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You wouldn’t call me the cold, standoffish boy who refrains to socialize. In fact, I’m with the school basketball team and have a decent circle of friends. But, it was the summer after high school graduation. Temperature records have soared to a high 35 degrees and people seemed to choose to stay indoors lest they want to get burned. I was planning to do so too while I stuffed my things in boxes for college. And I was thinking maybe of asking my boyfriend to come over and watch movies or, you know, some other things you can do in the four corners of your bedroom. I was just not in the mood to go out because of the damn heat. 

My friends, however, had a different idea.

“We’re going to the beach!” blared from my phone. It was my best friend slash boyfriend, Baekhyun. I had to put my phone in loud speakers since I was still charging it and I was tearing hangers from my closet. Apparently, they made plans without consulting me. They were composed of Kai, Luhan, his boyfriend Sehun, my ex Dara, and her boyfriend, the idiot Yixing. The thing is, I was already planning to ask Baekhyun to come over later that afternoon. But hearing the enthusiasm in his voice, I felt guilty and held back.

“Baek you could have at least asked me first, you know,” I said as I chucked my pile of mangas to one box. It’s a newly-found hobby, courtesy of Kai – who’s, by the way, supposed to come over but where the is he – and, to put it simply, it’s taking over my life.

“I thought Kai told you,” Baek replied. “You were not online last night and your phone was turned off.” Okay so, yeah, my fault. I was reading this manga last night about basketball and a certain legendary group of high school players who’re fighting against each other and… well, I told you, it’s taking over my life, right? I could tell you what’s it about but I’m still halfway through the story (and it’s taking years to update) so let’s just leave it at that for now.

“You were reading your mangas again?” Baek asked. I groaned albeit with a smile on my face. He just knows me so well you know? I didn’t have to answer. He continued talking. “Well anyway, we are supposed to be there cause it’s like a sendoff party for us graduates so just pack a swimming trunk, a towel, and a bunch of clothes. It’s not that hard.”

“But Baek. It’s like the surface of the sun out there,” I protested.

“Yeol…”

I sighed. Let me tell you about my boyfriend. He’s shorter than me. Yes, I had to mention that first. It’s like, when you think of Baekhyun, it’s just the first thing that comes to mind. Then his eyes, his dazzling brown eyes that lights up when he smiles. His smile’s the epitome of sunrise. He's a singer, my very own nightingale. Dragged me to all of his gigs, really. When we’re alone at night, either in bed or out parked at the side of the road in the wee hours of the night watching the stars, he sings to me. And it’s different from when he’s singing for other people. It’s, I don’t know, warm? And it makes me calm. He might be nobody to some but he’s my gem and he’s mine. Aack cheesy!

Oh! And one last thing: you can never argue with him. So during our conversation that day, I didn’t have to wait for him to reason out about me not coming, I just said okay and moved on.  He’s stubborn. Probably after all these years we’ve been together, he had all the reasons to be hard on me. After all, I broke his heart just months ago when we were so young and naïve but that’s a different story. Maybe we could try having a movie marathon tomorrow instead, that was what I told myself.

“Where are you now?” I asked.

“Outside. I’m bringing mom her lunch.” Baekhyun’s mom is a nurse. It’s been hard for them all this time since she’s a single mom and she’s always assigned to the night shift. Thankfully, she’s been moved to day shifts recently. Now Baekhyun can come visit his mom at the hospital and still have time to hang out with her at night.

‘You have an umbrella? It’s the ing Sahara out there.”

“Ha ha. Yeah, don’t worry.”