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Jeongguk knows very well about infatuation at the first sight (keyword: infatuation). All of your attention, every bit of your focus, the entirety of your thoughts—are pegged at that person, and you don’t even have the time to worry, to care, if your gaze are being reciprocated or not, if your interest might be returned; simply because you are too stunned to distract yourself, too immersed in them to glance away.
So, maybe a kind-of amusement park isn’t the most ideal place to get yourself infatuated (especially for someone who dislikes crowds like him), because, you know, too many people are around and it can get a bit tricky to spot that stranger you might or might not be in-like with again.
Just like what happens to Jeongguk, whose eyes are sweeping the whole area in hopes that they will land at Red Hair again. Yes, you’re right. Jeongguk has lost the stranger from his sight.
Very Good. Totally icing on a cake, except it’s not exactly icing, and the cake doesn’t even exist in the first place and the earth is just a floating rock where everything doesn’t matter and now he’s staring miserably at the distance while his friends, who are a thing, whisper sweet-nothing to each other, completely leaving him out.
Jeongguk heaves a sigh, turning around to say something but stopping short because right there, before him, is where Red Hair stands. Then Red Hair smiles, and Jeongguk’s knees buckle.
The thing about Red Hair, is that his hair is very noticably, very impossibly red. Not that you don’t know already, Jeongguk is currently at loss of words and doesn’t seem able to process what is happening properly. The other thing about Red Hair is that he has a digital camera clinging to his neck, and that he’s holding it up facing Jeongguk and clicks.
Red Hair takes a look at the screen and says, “I like taking pictures.”
Jeongguk squirms uncomfortably, and notices that his friends, who have left him out to whisper sweet-nothing to each other a minute ago, have stopped talking behind him. He clears his throat and forces an I see out.
“You’re very easy on the eyes,” Red Hair says again, and this time it’s accompanied by a grin.
“Uhm.”
Red Hair tilts his head to look at him intensely and Jeongguk swallows back a cough. Then he drops his camera, a grimace crosses his feature. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Did that scare you?”
Truthfully? It did. Jeongguk might just spent twenty-seconds wondering if the gorgeous stranger he’s just met is actually a psycho, because, like, who the heck takes a picture of someone they just meet right in front of them? Not that it’d be less scary if someone does it secretly, but you get the point. Jeongguk doesn’t realise he’s said those loudly until Red Hair’s entire expression falls.
“I’m really sorry,” he says, biting his lower lip and he looks so guilty that Jeongguk feels bad. “It’s just—taking pictures helps me a lot. It makes me able to tell—” he halts, and Jeongguk is waiting for him to continue. Instead, Red Hair takes a step back and mumbles, “I knew this is a bad idea. I friggin’ knew.”
Red Hair seems so stressed by it that Jeongguk finally takes the initiative to ease the tension. “It’s fine—really. It’s okay. I mean you didn’t mean to be creepy...” he trails off. Right, who the fuck Jeongguk thinks he is? He can’t even form a sentence properly! “Really, it’s...”
“Do you think I should leave you alone?” Red Hair asks.
“What?” Jeongguk looks around and indeed, he is alone. Fuck his friends. Also, what does Red Hair mean with that? A part of Jeongguk wants to answer it with do you think college students hate free pizza and canceled class? but Red Hair appears like he’s really going to do whatever Jeongguk wants him to. “No, no. Walking around an amusement park alone? That would be... uh, kind of lonely.”
Jeongguk doesn’t say that sometimes he enjoys being alone. It just feels silly to choose to be alone when there’s a better choice—like, getting to know Red Hair and talking to him.
Red Hair brightens up, “Really?”
Jeongguk nods.
Red Hair lets out another cheery grin, “Good! I’m Taehyung, I’m trying to have as much fun as possible while I’m here,” he says and a small voice in the back of Jeongguk’s mind screams score! You got his name!
It’s barely three in the afternoon, but people are already flooding in the whole festival that they’re getting pushed and pulled from just standing there. Jeongguk gives an awkward smile while he fixes his position after being stricken with a particularly hard force from a passing overweight man.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Jeongguk manages to ask in the middle of the crowds.
Taehyung sounds surprised when he shouts, “Really?”
“I’m asking you!”
“Then, no, I don’t mind at all!” Taehyung replies. He has a big smile on his face, kind of boxy, and very lovely. Jeongguk feels like he’s going to catch feeling just from watching the other smile.
