Wandering Through The Universe Of Love
Title: Wandering Through The Universe Of Love
Pairing(s): HanChul, side!QMi, side!KangTeuk, side!EunHae, implied!WonMin, implied!YeWook
Genre(s): Romance, Le Petit Prince AU, fantasy, angst, philosophical
Length: 8055 words
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In which Heechul is the Rose and Han Geng is the Little Prince.
Inspiration(s): Le Petit Prince, duh. I don’t think I did the novella any justice LOL. Hopefully it makes enough sense and doesn’t bore people to death. I looked it over several times, but I'm certain that there are mistakes - let me know if you fine them. Written for tinzedesu's birthday. So sorry for the delay!
```
For years, Han Geng lived alone on an asteroid. It was a very simple one-small, grey, circular, and overall quite neat-but he was extremely proud of it and took care of his home the best he could. He carefully looked after his one active volcano and regularly cleaned out his two dormant ones that once in a while decide to overflow and make a mess of his kitchen. He routinely watered his plants, pulled out the weeds growing in his garden, stocked up on food in his fridge, and fetched clean water. He spent his free time staring at the stars or watching sunsets or singing old songs of happiness and love, perfectly content with his life alone on his own little planet.
Then one day, he was not alone, having woken up to find another creature-another man, to be precise-on his asteroid with him.
“What are you looking at?” the stranger asked in harsh Korean as he helped himself to the food in Han Geng’s fridge. The first thing Han Geng noticed about the man was his beauty. He also noticed vanity in the way the stranger haughtily held up his nose as if he owned the ground he tread on. His shoulder-length red hair framed his effeminate face, his pale skin glistened under the sunlight, his thin form was muscular but not at all cumbersome, and his brown eyes spoke of fire and passion. It made Han Geng’s palms sweat.
Racking his brain for some half-intelligible vocabulary, Han Geng cleared his throat. “Hello. Name, uh, Han Geng,” he greeted lamely in his broken Korean, the foreign syllables flipping around on his tongue. “Welcome.”
The redhead looked at him with an amused expression on his pretty face before smiling brilliantly, making Han Geng’s heart flutter.
And that was how he came to meet Kim Heechul.
--
The first asteroid Han Geng visited was inhabited by a priest. Han Geng was never a religious person, but he had always loved churches for the serenity and calmness they provided-they almost made him feel like there was something in the world worth living for. The church he saw was small, plain, and grey. It was not at all eye-catching, and had more of a homely aura to it-much like his own asteroid, in fact.
“Welcome,” the priest greeted with a kind smile. “I am Father Siwon.”
“Hello Father,” Han Geng bowed politely. “My name is Han Geng.”
“You’re a traveller. And from the looks of it, you have travelled quite far. If you would like to rest, the church is open anytime. Stay as long as you would like.”
“Thank you.”
Siwon smiled kindly and led his visitor into the grand church, where Han Geng was met with the sweet smell of aromatic candlewax and freshly baked bread. And in front of his eyes there was grandness like he had never seen before. The traveller stopped in his tracks and took in the awe-inspiring sight the best he could.
Although the church looked small from the outside, Han Geng could not help but feel dwarfed at the size of the interior-just staring up at the ceiling made him feel like he was staring into the sky itself. At the end of the church was a six-foot tall organ with pipes that reached to the roof; Han Geng shuddered at how loud the thing could ring. What was supposed to be a plain grey church on the outside was all golden on the inside, as if sun was shining on the walls at every angle. The walls were beautifully decorated, with paintings of angels and humans and animals and families and friendship and music and love-
Love.
Han Geng’s heart clenched.
“So what brings you to our humble church?” Siwon asked as he lit the candles on the windowsills, the stainless glass coloring the priest’s face with watercolor shades of red and blue and green.
“Humble?” Han Geng stared at the other man like he had three heads. “You call all this humble? This is the most extraordinary place I have ever seen! I would have never thought it would be this amazing just by looking at the exterior!”
Siwon chuckled. “Well, true beauty is only found on the inside. Even the most horrible person has a shred of goodness in them. Besides, it’s my home. And it’s a home that I built for all those who don’t have a home.”
Han Geng stared at him with blank eyes.
“The saddest thing in life,” Siwon explained solemnly, “is not having a place to belong to. This church I built was meant for all those who seek a place in this world. I have people coming from all over the universe to pray every Sunday in order to feel connected to something when they have nothing else to believe in. Pregnant rape victims who were spurned by their families and left to fend for themselves. War veterans too scarred by the horrors of battle to reintegrate back to their normal lives. Children who adults take advantage of without another thought. I want to provide a home for them. Make them feel as if life isn’t all that bad.”
“You’re a good man, Father,” Han Geng stated bluntly. “But doesn’t it get tiring?”
“Sometimes. But it’s worth it.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Siwon smiled. “There is this little man named Sungmin who visits every week. In his family, his father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother thought children were abominations. His older brother sold him away for a pack of cigars when he was six years old. He was half-dead by the time I found him.” His expression hardened. “No boy should ever go through what he did.”
“How is he now?” Han Geng asked.
“I took him in and raised him like a little brother, and to this day I still believe that he is nothing short of a miracle,” Siwon’s face brightened. “He got an education at a very prestigious school two moons away. And he now runs an orphanage because he loves working with children.”
“That’s an amazing story.”
Siwon shook his head. “It’s not a story. It is a fact. Love is the strongest force in the world.”
Han Geng grimaced. “I highly doubt that.”
“You might doubt it now,” the priest clasped the traveller’s shoulder. “But when you meet the right person, you will understand.”
“I thought I met the right person,” Han Geng confessed, laughing bitterly. “But it turned out all to be a lie.”
--
”Han Geng, I’m hungry!” Heechul whined.
Han Geng smiled and heated the stove.
“Han Geng, I’m cold!”
He smiled and wrapped a blanket around the redhead.
“Han Geng, I’m bored!”
The Chinese man smiled and started to sing and dance.
“Han Geng, I’m tired.”
And Han Geng smiled once more before carrying his companion bridal style to the other side of his asteroid to tuck him into bed. Heechul fell asleep instantly, and Han Geng stroked his cheek, his heart swelling with all the love he felt for the one person he lived for.
--
The second asteroid Han Geng visited was very large, very green, and large earthy. The first thing he heard was the bleating of sheep. He then heard the sound of a flute, and he followed the music to find a young shepherd lying on a rock, leg dangling lazily over the rocky edge as a flute made of dried clay was loosely brought to his lips.
“Hello?” Han Geng greeted.
The shepherd looked up and grinned. “Hey there. Haven’t seen you around before! I’m Yesung.”
“Han Geng.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Han Geng.”
“What do you do around here?” the traveller asked, looking at the beautiful green pasture.
Yesung shrugged. “Not much. Hang out with my sheep. Fiddle around with my flute. Sing about spring and winter. Normal things young shepherds do.”
“Do you live here alone?”
The other man nodded idly.
“Doesn’t it get lonely?”
“Of course it does, everybody gets lonely once in a while. But I am one of the lucky ones.” Yesung pointed towards the sky. “Because somewhere out there, my true love is waiting for me. I hear him every night.”
Han Geng quirked an eyebrow.
“It’s true!” the shepherd glared at his visitor with every fiber of his being. “Every night, in the sky, I hear a man singing the most beautiful song about how lonely he is and how he wishes love could find him. And one day, I will find him and I will tell him that love has finally come.”
“How though?”
“I don’t know yet. But I will eventually.”
Han Geng sighed. “You sound very sure about this.”
“I am sure. I have faith.”
“How could you have faith in something you can’t see?”
Yesung gaped at his companion, disbelieving. “That is what faith is. Believing in something that you cannot see with the eye. But in life, it is the things that cannot be seen with the eye that are most important.” True beauty is only found on the inside. The shepherd exhaled contentedly. “I have faith that one day, I will meet my true love and we will live happily ever after. Thinking about that day makes my loneliness bearable.”
“I wish I were more like you,” Han Geng smiled sadly. “I find it hard to have faith in anything in life anymore.”
--
Heechul came from a rich and prestigious family. Or that was what he claimed. Han Geng had no reason not to believe him.
“I grew eating five-course meals and having a dozen servants to boss around,” he boasted, scrutinizing the plate of food Han Geng placed in front of him. “If they did not do as I told them, they were fired immediately. Anything I asked for, I got. It was the way I lived my life.”
“And now?”
“I am only here because I was kidnapped!” Heechul replied flamboyantly. “Kidnapped for ransom money. But then my kidnapper fell in love with me and cut the ropes that tied my hands.” He continued rambling about his many exciting adventures around the universe, and Han Geng listened to every word, the gullible fool that he was. “So before long, the drunkard started shooting at me with his rifle, so I jumped out into space and hoped that there would be some planet that could save me from certain death. Which is how I ended up here.”
“Do you like it here?”
“It’s satisfactory.” Heechul shrugged. “Better than that time I drifted off into the universe and lost all of my shoe collection-”
--
The third asteroid Han Geng visited was greyish brown, and filled with craters. It was a rather large asteroid, big enough for a whole family to live on, but it was extremely messy and disordered-as if abandoned.
But evidently, it wasn’t abandoned, as the moment he stepped off of his little airplane he was met with a little boy no older than seven.
“Oh, you’re not Daddy,” was the first thing he said, and Han Geng could hear the thick disappointment in the boy’s voice. “Well, anyhow, nice to meet you,” the kid greeted naively, only as tall as Han Geng’s waist. “Today is my birthday! I am six years old. How old are you?”
“My name is Han Geng,” the man replied simply, looking around. “Where are your parents?”
