⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 – 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

Ⰶ║ August 11 2020 ║Ⰶ

Finally, after another seven whole days, Chenle had recovered enough to handle being in the car. He slept most of the day, but would occasionally wake to eat or have a *very simple* conversation with someone. They had stopped at a pharmacy before leaving town so Jaemin could pick up some prescription drugs to help Chenle recover. Other than the burden of having dim lights and restricted sound, the boys finally drove themselves to the docks on the outskirts of Wando.

"So," Renjun starts as he hops out of the car, the docks and water right in front of him. "How are we going to go about doing this?" He turns to Donghyuck, hands on his hips, awaiting an answer. Donghyuck was staring off at the water, his eyes holding an emotion Renjun could not yet decipher, no one else seemed to notice though, so he ignored it. "Hyuck?" But he got no answer, it was as if the tan boy was stuck somewhere else. His mind wasn't present. Renjun wanted to hit the guy on the back of the head for ignoring him but stopped when Jisung walked past him.

Hyuckie? He placed a hand on Donghyuck's arm, making the boy face him in surprise. Are you remembering?

Donghyuck sighed and gave Jisung a sad smile. "Yeah. It's okay though, let's just get to a boat. Come on, you can come look with me." He led the boy over to the docks, searching for a boat that wasn't completely destroyed. Renjun follows them with his eyes, but eventually turns back to where the others are. Mark seems to be trying to contact those people on the island again, Jaemin is watching over Chenle as usual, and Jeno seems to be...looking at something.

"Jen? What is it?"

The boy lifts his head and looks at Renjun, his eyes holding curiosity and fear. "I've never lived by the ocean, but I've heard about the fears people have gotten from it." He looks back at the dark water. "Thalassophobia. I think I have it. Because this is utterly terrifying." He points to the water and Renjun follows the direction of his finger. Laying on it's side, just under the water surface, is a ship. A large yacht. The white sides giving the water a small glow. It was so close to the surface, Renjun would be knees deep if he were to stand on it.

"Holy shit."

"I'm sure this won't be the last reck we see."

Renjun nods and tugs Jeno away. "Come on, let's go see if Mark got a hold of the island." Jeno nods and follows after, his eyes reluctant to leave the boat.

"Eerie. It's so..." he trails off and says nothing more as he fixes his eyes ahead.

Ⰶ║ August 11 2020 ║Ⰶ

"Hendery! It's the phone!" YangYang calls from the garden, the ringing making it out from the kitchen and to his ears. "Can you get it!"

"Yeah! I hear it!" Henderey calls back from the shed and hurries into the house. Xiaojun went down to the docks with Xifeng, to await their arriving guests. There was a communication struggle of course, but with some math and hope, the three of them determined that the mainlanders were due to arrive today.

"H-llo?"

Hendery smiles. His excitement was still unable to die down even after this many calls. "Hello! How. Close. Are. You?"

"We. -ust. Boarded. The. b-ot." Hendery nods to himself, making a mental note.

"We. Are. At. The. Docks."

"Okay. It. May. Take. Us. Ano-er. Ho-r. Or. So."

"That's. Fine. Xiaojun. Will. Greet. You. So. Just. Look. For. Him." Hendery walks out of the house and down to the shore where he could see Xiaojun standing on the boardwalk. He hangs up after ending the conversation and relays the news to his boyfriend. "You can come back to the house and return in like, half an hour. Plus Xifeng might need some food."

Xiaojun looks down at the baby girl in his arm. She was sound asleep, her hands subconsciously grasping his thumb. "Alright, that sounds good. How's YangYang?" He sends a worried glance back to their friend, who was working. "He's been spending a lot of time in the garden lately."

"He's as irritable as ever, I'll say that." Hendery places his hands on his hips as he walks back to the house with Xiaojun behind him.

"You know what I mean babe."

"I know. I mean, I don't know, he seems fine to me. I guess quieter but he's been through a lot so I can't say I blame him." Hendery's voice quiets down and he takes Xifeng out of Xiaojun's hands. "Maybe you should talk to him, tell him what's going on. He listens to you." He frowns as Xiaojun sighs. The two of them, even if they were only a year older, saw YangYang as their kid. He acted younger than he was, and his parents weren't around much growing up, so he relied on the other two a lot.

"Okay. I'll be there in a bit. There's some puree in the fridge, but don't force her to wake."

"Aye-aye captain." hendery salutes him and walks off, leaving Xiaojun on the front porch. He walks down the wooden steps and into the garden, latching the gate behind him.

"Yang, the mainlanders will be here in an hour or so. Hendery just got off a call with them." He sits on the bench in the middle of the garden, watching the younger boy work tirelessly on the herbs. "Do you wanna come with me to greet them?"

YangYang stands and turns his head. Xiaojun frowns, as he saw the boy's face. His eyes were tired and his cheeks were red from the sun. "No, I think I'll stay here. I'll greet them when they come up. Even if they're other humans," He looks away and back down at his herbs. "They're still strangers. And I want to be careful."

Xiaojun smiles softly and stands. "Ever the same, aren't you? Alright, If I scream bloody murder then run." He chuckles at his joke and leaves the garden with one final pat on the boy's back. "Hopefully you can make a good friend. They're around our age." YangYang only nods and goes back to his work.

A good friend?

⋘ Tʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴛʀʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ. ⋙