# Chapter 137
– “Eunje.”
“Are you really confident you won’t break up with me?”
– “I am. I won’t break up with you even after death.”
Emotions come and go, so sadness, joy, anger, and pleasure are all temporary. Even love that promises eternity is no different; once you break up, it’s over. But because Mo Eunje didn’t want to lose Tae Igyeol, because he couldn’t lose him, he wanted to hear a definitive answer, even if it might be a futile promise.
– “Mo Eunje, I absolutely cannot break up with you.”
“Okay. Let’s try it. I don’t know what’s different between friends and lovers, but let’s try it.”
– “What about number 6?”
Mo Eunje knew Tae Igyeol would bring that up. Number 6 was about whether he could go against his parents’ expectations. That had been the biggest problem all along, and if not resolved clearly, it could become an obstacle again in the future. However, he still wasn’t confident about that part.
“I’ve been thinking realistically after talking with Grandmother, and I see you more often than the adults in my life. I see you more often and spend more time with you than with my mom and dad.”
– “…”
“We probably can’t hide it forever, but I’d like to keep it hidden for as long as possible.”
Like how Ban Hajun continued to lie to his parents about quitting acting to protect his credit cards, if they were careful, they could buy some time. Of course, he knew there are no eternal secrets, and as in Ban Hajun’s case, they would eventually be discovered.
Until now, he hadn’t been able to summon the courage because that moment seemed frightening, terrifying, and hopeless. But after looking honestly into his heart and realizing his life couldn’t be happy without Tae Igyeol, his mindset changed.
He had gained certainty about the one precious thing he absolutely couldn’t lose. He had been aware of what emotion this certainty stemmed from but had pretended not to know, and now he had to clearly acknowledge it.
– “I’ll just get permission as soon as we get back to Korea. You’ll be uncomfortable the whole time we’re hiding it.”
Tae Igyeol, who had said he didn’t care about the parents and wouldn’t pay attention to them, changed his stance the moment Mo Eunje opened his heart. Tae Igyeol still believed parental permission wasn’t necessary, but he made this decision solely to make Mo Eunje comfortable.
“…No. Even if we get permission, let’s do it after we return from vacation. Everyone has been looking forward to this vacation, and I can’t ruin that. So after the vacation, let’s get permission together.”
In reality, after returning from vacation, his avoidant tendencies might activate, causing him to postpone getting permission again and again, dragging out the time. Mo Eunje knew he was exactly that type of person. He had only been able to face Tae Igyeol’s feelings squarely after avoiding and evading until he was driven to the edge of a cliff, but if they spent their days happily loving each other, he would surely not want to create unnecessary waves on calm waters.
It was obvious he would study how to hide this love longer rather than seeking parental permission. He wanted to postpone the terrible situation as much as possible, even by such means.
However, as Tae Igyeol said, it was clear he wouldn’t be able to enjoy complete happiness without eliminating the guilt. So they couldn’t hide it forever. It was just a matter of timing; whether they liked it or not, they had to experience and overcome the big mountain of parental approval once.
– “How did you come to change your mind?”
“I wrote down the names of the ten people most precious to me, including my mom and dad. Then I crossed off one by one in the order of who I could live without, and when I saw the name that remained last…”
He had agonized fiercely until the end, choosing between his parents and Tae Igyeol. This choice was not just about who was precious to him but also about who would remain by his side until the end. But his mom had his dad, and his dad had his mom. Despite the deep conflict in his heart, the choice was made on a simple basis.
“It was you.”
There was a reason why in the article that suggested this method, all the experimenters had left their spouses, not their parents or children, until the last. Perhaps preciousness means someone who will be by your side for your entire life.
“I’m sorry for making it hard all this time.”
– “I miss you, Eunje.”
“Come right now. I want to come get you, but I’d have to break my savings to buy a plane ticket. Breaking savings that mature next month would be too villainous an act. I’ll just meet you at the airport.”
– “Yeah. I’ll check flight times right away.”
To come from New Orleans to Korea, he would need to transit once and spend at least 16 hours on the plane. Add to that the time for packing and going to the airport, and it would be a full day of waiting until his arrival.
Mo Eunje felt like reaching into his phone and pulling out Tae Igyeol, just as Lee Choyoung had said she felt while watching Jang Jiha’s live broadcast. He wondered why scientists hadn’t yet developed such technology, to the point of bewilderment.
– “The earliest is at 5:50.”
“How can you catch a flight that leaves in 30 minutes?”
– “There’s also a 7 o’clock flight.”
“Even that’s tight for packing, going to the airport, and checking in. Don’t push yourself; look for a time that’s realistically possible to board.”
Anxiety gradually clouded Tae Igyeol’s face as he checked flight times on his laptop. Given the distance, they couldn’t ignore the time required.
– “Then… there’s a flight at 11:11 AM. Oh, but this one lands in Korea at 5:30 PM two days later. The noon flight and 2:30 PM flight are all similar.”
“Since the transit times are all different, don’t look at the departure time, but check which one arrives in Korea the earliest.”
Mo Eunje, chewing his lips, was equally anxious. It wasn’t like Tae Igyeol would run off somewhere else, and it was just a matter of when he would arrive—a problem that time would solve—but there was no way to overcome the impatience.