The child shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them for a long time.” Then the boy perked up, hope shining on his chubby face. “Have you seen them?”
Han Geng stared at the child and wondered what the world was coming to.
“You haven’t seen your parents in a long time, you say. How long?”
He shrugged again. “I forgot. I lost count.”
“Have you tried going out to find them?”
“Nuh uh.” The boy shook his head adamantly. “They told me to stay right here. They said they will come back.” His eyes shone. “Do you know where they are? Did they send you to tell me that they are on their way back?”
Unable to respond to the question, Han Geng looked away, scanning the desolate asteroid with a heavy weight on his chest. How do you tell a kid that his parents will never come back? “Do you have food here?”
The little kid nodded. “Yes,” he pointed to a near-empty fridge-only canned fish remaining, “but not much. Mommy said that she would come back with more eventually. Then we can have a feast and celebrate just like we used to! I hope she comes back today with a cake. I had to celebrate three birthdays alone already.” The boy straightened, as if coming to a great revelation. “Wait, you’re here now! I’m not alone on my birthday anymore!”
Han Geng’s heart broke in half. “You’ve stayed here for three years all by yourself? Living off of canned fish?”
“Uh huh. Do you want some? There isn’t much, but Mommy will be home soon.”
The older man sighed. “Your parents haven’t been home for a while. Do you want to come with me to go look for them?”
Though it was obvious he wanted to, the boy hesitated and chewed on his lips. “But Mommy told me to stay right here. I don’t want her to get mad at me.”
“I’m sure Mommy won’t mind just as long as you find her,” Han Geng coaxed, not wanting to abandon the kid. Leaving a child of six on a planet by himself with hardly any food was out of the question. “You’re a big boy now, aren’t you?”
“Uh huh, I’m six years old!”
“Then pack your food and some warm clothes,” Han Geng smiled warmly at the boy’s positivity. “It sometimes gets cold out in the universe.”
The boy grinned and scurried off to grab his bare necessities while Han Geng busied himself with filling up his airplane with enough fuel for several days. He noticed that the boy left a note on the fridge just in case Mommy comes back while we are away. “We will be coming back, right?” the boy asked, eyes wide.
Han Geng nodded, hoping that he was damned to an eternity of hell in the afterlife. “Sure, kid.”
And with that, the child threw his stuff into the back of the airplane and hopped onto the passenger seat, his little body shaking with boyish excitement as they took off. The boy’s face was pressed to the window-his innocent eyes having never seen anything beyond his home asteroid.
“What’s your name, kid?” Han Geng asked once they were safely in the air and soaring past the stars.
“Henry,” the boy answered cheerily. “My name is Henry Lau.”
“What are your parents’ names?”
Henry’s smile faded, and Han Geng saw the dark cloud looming over his head. “I-I don’t remember. It’s been so long.”
--
Han Geng loved Heechul, he really did. He loved him with all his heart. But sometimes, when love became too strong, it started to hurt.
“Where I came from, men threw themselves at me.” Heechul had rolled his eyes one normal afternoon. “Men are all the same-controlled by their dicks. One wink from me and they would fall to my knees and do whatever I told them to. I once dated the richest man in the entire universe, and he bought sixty asteroids for me just because I asked him to.”
Han Geng looked at his dirtied hands and torn clothing and said nothing.
--
The fourth asteroid that Han Geng visited was owned by a chef. He knew right on the spot that it was owned by a chef-the delicious aroma greeting his nose revealed it all.
It was a white little asteroid, with a relatively small radius and just enough room for two people to live on comfortably. It looked like a very small kitchen, with a pristine fridge and quaint dining table with an adorable oven that happily dinged when it was done baking.
Han Geng soon found out that the chef’s name was Kim Ryeowook, and just like this cute little asteroid he was a cute little person with a mousy face and small figure, his chef hat only managing to dwarf him further. Henry loved him instantly. Ryeowook was also a very good host, and upon seeing his visitors he had all but showered them with kindness and hospitality that gave even Han Geng’s own mother a run for her money. Almost immediately after they made proper introductions the two travellers found themselves sitting in small wooden chairs wearing lacy bibs around their necks, staring down at two perfect pieces of medium rare filet mignon.
“Eat up!” Ryeowook encouraged as he peeled several oranges for his newest companions. “You two must be starving after travelling all this way!”
Han Geng smirked. “How did you know we were travelling?” he asked.
(Meanwhile, Henry had taken a bite of his meal and all but groaned in happiness. “This is amazing. Where did you learn to cook like this?” he exclaimed before attacking the rest of his meal.
Ryeowook blushed at the compliment. “I just love cooking. It makes me happy to see others eat.”)
“It’s obvious that you are travellers.” Ryeowook motioned towards Han Geng’s baggage. “Only travellers carry bags like that. Plus, both of you have very strong accents and foreign names.”
“Well, I am Chinese,” Han Geng shrugged. “Henry is from Chinese heritage, too.”
The chef’s eyes brightened. “我也讲中文!*” he exclaimed, his Korean accent apparent but not at all cumbrous. “I learned a little bit when I was young.”
“Well, you speak it very well,” the Chinese man complimented.
“Better than me!” Henry chirped, licking up his plate.
(“So why are you travelling?” Ryeowook inquired, curiosity etched on his effeminate face.
“I have to,” Han Geng replied simply. “I felt the need to leave my asteroid. I’ve outgrown it.”
“Is it a small asteroid?”
“Not too small,” the man replied amusedly. “It was probably three times the size of this asteroid, probably more.”
Ryeowook tilted his head in confusion. “Then why have you outgrown it?”
“I just did,” he replied, a sad look on his face.)
Henry finished his five-star entree and Han Geng followed suit not long after, and Ryeowook all but jumped at their empty plates and replaced them with two perfectly cut pieces of chocolate cake. Henry’s eyes bulged out and Han Geng chuckled.
“I baked it myself,” he chirped happily. “I hope you like it.”
Han Geng took a bite and almost melted in alimentary happiness. “You have to be joking, this is the best cake in the whole damn universe.”
(“I wish I could cook like you!” Henry grinned, licking his chops. “That way, I would get to eat good food every day!”
“I could teach you!” Ryeowook offered. “I have a whole repertory of recipes that I know by heart! Some of them are really easy!”
Henry beamed. “Really? Teach me, teach me!”
Several hours later, something exploded in the oven.)
“My mother taught me how to cook. Chocolate cake was her extra-secret recipe. Please have some more if you are still hungry! I have plenty of it left! Oh, and if you want different flavors, I have vanilla, cheese cake, strawberry, and mango! I am still in the process of making my blueberry cake, but if you want try some of it I can let you taste the dough!”
The Chinese man laughed while Henry ordered one of each.
Night fell, and Henry fell asleep on Ryeowook’s bed after suffering a massive stomachache from eating too much. Ryeowook fervently offered to let them stay for the night. “You must rest!” he insisted, tugging at Han Geng’s sleeve. “Or else you won’t be able to travel as much later on! Food and sleep are the basics in life, you know!”
Han Geng stared at the perfectly made tatami mat on the floor and then back at his new friend. “Why are you so nice to me? Wouldn’t you be afraid that I’ll rob you or kill you during the night?”
Ryeowook shivered. “Are you going to?”
“Of course not!” Han Geng was already guilty for having the guy cook for him, for Christ’s sake. “But you don’t know that for sure. You can’t trust just anybody, you know.”
“Well, I have a feeling that you are a good person, that’s all,” Ryeowook wringed his hands. “The fact that you are taking care of Henry is proof of that. I mean, I am very naïve and gullible, and I know that if a bad person came to my asteroid I would probably treat him the same way I treated you. But I love cooking and taking care of people. And I love seeing people eat my food.” The little chef’s eyes were downcast. “Not that many people visit me. And it sometimes gets very lonesome. Sometimes I get so lonesome, I sing.”
“Can you sing for me?”
Ryeowook blushed but he did as was requested, and sang a song about how lonely he was and how he wished love could find him.
--
“I am the most beautiful man in the world.” Heechul said this like it was a well-known fact. “I am the most beautiful and the most charming.”
Han Geng could not argue. He honestly had never seen anybody more beautiful than Heechul.
“Sometimes being beautiful is difficult, though. There are so many guys in the world and not enough of me to go around.”
Heechul said that often, and each time Han Geng would wonder if he was just one of those ‘many guys’ that the redhead referred to.
--
The fifth asteroid Han Geng visited was abandoned. Really abandoned. There was absolutely no sign of life with the exception of several weeds. In fact, Han Geng had believed that this planet had never been inhabited until Henry came across three broken pieces of hardened clay.
“What are these?” the boy asked as he carefully ran his curious fingers over the sharp edges.
“Probably pieces of a broken vase or something,” Han Geng replied absentmindedly, busying himself with fueling up his airplane and scavenging for leftover food.
“Don’t think so,” Henry supposed, laying out the clay fragments so that the edges fit together like puzzle pieces. “Look, it makes a heart! Do you think that it is a Valentine’s Day gift or something?”
Han Geng took a look and shrugged. The heart-shaped clay was grey and rough and uneven and imperfect, and he thought nothing of it for a long, long time.
--
“Heechul, do you love anybody?” Han Geng asked as he cleaned out his volcanoes as per usual.
“Of course not!” the redhead scoffed.
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Never. Love means nothing in the world.”
“Then what does?”
Heechul snickered. “What’s with all the philosophical questions today?”
“I was just curious. I mean, you have met so many men in the universe, so there has got to be a chance that you fell at least a little bit in love with one of them.”
“Not if I can help it,” Heechul rolled his eyes. “It will be nothing short of a miracle if I ever fall in love.”
