#94
Leaving Professor Choi, the medical team, and his father behind, Jaeha exited the hospital. Though the building wasn’t particularly large, his footsteps felt as if they were sticking to the ground, making it arduous. It was as though something was pulling his shadow from behind.
Facing his mother’s hell through her paintings and then dealing with his father had been a truly grueling schedule. He was sick of his grandfather’s selfishness and the incomprehensible greed he harbored for him. Nevertheless, his compliance was purely due to a sense of debt to the mother who had given birth to him. He truly hoped this would be the last time.
As he pushed open the heavy main entrance, cold air brushed against his cheeks. Jaeha left the parking lot with slow steps, intending to walk to the lodging where Eunhong was staying. He hoped that along the way, the wind would wash away both his biological father’s pheromones that clung to him and the thoughts that tormented him. Then he would return to his normal self and face Eunhong with his best expression.
As he continued these thoughts while walking down a low hill, his mind began to clear. The weather was too good. The sparkling sea visible right in front of him made it difficult to keep his eyes open. Jaeha reflexively took out his phone.
Just as the call connected through the receiver, a melody was heard from nearby. Looking up, he saw Eunhong, who had been crouched on a low roadside rock, stand up abruptly and stagger in surprise.
“Huh? Are you already finished?”
“…”
Eunhong seemed surprised, not expecting to encounter Jaeha here. His cheeks quickly turned red, perhaps startled by the supportive hand.
“Um, I didn’t come here to follow you… I was told there’s a gelato shop this way…”
As Eunhong turned his body, saying that an old man he met over there had told him, the redness from his ears down to his nape was clearly visible. Jaeha unwrapped the muffler he was wearing and wrapped it around Eunhong’s bare neck.
“There’s a cliff behind the hospital.”
“R-really? Maybe the old man gave me wrong directions. No, I might have misunderstood.”
Jaeha spoke with a hint of playfulness. He could immediately tell what Eunhong had been thinking when he came here, why he hadn’t entered and was hiding here waiting.
“Thank you for coming to meet me.”
Looking into those wavering eyes, Jaeha smiled broadly. His chest swelled as if his compressed lungs were finally breathing.
Jaeha pulled on the muffler wrapped around Eunhong’s neck and pressed his lips against the round forehead, as had become his habit. There were Eunhong’s hair, the scent of skin rising from beneath, and those clear brown eyes looking up at him.
A sense of tight satisfaction and affection arose, simultaneously with anxiety. These lovely pheromones diligently emitted in response to him, this person who responded whenever he smiled, whenever he touched him, whenever their body temperatures connected, gave him both satisfaction and anxiety.
Jaeha wrinkled the bridge of his nose. As always, Eunhong’s pure eyes looking at him were clear and straightforward. Utterly innocent.
***
“We should come here when it’s warm.”
Jaeha murmured as he wrapped his arms around Eunhong’s neck.
The village, with identical buildings of apricot-colored walls topped with vermilion roofs densely lined up, was so devoid of people that it could have been considered abandoned if not for its clean appearance. Indeed, on his walk from the lodging to the hospital, Eunhong had only encountered one elderly man and a dog.
The two chose to follow the path that ran along the cliff by the sea. Though it was a roundabout route, they couldn’t bear to head straight back to their lodging. Despite being winter, the warm sunlight and mild weather made the open sea clean and beautiful. This greatly contributed to their desire to take a walk.
They walked for a long time along the winding cliff path that followed the coastline. They passed through narrow staircases in turn and ducked together when small arches appeared. Though it was a small village, it wasn’t completely without tourists, as evidenced by graffiti in various languages on the white walls.
After walking in silence for a while, Jaeha spoke as if letting his words drift toward the distant sea.
“Professor Choi will take father back to Korea on a chartered plane. The attendants… Secretary Kim too, I’ve sent them all away. Just you and I will stay here separately for a day and return tomorrow.”
Eunhong turned to Jaeha with puzzled eyes.
“Really? Wouldn’t it be better not to send your father away like that and just go together with them? I’m fine with it. You should have asked me first. Even now…”
“…I don’t want to.”
Thinking that Jaeha had made this choice out of concern for Eunhong’s comfort, Eunhong protested, but Jaeha made a face of distaste.
“For a father who has no consciousness, even if he did have consciousness, that person needs medical staff… not me.”
His hair fell messily over his furrowed brow. Eunhong raised his hand to brush back Jaeha’s hair. Jaeha forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“Grandfather sending me here was just his greed. I… don’t like it.”