Who’s being creepy now, he scolds himself as he follows Taehyung without really caring where they are heading.
“I’m thinking about those flying chairs,” Taehyung says, stopping about thirty meters from where the giant swing ride is. He turns to Jeongguk with all the fervor a kid usually shows when they’re being offered candy. “What about you?”
“Let’s try it.”
“Okay!”
They stand in the short queue, Taehyung in front of Jeongguk, while people are chattering all around them. At some point Taehyung spins to face him again.
He says, “Hey, you never told me what your name is.”
Jeongguk frowns, “Really?”
“Yes, or I would’ve remembered it.” Taehyung scratches at the back of his neck, a shy smile playing on his lips. “I have a very good memory.”
Jeongguk curls his mouth into a smile, “It’s Jeongguk. Pleasure to meet you, Taehyung.”
But instead of looking like he’s getting blown by Jeongguk’s smile, Taehyung looks nervous. He fiddles with his camera’s strap restlessly for a while, Jeongguk staring at him in warning, then he speaks, “Can I take a picture, Jeongguk? I swear I’m not trying to be creepy.”
“A picture?” Jeongguk questions, and his voice sounds so relieved that it shocks him. “Of what?”
“You. It’s not—you see, I take a lot of pictures, I took one of the flying chairs just now. I just feel like I have to have a picture of you somehow.” Taehyung explains, a bit hurriedly as their turns to ride the ride are getting near. “So?”
Jeongguk tries to hide his flushing face by looking up at the ride, avoiding Taehyung’s curious face. “Can we take a selfie instead? Together?” he suggests.
“Oh, that’s good, too! Here,” Taehyung steps back and positions himself beside Jeongguk, his right hand holding the camera up in the air so the lens could capture both of their smiling faces perfectly. Taehyung counts down from three-to-one for several times, Jeongguk trying his best to come up with different expression after he hears a click. When their turns come, Taehyung puts his camera in one of his pockets.
They manage to sit beside each other, the ride is yet to start since there are empty places still waiting to be filled. Taehyung fishes his camera again and starts taking pictures—the bright afternoon sky; the big, I-shaped steel rod that support the whole framework of the ride; and (silently) Jeongguk.
Jeongguk spends the entirety of the time just staring alternately between Taehyung and the chair’s rope.
“Are you not scared?” Taehyung asks after a minute, his camera safe in his pocket. He readjusts his legs and tries clutching at the rope. “Does it seem safe to you?”
Ignoring the strange kind-of-paranoia Taehyung lets out, Jeongguk shrugs. “No one has died, yet, so,”
Taehyung pales. “Yet?”
“I’m kidding, Taehyung. I think it’s safe. Look at this,” Jeongguk shakes his chair and the rope, “it’s strong. Are you scared?” he takes another precise look at Taehyung and adds, “Hey, really, it’s all right. I can—” he is blurting out whatever thought crosses his mind and is this close to say I can hold your hand if you want, for moral support. He’s so thankful he manages to stop himself before the damage is done.
Taehyung seems to be waiting for the continuation, but one of the staff already blows the whistle and the ride starts moving.
The next seven minutes or so are spent with them dangling in the sky, chairs rotating so fast that Jeongguk can’t help but scream loudly along with the rest of the people around him, Taehyung included.
Then it ends and Taehyung’s cheeks are pink, so clear and ovbious thanks to his bright red hair. Jeongguk is a bit out of breath, knees wobbling (this time it’s not because a certain someone’s attractive grin, thank God), and a little lightheaded.
“That was fun,” Taehyung says excitedly after the staff is done helping them unclasp their safety belts. “Are you up for another ride or do you want to buy some food first?”
Jeongguk thinks about it and suggests, “Another ride and then food?”
“Okay with me.” Taehyung nods. “What should we try next?”
The thrilling, fan-like rides catches Jeongguk attention. “That one,” he points at it. “You up?”
“Totally, let’s go.”
Another queue awaits them, this one is longer, and Taehyung is standing beside him unlike earlier. Camera perched on his palm again, Taehyung says, “Let’s take another selfie.”
Jeongguk agrees—and just as he does so Taehyung steps closer, their cheeks almost touching with the new position. Jeongguk stares at Taehyung from the new angle, Taehyung’s fiery, surprisingly soft hair brushes against his left cheek, the tall bridge of his nose scrunching when he makes a face at the camera, the sharp jaw—just like that, Jeongguk forgets to return his focus to the camera lens and by the time he realises, Taehyung has snapped the picture.