--
The sixth asteroid Han Geng visited was an orphanage, but Henry didn’t need to know that. The place was predominantly inhabited by children, and at the sight of his airplane they all squealed in joy and ran their curious hands over the airplane wings and motor. Han Geng thought it was an adorable sight, while Henry watched in awe as he looked around to see people his age.
“I never knew there were people who looked just like me!” he squealed. “I always thought that I was the only kid in the whole wide world!”
(“Hi, my name is Henry!” the boy introduced himself to a group of children playing tag.
“Hi there Henry!” a girl giggled. “My name is Amber! I’m it.” She tapped the boy on his shoulder and winked. “But now you’re it!”
“Unfair!” Henry yelled, but he was smiling as he scampered after the other screaming children.)
Han Geng left Henry to integrate himself into the group of children while he searched around for the owner of the planet, who happened to be a very effeminate man with bright eyes and a cute smile. “Hello, my name is Han Geng, and I brought a boy with me who I think may be an orphan. I want to make sure, though. Is there any way I can look up his parents’ names?”
The man grinned, showing perfect white teeth as he logged onto a computer. “Certainly. Boy’s first and last name?”
“First name Henry, last name Lau.”
“Age?”
“Six.”
He typed in his information and pressed ENTER, and a few seconds later the man’s eyes noticeably saddened. “You were right. His parents died two years ago in an airplane accident. A tragedy, really. Both were not even thirty yet.”
Han Geng nodded. “I figured as much. It will break his heart to hear the news, though.”
The man smiled empathetically. “Don’t worry. Kids are tougher than you think. He’ll pull through.”
(“I feel so responsible for him now, and the last thing I want to do is leave him in a place where he knows nobody,” Han Geng shrugged. “But I really have no choice. I’ll be on the move for at least one more year, so he won’t have the childhood that every kid deserves if he stays with me. At least if he remains here, there will be other children around him who he can grow up with.”
“He will understand.”
Han Geng sighed. “I hope so.”
“You really care about him.” The man looked past Han Geng, smiling as he watched the boy in question happily chase a girl across the soccer field. “Don’t worry, Henry will be fine here. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll do everything I can to make him feel loved.”
“Thank you.” Then a thought occurred to him. “May I also look up the name Kim Heechul?”
“Of course. Is he an orphan, too?”
Han Geng shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.” He realized long ago that he hardly knew anything about Heechul.
“Kim Heechul, son of the founder of the famous Kim Company, I presume?”
“Sure,” he raised an eyebrow. Close enough. “Anything about him? His parents?”
“Not too much, it’s confidential information after all. Age unknown, date of birth unknown, hair color red, marital status engaged-”
Han Geng jumped. “Engaged? To whom?”
“It was broken off two weeks after the engagement announcement,” the man reassured, seemingly entertained at Han Geng’s expression. “All eleven of his engagements were broken off at around the same time span, actually. The last one apparently ended ugly, though, and his father disowned him.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t say.”
Han Geng nodded blankly. “Thank you for your time.”)
Han Geng stayed back for three weeks to make sure that Henry made friends and settle into life at the orphanage. On the day he told Henry that he was going to leave without him because that is what is best for the both of us, Henry burst into tears and ran off before Han Geng could do anything about it.
“He’ll be fine,” the orphanage director assured again. “He’ll understand. I know he will. He is loved here, and love is the strongest force in the world.”
The Chinese man smiled sadly. “Thanks. I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”
“Sungmin.” Nothing short of a miracle. “I was born Lee Sungmin, but I live by Choi Sungmin now.”
--
“It’s so difficult being as beautiful as me,” Heechul complained as per usual, dozing on the hammock that Han Geng built for him last week. “I have to make sure I don’t get too tan, count my calories and be careful that my diet doesn’t have too much saturated fat, and still paste on a beautiful smile for all to see. Such a pain, really!”
Han Geng only listened as he dug out the weeds in his garden, content just to hear his beloved’s voice.
“Ugly people have it so much easier. I mean, you get to walk around in the sun all day with no worries about how it would affect one’s acne; you get to eat all you want because you don’t have a figure in the first place; and you have no reason to smile, so who cares?”
Heechul had a habit of saying things without thinking about repercussions, but for some strange reason Han Geng heard a cynical tone that had never been there before. He knitted his eyebrows together. “Heechul, you are going through all this trouble for the sake of your beauty. But if it is as difficult as you say it is, why don’t you stop?”
One moment there was dead silence. The next moment Han Geng felt a sharp sting across his cheek.
“You have no right to say that, Han Geng!” Heechul screamed. “Don’t talk to me like you understand! You understand nothing! You’re nothing but a hypocrite! The only reason why you allowed me to stay on your planet was because I was beautiful. It’s not as if you love me for any other reason!”
Han Geng could do nothing but watch as Heechul spun on his heel and marched away. And for the first time in his life, Han Geng felt truly angry. He felt anger, betrayal, hate. He winced as he touched his finger to his smarted cheek, contemplating whether to go after the man that he (surely he did!) loved more than anything. He angrily decided against it, and continued to tend to his garden, pulling out his weeds with so much force that the dirt uprooted.
Then again, Han Geng had no way of knowing that the redhead on the other side of the planet was curled up on the ground, shaking violently. Han Geng had no way of knowing that Heechul desperately needed some sort of reassurance from his nightmares, and that he waited for hours in that curled-up position, hoping with every cell in his body that he would hear a no, Heechul, you are really more than a pretty face behind him.
When it never came, Heechul let himself cry silently, and he was too proud and too guilt-ridden to ask Han Geng to hold him.
--
The seventh asteroid Han Geng visited was actually a pair of tiny asteroids that shared the same orbital path. They were so tiny-to walk once around the whole asteroid would take merely ten steps, maybe twelve. On the smooth grey asteroid lived a handsome man named Donghae and on the other rougher but larger asteroid lived another man with a gummy smile named Hyukjae. Both were dancers, and both loved dancing day in and day out with no stops.
Han Geng understood them in a way. He too loved dancing, for it made him feel lighter and just that much more alive-life became almost limitless when he poised his arms and flexed his feet.
For the two dancers, it symbolized something much deeper. “The way I see it,” Hyukjae explained as he popped his joints and moved to an unheard rhythm, “dancing is all about love. Not general so-so half-hearted love either. Dancing to me is the act of falling in love, the kind of love that you embrace and never let go of.”
The Chinese man had tilted his head in confusion, wondering how refined coordinated steps could ever be associated with the act of falling in love. “I do not understand,” he admitted a bit sheepishly, eyes darkening. “But then again, I do not understand a lot of things.”
“It’s simple, but you have to have faith before you can understand.”
(Donghae grinned, moonwalking backwards. “Even the wisest can only understand a modicum of the world, because the world itself is incomprehensible.”
“Then what is the point of the world?”
“That’s for you to decide. The world is the entity that provides you with the clay that shapes your life.” Donghae twirled around twice. “It’s what’s you make of it that is important. Sometimes your clay is too dry, sometimes your clay is too soggy, but the point is to make the best use of it regardless. Your craftsmanship dictates your future.”
“But what if you feel like you have no more clay?” Han Geng asked.
“Silly, you can never have no more clay!” Donghae laughed, jumping several feet in the air from one asteroid to the other. “You are living and breathing, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then your clay is still being shaped and your life is still continuing, even if you don’t notice it.” Donghae winked. “My suggestion is to stop zoning out and focus on what you are making with it.”)
Han Geng blinked owlishly, waiting a moment to let the words sink in. “Have faith, you say? How so?”
Hyukjae grinned, and suddenly pulled Donghae into tango position. “Dancing is different every time you do it. So is falling in love. That’s why it never becomes boring. Besides, the main reason why Donghae and I fell in love is because we danced.”
“You danced?” Han Geng raised a dubious eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
“How does that work?”
“It just does. Sometimes, in life, there is no how. There is just an is.”
--
“Heechul, I love you.”
“I know. Every man does. You can’t help it.”
“Do you love me?”
The redhead started. “I thought I already told you. I will never fall in love.”
And Han Geng’s heart broke.
--
The eighth asteroid Han Geng visited was owned by two men named Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun was a star counter. Zhou Mi was a singer. Kyuhyun could not concentrate on counting stars when Zhou Mi rehearsed his new single. Zhou Mi could not rehearse his new single when Kyuhyun counted aloud. It was a small planet, too, so no matter how quietly they attempted to be as they carried out their respective tasks, interruption was bound to occur.
Han Geng found it extremely disorienting how two people who could not stand each other could still love each other as much as they did.
(“It must be annoying to be living together.”
“You have no idea,” Kyuhyun grumbled while Zhou Mi rolled his eyes.
“We fight every minute of the day,” the other Chinese man explained, ruffling the other man’s hair. “It really gets in the way of my singing career.”
“What about my career, huh?”
“You count stars, Kyuhyun. Couldn’t you do it in your head?”
“I lose count whenever I do that!”
“Couldn’t you count softer?”
“I can’t hear myself when you are singing so loud. Why don’t you lower the volume, then?”
“I’m a singer!”
“And I’m a star counter!”)
Zhou Mi took a break from his practice session to chat with his newfound Chinese friend over homemade coffee while Kyuhyun took this chance to catch up on all the stars that I miscounted because of my stupid boyfriend’s damn singing. “So what brings you here?”
“I’m a traveller. I travel.”
“What’s your final destination?”
Han Geng shrugged. “No idea. Never set one. I just go with wherever my airplane takes me.”
“Then you are not a traveller,” Zhou Mi pointed out. “You’re a wanderer. Only those who wander set no destination when going out to explore.”
“I’m not exploring, per se.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Han Geng shrugged again. “Trying to find answers.”
