Chapter 59
“Hyung.”
“……”
“When is your day off?”
The languid low voice whispering like a secret was like a voice calling from within a dream. As if there was someone else in this room besides the two of them, as if he didn’t want to reveal this conversation to anyone.
“It’s every Monday, but…”
“Then could you spend next Monday with me?”
While facing his calm voice and gaze, Jiin’s flustered heart quickly settled down. Jiin adjusted his pillow and joked with a slight smile.
“Are you going to suggest we go to that bar from before?”
His lips seemed to curve faintly.
“Why? Are you scared of that bar, hyung?”
“……A little?”
Why was he trying to take him to a place that guaranteed 100% success rate for confessions? What would happen if they sat at the corner seat at the end of the terrace? Honestly, he didn’t have the courage to face those things. Memories with someone who would leave had to remain light. He was the one who had to stay in the place where memories were made.
The conversation exchanged while intentionally omitting objects was like a code. What he was afraid of, what he wanted. Though they both knew everything, they were reluctant to speak openly.
“Then we don’t have to go there specifically. Just… it would be nice to do the things hyung does on his day off together.”
“……”
“Just spend one day with me.”
From his perspective, Jiin was someone he’d met by chance at a travel destination. No matter how attracted he might be, there was absolutely no possibility of developing into a proper romantic relationship.
In such cases, most people would try to become physically closer. Just a few days’ time. An insurmountable spatial distance. Within limited conditions, that was ultimately the only relationship one could choose.
But while he conveyed his attraction more and more clearly, he said he’d be happy just spending time together. Looking at his face softly illuminated by light filtering through the shutters, Jiin thought:
If I approached him, he wouldn’t refuse. That was certain. Yet he would absolutely never try to do something first. What meaning did these times have for him? What did he want from me?
Hunching his broad shoulders and lying turned toward this side, he blinked slowly in the darkness and said:
“One day out of a year isn’t a long time. Anyway, I’ll… be going back in a week…”
“Alright.”
“……”
“But just Monday, that one day. Nothing more than that…”
He slowly nodded with a faint smile.
That’s enough. That’s sufficient. With whispers like sighs as the end, Jiin turned his back to him.
■
The maximum daytime temperature soared to 27 degrees.
With people from Paeli’s outskirts flocking in, the beach was quite bustling despite being Monday. The nearby beach club, which had hurriedly opened since last weekend due to the early hot weather, was drawing young people with fast music with strong beats.
Lying under parasols with alternating orange and white colors, Jiin was thinking about the movie <Before Sunrise>.
About accepting a stranger’s proposal met on a train heading to a destination, changing plans, and deviating from the route. It was definitely the power of travel that made impulsive choices possible that probably wouldn’t have been made in ordinary places.
There were plenty of other movies about falling in love with strangers while traveling. <Before Sunrise> alone had two sequels produced afterward. Such themes would probably continue to be dealt with as long as humanity existed.
It wasn’t uncommon in Paeli either.
During middle and high school, friends from international school used to boast about their fling experiences with tourists. Even though they themselves were closer to outsiders.
Among the townspeople, there were often cases of marrying tourists. Most of them moved to their partner’s residence after marriage, to other cities in Italy or Europe.
【Let’s meet again at this place in 6 months.】
The two people in <Before Sunrise> make that promise when parting at the train station after spending a ‘surreally’ romantic day together. Let’s meet again at this place in 6 months…
If there was a difference between movies and reality, it was that he had neither the courage to propose such a promise nor the courage to accept it. Two young people being attracted to each other at an early summer vacation spot was actually just an extremely common occurrence with nothing romantic or special about it.
Jiin lifted his gaze to look out at the sea through his sunglasses.
Leaving Jiin who said he’d stay under the parasol reading a book, he had walked into the sea alone. Though Jiin had only been distracted for a very brief moment, now he couldn’t tell which of the various figures floating in the sea was him.
Small cotton ball-like light clouds only flowed faintly in the distance, and the sky was so clear it was almost white. The sparkling of the sea that finely broke and shook the sunlight was more brilliant than any jewel.
It seemed like a day when time flowed slowly and generously.
As promised, Jiin was spending his day off with him. They had met at the square at 11 and come down to the beach together.
They paid a fee of 20 euros for 3 hours and rented two beach chairs under a parasol. Since both were wearing t-shirts over their swimsuits, no changing room was needed.
