Welcome to the world where no one had a heart.

Kevin plopped back to his rounded waterbed, amidst the hot pink-carpeted floors, electric blue walls and matching neon furniture.

"Venus, what is love?"

Kevin picked up a palm-sized tablet carelessly thrown on his bed, looking at it inquiringly.

Venus replied in its mechanical and computerized voice. "Love, is a form of affection and liking the heart feels."

"The heart...?" Kevin lightly placed his hand on the left of his chest, eyes wide and distracted.

"What is it like to have a heart?" He asked again.

After a series of beeps came an answer, "That, I do not know, master, for I do not have a heart."

Kevin sighed, combing through waxed chestnut-brown hair. "You're right."

Welcome to the world of year 2600, where the world is divided into two - the rich and the poor.

As technology advances and achieves greater breakthroughs, the rich prospers. At the other end of the spectrum, however, the poor only became poorer. The gap between the two extremes grew wider. Boundaries between countries were lifted; the only thing that separated the inhabitants was money.

The rich lived at the East where machines dominated. Skyscrapers that literally hit the sky; spaceships that thread through air. Everything was in a consistent and flawless shade of grey and white.

The poor resided at the West, where everything was left untouched and stale since the 20th century.

With wealth comes greed, and the rich craved for immorality. What they wanted - they got it. Scientists invented metal hearts in replacement of the organ - hearts that tick eternally. It ran on electricity, it could be easily replaced with money - it would work forever.

He felt nothing but hard, cold metal on what he called "heart". Kevin pressed down on his chest, feeling the slab beneath the thin layer of skin and flesh.

What was it like to feel something?

"You know there are still humans with a real heart." The machine suddenly said.

Cocking a brow, Kevin looked up the ceiling, where a flat screen was fixated on it. “There are? That’s dumb isn’t it, wouldn’t they… die?”

“Yes. Those humans live in the West.”

Kevin flipped through channels with a simple swipe of his fingers in mid-air and scrunched his nose. Was that even possible?

A moment later, he hummed to himself. Were there really people who still had a heart? Wasn’t it strange to have a muscle rhythmically beating in your chest?

It completely intrigued him and made him curious. And curiosity always kills the cat.

Fishing out a small keychain, he clicked on it once and an acrylic-white spaceship came swooshing outside his balcony. He slid onto the seat as the glass door above him slowly shut itself, reflecting off sunlight.

-

The ride wasn’t long, in fact in an hour’s time, he was already halfway around the world. That, was the beauty of technology – even time wasn’t a limiting factor anymore.

Kevin just went back eight hours in time, technically.

The dark was unsettling, with no anti-gravitational light paths to guide his way. Darkness gave a foreboding sense of danger, uncertainty, and instability. That was what Kevin felt when he looked around, astounded by how the whole place looked nothing like back home.

“Where the hell am I?” He muttered to himself, searching for any familiarity in the night sky.

Sounds of alarms urgently set off, accompanying the blaring of red lights on his control panel, breaking Kevin out of his temporary daze. Error, the screen read, and Kevin hurriedly pushed buttons and flicked switches on his panel. But nothing worked.

The spaceship descended at an alarming rate, charging down to the ground with much vigor. The oxygen in the confined space grew limited as Kevin found himself pressed up against the glass ceiling of his vehicle, hands flailing about.

Seconds later, he could see land - acres of dense vegetation. It was dark, and all he could see were weird shapes and shadows. Then he crashed to grassy lands with screeches of aluminum scraping soil.

Stumbling out of his ride, he coughed and waved his hands at the loose soil flying about. He let out a defeated grunt, kicking a lose piece of metal that broke off from the left wing.

A sudden revelation made Kevin launch into a panic attack.

How was he supposed to return home now?

In the midst of his mental breakdown, he hadn't heard someone step into the scene, snapping fallen tree branches as he did.

"Need some help?"

Kevin jumped, his heart almost leaping out at the sudden invasion of another's presence. He composed himself, lightly turning himself towards the voice. "Why do you care?"

