Ticket please!

They said that our life is an endless journey. We choose where we go, where we stop and who we meet. This statement is true for Junsu. For little did he know that his everyday travel to and from his school to his house was the way he would meet the person who would change his life’s journey.

            It was the usual time of his travel. The sun had just barely descended in the horizon. The orange and pink clouds he could see in the sky gave him a contented feeling. The early sunset always got him to relax. Breathing in, Junsu felt that the wondrous sight was a real gift. He liked traveling, and with his house one and a half hours from his school, his schedule always included that he would do it everyday. It didn’t bother him in the least.

            That afternoon, he was in the bus with his best friend Jaejoong. If Junsu liked to travel, Jaejoong was the complete opposite. He didn’t want to move. He especially didn’t want the fact that he could get dirty while traveling. He just hated dirt. Junsu didn’t mind it one bit. And so on that day, as Jaejoong was ing around because his shirt got a smudge of god knows what, Junsu chanced to look at the ticketing booth their bus was passing through. The booth was small and cramped and from what Junsu could see it was just enough for two people to stand. There were two small sliding glass windows where the ticketing officer could use to get the toll from the drivers. The room had a small electric fan, he wasn’t sure if there was an AC. Junsu didn’t really know why he looked inside the booth at that instant but his eyes wandered in the little space. The minute he did, he saw the most gorgeous smile on a person. Well, he didn’t really see any ticketing officers around smiling broadly at everyone. This man's smile was really very refreshing. A really nice treat for a tired traveler like him.

            Junsu didn’t realize it, but he was staring openly at the man behind the counter. He felt a pinch on his arm; he turned his head and looked questioningly at Jaejoong who was beside him.

“What?” he inquired.

Jaejoong rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just eat him up?”

“I don’t know what you mean!”

            “Yeah right.” Jaejoong snorted. “You were practically drooling over him for five minutes now.”

            Junsu’s cheeks turned an endearing shade of red. “I wasn’t drooling. I was just looking at him.”

            “Well, you can’t do anything but look because our bus will be leaving any moment now.” Jaejoong leaned forward to whisper in Junsu’s ear.

            That made Junsu turn away sharply from Jaejoong and look back at the man with the dazzling smile. He saw that the man had already given the bus driver their pass and he was closing the window now. Junsu tapped the glass window beside him as if it would get the man’s attention.

‘No! Don’t close it yet! I have to see you!’ His mind screamed. But of course, the man didn’t hear him. With the window closed Junsu wasn’t able to see his face for the last time before their bus sped away on the highway. Junsu felt his heart break a little in disappointment.

***

            Yoochun was so bored out of his mind. He was there in his booth again. He had a very routine job. In fact, he could do this job even with his eyes closed. That day was pretty much the same until he spotted a bus behind a car he was attending to. The bus was normal; Yoochun didn’t have any problems with that. But the man behind the bus driver took his attention. The guy was smiling to himself as he gazed out of his window seat. It was an expression that he hadn’t seen in a while. Yoochun thought that the man was really enjoying his bus ride. What was more endearing was that the man seemed to genuinely like what he was seeing. Yoochun allowed himself to look at the same direction the man was looking at and saw the most breath taking sight. It was a gorgeous sunset. Yoochun liked nature so much, if he had time he wanted to go outdoors and just enjoy it. But his work pretty much demanded him to focus and not daydream. One mistake was very fatal. But this man, the guy with an enraptured expression as he enjoyed the sunset made him remember what he had been depriving himself of in the last few months. With the same enthusiasm as he saw from the guy in the bus, Yoochun greeted the bus driver. He smiled genuinely for the first time in months. All because of a certain smiling man in a bus.

As he transacted with the driver, Yoochun couldn’t help but spare a glance at the young man again. He was not looking at him but he seemed like he was talking with a companion. Yoochun then saw the good looking guy beside him. They seemed to know each other well. When he saw that the other man was leaning close to the smiling guy (as he dubbed them), Yoochun felt his heart being pinched. He was sure that the two were close. At that moment, he finished the transaction and immediately closed his window. He didn’t want to see the two men getting all close with each other, so he didn’t see that Junsu tapped his window to get his attention. He also didn’t see Junsu’s disappointed face as the bus left his lane.

