“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” 
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

---

 

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a dimple. The light was too much for my eyes and my head throbbed in pain, forcing my eyes shut.

“You’re awake.” A not so familiar voice greeted me and I heard the shuffling sound of chairs being moved and footsteps nearing me. I opened my eyes just a crack to see a pair of concerned eyes hovering over me.

“Thank god you’re finally awake!” Chanyeol pushed the dimpled guy aside. “I was so scared when the branch broke and you fell!”

“What happened?” I croaked. I tried to sit up but my head felt heavier than usual. I remembered climbing on the tree with Chanyeol and Sehun, and then, the memory of falling from the tree suddenly hit me and I groaned in embarrassment.

“You fell from the tree and lost consciousness.” Baekhyun joined Chanyeol in front of the bed. “We carried you back here and this guy over here bandaged your sprained ankle.” He gestured at the dimpled guy, who was looking at us in confusion.

“Xie xie.” I looked at him gratefully and he returned me with a shy smile.

“Erm, now that there is finally someone who can understand what I’m saying, may I know what the three of you were doing on the tree, behind us?” The guy Sehun crushed on spoke from the corner of the room, his doe eyes eyeing us cautiously. Beside him, Sehun twisted uncomfortably.

“We’re definitely not stalking you!” I said defensively, then immediately reddened. “It’s just that it’s our second night here, and we had nothing to do, so they thought it’d be funny to make me climb at tree for the first time.” I tried to explain.

He looked unconvinced but didn’t press any further.

Kai entered the room with a glass of water. I took it from him and gulped down the water in one go. The liquid was cold against my throat and I felt much better. He must had noticed the tense atmosphere in the room because he went up to Sehun’s crush and introduced himself in English. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kai.” He held out his hand.

The fluffy haired guy hesitated for a while but took his hand in the end. “I’m Luhan.”

“I’m Baekhyun.”

“I’m Chanyeol.”

“I’m Sehun.” The maknae looked at the floor, not daring to meet his crush’s eyes.

“I’m Kris” I joined in.

“I’m Yixing. As you guys already know I work with Luhan in the casino.” He smiled and spoke in Chinese. He had a polite, almost shy way of speaking, and I detected a hint of Changsha dialect.

“I think we should get going now. It’s almost twelve.” Luhan looked at Yixing. “We’ll see you guys around.”

Yixing followed Luhan out of the door, but turned back after a few steps. I thought he forgot something, but he came to me instead.

“Don’t worry, your ankle will heal really soon if you rest well.” He gave me a shy smile and left.

XOXO

It was raining all day.

The other four went shopping at the other end of the island. They asked me to go along too, knowing that I couldn’t. So much for being good friends.

We originally planned to go back to Guangzhou that day, but had to delay it because I hurt myself. Needless to say, Sehun was the happiest because he got to see his crush for a few more days.

I tried to talk some sense into him.

“Sehun-ah, it won’t work out. He’s in China, whereas you’ll have to go back to Korea soon. Even if he likes you back, can you guarantee that it’ll last? You guys will be separated by an entire ocean. How sure are you that he wouldn’t forget you?”

“I know he won’t, hyung.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” With that, he turned his back to me and said nothing else.

“Gay brat.” I murmured to myself.

“What?” Sehun suddenly turned and face me.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about something else.” I let out a sigh. The kid just wouldn’t learn. I first met him when I was buying bubble tea with Chanyeol. Sehun was crying and uttering out incoherent phrases at a table in the corner, and Kai was trying not to die of embarrassment and comfort him at the same time. They looked so pathetic that we had to go over and talk to them. Turn out, Sehun got publicly turned down after confessing to his middle school English teacher who was straight.

The creaking sound of the door jolted me up from the deep thought I was in. I looked up and saw Yixing standing by the door.

“Am I disturbing you? The front door wasn’t locked, so I just came in.”

“No, no. I wasn’t doing anything. Actually, I’m really bored.” I looked left and right, conscious of the pyjamas I was wearing. I had a green shirt and yellow beach pants on.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He flashed me a dimpled smile. I motioned for him to come in and he sat on Chanyeol’s bed.

