The airport, always bustling in all seasons, was filled with diverse crowds. Young people unable to hide their excitement before departing on trips, foreigners of various races visiting Korea for business, families of tourists. The airport was a place where all these people gathered together and radiated healthy energy.
Euiju checked his luggage and stood in line for boarding procedures. Thinking it would be a boring wait, he mindlessly stared straight ahead.
However.
“Ahem.”
Euiju cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his head.
It was because the woman standing in front of him kept looking at him.
“……”
“……”
The stylish woman who appeared to be in her late twenties kept glancing at Euiju behind her, obviously giving him her attention. She would pretend to look elsewhere while deliberately turning around, or keep glancing while pretending to focus on a phone call. As the wait time grew longer, the woman looked at Euiju quite blatantly.
Embarrassed by their gazes constantly meeting, Euiju checked the time on his wristwatch.
「18:47」
It was the time when Haeseong would be in the middle of filming.
Normally, he could have avoided this awkward situation thanks to Haeseong bothering him with phone calls, but since he was filming, that wasn’t possible.
“We will begin boarding.”
The flight attendant’s voice flowed through the speaker. Euiju, who had been breaking into a cold sweat, let out a sigh of relief. Following the flight attendant’s guidance, he slowly boarded the plane.
“……”
“Hello. We meet again?”
He kept entering the same area as the woman, and sure enough, it was the seat right next to his.
Euiju, who had taken the window seat first, was momentarily flustered. Soon he returned the greeting with an awkward smile.
“Hello.”
All the other seats were in groups of three, but the seat where Euiju sat happened to have only two seats. An awkward and embarrassing atmosphere flowed.
“What brings you to Jeju Island?”
The woman asked with a curious face.
“I’m going for work.”
“Really? I’m going to see my dad after a long time. He said he missed his daughter and even cried.”
“…I see.”
When Euiju showed no intention of continuing the conversation, it was cut off abruptly. The woman continued to send interested glances, but Euiju pretended not to notice, leaned his head against the backrest, and closed his eyes.
The sunset visible beyond the airplane window colored the interior orange.
Yesterday, the words he had blurted out as he thought during the phone call were conveyed to Haeseong on the other end, impossible to take back.
—I miss you. Haeseong-ah.
Euiju had really missed Haeseong at the time. No, to be accurate, it would be more correct to say he wanted to hug him.
Haeseong’s childhood, ignored by everyone, was full of wounds. Although he had expected it, Haeseong had grown up in too harsh an environment—used as a money-maker by his aunt, abandoned by his father, and raised alone in his mother’s indifference.
He thought it didn’t make sense. He didn’t think his own life was particularly smooth either, but still, he had a sister to rely on, lovely younger siblings. He had support, and he had the driving force to endure.
But for Haeseong?
The child had been alone all his life. He couldn’t understand how the background of an actor who received so much love could be so miserable. This country was crawling with people who loved and praised Haeseong’s unrealistic appearance. However, there wasn’t a single adult by that child’s side who looked into the child’s true feelings and soothed his wounds.
—Don’t hate me. This is a warning.
What he had said in the past while breaking the vase was called a warning, but it wasn’t a warning. It was just a desperate cry. Asking to keep looking at him, to take care of him, not to leave, to keep giving him affection like now.
—That friend seems to like you a lot. From what I saw, he seems to rely on you tremendously. It’s really funny that a fully grown kid asks to sleep together. He doesn’t look like that type at all. Is he actually a very lonely kid? Or how else could he act so desperately?
Even Euiyeon, who had only seen Haeseong for just one day, reached that conclusion, so that said it all.
Whoosh—.
He felt the fuselage shaking. The landing gear touched the ground and rolled rapidly. When Euiju opened his closed eyes, the surroundings outside the window had become dark.
It was when he was unbuckling his belt and trying to gather his luggage.
“Excuse me, would you give me your number?”
Grin. The woman, equipped with a confident and charming smile, spoke to Euiju. Her posture was completely leaning toward Euiju as if she had been waiting for him to open his eyes.
In fact, there were many people of the opposite sex who approached him frequently. However, given the situation he was in, there was no way he could dare accept. At first, it would be a lie to say there was no excitement, but as time passed, he came to think that such emotions were not something he dared to covet, and his interest gradually faded. When he was so busy just surviving, where would he have the leisure to focus on other things through romance?
“I’m sorry. I’m not in a situation where I can meet anyone.”
Euiju politely greeted her and firmly expressed his refusal. The woman’s face, which had been holding out her phone, filled with disappointment. Euiju, who deliberately left her behind, quickly exited the airport.
More time had been delayed than expected. Arriving at the hotel where Haeseong was staying, Euiju looked around the long corridor, confirmed no one was there, and started running. After arriving in front of the guest room, he placed the hotel key he had received in advance on the door lock. When a cheerful mechanical sound rang out, Euiju quickly opened the door.
“Haeseong-ah!”
Haeseong was sitting on the living room sofa with a clear view of the entrance, his legs crossed, memorizing his script. At the sound of someone calling him, Haeseong jumped up.
