Rome, Italy

fluff

Yunhyeong had always liked traveling, he like exploring places and when he had stumbled for an apartment for rent in Rome he immediately took it, he was alone anyway and he wanted to experience something new so why not? But despite liking traveling, one thing Yunhyeong hasn’t done yet is to actually walk around Rome and explore it. So Yunhyeong’s agenda for the day was to walk around Rome until his feet ache.

Wearing a simple button down shirt and denim shorts, Yunhyeong walked around Rome until he passed by the Trevi Fountain. There’s something about the fountain that made him stop and go near it. The fountain contains a lot of coins, some even poker chips, and Yunhyeong stopped walking around the fountain when he saw a necklace at the bottom of it. It’s a silver dog tag necklace but Yunhyeong couldn’t see clearly what was written on it so he plunged his hand into the fountain and grabbed it,

“You know you’re lucky because the guards aren’t around, you’re stealing something from the fountain.” Yunhyeong looked up and saw a guy probably around his age, looking at him with a smile. Yunhyeong stood up and cleared his throat,

“I know that…” He trailed off and the guy chuckled. In all honesty, Yunhyeong didn’t actually now but he didn’t want to come out bad in front of the man for having caught bending the rules he wasn’t aware of.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t do that if you knew.” The guy said. Yunhyeong wanted to make him leave but he doesn’t really want to ruin his day by telling a person to mind their own business.

“Why do you care?” Yunhyeong asked and the guy smiled, seriously Yunhyeong wants to erase the smile off of the guy’s face. He won’t admit it out loud but the guy was handsome, breathtaking even and the guy’s smile is starting to make him uncomfortable because he’s basically stealing on a fountain and he’s still smiling?

“You know this myth, well I’m not really sure if it really is a myth since I actually saw it in a movie, but whenever a person picks a person’s coin or let say poker chips, the one who owns the coin falls in love with the person who got it, even if they don’t know each other personally or haven’t met yet.” The guy suddenly said.

“And you’re telling me this because?”

“Because that… is my necklace.” He said and Yunhyeong looked at him as if he had grown two heads.

“Seriously, it even has my name on it and another person’s name that I do not want to mention.” He added. Yunhyeong looked at the necklace and saw two names, Donghyuk & Junhwe.

“So you’re implying that I might fall in love with you because I got your necklace?” Yunhyeong said and the guy shrugged.

“I’m guessing, you’re heartbroken?” He added. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The avoidance of eyes was enough for Yunhyeong to know that yes, the guy was heartbroken and he realized, the guy wouldn’t have tossed it in the fountain if he didn’t want to let go of it. Picking something from the fountain was a crime after all, he won’t be able to get it again that’s why he did it. The guy’s smile seemed to have faded so Yunhyeong held his hand out, the one holding the necklace, by the fountain and dropped it.

“There, I gave back what I stole.” He said, smiling.

“I’m guessing you’re Donghyuk. Would you like to go to a cafe with me?”

☆

“I have a question… how did you know I’m Donghyuk?” The guy, now Donghyuk, asked. They were seated outside the cafe, coffees at the table, they were covered in silence but both doesn’t seem to mind. Yunhyeong looked at him and smiled,

“That was a wild guess, plus I know someone with the name Junhoe and believe me you wouldn’t want to meet him.” Donghyuk nodded and went back to being quiet. Yunhyeong wasn’t even sure why he asked the other to go to a cafe with him but something about his smile tells him to do so.

The rest of the afternoon came by and Yunhyeong learned a lot about the younger, apparently he’s a year younger than him and he went to Rome to move on. Hence, the dog tag necklace being thrown into the fountain.

“So what did this Junhoe do to you?” Yunhyeong asked.

“He lied to me. Everything was apparently a bet, who would’ve thought “bets” are still in right now.” Donghyuk said, chuckling and Yunhyeong could feel the pain behind those words. The pain of being lied to, the pain of having to figure everything out and the bitterness of having felt pain just rushes out of his tongue before he even realize it.

They talked for a long time and when evening came, Donghyuk said he needed to go home and Yunhyeong understood. They walked back to the Trevi fountain, staring at each other.

“So, I’m going then.” Donghyuk said, hands in his pocket but he made no move to leave.

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you.” Yunhyeong replied and Donghyuk nodded. There was silence before Donghyuk awkwardly wave his hand before he turned around and left,

“You know a person doesn’t have to fall in love because of coins getting picked out of the fountain. Most of the time it happens naturally and I think today… just happened.” Yunhyeong shouted. Donghyuk looked back at him and raised an eyebrow,

“And you’re telling me this because…?”

“Because I may be implying that I want to see you again?”