infinity || minsung

"miles away"

"It's under control." The sail jerks and smacks into Felix's nose. "Ow fuck me!"

"Why didn't you say we were going somewhere farther?" Seungmin slides onto the floor with me, legs folded up to his chest. "Like the Great Wall or the Pyramids? Then we could've run to the Canadian coast and ferried it from there."

Felix is retying the sail to a cleat on the side of the boat. "The longer we're gone — or supposed to be — the more suspicious it is." He plops down between us, legs straight in front of him. "And I don't think we can afford to be any more suspicious than we already were."

I pick at a frayed hole in my knee. "Jisung was oblivious. He... didn't even look up."

"Mine are definitely suspicious," says Seungmin. "The whole thing, it was too close to a goodbye, a real goodbye. They must have noticed."

"Changbin's probably burned a hole in the wall with his eyes by now." Felix smiles a little. "The way he hates me sometimes... god, I love it."

"How do you think Chan's dealing?" I ask.

"Chan's one of the strongest people I know. He'll forgive us. 'Sides, he has Haseong to keep him steady."

Seungmin sighs. "Haseong hasn't been all that steady lately. He might be suspicious of us too. I mean, he's always suspicious of everything, but."

"Do you think it'll hurt him?" I ask. "Do you think he thinks that we don't trust him? Does he know that we know that he was doing everything he can to protect us? Am I even making sense right now?"

"Not entirely," says Felix. "I could actually use one of his lectures right now. 'Goddamnit, Felix, think rationally!'"

Seungmin sighs, rubbing his forehead. "Look, I know we're keeping everything scary unsaid, but... I don't want that to be the last time I see them. I fucking lied to them. I'm not ready to die. I want to go home after this."

Felix puts his arm around Seungmin's shoulders. "Then that's what we shall do."

I clutch my bag. This must be the farthest I've been from Jisung in years. I look down at my hands, my ring, thinking about our wedding day, his gentle eyes as I said my vows. Early mornings listening to the birds outside the window, drawing on his chest with my fingertips. His voice, his thoughts, talking and talking, blind to the days and nights passing us by.

It all builds and squeezes at the back of my throat.

"Minho, you're crying," Seungmin says.

I hide my face in my knees. "I c-can't help it."

Felix puts his arm around me too. "C'mere, crybaby. Didn't you hear me? We're going home. Remember that."

jisung

Sometimes I think I would be lucky to be a flower.

Flowers are sensitive and kind, delicate and modest — everything I love about being human without the strife and complexities. Every bud and bloom is a new life, every whither and wilt a death. In some ways, these plants are more human than I am.

Soon I've sowed, watered and fed all the seeds I have. I suppose they'll have to wait for the sun — nightfall slipped my attention and the sky is suddenly dark. I gather my tools and head toward the glowing house beyond the field.

I'm disappointed when I remember Minho won't be there. How long will a Bermuda Triangle trip take? They have a lot of land to cover before they even make it to the right coast — and then what will they do? Float around and look at the shipwrecks — that is, if the ocean doesn't sink their asses first?