Jeongguk just hopes his adoring expression doesn’t scare Taehyung away.
When Taehyung starts taking pictures of their surrounding, Jeongguk gathers his courage to ask, “Why red?”
Taehyung pauses, right hand shoots up to his hair almost automatically. “It’s temporary, it’ll wear off once I wash my hair.” He explains. “I like red—I think I look fiercer with it.”
“You suit red,” Jeongguk comments lowly. “You look irresistible.”
The queue starts to move, but the both of them feel like they’re glued to their spots. Jeongguk’s eyes go round as the realisation of what he just said settles in, leaving him totally unable to look at Taehyung or even breathe. He awkwardly shifts his footing.
Taehyung breaks the silence by clearing his throat, “Thank you.” He says earnestly, and grabs Jeongguk’s outer elbow as he steps forward. “I’ve never dyed my hair before, so I honestly don’t know how I look with it. Some people stare,” Taehyung states while looking directly at Jeongguk’s eyes. Taehyung’s eyes are brown—just like his own, but Jeongguk thinks they’re the most beautiful pair he has ever seen. “But I’m not really sure what they think.”
“They must be appreciating it.” Jeongguk blurts out again, but this time he doesn’t regret it, at all, because a smile so beautiful blooms on Taehyung’s face as he finishes saying so. “Okay, here we go. Ready?”
Before Taehyung could even answer, they’re already ushered in by one of the staff wearing black polo shirt with the name of the festival plastered at the front. The whole ride is crowded, but Jeongguk guesses today must be his Lucky Day because he still gets to sit beside Taehyung, who looks a little bit nervous—just like he did at the swing ride. And because of it too, Jeongguk has enough courage to offer his palm at Taehyung, saying,
“Wanna hold my hand?”
Today really proves to be Jeongguk’s Lucky Day—because without a second hesitation, Taehyung accepts it.
The ride starts slowly, rotating calmly as the windmill floats higher, and then faster, crazier—but their intertwined hands are still laced together, tighter, even, as their shouts go more hysterical.
Jeongguk’s heart is pounding so fastly by the time the ride begins to twist slower, a telltale sign that it’s close to an end. The whole ride was so intense that it leaves his knees completely weak, he is lucky he’s not falling down right after he gets up from the chair.
Taehyung, on the other hand, doesn’t seem as fortunate.
“Oh, no, are you alright?” Jeongguk asks, his hand sliding over Taehyung’s thin waist to help him walk. Any color has drained from Taehyung’s face, leaving only white.
Taehyung responds weakly, “I think I need to sit down for a minute.”
Jeongguk nods, leading him to a long wooden bench provided by the festival on the side of the ride. “I’ll get you water, or something, do you feel like eating something?” he asks, making sure Taehyung’s comfortable before letting him go completely.
“Ugh, no. I’ll just throw it up.”
“Alright, stay here, okay?”
Taehyung bobs his head and closes his eyes, and Jeongguk takes it as a yes. He walks around the area, in search of any vending machine available, and buys two bottles of water and a pack of fruity-flavored bubblegum in case Taehyung throws up.
When he comes back, Taehyung already has his camera in his hand.
“I like taking pictures,” Taehyung explains when he catches Jeongguk’s vague frown. He accepts the bottle and downs half of it in one go. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Jeongguk says, and takes a seat beside him. He fishes out his phone while Taehyung’s busy taking pictures, looking at the time and shocked himself when he finds out that it’s already 5, that it means he has been hanging out with a total stranger he knows next to nothing about for two hours.
And yet he still doesn’t know anything about Taehyung—except his name, and that this is his first time dyeing his hair red. He feels like laughing because it sure feels like it’s been days since he addressed Taehyung as Red Hair.
Taehyung snaps a picture of Jeongguk right at the moment.
“What’s that for?” Jeongguk asks, an eyebrow rising.
Taehyung hums, “Your laughing face is beautiful.”
Jeongguk’s breath hitches. “Thanks?” he tries, and fails, to sound like it’s not a big deal.
“You’re welcome,” Taehyung snaps another picture. He puts down his camera again and finishes the rest of his water, then stands up. “I think I’m alright now. Can we continue?”
“Sure.”
