“…Is, is this really for me?”
Such a big, pretty bouquet is really mine? Can I really accept this? Woongju looked back at Woonghee several times.
“Yeah, it’s for you.”
Woongju clenched and unclenched her fists. Was she sweating a lot from nervousness? Swish swish, she rubbed her fists on her clothes several times before hugging the bouquet.
“Th, thank you…”
Her white face hid completely behind the splendid bouquet. When it came to shyness, Woonghee and Woongju were one and the same.
“You must have had a hard time coming. Shall we move to a more comfortable place?”
The man personally opened the back door of the car and escorted her. Woongju quickly climbed in like a squirrel running in a wheel.
“Yes, yes…”
The large vehicle smoothly slid onto the road. Woongju’s eyes grew as big as marbles as she looked around swiftly.
“I’ve only seen cars like this in movies… It’s really amazing. Crazy. It’s just like Batman’s car.”
Her bob cut hair swayed softly as she busily looked around the long interior of the car.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to sit in a place like this. I’m worried the leather seats might wear out for no reason.”
Excited Woongju spoke whatever came to mind. While hugging the bouquet preciously as if it were a baby.
“It’s okay to be comfortable.”
It was a picture of Managing Director Gi and Woongju together. What an insanely awkward two-shot. Woonghee, who originally wasn’t good with words, became even more awkward and just fidgeted in his seat. Managing Director Gi smiled softly and led a comfortable atmosphere by making appropriate conversation.
“How was the flight? I heard the in-flight meal is quite delicious.”
“Yes, it was so delicious I wanted to ask for more, but I couldn’t because I was afraid it would be a nuisance.”
As Woongju hesitantly and carefully attached her words, the man whispered softly as if secretly revealing a secret.
“Me too. Especially the peanuts there are delicious, you know.”
“Oh, yes, right, the peanuts! Those were really delicious.”
“You like those? There are some here too.”
When the man pressed a button placed beside him, the glove box smoothly rose up. Then it split open in two like a belly opening. The man pulled out lots of peanuts from inside and handed them to Woongju.
“Right, these! Wow, how did you happen to have these?”
Saying it was really so amazing, Woongju received them with shining eyes.
“I might spill them, so I should eat them after we arrive.”
“It’s okay, even if you spill a little.”
The man shrugged his shoulders then boldly ripped open the packaging. He shook them onto his large palm and fed them little by little to Jjokko on his lap. Patter, powder spilled onto his suit pants, but he had an attitude like it didn’t matter what happened.
“You just eat them, you know.”
Then he also shook his fist toward his own mouth. At that utterly unpretentious appearance, Woonghee was almost shocked inside. How did the man have the peanuts Woongju ate on the plane? No matter how he looked at it, it was a strange picture. While Woonghee was glaring at the man with suspicious eyes, he secretly winked.
“Then, then shall I try eating some too?”
Woongju, who didn’t know what was going on, carefully tore open the packaging. Crunch crunch, she ate the peanuts obediently. Being careful in case she spilled.
“Oppa, try some too. It must be famous.”
Since she offered to Woonghee too, Woonghee also put a little in his mouth. It had a very sweet and savory taste. As expected, it absolutely couldn’t be the man’s taste. Innocent Woongju, who didn’t know anything, became completely happy and opened the car window.
“The weather is so nice…!”
Woongju’s bangs flew like puppy fur.
The humid smell of grass unique to Southeast Asia hit them strongly. The clear blue sky, even the palm trees with plump fruits hanging in clusters. The green leaves sparkled in the sunlight. They gently waved their hands like green waves.
Soon the car stopped. Swoosh, the door opened as if sliding like a sled. At the hotel lobby that was revealed, Woongju stopped breathing for a moment.
“Haa…”
It was no different from a palace where an emperor might stay. The lights were sparkling enchantingly like a Christmas tree. A sweet fragrance wafted, and soft carpet was laid out.
On the long dining table was placed a large basket. Mangoes and coconuts, bananas and so on, sweet fruits were plentifully waiting for them.
It was an interior that even Woonghee, who should be familiar with his hotels, was surprised by. Just how much did he decorate because Woongju was coming? They sat at the dining table with a nice view overlooking the emerald sea. The man pulled out a chair for Woongju and escorted her to the end.
