The surfboard he was holding in the photo was a Rhino Chasers board, so Jaehyuk couldn’t help but recognize it.
“I enjoy extreme sports.”
“Didn’t you say you also do climbing?”
“Yes.”
“That’s fortunate. Having matching hobbies looks good to others.”
“That’s true. A couple exercising together looks good to anyone watching. By the way, did you go to Pipeline every year?”
“Until four years ago. From the following year, too many people started coming, so I began going to Teahupo’o in summer and Nazare in winter.”
“If you’re surfing at Teahupo’o, you must be quite serious about it.”
When Junghyun expressed surprise, since Teahupo’o was a wave that amateurs couldn’t even dream of tackling and even professional surfers found challenging, Jaehyuk simply nodded.
“I enjoy it.”
“…Hmm, I see…”
“What about you?”
“…Pardon?”
“How many meters have you surfed?”
At this rather specific question, Junghyun thought for a moment before nodding.
“The highest was about 12 meters? That was at Pipeline. But my friends were worried when I rode that one, so I’ve mostly stuck to regular surfing since then.”
“This year?”
“I’ve been too busy to go this year. I was originally planning to use all my vacation days in November and go to Teahupo’o, but I broke up before that and canceled.”
“Then going surfing together for our honeymoon would be nice. We could do rock climbing too.”
Junghyun grimaced at those words.
“Do we have to go on a honeymoon too?”
“If necessary. I have a villa in Teahupo’o, so we can go anytime. That’s good, or Nazare is nice in winter.”
“If we must go on a honeymoon, I don’t really like overseas travel, so let’s stay domestic if possible. Air travel time is a waste. If you like surfing that much, wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere domestic and spend even an hour more actually surfing?”
When Junghyun expressed his dislike for wasting time if surfing was the goal anyway, Jaehyuk easily accepted this time.
“That works too. I’ve been too busy to surf lately anyway. We might run into a lot of people I know if we stay domestic, but that’s not bad either…”
Jaehyuk trailed off as if something had occurred to him, then continued.
“Come to think of it, if we had met at Pipeline, I would have remembered. Jeonghoo was with me at that time.”
At those words, Junghyun awkwardly averted his gaze.
“Ah… now that I think about it, I remember my brother saying he was going to Hawaii then too.”
“Every year, we gathered just the high school friends who surfed and went to Pipeline. I guess you learned surfing because of your brother?”
“What?”
“Surfing.”
“No. I told you I don’t get along well with my brother. Surfing was something that guy liked, not my brother. He would go to baseball games with me, and I would go surfing with him.”
As Junghyun gestured toward the photo again, Jaehyuk looked surprised.
“You’re unexpectedly romantic?”
“Not at all. It’s give and take. Starting from friends, I tend to join others in what they like. Actually, I started going to baseball games because Yongwoo liked it. We all did things together that each of us enjoyed, among friends.”
“What about climbing?”
“That was also Se… I mean, that guy.”
“Seems like he and I have similar tastes.”
“Maybe so.”
“Boarding too?”
“Boarding?”
“Didn’t you say you snowboard?”
Junghyun recalled that he had indeed said something like that earlier at the baseball stadium.
“I enjoy boarding. That guy skis.”
“Really similar tastes. I prefer skiing over boarding too. Do you also box by any chance?”
“I’m good at all martial arts.”
“Was that also your friend’s preference?”
“No. My uncle made me learn from a young age. He said an omega should at least know how to protect themselves. And that I needed to be healthy, so he made me learn all kinds of martial arts. I enjoyed it because it suited me. For reference, that guy hates all types of martial arts.”
“Good that we differ in that respect.”
“Do you like martial arts?”
“I do it casually.”
“It’s good that our exercise preferences are similar. So, is 10 AM tomorrow okay?”
“I’ll contact Junyoung. But we won’t go to the office. We’ll meet naturally, like friends meeting.”
“Why?”
“I’ll invite a few reporters from the economic and entertainment sections. We’ll meet at an open café, be as affectionate as possible for photos that will be immediately distributed to online newspapers. And we’ll also take a few pictures of us shopping together to distribute.”
Despite it being a strategic match, Jaehyuk’s plan to make it seem like it wasn’t made Junghyun intuitively sense something.