Eunhong felt a heaviness in his heart at the low, strained voice. Though he too was distant, having never spent proper time with his father, the emotions he held were different in texture from Jaeha’s. At least when Eunhong had received the news that his father didn’t have much time left, while he may not have felt deep sorrow, he did feel affection.
The darkness that he had only guessed at from occasional glances now, when finally confronted, made him feel pain as well. Since his manifestation, he could even feel emotions through Jaeha’s pheromones, which made it more painful. It was a distance from parents that was difficult for him to imagine. Eunhong didn’t know what words of comfort to offer, so he just bit his lip.
Just as guilt was starting to rise for being merely curious and feeling hurt, Jaeha pulled Eunhong close and embraced him deeply. He buried his face in Eunhong’s neck, bending his back, and held him as if to crush him. Eunhong fumbled to grasp Jaeha’s shoulders and habitually looked around. The day was too bright.
“What are you looking around for? You need to heal me. Quickly.”
“What… what do you mean quickly, what am I supposed to do?”
Eunhong, who had opened his eyes wide, chuckled at the mention of healing. A small joy blossomed within him, feeling that Jaeha was emotionally relying on him, that he was somehow being helpful.
“I’m fortunate to have you. I don’t need anything between us. Don’t worry about my father. He’s someone I won’t be seeing anymore.”
Releasing his arms that had tightly embraced Eunhong, Jaeha showed a picture-perfect smile. As if he had truly received healing, the painful expression that had briefly appeared was washed away, and he returned to the familiar face that Eunhong knew. The hand pulling Eunhong was firm.
Eunhong couldn’t completely agree with the words not to worry. His mind was filled with awkward concerns, but for now, there was no option but to carefully put them aside. He could only nod.
***
“We should come here when it’s warm.”
In front of a deserted alley, Jaeha repeated the same words. Every shop in the alley had a sign that read “Closed” attached to it. Along with bright messages inviting visitors to meet in summer. The only open store was a small supermarket selling necessities. Jaeha, who had been looking for a decent restaurant, expressed his reluctance.
Eventually, the two decided to cook dinner themselves and selected various ingredients at the supermarket. The single open store had such meager supplies that they could barely manage to make pasta. Jaeha, with his brow deeply furrowed, scrutinized the expiration dates of the food items. Eunhong unnecessarily kept an eye on the store owner. With the town being on vacation all winter, it truly was a romantic yet inconvenient neighborhood.
Still, the path toward their lodging was quite scenic. Even in January, the short trees with lemons hanging abundantly in every corner made it refreshing. The scent of grass mingled with the strong aroma of lemons.
Eunhong casually remarked while unwrapping a lemon candy they had just bought and putting it in his mouth:
“I heard that story too. They say you can only call someone a friend if you spend the winter together here.”
“Who says that?”
Jaeha, who had been nodding, suddenly stepped back and asked with a prim expression:
“Who asked to be your friend?”
“The owner of a wine shop I went into while touring alone told me. He wasn’t a bad person to be so wary of. The wine he gave me to taste was delicious too… If you had met him, you would know, he had a clean impression and spoke in a pure manner. He even raises sheep on his farm. I wanted to see the sheep…”
“What kind of pure person gives out free alcohol?”
Eunhong raised an eyebrow, finding it absurd. Then what about you? When he teased Jaeha, asking why he always gave him free alcohol, Jaeha pouted his lips and smiled. Exchanging such trivial chatter, they arrived at their lodging.
The two-story accommodation had the kitchen and dining room on the first floor, while the bedroom and bathroom were all on the second floor. Jaeha sent Eunhong upstairs, saying he would prepare dinner alone. Even when Eunhong offered to help, he insisted that he shower first.
Finally unable to persuade Jaeha, Eunhong went upstairs but checked his phone before showering. He opened the message window that was full of notifications. His pocket had been vibrating for a while, and he was certain it was Sunhong, so he had been ignoring it.
Most of the messages were, as expected, from Sunhong and his mother. It seemed they had just seen and were responding to the village photos he had sent to the family chat room earlier in the day. The responses to the artistically shot photos he had sent were:
[Nice.] [The sea is so beautiful.] [I should go there someday too.] [Eat lots of delicious food. When will workaholic Mr. Ham ever go that far again?] And so on, but the last message provoked Eunhong.
[But I’ve been wanting to say this for days now – why aren’t there any photos of Mr. Jaeha? Did you actually go alone? lolololololol]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