As the sky starts to darken, the festival seems to brighten up more. Colorful lights are placed everywhere, tiny lamps lined up in formation on some of the rides, more people walking around.
Jeongguk is careful to not lose Taehyung from his sight again, especially because the boy is now so occupied with his camera, strolling along every corner he deems interested enough to snap picture of. It goes on for a few minutes, until Taehyung stops in front of a small kiosk selling cotton candy. They come in so many shapes, animals, flowers, even alphabets. Taehyung drops his camera, letting it dangle from his chest, and spins to face Jeongguk.
“Cotton candy?” he asks—although Jeongguk isn’t sure what he is asking for.
“Cotton candy.” Jeongguk ends up answering, and they get themselves a stick each.
The festival seems to get merrier as the night settles by, the giant water fountain in the middle lights up with different colors, so, so beautiful. Taehyung can’t seem to stop taking pictures and Jeongguk doesn’t blame him, he himself has gotten his phone out to make the sight lasts forever.
They don’t stop at that, though.
“I’m hungry,” Taehyung whines at some point. They’ve done a lot of things, like visiting a souvenirs store (they tried out so many glasses and hats and cat ears, Taehyung manages to look beautiful in all of those), going to a fortune-teller (the lady in eccentric purple bandana doesn’t seem reliable at all, but Taehyung still told him to leave the tent when his turn came—he said he wants to keep his future secret), taking hilarious, filtered pictures at the funky photobox—you know, all those mumbo-jumbo.
“I saw a food court on our way earlier, wanna go there?”
Taehyung contemplates, which is weird, since he was the one wanting to get food. Jeongguk doesn’t comment on it.
“Okay,” Taehyung decides after a moment.
The food court isn’t far from the bench they’re occupying—and thankfully not as crowded as it might seem, which able them to score a table for two in the corner of the space, where two giant windows are placed so they could enjoy the scenery—okay, maybe not scenery, since all they can see is people passing by, but Taehyung still snaps a picture of it.
“Are you studying it? Photography?” Jeongguk curiously asks, watching Taehyung pointing his camera at the interior of the room.
Taehyung shakes his head, “No. I just do it for fun.” He faces Jeongguk again. “Smile!”
Jeongguk smiles.
“Aren’t you running out of memory? You took a lot of pictures,”
“Not yet, I have to delete some later, though,” Taehyung shrugs. “After I take a look at them. Some things usually change, it helps me tell—” he seems to swallow back whatever he was going to say, and Jeongguk isn’t lying when he says he will do anything to hear the next part.
“Tell what?”
“The world.” Taehyung simply answers, and then a waiter brings their food—that seems to be the end of the discussion.
Taehyung is a picky eater—at least he seems so. He spends a whole minute watching his food intently as he puts aside some parts of it, Jeongguk decides to eat slower or else he’s going to finish his food before Taehyung even starts.
Silence falls between them. The weird part is that it doesn’t make Jeongguk uncomfortable, doesn’t force him to start looking for new topics to be struck—just what silence with stranger usually does to Jeongguk. He continues eating calmly, glancing towards Taehyung once in a while as the guy carefully chews. Jeongguk is not used to not being awkward, but this change is definitely welcome.
By the time they are finished with their food, the clock’s finger at the top of the counter of the food court already points at 8.
“Let’s go to the water fountain earlier,” Taehyung says. “I haven’t taken enough pictures of it.”
The water fountain is the same as earlier, still as big, the colorful lights planted on the ground making the water appears more vibrant and flashy. They stand just a meter before it, so close that they get splashed
Taehyung lets out a whoa. “Can we play with the water? Are we going to get yelled at?” he asks seriously.
“I don’t think so,” Jeongguk shrugs and looks around. “There’s no guard round here, too. But your clothes are going to get wet.”
“We can buy a tee from the souvenir store,”
“We’re wearing jeans, Taehyung. It’ll be a bitch to dry them.”
Taehyung pouts.
Jeongguk feels a little bit in love.
He tries to shake his thoughts away. This is Red Hair—a total stranger, someone who he didn’t even know when awoke this morning, someone who he knows nothing about, someone who, in just five hours, manages to snatch Jeongguk’s breath away.
Jeongguk takes a careful look at Taehyung, again, and can’t help when warmth spreads all over his chest, making it extremely hard to keep his cool. He feels like stepping closer to Taehyung, maybe hugging him, maybe nuzzle his fiery hair.
