wanderlust for love [2won / hyungwonho fanfic]

Chapter 6

13 hours later, the plane pulls into the landing strip of Boulogne-Billancourt, France, a town on the outskirts of Paris. 

"Hyungwon," I hear someone lightly say. "We're here." I open my eyes slightly and see Wonho. Really close to my face. Too close. 

Why does he have to be that handsome? Even up close after a 13 hour plane ride? I probably look rumpled as all get out. 

"Oh," I groan, jerking my head up, which I guess fell over onto Wonho's shoulder at some point while I was napping. I cool my suddenly blushing cheeks with my hands. 

"You said we're here?"

"Yes." He gives me a curious look, laughs, and then ruffles my hair with his man hands. "You've got bed head." He laughs again and I blush even deeper.

I rush to fix it, muttering, "more like shoulder-head. Sorry about that."

He shrugs and stands up. "It's okay. I could've woken you up if I wanted to. You just looked so peaceful, I couldn't wake you up."

Looked? Did he look at me while I was sleeping? I struggle to shrug off how that makes me feel.

"Well, thanks."

"No problem. By the way, you should go pack up your carry on stuff. We'll be grabbing out suitcases when we unboard soon."

He turns to walk away. 

"Wonho?"

He turns back around, his eyebrows raised in question. 

"Thank you." 

He seems pleasantly surprised, flashing me an embarrassed smile. He walks toward a comfortably sleeping Minhyuk and Shownu, seat belts abandoned, wrapped together. 

I watch his retreating form, overcome with surprise at how fun the ride had actually been. Not just for Minhyuk and Shownu (who seemed to be given a little TOO much free time, because they were getting all hot and bothered in the back, which isn't acceptable on a plane. Owned my someone else. With other people on it. Mid-flight.) but also for me, and it seemed also for Wonho too. Over those long hours alone together, Wonho and I learned a lot about each other.

We talked a lot. About light topics, like our favorite colors (mine was white, his was purple), and animals (I have a dog named Yodel and he has a turtle named Siber - he wants a dog, but he says he' s gone so much that it would be unfair to the dog, especially without anyone to watch it. I told him that we could have joint custody on Yodel, which made him laugh and squeeze my cheek.)

We talked about not so light topics, like our dreams (I wanted to model, but my confidence wasn't high enough to do it well. Something that shocked me when I said it, because I have only told my closest friends about that for fear of judgement; he wanted to be a professional photographer, unshockingly, working for some big company like Nat Geo, traveling the world to show other people of its' beauty.) our ideal types (though I blushed at this part, I hurriedly said that I liked people who were open and sweet, able to do stuff for you without having to even be told or asking what you needed, someone honest and easily feeling. He said his ideal type was someone to keep him grounded, someone unafraid to tell him when he was in the wrong, not persuaded by his money or his power to be on his side for every argument. He said that it happens so much that it's hard to know who is really his friend or just a friend of his money. He laughed when I told him that he'd never have to worry about that with me because I would love to prove him wrong, any chance I get.) our family (I was an only child, and before I transferred here from Busan, I lived with my mom and my dad. Wonho explained quietly that he used to live with his younger brother and sister with a dad who barely paid any attention to them after his mom passed away when he was young. Although he told me that it didn't really bother him to talk about since she died when he was so little that he barely remembered her, he seemed quick to shut down the conversation when the identity of his father came up. Now, he lived by himself, paying the bills without his dad's help [his dad, whom I learned was not just rich, but filthy rich] by making business on his photography.  )

We even talked about the random things. I love neck pillows, kawaii edible art, the beach, animals, and music. He liked working out or anything fitness related (which really didn't shock me that much after he pulled up the sleeves of his turtlenecks to get comfortable a few hours into the trip and I saw how built he is), watching reality shows, all kinds of foods, plushies, and surprisingly, kids.

He told me stories about where he'd traveled - Belgium, Greece, Europe, Hawaii, and I explained what I missed about South Korea, the foods, the freedom on school, the cherry blossoms, the cleanliness, and he vowed to go there sometime.

He had moved from there to the US when he was 4, which was evident by his rusty Korean skills. He even referred to me informally, which I'm sure was an accident, but really may just have been on purpose, disguised as an accident. (Considering I was older than him)

I fell in love a little in those hours; in the way he got so animated about his photography but was so humble about it's obvious high quality, with the strength he obviously had, but used only when it was absolutely necessary, his longing to love and be loved in return for himself.

I stopped worrying about if he was straight or not and just allowed myself to focus on what a cool person he was. So cool that he volunteered and donated to shelters for both animals and people. So cool that he took his kid siblings on little 'dates' and showered them with enough attention that his dad wasn't missed. 

I noticed that he was really touchy-feely when he got to know someone, and that skinship was one of the ways he showed people that he cared, when his mouth couldn't do the full job well enough for him. He was scarily good at aegyo, though he would only do it to make someone feel better. (the only reason I knew this was because he had someone convinced me to tell an embarrassing story, and I was mad at him because he laughed at the most embarrassing part yet. He did actual aegyo to make me forgive him, which made me cringe and laugh extra hard because I hadn't seen it since I left Korea.)

Before, I nearly had a panic attack in the bathroom after he merely held my hand, but now I learned to not even think twice (though I would still blush) if he patted my upper thigh or tickled under my chin. It was his way of being friends, and although I would have rather been more, I welcomed it. 

With a happy sigh and an embarrased smile, I packed up my stuff.

I was in for some trouble these two weeks if I kept this whipped behavior up.