The other male only laughed, walking towards Kevin. He looked decent - black wife beater paired with denim jeans, his fringe was spiked, and his eyes were killer-sharp.

"It's called compassion."

"Well I don't need it. Leave me alone." Kevin looked at him, barely though, with the lack of proper lighting.

"Okay then, I tried." The raven-haired male raised both his hands, then dropped them to his sides, proceeding to walk off.

No, Kevin thought, how was he supposed to survive here, there, wherever this place was?

Before he lost sight of his only hope of getting out of the forest, he screamed, "Wait!"

-

But maybe he should have just stayed by himself because now he was blindly following the stranger. It has been 20 minutes of walking, and still no sign of civilization. The sky was slowly fading into a brighter shade of blue.

"Are you sure you know where-"

Kevin pushed a last branch of green leaves away from his face, stepping into a clearing. Few feet away from him was a small hut, three-quarter of its perimeters lined with crops of various kinds.

"What did you say?" With a knowing smirk, the other man left Kevin behind, walking towards the door.

"The name is Kibum, by the way." The man now recognized as Kibum mentioned, ushering Kevin in.

"Kevin." Kevin replied, vaguely looking around the place. Simple, he concluded.

He then dug out his phone from his pocket, wildly tapping the air, where the phone projected its image.

"Your fancy gadgets wouldn't work here." Kibum said.

He was right, because Kevin's Venus wasn't responding to him. "What kind of place is this?!"

"One that couldn't keep up with time." Kibum said in a tone that seemed as-a-matter-of-fact but he quickly smiled, "Do you want to see the sunrise?"

"A sun-what?"

-

Kevin had never seen a sunrise in his life. Back at home, it was only seeing the sun above the high-rise buildings or seeing darkness. The multitudes of infrastructures made it impossible to see a sunrise - of course, not like anyone cared.

Darkness of the sky soon shifted with streaks of pastel orange and pink dancing across the skyline, slowly displacing the somber blue. The sun ever so subtly, rose and took its place at the top of Earth.

"It's beautiful." Kevin whispered, eyes glued to the painting before him.

"West side kids." Kibum scoffed. It wasn't sarcastic or demeaning, it was more of a hint of sympathy.

“What?” Kevin peeled his eyes away from the scenery, narrowing them at Kibum instead.

“Nothing.” Kibum grinned, grabbing Kevin’s wrist, “Come on, West side, let me show you the world you’ve never seen.”

-

Indeed, Kevin had never seen anything like what Kibum showed him.

All his life, he was confined in a bubble of perfection and order.

He had never seen a waterfall, how water gushes down, hitting against boulders and rocks below it. It was soothing, in a weird way. He had never seen plantations, and agriculture intrigued him. The way plants start from a seedling, grows to a shoot, and eventually blossom. He would never admit to it but even stepping on mud and feeling his shoes sink into the grey amazed him.

In fact, he had never seen anything natural before, not to mention step foot on it. All he knew of were things man-made. Plants were chemically produced so they would never wither, and would perpetually remain the same; food all came in containers – already seasoned, cooked and packaged; risks of skin cancer increased with raised heat from the sun so they made their own sun instead – one that would always shine at that perfect intensity, creating the optimum temperature.

“Do you want it?”

Kevin blinked twice, searching around for Kibum and then finding him standing on a tree, a pink fruit in hand. Apparently Kevin didn’t answer fast enough because the next thing he knew, the pink fruit went straight for his face and rebounded into his palms.

“Sorry!” Kibum shouted, sounding very unapologetic however, seeing how he was on the verge of laughing. Picking another fruit from the tree, he jumped down, movements agile.

Kevin examined the fruit in his hands, mumbling to himself, “So this is what a peach looks like…”

Standing opposite Kevin, Kibum paused when he was about to bite into his peach. “You’ve never seen a peach?”

“Is that very surprising?”

Kibum didn’t answer, only looking at him. The gaze he gave made Kevin slightly uncomfortable. It made him feel self-conscious, carefully sweeping his bangs to the side.

