There weren’t many messages over the five hours.
Just his uncle telling him not to cause trouble on the honeymoon, Yongwoo joking about whether they had a passionate night, and Jisung’s message asking for souvenirs.
Fortunately, it seemed the rumor about being kicked out of the climbing gym hadn’t spread here yet.
“Friends?”
“Friends and my uncle. He seems worried I might get divorced at our honeymoon destination.”
Yesterday when they departed, he had collapsed from taking too much Uhwangchungsimwon medicine and couldn’t think straight, but today he finally seemed to have come to his senses.
[We’re doing fine, don’t worry. Haven’t been divorced yet.]
After sending the message—omitting the part about already having written an agreement—he grabbed the glass and bottle, then sat down on the bed. The other followed and sat on the bed as well.
“Expensive rooms really are nice.”
The view was spectacular—not just the beach, but also the cityscape visible beyond the headboard of the bed.
The harmony of the star-filled sky, the twinkling city lights, and the waves rushing toward the shore was perfect.
This was the room with the most beautiful ocean view in the entire hotel.
“The night view is part of why I stay in this room.”
“Every time you come?”
“If it’s not booked. What about you?”
Sitting on the bed and staring blankly out the window, Junghyun turned to look at Jaehyuk when the question came, as if asking what he meant.
“…Pardon?”
“If you’ve been here often, you must have a place you usually stay.”
“Ah… I stay at a guest house. It’s not as luxurious as this, but it’s also just a short walk to the beach, so I always book that place before coming. Well, it’s not as lavish as this.”
“With friends?”
“Yes, well…”
Junghyun trailed off in a way that wasn’t like him and took another sip of champagne. Jaehyuk immediately caught on.
“You said you came with an ex, right?”
“Without that guy, I wouldn’t have bothered coming all the way here repeatedly.”
“You must have liked him quite a lot.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jaehyuk looked surprised. When Junghyun looked at him as if asking why he thought so, he answered immediately.
“You talked about getting dumped and eating jajangmyeon so casually that I thought it was just something like an extension of friendship.”
At Jaehyuk’s sharp observation, Junghyun took a sip of champagne with a thoughtful expression.
Then, as if unsure how to explain it, he frowned and tilted his head.
“That’s… different, that guy is. Something… um…”
Uncharacteristically careful in choosing his words, Junghyun finally spoke again.
“How should I put it? With him, it wasn’t like that…”
“…Wasn’t like what?”
“…Just…”
“Just what?”
After staring blankly at the ocean again for a moment, Junghyun nodded as if he’d found his answer.
“If I had to express it, I think I wanted to become family with that guy.”
“…Family?”
After emptying his glass, Jaehyuk gestured for the bottle on the bedside table. Junghyun handed him the champagne bottle and continued.
“Honestly, I used to think family was annoying and troublesome, but with him, I thought it would be nice to become family. So when we broke up, I just accepted it. I knew he had someone he’d liked for a long time.”
At those words, Jaehyuk, who was about to pour champagne, hesitated.
This conversation was truly unexpected.
“You knew he had someone he liked?”
“He liked that person for a very long time, even before dating me, and I knew that when we started dating. But, hyung, it’s similar for you too, isn’t it? Didn’t you know when you started dating?”
“…In my case, it was after we started dating.”
“That’s even worse.”
Perhaps because of the alcohol, the conversation naturally flowed to stories of heartbreak, just like when they had hit it off at the whiskey bar.
But there was no resistance to it. It felt more comfortable, actually.
“You’re not exactly normal either, are you?”
“It wasn’t a typical situation.”
“If you knew all that, why did you date him?”
To Jaehyuk’s question, which showed he couldn’t understand at all, Junghyun refilled his glass and slowly murmured.
“Well… just to play family for a while?”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it, what else would there be? I was just curious about what having a family was like.”
“…Why?”
“Just because. I didn’t know such things really existed, but they did, and I got curious. So I decided to date him… but now I regret doing that. If I hadn’t, we could have stayed friends for a long time, and I could have continued the pseudo-family game…”
Despite it being out of character, he seemed to genuinely regret it, which made Jaehyuk ask curiously.
“Do you have some kind of fantasy about family?”
“If you don’t know something exists, you don’t desire it, but once you see it right in front of you, you start wanting it. I wanted it so badly. So I made a mistake, a bit. Unlike me. And I’m making another mistake…”
“Another?”