“Answers to what?”
“To a question that I have not yet formed.”
“Well, you know what they say, to find a question is to find half the answer!” Zhou Mi smiled brightly. “It must be awfully important if you had to leave your whole life behind to search for it.”
Han Geng nodded. “It is. The answer to this question will tell me what to do with the rest of my life.”
Zhou Mi shook his head, frowning. “Nothing can tell you what to do with the rest of your life. You and only you can choose which path you follow. The answer to this unformed question of yours would probably only confuse you further.”
“Perhaps, but it will be a start. Things happened back home, and now I honestly don’t know anything about the world anymore. And I want to have a reason.”
(“Three hundred and two, three hundred and three, three hundred and four, three hundred and five.”)
“You are lucky then,” Zhou Mi mused. “Most people learn that secret much too late.”
“Secret? What secret?”
“Life’s secret, my friend.” The taller man stood up and motioned towards the stars. “All this-life, love, the universe-has a reason for being. The whole world exists for a reason.”
“But what is the reason?”
“The possibilities are so endless that it hardly matters anymore. The main point is that there is a reason.” The tenor’s eyes twinkled. “That in itself is where true beauty in life lies.”
Han Geng furrowed his eyebrows, doubtful. “I hardly agree.”
“So you believe that you came into this world just by luck and accident?”
“Yes. I don’t know why I am living.”
Zhou Mi stared at his new friend for a moment before bursting into a tenor-pitched laugh. “You really are a wanderer!” He smiled brightly, so bright that Han Geng almost had to shield his eyes. “Think of it this way, Han Geng. You came into this world so that I could meet you right here and right now, so that we could have tea together and talk about life and love and the universe. You met so many other people in your adventures, and though you may find these visits trivial, you inadvertently left a memory of yourself with them. Buried deep into their subconscious mind for the rest of their lives will be those moments shared with you.” A content sigh. “You see? It doesn’t matter what reason it is, just as long as there is a reason.”
“Then what is your reason for being here?”
Zhou Mi grinned and his eyes automatically gravitated towards the star counter on the other side of the planet, mumbling figures and digits and decimal places. “It all depends on opinion, but I believe that the best way of living is to live for another person. I found my direction in life, and it leads straight to Kyuhyun, no matter how aggravating it is.”
“I’m sorry if I sound rude, but you two are probably the most incompatible couple I have ever seen together.”
“We have been together for nearly ten years, Han Geng,” the singer rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “If we were incompatible, we never would have made it this long. Besides, I need him here. I can never imagine practicing without his constant calculations in the background.”
“How strange.”
“Indeed it is strange. But sometimes it is the strange things in life that make it so beautiful.”
Han Geng stayed silent for a few pensive moments before breaking out into a very large and very genuine smile. “Zhou Mi, I think I know what my question is.”
(Three hundred and twenty six, three hundred and twenty seven, three hundred and twenty eight…)
“Then go and find your answer.”
--
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Heechul asked although he knew full well what the answer was.
Han Geng refused to reply, and instead busied himself by checking the engine for the hundredth time that day. The airplane was in terrible condition, but Han Geng knew that it would last for a good number of years before breaking down. He had already completed his normal chores hours ago, and to put it bluntly, there was nothing holding him back anymore. Han Geng grimaced at the thought. He could leave and no one would care.
Heechul bristled at the lack of attention the Chinaman gave him and threw his hands up in irritation. “Fine, ignore me. It’s not as if it would matter whether or not you leave.” The redhead stalked towards his hammock and lied on his back with his hands behind his head. “Nobody even cares about you anyway. You are a jackass, just like all the other guys in the world.”
The Chinese man tensed and hopped into the pilot’s seat, slamming the door with extra force. He started the engine, took off, and flew out of sight within minutes.
Long after Han Geng left, long after the Chinese man was out of earshot, Heechul buried his head into the crease of his elbow. “Come back, please come back.”
--
The last and largest asteroid Han Geng visited was run by a picture-perfect family, complete with a bright child and two doting fathers. The breadwinner, Youngwoon, was a kind man with mischievous eyes and playful personality. His husband Jungsu, a pretty blond man, preferred staying at home and spending time with their very intelligent but very quiet son Kibum.
(What stunned Han Geng the most about this family was all the love he felt around them.
“For the longest time we thought Kibum was autistic,” Jungsu retold later, smiling. “He isn’t, but even if he was, he would still be the most perfect boy to me.”
“He is lucky to have you as a father.”
“No,” the blond shook his head, smiling. “I’m lucky to have him as a son.”
Han Geng’s heart warmed.)
There was routine on this planet. A routine that made Han Geng fraught with homesickness. Jungsu woke up in the mornings, made breakfast, and dusted the house until Youngwoon woke up to peck his husband on the cheek and fly off on his little airplane to his office two asteroids away. By then, Kibum would be awake, and Jungsu would sit down next to him on the dinner table and help him finish his homework.
Han Geng thought back to his previous life on his beautiful asteroid. He missed the feel of soft dirt underneath his fingernails, the heat waves on his face as he cleaned his volcanoes, the vastness of the skies as he stared up into space after a hard day’s work. He wanted it all back, but he knew that even if he had that routine in his life, he would still feel empty.
“Does it get boring?” Han Geng asked out of the blue one day. “Doing the exact same things every day?”
Jungsu giggled. “Sometimes. But I would never give it up for anything in the world. This routine makes my life livable.”
“But say you really got tired of your routine,” Han Geng frowned at the hypothetical question. “Say that it was not enough for you anymore. What would you do then?”
“I would remind myself that my life is a miracle.”
“And you’re satisfied with that?”
Jungsu smiled softly. “Every life is a miracle. Every life has a meaning behind it.”
“And what is your life’s meaning?”
“Kibum” was the immediate answer. “He is the reason I breathe now.”
(“I loved this man named Heechul,” Han Geng retold. “I never expected him to love me in return, but I had thought that he would have at least cared about me.”
“What made you think he didn’t?” Jungsu asked. “Was he horrible to you?”
“You could say that. He kept talking about how he could leave any time he wanted, or how he could find any other guy to pamper him. I knew deep down that it was just his way of hiding his weakness, but it eventually got too painful for me. He played so many games with me that I just didn’t know what was what anymore.”
“How cruel.” Jungsu sighed. “But love is sometimes cruel. Do you still love him?”
Han Geng nodded. “Yes. I miss him every day.”)
Han Geng frowned. “That is dangerous, you know, having your whole life hang on the end of a thread for one person. Not to say that I question your or your son’s morality, but what if Kibum decides one day that he doesn’t need you anymore?” He was rude-he knew he sounded rude-but he just had to know, he just had to know. “What would happen if your reason for breathing vanished into thin air?”
“Then I find another reason,” Jungsu replied, unruffled. “I love Kibum. I also love my husband Youngwoon. I love the routine I live. And I do realize that my life hangs on a thread, but don’t you think that life itself hangs on a thread? Everybody is just one missed heartbeat away from death. I would much prefer putting my whole heart into something and have it break into millions of pieces, than to live through life without anything to live for.”
The raven-haired man stiffened.
“Han Geng, if you lost your reason to live, you either fight for your reason, or you find another one.” Jungsu shrugged. “You don’t just give up. That’s not how life works.”
From the far end of the planet, little Kibum scampered over to his father, careful not to drop the grey object balanced reverently on his palm. “Look, daddy, look, I made you something!” the boy exclaimed, barely above a whisper as he tugged on his father’s chemise.
In his tiny hand was a piece of flat clay molded into the shape of heart, and as grey and rough and uneven and imperfect as it was, Han Geng thought it was the most beautiful creation in the world.
--
“Han Geng?” the redhead’s eyes were wide.
“Hello Heechul.”
“You came back. Any reason why?” As nonchalant as the redhead’s voice sounded, Han Geng noticed the way Heechul’s hands shook.
“It’s my home.” It was as simple as that.
Heechul sniffed. “Right. Well, don’t think you can come barging back here and walk on this asteroid like you own it because guess who had to clean the damn volcanoes and water the damn plants for the past year and a half-” His sentence was clipped short by Han Geng’s finger to his lips.
The Chinese man sighed. “I thought that there was something missing in my life, Heechul-I was so lonely. I thought that leaving would help, but I just got lonelier. While I was gone, I was searching for something. I searched the whole universe and beyond, hoping to find the one thing that would make me complete. But now I realize that it was right here on my asteroid this whole time.” Han Geng closed his eyes, letting the truth of his words sink in. “I was not lying when I told you that I loved you, Heechul. I don't care if you think that you are too good-looking or beautiful for me, I don’t care if you treat me like I am an insignificant part of your life, and goddammit I don’t care if you think that I am just another guy in the swarm of guys who love you. The point is that I came into this world to meet and fall in love with you. I am sure of that now.”
Heechul snorted. “I’m beautiful. If I were hideous, you wouldn’t be saying all this.”
“Yes, you are beautiful, Heechul,” Han Geng laughed. “But I have known you for a long time. I know that you are more than just a pretty face.”
Heechul gasped soundlessly.
Han Geng smiled and stroked his cheek, embracing the man like he was his sole oxygen source. “Heechul, what happened with all of your fiancés?”
He felt his beloved stiffen in his arms and for the next three minutes of silence Han Geng was sure that he had ruined everything. But then, he heard a huge sigh of defeat and Heechul’s chin lowered-the first sign of humility that he had ever shown. “I didn’t love them,” he whispered. “I just didn’t love them.”
“Okay.”
Heechul wrapped his thin arms around Han Geng’s waist and pressed his tiny palms into broad shoulder blades. “I missed you, Han Geng. I really, really missed you.”
And with those words, Han Geng was complete again.
