wanderlust for love [2won / hyungwonho fanfic]

Chapter 4

With Minhyuk and Shownu in their own little world, it really feels like Wonho and I are alone.

But together. I mean by ourselves. With the two of us.

It definitely isn't helping that this is only my second time on a plane and scared to death of heights... or that it's an eleven hour flight. 

Stupid of me, I know. How is it that an 18 year old has only been on a plane twice? Well, asides from traveling here from Korea, I haven't really had any reason to start being masochistic and sign up for a phobia willingly. Why would a person afraid of heights ever sign up for shit like this? (Correct answer: in my case when they're either really really stupid or really really desperate.)

Last time, Minhyuk and Shownu, along with Jooheon, Changkyun, and Kihyun, some other friends that decided to travel abroad with us, were with me to make me feel better about the fact that we were thousands of miles from the ground or any possible exit, stuck only with our fair senses, some granola bars, and each other to keep us alive if we happen to crash, which actually, isn't too rare an occurrence. But with a stranger and only a canoodling couple to be my survival plan this time, it's honestly just better if I just face it myself. 

I grip the armrests of the chairs next to me from my seat by the window (I know, the window seat is an obvious choice for someone afraid of heights. But by time I noticed what a stupid ass thing I had done, we had already lifted wheels off of the ground, and I would be the last person to stand up on a moving plane). I grip tightly and lean my head back against the seat. 

I try to calm my breathing with no noticeable success. 

I'm trying to block all senses; you can't fear what you can't notice, right?

Behind me, I hear a faint whispering, even with my sense blocking, and then the sound of soft footsteps padding my way.

I'm trying to abide the motion sickness I suddenly feel when I hear someone sit in the seat next to me. Right next to me. 

I open an eye a crack and peer to the right. 

Wonho. Looking away from me and seeming privileged and bored, but Wonho just the same. 

Was this whole plane not big enough for him that he would decide to move out of his seat halfway across the plane and sit in the chair literally right beside me?

"I don't know if you knew," Wonho suddenly says, his voice filling up what was previously silence. "But this is my plane."

Like I didn't already know that, Captain Obvious. Did you really waltz all the way over here to give me a quick PSA about that?

"I noticed," I manage to mutter, both my voice and my body tense.

"Oh?" He sounds, and upon looking, seems genuinely surprised. 

"How did you know that?"

I roll my eyes in response. 

"First of all, the plane is empty." I gesture to the obvious emptiness of the plane. "So I had automatically knew that you had either bought out the whole plane, which seemed like too much, or you had your own place, which still seemed like too much but not as much as the first option." I close my eyes again as I finish, my stomach starting to roll.

"Well, you're wrong on one account."

This boy really can't take a hint, can he? Pretty but dumb, obviously.

"And what account is that?" Eyes squeezed shut. Breath in. Breath out.

"It's not my plane...it's my dad's." He sounds smug, but wouldn't we all if we had a plane like this that our dad gave to us to be at our every disposal?

The plane hits a bit of turbulence as I'm considering this, and I brace myself harder. It's almost as if I can feel a rocking motion of the plane, and my stomach aches in defiance.

"Oh my god," I mutter quietly.

Suddenly, I feel a hand grasp mine, fingers interlocking and lacing with mine.

I repeat it again in a lower tone, but this time for an obviously different reason. 

I'm scared to open my eyes. I don't know if it's because I'm scared I will see that I'm making this all up in my head or that it's real, and I will have to figure out what is socially acceptable to do or say next.

I slowly open my eyes anyways and look over.

Wonho's mirroring my previous position; hand gripping an armrest, other hand grasping mine, head pushed back, eyes closed.

Is this really happening? Come on, Hyungwon! Figure out what the hell is happening here?

I curse myself inwardly for even having an reaction, like this is some kind of Disney romance movie that ends in an happy ending. 

I open my mouth to speak, but only an incoherent "Wha-" comes out, somewhere in between "What the hell is going on here?" and "What the hell took me so long to find something like his hand?", the latter of course being stupid and childish and irrational on my part, probably the result of my awkward and queer ways. Not to mention assumptive as hell, because as far as I know, he's completely straight, even had an ex-girlfriend. Maybe this is how he treats all his friends that are guys.

I'm trying to convince myself of this fact as my heart thuds (I wish I could say it was because of the plane because that would be less pathetic of me), when I realize it's been way too long for me to respond to this situation.

I reopen my mouth to say I don't even know what when Wonho speaks first.

"I used to scared of planes, too," he offers, still motionless in his chair.

I look back down at our hands. So this is why? I'm thankful... but also disappointed for some reason. 

"Was it that obvious?"

"A little," he admits.

My eyes are still on our hands, though I'm more relaxed.

I never realized I was so tan... Either I'm tan or Wonho is pale, or at least paler than I am. His hands, thick and webbed with veins evident of hard work, swallow up my hands, more slender and graceful in comparison. I feel the chill of one of his metal rings on my palm.

I'm so busy ogling that I don't realize that Wonho's eyes are now on me.

I startle, but maintain the contact. His eyes seem confused, but are clearing, as if someone is giving him the answer to a question he just asked, while mine I'm sure are just confused.

Is this normal straight behavior?

We've locked eyes, but in the periphery, I see Minhyuk open jawed.

His lips, swollen and puffy, probably from his endless 'flourishing', and open in a wide circle, his eyes the same circle. Shownu even shares the same expression.

Minhyuk's face morphs into an expression of devilish smugness, a superior look of 'I told you so', and it's the thing that breaks my trance. 

I gently extricate myself from Wonho's grip.

"Um.. I'm okay," I manage to stutter out.

I clear my throat, looking everywhere but his face. His stupid, overly handsome, face, unnecessarily proportionate face. 

"Whoo," I breathe out. "Do you have any place to get a water in this joint?"

I 'whoo' again, fanning myself. I ungracefully get up, almost knocking myself over in the process. I'm sure my cheeks are as red as possibly know to man. 

Awkward, awkward, you stupid boy. 

I shuffle quickly by him, ignoring his... man hands when they reach up to offer to help me.

This all seems so sudden, so soon, I'm left reeling, I think as I walk down the airplane aisle towards the bathroom, trying to bury the red hot feel of embarrassment, the thundering of my heart, and Minhyuk's questioning face.

Even after I lock myself in the bathroom, I can still feel his hand and that cold ring.