“No, then again it’s you, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Kibum resumed eating his peach.

Kevin willingly gave Kibum’s face a peach.

-

It has approximately been three and a half hours since Kevin crashed on the West side of Earth. He was now sitting beside Kibum, on the steps of the rustic-wooden porch. His right hand held onto a can of Coke. It was his first time drinking it and Kibum introduced it as a “carbonated cough medicine”. But whatever it was, it tasted good.

“So why are you here alone?” Kevin asked, basking in the sunlight.

Kibum took a drink from his can, “My uncle left town for a while, so he told me to take care of the farm while he’s gone.”

Kevin nodded. It reminded him of his broken vehicle, his reckless decision to fly across the other side of the world, and the fact that he was basically untraceable.

But the question was: Would anyone care?

“How does it feel like having a heart?”

Kevin blurted out without filtering it in his head first. Great, now he sounded like a total weirdo.

“Alive.” An immediate reply that surprised Kevin.

“How does it feel not having one?” Kibum looked over to Kevin, lips in an upward curve.

“I don’t. I don’t feel anything.” Kevin replied, eyes on his drink, both hands clutching it tightly.

Silence took over as Kibum nodded, as though understanding the unspoken thoughts behind those words.

There was a slight breeze now, the wind caressing their face and eyes glimmering in the light.

“How does it feel like falling in love?”

This time, Kibum didn’t reply, instead he titled his head to the younger male, a bemused smile creeping on his face.

“What?” Kevin cried in embarrassment, a slight tint of pink on his cheeks. “I’m just curious.”

Kibum laughed, throwing his head back. He placed his left hand on Kevin’s arm, “I’ll tell you when I do.”

-

It was embarrassing because somehow in that conversation, Kevin managed to fall asleep on Kibum’s shoulder. Of course he didn’t know that until Kibum taunted him for it whenever he could.

He woke up an hour later, finding himself tucked in bed.

“Kibum…?” He called, now in the living room looking left and right for the said person. But he was nowhere to be found.

Kevin breathed in. The place smelt like cinnamon and scented candles. It was weirdly - gay.

"Good morning, East side."

The voice came from nowhere and it successfully scared the hell out of him. (He refused to admit that he had let out a terrified shriek.)

"God damn, why do you always appear out of nowhere?" Kevin bent his back a little, a hand on his heart weakly patting it.

"I heard you call my name so I came back." Kibum said, folding his arms, leaning on the nearest wall to him and added, "Why? Did you miss me?"

Kevin swore he could have slapped the obnoxious smirk out of Kibum's face.

"Yeah, sure, West side." Rolling his eyes, Kevin halfheartedly replied, putting an emphasize on 'West side' then taking a seat on a sofa chair.

"I missed you too."

He was either oblivious, or he purely flirting - Kevin assumed the latter, narrowing his eyes at the other's attempt at flirting.

"Your house smells gay." Kevin commented as a retort.

But Kibum ignored it, taking Kevin's arm and pulling him off the sofa just when Kevin was getting comfortable. "Let's go."

For a moment he thought Kibum might have gotten mad and was going to assault him for it - He considered kneeing him in the crotch and making a run for it.

"There."

He was dragged behind the house (after much resistance), to a little red barn a short distance away.

Right outside the barn stood his spaceship, looking spanking new, not like it had crashed and burned a few hours ago.

"Wow, you fixed it?" He took slow hesitant steps towards the vehicle, eyes scanning the exterior. It made him feel slightly guilty for what he had thought about Kibum a few minutes ago.

"No, I gave birth to it." It doesn't take a genius to sense the heavy sarcasm. "Well yes of course I fixed it. Just because I don't have it, doesn't mean I can't fix it. Unlike you, people here actually study."

Kevin took it back, Kibum was pretty much still an .

"Have fun on your way back." Kibum said, his tone was one Kevin identified as sadness. It definitely wasn't the sound of a Hurray-You-Are-Going-Back-Home goodbye.

