“Should we then? Will you contact her, hyung?”
“No.”
“Then should I do it?”
“No.”
“…Hyung?”
“We’re not contacting her. This is a surprise visit.”
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah. What’s wrong with it?”
Baek Iseon slightly lifted the corners of his mouth and wore a devious-looking smile.
“Baek Huiseon… What on earth has she been doing lately… She even prevented her own brother from coming to the studio…”
“…Hyung.”
“Ahaha… Hahahaha!”
Jang Juwon shook his head. And he apologized to Baek Huiseon in his heart in advance.
Stealthily, Baek Iseon approached the door with careful steps. He said this was a surprise visit. Although he reluctantly agreed, at this moment Jang Juwon hoped that he and himself would look like unrelated people. So he stood back a bit and looked at Baek Iseon with eyes that seemed to ask if this was really okay.
Soon Baek Iseon grabbed the handle and slowly pulled it so as not to make a sound. Through the gradually opening space, the interior of the studio was revealed.
In the studio where they naturally thought Baek Huiseon would be alone, there was a guest who had arrived first. It was someone both Baek Iseon and Jang Juwon knew well.
“Fuck, Shin…”
“Hyung! Wait a moment.”
Jang Juwon grabbed the hem of Baek Iseon’s clothes as he was about to barge in recklessly. That action had the purpose of protecting his friend, but actually, more than that, it was because he somehow felt like they were invading a forbidden territory.
To that extent, the scene visible through the slightly open door gap and the world where he and Baek Iseon were standing now seemed to exude an atmosphere as if they were different dimensions.
“Jang Juwon…”
“Shh.”
Baek Iseon, whose excitement had subsided, also acknowledged that this wasn’t an atmosphere for him to butt in and took a step back.
The two held their breath and peered into the studio through the crack in the door. Even though they felt they shouldn’t be watching this secret scene that somehow felt even sacred, they couldn’t tear their eyes away.
Baek Huiseon was taking photos of Shin Jisu with her camera. After several shutter sounds, she lowered the camera. Her previously hidden face was revealed. Baek Huiseon had the face of someone about to cry at any moment.
“Jisu-ya.”
She called her lover’s name. That voice carried a melancholy energy somewhere within it, too much to be called affection.
“You, you ruined everything……”
“……”
Baek Huiseon’s small shoulders began to tremble.
“When I photograph you, things that shouldn’t be captured in photos keep getting captured……”
Finally, she sank helplessly to the floor. Shin Jisu approached her and gently stroked her shoulders with her hands.
“What is it……?”
Baek Huiseon raised her head. The moment their eyes met, the other two people also saw clearly. As well as the emotions contained in the exchanged gazes.
“Love.”
Finally, tears flowed from Baek Huiseon’s eyes. Shin Jisu embraced her tightly.
“I love you too.”
Shin Jisu buried her cheek against the top of her head.
That was as far as it went. That was as far as the scene the two men could watch. Anything beyond this was truly an inviolable territory. Jang Juwon hurriedly closed the door and pulled Baek Iseon back.
“Hyung, hyung.”
“Uh…… uh……?”
Baek Iseon answered with a blank face while backing away. He seemed to have lost his soul.
“Snap out of it!”
“Uh…… uh……”
“Hyung?”
“……”
“Hey, Baek Iseon?”
“Uh, uh……”
“You’ve completely lost it.”
“Uh……”
Jang Juwon grabbed Baek Iseon’s arm and took him to a nearby flower bed and sat him down. Then he used shock therapy that could bring his runaway spirit back.
Smack. He kissed his slightly parted lips. Then he caught sight of Baek Iseon’s mouth corners twitching.
“Are you lucid now?”
“No, not yet. I think I’ll come to if you do it one more time.”
“You’ve come to your senses.”
Jang Juwon chuckled and stroked his head. But Baek Iseon had returned to a gloomy expression once again.
“Would it be solved if we got rid of Shin Jisu?”
“Then the author would be sad, wouldn’t she?”
“That’s…… not acceptable……”
“Come on, let’s not interfere and go too.”
“Yeah……”
Jang Juwon stood Baek Iseon up and pulled his hand along. Looking at Baek Iseon who was obediently following along as he led, he asked worriedly.
“Can you drive?”
“Yeah, well……”
“I’ll do it, move over.”
“Yeah……”
Jang Juwon stuffed Baek Iseon into the passenger seat and sat in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel. Focus, Jang Juwon. He’d told him to come to his senses, but Jang Juwon’s mind was equally confused.
‘Love.’
‘I love you too.’
That scene, those voices wouldn’t leave his head. What did Baek Huiseon think while capturing Shin Jisu inside the lens? And how did Shin Jisu feel watching Baek Huiseon looking at the result, speaking of love with a trembling voice?
No, actually it was self-evident. It was love.
He glanced through the rearview mirror at Baek Iseon, who was still staring out the window with a blank face. Love, huh. He’d already loved him for a long time. And he also knew that he felt the same way. However, the two had never once spoken of love to each other.
“……”
He tried to just go for it while he was at it, but his mouth wouldn’t open. Why? It wasn’t even a particularly difficult word. He just needed to spit out three syllables. I love you. Somehow it felt awkward and embarrassing. But he should say it…… Say it…… He wanted to let Baek Iseon hear it…… And if he heard those words, Baek Iseon would immediately give him the same answer. Jang Juwon smiled softly while spreading the wings of imagination alone. However, the problem was that those words wouldn’t naturally pop out right now.
Just then, a very good idea flashed in Jang Juwon’s head. If it was hard to say, he could show it. Like Baek Huiseon had, through photographs. He would surely notice the emotions captured in the photos. What kind of eyes he was using to capture him, what kind of feelings he was pressing the shutter with.
“Hyung, I want to take photos of you.”
“What? This pervert……”
“……What on earth are you thinking……”
“You’re going to do this and that to me to take weird photos!”
“That’s not it? Normally, I’ll take them normally!”
“Tsk……”
Jang Juwon turned the steering wheel roughly. For a moment, he did feel the impulse to do this and that to Baek Iseon to take weird photos. It would probably be quite a sight…… But now was the time when even he needed to come to his senses.
“So are you going to take them or not?”
“I’ll take them. When are you going to take them?”
“Now.”
“……Now?”
“Yeah, now.”
Jang Juwon swallowed his dry saliva once. He thought it was too sudden a proposal after all. But if not now, it felt like the heart he’d barely resolved would disappear.
“Well…… Okay, fine.”
Baek Iseon seemed slightly flustered but fortunately didn’t show any signs of dislike.
“Then…… I know a good place, shall we go there?”
“Where is it?”
“There’s a reed field by a stream in the suburbs, and since it’s summer now, the green will be really pretty. It’s a place people don’t really know about, so there aren’t many people around either.”
“Not many people around……”
“Yes.”