“……”
“……”
For a moment, their gazes entangled here and there in mid-air. Without further delay, Haeseong ran to Euiju, who was standing dazed. In an instant, their bodies became entangled as one.
Although Euiju had intended to run and hug him first, as always, Haeseong rushed at him first. Euiju chuckled and put strength into the hands that embraced his back.
“Our Haeseong is a baby. Did you miss ahjussi that much?”
Haeseong rubbed his face against Euiju’s nape as if he wouldn’t let go. Knowing that his actions were embarrassing and shameful, he mumbled with his mouth pressed against Euiju’s shoulder.
“…You said you’d hug me for as long as we didn’t see each other.”
“What?”
The words he had said when hugging Roun in the past had come back like this.
“Puhahahaha—!”
In fact, those words only applied to babies, so his laughter burst out. Haeseong turned his earlobes bright red in embarrassment. Only after laughing for a while did Euiju, who had removed his laughter, lower his head and whisper in Haeseong’s ear.
“That’s right. Actually, I ran here to do that.”
He buried his nose in Haeseong’s fragrant hair. As he rubbed around feeling good, he felt Haeseong’s body stiffen. He wondered if he disliked it, but seeing the strength enter the hand embracing his waist, Euiju concluded that he liked it.
It was a truly peaceful and affectionate reunion.
***
The drama <Basalt> was a beautiful and refreshing drama set against the backdrop of Jeju’s beach in midsummer. Because it was a short drama consisting of four episodes, there were extremely few cast members appearing in it, and the number of staff was also small.
At 2 PM when the sun shone its light at right angles, Sehwa-ri Beach.
‘Taeyang’ running barefoot against the backdrop of the wide horizon and the retriever ‘Wood’ ran at full speed on the sandy beach, competing with each other. Then, when Taeyang dipped his feet in the sea drawing white foam, Wood, who had been chasing after him, entrusted his body to the seawater following his owner. His soft brown fur loosely spread following the waves.
With his more elongated appearance wearing only a white T-shirt and blue shorts, Haeseong’s looks were so intense they shone even from a distance. His face was pale white as he laughed happily while playing with the puppy, but a redness circled both cheeks, and the moisture hanging on his eyelashes sparkled like jewels. When his flawlessly and splendidly sculpted face was captured on camera, it created an indescribably beautiful image.
Haeseong right now was, literally, the embodiment of a boy exuding clarity and freshness.
“He’ll definitely get an ion drink commercial.”
“At this level, it’s just a free pass.”
The coordinator watching from the side burst into laughter while chatting with the staff.
Euiju, who had been watching Haeseong act with composure, couldn’t help but be surprised by a different point.
It was because Haeseong handled the dog better than expected.
“Come here!”
When Haeseong gestured, Wood rushed over and was caught in Haeseong’s arms. Standing on his hind legs, his build was more impressive than expected, but now Haeseong also had a height that wasn’t far behind. His face was tiny, but Haeseong had grown another 1 cm in the meantime, reaching 174 cm. Now, an undeniably masculine energy really flowed from him.
“Cut, cut! That was great!”
Simultaneously with Director Lee Youngjun’s shout, the coordinator rushed to Haeseong. Haeseong, instantly wrapped in a large towel, walked quickly to where Euiju was. Euiju, who had been waiting inside the temporarily set up parasol, quickly prepared a chair. Haeseong plopped down.
“Did I do well?”
The coordinator, who was quickly fixing Haeseong’s makeup, smiled at that question. Previously, every single makeup correction process had been like walking on thin ice, but it was different when Euiju was beside him. The youngest coordinator worked with a much more comfortable expression, able to easily wipe away sweat and make corrections.
“Don’t you like dogs? You did too well.”
“I hate them. They smell.”
For someone who said that, he seemed to handle the dog too well.
Euiju, who had been fanning for a while to cool Haeseong’s sweat, also grabbed his outer clothes and flapped them, seemingly hot. Since they had to enter filming again soon, they couldn’t go to a car with blasting air conditioning.
That’s when it happened.
“Oh my, who is this!”
A sudden commotion arose where the director was. A young woman approached the director. Since it was a rented location with permission, no one who wasn’t involved could enter, but judging from Director Lee Youngjun’s reaction, she seemed to be someone he knew.
However, her appearance was too familiar to Euiju’s eyes.
“Ah.”
That person is…
“Daughter. How long has it been! Huh?”
The woman running to Director Lee Youngjun and greeting him with a bright face had an appearance and atmosphere that was too different from when he met her yesterday. Her long straight hair had nice curls as if she had dressed up nicely, pretty sunglasses were nicely placed on top of her head, and her light and natural outfit created a cool and fresh atmosphere. She was still a charming woman.
“Where are you looking?”
When Euiju stared intently at the woman, Haeseong grabbed Euiju’s wrist unpleasantly.
“Ah, I think I saw her briefly yesterday.”
Euiju pulled out his caught wrist and patted Haeseong’s shoulder. He raised his head again.
The woman was looking this way. Euiju’s and her gazes met in mid-air.
