The Red of the Rose | Taeyong

23 | Confession

The hours long bus ride allowed Taeyong and Miah to catch up on their sleep. As they slowly left the city behind them, the views became more scenic, from dry patches of land to the smell of ocean nearby.

They got off at their destination. The bus roared away behind them as they were standing at a lonely bus stop, the only way was front which was the vast ocean stretching beyond the tiny sandy beach beneath their foot.

As they walked down the path, flicking sand at every step, the ocean seemed to get wider, seemingly so vast and much larger than themselves. The white clouds allowed few glimpses of the equally blue sky and the sun was somewhere above the horizon.

It was cold, but they took off their shoes to feel the damp sand beneath their feet.

'It's so beautiful. How do you know so many beautiful places?' Taeyong finally spoke into the roar of the ocean waves.

'The ocean is pretty anywhere.' Miah shrugged.

'By the way, we totally could have driven here,' Taeyong said.

'I know, we could. But I have always come here by bus. I wanted it to be the same.

Taeyong could not argue with this.

'So, is this your special place?' Taeyong asked Miah the exact question she had asked him when he took her to the rooftop of their department building.

'You are teasing me.' Miah recognized the question.

'I am.'

She took his hand, her shoes in the other, walking along the length of the beach. 'No, but it is a special place. I used to come here sometimes after school. There was always a direct bus to here. They changed its number though.'

'So then am I the first person you brought here with you?'

'Sadly, no.' Miah squinted her nose. 'It was Mark actually when he was little. He was being fussy one day and our parents weren't home. I didn't know what to do with him so I brought him here.'

'Alone?'

'Mhm. I made him promise not to tell anyone otherwise of course you know, we would both be scolded. Me more than him.'

'You know, all your stories involve something very dangerous. Wandering into church alone with a stranger, taking the bus to nowhere.'

'Oh, aunty was not a stranger.' Miah grinned. 'I mean after she tended to my knee, she wasn't.'

Taeyong waited.

'Okay, maybe a little,' she finally admitted.

Taeyong pulled her cheeks. He huffed a sigh and pulled her on the sand to sit next to him, the sun just touching the horizon now with the sky changing colours to hues of purples.

The cold wind was touching their faces gently and Taeyong pulled Miah closer to keep her warm, their gazes on the sun which was sinking below the horizon.

Miah whispered softly, 'So, what are you going to tell the sun this time?'

Taeyong stilled, tightening his embrace on Miah, rubbing her shoulder. He took a deep breath, still looking ahead at the orange semi-circle on the horizon and said, 'I love Miah.'

Miah who was still looking at him, turned to the sun to whisper her own confession, 'I love Taeyong.'

They stayed till the sun was consumed by the ocean whole, the shade of the sky changing from a dark purple to black.

'This is the first time I watched a whole sunset here,' Miah said.

'You never stayed?'

'No. I would always leave before.'