Donghae turned slightly pale while Yoona only clapped her hands. It was an unfortunate situation to her too, but she found Eunhyuk and Sunny’s rebellion to be more hilarious than her own irritation to them. 

“Pretty smart, that Hyukjae,” said Donghae as he gave up forcing the door to open. Their gondola began to move upwards again. Being handcuffed to each other might be dreadful, but at the very least, Eunhyuk and Sunny could go wherever they wanted to in the amusement park’s festivity. People would still be around them, unlike the situation he was in with Yoona –where they could only be the two of them for the ride that lasted only God and the Eunsun team knew how long.

Yoona finally ceased her laughter. “Yeah. I didn’t expect Unnie to act that way either.”

Donghae shoved his hands inside his jacket’s pocket and leaned back to his seat. “So what are we going to do now?” he asked, though he himself already knew the answer: there really was nothing that they could do. Being locked up inside a long ride, only the two of them, without any other distraction available.

Although among the SNSD girls Yoona was one that was considerably pretty close to him (other than Jessica that was, but that Sleeping Princess was definitely a different issue), but by the term ‘close’, he could not claim that he never had any kind of awkwardness with her. Especially in that situation, where he was forced to look at her and her only (well, he could look at the scenery outside, but such excuse could not last forever). Nervousness began to creep inside of him.

People often considered him as the ladies men. He knew that he was called the ‘Prince’ by the fellow artists or his fans. As much as he took pride in such title, he sometimes regarded himself as the usual boy next door who was prone to shyness. He did not say that he was shy all the time. Perhaps all those time on air and in front of the cameras had awakened the ‘prince charming’ side inside of him and flirtations came out naturally sometimes. But the thing about being the prince charming was that although he could be one when necessary, but he could not always be one.

The camera is here now. This is the necessary time to act like the prince, he told himself. He repeated the mantra all over again and was about to open his mouth…

…but Yoona beat him to it.

“You don’t have to force yourself, you know, Donghae Oppa,” she said. Her chin was propped up with her hand, her lips partially concealed. But a tug of smile and her calm gaze were still visible.

“Eh?”

She leaned back to a more comfortable position. “We don’t have to talk if we don’t have anything to talk to,” she elaborated. “This part will most likely be edited anyway.”

Sometimes she awed him in the way her honest and straightforward words did not offend him at all. She could understand the usual taboo in a social relationship and accepted it. Donghae supposed he had to give credit to Yoona for (despite being four years younger than him) being paradoxically considerate.

He gave her a smile and felt himself relax. And as his anxiety faded away, his exhaustion resurfaced. After the choreography practice the night before, he had not had enough sleep (and he had to wake up early that morning for the shooting of Project: Cupid!). His mind drifted away. This situation mildly reminded him to a certain someone.

Alright, he admitted to himself.

It reminded him a lot to Jessica. There had been the time, a year or two after Super Junior debuted, that he and Jessica sneaked out to the amusement park and just like this time, rode the Ferris Wheel ride.

The thing he liked about Jessica was... contrary to the common beliefs, her introverted personality. To him, it was always fun being with easygoing people like Eunhyuk or Kangin or Shindong, but sometimes, what he needed was peace.  What he needed was that girl with her seemingly uncaring personality who could actually make him be himself. He had it all with Jessica.

They had it.

A faint pain that he did not want to experience gripped at his heart and he cursed himself for remembering that particular memory in such time (he was on camera, for God’s sake). But on the other side, Yoona’s words (about how this part would most likely be deleted anyway) helped him to relax again.

Time flew and he did not realize that he had fallen in a quick sleep inside the Ferris Wheel ride.

The slight shake wakened him, but his body was still too tired to do anything. Donghae lazily opened his eyes and found Yoona was sitting on the seat across him –currently preoccupied with reading the magazine she had carried in her tote bag.

“What time is it?” he asked in a sleepy slur.

Yoona looked up at her wrist watch. “4.20 PM.”

His mind calculated. “We’ve been here for an hour? And those two have not let us out?”

The strongest SNSD member chuckled. “Apparently so. Don’t mind them, Oppa. You look tired. Go sleep again.”

If he had been in his usual fit form, he would refuse her advice. But he was too tired and the way the gondola moved just naturally lulled him to sleep. He closed his eyes again. His head tilted to the side and due to the time accumulation of uncomfortable sleeping position, he felt his neck was beginning to feel cramped.

Absentmindedly, with eyes still closed, he murmured, “Yoona-sshi?”

“Hm?”

“Can you lend me your shoulders?”

If he was awake, if he was not tired, if he was on his right mind, he would never ask that.

Yoona blinked, surprised by his request. Her mind momentarily thought that he asked that on purpose because they were being recorded and all, but then she remembered that if they wanted to win the show, then he would not show any kind of indication like this.

I’m thinking too far, Yoona concluded mentally. She had hesitated, but she later decided that there was no harm helping her own sunbae. “Sure, Oppa,” she said as moving to sit next to him.

His head was soon propped up against her shoulder and she immediately smelt his faint scent. Musk tinted with soap smell. Donghae’s steady breathing told her that he had fallen asleep one more time.

Yoona shook her head upon noticing how this man could act too young for his age sometimes. She decided to shrug the thought away as she flipped open her magazine again.

To Be Continued

Author's Notes : Thank you very much for subscribing and/or commenting in the previous chapters... Truth be told, I don't really have real plot now. I focus on characterization and hopefully they will tell the stories themselves. Well, at least, that's what I aim. Haha. Hope to see you in the next chapter ^-^