As hard as it was for him to believe, Ryeowook might have just found people more interesting than Kyuhyun.

“They’re like dragons, but they’re boats.”

“You ride dragons?”

“We ride boats,” ZhouMi corrected.

“But we don’t just ride them,” Chen said, “We move them. We channel our energy and drive that dragon down the river. Every in perfect time; we are faster than the current!”

Ryeowook stared in awe. They raced dragon boats.

Coming to the dining car had likely been his best decision never. Not because there was food here (because there wasn’t) but because he was now sitting with the most fascinating people of his life. The Fujian dragon boat team, composed partly of ZhouMi, Yifan (the guy with the creepy stare), Amber, Henry, Yixing, and Chen who, having just finished an intensive training, were returning to their maintown Fuzhou. All had been training for years.

Crammed between Yixing and ZhouMi, Ryeowook listened as they described their plans and their pasts. It was amazing to hear about all the stuff you could do when you weren’t, well, him.

Jongdae had become Chen sometime after he’d moved to China at age 10. One can only stand being called “Zhong-dai” so many times before snapping. It made Ryeowook relieved he now had a Chinese name which he now remembered.

Yixing had traveled the Silk Road three times before settling temporarily in Tianjin where there was more dog poop on the streets than there was trash.

To ZhouMi, growing up in Fuzhou itself meant two things: fish balls and dragon boats. Mostly fish balls because he ate them every day, but also dragon boats for when the summers got hot. He’d go onto the roof and wait for the heartbeat of the drum. When it came through, so did the dragon boat, slicing through the river like the dragons they wished to imitate. With each precise of their paddle, ZhouMi had fallen harder for the powerful sport until here he was today with the team of 20 other paddlers. In a month, all of them would be competing in the Chinese National dragon boat competitions. If they won, they’d represent all of China. To think, most of them were younger than him.

As they talked, the sun began to dip outside the window. Dinner began in the cart, causing for more commotion than he would have liked but less than would make him leave. Frog legs and sunflower seeds passed around; a makeshift “dinner” of snacks. He finally got to see why Yifan hated spicy foods when Chen slipped him a jalapeño tofu. Two bottles of water had never disappeared so fast.

Now in the more populated mountain area, the train stopped frequently for new passengers. One particularly dramatic slowdown caused the whole car to jerk forward. A loud crash and yelp accompanied it.

Ryeowook turned back to look. “Kyuhyun!”

His friend was scrambling out of another man’s lap, having lost his balance during the stop. He apologized nonstop. “I’m very, really sorry sir. I’m so very sorry.” Ryeowook giggled. Kyu blushed redder than his hawthorn candies. Kyuhyun worked his way down the crowded aisle and stopped before the dragon boaters.

“Um, hi.”

“Kyuhyun, you came!” Ryeowook chirped. “Did you want something to eat?”

The other raised his eyebrow as he scanned the table of unfamiliar faces. “Um, well, no….” Ryeowook’s face fell. “…but I did come to bring you this.” He held out a packet of ketchup-flavored peanuts.

Ryeowook lit up. “You remembered!” he said, snatching them. Kyuhyun continued to say something but Ryeowook couldn’t hear over the noise. The ketchup ones were his favorite. To think Kyuhyun would go and buy him another package made him positively giddy.

“Lixu, do you know this man?” ZhouMi asked.

“He’s my friend!” Ryeowook said before Kyuhyun could say anything.

Amber smiled. “If he’s your friend then he should join us.”

Ryeowook agreed. Through a combination of Ryeowook’s hopeful eyes and the fact that the large man behind Kyuhyun was getting fed up waiting for him to move out of the way, they managed to drag Kyuhyun into the group despite his sputtering protests. It helped that he seemed to be eyeing the frog legs. How they managed to fit eight at a table was beyond any of them, but when Kyuhyun was all stuffed in dinner resumed as did the noise.

Ryeowook looked at his new seat partner. “Is everything all right?”

Kyuhyun glanced down. “…I suppose. Are you all right?”

“I’m very good! Peanut?” Ryeowook held one out. Kyuhyun declined.

The volume of the narrow car increased. “Look, Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun began, “I didn’t mean to chase you out of the car before. Or make you eat alone…ish. Sorry,” he tacked on awkwardly.

“It’s okay Kyuhyun!” Ryeowook chirped.

“Really?”

“Of course!” In fact, the smaller showed no signs of the hurt he’d felt before. “You had your speech to do. By the way, did you finish it?”

“No,” Kyuhyun snorted, though his shoulders relaxed visibly. “I’ll be lucky to have two sentences by tomorrow.”

“Awww, don’t get yourself down like that. You are a very smart man.” Ryeowook patted Kyuhyun’s cheek with each word. He didn’t hear Yixing snort behind him. Or notice how Kyuhyun was bright red. And sweating. And looking like he wanted to sink into the seat and die. No, Ryeowook just turned back his ketchup-powdered peanuts while trying to ignore the noise. Two minutes later the train slowed down again.

