# Chapter 104
Several days passed, and we returned to the peaceful emotions we had before. We comforted each other saying that we were just being sensitive back then, and forced smiles.
“Let’s go now. It’s almost time for the train.”
“Yes. I’ve finished my preparations too.”
Having prepared for our trip, we left the house carrying heavy bags.
My hometown was about 10 hours away from Montreal. We thought about taking a plane from Montreal airport to the airport near my hometown, but even then, the time it would take was similar.
In the end, we decided to rent a car nearby and go on a short trip.
Fortunately, there was a large car rental company not far from our house. Woosang chose a car he liked and informed the employee, who filled out something on the papers and left his seat, telling us to wait in the office.
Woosang looked at the closed door and said in a small voice.
“Teo wouldn’t have a driver’s license… I’ll drive.”
“I don’t have a license, but I drive well.”
“…I’m sure you do. But since this is someone else’s car, I’ll drive for now.”
“Alright.”
Just as the conversation ended, right on cue, the door opened and the employee returned.
“Here’s your ID.”
The rental car company employee handed over the necessary documents along with the ID he had taken.
And he immediately explained the precautions to take while driving, but Woosang asked him to repeat several times due to the man’s strong Quebec accent and manner of speaking.
“Do you perhaps speak English?”
“Ah, I’m not very good at English…”
“Would you explain it to me?”
I, who had been listening quietly, interrupted and asked. The employee said it was fortunate and quickly explained to me about insurance and the date to return the vehicle.
Actually, since it was an area I wasn’t familiar with, I understood the words but not the content itself, but I thought I could just explain it to Woosang as it was.
“Then we’ll see you again in four days.”
“Yes, thank you. Take care.”
After handing over the car key and briefly looking in the direction where he disappeared, I got into the passenger seat. Woosang also got into the car right away, but he just touched the steering wheel with a somewhat dazed expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was quietly listening to Teo speaking beside me, and honestly, I didn’t understand about half of it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If I had been alone, I probably would have been confused. I feel reassured with Teo here.”
“…”
Woosang asked me to explain what I had heard, so I eagerly recited what I remembered from what I had heard.
There were words I was confused about too, but after explaining a few times, Woosang seemed to understand, nodding his head and starting the car.
To be reassured because of me. Somehow, Woosang’s words made me feel like my insides were tightly filled. Had I ever been someone who was helpful to him?
I had always been a burden to him, never someone he could lean on.
Due to that brief comment from Woosang, my insides churned, and countless thoughts flashed by. Fearing that my emotions might be revealed, I turned my gaze to the window outside and grabbed my trembling lips.
“Tell me if you want to take a break in the middle. Since we don’t have any particular schedule anyway, we can go slowly.”
“…I will.”
Woosang seemed puzzled that I wasn’t looking at him and glanced at me occasionally while driving, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him in the end.
Surely if it were Woosang, he would immediately see through my heart. That’s why I didn’t want to look at him now.
Because I didn’t want to show that I was easily swept away by his brief words.
***
“What would you like to eat for dinner?”
“Hmm…”
Having departed in the morning and driven for a while, we moved leisurely, taking breaks in between. Although we hadn’t been delayed enough to be significantly late, perhaps due to the unfamiliar roads and scenery, it became night just as we approached our destination.
Woosang seemed tired from the long drive, loosening his grip on the steering wheel and leaning back against the seat.
“Let’s eat whatever Woosang wants. You must be tired from driving all day.”
“That’s true, but…”
The surroundings, which until just now had only roads and trees, began to change little by little. Ordinary houses and old, shabby-looking stores.
With scenery that was clearly different from Montreal, I lowered the window and eagerly scanned everything passing by.
“Since it’s a small town, I don’t think we’ll have many options. Look. There aren’t many stores in sight.”
“You’re right.”
Just this morning, we were crossing between skyscrapers that seemed to pierce the sky, but the city we arrived at had only similar-height old buildings lined up, as if everything had stopped in the past.
Woosang turned the steering wheel, entered what looked like a restaurant area, and parked in front of a restaurant that seemed relatively clean.
“This place looks okay. Is pizza alright?”
“Yes. Anything is fine.”
Getting out of the car, I stretched a little. After being crumpled inside the car all day, my waist and neck felt stiff, as if someone had forcefully gripped them.
Moreover, although I hadn’t been conscious of it, as soon as I stepped in front of the store, I felt a crazy hunger.
As we entered the restaurant smelling the greasy scent, a person who appeared to be an employee just stared blankly at the two of us. I carefully asked the man who was sending an intense gaze without saying a word.
“Hello. There are two of us, and we’d like to eat here.”
“Oh, sure. Sit anywhere.”
Woosang and I looked at each other at the casual speech that came naturally, then sat in an empty seat.
