“Kyuhyun! Slow down a little!”

Kyuhyun quickly broke his pace letting his girlfriend catch up to him.

“Sorry, Seo. I just can’t wait to start the day with you!” He clapped his hands enthusiastically and forced what was hopefully an eager look on his face. The look she returned suggested he looked deranged, “Alright then, let’s keep moving!” Grabbing Seohyun’s hand, Kyuhyun dragged her down the path at exactly the same pace as before.

He had really screwed up this morning. That much, he had come to realize. Breaking the vase, scaring Ryeowook, and then carelessly insulting his financial situation had built up a suffocating weight of guilt. Even Seohyun responding well to the breakfast did little to ease his anxiety. He needed to find the guide and apologize as soon as possible.

But still, somewhere in the back of his head, a little voice kept reminding him to keep his girlfriend happy, which is why when she wanted to stop and look at the pretty sidewalk flowers, he obliged. Begrudgingly, of course. 

“Look at these leaves, Kyu. They’re so vibrant!”

“Yes, yes, they’re a miracle of nature. Can we go now?”

Seohyun looked up at him, clearly annoyed. “How about you give me ten seconds to catch my breath, Kyuhyun? That sprint from our cabin gave us plenty of time for whatever you think we’ll be late for.”

“But Ryeowook-I mean…the rain…”

“I want to look at the flowers.” She said it firmly. Yanking Kyuhyun down by the hand, she made sure he got a nice long look at them too.

 “They’re nice.”

“Yeah,”

After several seconds of staring at colorful foliage, he was ready to explode.

Kyuhyun coughed tensely, “So, um, we better get-”

 “You know, I’ve never seen a plant like this before.” Kyuhyun swallowed a groan as Seohyun lightly brushed aside some of the leaves to get a better view of the dark purple flowers.

“Oh, I wouldn’t get too close if I were you.”

Kyuhyun nearly leaped out of his skin. Ryeowook was leaning over them, apparently having walked over in perfect silence, and was chuckling softly at his reaction. The taller quickly turned back to the leaves, heat shooting up his neck.

Damn it! He hadn’t been prepared to find the guide so quickly and now he was here. Not that he had planned anything besides saying “Sorry” which now going over it again seemed liked a really stupid plan.

“Good morning, Ryeowook.” Seohyun said, whisking attention away from Kyuhyun’s internal humiliation.

Ryeowook gave Seohyun a warm smile, “Good morning Seohyun. Kyuhyun. I see you’ve found the Vedalia plant.

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. Should we not touch the plants here? I didn’t mean to harm it or anything-”

“Oh, no,” Ryeowook quickly reiterated, “That’s not the problem at all. It’s actually this little guy here.”

Suddenly, Kyuhyun felt a warmth on his side. Ryeowook had crouched down between him and Seohyun and was pointing to something beneath one of the larger leaves shielded by shade.

“Right there. Can you see anything?”

“No.” Kyuhyun said bluntly.

Seohyun however, gasped and pulled out her camera. “Oh, wow! I didn’t even notice them before!”

“Wait, what?” Kyuhyun frowned. He squinted trying to see something amazing among the pieces of dead wood and rotting leaves.

“It’s so cute!” His girlfriend squealed.

“Look,” Ryeowook placed a hand on his back, “Look, where I’m pointing.”

“I am.”

“No, not by the big leaves. Underneath the flower.”

“Okay.” He stared for a second, “What am I looking at?”

“Here, just look down there-” Suddenly, Ryeowook’s hands were on both sides of his head and he tilted it down slightly. And then, Kyuhyun found himself looking under the smaller leaves where two colorful frogs the size of his thumb materialized from the shade.

“Woah! When did those get there?”

Ryeowook laughed lightly, “They were always there, silly. Those are poison dart frogs. They like hanging around dark, shaded places but their skin is toxic to the touch. That’s why I said to be careful. You don’t ever want to disturb the little guys.”