***

            Jaejoong eyed Junsu incredulously as they seated themselves inside the vehicle. They were on the bus again the next day. He didn’t understand but Junsu seemed to have been possessed with some weird spirit that he caught from somewhere. Right after they got home, Junsu searched for scratch papers stashed in their house. He also took all the felt tip pens he could lay his hands on. Then he showed these to Jaejoong in school when they had their  lunch break. Jaejoong didn’t know what Junsu would do with all of those. Now that they were on the bus, he heard Junsu spoke to the driver and said something about going through the booth on lane 33C before they get to the high way. He couldn’t believe his ears. He was thinking how could drivers let Junsu choose the lane? That was being a bit pushy even for Jaejoong. But his friend seemed to find it perfectly normal. And the bus drivers seemed very willing to comply to his friend's wishes.

            Junsu was smiling contentedly, his face beaming in obvious pleasure. Jaejoong just looked on, still unsure of what his friend would do. He was beginning to doubt the stability of Junsu’s reasoning by the minute. He was sure that what Junsu was doing would not be considered normal.

            As the bus passed through the last road going to the high way, Junsu suddenly felt his heart thump faster. He specifically said 33C to the bus driver because that was the lane that man’s booth was located. He really ingrained it in his memory yesterday. Junsu wasn’t sure if the same man would be ticketing them but he had to be ready.

            Now, as the bus neared the booth, Junsu stole a glance inside the glass encased cubicle. He still couldn’t see him but after a few seconds Jaejoong elbowed him  and pointed to his left. When Junsu looked, he saw that the man he wanted to see was on the other lane. The lane opposite to where they were. His face fell in utter disappointment.

***

            Yoochun also felt a bit down when their supervisor said that he had to switch to the other booth that day. It was his friend Changmin’s booth. But the said man was absent because of some family stuff he had to attend to so he had to take over. It was just a normal thing for them but Yoochun didn’t like it.

            “Why? Are you waiting for the guy from yesterday to pass by again? You’re an idiot!’ Yoochun’s mind screamed at him. But he didn’t deny it; he was really waiting for the man. In fact, he has been waiting all day. He got frustrated that he couldn’t see inside all the buses that passed because he couldn’t go out of his booth to check. So Yoochun just continued with his job. Each ticket that he handed was given almost harshly. If some driver made a mistake in counting the money, he was immediately annoyed. Yoochun was really having a bad day.

***

            The next day, Junsu still had his papers and markers with him much to Jaejoong’s chagrin. This day was a bit difficult for Jaejoong because Junsu wasn’t himself the whole time they were in school. His friend was very irritable. He even managed to scare some female classmates earlier when they asked him a question about their lesson. And Junsu was never scary. Jaejoong thought it was real bad. This is all because of the ticketing guy. He knew then that Junsu really needed to see the guy again so he could have his normal life back. He prayed to the gods to make a miracle.

            Junsu once again asked the driver kindly to go through lane 33C. He wasn’t sure if this would just be another unlucky day for him but he had to try. He was still simmering with angry disappointment over what happened yesterday. Now, he had to see him. He had to see him or Junsu would start having conversations with the tollgate management to trace him. If he was to become a stalker so be it!

            As their bus approached lane 33C, Junsu couldn’t help but be on guard. He could either be a loser or a winner. Of course he was inclined to believe that it was his lucky day today. One more vehicle and it was their bus’s turn. Junsu couldn’t help but feel excited and nervous at the same time. The minute their bus was beside the window, Junsu stretched his neck to get a good look at the person inside the booth. The minute he saw the guy, his heart did a crazy somersault.

            Jaejoong saw that Junsu spotted the same guy they saw two days ago in the booth. He watched as his friend grabbed some papers and began scribbling furiously with his marker. It was like Junsu really waited for this moment to come. Jaejoong strained his neck to see what Junsu had written but his friend had already put the paper against the window.