“Since we’re in Cebu, we should eat fruit. Do you like sweet things?”
“Ah, I eat anything well, I like everything…!”
“Woongju likes meat, she’s a carnivorous dinosaur.”
When Woonghee added a word from the side, the man chuckled. He frowned one eyebrow with eyes that wanted to kiss right away, then continued speaking as if nonchalant.
“You two even have similar tastes, I was tactless.”
“Ah, oppa, why are you like that!!”
Woongju’s face turned red as she said no, clenching her fist energetically saying she could even chew and eat a desk.
“Since you haven’t met in a long time, you’ll have a lot to talk about, so I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
The man who smiled like a very kind and gentle gentleman said he had somewhere to urgently make a call and excused himself for a moment.
Only after the heavy shoe sounds disappeared did Woongju’s blocked breath burst out with a pop. Really, with an expression like she was dreaming, she slid down from the chair, swoosh.
“Oppa…”
It was an enchanted look somehow. She had completely fallen for Gi Junhyuk wearing his perfect mask. In just 30 minutes at that. As expected, whether human or beast, this outer appearance was important.
“What is this, I still can’t believe it.”
At that, Woonghee was relieved. That was because Gi Junhyuk was a man who didn’t know where he’d jump. What if he did something unexpected in front of Woongju? He’d been frozen stiff, but it was all unnecessary worry. The man was a natural-born actor.
“It feels like I’ve entered a fairy tale.”
Whatever was so amazing and fun, Woongju went around looking at the room while bouncing around as if she’d come to an amusement park. She was like a hamster gifted a new house. At the vivid sounds of admiration bursting from here and there, Woonghee also smiled slightly.
“Is it that amazing?”
She looked into the large bathroom, admired the chandelier, stuck right to the window and looked at the sea…
“Try this bread while it’s warm too. It’s incredibly delicious.”
Woonghee carefully tore the bread that had been placed on the table along the grain. White steam scattered warmly. Woongju, who took a bite of bread, let out a soft exclamation.
“It’s so hot, but it melts in my mouth… Like a cloud. It’s so soft and delicious, oppa eat quickly too.”
Chomp chomp, Woongju stuffed lots of desserts into her small cheeks. He was freely admiring her face like a hamster swollen with happiness. When Woongju seemed like she would stop while sneaking glances, Woonghee also pretended to eat heartily. Only then did Woongju eat desserts at ease.
“I’m really glad oppa seems to be doing well, I was really worried a lot.”
At that, Woonghee smiled softly. Woongju didn’t know at all. What Woonghee had gone through, who died, what kind of end that guy Tula met. Just, to Woongju, Woonghee was only a mermaid princess rescued by a prince on a white horse.
“I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, I was worried so I prayed to mom and dad every night, please let oppa come back healthy.”
“…Woongju.”
Woonghee lightly bit his dry lips.
“Now if you get the beta shot you wanted, everything will be achieved, right? Did you get it well yesterday?”
At the words “beta shot” that popped out, Woonghee’s actions stopped abruptly. Woongju firmly believed that Woonghee had gotten the beta shot. Of course she did. Because he had been enduring life as if he lived only for that. Really foolishly, like a dimwit bastard.
As Woonghee silently bit the inside of his cheek hard, Woongju raised her eyes as if wondering.
“Oppa, what’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
“Oppa just, decided to remain in this state.”
Woonghee strangely averted his gaze. Because an inexplicable sorry feeling surged up. After making such a fuss about coming all the way to the Philippines. Then going through that dog-like hardship on the island, causing so much worry to his only family, and ultimately achieving nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh? What are you sorry about?”
Woonghee fidgeted. Hoo hoo, he blew air to make his bangs fly and trembled his legs. Without realizing it, he also bit his nails for no reason. At that anxious-looking appearance, Woongju placed her hands on both hips.
“Oppa, you don’t know this.”
It was an uncharacteristically firm voice for Woongju. Just moments ago she’d been like a baby smiling so brightly at one piece of bread. What didn’t he know? Sometimes Woongju would sharply dig into the essence more than Woonghee.
