five days | kim seungmin

10 | hornblower cruise

after a quick lunch, our tour group gathered near the entrance to the hornblower cruise.

"any advice on not getting your face wet?" i asked somi, who i knew had been on the cruise before.

"just imagine the waterfalls are washing your face for you," somi replied.

"wow, thanks for the tip."

as we waited in line - it was very long by the way - we received red plastic ponchos to shield ourselves from the water.

"wait, you said something about red velvet cake earlier," i remembered my conversation with somi in the morning.

"yeah, look," she pointed to a cruise returning from the niagara falls. "the boat is white, and the people in red ponchos are the layers of red velvet."

"hm. nice imagination."

after a walking through a series of twists and turns in the line, we finally reached the dock. the passengers filed into the cruise and hurried to a find a good spot to see the waterfalls.

"unnie, do you want to go to the second floor?" somi asked me.

"what? so we can get even more drenched in water?"

"i mean, we're wearing ponchos."

i shrugged, following somi up the stairs.

we were waiting for the cruise to start and taking pictures with the waterfalls in the background when i noticed the other teenagers from our tour group had come up to the top floor as well. i remembered hyunjin's messages and immediately turned away, avoiding eye contact.

"good morning, park minjoo."

too late, he was already leaning on the rails next to me.

"good morning," i said, not looking at him.

"why did you leave me on r-"

at that moment, the cruise lurched forward and hyunjin yelped, almost losing his balance. he stood up straight again and acted like nothing happened, and i nearly snorted. i tried not to laugh because i didn't want him to think i was paying any attention to him.

"so, why'd you leave me on read?" hyunjin repeated himself.

i shrugged, still laughing internally about hyunjin's scream from earlier.

"did my message make your heart go-" hyunjin demonstrated a rapid heartbeat by repeatedly tapping his chest.

i cringed. "...no."

hyunjin immediately pouted, overly expressing his sadness with his face.

by now the cruise was passing by the american falls, and i could feel the mist being blown into my face by the wind. it was a nice, slight sprinkle.

"wait till we get into the horseshoe falls, that's where the real fun begins," somi smirked from beside me.

"wait. we're going into the waterfall?" jisung must have overheard, since he said this with eyes full of fear.

somi laughed. "nah, not that far."

jisung sighed in relief.

"but close enough that the cruise might sink," somi joked just to see jisung's reaction.

"hyung! is it true that we might sink in the horseshoe falls?" jisung clung onto chan's arm.

"what? why would we-"

"are you sure this boat is safe? hyung, can we get off right now? tell the captain to turn the boat around?"

chan gave the rest of us a what-is-wrong-with-jisung look, trying to pry off jisung's grip on his arm.

meanwhile, somi was dying of laughter next to me.

seungmin poked my arm, "is jisung telling the truth?"

"uh... i'm actually not sure, ask somi..." not going to lie, i was a bit worried too.

the boat passed by the bridal veil falls and approached the horseshoe falls. jisung finally shut up because chan pulled the hood of jisung's poncho over his head and tied the ribbon, covering jisung's mouth. with only his eyes exposed, jisung looked like the red pac-man ghost.

"everyone get ready, let's take a selca when we're really near the waterfall," somi motioned for everyone to gather.

"uh, are you sure about that? your phone is going to get wet," felix asked.

"that's why i put it in a plastic bag!" somi held up her phone that was supposedly safe inside a ziploc bag.

"mmph!" a muffled sound from the pac-man ghost jisung turned our attention to the water.

the soft mist from earlier was becoming like harsh rain, and the speed of the falling water sent wind crashing into our faces. we scrambled to hold onto our ponchos from flying off.

"everyone, look here!" somi managed to yell, holding up her phone as high as she could.

the nine of us tried to fit into the frame of the camera while also battling the storm-like situation we were currently in.

"my makeup!" dahyun exclaimed.

"i thought it was waterproof!" chaeyoung said.

"oh my-"

"jisung! we're not going to sink!" chan yelled.

"ahhh!"

"oh my goodness, how do i even look at the camera?" i said, wiping water off of my face.

"say kimchi!" somi shouted, smiling as more water splattered onto her face.

we tried standing still for a moment just for somi to quickly take the picture.

but luck was not on our side. the cruise lurched forward again, probably because we were now heading back to the dock, and the sudden movement caused most of us to lose our balance.

somi was busy trying not to let her phone slip out of her hand, jisung nearly fell over chan and felix, hyunjin was holding onto the rail for dear life, dahyun and chaeyoung were arguging over who pushed who, and i - i was saved from falling by seungmin?

wow, my knight in shining armor!

"you okay?" seungmin asked, looking at me with worried eyes.

"yeah, thanks."

no, i'm not okay.

at least my heart isn't.

☆

ew, that last part is cringe. but it's a fact that whenever i see seungmin my heart is not okay haha