“I bought you some ointment. It’s really effective.” He took out a bottle from his brown backpack and unscrewed the cap. I wrinkled my nose at the smell.

“All good medicine smells bad.” Yixing said laughing at my reaction.

“Thanks a lot.” I was honestly touched by the guy in front of me. He barely knew me. He didn’t have to bring me the ointment, but he did. He didn’t have to visit, but he came all the way just for me. I reached out my hand to take the bottle from him but he withdrew it instead.

“I’ll apply it for you.”

“No, it’s okay-“

He cut me off by pulling up the blanket covering my leg. He carefully removed the towel he used to bandage my ankle the day before, and applied the ointment in slow, careful .

I kept quiet and watched him. His brow furrowed in concentration as he worked, his eyes focused. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, I realized.

He started off gently, then gradually applied some strength, massaging my ankle in a circular motion. He told me that his grandmother was a masseuse, and he often watched her as she worked. He also told me some of his stories growing up in Changsha, and as an exchange I told him about my childhood in Guangzhou.

“Wow, so you are Chinese. I was wondering why a Korean could speak Chinese so well.”

“Korean was a pain to learn. Chinese is much easier.”

“Why do you call yourself Kris? Don’t you have a Chinese name?”

“Our family moved to Canada for a few years after we left Guangzhou. The Canadians have trouble saying my Chinese name so I gave myself an English name. It just stayed with me ever since.”

Yixing nodded as he listened before raising his head to look at me. His eyes, which usually held a blank expression had a different air about them. Those eyes, his eyes were looking at me as if I was the only thing that mattered. And for a moment I found myself carried away in his gentle gaze.

“What is your Chinese name?” He suddenly asked.

“That’s a secret.” I grinned. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell him. Looking at his innocent face, I just felt like teasing him at that moment.

“I’m just curious.”

“I’ll tell you when we get closer.”

XOXO

My ankle was healing really well thanks to the ointment Yixing gave me. Although I still couldn’t walk normally, I could move from place to place, half-limping and half-jumping.

Sehun was out with Luhan. Surprisingly, the two of them got close really fast, it was almost unbelievable. Luhan seemed to show an interest in Sehun too after the initial repulsion towards us in general because he suspected us stalking him and Yixing. He was actually a really nice guy. They communicated with hand gestures and broken English, which was funny to watch.

The other three was out to find something for dinner. I didn’t follow them because my legs hurt after limping through the mall for the entire day. After flicking through the channels for the past hour, I was starting to feel a little bored. Remembering the stars I saw on my first night there, I opened the front door and limped to the beach.

The night sky didn’t disappoint. I stood still for a while and let the night breeze wash over me.

The whole beach was empty apart from one person standing in front of the shoreline some distant away from me. I paid no attention to the person until I noticed him waving and walking towards me.

It was Yixing.

“Hey, taking a walk?” I greeted him.

“Yeah. Waiting for work to start. I’m taking the night shift today.”

“Your friend is out with Sehun. Is that why you’re here alone?”

“I guess so.” He laughed. “So I’m glad I bumped into you.”

For a while, I walked alongside him without saying anything, listening to the sound of waves hitting the shore and feeling the soft sand beneath my slippers. He was aware of how I still couldn’t walk properly and slowed down to match my speed.

“Hey.” He broke the silence. “Want me to show you a place?”

“What place?”

“My secret place.” He grinned.

(Listen to- the star by exo- imma take you to a secret place, drop the shades and crank the bass, lol)

I didn’t know what he was talking about but followed him anyway. He led me along the beach for a while and then took a turn into the woods. It was the kind of mini jungle that is often found beside beaches. The trees in the woods weren’t really tall, and I could still hear the waves from there.

“We’re here.” He beamed.

The place he wanted to show me was a watch tower. It was mostly made of wood and looked quite old, probably abandoned for quite some time. Yi Xing put an arm around my waist and helped me up the stairs. I was taller than him by quite a bit, and it felt really awkward leaning onto him for support but Yixing insisted to make sure my ankle doesn’t hurt.

