Distraction

            “We’re going to move on to the Ape Pavilion,” Donghae informed me, after we’d been standing in front of the giraffe habitat for over twenty minutes.  They wanted to get to know my new soulmate, they seemed to really like him so far, but they could only handle looking at the same long-necked animals for so long.

            I nodded.  “We’ll catch up to you,” I quietly told him.

            Donghae and Eunhyuk headed up the trail.  Sungmin and Saeun had ditched us back at the visitor center.  Apparently, Ryeowook had drug Sungmin to the zoo with him once before—when he still couldn’t even see color—and Sungmin had a hell of a time dragging Ryeowook away.  I guess he didn’t want to deal with that in front of his girlfriend.

            I walked over to Ryeowook, who was standing at the railing, staring up at the closest of the giraffes in the habitat.  “So…EunHae is going to head on to the next exhibit.  I said we’d catch up whenever you’re ready,” I told him, worriedly glancing over at my little soulmate.

            “You can go ahead with them, if you want,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the animal.

            “That’s all right.  I really came here to spend time with you…not to see the animals.”

            Ryeowook’s spellbound gaze on the giraffe was finally broken and he turned his head to look at me.  “Really?”

            “Yeah.  If you want to spend the whole day looking at them, that’s fine.  I’ll stay here with you.”

            Ryeowook turned back to looking at the baby—which was still taller than me—as she followed her mother around.  Even with his eyes locked on his favorite creatures, Ryeowook blindly reached for my hand and thread his fingers through mine.  Suddenly, my breath caught and my throat went dry.  I looked down at our conjoined hands…and marveled at the progress I’d unconsciously made.

            “There’s not many people that encourage me to spend as much time here as I want,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.  “My parents and Heechul always gave me a ten minute limit, whenever they brought me.  Most of my friends put up with even less.  So…maybe there’s some slim chance…that you’re soulmate material, after all.”

            “Maybe,” I said, leaning close and pecking his cheek.  Immediately, I noticed a dusting of pink on his cheeks.  Perhaps I was getting through to him finally.

            “Even if you are willing to stand here all day with me, I won’t make you do it.  I’m just as eager to see what the rest of the animals look like in color as well.  I’ve heard that parrots are worth seeing,” Ryeowook said, pulling out his phone and snapping pictures of the largest giraffe eating.

            “I think they have butterflies in the summer as well.  My mother said that we should go see them,” I informed him.

            Ryeowook moved closer to me and then held the phone up.  “I’m going to take a picture of us.  Move a little closer.”

            He didn’t have to ask twice.  I leaned in until my head was brushing up against his and smiled.  Usually I have to fake a smile for photos, but I didn’t this time.  Ryeowook only took one picture of us, but probably forty pictures of the giraffe.  I still didn’t care.  He was holding my hand, he wasn’t complaining about being alone with me, and I’d gotten away with kissing his cheek without the slightest objection.  It was the best ing day of my life. 

            Ryeowook only remained there another fifteen minutes before we moved on.  I promised him we’d stop by once more on our way out of the zoo, assuming we timed out the rest of the visit reasonably.  Ryeowook was careful not to stand around too long at most of the other exhibits, although most of them were so much more interesting to see, now that the animals were colorful.  A few of them were disappointing though.  Elephants were still grey, we discovered.  So were seals and dolphins.  But tigers and lions were harder to walk away from without staring at for a while.  And most of the birds were so brightly colored, we kept taking pictures of each other with them in the background.  Ryeowook stood on one foot, just like the bright pink flamingos.  I stared at the camera with wide eyes, just like the eyes of the owl, staring at us over his shoulder. 

            When we got to the butterfly tent, near the end of our tour, that’s where we lost the most time.  We’d finally caught up with the others, but it wasn’t their fault that it took so long in the butterfly tent.  It was ours.  The tent was full of different flowers that the butterflies flew around, perching on, in a rainbow of colors.  On it's own, that was enough to stop someone in their tracks that wasn't used to seeing color, especially so much in one spot.  On little stands, they had also cut up fruit for the little winged insects to eat from.  Lemons, strawberries, and oranges sat in little dishes to feed the small critters.  And then there were the butterflies themselves:  the common but magnificent orange Monarch, the bright blue Ulysses, the lavender colored Lupis (Ryeowook’s favorite), the blue and gold Tiger Swallowtail, the emerald Green Moss Peacock, and the Giant Owl Butterfly, which was only a dull brow