If it was an arranged match anyway, they could just continue with that narrative, but if they were going through the trouble of putting on this kind of show, there must be people they needed to convince.
Though he had roughly figured out the situation, Junghyun chose not to pretend he knew. It didn’t matter either way.
“Okay, got it. Then please give me an email address to send the summarized file to.”
“Send it by message.”
“That would be easier.”
“Well, it’s late, so I’ll be going now.”
As they talked, it was already almost midnight. The sun had set long ago, and the air in the house had grown chilly.
After checking the time on his wristwatch due to the conversation running longer than expected, Jaehyuk stood up, and Junghyun also got up from the floor to see him off.
“Please let me know when the meeting place is decided.”
“I will.”
After putting on his jacket and heading straight to the entrance, Junghyun followed and bid him farewell at the door.
“I won’t see you out further. Drive carefully.”
Since he hadn’t expected anything anyway, Jaehyuk, who was putting on his shoes at the entrance, suddenly turned to Junghyun as if something had occurred to him.
“One last thing.”
“Yes?”
“Can we change that form of address?”
“Address?”
“Hyung-nim.”
Seeing him grimace as if the term really bothered him, Junghyun realized his mistake.
“It is a bit strange for a couple. Then, what should I call you?”
“Just call me hyung or use my name.”
For a moment, Junghyun mentally tried both “Jaehyuk-hyung” and “Jaehyuk-ssi” but shuddered as if “Jaehyuk-ssi” gave him goosebumps.
“I’ll just call you hyung.”
When he added the uncharacteristic excuse that it was also because he was his brother’s friend, Jaehyuk nodded as if satisfied.
“Alright. I’ll be going then.”
As Jaehyuk put on his shoes after saying goodbye, Junghyun suddenly called out to him.
“By the way, hyung-ni… I mean, hyung.”
“What?”
“Why did you think that person in the photo was my boyfriend?”
At this unexpected question, Jaehyuk, having put on his shoes, answered as if it was an absurd question.
“Because you don’t seem like the type to carefully display photos of friends or family. Actually, having a boyfriend was surprising too, but your expression just looked that way. Your default expression is ‘who is this guy?’ but you were smiling when you were with that friend.”
“…Was I?”
“You were. Any other questions?”
“No.”
“Then.”
As Jaehyuk immediately left through the front door and disappeared, Junghyun returned to the living room and suddenly stopped in front of the display cabinet. He gazed at the frame placed on top for a while.
With a strange feeling, after quietly looking at the photo for a while, Junghyun eventually put the frame in a drawer.
It wasn’t because of what Jaehyuk had said.
He just thought it was time to put it away.
One shouldn’t hold onto lingering attachments.
It’s pointless.
* * *
‘Tomorrow, 10 AM. Divine. We’ll prepare the documents.’
After taking the elevator down and heading to his car, Jaehyuk sent a message to Junyoung and then got into his car.
Just as he was about to start the engine, his phone rang.
It was Junyoung.
Since it was the weekend, it wasn’t strange at all that he was still awake at this hour, and it wasn’t surprising that he contacted him as if he had been waiting.
After all, Jang Junyoung was the one enjoying this situation the most.
“What?”
– Hey, are you really getting married?
“Why else would I call you to prepare documents?”
“Otherwise, why would I have breakfast with you on this bright weekend morning?” Jaehyuk responded flatly as he shifted gears and began to exit the underground parking lot.
Meanwhile, Junyoung’s excited voice continued through the connected speakerphone.
– Wow! Amazing! When you said you were getting married, I wondered if it would actually happen, but you’re really doing it? He agreed to marry you?
“Yes.”
– This is really happening? What kind of ill-fated connection is this? I just talked to Yeonwoo, and he says it’s that kid? That cheeky kid who said something about your dad when we were in high school with Jeonghoo.
The rumor had already spread that far. Though he knew the story would soon reach Yeonwoo since they were close, it was still surprisingly fast.
“Were you there at that time too?”
– I was there. Honestly, I don’t remember it at all, but I recalled it because Jeonghoo was being so careful after that.
Come to think of it, that seemed to be the case. But he didn’t remember well since he had no interest in Lee Jeonghoo.