The top of the watch tower was as old as it looked from the outside. The floorboards made a slight creaking sound as we stepped on it, but oddly, I felt safe up there.

“I always come here when I need to think.” Yixing leaned against the railings. “I’ve never told anyone about this place, not even Luhan.”

I went to the railings and stood beside him. “I like it up here. It’s peaceful.”

“You used the word peaceful.” He smiled.

“Why?”

“That’s exactly the way I feel about this place. No matter how terrible I feel, as long as I come here and think for a while, suddenly, everything is alright again.” He said in that quiet voice of his.

I stole a glance at him. He looked down as he spoke, but I could see that his facial expression was kind of sad. So sad that I had to reach out and pat his back.

“Thanks for bringing me here.” I told him.

“You are the first person I showed this place to.”

“Why? Because I’ll go back to Korea soon?”

“No! It’s because I just feel like sharing it with you.” He shook his head, and I was suddenly conscious of the small distance between us.

“I’m honored.”

“This is our secret place now.” He suddenly smiled, and all traces of sadness was gone from his face.

Then night sky was clearer in view from up there. I remembered how the stars stood alongside the crescent moon and it was beautiful, breathtakingly so.

“So, what do you do in Korea?” Yixing asked me.

“I’m studying law right now.” I told him. “The other tall guy with pointed ears that day, he’s my course mate.”

“I’ll tell him what you said about his ears.”

“We about it all the time.”

I continued telling him all about my life back in Korea. I told him about how good a dancer Kai was, and that he had won many competitions. I told him about how Sehun had his own fan club in our university but he was only interested in guys. I told him about how Baekhyun always got told off by lecturers because of his eyeliner but he never stopped wearing it.

He just nodded and listened attentively, chirping in a sentence or two sometimes. When I asked him about himself, he only told me that his family was still in Changsha and that he was away from home.

“Do you miss home?”

“Not really, I guess.”

We fell into a comfortable silence after a while, but I didn’t really mind. It was comfortable up there, a typical summer night.

Yixing started singing softly.

不由自主 义无反顾 傻瓜般地爱

日夜围绕你公转的我 这陌生的我

爱的第一步和每一步

请你也试著靠近我

你是我完美的天国 让我抱紧你

[Involuntarily there is no turning back, the idiot’s version of love

I who revolve around you day and night, this unfamiliar me

Love’s first step and every step

Please just try being close to me

You are my perfect heaven, let me hold you tight]

(Listen to- Baby by exo-m)

His voice wasn’t especially good or powerful, but it was soothing, almost angelic. He closed his eyes as he sang, totally immersed in the music. I found myself lost in his voice.

He finished a short verse before realizing that I was beside him. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

“You sang really well.”

‘Is it?” He scratched the back of his neck shyly. “It was okay I guess. I practice a lot. Sometimes on Fridays and Saturdays I sing with Luhan at a bistro on the other side of town.”

“I would really like to go listen some time.”

“Really, you would do that?” He beamed happily and grabbed my hand.

“Of course!” I said, then realized that I was being overly enthusiastic. Somehow, the dimpled boy had the power to do that to me. Talking to him made me feel all giddy, and I didn’t know why.

I didn’t want him to notice how flushed I was, so I continued talking. “The song is really special too. I’ve never heard it before. What song is that?”

“Erm…actually it is not a song. It’s something I composed myself, but I haven’t finished the whole song.”

“You’re really talented. It sounded like something out of a record.”

“You’re over-praising me.” He laughed. “I worked on it for quite some time, but couldn’t seem to finish it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. No matter how I tried to complete the song, nothing came out. And when I do put something into it, it just doesn’t sound right.”

“That’s strange. Maybe you just lack inspiration?”

“Maybe, maybe I need to fall in love.”

XOXO

A/N: It felt awkward writing the scenes between Kris and Lay >< I hope it was ok. I don't particularly ship kray, but sometimes I get all those krispy lays feels looking at them, lol. And after reading 48 hours, I just had to write a story featuring them.

By the way, the songs in brackets are songs that I think fit the story atmosphere a lot, haha. Enjoy!

48 hours: http://lukais.livejournal.com/296.html