Almost until morning. The night is in quiet anticipation, filled only with the occasional chirping of hidden insects and the sound of the crackling fire. The sky above is a beautiful shade of navy blue packed with bright shining stars of various tones, wrapping around the colourful landscape. Everywhere within sight is filled with different species and colours of trees, creating a gorgeous pattern of green, red, orange, yellow, and purple. At the end of the horizon, a little semi-circle of white has already crept into sight. The gentle breeze carrying the smell of rain, mixed with the fresh scent of dirt and toasted marshmallows, flows by Ivan and Shawn.
The boys have been waiting all night to see the sunrise that people call “legendary”. It was described to be so amazing and exciting it could be almost considered magical. Obviously, Ivan didn’t believe any of that, but Shawn, always adventurous and trying new things, was hyped by the description. Both university graduates, Ivan and Shawn have been friends since high school. After completing university, they, mainly Shawn, decided to travel to a few places, wherever their budget would allow, and experience life from a different perspective,in hope of trying new things and making a few friends. As their fifth stop, Shawn has dragged Ivan to the top of a random mountain to wait all night for a “magical” break of dawn.
To be fair, it is only normal that Ivan has some complaints. He is not the most talented athlete you can find; in fact, Ivan has never been interested in sports. Being introverted and authentic, he usually prefers to sit down and enjoy the gorgeous weather accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee or entertain himself by reading books. Although he works out regularly with Shawn and only with Shawn to keep his body in shape, Ivan sticks to his principle of “never move when you don’t need to”. Shawn, on the other hand, is a bundle of energy and joy.
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A ray of sunshine, Shawn is fun to be with and always coming up with new ideas. Although because of his black-rim glasses he is always perceived as nerdy, Shawn is actually a daredevil. Unlike his friend and roommate Ivan, Shawn is exceptionally well at all kinds of sports, including soccer, badminton, and football, and always open-minded to accepting new things. It was also his idea to go wait for the sunrise.
Shawn immediately fell in love with this idea after he saw an advertisement recommending this suspicious place as the perfect vacation destination. He was skeptical of making the place his and Ivan’s fifth and final travel destination until he saw a video of the sun slowly rising from the horizon, climbing to the mountain top, and gradually elevating to the sky. Ivan would look cool in this lighting, Shawn thought. But there is another reason why Shawn chose this place.
Of course, Ivan did not know any of this. All he understood from Shawn’s passionate and disoriented speech was they are going to stay up all night at a cold mountain top to wait for the sun to rise, like how it does every day. Ivan did not see what was so interesting about sunrise, but he did not try to question his friend’s sanity; although he wanted to slap Shawn in the face and shake him until he decomposes into a pile of dust, Ivan knew Shawn too well to recognize that a decision is a decision: Shawn is not easily moved. Even though he can easily refuse Shawn’s insistence, Ivan still decided to go along with Shawn, mainly because he did not want to leave his friend alone on an unsafe mountain top, and maybe even help Shawn fix or add some details to his plan. The s’mores are definitely going to be included.