The employee brought us menus and stared at Woosang’s face. I looked at the employee too, feeling uncomfortable with the unpleasant gaze, but the man didn’t take his eyes off Woosang and asked.
“Where are you from?”
“Both my friend and I are from Montreal. We’re on our way to a hometown and stopped to rest because we were tired.”
I deliberately spoke in a stiff tone, cutting off my words. Only then did the man soften his expression at my words, took our order, and went into the kitchen.
“He seems concerned about two men wandering around in the middle of the night.”
Although I felt deeply uncomfortable with the employee’s attitude, Woosang acted as if it was nothing. Since it seemed like I was the only one tense here, I wondered if I had been too sharp.
I secretly looked at Woosang, who was looking outside the window while casually touching the tips of his hair.
“We’ll arrive tomorrow, how do you feel?”
“…?”
Woosang, who had made eye contact with me, asked.
How I feel, he asks. Being asked such a thing was just difficult for me. Because I was going there just feeling like someone was leading me, I hadn’t guessed what my true feelings were.
I shook my head slightly without meaning and slightly moistened my lips with the water in front of me.
“I still don’t know. Honestly, I don’t even realize that I’m in Canada now… I think I’ll know when I get there.”
“I see.”
“Yes.”
He watched what I was doing, resting his chin on his hand, as if he had something to say. Just as I was about to look at his slightly opening lips, the employee interrupted our conversation by bringing us food.
We thanked the employee and decided to finish our meal first.
“Is it good?”
“Yes, maybe because I’m hungry, it tastes good.”
“That’s good.”
Woosang, who was smiling as if he found something enjoyable, handed me a tissue, telling me to wipe my mouth. Somehow, he seemed to be enjoying this awkward and strange situation.
“No matter what we see when we arrive, just the fact that we came here together like this will make for a good memory. The pizza is delicious, and the atmosphere is nice.”
Is that so? I thought, looking down at the piece of pizza I had been eating hurriedly because I was hungry.
If so, that’s good. Just by the fact that he, who had worn a tired expression while driving for a long time, thought this time was okay, my long travel time also became beautified as if it had been happy.
I rolled my eyes to look around the inside of the old restaurant. The employee who had lost interest in us and was just watching TV after serving our food. The old man who had emptied his food and was just sipping his drink.
And the two of us who stood out.
At first, I thought it was an unpleasant place, but after hearing Woosang’s words, it certainly seemed like it would become a special memory.
And no matter what we see when we arrive at my hometown tomorrow, the memories within us will surely be recorded as not bad.
***
“We need to go that way.”
“Really? The road is narrow though…”
After spending a night in an unnamed city, we drove the car again as soon as the morning sun rose and arrived in the downtown area near the house where I used to live.
Whenever familiar buildings appeared in the passing scenery, for some reason, my limbs trembled finely, and I couldn’t keep my body still.
I couldn’t believe that I had returned here.
Who would have thought I would walk back on my own feet to this place with only terrible and malicious memories? Perhaps neither my uncle nor my parents would have imagined it.
We tried to enter the forest after passing through the tiny downtown, but the entrance was narrower than I remembered, making it difficult to enter easily.
Woosang hesitated, saying there might be scratches on the car, but after confirming there was no other way, he entered anyway.
“Is this okay? We’ll have to return the car…”
“We can pay for it. Don’t worry.”
“…”
Woosang, who was moving forward more actively than me, felt both unfamiliar and thankful. But because of that, I was only afraid of the scenery we would soon see.
The deeper we went, unlike outside the forest, the interior was covered with shallow fog. Fearing that the car might crash into a tree, Woosang turned on the headlights despite it being daytime and carefully examined the front.
After wandering like that for about 20 minutes, a small house flickered at the end of my sight.
I squinted to examine the somehow familiar shape of the house, but soon realized that it was the house where Oliver had lived, and my insides began to ache.
“…We’re almost there now. It’s a 10-minute walk past that house.”
“Then let’s park the car here and walk.”
Woosang carefully parked the car in an empty space and got out first.
Looking at his back, I gripped the seatbelt. Though I knew I should unbuckle the belt and go outside, thinking about what I would see next made me feel like my heart would jump out of my body at any moment.
I noticed my legs trembling slightly. My body seemed to have swallowed a lot of fear for what was to come.
As I resisted in the car for a long time without getting out, Woosang knocked on the passenger window.
Get out. His mouth shape was saying that. After hesitating for a moment, I caressed my trembling fingertips, unbuckled the belt, and got out of the car.
The outside held air that was incomparably clearer than the inside of the car.
“…”
“Shall we go?”
“…Yes.”
He asked with a peaceful expression as if nothing was wrong. But he too, though not as much as me, seemed somewhat tense, his face looking stiff.
Ironically, at that sight, I felt my tension easing a little.
With him swallowing nervousness on my behalf, it was clear that no matter what we saw next, it would be alright.
