8. DH Steamboat

Only when I arrived to the room that I shared with Kyuhyun, I realised that my heart was beating. I blamed for that Eunhyuk´s blush. He made a normal situation feel awkward. I went down to thank him for all he has done. I couldn´t but be self-conscious, I ended up being carried most of the way. I wanted to come and tell Eunhyuk that I was sorry for still being the same lousy companion. I didn´t manage to apologize, nor I managed to bring Hyuk upstairs into the bedroom, yet I felt accomplished. He sounded happy, that´s all I needed to know.

Brushing through my still wet bangs, I crawled to bed where Kyuhyun was already fast asleep. Which was bad because the fellow snored, it was smarter to fall asleep before him. But I was honestly very tired and as expected fell asleep right after touching the pillow. I dreamt of a llama racing horses.

In the morning, we had a breakfast with Kibum, the house owner. We thanked him for his hospitability and Kyuhyun bought from him a pair of firm shoes. We saddled the llama and left in the direction of the port. In one of the back alleys Eunhyuk discretely transformed into his human form, standing bare feet on the dusty ground. Sighing for himself, he put on the shoes that Kyuhyun destroyed for him, with annoyance watching them not go together with the rest of his attire. He didn´t say anything, though.

“Which ship do we take?” I asked curiously.

“I have to ask around if I find anyone I know,” Eunhyuk answered, “if not, we will just take the regular steamboat.”

“I´m so excited!” I chirped and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes.

The river we were about to sail was long and wide. We weren´t going down the flow and on the sea, we were heading to the central part of the land. For some time we should be seeing dry lands around the desert, later those should exchange for thick forests and bushes. I was half excited and half scared. Yet I knew, with Hyuk by my side I could challenge anything that awaits me.

“Alright,” I woke up from daydreaming when Eunhyuk appeared by my side, “I have bad news. I don´t know any of the small ship owners and it would be too risky to just try blindly.”

“So, it´s the steamboat?” I asked with a grin. Eunhyuk sighed.

“You should have said so from the beginning that you wanted to ride the bigger ship,” he chuckled, “not like we have any other possibility.”

“Is riding a steamboat that bad?” Kyuhyun asked.

“No, of course not. It´s quite comfortable and relatively safe,” Eunhyuk explained, putting on the backpack. “But it´s more expensive and not as fast because the steamboat has a time table to follow and many stops on the way.”

“But it has steam!” I added with a grin. The looks I was given by the two men differed greatly. Kyuhyun wore a so-what face but Eunhyuk was smiling lightly. I found out something, he perhaps liked when I was being childish. Is that why he felt awkward with me? Because I wanted to be mature? Is that a bad thing? My smile dropped. Was all my hard work to become stronger for nothing? I felt like Eunhyuk wouldn´t be able to acknowledge me.

“Okay,” Eunhyuk cleared his throat, “let´s go buy tickets.”

We bought three tickets but to my surprise, Eunhyuk insisted on making one more stop on the way. When I asked him about it, he told me that the essentials we needed for the journey through the jungle were different than those we carried for the desert. It made sense, I agreed to his idea. Not mentioning my suspicion that he simply couldn´t stand his ripped shoes. In the end, we bought tickets to the biggest city on the river and that we were supposed to reach in about one to two days.

“Careful,” Eunhyuk was watching us board the steamboat.

Taking a bag from Kyuhyun, in case he would lose balance on the bridge, and as for me, he secretly held my sleeve. It hurt my pride but I didn´t want to start another fight, I knew he was just being protective. And I also noticed that the boy from the crew was also frowning, welcoming passengers and helping them on board was his job! I nodded at him in understanding.

There were only small cabins for two on the steamboat. So far it was Kyuhyun and me in a room together and Eunhyuk somewhere else, this time though, he decided to share the room with me. It meant that Kyuhyun would share his cabin with somebody else, which he didn´t want. But I used my decisive word as the leader and finally got to take a break from Kyuhyun´s snoring.

“It´s not bad,” Hyuk remarked, putting down our baggage. “They should serve us three meals a day and there is a bar too. Let me know if you want me to bring you something.”

“Why would you bring me things? I can do it myself, you know,” I rolled my eyes.

“I know you can,” he murmured, “but I don´t mind doing it.”

I didn´t know if he was still upset about the dog issue. I was trying my best to show him I liked him as a friend and not just using him. I tried to get closer to him so we could be friendly like during the journey to the treasure island, and I think it worked. I guess he was simply being caring, I forgot he had this gentle side of him. We all have always used to take the things he would do for granted, now I was older and a little wiser to see even those little actions of his. I smiled at him.

“Let´s go eat together,” I said, “Kyuhyun is probably busy getting to know his new roommate.”

“Good idea,” Eunhyuk smirked.

The boat sailed already, white waves were the wheels, orange land was on both sides of the river. As we were walking across the board, I kept looking around. The wind was in my brown hair and a few green plants were making the monotonous landscape look more interesting. I grinned for myself, everything felt so new. Even the diner at the back of the boat. I heard Eunhyuk sigh and looked in front of me. Kyuhyun was already there and speaking to a tall man, we joined their still empty table.

“Ah, Donghae and Llama!” Kyuhyun introduced us to the stranger. Eunhyuk bared his teeth.

“Hello, my name is Zhoumi, I am from the East,” the tall oriental looking man introduced himself. I was perhaps too amazed by his looks, habits and accented speech because the man´s eyes fell on me and he smiled brightly. Wow, that smile was really wide!

“Zhoumi is actually going to the same place,” Kyuhyun told us and I glanced at Eunhyuk.

“The same place?” He asked the man with a small frown.

“Yes, yes,” Zhoumi smiled, “the city across the jungle.”

“I see, we could travel together then!” I proposed. “Didn´t you want another man in the group, Hyukkie?” The morpheles was startled by my sudden suggestion.

“Let´s talk about this later, the meal is here,” Eunhyuk said quietly and we all turned our heads to the plate that was being carried our way followed by two more. Many dishes fit at the table and I found myself drooling at the sight. Fishes from the river, grilled or fresh, spicy dishes with oriental seasoning, olive bread and fruit plates. I was liking everything. The amazing feast stole my attention, just as Eunhyuk hoped.

Asa! I´m back! Although I wish I could stay in Asia longer T_T I´ve seen the news about Hyukjae donating money to veterans, so sweet. And I was amused how he managed to do the whole Sorry, sorry performance alone. :D I´m challenging more fluffier way to write this story now, does it work? Do you like that? HappyHyukjaeDay! Anyway, thank you very much for your reactions and have a niiiiiiiiiiice day. - PandaHero