A/N: title reads as "Aparichit" in Hindi, a word for "unknown"

Jonghyun unfailingly clicked everything.

After all, this was his first trip to Europe. It was a thing of prestige in his family and among his relatives, who'd hardly ever traveled out of the Seoul area. He’d decided on the flight here he would bring back large souvenirs for each and every one of them. But when he’d read the prices in those tourist shops he’d been left horrified. And so he resigned into at least returning with a lot of photographs.

I’ll give them a virtual tour, he thought.

“Do you sing?” he craned his neck to ask the gondolier. At first he thought his accent may have been too thick to be comprehended. But then the man laughed a little and shook his head. He then teasingly belted out a few notes in his deep voice. Jonghyun swayed nonetheless. They rowed leisurely through the canals—under high-arched bridges, past the museum, pausing a minute at the docks behind the famous San Marco square.

Jonghyun felt the unruly urge to fall onto his back and bask in the glory of this beautiful city. He did the closest thing by leaning all the way back in his seat and resting his head on the plush red velvet pillows. Sunlight glanced off white marble and green bronze. The sky showed him the most beautiful shade of blue he’d ever seen. A group of tourists on a ferry nearby laughed and spoke animatedly.

He smiled at it all. The was the best vacation ev—

“Euh!” he let out a surprised sound when the boat pitched madly. "What the hell...?" he frowned. His hands stumbled around for support. Voices shouted with anger and disbelief. He shot up in his seat and looked around for what was causing all the commotion. And when he didn't find it he shook his head. He looked up at his gondolier for help, gesturing his confusion. An angry finger jabbed at the air to direct him.

Jonghyun covered his mouth when he saw it.

The man floated along the current of the tributary. At least that’s what it looked like to Jonghyun, who had no idea what direction the water was flowing in really. All he had eyes for was the strange guy gliding on the waves with his arms and legs spread apart. He gripped the side of his rented gondola and it rocked dangerously, almost throwing him out as well. His oarsman yelled at him to sit still while a patrol boat set out to retrieve the drifting stranger.

“S-someone…!” Jonghyun screamed, frantically waving his hands above his head. “Someone help him!”

Loud exclamations started up at that. People desperately reached their hands out to rescue the poor guy. Some tried to row their gondola closer for a look, others clicked away with their cameras. Someone shouted in a loud a harsh tongue that couldn’t have meant anything helpful. Everywhere was chaose and yet… and yet the target of all this chaos was the image of harmony.

He didn’t look dead. Jonghyun was no expert, but he was sure a drowned body would seem more bloated than normal. Besides, the man had an incongruent smile on his face. A soft smile that reminded one’s confused mind of early sunrises and late sunsets. A smile that said this dive had been intentional and no one had pushed the man in. A smile that told Jonghyun the man wanted to be left to his state of suspended peace—that he was content to just be alive and would find his way back to the pier by himself if they let him.

No, the man wasn’t dead. Because when he opened his eyes they were full of life.

The guards still plucked him out and rolled him into a blanket, making inquiries after his well-being. He shivered a little and then giggled a little, water dripping from his disheveled hair and raining off his chin. Then he flashed a thumbs-up around to the onlookers, who shook their heads dismissively before going back to their merriment. Madman... Jonghyun forgot how to blink, staring like a fish with his mouth hanging open. When their boats aligned with each other, the man looked back at him and gifted him a grin. If he’d opened his mouth then and said he had a secret contract with the wind, Jonghyun would’ve believed him.

“Breathe,” the man jokingly ordered him, jolting him out of his shameless shock.

Later, in his hotel room when Jonghyun spoke to his loneliness he envied the man his calm. He envied him and craved for that serenity… that silence. He lay back on his bed and looked at the bland ceiling of his room, hearing his pulse pound in his head from walking around in the heat all day. He raised his hands up and typed the story into the air, closing his eyes to remember the scene as it was imprinted in his head.

I saw a man die today,
And his life stood proudly over his grave.