“Wow,” Kyuhyun muttered watching the ostentatious little things sit and blink in the shade, “That’s really ... cool.”

He turned to look at Ryeowook, when he realized the smaller still had his hands resting on his back. Ryeowook quickly pulled them away, blushing. Kyuhyun laughed because he hadn’t even realized they were still there, even though the sudden loss of warmth was noticeable. At least now they were on equal grounds for embarrassment.   

“Well,” Ryeowook rubbed his hands together, turning back to both his guests, “We’re all ready for today’s tour, right? The car is parked out front and Seohyun, you can go get comfortable first; I need to talk to Kyuhyun real fast.”

“Is this about breakfast?”

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook eyes widened.

“Oh please, we live together. I know Kyuhyun can’t cook,” Seohyun zipped up her camera bag and stood up, “Just add however much to our final bill; it’s all going to a special cause.” She stressed, walking away.

Kyuhyun didn’t understand the last part, but his brief confusion was shoved away when Ryeowook cleared his throat. Turning his head, Kyuhyun faced the now uniformed guide.

They stared at each other for one tense moment then both blurted out “Sorry about this morning!”

“Wait. Did you just say ‘sorry’ to me?” Kyuhyun asked, giving the smaller a perplexed look.

Ryeowook frowned, “Yeah. For scaring you in the lobby. And for being all snippy in the kitchen. Why? What are you saying it for?”

Kyuhyun shook his head as if he might’ve heard wrong. He’d practically sprinted down here, half-dragging Seohyun, because he felt so guilty over his mistakes, and Ryeowook was apologizing to him over nothing? Kyuhyun couldn’t believe it.

“What do you think? There’s, um, waking you up, smashing hotel property, oh and, insulting your living conditions? Or is that perfectly normal? Like all your guests just come in and make you clean marbles for an hour. And I mean, it’s none of my business where you sleep but I had to go spout off about it anyways and now you're actually apologizing to me for making me breakfast-”

“Kyuhyun, Kyuhyun!” Ryeowook held out his hands in a placating attempt to end the rambling, “Stop it. It’s my fault, if anything. I shouldn’t have been sleeping in the lobby in the first place and I should be looking out for you. You’re the guest.”

“Oh, so guests should just walk all over their hosts than?”

“Well, they shouldn’t but my past experience says that’s the norm and it’s my job to work with it.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s wrong.”

Ryeowook smiled at that.

“That’s nice, Kyu, but you’re not the employee here,"

"I'm not the employer either so I don't know why you're kissing my ," He paused for a second, "And I'm sorry."

"Don't be. My manager won't even charge you for the vase."

"Really?"

"Yeah," He straightened himself, extending his hand, “But don't get too excited. I plan on every tip possible out of you rich tourists.”

Kyuhyun chuckled, pulling himself up with Ryeowook’s help, “Well you’re earning every one of my pennies. Your breakfast-in-bed idea worked well; Seohyun’s actually talking to me today.” He said feigning excitement.

Ryeowook crinkled his nose, “You still don’t know what you did wrong, do you?”

“Nope. I was going to do that talking thing you suggested yesterday but it took me quite a while to get over the shock of her letting me cuddle her so by then it seemed too late. She’s not one to give up the physical barrier so quickly.” He added at the guide’s confused look.

“Ah, well. I think we can assume the situation’s improving then?”

Kyuhyun nodded uncertainly.

“It makes sense. You two are a couple right?” The smaller’s eyes began to drift, “She’s here with you; you’re rooming together, spending time together, talking. She can’t ignore you forever.” The last words had a slight bite to them, along with a sharp change of tone.

Kyuhyun flinched at the sudden harshness in Ryeowook’s eyes. It seemed something spiteful had manifested in the smaller’s mind. Quickly as it appeared though, the anger vanished, as if the guide realized he’d made a slip.

“Well then, let’s get moving! Don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting!” Grinning widely, the shorter bounced past Kyuhyun like nothing happened.