            Junsu wrote something down on the paper then plastered it on the glass window. He then tapped on the glass to get the attention of the man in the booth. He saw the man look up from counting the money and his eyes strayed to the paper he was holding against the glass. He then saw the man smile at him and give him a nod before proceeding with the transaction. Junsu’s heart was overflowing with happiness. The smile was enough for Junsu to last a whole day again. He was now looking forward to tomorrow because he would know the man’s answer by then. He turned to Jaejoong and grinned like a fool. Jaejoong shook his head, he was still in disbelief.

***

            Yoochun knew the second he saw a bus in his lane that he would see the smiling man again. As if his heart knew it, his gaze quickly searched for that face that he considered special now. He opened his window to greet the driver, at that moment, he saw the smiling man. But now, he wasn’t smiling but had his head bowed on a paper. Yoochun saw that he was writing something down fast. He accepted the driver’s money and immediately started to punch numbers in his machine. All the while, his eyes were still on the man behind the driver. Slowly counting the change deliberately, Yoochun saw from the corner of his eye that the guy had put the paper he was writing on against the glass. He somewhat heard the tap and he just had to look. What he read put a smile on his face.

‘Hi! ~ I’m Kim Junsu. You are…?’

            He was surprised about the man’s ingenuity. That was the first time someone did something crazy like that to him. It made him feel glad and flattered at the same time. The man was very intriguing indeed. Yoochun acknowledged the note by nodding. He then quickly finished the transaction without further delay. As the bus rolled down the high way, Yoochun still couldn’t believe what just happened. It was definitely a nice gesture. Now he had to give an answer to the man’s question. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

***                   

            The next day, Yoochun waited for the man again, no, he waited for Junsu. He smiled slowly as he remembered the guy’s name. It fit him. His name sounded sweet. Just like him. Yoochun thought he couldn’t really last the whole day because of his excitement. He had made an answer last night. Written on a piece of paper was his name that he laboriously inked the minute he got home. He was a bit concerned about his handwriting, the man might not understand because of his chicken scrawl. So he took time in writing. He carefully placed the letters of his name strategically on the paper so they would be easy to read. The minute 4:30 hit the clock, Yoochun became restless. He was really looking forward to this meeting. But after ten minutes, no bus with Junsu in it passed by. Yoochun started to feel a bit stressed out. He waited for another ten minutes, it went on to twenty, then thirty to a full hour but Yoochun saw no one. He felt really pissed off. He knew that Junsu would not be showing up that day. He almost crumpled the paper with his name on it.

                                                                        ***

            After a few days without seeing Junsu, Yoochun started to feel hopeless. He was getting depressed because he knew that there was a slim chance of ever seeing him again. He had no way of knowing how to see him which really bothered the heck out of him. Well, he did try to look for him. He searched the phone directories, but it seemed that Korea really loved the name Kim Junsu so much because there were more than a thousand entries with that name. Yoochun tried to call each number but after a few tries and a lot of cuss words from different Kim Junsu’s, he just gave up. So it was another boring existence for him again after some weeks. Yoochun learned to cope once more. He went back to being his depressed self before he saw the smiling young man in the bus. He couldn't do anything about it. Yoochun just focused on his job.

            At that moment, a blue sedan lined up on his lane. It stopped a few inches away from his booth. Yoochun lazily opened the window and stretched out his hand. He waited for the driver to roll down his window and give him the toll fare. He wasn’t really paying attention to his customers now so when the driver extended his own hand, Yoochun just took the fare without looking at the driver’s face. As he turned his attention to the money on his hand, he saw a card instead of paper money. He flipped the card without reading it but saw that it was a calling card. Annoyed, Yoochun turned to the driver ready to exchange words with him. He was really not in the mood for jokes. But when he looked down, his eyes met the smiling face of Kim Junsu. Yoochun’s jaw dropped.

            “Hello Park Yoochun-sshi! Ticket please!” Junsu smiled widely like a playful child. Yoochun just continued to stare like he couldn’t believe his eyes. He didn’t notice that people in the other vehicles were honking their horns to get his attention. He really didn’t care.
 

            Without thinking, he opened his window wide, leaned forward, took Junsu’s face in his hands and kissed those smiling lips. For Yoochun, the sun just shone brightly again. For Junsu, this was worth all his travels.