin’s. I panicked and was about to ask Hyukjae what we were going to do now but someone bumped me again and pushed me forward away from Hyukjae where the flow of people started moving me away from him. 

I swelled with panic but I felt a hand land across my shoulders and I saw Hyukjae moving beside me, pulling me tightly into his side, preventing people from knocking into me as much. Despite the mess going on around us, I still managed to blush at the gesture but Hyukjae was focused on weaving us out of the crowd. 

When we stepped onto the grass beside the path, we both found ourselves preoccupied with darting our eyes around the crowd, trying to find our missing friends. 

“I can’t see them,” I admitted nervously. 

Hyukjae glanced down at me and was about to say something, but seemed to realize that his arm was still securely grasping my shoulders. 

He instantly dropped his hand off me, looking away awkwardly, as did I. I shuffled away from him to give him some space since we were standing so close.

“They probably got a far way by now. It’s gonna be hard to find them,” he said, still glancing about the crowd. 

“Maybe we could call them,” I suggested. I was worried for Kyu. He had made it pretty clear that he didn't want to be with Sungmin hyung and now the two of them were stuck together. 

“Ok.” Hyukjae pulled out his phone and tapped at his screen a couple of times before looking up sheepishly. “Uh… it’s dead. Do you maybe happen to have yours?”

I shook my head. “I asked Kyu to keep it in his backpack”.

“I would say that maybe we could find them at the gaming cafe but they won’t be there because I’ve got the map right here,” Hyukjae said holding up Sungmin’s phone. “And it would be great if I could use Min’s phone to call Kyuhyun but he has a really ty plan so his signal isn’t strong enough to make a call around here.” 

He titled his head to look at the stream of people still moving in front of us, looking to be in deep thought. “We’ll just have to meet them up by the circus tent at 5 since we can’t really go around looking for them.” 

I nibbled on my bottom lip but then nodded since it was the best plan. I was still worried about Kyu though…

“We’ll just have to hang around the park till then.” Hyukjae grinned. “Just the two of us,” he added, looking pleased. 

Now that I thought about it, that actually didn't sound so bad. Kyu will be alright with Sungmin hyung. 

I smiled and nodded at Hyukjae’s suggestion.  

He beamed in satisfaction. “Why don’t we go this way,” he said, pointing to another paved path leading away from the people still moving about. “We could follow it and see where we end up. Maybe we’ll find something interesting to do along the way,” he said, but then looked away with a red face. 

I titled my head curiously but Hyukjae just waved it off, coughing awkwardly. “Lets, uh, lets just get going.”

I wanted to know what made someone like Hyukjae blush, but didn't ask and just followed behind him as he started walking, smiling to myself knowing that Hyukjae could make such adorable expressions. 

We ended up walking side by side down the path which eventually bled into a bigger road where there was some kind of mini carnival going on. 

As we strolled through, my attention kept bouncing around to the different stands. There were all kinds, some were offering face painting, some selling home made jewelry, and I saw one that was supposed to be a fortune telling booth. 

Without realizing, I ended up drifting towards a table where a petite woman was selling hand crafted bracelets. She smiled at me and I returned it before looking down at the table. 

They’re so pretty! 

I picked up one that was made of purple wire with a little star charm dangling off. In my peripheral vision, I saw Hyukjae come to stand beside me. 

“Look! Isn’t it so cute~?” I crooned, holding up the bracelet for Hyukjae to see. 

He took the dainty piece of jewelry into his hand and grinned. “It’s lovely. It goes perfectly with your shoes, too.” He looked so handsome standing there that I was caught admiring the way his smile made handsome crinkles around the corners of his eyes, the way his hair framed his face, and the way his muscles moved under his shirt. 

The woman broke the moment by interjecting cheerily in a thick accent that I didn't recognize. “True, true! A very pretty bracelet for a very pretty man,” she said to me. I smiled, blushing at her complement. 

She then turned to Hyukjae. “Your boyfriend likes it! You should buy it for him! He’ll love you even more. That’s a guarantee!” she said, giggling happily.

As the words fell out of , my eyes widen and my mouth fell open in shock. Not to mention that my face was now a firing red. 

I can’t believe she thinks Hyukjae is my… my… 

My brain totally shut down and I just started shaking my head furiously, trying to deny her words but no coherent sounds came out. 

“M-Miss, I think you have the wrong idea. We’re not… uh, we’re not… it’s not like that. We’re just friends,” Hyukjae stammered out, clearing up the situation. 

“Oh my! I’m so sorry! My dearest apologies, lovelies.” She shook her head, hitting herself lightly on the forehead. “How about I give it to you for free to make it up to you? Hm?”

My brain barely started to work again as I tried to refuse her. Hyukjae tried to give her back the bracelet, but she put her hands behind her back and smiled widely. 