The taller only stared after him in surprise. He was pretty sure he hadn’t imagined the change, though if Ryeowook was a mood-swinger he sure hid it better than Seohyun. Briefly, Kyu considered asking the smaller about it but decided against it. He’d just gotten off the hook for that morning disaster; he was not about the push his luck with the considerate albeit confusing man.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ryeowook wearily looked through the gift shop window as his guests slowly browsed the merchandise.

It was getting dark out. That was a bit worrying. It wasn’t supposed to rain again until tomorrow but Mother Nature seemed to have other plans as a harsh wind whipped through the trees.

Ryeowook sighed. He supposed it was fitting. This whole day had been a depressing mess so why not add some thunder and lightning to the mix?

First, Colin docks his pay for the day and tabs him for the vase. Then, Jonny completely ignores him all throughout breakfast. (Though Kat did smile at him) And the finally, he slips out to like a needy loser call Yoona and expects her to pick up. Which she didn’t. The only bright spot of his day had been Kyuhyun siding with him on the morning issues issue. Not that it mattered since he couldn’t speak English and tell Colin anything, but it was a thoughtful move.

Ryeowook sighed again. He really was pathetic.

“Kyuhyun! I don’t care if that chair costs thirty cents! We will not have furniture made of garbage in our apartment!”

“It is recycled materials and this is a fantastic bargain!”

“Well you are not buying it!”

Ryeowook spared a brief glance at his guests, who were promptly having their argument in the middle of the store. Kyuhyun was insisting on buying an intricately carved wooden bench with cushions sewn together from various pieces of old blankets and cloths to create an abstract beach scene. Though physical art wasn’t his thing, even Ryeowook would admit it was pretty cool. Seohyun wasn’t having any of it though. Aside from the insanity of lugging the thing home, it would hideously clash with all their current furniture and not to mention it was made of garbage.

“Reusable materials!” Kyuhyun corrected.

Luckily, no one but the store clerk was in there to hear them yelling in their foreign language. An art gallery was never a busy place to begin with, but on off season, it was as empty as a school on break.

A good thing too. Both Seohyun and Kyuhyun had this obsessive need to read every plaque in a museum like it contained the secrets of the universe. That in itself wouldn’t have been too bad. At least it gave the couple something to talk about. Except, there was one problem: it was all in English. So, Ryeowook had had to translate every little description provided for every painting in the place and read them, out loud, in order for his guests to get the ‘full gallery experience.’ He was glad SeoKyu had something in common, but did it have to be obsessive-compulsive tendencies?

So now he sat in the gift shop, two hours later than he’d planned and with a sore throat. Here, they sold paintings, replicas, and sculptures, but his couple was arguing over a bench.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t suppose you’ll want to go anywhere else today?” Ryeowook asked tentatively as he buckled up his seatbelt. They'd finally left the art gallery, empty-handed, and he was more than ready to go home. 

“No way!” Kyuhyun slammed his car door, “It’s lunchtime; I’m ready to stuff my face with food and then see everything else!”

“Yeah, I'm hungry too,” Seohyun agreed, “But could we go somewhere with more people? This place feels so isolated with just the three of us.”

“No kidding,” Ryeowook said through gritted teeth. These two were driving him nuts. They spend twenty minutes arguing over souvenirs, end up not buying anything, and they wanted to tour in public? This was the worst job he'd ever been stuck with.

“Hey, you said there was some small town around here, right?” Kyuhyun asked as Ryeowook pulled out onto the street.

“Yeah, it’s of decent size.”

“Sounds good. We could get lunch there and then browse the shops.”

Just the thought of taking those two into the townspeople’s shops sent shivers down his spine.

“Actually,” He remembered, “It’s Sunday. There’s always this open-air market on Sundays. It has more local, homemade stuff and it’s always really great quality.”

“Are you sure?” Kyuhyun looked out the window and crinkled his nose, “It’s looking kind of cloudy for an open-air market.”

