# Chapter 37
After several days of busy preparation, Woosang and I packed our bags and headed to the airport.
From Brussels to Zurich Airport was only an hour and a half by plane. The journey itself wasn’t a big issue, but since neither of us had used Brussels Airport frequently, we thought we might get lost on the way.
Both the airport and its surroundings were very unfamiliar. But being with Woosang, who seemed to know everything well, I didn’t feel any anxiety.
Checking the time, we had to wait an hour before boarding the plane. We sat in chairs and checked if we had forgotten anything. Then Woosang stopped moving his hands. He seemed lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
“It just feels strange to be traveling to another country like this.”
“Don’t you often go to other countries?”
“That’s all for work. I rarely travel because I want to. I’m not interested either. I’m only going because Teo wants to.”
At Woosang’s words, I pressed my lips together and looked at him, and he added, as if he had realized something:
“Of course, I want to go because Teo wants to go.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
I shook my head sideways with an awkward smile, and he resumed checking his bag. I was excited about seeing the snow-white landscape with him. Though it would be completely different from my homeland, the mere thought of going to see snow was enough to make me happy.
I noticed Woosang’s face, bundled up in more clothes than usual. His focused expression was pleasant to see. Just then, the boarding announcement for the Zurich flight played.
Gathering our bags, I glanced back at Woosang following behind. We quietly met each other’s eyes and boarded the plane.
***
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
Switzerland, which we reached before long, had an impossibly strong wind blowing. Fortunately, the weather was good, and the sky was deep blue, but that scenery couldn’t eliminate the biting wind.
“It’s definitely colder than France or Belgium.”
After taking a train from the airport for a few hours, we got off and moved straight to our accommodation. Woosang strode forward regardless of the cold weather. It was difficult to move in the sharp wind, but he seemed insensitive to the cold.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“I am. But Korea is colder than this, so it’s not that bad.”
I pulled my outer garment tighter, watching Woosang who smiled nonchalantly. Seeing me shiver, he tried to take off the scarf he was wearing to give to me, but I shook my head and walked forward. Fortunately, our reserved hotel wasn’t far from the station.
Entering the hotel, the interior was much warmer than outside, and I felt my tension easing. I trudged along, watching Woosang check in from behind, and looked around to see many people shivering from the cold.
“Teo, come quickly.”
“Ah, yes.”
At Woosang’s voice, I followed him into the elevator and naturally into the room. The room had excellent heating, so I no longer felt the chill in my body.
“I can live now.”
“Was it that cold?”
I nodded. Woosang put down his luggage and went to the window to look at the outside scenery. Sitting in a chair, I watched his back instead of the scenery. Seeing Woosang standing amid the snow-covered landscape, I finally realized I was in a different place.
“Are you okay with the cold now?”
“Yes. Fortunately.”
“Good. Then let’s rest a bit before going out.”
The sight of him standing amidst the white space looked so good that I nodded but couldn’t take my eyes off Woosang. We held each other’s gaze for a while, as if Woosang was puzzled by my stare.
Soon he turned his head and looked out the window again. I thought about approaching him with a strange thought but decided against it and opened my bag to organize our things.
We planned to stay here for at least four days. So we had more luggage than expected. While Woosang was looking outside, I also took out his clothes and belongings, and found a small Polaroid camera in the bag.
‘When did he buy this?’
He was strangely fixated on recording things. As if this moment would disappear if he didn’t capture it now. I put the camera aside, organized the rest of the items, and called Woosang.
“Shouldn’t we go out now?”
“Ah, time already… Shall we go for lunch?”
“Yes.”
With our lightened bags on our shoulders, we headed to the buffet restaurant in the hotel. It was chaotic with guests crowding from the elevator.
As expected, the restaurant was even more crowded than other places, probably because it was lunchtime. For me, who hated crowded places, it was a dizzying sight just to look at. Knowing this, Woosang quickly found a table after speaking with an employee while scanning the surroundings.
“If it’s too crowded, maybe we should have gone to a regular restaurant instead of the buffet.”
“No, it’s fine. We can eat quickly and leave.”
Woosang casually comforted me by saying that Switzerland in winter is always crowded with people. We immediately moved to get food. There were only familiar dishes, so it wasn’t very interesting.
Still, considering the freezing weather outside, I felt like I should eat something.
“Ah.”
At that moment, Woosang, who was picking up a drink in front of me, made a small sound as if he had bumped into someone. Wondering if he had dropped something, I approached him and found him talking to a woman in Korean.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, it’s Teo. Yes, I didn’t spill much.”