Oh, shit, the voice comes back and this time it’s no longer calm and composed. Oh, shit, you’re catching feeling.
Not that I didn’t expect it, Jeongguk shoots back.
Taehyung speaks up, “Okay, then, so no playing with water. What are we going to do next?” he takes a look at his watch and visibly freezes. “It’s almost nine.”
Frowning a bit, Jeongguk confirms, “It’s almost nine.”
“I have to leave.”
“You have to leave?” Jeongguk dumbly repeats.
“Yes.” Taehyung starts to turn, as if he is planning to leave Jeongguk like that, even after all these hours they spent together. Jeongguk is having none of that, so he reaches out and grabs Taehyung’s wrist. Taehyung halts.
“Wait, Taehyung,” Jeongguk begins to say, but even to his ears he sounds panicked. He clears his throat. “It’s not even nine, even Cinderella leaves when it’s twelve. Don’t you think nine is a bit early?” alright. Jeongguk totally doesn’t want to push Taehyung, not when he barely knows him. He drops his arm, defeated. “At least give me your phone number or something so we can talk sometime?” Please, he adds internally.
Taehyung looks down at his wrist where Jeongguk has gripped before in—disbelief? “You want to talk to me sometime?” he asks.
“Yes?”
“To me?”
“Yes?” Jeongguk repeats.
Then Taehyung laughs—and it sounds so bitter and sad. “You don’t even know me, Jeongguk.” He says.
Jeongguk hasn’t given up. “Isn’t that the point of talking to you again sometime? So I can know you better?”
“Jeongguk,” Taehyung heaves a sigh. “The reason I have to leave before nine is because one-day passes don’t last forever.”
Jeongguk stares.
Taehyung breathes and smiles, and it’s still beautiful to Jeongguk’s eyes. He brings his camera up and makes sure Jeongguk is looking at it before continuing, “This camera—taking pictures is my way to figure out what is real and what is not. It helps me tell the difference between real life and delusion. Of course the medicine helps, but it’s a little bit difficult to swallow a pill whenever I start seeing dragon and phoenix and basically everything that doesn’t exist in the first place, right? So, pictures.”
Jeongguk doesn’t get it.
Stepping closer so he could face Jeongguk, Taehyung says, “Jeongguk, I’m Schizophrenic.”
When they say “my heart skips a beat”, they’re full of crap. Really, what they mean is, your heart sort of stutters and thinks about stopping for a second before it remembers that beating is good for it. Jeongguk knows, because his heart just does it.
“I’m...” he begins to say, but his throat is all clogged up, he even has trouble breathing. “You’re...”
“It’s alright,” Taehyung says, tone cheerful again. “You don’t have to say anything. I have to leave right now, though, or else the staff at the mental hospital will start thinking I run away or something.” Taehyung starts to turn again.
Jeongguk feels like he has been slapped to reality again. “No, Taehyung, wait!” he shouts, walking forward. “No, give me your number or e-mail or something first before you leave.”
Taehyung looks surprised. “Are you sure?” he asks, unsurely. “I’m crazy, Jeongguk, if the I’m Schizophrenic part doesn’t tell you that. I have to take my pills and snap pictures regularly so my world doesn’t go to hell. I’ve been falling apart all year that even my parents don’t think they could help me anymore, hence I’m staying at a mental hospital now. Befriending someone like me... can be a handful.”
Jeongguk answers so fastly that he surprises himself. “I don’t care. I don’t care at all. I want to be your friend,” okay, maybe not just friend. But friend is a good starter. “I will give you my phone number—you can contact me if you want.” He starts looking for a pen—thank God his habit of carrying a pen wherever he goes ends up being helpful—and writes a series of number on Taehyung’s lower arm. “There you go.”
“Okay.” Taehyung mumbles, looking straight at Jeongguk’s eyes.
“Okay.”
“I’m going. I... will give you a call sometime,”
Jeongguk shakes his head, “No. Give me a call as often as possible. And text, too. It’s easier.”
For a minute, they just stand there, the sound of water splashing clear to their ears, vibrant light coloring Taehyung’s already bright hair and his face, hearts in throats.
Taehyung begins to say, “I’ll get better so I can get more one-day passes, and maybe leave—” he stops short, because Jeongguk is stepping so close to him, and leans down.
And kisses him.
When Jeongguk finally lets go, he whispers to Taehyung’s ears. “Get home safely, Cinderella.”