❝my youth is with you❞ yeonbin

chapter 14

At first, the three hours drive with a secret boyfriend and his unaware father seemed impossible to come alive from for Choi Beomgyu. They left at dawn, so he fell asleep on backseats as soon as they packed everything into a car. His head leaned against Taehyun's shoulder. The blanket covered both of their shivering bodies from the morning breeze. They listened to Taehyun's favorite music through his Airpods. Beomgyu didn't mind, as long as their fingers intertwined under the cozy blanket. Ultimately, they spent a whole drive that way, so Beomgyu was no longer nervous.

Taehyun's father hummed some songs that played on the radio. Sometimes, he saw two teenage friends cuddling and sleeping when he'd look into the front mirror. He didn't think much about it since Taehyun was always close to his childhood friends. A little smile appeared on his face when he took the last turn making their way straight into the forest, where the camping site was located.

He parked the car and turned to the boys. Beomgyu immediately woke up sensing that the vehicle stopped moving. He brushed his eyes, so the vision of the middle-aged man was no longer blurry. When he realized, his whole body lay on top of Taehyun he got up with an awkward smile directed at the man.

"We're here," the man exclaimed. He reached his hand out to budge his son's knee. "Wake up, Taehyun."

His son mumbled something under his breath, ignoring him completely. Beomgyu felt awkward since he was still holding his hand under the blanket, while the man shook his head at the sleeping teenager.

"Let's get some fresh air," he spoke, so Beomgyu nodded in agreement.

The man left the car. Beomgyu waited for a few seconds observing him getting away from them and pulled Taehyun by the shirt angrily. The boy did not move an inch.

"You better wake up and not leave me alone with your dad for long, 'cause I'm sure I will say something stupid, you understand?" he whispered to his ear and punched his arm. After that, he left the car as well.

Taehyun opened his eyes and stared at his boyfriend awkwardly walking up to his father, stretching his aching body. On his face appeared a slight smirk.

Beomgyu looked around the site, it was empty, but it looked as if it had been used before. He heard a stream of water running somewhere close, the birds chirped right above his head, and the green scenery gave him a few seconds of peace of mind.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" The man commented. He seemed to stare at Beomgyu instead of the scenery. However, he had every tree, and every sound of the forest memorized in his mind. He was happy to be able to share it with Beomgyu, that nodded in response. "I used to come here with my father," he started with a smile. Paused for a second, and looked at Beomgyu again. "Then, when I was old enough, I would camp here with your dad and your mom, and of course my wife."

Beomgyu looked at him with a shocked expression. He raised his left brow, interested in the story.

"I knew you've been friends since kids, but I didn't know you went camping together. My parents never told me this..." Beomgyu commented, now a bit disappointed.

"Back in the day, we didn't have a secret base like you guys do in our garage. My father would have cursed everyone out the second my friends had stepped foot unannounced in our house." The man laughed, but the memory seemed to be a bit for Beomgyu to be laughed at. "We would have hung out here for days to talk about our lives, the girls..." he laughed, Beomgyu averted eye contact and scratched his neck. "Then, Taehyun was suddenly old enough to be taken here."

"And my dad? He never told me about this place. I've only heard about it from Taehyun." Beomgyu was eager to find out why his parents left out such a big part of their lives from him. He just found out about their teenage lives from a stranger, not them. He felt disappointed.