When Jiin first saw him at ‘Mio Palazzo’ on Wednesday, he had been tanned up to behind his ears. But if his skin color then had been somewhat dark, now it was close to chocolate brown. Whether he had spent a lot of time at the beach even during the time he didn’t meet Jiin, his upper arms, chest, stomach, and back hidden by clothes were all evenly and attractively tanned.
It would be a lie to say he had no thoughts seeing that. But that was all.
Sighing, Jiin searched more over the sea looking for his figure.
“……”
A man who had been swimming toward the beach stood up where the water became too shallow to swim easily. The man who swept his short hair back and wiped the water from his face was him, wearing dark blue swim trunks.
Pretending to read the book he had propped on his stomach, Jiin admired his figure walking out of the sea. His entire body was evenly developed with no weak areas anywhere. Though not to the extent of a thick, bulky torso, it was a well-balanced, sleek physique that was pleasant to look at.
Blatant gazes from here and there were reaching out and clinging to his wet body. Whether male or female, most Italians weren’t ashamed to show their attraction to the opposite sex. They rather considered it praise acknowledging the other person’s charm.
From him who plopped down heavily on the beach chair next to him came the fresh scent of the sea. He grabbed a towel and roughly wiped the water from his face while speaking in a slightly breathless voice.
“I went all the way to the buoy and back. Did you see me by any chance?”
“Ah, I was reading a book… You did a round trip to the buoy? You swim well.”
Even though he had been following him with his eyes the entire time except for the brief moment he missed him. Jiin answered as if he had been so focused on his book that he didn’t even notice he had returned.
“I like most sports in general.”
“It seems like it.”
Saying that while glancing at his solid body, Jiin sat up more and closed his book.
“Hyung, aren’t you going in the water?”
“Sunbathing feels better.”
“Let’s swim together. Or should we have a race?”
“What kind of race like kids…”
“How about the loser buys lunch? One way to the buoy.”
His eyes sparkled as he made that suggestion. His face was full of mischief and laughter, making him look younger than usual.
He was scheduled to leave on Sunday, but according to their agreement, that day was the third and last time the two would meet.
Jiin took off his sunglasses and got up from the beach chair.
“Fine. But we go all out without holding back. Even if you have the advantage in physical condition, I’m someone who’s been swimming in this sea since I was toddling around.”
“I don’t know why you think I wouldn’t give my all, but I’m quite competitive. I have persistence too. I’m definitely going to eat the meal hyung buys me.”
Jiin’s elbow touched his abdomen as he stood up behind him. Jiin, who was just about to take a step toward the sea, suddenly looked back.
“If you happen to win.”
“……”
“I’ll buy lunch and grant you one wish too.”
He who had hesitated briefly stretched his lips into a smile. It was an expression that looked somewhat bitter. Sweeping his hair as if shaking off the water, he squinted his eyes because of the sunlight.
“You’re confident I’ll lose, right? That you won’t need to grant a wish.”
“……”
“Hyung is… kind of mean.”
The waves were calm as if it were a lake rather than the sea. Jiin swam through the clear seawater with all his might. He was confident he would win as he said, and indeed touched the buoy a few seconds before him.
But there was something he didn’t know.
Leaning his body against the large buoy, Jiin was looking at the distant sea for a moment, at the unrealistic glimmering of light. Only the sound of the two breathing roughly filled his ears. The body floating up and down on the gently swaying waves felt light as if it wasn’t affected by gravity at all in that moment.
Thinking he couldn’t win and looking down on him with reckless bravado. He seemed to have accepted it that way, but it was a wrong thought.
The two protagonists of <Before Sunrise> promise to meet again at the same place at the train station in 6 months. But the movie ends without showing whether their promise is fulfilled. Though the outcome could be confirmed in the sequels, Jiin hadn’t watched the two follow-ups.
How the dreamlike beautiful memories of the two people changed with the passage of time. He didn’t have the courage to confirm what happened afterward.
Competitive and persistent. He had described himself that way. Jiin wasn’t that type of personality. He wanted to avoid problems that seemed unmanageable, and though he seemed to prioritize peace and stability, he was actually afraid of change. He was also afraid of being swept up in intense emotions.
If he unexpectedly overturned expectations and won this race, wouldn’t it be okay to give in to impulse once using the corny excuse of granting a wish? It was just… his own personal gamble.
Looking blankly at the light sparkling on the water surface that hurt his eyes, Jiin muttered.
“You’re wrong.”
“…About what?”
“I was hoping you would win. I just had no intention of losing on purpose.”
“……”
“Let’s go back. I’ll buy you food.”
Jiin turned his body over and dove back into the water.
■
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