* I speak Chinese, too!
Pairing(s): HanChul, side!QMi, side!KangTeuk, side!EunHae, implied!WonMin, implied!YeWook
Genre(s): Romance, Le Petit Prince AU, fantasy, angst, philosophical
Length: 8055 words
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In which Heechul is the Rose and Han Geng is the Little Prince.
Inspiration(s): Le Petit Prince, duh. I don’t think I did the novella any justice LOL. Hopefully it makes enough sense and doesn’t bore people to death. I looked it over several times, but I'm certain that there are mistakes - let me know if you fine them. Written for tinzedesu's birthday. So sorry for the delay!
```
For years, Han Geng lived alone on an asteroid. It was a very simple one-small, grey, circular, and overall quite neat-but he was extremely proud of it and took care of his home the best he could. He carefully looked after his one active volcano and regularly cleaned out his two dormant ones that once in a while decide to overflow and make a mess of his kitchen. He routinely watered his plants, pulled out the weeds growing in his garden, stocked up on food in his fridge, and fetched clean water. He spent his free time staring at the stars or watching sunsets or singing old songs of happiness and love, perfectly content with his life alone on his own little planet.
Then one day, he was not alone, having woken up to find another creature-another man, to be precise-on his asteroid with him.
“What are you looking at?” the stranger asked in harsh Korean as he helped himself to the food in Han Geng’s fridge. The first thing Han Geng noticed about the man was his beauty. He also noticed vanity in the way the stranger haughtily held up his nose as if he owned the ground he tread on. His shoulder-length red hair framed his effeminate face, his pale skin glistened under the sunlight, his thin form was muscular but not at all cumbersome, and his brown eyes spoke of fire and passion. It made Han Geng’s palms sweat.
Racking his brain for some half-intelligible vocabulary, Han Geng cleared his throat. “Hello. Name, uh, Han Geng,” he greeted lamely in his broken Korean, the foreign syllables flipping around on his tongue. “Welcome.”
The redhead looked at him with an amused expression on his pretty face before smiling brilliantly, making Han Geng’s heart flutter.
And that was how he came to meet Kim Heechul.
--
The first asteroid Han Geng visited was inhabited by a priest. Han Geng was never a religious person, but he had always loved churches for the serenity and calmness they provided-they almost made him feel like there was something in the world worth living for. The church he saw was small, plain, and grey. It was not at all eye-catching, and had more of a homely aura to it-much like his own asteroid, in fact.
“Welcome,” the priest greeted with a kind smile. “I am Father Siwon.”
“Hello Father,” Han Geng bowed politely. “My name is Han Geng.”
“You’re a traveller. And from the looks of it, you have travelled quite far. If you would like to rest, the church is open anytime. Stay as long as you would like.”
“Thank you.”
Siwon smiled kindly and led his visitor into the grand church, where Han Geng was met with the sweet smell of aromatic candlewax and freshly baked bread. And in front of his eyes there was grandness like he had never seen before. The traveller stopped in his tracks and took in the awe-inspiring sight the best he could.
Although the church looked small from the outside, Han Geng could not help but feel dwarfed at the size of the interior-just staring up at the ceiling made him feel like he was staring into the sky itself. At the end of the church was a six-foot tall organ with pipes that reached to the roof; Han Geng shuddered at how loud the thing could ring. What was supposed to be a plain grey church on the outside was all golden on the inside, as if sun was shining on the walls at every angle. The walls were beautifully decorated, with paintings of angels and humans and animals and families and friendship and music and love-
Love.
Han Geng’s heart clenched.
“So what brings you to our humble church?” Siwon asked as he lit the candles on the windowsills, the stainless glass coloring the priest’s face with watercolor shades of red and blue and green.
“Humble?” Han Geng stared at the other man like he had three heads. “You call all this humble? This is the most extraordinary place I have ever seen! I would have never thought it would be this amazing just by looking at the exterior!”
Siwon chuckled. “Well, true beauty is only found on the inside. Even the most horrible person has a shred of goodness in them. Besides, it’s my home. And it’s a home that I built for all those who don’t have a home.”
Han Geng stared at him with blank eyes.
“The saddest thing in life,” Siwon explained solemnly, “is not having a place to belong to. This church I built was meant for all those who seek a place in this world. I have people coming from all over the universe to pray every Sunday in order to feel connected to something when they have nothing else to believe in. Pregnant rape victims who were spurned by their families and left to fend for themselves. War veterans too scarred by the horrors of battle to reintegrate back to their normal lives. Children who adults take advantage of without another thought. I want to provide a home for them. Make them feel as if life isn’t all that bad.”
“You’re a good man, Father,” Han Geng stated bluntly. “But doesn’t it get tiring?”
“Sometimes. But it’s worth it.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Siwon smiled. “There is this little man named Sungmin who visits every week. In his family, his father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother thought children were abominations. His older brother sold him away for a pack of cigars when he was six years old. He was half-dead by the time I found him.” His expression hardened. “No boy should ever go through what he did.”
“How is he now?” Han Geng asked.
“I took him in and raised him like a little brother, and to this day I still believe that he is nothing short of a miracle,” Siwon’s face brightened. “He got an education at a very prestigious school two moons away. And he now runs an orphanage because he loves working with children.”
“That’s an amazing story.”
Siwon shook his head. “It’s not a story. It is a fact. Love is the strongest force in the world.”
Han Geng grimaced. “I highly doubt that.”
“You might doubt it now,” the priest clasped the traveller’s shoulder. “But when you meet the right person, you will understand.”
“I thought I met the right person,” Han Geng confessed, laughing bitterly. “But it turned out all to be a lie.”
--
”Han Geng, I’m hungry!” Heechul whined.
Han Geng smiled and heated the stove.
“Han Geng, I’m cold!”
He smiled and wrapped a blanket around the redhead.
“Han Geng, I’m bored!”
The Chinese man smiled and started to sing and dance.
“Han Geng, I’m tired.”
And Han Geng smiled once more before carrying his companion bridal style to the other side of his asteroid to tuck him into bed. Heechul fell asleep instantly, and Han Geng stroked his cheek, his heart swelling with all the love he felt for the one person he lived for.
--
The second asteroid Han Geng visited was very large, very green, and large earthy. The first thing he heard was the bleating of sheep. He then heard the sound of a flute, and he followed the music to find a young shepherd lying on a rock, leg dangling lazily over the rocky edge as a flute made of dried clay was loosely brought to his lips.
“Hello?” Han Geng greeted.
The shepherd looked up and grinned. “Hey there. Haven’t seen you around before! I’m Yesung.”
“Han Geng.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Han Geng.”
“What do you do around here?” the traveller asked, looking at the beautiful green pasture.
Yesung shrugged. “Not much. Hang out with my sheep. Fiddle around with my flute. Sing about spring and winter. Normal things young shepherds do.”
“Do you live here alone?”
The other man nodded idly.
“Doesn’t it get lonely?”
“Of course it does, everybody gets lonely once in a while. But I am one of the lucky ones.” Yesung pointed towards the sky. “Because somewhere out there, my true love is waiting for me. I hear him every night.”
Han Geng quirked an eyebrow.
“It’s true!” the shepherd glared at his visitor with every fiber of his being. “Every night, in the sky, I hear a man singing the most beautiful song about how lonely he is and how he wishes love could find him. And one day, I will find him and I will tell him that love has finally come.”
“How though?”
“I don’t know yet. But I will eventually.”
Han Geng sighed. “You sound very sure about this.”
“I am sure. I have faith.”
“How could you have faith in something you can’t see?”
Yesung gaped at his companion, disbelieving. “That is what faith is. Believing in something that you cannot see with the eye. But in life, it is the things that cannot be seen with the eye that are most important.” True beauty is only found on the inside. The shepherd exhaled contentedly. “I have faith that one day, I will meet my true love and we will live happily ever after. Thinking about that day makes my loneliness bearable.”
“I wish I were more like you,” Han Geng smiled sadly. “I find it hard to have faith in anything in life anymore.”
--
Heechul came from a rich and prestigious family. Or that was what he claimed. Han Geng had no reason not to believe him.
“I grew eating five-course meals and having a dozen servants to boss around,” he boasted, scrutinizing the plate of food Han Geng placed in front of him. “If they did not do as I told them, they were fired immediately. Anything I asked for, I got. It was the way I lived my life.”
“And now?”
“I am only here because I was kidnapped!” Heechul replied flamboyantly. “Kidnapped for ransom money. But then my kidnapper fell in love with me and cut the ropes that tied my hands.” He continued rambling about his many exciting adventures around the universe, and Han Geng listened to every word, the gullible fool that he was. “So before long, the drunkard started shooting at me with his rifle, so I jumped out into space and hoped that there would be some planet that could save me from certain death. Which is how I ended up here.”
“Do you like it here?”
“It’s satisfactory.” Heechul shrugged. “Better than that time I drifted off into the universe and lost all of my shoe collection-”
--
The third asteroid Han Geng visited was greyish brown, and filled with craters. It was a rather large asteroid, big enough for a whole family to live on, but it was extremely messy and disordered-as if abandoned.
But evidently, it wasn’t abandoned, as the moment he stepped off of his little airplane he was met with a little boy no older than seven.
“Oh, you’re not Daddy,” was the first thing he said, and Han Geng could hear the thick disappointment in the boy’s voice. “Well, anyhow, nice to meet you,” the kid greeted naively, only as tall as Han Geng’s waist. “Today is my birthday! I am six years old. How old are you?”
“My name is Han Geng,” the man replied simply, looking around. “Where are your parents?”
The child shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them for a long time.” Then the boy perked up, hope shining on his chubby face. “Have you seen them?”