“After mom and dad passed away… From then on, you said it constantly.”
Right, just like now, Woongju was pulling out that beginning that even Woonghee didn’t know.
“The words that you must become a beta.”
Woonghee couldn’t continue speaking. He couldn’t bring himself to continue. Could it be that Woongju also already knew? The guilt that had been clinging like rotten moss inside Woonghee.
Even when he tried to forget, it announced its presence every time he breathed. Even when he struggled, it spread finely, and even when he tried to peel it off with his hands, it clung stickily like thread. It was an uncomfortable weight he carried without knowing.
It had now become a piece of Woonghee. Something that couldn’t be removed.
“Oppa, you know what.”
Was her throat blocked? Woongju bit her lips several times, then released them. Woonghee tried to pick up the coconut drink beside him to give her.
But Woongju shook her head slightly. While wearing a smile on the corners of her lips.
“In my life…”
“……”
“There wasn’t a single time I wasn’t proud of oppa.”
Not knowing whether oppa was dead or alive. Clutching my phone waiting only for news of oppa, I was so sorry I couldn’t tell you that, I really regretted it a lot. I wished I could meet oppa just once more, thinking that because of me oppa couldn’t even die peacefully made me feel like I’d really go crazy.
“Woongju, I’m sorry, …really sorry.”
“It’s okay, you came back so it’s fine. I’m really happy now, really. Even without eating this kind of bread, without riding nice cars, without coming to wonderful hotels, I was really happy.”
Saying she’s even happier now, Woongju smiled with effort while closing her eyes. The white complexion saying those words really seemed to have no anxiety. While he was gone, Woongju had grown this much. Woonghee felt somehow like his nose was stinging.
“I wanted to brag to everyone around that our oppa filmed a bike scene in a really famous movie, and also received a casting offer to appear in season 2, but I barely held back.”
In Woongju’s large eyes smiling broadly, tears welled up.
“So now, please, couldn’t you live for yourself, oppa?”
Woongju rubbed her eyes with her fist. Even while wiping away tears, Woongju spoke energetically, firmly.
“I don’t want to become oppa’s dream.”
Right, perhaps Woonghee had been trying to wash away his guilt while making the excuse that it was for Woongju.
He believed that only that guilt was the support holding him up. He felt like he’d collapse if he let go of it. Other thoughts, other desires couldn’t dare enter even a corner of his mind.
“Oppa must have something you really want too.”
“What I want…?”
Woonghee was very unfamiliar with looking into his own desires. Because he’d extremely rarely had possessions, possessiveness, or any greed. What do I really want?
Then Woonghee felt a piercing gaze from somewhere and moved his eyes.
Beyond the window, on the balcony, a man was standing. Biting a cigarette, looking only at him and smiling like the vast sea.
Right, that man. The thing Woonghee wanted first.
It was Gi Junhyuk.
And…
“Wasn’t there anything in your life even once where you thought ‘this is it’? Like being crazily thrilling, or feeling like your chest is bursting open, or feeling alive!”
There was something that naturally came to Woonghee’s mind. It was when he rode a motorcycle. When he dangerously hung on a wire while spinning in the air and took risks, Woonghee felt like he’d thrown off the restraints that bound him to the world. A sense of liberation like his head would explode pierced through Woonghee.
‘I feel like I’ll fly through the sky like this…!’
He thought it was work he had no choice but to do just to make money. He thought it was only that.
…Right, in truth Woonghee liked that work.
‘I liked it when Lee Woonghee-ssi fainted. I liked how you’d faint when I tried to step on you, and struggle when I tried to crush you.’
He thought it might be bullshit spouted to lure him out, but even chewing it over a million times, that taste was love.
“You’re going to get married, right?”
Woongju’s eyes were on Woonghee’s hand. As if she was all excited, Woongju smiled shyly. Woonghee knew it was time to finally give a clear answer.
“Yeah.”
After admitting it like that, his heart felt very refreshed. Even in the midst of this, his skin felt ticklishly itchy for no reason, like feathers would sprout from his chest.
“That’s good, they seem like someone who really loves oppa.”
Scratch scratch, did a bug bite him? He tried scratching his chest for no reason, but the ticklish itchiness didn’t easily disappear.
