five days | kim seungmin

08 | bus seats

"i forgot how much i love pancakes," i munched on a slice of pancake. i was glad i didn't sleep in, because this hotel had some amazing food.

"i know right? this is so good," somi agreed.

we ate in silence for a while, because we were too focused on our breakfast.

"somi-yah," i said.

"uh?"

"are you excited to go to canada today?"

"oh yeah! yeah, i haven't been to niagara falls in a while," she nodded.

"do you get soaked in water on the cruise?" i asked. we were planned to ride the hornblower cruise, which apparently sailed very close to the waterfalls.

"aha, no. they give us these red rain ponchos. if you look at the cruise from far away, it looks like a red velvet cake," somi giggled.

"a red velvet cake?" that sounded ridiculous.

"you'll see when we get there," she grinned.

"hey, now you made me want to eat cake," i pouted.

somi shrugged, still laughing.

thankfully, hyunjin didn't bother me during breakfast. in fact, i hadn't seen any of the boys or chaeyoung and dahyun at the dining hall.

☆☆☆

after returning to my hotel room to apply a simple layer of makeup, me and my mom carried our luggage down to the lobby.

we placed our suitcases in the storage under the bus and walked into the bus. i waved to my mom, expecting to sit next to somi again. however, i realized that she was sitting with evelyn.

"unnie, i'm so sorry, but my parents made me sit with her," somi nodded her head at evelyn, who was sitting by the window.

"oh, it's alright. i'll just sit across from you," i sat in the seat across from somi's.

somi nodded.

we waited for the rest of the group to board the bus.

my eyes immediately narrowed when dahyun stepped into the vehicle. she was followed by chaeyoung, chan, jisung, hyunjin, and seungmin. i watched as they all headed for the back of the bus, which was only two rows away from where somi and i were seated.

"yo felix," chan spoke english to felix, who was sitting behind somi. "wanna sit in the back row with us?"

"sure, why not?" felix said in his strong austrailian accent.

however, there were only four seats in the back row. it was filled in by felix, chan, jisung, and hyunjin, leaving seungmin alone. chaeyoung and dahyun took the row felix was sitting in. most of the seats in the bus seemed taken, which left seungmin to sit with... me. frick.

"uh... do you mind if i sit next to you?" seungmin stopped in the aisle next to my seat.

it would be rude to refuse, so i should say i don't mind. but how do you not mind a cute boy your age sitting next to you on a bus?

"no, i don't mind. do you want the window seat?" i asked, trying not to show my emotions.

"sure, i figured you would want to talk to somi," seungmin agreed.

i stood up from my seat and moved out to the aisle, letting seungmin sit by the window. then i sat down again, staring at the back of the seat in front of me.

mr. yoon did a quick head count, and the bus started moving.

"good morning, everyone! did you have a good night's sleep?" mr. yoon spoke into the mic.

i chuckled at somi, who was starting to doze off until mr. yoon's voice jerked her awake.

many of the tourists gave a negative answer to mr. yoon's question.

"i thought so... jet lag is such a pain, isn't it? well, we're headed to niagara falls today, which is around a three hour drive. i'll stay quiet for now so that you guys can rest. we'll stop at a rest area in the middle, sounds good?"

a few tourists gave mr. yoon a thumbs up. he nodded and sat down, turning off the mic.

"unnie," somi whispered to me. "are you going to sleep?"

"i don't know," i said. strangely, i wasn't very tired.

somi turned to look at her sister, who was already asleep. "i think i might sleep."

"yeah, go ahead."

"okay. good night!" somi joked in english, giggling.

i smiled back, then turned forward again.

now that somi was asleep, i didn't really have anything to do. there was wifi in the bus, but it was very low quality.

i tapped no rhythm in particular with my finger on my phone, bored. i glanced at seungmin to find him staring out the window.

i considered sleeping, but i wanted to get used to the time difference.

"so um..."

i flinched a little when seungmin spoke.

silence lingered in the air and i figured he was thinking of what to say next. if i were him, i wouldn't know what to say either.

"are you tired?" he finally said.

"not so much... once i wake up in the morning i'm full of energy, and then sleepiness kicks in a few hours later," i didn't even know what i was saying.

"oh. i'm a morning person, so i'm not really tired. we might as well talk then?"

"sure," i blinked.