Chapter Twelve: Boys on a Boat:

By sunrise, we were woken up to someone yelling. I lifted my head and looked around. A boat filled with young partying men sailed up next to us. Boy, they were loud. I could’ve sworn they could be heard from South Korea. I crawled over for a better look.

A group of young men looked over at us with beer in their hands. One of them whistled at us. I rolled my eyes at him. Idiots!

“Who’s that?” Sappoto-san asked.

“Just some dumbasses on a boat,” I said.

“Look,” she said. “One of them is signaling to us.”

“Hm?” I asked. I looked at where she was point. One guy waved at us with a beer in his hand. How classy, I thought.

“Should we talk to them?” Sappoto-san asked.

“Why should we?” I replied.

“They look desperate to talk to us,” she said.

“Just ignore them,” I said.

“Are you sure?” Sappoto-san asked. I rolled my eyes.

“Fine, whatever,” I mumbled. I walked over to the steeling wheel and drove the boat over to the partying idiots. I could see the main guy with the beer smiling at us as I joined my friend again.

“What?” I asked.

“Come us here with us!” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“And why should we?” I asked.

“Cause you’re so cute!” another guy yelled.

“Really now?” I asked.

“Yeah!” they chimed in.

“And you want us to party with you on boat?” I asked.

“Actually, we’re going to a party,” the main guy said.

“Ooo, where?” Sappoto-san asked.

“Seoul!” the boys yelled. At that point, I gave them a little smile. I shrugged to myself.

“Sure,” I said. “We’ll follow you to Seoul.” The boys grinned at us.

“Sweet!” they cheered. Sappoto-san looked over at me.

“You sure about that?” she whispered. I only dropped my shoulders.

“Might as well,” I said. She sat still uneasily. I lightly rubbed her on the shoulder.

“I’ll stay by you if you like,” I whispered. She began to smile a little bit.

“Alright,” she whispered back. I couldn’t help but to smile back at her. Anything to keep her happy.

We let the party boat lead the way. Their shouting and laughter strangely sounds like music now. An annoying type of music that Umiko’s boyfriend would blare at his place. Or maybe Takeo’s old college friends yelling into the night. My heart slowly sank while in pain. Takeo… He is my other love. You see, I am between Andi and him. Yes, yes, I am bisexual. Andi wants me all to herself, Takeo doesn’t mind it.

“I like bisexual girls,” he told me after I told him about my sexuality.

“Why?” I asked. He only shrugged at me.

“Don’t know,” he said. “I just have a thing for them.” Fine with me for some reason. Not so much for Andi. Easy to see why with my history. Onto other things…

We all pulled up into the dock. The men all got off of their boat first. I shut up our boat and unlocked it up. Sappoto-san waited near the stairs for me. I made a little face at her.

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” I said.

“I wanted to,” she said.

“Fine, fine,” I said. I joined her at the stairs and we headed off the boat. The men all waited for them on the dock.

“Hey,” the leader said. I put up my hands.

“Well, here we are,” I said. “Now what?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Where are we going? What are we doing?” I asked.

“Where are we going?” the leader asked.

“Yeah,” I said. A silence passed over us. The leader smirked at us and laughed aloud. Sappoto-san and I gave him a funny look.

“What?” I asked. “What’s so funny?” The leader turned to his boys.

“What’s our motto, men?” he asked.

“Don’t ask questions!” they yelled. Their laughter swirled to the sky. Sappoto-san and I looked at these drunken idiots. What’s with these people? The leader held up his hands to silence the flock.

“But,” he said. “We are staying at the Seoulwise Guesthouse! Feel free to join us if you like.” Then, the boys headed into the city. I turned to Sappoto-san.

“Well?” I asked. “Shall we follow the herd?” She didn’t answer me. Well then, no reply is an automatic “yes” in my book. I looked at the guys leaving us behind. What else could we do?

“Alright,” I said. We ended up following after the partying idiots into the city. What else could we do? Might as well…