I wiped the juice that had spilled on Woosang’s clothes with a handkerchief from my pocket. Then my eyes met with the woman standing in front of Woosang, and somehow she was staring at me as if she had something to say. Just as I was about to move my lips to greet her, Woosang said firmly:
“Don’t use English.”
“What?”
“Don’t answer if she speaks to you in English.”
“Okay…”
Whether she understood our conversation or not, the woman in front spoke to me in English. Saying hello. After glancing at Woosang, I just nodded slightly. Afterward, Woosang spoke at length to the woman in Korean, then exchanged greetings again and sent her away.
Back at our table, after gently rubbing the juice stain on Woosang’s clothes with water, we started eating. I suddenly wondered what Woosang had discussed with the woman. But given his resolute expression earlier, I felt like I shouldn’t ask.
Still, I carefully asked him, watching his reaction:
“Did that person say something bad earlier?”
“No? She just wanted to play with Teo, so I told her you don’t speak English.”
“……”
It happened occasionally, but he acted particularly sensitive when women approached him. I didn’t understand before, but now I knew what it meant. As long as he wasn’t anxious, it didn’t matter.
With nothing particular to say, I put down my spoon, picked it up again, and ate quietly. Woosang also focused on eating, as if pleased by the lack of questions.
After finishing our meal, we left the hotel. As the cold wind blew fiercely, making my whole body numb and restless, Woosang put his hand in my pocket and led me.
“What if someone sees us?”
“So what if they do? This is Switzerland.”
It was a fair point, so I had to keep quiet again. Led by Woosang, who confidently found the way, we boarded a train and moved toward the mountain.
The scenery through the window was quite beautiful. I was someone who didn’t feel much excitement even when everyone said Paris’s scenery was beautiful. But this place felt truly beautiful.
After silently looking around for a while, Woosang moved away from me and also looked around. But he seemed uninterested and soon returned with an indifferent expression. I took his hand and went to where the cable car was located.
“It really feels like we’re on vacation.”
“Does it? Are you having fun?”
“Yes, well…”
Feeling like I might be acting too childish, I made an awkward expression, and Woosang finally smiled.
But the good feeling was momentary. As we got on the cable car, it was packed with people. Had we come to a too crowded place? Swallowing a sigh, I leaned slightly against Woosang.
I didn’t like being mixed with strangers, but it was nice that we, who had always been at home, came outside to breathe different air and see different scenery together. I didn’t know how Woosang felt, but that’s how I felt.
The cable car ascended smoothly without noise. Though the inside was very noisy, we ignored it and quietly looked outside.
Intense sunlight fell on us.
I gently stroked Woosang’s hair as he stood absently surrounded by light and searched for the heartbeat that couldn’t be heard because of the thick jumper.
Before long, people streamed out of the cable car, and we were pushed out too. Perhaps because of the high altitude, my ears felt stuffy, but it was bearable. Moreover, the scenery ahead was so spectacular that I didn’t care about the cold or the stuffiness.
“Do you want to take a picture?”
As I took Woosang’s phone to take a picture, he hesitated and turned his head to the side.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t really want to take pictures of my face…”
“You always take my pictures, how can you say that? Look here quickly.”
“……”
“Do you want to stay there? I’ll take the picture.”
Woosang frowned slightly as if he didn’t like it, but soon stood still and looked at the phone. I tried to capture both the magnificent scenery and Woosang. But I could only smile wryly at Woosang’s uncooperative posture, as if he had some complaints.
I also wanted to keep him in my memories. I wanted to reminisce about times like this, even if we were to part ways.
After taking a few pictures, I handed the phone back, but Woosang put it in his pocket without checking.
“Don’t delete them and send them to me.”
“…Okay.”
I held his hand. I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since we had leisurely looked around together.
Though we had lived quite peacefully in Brussels, I often couldn’t sleep at night due to the anxiety of staying in Hund’s house. It was the same for Woosang. We spent our time either staying up all night together or soothing our anxiety.
But we couldn’t move houses at will. It was because we hadn’t fully decided where to go.
Still, it didn’t seem like we would face Hund for a while. I wasn’t certain, but it felt that way. But we needed to leave. We had to.
Woosang had suggested living together in Berlin, but going to Berlin in our current situation didn’t seem good. It wouldn’t be good for both of us to go to an unfamiliar city in our naïve state.
‘Then we should return to Paris after all.’
If we returned to Paris, wouldn’t we be able to find some solution?
The thought suddenly occurred to me. Paris was our sanctuary, a fateful place for us.
So I thought that if we returned there, we might be able to live better lives than before.
