#Side Story 18
“This is a couple ring, but our captain keeps telling me to go elsewhere.”
“You’ve been messed up since you started dating someone eleven years younger, you bastard.”
“Eleven years?”
The cabin crew team was stunned by the continuous bombshells being dropped. I, who was Saheon hyung’s boyfriend eleven years his junior, continued eating silently, feeling like I had a lump in my throat. I couldn’t tell if I was swallowing omelet or sand.
“If they’re eleven years younger than Captain Kwon… How old are they? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven…?”
“Twenty-seven?”
The cabin team, composed entirely of women except for me, seemed at a loss for words. Just moments ago, they seemed to be looking at him with warm, interested gazes, but now they looked like they were seeing a thief of the century.
“Twenty-seven… is still a bit young to be thinking about marriage, I suppose.”
The purser tried to make an excuse. The other seniors muttered noncommittal responses with dazed expressions.
“That’s true…”
“Yeah, they’ve been dating for 7 or 8 years but no talk of marriage. I’ve known about this since Saheon was a co-pilot, and it’s frustrating.”
The captain, perhaps feeling he’d finally found someone who understood, expressed his thoughts. Saheon hyung continued eating with a light smile that seemed practiced.
“You’ve been dating for that long?”
“Huh? But they’re twenty-seven this year, and if they’ve been dating for 7-8 years, doesn’t that mean they started dating when they were twenty?”
“Twenty?”
The atmosphere stirred once again. I, the other protagonist of this story, finally gave up on the sand-like meal and put down my fork.
“If the girlfriend started dating at twenty, then the captain was thirty-one at the time…”
“Captain, I didn’t know you were such a player!”
One of the seniors said in a light tone, as if making a playful joke. Somehow, it sounded sincere.
“Wow, twenty-seven… Then who in our team is the same age?”
“Isn’t it Cheongmyeong-ssi?”
“I think it is Cheongmyeong-ssi. I remember him saying he’s twenty-seven this year.”
“Oh, come to think of it, wasn’t Cheongmyeong-ssi dating someone within the company? Surely not…?”
Suddenly, laughter erupted. If I had food in my mouth, I might have spit it out. I waved my hands with a visibly flustered look.
“Ah, no… I’m not dating within the company…”
“I wonder. Why are you so sure? Cheongmyeong-ssi and I could really be dating.”
Saheon hyung casually intercepted my words. I, who had been trying to avert my gaze, flinched. It felt like my heart dropped. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice. Everyone burst into laughter, apparently thinking it was a joke.
“What are you saying, that’s really funny.”
“Don’t joke around.”
As everyone took it as a joke, Saheon hyung put on a slightly disappointed expression. Another round of laughter erupted. I could feel Saheon hyung’s gaze on me. I nervously swallowed a dry gulp.
“Honey.”
It was his usual sweet tone. It seemed I was the only one whose heart was pounding in this place. I laughed awkwardly along with the others, “Haha.” The corner of hyung’s mouth, who had been observing my reaction, curved up crookedly.
“Call me honey, Cheongmyeong-ssi.”
“Ah, haha. Captain, you’re too much…”
I responded as naturally as possible. Seeing my flustered look, another round of laughter broke out.
Perhaps thanks to all the laughter, the existence of Saheon hyung’s and my girlfriend became more blurred than before. The meal was already nearing its end. Saheon hyung didn’t miss this opportunity and started wrapping up.
“Captain, are you done eating? Did it suit your taste? Shall we go up now?”
“Yeah, let’s do that. Gihyun and Jiseok, are you done too?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Then we’ll head up first.”
Saheon hyung’s gaze briefly touched on me as he naturally left his seat. The cabin crew, who had been eating slowly due to chatting, saw off the flight crew first.
“Alright, go ahead!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
After bowing and saying goodbye, the cabin crew started repeatedly saying “What a surprise” once the captains had disappeared. Naturally, the subject was Saheon hyung.
“What a surprise. What a surprise. I’ve flown with Captain Kwon a few times, but I didn’t know he was still unmarried.”
“I wonder why he hasn’t married yet?”
“He’s quite young for a captain… But I didn’t expect him to still be unmarried.”
“He has a girlfriend eleven years younger, they said.”
“But from a woman’s perspective, I don’t think she’d be considering marriage… She’s too young. To be honest, who would want to marry a man whose position could change tomorrow?”
“But Captain Kwon is handsome. And he earns well.”
“With looks like that, I wonder if people around him just let him be?”
“Maybe there’s something wrong with him?”
When one of the seniors jokingly pointed downwards, the loudest laughter yet erupted. Although they made “ooh” sounds, they didn’t seem to dislike it and appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
I couldn’t bring myself to say that while there was nothing wrong with hyung down there, there was too much of nothing. I had to awkwardly laugh along, “Haha.”