– “Still, if I can’t catch the 7 AM flight now, whether I take one during the day or in the evening, I’ll all arrive two days later.”
“No, what are these airlines doing? Are they in their right mind? What kind of operation is this? Are they trying to work or not? Shouldn’t they operate at least one flight per hour, no matter what?”
Mo Eunje furrowed his brow as he spouted nonsense according to his stream of consciousness.
– “This is driving me crazy.”
Tae Igyeol also furrowed his brow, muttering irritably in a barely audible voice. Even though Mo Eunje was looking at Tae Igyeol through the phone screen, he missed him. He couldn’t hide the sudden surge of emotion. The feeling that had started from a tiny seed on a certain day when he was eighteen had now grown so massive that it couldn’t grow any larger.
“Tae Igyeol.”
– “Yeah.”
“I miss you.”
– “…Let me hang up first. I’ll catch the 7 AM flight somehow. It arrives at 3:50 PM tomorrow, Korean time.”
At Mo Eunje’s words of missing him, Tae Igyeol’s expression seemed to freeze blankly before he snapped back to reality and spoke rapidly like a rapper before hanging up. It was 5:30 AM in New Orleans now, and calculating the time needed to pack and get to the airport, catching the 7 AM flight would be cutting it very close. No, it wasn’t just close; it was practically impossible, making it an unreasonable decision.
Looking at the screen that had been unilaterally terminated, Mo Eunje found himself giggling without realizing it. He simply couldn’t stop laughing. His heart felt ticklish, as if a colony of ants was crawling on it, and it felt so good that he couldn’t believe he had only pushed it away all this time. If he were to write an autobiography, this moment would be emphasized in bold letters.
“Come quickly, Tae Igyeol…”
There’s a saying that “life is plus minus zero.” As he had once joked, he had lost a friend and gained a lover. Now, all that remained was to slowly fill the gap in their hearts that had widened over 10 years.
&
The day was so long that it felt as if time had stopped. If only he could have fallen asleep and woken up to find that time had passed quickly, but the anticipation and excitement of Tae Igyeol’s arrival were so great that he couldn’t even sleep properly. Even when he closed his eyes to sleep, he checked the time on his phone every 10 minutes, so it was practically the same as staying up all night.
Having confirmed each other’s feelings, he should have felt reassured and stable, but from the moment he hung up the video call with Tae Igyeol, his heart had been pounding so much that it seemed as if some part of his body was malfunctioning. The most noticeable abnormal symptom was his mouth corners. They kept rising on their own and showed no sign of coming back down.
Mo Eunje arrived at Incheon International Airport, parked Tae Igyeol’s car in the parking lot, and headed to the arrival hall. When Tae Igyeol had sent a message yesterday saying he had caught the 7 AM flight, Mo Eunje couldn’t help but shout with joy.
When they spoke during transit, Tae Igyeol said his grandmother had driven like a maniac to take him to the airport. Though Mo Eunje was concerned that it might have been too dangerous, come to think of it, his grandmother had over 50 years of driving experience and was much better at it than they were. Moreover, she knew the local geography well. So she must have driven him there herself rather than handing over the wheel to Tae Igyeol.
“Time just refuses to pass…”
He had said he would arrive at 3:50 PM, but there were still 20 minutes left. Since he was flying business class, he would retrieve his luggage quickly, but Mo Eunje still had to wait at least 30 more minutes. Why did each second pass so slowly? He was getting tired of pacing around to kill time. At that moment, he received a call from Gye Minho.
“Yeah.”
– “Did you arrive at the airport safely?”
“Yes. I think I came too early. I still have to wait quite a while. It feels like someone is grabbing me by the collar and holding time back.”
– “What are you talking about? I just met Hajun and came to do some grocery shopping. Do you want to eat pork or duck?”
It seems these guys were really going to come. They had said they would come to the airport too, so Mo Eunje had resisted telling them Tae Igyeol’s arrival time, only revealing it after he had already left for the airport.
Gye Minho had received his first week of vacation since starting the serialization of “The Regressor’s Mnemonics.” He said he could rest without a hiatus because he had accumulated 50 chapters in reserve. He insisted that they must hang out today, saying that from the day after tomorrow, he would be traveling with his girlfriend according to her vacation schedule, so they didn’t know when the four of them could gather again.
From yesterday at the officetel, Ban Hajun had been saying that other people’s romances are the most interesting and that he couldn’t miss the moment of the emotional reunion, but when Mo Eunje expressed such strong distaste, he gave up on coming along. He had only given up on going to the airport; he hadn’t given up on his purpose of interrupting their time alone.
“I won’t eat either. Don’t come, both of you.”
However, Mo Eunje wasn’t pleased with his friends trying to visit because he wanted to spend time alone with Tae Igyeol. After Tae Igyeol was discharged from the hospital, Mo Eunje had received his confession and then stayed at Ban Hajun’s officetel, so they had been separated for a month.
To be precise, since he had gone all the way to Busan before Tae Igyeol’s injury, they had been apart for more than a month. Knowing all this perfectly well, his friends with their impure intentions of deliberately interfering with their time alone seemed mischievous and vexatious.
