9

Jaeha smiled, seeing Joshua and Seokmin arriving together. She looked at her fiancé, expecting him to greet the two; But Seunghoon remained silent.

She cleared her throat, “Hey! Thanks so much for accompanying us today. Our friends literally had other things to do and you guys are the ones who actually showed up.”

“Of course! I love boat trips, the water always calms me down.” Seokmin replied. He was secretly eyeing his ex-boyfriend who he knew had a fear of deep water. Seunghoon looked nervous, but what bothers him is that the bride apparently did not know about the groom's fear. Otherwise, she won't have planned this whole thing.

The captain called them out, allowing them to board the boat. Jaeha cheered, entering first.

“Will you be alright?” Joshua suddenly asked, looking at Seunghoon. His bestfriend was surprised at first, but then he slowly nodded.

“I'll go now.” Joshua boarded and stopped at the entrance to wait for Seunghoon and Seokmin.

“You should go next, Seunghoon.” Seokmin softly said. Seunghoon took a deep breath before entering. There's a narrow plank that connects the boat from the pathway since the remaining steps of the pathway had been destroyed by a storm. No one wanted to fix it, so they just put a very narrow plank as a bridge to enter the boat.

Seunghoon was shaking slightly. He has the worst balancing skill ever. Not to mention the fact that right below that plank is already water, which he's afraid of falling.

Both Joshua and Seokmin were keeping an eye of him, ready to give him a hand. Few seconds pass and Seunghoon succeed to cross, with Joshua guiding him in the final steps.

Seokmin went next, carefully balancing himself.

The three of them immediately went to the front of the boat, seeing four chairs, with Jaeha sitting on one while holding a wine bottle.

“What took you guys so long?” Jaeha asked, pouring the drink into the wine glass. She nudged the three of them to sit and they all followed without saying a word.

Jaeha felt uncomfortable, but she didn't mind it. After all, it was her plan to get to know what was going on and seeing how Joshua also acted differently with those two made her realize that he might know something about it.

“Seokmin-ssi, how are the rehearsals going? I hope Haesoon isn't complaining about anything.” Jaeha asked, taking a sip of her wine.

Seokmin gave her a smile, “It's going great, honestly. I love the song choices you gave me so I had no problem singing it. And Haesoon is fine as well, she kept complimenting me and giving me pointers.”

:::

The four finally got over the uncomfortable tension, though Seunghoon was still quiet, he did his best trying to laugh and talk with them. Especially with Jaeha calling him out.

It's been a few hours since they sailed on the water and it was already getting dark, so they decided to go back to the shore. The captain agreed with them, and immediately did as what he was told.

“Okay, so Joshua, what's going on with you and Seokmin? Is there something you want to tell me?” Jaeha raised her eyebrow. She was actually drunk. They drank so much in the past hours to the point where Jaeha was already slurring words.

“Uh, actually---” Joshua started but was cut off by the sound of a machine shutting down. “We have a problem!” The captain shouted.

The four of them headed to where the captain was, “What's going on?” Joshua asked.

“An engine had been shut down. We might have to stay here for a while, I'll try to find and fix whatever that engine is.” The captain said, reaching for his toolbox before going to where the engines are.

“Well, I'll go to sleep while waiting. That wine was so good.” Jaeha murmured, planting a kiss on Seunghoon's lips and headed to the cabin.

Seunghoon went back to the front of the boat again, taking a look around. He realized he was still in the middle of the sea and the shore to where they come from can hardly be seen. He started to panic, seeing nothing around him but water.

Joshua and Seokmin immediately ran over to him,trying to calm him down.

“W-we're stuck here. . . Please. . . Get me back t-to the shore.” Seunghoon cried and hugged Seokmin tightly. It was the first time Joshua had ever seen his bestfriend cry, so he was shook for a few seconds.

“Hey bub, calm down. We'll be back in the land soon, hmm? There's nothing to be afraid of.” Seokmin whispered, hugging Seunghoon back.

“Take a look at the stars. It's beautiful. If you feel scared, just look up above and observe the stars.”

Seunghoon did look up, and is fascinated by the night sky. It was covered by millions of stars, shining beautifully, adding the moon which made it even more beautiful.

Seunghoon let go of his grip to Seokmin, muttering a 'thank you' while looking up. He had stop crying, but worried are still going on in his mind, so he tried to shake it off.

Once Seokmin had let go of his hug to Seunghoon, he went closer to Joshua who looked at him in wonder. “How did you know how to calm him down?”

“I've witnessed many of his panic attacks before, I eventually got used to it and learned how to divert his attention.” Seokmin answered.

The two also stared at the night sky, seeing the pretty stars twinkling. Joshua loved it; the stars reminded him of Seokmin's eyes who always looked at him with sparkle.

Suddenly, they felt the boat is starting, so they looked for the captain.

“I got the boat to start again. The problem wasn't really that bad so we'll get home without anymore interference.” The captain assured.

“Okay. Thank you captain.” Joshua replied.

—

For those who are confused on who's character is speaking, here:

Seokmin

Joshua

Other people