They were like stairs. Curvy stairs dotted with green which ascended the mountain filled with water that reflected the golden light of the pre-evening sun. Okay, so they weren’t really like stairs. They were better.*

Ryeowook gasped at the passing fields of rice. “Look, Kyuhyun, look! There is a house in the mountain of rice!”

“Fascinating,” Kyuhyun said. At this point, his focus was mostly trained on his blank best man’s speech as opposed to listening to the smaller’s chatter. He supposed he could be annoyed that the other just would not stop talking, but really he was just glad he’d stopped asking why the other train was going so fast.

“These fields curve around the mountains so unevenly. Some wide, some narrow; why do you think that is, Kyuhyun?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kyuhyun droned. “Because they felt like it?”

Ryeowook pulled away from the window to look at him. The other sat leaned up against the wall, buried in his notebook. He wasn’t even looking at this gorgeous scenery, and that bothered Ryeowook.

“What - Hey!” Kyuhyun picked up the randomly thrown at him bag of peanuts.

“Come watch this view with me, Kyuhyun.” Ryeowook said. “It is a once in a lifetime chance.”

Kyuhyun scoffed. “No, it’s not. These trains always take this mountain path and they always will. This view is the same as thousands of others across the country. I’m not missing anything.” Before the other could respond, Kyuhyun said, “Can you just be quiet for a little while? I need to finish this goddamn wedding speech, and you’re not helping.”

Ryeowook blinked. “…Okay.” But Kyuhyun had turned back to his book.

The rice fields seemed less golden when he looked back.

Leaning against the desk, he sighed. Empty snack wrappers lay scattered across their table. They’d consumed everything. Apathetically, he an empty peanut pouch. Miss Liyin was right; they were good. Too bad they were all gone. His stomach rumbled. Ryeowook looked back up at Kyuhyun. It seemed unlikely that he would want to come eat with him in the dining hall, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?

Apparently it did because when he asked, Kyuhyun bit his lip and looked like he had to restrain himself.

“What did I just say, Ryeowook?”

Ryeowook shrunk back. “You are writing your speech.”

“And you are not helping.”

So Ryeowook left for the dining cart alone.

The dining car was number nine.* When he reached the small but classy room, Ryeowook pattered over to a corner table. He had no idea if he was supposed to go order himself or wait for somebody to come. No one was at the bar up front. So yes, he just sat there.

At this early an hour, only a few people occupied the tables. Most were male although a rowdy group in the center contained one female. She yelled when one of her friends threw a bag of chips at her. She used it to smack him in the face. Ryeowook giggled. He wished he had the nerve to do that. Or friends to do that to. You know, either would suffice. Lost in his own thoughts, Ryeowook didn’t even notice when from that group, a man with a beak-like nose turned around to stare at him. When he did though, he nearly fell out of his chair, screaming. The other man however just turned back towards his group and gestured something towards Ryeowook. Abruptly, the beak man stood up and started towards him.

A black hole of fear opened up in Ryeowook’s chest. OhgodOhgodOhgodOhgod. What are they going to do to me? Beak man had something in his hands, probably something to gut or threaten him with. He knew he shouldn’t have brought his wallet out here.

In a blink, the giant stood before him.

“Hey, you…”

Ryeowook trembled horribly.

“Are you Korean?”

What?

“What?” Ryeowook repeated but this time out loud.

“Are you Korean? Or can you read Korean? Because if so I need you to translate this.” He stuck out the snack bag covered in Hangul. “My friend there says they’re sushi-flavor, dried peas but I don’t believe him.”

Ryeowook glanced over at their table. A boy with a square jaw grinning at him and making weird motions with his hands. The giant scowled at him.

“Hey,” he said, “So can you read this or what?”

“Um…Yes, I can.” Ryeowook squinted the bag. “It says ‘Genuine Dried Peas: Value Pack. Wasabi-flavored.”

“Wasabi-flavored, of course,” he growled. “Screw you, Chen! These are Wasabi flavored! You know we hate spicy foods!” he yelled back at the grinning boy. Instead of looking scared, he looked amused. The tall man started to storm back, probably to smack him on the head, but Ryeowook suddenly went after him.

“Wait!” he called causing the giant to turn around. “How did you know I was Korean?”

Intense-stare man frowned. “I don’t know, actually.” He turned again. “Hey, Chen! How did you know this man was Korean?”

“He’s Korean!?” Chen’s square jaw dropped. “I just chose randomly!”

Tall guy rolled his eyes.

Another man (how did they all cram around that tiny table?) stood up and playfully shoved the boy. “Alright, alright, your evil masterplan failed, Chen. You can eat your own damn peas.” He chucked the bag at him over their chorus of laughter. “Let’s all thank this Korean man for saving us from the burning wrath of the Japanese condiment.” A few chuckled ‘thank you’s sputtered out. Ryeowook still had no idea what just happened. The new man grinned at him with a smile of pure sunshine.

“Sorry again for bothering you.”

“Oh,” Ryeowook said, “Well, they never said ‘sorry’ a first time but that’s okay.”

Sunshine man chuckled, “Well then, sorry again. Hey, are you eating here alone?” Ryeowook nodded, sadly glancing down the hall at his closed cabin door. “Do you want to join us?”

Ryeowook could hardly believe these words were being spoken to him. “Really?”

“Yeah, we have some room here.” He gestured to the already packed to the brim table. “Plus, Chen’s got another bunch of Korean snacks, and I don’t trust the trickster enough to eat any of it.”

Chen whined in protest. “Hey! These seafood rice crackers are perfectly fine!” The bag was obviously labeled ‘spicy shrimp flakes.’

Ryeowook kept quiet this time though, courtesy to square-jaw boy’s wink. Smiling hesitantly, Ryeowook nodded. “I would love to sit with you.”

“Alright!” Ryeowook flinched. They squeezed him into the middle of the seat packed with three other people in the booth. Sunshine man sat on the edge, half his body hanging off. “I’m ZhouMi,” he said, “What are you called?”

“My name is Li-” Ryeowook paused. “My name is Li-” He paused again. Oh dear.

“Did you forget your own name?” The girl asked.

All the friends stared at him, and Ryeowook could only frown because dammit, he did.

Mon. 5/1/2015

As always, thank you for reading!