Han Geng stared at the child and wondered what the world was coming to.
“You haven’t seen your parents in a long time, you say. How long?”
He shrugged again. “I forgot. I lost count.”
“Have you tried going out to find them?”
“Nuh uh.” The boy shook his head adamantly. “They told me to stay right here. They said they will come back.” His eyes shone. “Do you know where they are? Did they send you to tell me that they are on their way back?”
Unable to respond to the question, Han Geng looked away, scanning the desolate asteroid with a heavy weight on his chest. How do you tell a kid that his parents will never come back? “Do you have food here?”
The little kid nodded. “Yes,” he pointed to a near-empty fridge-only canned fish remaining, “but not much. Mommy said that she would come back with more eventually. Then we can have a feast and celebrate just like we used to! I hope she comes back today with a cake. I had to celebrate three birthdays alone already.” The boy straightened, as if coming to a great revelation. “Wait, you’re here now! I’m not alone on my birthday anymore!”
Han Geng’s heart broke in half. “You’ve stayed here for three years all by yourself? Living off of canned fish?”
“Uh huh. Do you want some? There isn’t much, but Mommy will be home soon.”
The older man sighed. “Your parents haven’t been home for a while. Do you want to come with me to go look for them?”
Though it was obvious he wanted to, the boy hesitated and chewed on his lips. “But Mommy told me to stay right here. I don’t want her to get mad at me.”
“I’m sure Mommy won’t mind just as long as you find her,” Han Geng coaxed, not wanting to abandon the kid. Leaving a child of six on a planet by himself with hardly any food was out of the question. “You’re a big boy now, aren’t you?”
“Uh huh, I’m six years old!”
“Then pack your food and some warm clothes,” Han Geng smiled warmly at the boy’s positivity. “It sometimes gets cold out in the universe.”
The boy grinned and scurried off to grab his bare necessities while Han Geng busied himself with filling up his airplane with enough fuel for several days. He noticed that the boy left a note on the fridge just in case Mommy comes back while we are away. “We will be coming back, right?” the boy asked, eyes wide.
Han Geng nodded, hoping that he was damned to an eternity of hell in the afterlife. “Sure, kid.”
And with that, the child threw his stuff into the back of the airplane and hopped onto the passenger seat, his little body shaking with boyish excitement as they took off. The boy’s face was pressed to the window-his innocent eyes having never seen anything beyond his home asteroid.
“What’s your name, kid?” Han Geng asked once they were safely in the air and soaring past the stars.
“Henry,” the boy answered cheerily. “My name is Henry Lau.”
“What are your parents’ names?”
Henry’s smile faded, and Han Geng saw the dark cloud looming over his head. “I-I don’t remember. It’s been so long.”
--
Han Geng loved Heechul, he really did. He loved him with all his heart. But sometimes, when love became too strong, it started to hurt.
“Where I came from, men threw themselves at me.” Heechul had rolled his eyes one normal afternoon. “Men are all the same-controlled by their dicks. One wink from me and they would fall to my knees and do whatever I told them to. I once dated the richest man in the entire universe, and he bought sixty asteroids for me just because I asked him to.”
Han Geng looked at his dirtied hands and torn clothing and said nothing.
--
The fourth asteroid that Han Geng visited was owned by a chef. He knew right on the spot that it was owned by a chef-the delicious aroma greeting his nose revealed it all.
It was a white little asteroid, with a relatively small radius and just enough room for two people to live on comfortably. It looked like a very small kitchen, with a pristine fridge and quaint dining table with an adorable oven that happily dinged when it was done baking.
Han Geng soon found out that the chef’s name was Kim Ryeowook, and just like this cute little asteroid he was a cute little person with a mousy face and small figure, his chef hat only managing to dwarf him further. Henry loved him instantly. Ryeowook was also a very good host, and upon seeing his visitors he had all but showered them with kindness and hospitality that gave even Han Geng’s own mother a run for her money. Almost immediately after they made proper introductions the two travellers found themselves sitting in small wooden chairs wearing lacy bibs around their necks, staring down at two perfect pieces of medium rare filet mignon.
“Eat up!” Ryeowook encouraged as he peeled several oranges for his newest companions. “You two must be starving after travelling all this way!”
Han Geng smirked. “How did you know we were travelling?” he asked.
(Meanwhile, Henry had taken a bite of his meal and all but groaned in happiness. “This is amazing. Where did you learn to cook like this?” he exclaimed before attacking the rest of his meal.
Ryeowook blushed at the compliment. “I just love cooking. It makes me happy to see others eat.”)
“It’s obvious that you are travellers.” Ryeowook motioned towards Han Geng’s baggage. “Only travellers carry bags like that. Plus, both of you have very strong accents and foreign names.”
“Well, I am Chinese,” Han Geng shrugged. “Henry is from Chinese heritage, too.”
The chef’s eyes brightened. “我也讲中文!*” he exclaimed, his Korean accent apparent but not at all cumbrous. “I learned a little bit when I was young.”
“Well, you speak it very well,” the Chinese man complimented.
“Better than me!” Henry chirped, licking up his plate.
(“So why are you travelling?” Ryeowook inquired, curiosity etched on his effeminate face.
“I have to,” Han Geng replied simply. “I felt the need to leave my asteroid. I’ve outgrown it.”
“Is it a small asteroid?”
“Not too small,” the man replied amusedly. “It was probably three times the size of this asteroid, probably more.”
Ryeowook tilted his head in confusion. “Then why have you outgrown it?”
“I just did,” he replied, a sad look on his face.)
Henry finished his five-star entree and Han Geng followed suit not long after, and Ryeowook all but jumped at their empty plates and replaced them with two perfectly cut pieces of chocolate cake. Henry’s eyes bulged out and Han Geng chuckled.
“I baked it myself,” he chirped happily. “I hope you like it.”
Han Geng took a bite and almost melted in alimentary happiness. “You have to be joking, this is the best cake in the whole damn universe.”
(“I wish I could cook like you!” Henry grinned, licking his chops. “That way, I would get to eat good food every day!”
“I could teach you!” Ryeowook offered. “I have a whole repertory of recipes that I know by heart! Some of them are really easy!”
Henry beamed. “Really? Teach me, teach me!”
Several hours later, something exploded in the oven.)
“My mother taught me how to cook. Chocolate cake was her extra-secret recipe. Please have some more if you are still hungry! I have plenty of it left! Oh, and if you want different flavors, I have vanilla, cheese cake, strawberry, and mango! I am still in the process of making my blueberry cake, but if you want try some of it I can let you taste the dough!”
The Chinese man laughed while Henry ordered one of each.
Night fell, and Henry fell asleep on Ryeowook’s bed after suffering a massive stomachache from eating too much. Ryeowook fervently offered to let them stay for the night. “You must rest!” he insisted, tugging at Han Geng’s sleeve. “Or else you won’t be able to travel as much later on! Food and sleep are the basics in life, you know!”
Han Geng stared at the perfectly made tatami mat on the floor and then back at his new friend. “Why are you so nice to me? Wouldn’t you be afraid that I’ll rob you or kill you during the night?”
Ryeowook shivered. “Are you going to?”
“Of course not!” Han Geng was already guilty for having the guy cook for him, for Christ’s sake. “But you don’t know that for sure. You can’t trust just anybody, you know.”
“Well, I have a feeling that you are a good person, that’s all,” Ryeowook wringed his hands. “The fact that you are taking care of Henry is proof of that. I mean, I am very naïve and gullible, and I know that if a bad person came to my asteroid I would probably treat him the same way I treated you. But I love cooking and taking care of people. And I love seeing people eat my food.” The little chef’s eyes were downcast. “Not that many people visit me. And it sometimes gets very lonesome. Sometimes I get so lonesome, I sing.”
“Can you sing for me?”
Ryeowook blushed but he did as was requested, and sang a song about how lonely he was and how he wished love could find him.
--
“I am the most beautiful man in the world.” Heechul said this like it was a well-known fact. “I am the most beautiful and the most charming.”
Han Geng could not argue. He honestly had never seen anybody more beautiful than Heechul.
“Sometimes being beautiful is difficult, though. There are so many guys in the world and not enough of me to go around.”
Heechul said that often, and each time Han Geng would wonder if he was just one of those ‘many guys’ that the redhead referred to.
--
The fifth asteroid Han Geng visited was abandoned. Really abandoned. There was absolutely no sign of life with the exception of several weeds. In fact, Han Geng had believed that this planet had never been inhabited until Henry came across three broken pieces of hardened clay.
“What are these?” the boy asked as he carefully ran his curious fingers over the sharp edges.
“Probably pieces of a broken vase or something,” Han Geng replied absentmindedly, busying himself with fueling up his airplane and scavenging for leftover food.
“Don’t think so,” Henry supposed, laying out the clay fragments so that the edges fit together like puzzle pieces. “Look, it makes a heart! Do you think that it is a Valentine’s Day gift or something?”
Han Geng took a look and shrugged. The heart-shaped clay was grey and rough and uneven and imperfect, and he thought nothing of it for a long, long time.
--
“Heechul, do you love anybody?” Han Geng asked as he cleaned out his volcanoes as per usual.
“Of course not!” the redhead scoffed.
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Never. Love means nothing in the world.”
“Then what does?”
Heechul snickered. “What’s with all the philosophical questions today?”
“I was just curious. I mean, you have met so many men in the universe, so there has got to be a chance that you fell at least a little bit in love with one of them.”
“Not if I can help it,” Heechul rolled his eyes. “It will be nothing short of a miracle if I ever fall in love.”