As the two stopped in front of the spaceship, he couldn't shake of the weird feeling besieging him.

It dawned on him that maybe, just maybe he didn't want to go back.

Kibum had shown him the real world - one that wasn't artificially made in a factory. Kibum paid more attention to him than anyone did in his life (Kevin later realized that it sounded so pathetic.) Kibum actually shown emotions, unlike the people back at the East - just like the things they churn out - robotic. In all honesty, the thing he had missed the most back home was actually talking to Venus. (He was now doubly as pathetic.)

He would say "He knew he needed to go back" but he doesn’t. He didn't actually know why he was going back when a part of him was tugging at his sleeve, telling him, "Stay."

So he waved goodbye, slowly boarding his spaceship. He watched Kibum give him a small smile, waving back once, then dropping his hands.

Before he shut the glass door, he heard Kibum shout, "Wait."

And so he did, with a slight anticipation.

"A ball of yarn."

What…?

"What?!" Kevin's brows furrowed.

Did he want to know what it was like to be knocked down by a spaceship? It was possibly the last time they would see each other and he was spluttering nonsense? It was so ridiculous. Kevin expected at least a "it was fun-

"That's what falling in love feels like." Kibum continued, despite Kevin's incredulous expression. "You’ll feel like a tangled ball of emotions. You can't figure out what to feel."

The last thing Kevin saw was Kibum's back, and a long shadow following behind him.

"Goodbye, East side."

He didn't know why, but watching him walk away made his insides stir. It was strange - like something pulled you from the inside and drained everything out.

It was the first time he ever felt that way.

-

"Venus, why is it that you always think about someone and the memories of that person?"

Kevin was at the open-roof of his house. He looked at the time: 6.59am. The sky was still bright, and the sun was up at its usual spot, in its usual glory.

"I don't know, master."

7pm, and in an instance, it was nightfall. In the sun's place, was the moon, round and glowing - just like the other 364 days.

"I think it's love." Kevin said with a can of coke in his hand – one that he found in his spaceship.

Kevin missed watching the sunrise.

-

Perspiration coursed down Kibum's face, as he pulled out another weed from the row of maize.

"Hey West side."

He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. It was a voice he hadn't heard for two months, the voice that was a pitch too high from normal males.

What was Kevin thinking when he expected a pleasantly surprised reaction from the other man? Why did he imagine a welcoming response from Kibum - the same jackass from 2 months ago?

All he got was:

"Why are you back here again?"

There were so many things Kevin wanted to say, most of it involved telling Kibum off. Instead, he chose the one he had thought of saying during his ride here.

"I think I know how a ball of yarn feels like now."

Kibum stood up and turned around. The first thing Kevin noticed was that he looked the same as he did two months back; second was the lopsided grin on his face Kevin wanted to smack it straight.

He walked over, and Kevin subconsciously held his breath. He definitely did not expect this because he was now in Kibum's arms, feeling the heat emitting from his body.

"I missed you." He said, tightening the embrace. Then in a lower voice, he whispered, "But you don't confess to someone by stealing that person's confession."

Kevin pulled away from the hug and screamed, "Wha-what do you mean I stole someone's confession?!"

"The ball of yarn thing, I said it first."

It took Kevin a whole minute before he understood what Kibum had meant. "You confessed to me the day I left?"

"Yes, I did. But you being you, you were too dumb to get it."

He was supposed to feel insulted, but he couldn't help the smile that was etching on his face.

“You know, my uncle already came back. I was supposed to go back home, but I stayed. I stayed because somehow I thought it was the only way to see you again.”

-

His heart still doesn’t beat - but that’s okay because when he lies down on Kibum’s chest and listens to his heartbeat, that was all that really mattered.

Because Kibum’s heartbeat was what kept Kevin alive.

When he held hands with Kibum under the stars that night, he realized he didn't want his perfectly made-up world.

All he wanted was a little imperfection in his life. And that imperfection came in the name of Kim Kibum.