At Jaehyuk’s questioning what mistake he had made, Junghyun silently looked at him.
At that complex gaze with indecipherable meaning, Jaehyuk felt a strange sensation.
A feeling like his heart was sinking, somehow precarious. As he remained frozen, Junghyun, who had been quietly looking at him, turned his gaze away with an awkward smile.
Then he drained his glass in one go and lay down on the bed.
“Wow, so this is what a presidential suite feels like. This bed seems better than the one at home.”
“…My bed is better. If you’re going to sleep, lie down properly.”
At the instruction to use a pillow and get under the covers, Junghyun wriggled under the blanket and properly positioned himself with the pillow.
“I hope tomorrow is clear.”
“The forecast for tomorrow is clear.”
“That’s good…”
As his voice gradually grew softer mid-sentence, Jaehyuk looked at Junghyun in disbelief, then waved his hand over Junghyun’s face when he realized he had fallen asleep.
He hadn’t known because he always saw Junghyun after he fell asleep, but he really did fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Quietly, without even the sound of breathing.
Looking at Junghyun sleeping as if dead, Jaehyuk suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly cleaned up the glasses and bottle from the bed. He then covered Junghyun with the blanket and carefully placed Junghyun’s phone on the bedside table as if handling a time bomb.
It was barely approaching midnight, but Jaehyuk was also mentally and physically exhausted, so he immediately got into bed and turned off the lights.
And the moment his head touched the pillow, he realized they hadn’t closed the curtains.
There was no rain or lightning tonight, but the morning sunlight would be strong without curtains, he worried just as his consciousness began to fade.
And a most comfortable sleep overtook his entire body.
A sweet and infinitely gentle slumber.
Chapter 8
White orchid and rose water, and white musk and cedarwood, and amber and moss.
A cool yet subtly flowery scent that was fresh and sweet touched his nose.
The air was peaceful and warm, and the scent from his arms was sweet and soft.
Intoxicated by that fragrance he loved so much, Jaehyuk held the warm body in his arms tighter. Just as he rested his face against that warmth and took a long breath in, a small voice was heard.
“Excuse me…”
At the voice struggling in his arms, he barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids to find Junghyun, who was tightly wrapped in his arms, addressing him seriously.
“I think we should get up now. And I’d appreciate if you’d let go of my waist. It’s really uncomfortable…”
When Junghyun, lying right in front of him, pointed at the arms tightly wrapped around his body, Jaehyuk sat up with a start. Finally freed, Junghyun sat up on the bed, massaging his shoulder.
“Your arms are ridiculously heavy, hyung.”
While Junghyun was grimacing about how they wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he pushed because of the bones and muscles, Jaehyuk quickly scanned the room with his eyes and, noticing the unusually bright sunlight, asked:
“What time is it now?”
“What time do you think it is?”
“If I’m waking up on my own, what time do you think it is?” Junghyun stared at Jaehyuk, who quickly found his phone to check the time.
11:47 AM.
It was almost noon.
“Damn…”
He had slept for almost twelve hours.
Unable to believe he’d slept for so long, Jaehyuk immediately got out of bed and headed for the bathroom but stopped.
Understanding the meaning of his action, Junghyun quickly called out to him.
“We’re not going to work today.”
When reminded that they were on their honeymoon, Jaehyuk turned around with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair with a slightly irritated touch.
“You should have woken me up when you got up.”
“I just woke up. I was surprised too. I never thought I’d wake up first…”
“…How’s the weather?”
“As you can see, it’s fantastic.”
As Junghyun said, beyond the window, brilliant sunshine poured down from a cloudless sky. And the height of the waves was good too.
Being early November, despite the unusual temperature, there weren’t many people gathering at the beach.
That’s why this was the best time for surfers.
It was perfect weather for wearing a slightly thick full wetsuit.
“Get up.”
“Are we going out right after waking up?”
“Of course. Get ready.”
Faced with Jaehyuk’s firm attitude that they couldn’t waste any more time, Junghyun finally started moving reluctantly.
After confirming that Junghyun was getting out of bed and picking up his phone, albeit sluggishly, Jaehyuk immediately went into the bathroom and finally relaxed his expression in front of the mirror.
NOTES:
Uhwangchungsimwon – A traditional Korean medicine mentioned
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