“No, I’m sure it’s fine. It won’t rain hard again until tomorrow and then we can go inside to shop. Today can be for the market.” Hopefully, his guests would agree. Ryeowook’s bubbly exterior was wearing thin and jumping into the center of the town for shopping wasn’t going to help.

When neither of them said anything, he added flatly: “They sell pre-made lunch.”

“Okay. Let’s go there then.”

So food was Kyuhyun’s weakness. He’d have to remember that.  

They pulled into the market square about twenty minutes later. Getting out of the car, the first thing they did was get a meal from the nearest tent.

“This is really good.” Kyuhyun remarked, chewing his grilled plantain on a stick as they walked down the center aisle of stands.

“Mm-hm.” Ryeowook nodded passively.

Despite being on the outskirts of town, the market was filled with people. Mostly older couples, but some families were running around as well. One guy nearly knocked the plantain out of Ryeowook's hand. Normally, he didn’t come unless it was to pick up food for the kitchen, but he’d still come to understand that it was a standard place for local’s. The accumulated noise of bargains being made and products being sold combined with the smoky smells from the lunch vendors gave off a big-city feel despite the overall town size. 

A couple of children brushing past gave them curious looks since they stood out quite a bit. Seohyun’s oversized backpack and Kyu’s useless sunglasses were cringe-worthy they screamed tourist so loud.

“Kyuhyun, look! Mosaics!”

“Yeah, that’s cool - hey, whoa!” Seohyun grabbed her boyfriend by the collar and dragged him mid-step into the colorful tent.

Ryeowook sighed. Well, at least they had each other.

He spent the rest of the afternoon following Seokyu around, helping them ask about prices and bargain for lower. The great thing about being the guide during souvenir shopping was he didn’t have to do much. Seohyun pretty much dictated their path and decided what to buy or in Kyu’s case, what not to buy. 

“Why would we want a melon?”

“I don’t know. Breakfast, dinner? Dessert?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Put it back, Kyuhyun.”

At least they were talking today.

Halfway through their shopping, a skinny man dressed in vivid colors jumped in front of them.

“Hello there! Come to the Autumn Music Festival! Food, art, and music the whole day! Tons of fun, tons of talent! Please come, please come!” His smile was enthusiastic and his voice was high-pitched and after shoving flyers in their faces he raced off to the next group of people.

“So it’s not just in Seoul…” Seohyun muttered, handing her flyer off to Kyuhyun.

The tallest repositioned his bags so he could survey the piece of paper.

“Hey, Ryeowook. What is this?”

“It’s advertisement for a music festival that’s happening this week. Do you guys want to go?

“No thanks,” Seohyun replied before Kyu could, “Music just isn't our thing.”

“Are you sure? We’re really well known for our jazz and all the money goes to local schools.”

Kyuhyun tossed the flyers in a garbage can, “Yeah, we’re sure.”

Ryeowook shrugged, only a little disappointed. It wasn’t like he ever performed at the festivals, despite them being ridiculously common during the summer, but Kat performed often and he always attended them. Personally, he thought it was a fantastic cultural experience. Plus, the festival would’ve been the only place he knew well enough to give a legitimate, non-Googled tour. But if music wasn’t their thing then what could he do?

After three hours of shopping, Ryeowook sat outside a tent, waiting as his guests tried out the little English he’d taught them on a couple of sellers.

The people were thinning out now. Most of the noise had died down and the lunch vendors were packing up. Shoppers trailed by, bags in hand, casting weird looks at the skinny Asian man on a stool.

Burying his face in his hands, the petite let out a low groan. He hadn’t even realized it, but he was exhausted. Walking around the entire market had really worn him out and now that he was sitting down, he never wanted to stand back up.

 A scrape and clank went by him. Ryeowook didn’t look up until somebody poked him on the shoulder.

“What?” He asked, annoyed.

