Mediterranean Kiss ~ Taeten

The Walls of Dubrovnik

“Oh my God!”

“This town is beautiful!” Mark exclaimed with his mouth gaping open as he twirled around in a circle, taking in the view.

“It sure is!” Johnny agreed, stopping to adjust his sunglasses as he looked around.

Taeyong smiled at them both. He came to a stop next to Mark and placed his hands on the low stone wall as he followed Mark's gaze and admired the old town of Dubrovnik.

They were up on the walls of the old part of the town. The walls, which ran for nearly 2000 meters, encompassed the town. This allowed a 360 degree view of the beautiful town, with its iconic terracotta coloured roofs and surrounding islands.

It was a small fee to gain access to the ancient walls and Mark was super excited about it. He had wanted to make sure they had enough time to walk the whole way around so he had tried to force poor Johnny to run to the entrance.

While it had been slightly difficult for Johnny to get up the steep, narrow stairs to the top, Taeyong had followed behind him, making sure he didn't fall or slip backwards. Now they were all safely up there, they all shared the same excited smile.

“This is super cool! No army would ever be able to conquer this place with these massive fortifications.” Mark said in awe with his mouth wide open. He looked like a kid visiting a candy store for the first time.

He hooked an arm around Johnny's and tugged him along.

“Remember he's on crutches.” Taeyong reminded him as he hurried after them.

They stopped every so often to take photos of the scenery and eventually they came across a small café tucked under a covered area.

“Let's grab something to drink. Johnny what do you want?” Mark asked, already on his way over to the lady at the counter.

“I'll share whatever you get.” Johnny yelled back.

“I'll have orange juice, please!” Taeyong chimed in.

Mark gave a thumbs up and Taeyong and Johnny went to lean against the wall in the shade.

As he came back with their drinks, Taeyong noticed two girls leaning against the wall not too far from them. They were whispering behind their hands to one another and giggling as they watched Mark. They were quite pretty but Mark hadn't noticed them yet. Taeyong chuckled, knowing that Mark's ego would swell when he noticed and that he would go straight over to the girls to try and chat them up.

“Hey Johnny-” Taeyong began, with the intent of showing him the two girls swooning over Mark. He stopped though as he saw Johnny was already watching them with a frown on his face.

“Here you go guys.” Mark said as he stopped in front of them.

Taeyong dragged is gaze away from Johnny and took the bottle of orange juice that Mark handed him.

“Thanks.” He replied.

He took a long drink from the small bottle then returned his attention to his friends. Mark unscrewed a bottle of coke and took a few gulps from it before handing it to Johnny. Johnny shuffled closer to him and took the bottle. As he drank from it he kept his gaze on the two girls.

Taeyong sipped his drink and watched on, puzzled. Was Johnny jealous?

The two girls then noticed Johnny watching them and both looked slightly panicked before turning away and hurrying off, still whispering things to each other. Taeyong didn't see the look Johnny had given them but wondered what he had looked like to scare them off like that.

“Are you even listening to me?” Mark pouted, waving his hands in front of his friends.

Taeyong snapped out of his thoughts and smiled sheepishly at Mark. “Sorry Mark, what were you saying?”

“Yeah, uh sorry I missed that too.” Johnny agreed, adjusting his sunglasses.

Mark rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “You airheads. What I said is that we should keep going. On the website it says you can climb up to the top of that tower,” - he pointed to a circular tower over the other side of the town wall - “and I bet you get a great view of the town from up there.”

Taeyong nodded. “Yeah you probably can. Okay, let's keep going then. You all good Johnny?” He asked, glancing at him.

“Yeah, course.” Johnny replied with a smile. Johnny handed the bottle of coke back to Mark and leaned onto his crutches.

Anything that Taeyong had thought resembled jealousy on Johnny’s face was now gone, confusion about it still lingered in his mind though. Why had Johnny been jealous of the girls looking at Mark?  Or was it the other way around and he was jealous of Mark? He scratched his head in puzzlement as the three of them continued along the wall.