***
“You’re here, Cheongmyeong-ssi?”
As I opened the hotel room door and entered, Saheon hyung was sitting there as if he owned the place. I nodded, looking at hyung glumly.
“Why so gloomy, my baby?”
“…It’s nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Saheon hyung gradually approached me. He smelled of his familiar cologne. Soon after, hyung embraced my waist and whispered softly.
“It seems like something happened.”
Hyung lowered his head slightly and lightly kissed my exposed neckline. The sensation of warm lips touching a sensitive area was vivid. I grumbled in a dissatisfied voice.
“Just…”
As I mumbled my words, Saheon hyung gazed at me intently. His lips touched my neckline once more. I continued to hesitate and speak.
“The seniors called you a thief…”
“I am a thief. I’m lucky I’m not a robber. Is that why you’re like this?”
Saheon hyung kissed my neck once more. Actually, they had called him defective, but I decided to keep that to myself. I let hyung continue kissing for a while.
Suddenly, I wondered how many times hyung had experienced this kind of thing. As I maintained my gloomy silence, Saheon hyung changed the subject.
“By the way, baby, I just realized something while talking earlier. Why do you only call me ‘hyung’?”
To this obvious question, like asking why a dog barks, I blinked my eyes blankly. I call hyung ‘hyung’, what else should I call him?
“I call you hyung… What else should I call you…?”
“Honey, darling, my love. There are many options. Why don’t you call me ‘honey’?”
I opened my eyes wide at these embarrassing terms of endearment. Saheon hyung pouted slightly and whined.
“Call me honey.”
I opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish. Faced with such a sudden and bewildering request, I felt like the little mermaid who had lost her voice.
“Come on.”
“…Suddenly?”
I couldn’t hide the bewilderment in my voice. I swallowed hard. Even though I knew there was no one else around except hyung, I kept glancing around.
I felt shy. The words that had sounded so natural when hyung said them felt twisted when I tried to say them myself. This included my tongue, so I felt my cheeks heating up as I made an excuse.
“Later, I’ll do it later.”
“When later?”
“In a bit…”
Saheon hyung got closer each time I spoke. Just as our noses were about to touch, he pressed his lips firmly against mine. There was a light sound of membranes colliding.
“In a bit? When we have sex?”
Hearing such a direct word that I could never get used to, I looked at hyung, feeling my lips part blankly.
“Or after we get married?”
Marriage? I stared blankly at hyung, who suddenly brought up the word marriage. Saheon hyung smiled satisfactorily and stepped back.
“That makes my heart race even more. I’ll look forward to it.”
Hyung drew a conclusion before I could say anything. His large, gentle hand landed on top of my head. Saheon hyung lightly ruffled my hair and casually asked.
“But Cheongmyeong doesn’t have any thoughts about it yet, right?”
Was it because of the word that suddenly popped up? Or because it was too abrupt? Or perhaps because the realistic aspects had captured me? Maybe it was because I didn’t expect such a word to come from Saheon hyung’s mouth.
But what was certain was that I was surprised at myself for not being able to answer immediately.
Clearly, when I was twenty, I thought dating was equivalent to marriage. Even though same-sex marriage is impossible in Korea, I thought it would be nice to have a relationship recognized by others, even if only through a wedding ceremony.
However, at twenty-seven, I had a slightly different opinion. The belief that dating was a stage to go through before being tied down by the relationship called marriage had naturally faded as the sense of security grew stronger through our long relationship.
I don’t even think about breaking up with Saheon hyung. He doesn’t give me any insecurity either. We would continue to live like this in the future.
Having adapted to a stable and smooth relationship, and already living in a relationship equivalent to partners, there were also aspects that made it harder to answer easily when faced with realistic issues.
During the seven years we’ve been dating, no one knew we were in a relationship. Not our parents, not my aunt and uncle, not even my close college friends Choi Hyun-oh and Yoo Do-jin hyung.
Marriage, in other words, our relationship moving to the next level, meant that we would have to reveal our relationship to others. It’s not that we didn’t want to tell them. But we didn’t think everyone would accept it.
Saheon hyung is a captain for a major airline representing South Korea. I too have had a respectable job for about a year. Everything is going smoothly even at this moment, and I didn’t want to do anything that might threaten our positions. More than myself, I was afraid of hyung possibly losing everything he had built up until now.
“Why are you thinking so seriously?”
Saheon hyung chuckled softly and completely messed up my hair. But somehow, I couldn’t help but think that hyung was changing the subject because I had taken too long to answer. A warning alarm went off in my head.
