Four Months Later

Donghae and I had been everywhere. Since taking off from San Francisco, we gradually made our way across the United States, travelling from state to state, city to city, keeping a low profile while we constantly moved about. Although we had heard our names over the American news on several occasions, we managed to keep out of the spotlight, avoiding police and minding our own business. I remember waking up every morning, half expecting Seunghyun to be waiting for us outside our rented hotel room, ready to take Donghae away from me. The more time went on, the more my paranoia wore away. I never let my guard down though. Trusting no one was completely necessary when being on the run from the FBI.

From San Francisco, we drove all the way up through Portland and to Seattle, where we spent Christmas over looking the sea of never dying city lights and taxi cabs. We stayed for New Years, until Donghae went out to an internet café and swore he was almost recognised by a police officer. Though it was unlikely, we couldn’t be too careful and so we were on the road again. We drove right through Montana, where Donghae was almost bitten my a mountain goat, and stopped off in North Dakota in the city of Fargo. We only stayed for two nights, continuing on to Chicago. Like all the other cities we’d been to, Chicago was impressive and jam packed full of buildings, heavy traffic and light pollution beyond belief. It made me stop in the middle of the street, looking up at the skyscrapers towering over us and think

I’m in America.

I was beginning to love the US. The culture was completely different from Korea, and although it took a little getting used to, I was enjoying how laid back things were. People could do what they want, say what they wanted, not to mention a totally different system of government. Donghae and I were actually eating lunch one afternoon at a small inner city café when a middle aged woman actually told us we made a cute couple, after she saw Donghae kiss my hand. Back home, we would have been frowned upon with disproving eyes for being in a relationship (not that I gave a , but getting death glared was a little disheartening). Here, people even held festivals, parades and gatherings celebrating gay rights. It felt right living in a place where we were allowed to be human, and where people loved who they wanted. We stayed there in a reasonably priced hotel room for two and a half weeks. Donghae even bought a new car, suited to the long distance drives.

From the thriving city of Chicago, we drove through Ohio, stopping in Middletown. We stayed in a rented cottage just outside the city, spending a quiet week away from the commotion of the other cities we’d stayed at, actually being able to see so many stars hanging in the sky. Donghae had gotten a call from Heechul, just checking in on us, and telling us that we still weren’t being tracked, although to be careful. After almost two months, hearing Heechul’s voice was like a blessing.

Once we had finally made it to Boston, for the first time ever, Donghae took me to see a real American baseball game. It was awful. I didn’t really understand what was to like about being packing into a stadium surrounded by thousands of Red Sox fans yelling and throwing pretzels at you in the commotion of the game, which I didn’t even understand.

Then, we had arrived at New York, my most anticipated destination. It was everything I’d hoped it would be. It was far more extraordinary than any of the other cities we’d been to. Donghae had booked us a room on one of the higher floors of a huge hotel, giving us a perfect view of Times Square. All the buildings were lit up bright and colourful, making me wish that I could have visited the city at Christmas time. One day, in the busyness of the pedestrian traffic, I had gotten separated from Donghae, and totally lost in the foreign city. Luckily, when Donghae had called me and told me to meet him back at the coffee house we’d come from and I knew enough English to ask for directions. It was scary and exciting at the same time, being swept away by the buzz of such an extraordinary English-speaking city.

After three whole weeks in New York, we drove on through Philadelphia and stayed in Atlanta before continuing on to where we are now.

Miami.

It had been four whole months.

I looked out of the tall glass window overlooking the sunny Miami Beach. The sky shone the most vibrant blue, and white clouds were slowly drifting through the sky.

We had been in Miami for a little over a month now, and although Donghae had told me we would move on soon, I couldn’t help but see myself living here for the rest of my life.

I smiled to myself, taking the basket of laundry from the small white couch and carried it out to the deck of our apartment to hang it out in the late afternoon sunshine.

Donghae had gone out to withdraw another sum of money from an account secured by Kyuhyun, who had wired it across to us from back home. Once the money was out of account, it was completely untraceable. And that was how we lived, still cashing in on Donghae’s ‘investment’, making sure to cover our tracks through every transaction.

I shook out a pair of shorts, pegging them to the clothesline that ran across our beachfront balcony. The sun hit my face, warming my skin, which had developed a slight tan since living in Miami. My hair had faded to almost a golden brown, where the sun had bleached it from black and the platinum blonde was seeping through.

I never could have imagined that I could have been this happy to be living with Donghae on the run, but in reality, I was in paradise. Our apartment was small, but stylish, and kept perfectly neat thanks to me.

I had taken up drawing once again, sketching mostly portraits of Donghae and my hands. Those were the only things I could really draw. Sure, I could sketch out the amazing view we had from our bedroom window, but I was too lazy. Besides, I was always best at drawing human features, faces, arms, legs etcetera.

I glanced through the sliding glass door at my leather-bound sketchbook which lay open on the coffee table. It had been a gift from Donghae from my birthday last week. Although my ID was altered to say I was twenty five (probably just Donghae’s idea to flatter me or something), I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was already twenty seven. I looked good for my age, I couldn’t deny that, but I felt way too old to be dating a twenty five year old.

Age didn’t matter to me anymore. If my ID said my name was Spencer Lee and I was twenty five, then that’s what I’ll go with.

I threw a blue bed sheet over the line, letting my hands linger on the wet material. My eyes fell on my wrist, which had long healed. I twisted it, remembering the pain I had felt, and how even the emotional burdens seemed to have left with it. My eyes followed my arms, all the way up to my biceps.

Before our journey had began, my arms were as thin and pale as they could possibly have been. But since then, my body had needed to adjust to being in the outdoors, and since our apartment overlooked one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, I had finally learnt to swim. All this plus my new American diet of alternative fast foods and plenty of carbohydrate had given my body the boost I guessed it had always needed. I was still skinny, but my arms had a slight smooth shape, and my abdominal muscles were just becoming defined.

I was the new Hyukjae. The happy, healthy Hyukjae, who’s boyfriend was the most incredible human being in the world, even if he didn’t see it himself.

Flashback

“Hyukjae?” I heard Donghae mutter, his arms still wrapped around my waist as we lay in bed, the sheets hugging our bodies.

“Hmm?” I mumbled against his chest, keeping my eyes closed, being on the verge of sleep.

“What did I ever do to deserve a guy as amazing as you?” He said quietly. The tone in his voice was sincere, and I could tell that was the reason he hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

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