Hyukjae sighed and shifted uncomfortably, glancing down at me, both of us still blushing crazily. He looked at a loss for what to do until the booth lady brought our attention back to her by leaning over the table. “If you don’t take it, I’ll be forced into thinking that you are lying to me and that you are indeed boyfriends,” she threatened lightly. 

There didn't look to be a way to refuse her so I just nodded loosely, still feeling awkward with the situation.

She smiled at her success. “Great! Have a good day now!” she said shooing us away and we moved stiffly away from the table. 

We fell into a slow step again as we kept walking down the path, too embarrassed to say anything. After a while, Hyukjae cleared his throat and made a move to give me the bracelet. “She was right about it looking nice on you.”

I didn't know what to say so I just hesitantly took it, blushing all the while at Hyukjae’s complement.

I fiddled with the bracelet before slipping it onto my hand, holding my arm out in front of me to see how it looked. Hyukjae glanced over and his mouth twitched into a smile. 

We barely walked past five more booths before my eyes caught something again and I seemed to forget about the awkward confrontation just now as I bounded over to a food stand. 

Hyukjae followed behind, curious as to what caught my attention a second time. 

“Oh my god, they sell bite-sized churros here!” I exclaimed excitedly, standing in front of the cart. 

Hyukjae hummed thoughtfully from beside me, observing the treats. 

I didn’t even think before I ordered one serving from the man, too happy at the thought of finally eating a churro after so long. Kyu always told me it was weird that I thought so highly of churros, but I just think it’s because his taste buds have been ruined with the amount of sweets he eats. 

I dug into my pockets for my wallet but came up empty handed. And that’s when I remembered that I had also given that to Kyu for safe keeping in his backpack. 

I groaned and covered my face, disappointed that I wouldn’t get to eat churros anymore. 

I heard Hyukjae chuckle from beside me and I peered past my fingers to watch Hyukjae pulling out his wallet, handing over the money to the churro man. But I immediately tried to stop him, tugging on his arm. “You don’t have to buy it!” 

Hyukjae grinned comically at me and continued to hand over the money, taking the container from the man. 

I moved my hands to fold them over my chest and pouted when Hyukjae tried to give them to me. 

“Come on. We’ll share it,” he said moving away to a little bench nearby.

I sighed and followed behind. 

We both sat down and Hyukjae handed me the churros, which I took this time.

I took a bite and smiled in delight as the wonderful taste flooded my mouth. Hyukjae laughed. “Are they that good?” he asked, obviously amused with my reaction. 

“Of course!” I said, popping another in my mouth. “Why? Do you not like it?” I asked, scrunching up my nose, not understanding how anyone couldn't like churros.

Hyukjae laughed again. “I’ve actually never tried it,” he admitted, putting his hands up defensively when I looked at him as if he had just grown an extra head. 

“Oh my god you haven't been living! Here!” I picked one up and held it up in front of his face, waiting for him to open his mouth. 

He did almost instantly and I popped the piece into his mouth, staring at him expectedly as he chewed. “Hmmm. It’s actually really good,” he exclaimed and I giggled happily eating another one. 

I offered him a few more and didn’t notice that after that, I ended up eating most of it. 

We kept sitting after the churros were finished because we still had no idea what to do next. I looked down at my new bracelet and played with the little star charm. 

“So why do you like churros so much?” Hyukjae asked curiously. 

“My mother didn’t let me and my older brother eat anything she thought was unhealthy, but our butler thought that she was too uptight so he made it his duty to sneak us churros that he got from a store near his house. We would hide and eat them in our room… I guess, in a way, they remind me of my brother since I rarely get to see him now. And also because they taste good!” I grinned cheekily and Hyukjae chuckled. 

“I didn't know you had a brother,” he mused.

“Yeah. He’s four years older than me and about to graduate from university. He told me that he’s planning on starting his own company right after, which is pretty cool.”

We fell silent and as I played with my new bracelet, I realized that I didn't know anything about Hyukjae and this might be the perfect opportunity to do that. Excited with the idea, I asked the first random question that came to mind. 

“What’s your favorite color?”

Hyukjae seemed confused as he looked at me. “Favorite color?”

“Yeah! Mine is blue… That’s because I like the ocean. Oh, and I like fish! They’re so cute.”

I looked at him, waiting for an answer. He blinked a couple of time. “White. It’s a pure color.”

“Hmm. Ok. Favorite movie?” I asked again. 

Hyukjae looked perplexed for a moment. “If I had to pick, I would say… The Godfather.”

I cringed. “Yeah… that’s not really my kind of movie. That and horror films… I don’t like scary things. Like thunderstorms,” I shrugged. 