--
The sixth asteroid Han Geng visited was an orphanage, but Henry didn’t need to know that. The place was predominantly inhabited by children, and at the sight of his airplane they all squealed in joy and ran their curious hands over the airplane wings and motor. Han Geng thought it was an adorable sight, while Henry watched in awe as he looked around to see people his age.
“I never knew there were people who looked just like me!” he squealed. “I always thought that I was the only kid in the whole wide world!”
(“Hi, my name is Henry!” the boy introduced himself to a group of children playing tag.
“Hi there Henry!” a girl giggled. “My name is Amber! I’m it.” She tapped the boy on his shoulder and winked. “But now you’re it!”
“Unfair!” Henry yelled, but he was smiling as he scampered after the other screaming children.)
Han Geng left Henry to integrate himself into the group of children while he searched around for the owner of the planet, who happened to be a very effeminate man with bright eyes and a cute smile. “Hello, my name is Han Geng, and I brought a boy with me who I think may be an orphan. I want to make sure, though. Is there any way I can look up his parents’ names?”
The man grinned, showing perfect white teeth as he logged onto a computer. “Certainly. Boy’s first and last name?”
“First name Henry, last name Lau.”
“Age?”
“Six.”
He typed in his information and pressed ENTER, and a few seconds later the man’s eyes noticeably saddened. “You were right. His parents died two years ago in an airplane accident. A tragedy, really. Both were not even thirty yet.”
Han Geng nodded. “I figured as much. It will break his heart to hear the news, though.”
The man smiled empathetically. “Don’t worry. Kids are tougher than you think. He’ll pull through.”
(“I feel so responsible for him now, and the last thing I want to do is leave him in a place where he knows nobody,” Han Geng shrugged. “But I really have no choice. I’ll be on the move for at least one more year, so he won’t have the childhood that every kid deserves if he stays with me. At least if he remains here, there will be other children around him who he can grow up with.”
“He will understand.”
Han Geng sighed. “I hope so.”
“You really care about him.” The man looked past Han Geng, smiling as he watched the boy in question happily chase a girl across the soccer field. “Don’t worry, Henry will be fine here. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll do everything I can to make him feel loved.”
“Thank you.” Then a thought occurred to him. “May I also look up the name Kim Heechul?”
“Of course. Is he an orphan, too?”
Han Geng shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.” He realized long ago that he hardly knew anything about Heechul.
“Kim Heechul, son of the founder of the famous Kim Company, I presume?”
“Sure,” he raised an eyebrow. Close enough. “Anything about him? His parents?”
“Not too much, it’s confidential information after all. Age unknown, date of birth unknown, hair color red, marital status engaged-”
Han Geng jumped. “Engaged? To whom?”
“It was broken off two weeks after the engagement announcement,” the man reassured, seemingly entertained at Han Geng’s expression. “All eleven of his engagements were broken off at around the same time span, actually. The last one apparently ended ugly, though, and his father disowned him.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t say.”
Han Geng nodded blankly. “Thank you for your time.”)
Han Geng stayed back for three weeks to make sure that Henry made friends and settle into life at the orphanage. On the day he told Henry that he was going to leave without him because that is what is best for the both of us, Henry burst into tears and ran off before Han Geng could do anything about it.
“He’ll be fine,” the orphanage director assured again. “He’ll understand. I know he will. He is loved here, and love is the strongest force in the world.”
The Chinese man smiled sadly. “Thanks. I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”
“Sungmin.” Nothing short of a miracle. “I was born Lee Sungmin, but I live by Choi Sungmin now.”
--
“It’s so difficult being as beautiful as me,” Heechul complained as per usual, dozing on the hammock that Han Geng built for him last week. “I have to make sure I don’t get too tan, count my calories and be careful that my diet doesn’t have too much saturated fat, and still paste on a beautiful smile for all to see. Such a pain, really!”
Han Geng only listened as he dug out the weeds in his garden, content just to hear his beloved’s voice.
“Ugly people have it so much easier. I mean, you get to walk around in the sun all day with no worries about how it would affect one’s acne; you get to eat all you want because you don’t have a figure in the first place; and you have no reason to smile, so who cares?”
Heechul had a habit of saying things without thinking about repercussions, but for some strange reason Han Geng heard a cynical tone that had never been there before. He knitted his eyebrows together. “Heechul, you are going through all this trouble for the sake of your beauty. But if it is as difficult as you say it is, why don’t you stop?”
One moment there was dead silence. The next moment Han Geng felt a sharp sting across his cheek.
“You have no right to say that, Han Geng!” Heechul screamed. “Don’t talk to me like you understand! You understand nothing! You’re nothing but a hypocrite! The only reason why you allowed me to stay on your planet was because I was beautiful. It’s not as if you love me for any other reason!”
Han Geng could do nothing but watch as Heechul spun on his heel and marched away. And for the first time in his life, Han Geng felt truly angry. He felt anger, betrayal, hate. He winced as he touched his finger to his smarted cheek, contemplating whether to go after the man that he (surely he did!) loved more than anything. He angrily decided against it, and continued to tend to his garden, pulling out his weeds with so much force that the dirt uprooted.
Then again, Han Geng had no way of knowing that the redhead on the other side of the planet was curled up on the ground, shaking violently. Han Geng had no way of knowing that Heechul desperately needed some sort of reassurance from his nightmares, and that he waited for hours in that curled-up position, hoping with every cell in his body that he would hear a no, Heechul, you are really more than a pretty face behind him.
When it never came, Heechul let himself cry silently, and he was too proud and too guilt-ridden to ask Han Geng to hold him.
--
The seventh asteroid Han Geng visited was actually a pair of tiny asteroids that shared the same orbital path. They were so tiny-to walk once around the whole asteroid would take merely ten steps, maybe twelve. On the smooth grey asteroid lived a handsome man named Donghae and on the other rougher but larger asteroid lived another man with a gummy smile named Hyukjae. Both were dancers, and both loved dancing day in and day out with no stops.
Han Geng understood them in a way. He too loved dancing, for it made him feel lighter and just that much more alive-life became almost limitless when he poised his arms and flexed his feet.
For the two dancers, it symbolized something much deeper. “The way I see it,” Hyukjae explained as he popped his joints and moved to an unheard rhythm, “dancing is all about love. Not general so-so half-hearted love either. Dancing to me is the act of falling in love, the kind of love that you embrace and never let go of.”
The Chinese man had tilted his head in confusion, wondering how refined coordinated steps could ever be associated with the act of falling in love. “I do not understand,” he admitted a bit sheepishly, eyes darkening. “But then again, I do not understand a lot of things.”
“It’s simple, but you have to have faith before you can understand.”
(Donghae grinned, moonwalking backwards. “Even the wisest can only understand a modicum of the world, because the world itself is incomprehensible.”
“Then what is the point of the world?”
“That’s for you to decide. The world is the entity that provides you with the clay that shapes your life.” Donghae twirled around twice. “It’s what’s you make of it that is important. Sometimes your clay is too dry, sometimes your clay is too soggy, but the point is to make the best use of it regardless. Your craftsmanship dictates your future.”
“But what if you feel like you have no more clay?” Han Geng asked.
“Silly, you can never have no more clay!” Donghae laughed, jumping several feet in the air from one asteroid to the other. “You are living and breathing, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then your clay is still being shaped and your life is still continuing, even if you don’t notice it.” Donghae winked. “My suggestion is to stop zoning out and focus on what you are making with it.”)
Han Geng blinked owlishly, waiting a moment to let the words sink in. “Have faith, you say? How so?”
Hyukjae grinned, and suddenly pulled Donghae into tango position. “Dancing is different every time you do it. So is falling in love. That’s why it never becomes boring. Besides, the main reason why Donghae and I fell in love is because we danced.”
“You danced?” Han Geng raised a dubious eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
“How does that work?”
“It just does. Sometimes, in life, there is no how. There is just an is.”
--
“Heechul, I love you.”
“I know. Every man does. You can’t help it.”
“Do you love me?”
The redhead started. “I thought I already told you. I will never fall in love.”
And Han Geng’s heart broke.
--
The eighth asteroid Han Geng visited was owned by two men named Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun was a star counter. Zhou Mi was a singer. Kyuhyun could not concentrate on counting stars when Zhou Mi rehearsed his new single. Zhou Mi could not rehearse his new single when Kyuhyun counted aloud. It was a small planet, too, so no matter how quietly they attempted to be as they carried out their respective tasks, interruption was bound to occur.
Han Geng found it extremely disorienting how two people who could not stand each other could still love each other as much as they did.
(“It must be annoying to be living together.”
“You have no idea,” Kyuhyun grumbled while Zhou Mi rolled his eyes.
“We fight every minute of the day,” the other Chinese man explained, ruffling the other man’s hair. “It really gets in the way of my singing career.”
“What about my career, huh?”
“You count stars, Kyuhyun. Couldn’t you do it in your head?”
“I lose count whenever I do that!”
“Couldn’t you count softer?”
“I can’t hear myself when you are singing so loud. Why don’t you lower the volume, then?”
“I’m a singer!”
“And I’m a star counter!”)
Zhou Mi took a break from his practice session to chat with his newfound Chinese friend over homemade coffee while Kyuhyun took this chance to catch up on all the stars that I miscounted because of my stupid boyfriend’s damn singing. “So what brings you here?”
“I’m a traveller. I travel.”
“What’s your final destination?”
Han Geng shrugged. “No idea. Never set one. I just go with wherever my airplane takes me.”
“Then you are not a traveller,” Zhou Mi pointed out. “You’re a wanderer. Only those who wander set no destination when going out to explore.”
“I’m not exploring, per se.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Han Geng shrugged again. “Trying to find answers.”
“Answers to what?”
“To a question that I have not yet formed.”
