Above and Below // SeongJoong

7. The Perfect Date

DISCLAIMER: I have limited knowledge of the law, so please excuse any mistakes or inaccurate representations of reality. This is fiction, and everything that happens does not reflect any real events.

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Living up to the pictures on the official website, the scene was more breathtaking the nearer it was to the top. The glass walls of the gondola were so thin and clear they almost did not exist at all, giving an unobscured view of the cloudless night sky outside. The moon was big and close to perfectly round, while the rest of the black canvas was sprinkled with stars – as many as was possible in a city center, anyway.

Underneath was a wide rippling mirror, illuminated by the distorted reflections of the spectacle above. A gusty autumn breeze sped up the current and lifted the waves until the warped images were no more, but the private capsule held steady and firm enough that the people inside scarcely felt a thing.

At least, that was how it was for Hongjoong. He peeked over at Seonghwa, who occupied the only other seat on the other end of the dining table and was nibbling on a bite of steak with a slightly distracted expression. He looked down at his own plate, realized it was almost clean, and sighed almost nervously.

He'd meant for this to be a fancy, romantic, perfect date. He had to make it happen for the person he liked so much; he had to make it up for being so busy the past two weeks that he could not even afford to prepare something decent... like normal couples should do. He'd even put aside his dignity as a senior to ask Jongho for help. That associate attorney, as carefree as he was at work, certainly had way more experience and tricks up his sleeve when it came to impressing girls – and boys, too. After much persuading and a hefty price of paying for his coffee for a whole month, Jongho finally gave up the best agenda for a date that he'd claimed he was "saving for my future soulmate."

And everything had been going just as Hongjoong wanted it to go. He'd first surprised Seonghwa ten minutes earlier than their appointed time, bringing him a bouquet of in-season flowers to brighten up Pets Park for autumn. Then he drove his boyfriend to a promenade, where he left his car by a dock and they got off to take a walk just as the sun was setting. They followed the river, chatting away lightheartedly with the relaxing touch of autumn wind on their faces and, to Hongjoong's joy, occasionally held hands. This was planned meticulously to every detail; there was a crepe shop at the end of the boardwalk, and they were supposed to have dessert on the way back.

That is, if Seonghwa was willing to stay until the end.

It all started to go wrong once they arrived at the Ferris wheel. The pet stylist got all fidgety looking up at the hundred-meter spectacle, and by the time they got to the end of the line, he acted as if there were ants in his pants. Hongjoong knew the man was not well at all, no matter how much he'd tried to deny it.

He regretted badly now for not pushing it more, for probing harder, because if he had, then perhaps he could have stopped Seonghwa before they entered the gondola and rose to the sky. Before it was too late.

But Seonghwa only put on a smile and said, "I'm fine," even though halfway up the wheel his knees clearly buckled and gave out on him, and he would have fallen to the floor if the lawyer had not been there to catch him.

"H– hey... are you alright?" Hongjoong had asked, somewhat futilely. "Are you sick? Did you hurt yourself?" It struck him then, when he saw the way Seonghwa stared down at the edge of the glass cage with wide, unmoving eyes. "Could it be... are you afraid of heights?"

For a while, neither of them said anything, and they just stayed there, frozen.

Hongjoong had encountered a fair share of acrophobic people in his life, though he had no idea how serious the pet stylist's condition was, not to mention how he should react in a situation like this. A sudden thought overcame him, and he wondered just how bad of a boyfriend he was if he had somehow gone through three whole weeks of dating without learning about his lover's fear. But that was no time for regrets.