“Look! I bought wooden sugarcane!”

Kyuhyun had pulled out another stool and was sitting beside him, holding out a small bundle of wooden sticks carved to resemble sugarcane. The sad part was he looked sort of excited about them.

“Why did you buy wooden sugarcane?”

“Because somebody,” He emphasized staring at Ryeowook, “Wouldn’t ask a certain elderly man for a copy of his photograph, and I needed something to remember yesterday’s tour. And besides, these are also pens. See?” He pulled off the top of one ballpoint sugarcane to demonstrate.

Ryeowook chuckled and shook his head, “Geez, and I thought this place wasn’t a tourist trap.”

“Every place is a tourist trap.” Kyuhyun corrected and continued to rifle through his various bags of food and items. Suddenly, he looked up.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Ryeowook startled, caught off guard by the sudden question.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Well, for one, you’ve been massaging you temples every time you think I’m not looking, sighing a lot, and you just generally look like crap right now.”

He blankly stared at the taller, “Thanks. I feel a lot better.”

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Kyuhyun straightened up, “I just meant you’re looking a little sick.”

“Not better.”

The taller analyzed him for a moment. “Is it because of this morning? I’m still sorry about that by the way. If you want, you could take the day off tomorrow and Seo and I will just hang around the beach.”

“No, no,” Ryeowook waved it off, “That’s like, eight hours of your girlfriend and … sand. You won’t be able to survive that.”

Kyuhyun laughed, “True, true. But hey, thanks to you I survived most of today! And just look at all the cool stuff I got out of it!” Eagerly the taller dove back into his bags, searching for something cool to show him.

Ryeowook smiled, his guest’s dorkiness renewing some vigor in him.  Happily, he leaned forward as Kyuhyun showed him the rest of the pieces he’d bought from the wood carving tent.

“And this one I had them burn the word ‘love’ into. I wanted to do our names but figured they probably couldn’t do Hangul. Oh, and here. This one’s for you.” He said, handing Ryeowook a small red gift bag.

“Really?” Ryeowook stared at the little bag. He hadn’t expected anything that was for sure.

“Yeah, I mean it’s nothing special but, you know,” Kyuhyun adjusted himself so he was facing Ryeowook and pulled out a couple little packets of dried leaves and powder, “It’s cooking ingredients.” He added, gingerly handing them off to the smaller.

“I know. Spices. ” Ryeowook carefully examined each bag of herbs. He had taken a cooking class in college and knew nearly every spice you'd ever use. Yet still, there were about six out of thirty that he'd never seen sitting in the bag.

“Sorry there are so many,” Kyuhyun scratched his head, “The saleslady kept saying stuff to me and I didn’t really understand what she was saying so I ended up buying one of everything.”

“No, this is really… nice.” Ryeowook said genuinely surprised at the gesture.

“Well, you’re a good cook. I really liked your breakfast.”

“You mean eggs on toast?”

“Yeah, it was delicious. You should consider cooking professionally.”

“Oh, um, thanks.” 

Smiling, he looked his guest in the eyes, wondering if he realized how much this meant to him. Kyuhyun returned the smile, looking pleased that his gift worked. Ryeowook's heart beat just a little faster. As he opened his mouth to speak, Seohyun appeared by their side.

“Oh there you are, Ryeowook, I’m having a little trouble bargaining in here. Could you please help me?”

“Sure. Of course,” Ryeowook jolted out of the moment. Were they having a moment? Kyu helped him place the packets of spices back into the gift bag. 

"Thanks," 

"No, thank you," Kyuhyun blurted, then immediately turned red, "You know, for breakfast and putting up with me - I mean us."

“No problem," Ryeowook smiled, "I’d be happy to make you breakfast every morning, if you’d like.”

Kyuhyun grinned.

“Sounds great!” He called out as Ryeowook walked away, a fresh smile playing on his own lips.

Perhaps he should just mark Kyuhyun as the bright spot of his day.