“We’re at Tonglu! We’re about to cross the river, you guys!” Chen’s previously snarky attitude transformed into one of joy and excitement. Almost child-like, or better yet, Ryeowook-like. He was glued to the window for goodness sakes. You’d have thought the dreary train station was some sort of fairyland with the way he stared outside.

“What is the river?” Ryeowook asked.

“It’s–”

“It’s the Fuchunjiang River, the widest one we’ll be crossing this trip,” Chen said, interrupting ZhouMi. “It’s my dream to paddle to the Qiandao Lake from starting from the Fuchunjiang dam.”

“The dam will eat you up before first,” Henry laughed.

“And spit you out like rotten fish,” Yixing added.

Yifan just rolled his scary eyes. “It’s a dumb dream,” he mumbled and shook his head.

Chen stared at them. “It is not a dumb dream.”

“You aren’t even allowed in those lakes, Chen. Why don’t you choose a dream like winning Nationals or becoming the best dragon boat paddler?” Yifan retorted. “Yours doesn’t even make sense.”

“Dreams don’t have to make sense.” Ryeowook’s whisper caught them all off guard. One because he’d spoken at all, and two because they’d managed to hear him over the noise.

“Dreams don’t have to make sense,” he repeated. “I once dreamed that I wore a hanbok and danced up and down with a hula hoop, and that did not make any sense.”

“Ryeowook, I don’t think that’s what they mean,” Kyuhyun mumbled. But he continued.

“I also dreamed that I was the prince of a radio and everyone was trying to tickle me to try to get me to laugh. But I would not laugh.” Everyone was staring now.

“Once, I even dreamed of riding a tall giraffe who couldn’t walk anywhere because it was made of cloth.” His words stuttered heavily with an accent, but forehead creased in concentration, Ryeowook plowed on. “But then, one day, I had the dream that I would save up the money to go to China, and that when I had enough money I would leave, alone without anyone or anything. Not even my giraffe. And to everyone, it made no sense at all because I hate going to places alone and I do not go places either. But it was my dream and it made sense to me. Now look where I am.” He took a breath. “I am here.” 

While the tables around them grew louder, their’s sat in contemplative silence. Slowly, they exchanged curious glances.

Amber was the first to speak. “You know, as a med-student who quit halfway through school to become a professional dragon boat paddler, I can attest to that ‘dreams make no sense’ thing.”

“Same,” Yixing admitted. “No the med-student thing but the dropping out part. You should have seen my parents face when I told them I was leaving acting to drum for a dragon boat.” He then made a face akin to that of an internet rage doodle causing the whole table to burst into laughter.

The train started forward, leaving the tension of the moment behind. Chen resettled in his seat, though kept an eye on the outside. Amidst the many stories which were now flying around, Ryeowook pestered Kyuhyun to tell the table of his travels. Stiffly, Kyuhyun described his job researching air pollution.

Yixing chuckled when he finished. “The government must love you,” he said.

Ryeowook didn’t get it.

Naturally, the conversation found its way back to Fuzhou and food, leaving behind the new man and his oblivious sidekick. Whatever Chinese-speaking focus had overtaken Ryeowook before returned to where it came from, and he returned to simply listening and nodding along.

It wasn’t long before Chen’s dream river came into view. The boy gasped and reattached himself to the window. Surrounded by mountains shrouded in fog and covered in luxurious green, the river was truly a magnificent sight. Even the train could not fly right past it. Instead, they glided slowly, allowing you to drink in the vast scenery.

No wonder Chen wanted to paddle in that river. It was the grandest view he'd ever seen. The young boy pressed against the window. There was sense a longing in his eyes but also determination. A look that said ‘one day, maybe not today, but one day.’ A boat silhouette floated on the rippling surface. Ryeowook wondered if Chen wanted to be on it. If he would leave for it right now when everyone was counting on him to stay where he was.

So engrossed in his thoughts, Ryeowook almost didn’t catch the wink Chen sent his way. Startled, Ryeowook tried to wink back but ending up blinking both eyes really hard. Chen burst into laughter, and suddenly his dream started to make sense.

But that’s when it all fell apart.

His laughter fell way to a thunderous pounding. Like a television screen with bad connection, the window turned black, and its accompanying static was torture. Ryeowook found himself clamping his ears, burying his head, doing anything to remove that noise. The roaring grew louder. Deep breathing didn’t help.  It was happening again, but louder this time, longer. The already explosive clamor of the car turned violent under the echo of mountain. After an eternity it seemed, the tunnel ended. Ryeowook blinked away the tears which had at one point formed. He looked up not feeling the warm hands on his back, but instead seeing the shocked, scared, and…horrified faces of his friends. Or people who could have been his friends.

“People will think you have mental issues.”

New tears welled in his eyes.

“Lixu….” ZhouMi’s face was the most confused.

“I am sorry,” he blurted. Before anyone could answer, Ryeowook pushed out of his seat away from the table of dreamers and adventurers. Away from the stares of total strangers. Away from the words he feared most:

“What is wrong with that kid?”

They passed the river.

Sun 18/1/15