We stayed quiet for a moment before Hyukjae asked his own question. “How did you meet Kyuhyun? You two seem pretty close,” he asked and I thought I heard a little bit of bitterness. 

I laughed as I remembered the actual incident. 

“Well, Kyu was the new kid in my math class in high school. A class that I wasn't so good in. The teacher paired us up for a project and from the time we spent together on the project, we just started hanging out after that and I guess it just happened… What about you and Sungmin hyung?”

Hyukjae rolled his eyes. 

“It was in middle school. He had to take care of the class hamster for the weekend and he ended up killing it. He came to school early on Monday to hide the body in the yard. I happened to be there playing basketball and he somehow convinced me to be the one to dig the damn grave. We both got caught and had to do detention together for the next month.” 

We both ended up falling over each other laughing. 

Settling down again, Hyukjae’s face brighten as if he thought of something genius. “I heard there’s a lake around here. Since you said you like the water maybe we could go. Plus there’s bound to be fish.”

I found myself agreeing almost immediately.

We had to ask for directions but we eventually found it. 

It was an enormous lake with dark blue water. All around it was surrounded by beds of bright green grass and the air seemed cooler around here. It was a beautiful sight. 

No one was around and it was probably because they were all at that concert. Meaning we had the lake all to ourselves. 

I squeaked with excitement. “I wanna go in!” I proclaimed enthusiastically, bouncing on my feet, just itching to jump in. 

Hyukjae laughed heartily and I took that as his ‘go-ahead’ signal. 

I toed off my shoes. I bounded over to the edge and dipped my feet in, testing the temperature. As expected, it was cold but I didn't need to wait long before I adjusted to it. 

I waddled in deeper until the water was meeting me halfway up my knees. I peered in anxiously but didn't see anything moving in the dark water. 

I pouted, turning around to look at Hyukjae who was watching me with a silly grin. 

“It’s too shallow for any fish to be around.”

“Is that so? Then you’ll need to go in further,” he said, as he began untying his shoes. 

Was he planning on coming in? He pants looked pretty expensive. I don’t want him to ruin them over something as petty as looking for fish. So I attempted to stop him. “You don’t have to come in,” I tried, but he ignored my call, pulling off his socks and hiking up his pant legs up to his knees.  

He smirked before stepping in.

He didn't even wait for his body to adjust to the water and just started walking towards me, and then walked right past me. I’m pretty sure his pants were halfway soaked by now. 

Oh well. 

I wadded in after him until we were standing side by side. I peered into the lake once again and this time I saw the water move beneath the surface with flecks of silver and orange darting around. I squealed again and dipped my hand in the water, trying to get the fish to follow my finger. Patiently waiting for five minutes, I finally got one of the tinier little guys to follow along and slowly moved my finger in eights, watching in amazement. 

“Look, look!” I exclaimed happily. Hyukjae leaned over to get a better look, praising my small accomplishment. 

“Now you try!” I grabbed Hyukjae’s hand and dunked it in the water. He circled his hand about and soon enough he had his own little follower. I giggled at how out of character Hyukjae looked with his hand in the water, concentrating on the not loosing his fish. I like this side of him. 

Just then, his little fish did a tiny stunt jump and flipped out of the water, splashing Hyukjae’s shirt with water drops. I laughed at how shocked he looked, but then he turned to me with a wicked look. 

“Oh so you think this is funny?” 

I wasn't prepared for the splash that came my way. Hyukjae just smirked in triumph. That is, until I splashed him back. 

Soon it was an all out war in the lake. 

I was laughing nonstop but then I took a step back and my foot slipped. I lost my balance instantaneously and went under. 

Intense fear ran through me before I felt strong arms wrapping around me, pulling me above the surface. 

I gasped and coughed up the little water that managed to seep into my mouth. I became aware that Hyukjae was holding me firmly against his chest, rubbing up and down my back, making sure all the water in my lungs was spit out. When I stopped choking, I rested my head against his chest, trying to catch my breath. 

“Are you ok?” Hyukjae asked frantically, still rubbing my back. 

“Yeah. Sorry about that… I can’t swim,” I lifted my head off his chest and managed a pout. 

Seeing that I was ok now, he laughed, stopping his rubbing motions, but not moving his arms. “How odd. You love the water and you love fish, but you can’t swim.”

I thought he was making fun of me so I pouted some more but then he grinned and let go of me. “It’s kind of cute,” I heard him mumble and I blushed bright red for the thousandth time today. 

woah. it's super long. and there's bound to be typos because i didnt proof read :/ 

this would be the 'part two' I was talking about 

and yes, i used nyc's central park because i don't know of any in korea 

and i also realized that i made leeteuk younger than hyuk -_-

anyways, i look forward to the comments and feedback :)