Caratland [Seventeen FF]

-31-

Soonyoung poV:

Today was the day. The day where Jihoon and I would spend the weekend at my sister's in the city. I already made a check-list since I really wanted to convince Jihoon that the city isn't that bad like he thinks of it. I can understand the perspective of Jihoon. He doesn't have any good memories of the city, but there was so much more to it than just that.

"You're ready?", I asked him excited. We were standing at the harbour, waiting for the next ship to arrive. We could already see it from a far.
"It's just for a weekend. Why are you so excited?", Jihoon murmured, holding on to his backpack. His hair colour vanished a little so it was coloured in a mix of soft pink and light blond.
"Because I made a checklist and I'm going to convince you that there's more than just an amusement park and some fantasy portal", I grinned, holding up my checklist.

Exactly at that moment the ship anchored.
"Ready for some adventures?", I asked him. He just shrugged his shoulders, so I pulled him by his arm onto the ship.

At the ship were two seats at the window, which I reserved for us.
"Why exactly here?", Jihoon asked placing his backpack on his lap. I took out my headphones and placed them on the small table between us.
"Because you seem like that person who likes to have his own space at rides", I answered smiling.
"It's creepy how good you can estimate people", he murmured, placing his phone and headphones on the table.
"I'm not good at it. You're just easy to see through", I grinned.
"I'm not!", he argued, making me laugh. It was always cute to see Jihoon argue. If he's not angry his cheeks turn pink, when he tries to set his point.

"I was going to listen to music, but I guess I'll sleep", I said after a while. The ride just started, but I already felt sleepy. Jihoon played a game on his phone. He nodded while still looking on his phone.

When I see Jihoon like that, I can't imagine that he spent most of the time on earth alone. He's such a caring and hardworking person. I remember the times where I just started. He didn't seem cooperative yet caring. He was kind of creepy, but I didn't want to judge him so I tried my best at being nice. At some point the tables turned and he wanted to hang out with me more often. I had friends before him, but I never had a best friend. Thinking back I made the right decision on working on caratland. Already three months passed since I started working there. Time flies...

"Hey Jihoon", I called him after some time.
"I'm listening", he replied.
"Tell me more about you", I demanded, sitting up.
"You already know everything about me", Jihoon replied.
"No, I mean things like how good were you in school or did you have a lot of friends?", I asked him. He paused his game and looked up. He thought a little, but then shrugged his shoulders.
"I was quiet. I didn't have many friends, if any at all. I wasn't good at school either. My marks were always barely passing. I had a neighbour though. We hung out together and went out with his dog. I never liked his dog. It was so stinky and always drooling. It was kind of disgusting. I still don't see what he saw in it. Anyway we often went out to his family's garden, which they baught. His mother was befriended with mine and they always cared about flowers. At that time I was taller than my neighbour so we made a bet who's final height would be taller. If we'd still had contact I would owe him a lollipop since I don't think I grew that much. Everything was so normal back then. But that was before my mother ran away", he explained and looked back on his phone. I could see a bittersweet smile plastered on his lips. Sometimes I wish I could rewind time so that I could have appeared in Jihoon's life much earlier. At least I'm here now.
"So you had also moments where you were tall", I grinned.
"Hey, I'm not that small!", he complained.
"No, you're just a little tinier than average", I teased him.
"And you? I guess you weren't any different", he crossed his arms.
"Nope, I wasn't. I was also bad at school and didn't have any friends till middle school", I laughed.
"What? You?", he asked surprised, "I thought you were the class clown."
"I was, but it started in middle school with that girl. Speaking of girls: Did you really never dated someone before?", I asked him.
"Of course not. Just by one look you would see that I'm an outsider", he shook his head.
"Yeah, but did you never played those games like truth or dare? Or were you never part of some high school drama?", I questioned.
"I was part of these students, who aren't even included in the circle", he reasoned.
"And on class trips?", I kept questioning. He got all quiet and looked on the floor again.
"I have never been to a class trip before", he murmured embarrassed.
"Wait, that means it's your first fun trip?", I realized shocked. He quietly nodded. "Oh, my God! Why didn't you tell me sooner? We have to make that trip as fun as possible", I reasoned excited. I started listing up things that I thought he had never done before and started to cross out things on the checklist, which weren't that necessary to do.

"And we need to go to a museum since you've never experienced that moment where it's so boring that you could fall asleep while standing", I said, while gesturing wildly with my arms.
"What's the point in doing boring things on a fun trip?", he asked laughing.
"Oh, you're right", I realized and drove back into my thoughts, making Jihoon laugh even harder. I never saw him laughing like that. I never saw him laughing, while actually making sounds. He had such a cute eyesmile that needed more exposure to the world. And how he clapped with his tiny hands. Seeing him that joyful made me automatically happy as well.

At that moment I hoped I could see him smile like that for the whole trip.