“Well, you know what they say, to find a question is to find half the answer!” Zhou Mi smiled brightly. “It must be awfully important if you had to leave your whole life behind to search for it.”
Han Geng nodded. “It is. The answer to this question will tell me what to do with the rest of my life.”
Zhou Mi shook his head, frowning. “Nothing can tell you what to do with the rest of your life. You and only you can choose which path you follow. The answer to this unformed question of yours would probably only confuse you further.”
“Perhaps, but it will be a start. Things happened back home, and now I honestly don’t know anything about the world anymore. And I want to have a reason.”
(“Three hundred and two, three hundred and three, three hundred and four, three hundred and five.”)
“You are lucky then,” Zhou Mi mused. “Most people learn that secret much too late.”
“Secret? What secret?”
“Life’s secret, my friend.” The taller man stood up and motioned towards the stars. “All this-life, love, the universe-has a reason for being. The whole world exists for a reason.”
“But what is the reason?”
“The possibilities are so endless that it hardly matters anymore. The main point is that there is a reason.” The tenor’s eyes twinkled. “That in itself is where true beauty in life lies.”
Han Geng furrowed his eyebrows, doubtful. “I hardly agree.”
“So you believe that you came into this world just by luck and accident?”
“Yes. I don’t know why I am living.”
Zhou Mi stared at his new friend for a moment before bursting into a tenor-pitched laugh. “You really are a wanderer!” He smiled brightly, so bright that Han Geng almost had to shield his eyes. “Think of it this way, Han Geng. You came into this world so that I could meet you right here and right now, so that we could have tea together and talk about life and love and the universe. You met so many other people in your adventures, and though you may find these visits trivial, you inadvertently left a memory of yourself with them. Buried deep into their subconscious mind for the rest of their lives will be those moments shared with you.” A content sigh. “You see? It doesn’t matter what reason it is, just as long as there is a reason.”
“Then what is your reason for being here?”
Zhou Mi grinned and his eyes automatically gravitated towards the star counter on the other side of the planet, mumbling figures and digits and decimal places. “It all depends on opinion, but I believe that the best way of living is to live for another person. I found my direction in life, and it leads straight to Kyuhyun, no matter how aggravating it is.”
“I’m sorry if I sound rude, but you two are probably the most incompatible couple I have ever seen together.”
“We have been together for nearly ten years, Han Geng,” the singer rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “If we were incompatible, we never would have made it this long. Besides, I need him here. I can never imagine practicing without his constant calculations in the background.”
“How strange.”
“Indeed it is strange. But sometimes it is the strange things in life that make it so beautiful.”
Han Geng stayed silent for a few pensive moments before breaking out into a very large and very genuine smile. “Zhou Mi, I think I know what my question is.”
(Three hundred and twenty six, three hundred and twenty seven, three hundred and twenty eight…)
“Then go and find your answer.”
--
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Heechul asked although he knew full well what the answer was.
Han Geng refused to reply, and instead busied himself by checking the engine for the hundredth time that day. The airplane was in terrible condition, but Han Geng knew that it would last for a good number of years before breaking down. He had already completed his normal chores hours ago, and to put it bluntly, there was nothing holding him back anymore. Han Geng grimaced at the thought. He could leave and no one would care.
Heechul bristled at the lack of attention the Chinaman gave him and threw his hands up in irritation. “Fine, ignore me. It’s not as if it would matter whether or not you leave.” The redhead stalked towards his hammock and lied on his back with his hands behind his head. “Nobody even cares about you anyway. You are a jackass, just like all the other guys in the world.”
The Chinese man tensed and hopped into the pilot’s seat, slamming the door with extra force. He started the engine, took off, and flew out of sight within minutes.
Long after Han Geng left, long after the Chinese man was out of earshot, Heechul buried his head into the crease of his elbow. “Come back, please come back.”
--
The last and largest asteroid Han Geng visited was run by a picture-perfect family, complete with a bright child and two doting fathers. The breadwinner, Youngwoon, was a kind man with mischievous eyes and playful personality. His husband Jungsu, a pretty blond man, preferred staying at home and spending time with their very intelligent but very quiet son Kibum.
(What stunned Han Geng the most about this family was all the love he felt around them.
“For the longest time we thought Kibum was autistic,” Jungsu retold later, smiling. “He isn’t, but even if he was, he would still be the most perfect boy to me.”
“He is lucky to have you as a father.”
“No,” the blond shook his head, smiling. “I’m lucky to have him as a son.”
Han Geng’s heart warmed.)
There was routine on this planet. A routine that made Han Geng fraught with homesickness. Jungsu woke up in the mornings, made breakfast, and dusted the house until Youngwoon woke up to peck his husband on the cheek and fly off on his little airplane to his office two asteroids away. By then, Kibum would be awake, and Jungsu would sit down next to him on the dinner table and help him finish his homework.
Han Geng thought back to his previous life on his beautiful asteroid. He missed the feel of soft dirt underneath his fingernails, the heat waves on his face as he cleaned his volcanoes, the vastness of the skies as he stared up into space after a hard day’s work. He wanted it all back, but he knew that even if he had that routine in his life, he would still feel empty.
“Does it get boring?” Han Geng asked out of the blue one day. “Doing the exact same things every day?”
Jungsu giggled. “Sometimes. But I would never give it up for anything in the world. This routine makes my life livable.”
“But say you really got tired of your routine,” Han Geng frowned at the hypothetical question. “Say that it was not enough for you anymore. What would you do then?”
“I would remind myself that my life is a miracle.”
“And you’re satisfied with that?”
Jungsu smiled softly. “Every life is a miracle. Every life has a meaning behind it.”
“And what is your life’s meaning?”
“Kibum” was the immediate answer. “He is the reason I breathe now.”
(“I loved this man named Heechul,” Han Geng retold. “I never expected him to love me in return, but I had thought that he would have at least cared about me.”
“What made you think he didn’t?” Jungsu asked. “Was he horrible to you?”
“You could say that. He kept talking about how he could leave any time he wanted, or how he could find any other guy to pamper him. I knew deep down that it was just his way of hiding his weakness, but it eventually got too painful for me. He played so many games with me that I just didn’t know what was what anymore.”
“How cruel.” Jungsu sighed. “But love is sometimes cruel. Do you still love him?”
Han Geng nodded. “Yes. I miss him every day.”)
Han Geng frowned. “That is dangerous, you know, having your whole life hang on the end of a thread for one person. Not to say that I question your or your son’s morality, but what if Kibum decides one day that he doesn’t need you anymore?” He was rude-he knew he sounded rude-but he just had to know, he just had to know. “What would happen if your reason for breathing vanished into thin air?”
“Then I find another reason,” Jungsu replied, unruffled. “I love Kibum. I also love my husband Youngwoon. I love the routine I live. And I do realize that my life hangs on a thread, but don’t you think that life itself hangs on a thread? Everybody is just one missed heartbeat away from death. I would much prefer putting my whole heart into something and have it break into millions of pieces, than to live through life without anything to live for.”
The raven-haired man stiffened.
“Han Geng, if you lost your reason to live, you either fight for your reason, or you find another one.” Jungsu shrugged. “You don’t just give up. That’s not how life works.”
From the far end of the planet, little Kibum scampered over to his father, careful not to drop the grey object balanced reverently on his palm. “Look, daddy, look, I made you something!” the boy exclaimed, barely above a whisper as he tugged on his father’s chemise.
In his tiny hand was a piece of flat clay molded into the shape of heart, and as grey and rough and uneven and imperfect as it was, Han Geng thought it was the most beautiful creation in the world.
--
“Han Geng?” the redhead’s eyes were wide.
“Hello Heechul.”
“You came back. Any reason why?” As nonchalant as the redhead’s voice sounded, Han Geng noticed the way Heechul’s hands shook.
“It’s my home.” It was as simple as that.
Heechul sniffed. “Right. Well, don’t think you can come barging back here and walk on this asteroid like you own it because guess who had to clean the damn volcanoes and water the damn plants for the past year and a half-” His sentence was clipped short by Han Geng’s finger to his lips.
The Chinese man sighed. “I thought that there was something missing in my life, Heechul-I was so lonely. I thought that leaving would help, but I just got lonelier. While I was gone, I was searching for something. I searched the whole universe and beyond, hoping to find the one thing that would make me complete. But now I realize that it was right here on my asteroid this whole time.” Han Geng closed his eyes, letting the truth of his words sink in. “I was not lying when I told you that I loved you, Heechul. I don't care if you think that you are too good-looking or beautiful for me, I don’t care if you treat me like I am an insignificant part of your life, and goddammit I don’t care if you think that I am just another guy in the swarm of guys who love you. The point is that I came into this world to meet and fall in love with you. I am sure of that now.”
Heechul snorted. “I’m beautiful. If I were hideous, you wouldn’t be saying all this.”
“Yes, you are beautiful, Heechul,” Han Geng laughed. “But I have known you for a long time. I know that you are more than just a pretty face.”
Heechul gasped soundlessly.
Han Geng smiled and stroked his cheek, embracing the man like he was his sole oxygen source. “Heechul, what happened with all of your fiancés?”
He felt his beloved stiffen in his arms and for the next three minutes of silence Han Geng was sure that he had ruined everything. But then, he heard a huge sigh of defeat and Heechul’s chin lowered-the first sign of humility that he had ever shown. “I didn’t love them,” he whispered. “I just didn’t love them.”
“Okay.”
Heechul wrapped his thin arms around Han Geng’s waist and pressed his tiny palms into broad shoulder blades. “I missed you, Han Geng. I really, really missed you.”
And with those words, Han Geng was complete again.
* I speak Chinese, too!