Island Roommates // Yutae Fan Fic

Chapter Fourteen

Yuta:

Most of that morning was a blur. I can't remember what was said to me. Or how we even got off the island, except that all of a sudden we were on a boat. Then a ship. Taeyong stayed close by me, gripping my hand like I was a tether. He felt like one to me too. They put us in a room which I later figured out was the hospital ward on the ship, gave us water and some food...

"Sumimasen." A voice said from the only door in the room. Taeyong and I both looked up as the man by the door bowed and closed the door behind him when he entered.

"Ohaiyo." I answered and dipped my head. I gave Taeyong the bottle of water in my hand and moved to stand up but the man stopped me.

"No! Sit, sit. I'm just here to see how you two are doing." He smiled warmly. "My name is Onodera. You must be Nakamoto-Kun." He raised his eyebrow at me.

"Yes. And this is my friend. Lee Taeyong." He nodded sombrely and pulled a chair from the wall closer so he could sit down in front of us.

"Mmm. He must be the one who was sending us those messages."

"Messages?" My eyes went wide. "You mean the radio was working?"

"Yes. Very briefly. Sometimes not long enough to hear the whole message but enough for us to piece together that it was intentional. We were having trouble finding someone in the crew who could speak Korean to translate, but then we started getting the message in Japanese." He smiled at me again. "That must be your doing?" I couldn't believe it. All this time. I don't even know how long we were stuck on the island for, but it seemed like years.

"Yes..." I muttered belatedly. I looked over at Taeyong who was staring at me and remembered that he hadn't understood anything that had been said just now.

"He said it was the radio. They found us because of the radio." I told him and slunk back into the chair suddenly feeling absolutely exhausted.

"I won't bother you too long. I wanted to tell you that we'll be heading back to the Navy headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo. We should be there by this evening. There are beds here in the sick bay for you to sleep in. And showers. Someone will always be on duty here, so if you need anything, please find them and ask." Onodera stood up and held out his hand for us to shake. "I'm glad we could find you boys. Please, settle in. When you both feel like you're ready, we have a phone ready for you to call your parents." He left quietly and shut the door behind him.

Neither Taeyong nor I said anything. I just stood up and dragged him with me, following the directions to the rooms. Inside was our bags. I didn't even remember taking them with us. I didn't touch them though. The room was plain. Considering it was for sick people it made sense. No one like too much colour and too many things to look at when they were unwell. There were also two beds. I glanced at Taeyong but he was just standing there next to me, picking at his nails.

"We should go shower." I suggested. He bit his lip as he looked at me, but he nodded and let me pull him into the bathroom and close the door. I left the lights off even though it was dark. The porthole in the room was small and didn't let in much light, but somehow I felt turning on the light overhead would be too bright. The bathroom was small, like all rooms on a military ship, built compact to save space for more important things like cargo and weapons. The shower glowed even in the dark, with white tiles and chrome taps. It was weird. Seeing one after so long. I was taking off my shirt when I noticed Taeyong was still standing there in the room with me, doing nothing. He looked blank, like he couldn't remember why he was there.

"Taeyong?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"Is this...real?" He whispered. He looked so confused. And scared.