While I was lost in strange thoughts alone, fortunately the topic had moved to something else.
Come to think of it, the end of the year was right around the corner. Thinking about it, it had been quite an eventful year. After the blood-draining undergraduate studies ended, I manifested while having a carefree graduation party and my first heat came. Because of that, didn’t I have my first one-night stand with someone I didn’t know, and when I returned to Korea, didn’t I talk back to my father for the first time, run away from home, and even experience being homeless? Having lived a life where I never worried about what to do to earn a living, now I was desperate for petty cash and didn’t refuse even 12 hours of labor a day—life, really.
I’d never really reflected on my feelings about ending a year until now, but this year felt somewhat different. I’d always had noisy parties with friends, popping champagne and shouting happy new year, but this year I’d probably spend it quietly at home.
Actually, regarding Christmas and the New Year holidays, I hadn’t yet talked with Jukyung about doing anything. Come to think of it, what kind of relationship were we to make those plans in advance?
Would Kwon Jukyung go out to meet friends?
Seeing his prickly personality, Jukyung surprisingly knew a lot of people. Even at Leroy, except for me, he seemed to get along well with everyone, and these days too he occasionally contacted friends and seemed to go out to meet them. About once or twice a month, not very often, but well, he was a busy working person.
Once, after hesitating, he’d asked if I wouldn’t go out with him. Was it around summer? Thinking about how he’d described me as “someone you don’t need to know” to the friend we met at the movie theater, I had the useless thought that my status must have risen quite a bit.
But thinking about our currently ambiguous relationship, only a bitter smile came. I naturally refused to go out together. What on earth would he introduce me as in front of his friends?
I had no one to contact or meet anyway, so I was planning to just stay home. I hadn’t contacted my father’s house even during Chuseok, and of course no contact came either. I didn’t know if it was because there was really no way to contact me or if they were just ignoring me, but this time wouldn’t be much different either. Anyway, at home they only observed the lunar new year as a holiday, and I’d been greeting the new year abroad ever since I first went over to England.
During the Chuseok holiday, Jukyung had gone to his family home for about two days and spent the remaining time running around here and there with me. Probably this New Year would be the same. The vacation was short and honestly I was tired from the suddenly increased classes that had been too much for a whole month. Since I had no money anyway, just resting at home would be satisfying enough. I should scribble some drawings I haven’t touched in a while.
“No, I’m just planning to rest at home…”
Lost in other thoughts, when I noticed Suhyun staring at me, I answered flustered, but Jukyung suddenly interrupted.
“We’re going on a trip.”
“What?”
“We’re planning to go to a friend’s vacation home…”
Huh? What’s this out-of-the-blue talk? I’m hearing about this for the first time?
***
“Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”
When I asked incredulously on the way home, Jukyung made a dumbfounded expression instead.
“I told you when we were sleeping. You answered clearly that you understood.”
“When did I?”
“On Saturday. After we did it, before falling asleep.”
I almost asked back—did what? So what this bastard was saying was that he’d talked to me when I was exhausted after sex and about to fall asleep half-awake, and thought I’d understood from that. Honestly, I had no memory of hearing it.
“You wouldn’t have had any other plans anyway. When you have no money.”
When I just stared at him without speaking, Jukyung calmly stabbed at my sore spot. It was true that I had no particular plans so that wasn’t really the problem, but…
“If it’s a friend’s vacation home, won’t your friends be there?”
As expected, meeting Jukyung’s friends felt awkward. He’d introduce me as a friend too, but a friend who sleeps together—it was strange no matter what. Besides, being with friends was a plan already set, so maybe he felt sorry leaving me alone and going off to play, so he was including me. He had unexpectedly kind aspects after all.
No, or maybe that germaphobe was anxious about leaving the house to me and being away for several days. In case I rolled around for days and turned the house into a trash and dust-filled mold den. Honestly, this was a somewhat more credible speculation.
When I looked at him with suspicious eyes, he glanced at me as if to say what’s wrong, then covered my face with his palm and pushed it against the car seat.
“What’s the reason you’re looking at me with those eyes? You originally like being around people having a noisy good time.”
“Hey.”
When I grabbed Jukyung’s arm with both hands and removed it, I heard a low laugh from Jukyung who was facing forward.
“Sorry to disappoint, but friends aren’t coming. Those guys said their schedule didn’t match so they’re going elsewhere, so I borrowed it to use alone. Well, it won’t be like Canada or Switzerland, but there’s a place nearby to quietly snowboard and the scenery is nice, so it should be fine for the two of us to play for a few days.”
Just the two of us.
Somehow my heart tickled at those words. I kept holding the hand I’d removed from my face for the brief time until we arrived home. I hoped the faint scent of cologne from Jukyung’s hand would transfer to mine too. He’d shake it off if he didn’t like it. But instead of shaking it off, Jukyung spread his palm and intertwined his fingers with mine. Really, for someone so prickly, he really loves holding hands.
Well, anyway, with that sudden notification-like talk, I ended up going on a short vacation. The unplanned additional expenses would be fully recorded in Jukyung’s ledger, but what did it matter? As always, I just had to pay it back. Thinking about when I could pay it all back made my head feel a bit hazy, but the one whose insides would burn over that would be Kwon Jukyung, not me.
CH 15
On the last day of the year, we departed from Seoul late in the day heading for the East Sea. I had no classes since I’d finished the semester the day before, but Jukyung had morning work. At first we considered taking the KTX and renting a car since traffic would be heavy, but we decided to just leisurely take the car expecting it to take a long time.
Rather than the highway, I wanted to take the national road to see the surrounding scenery and taste rest stop snacks. During this time, going here and there on weekends and holidays, I’d secretly opened my eyes to the new world called rest stop food.
About an hour after departing, snow began to fall. I worried about what would happen if heavy snow poured down in the middle, but fortunately it wasn’t enough to pile up on the road. Still, on the dirt roads and tree branches around us remained snow that had fallen a few days ago and hadn’t melted, and new snow piled on top of that, appropriately adding to the charm of a winter trip.
The place we arrived at was a vacation home in a secluded mountain ridge in Gangwon-do. Though it was far from Seoul, seeing various shapes of vacation homes scattered here and there, it seemed to be a well-established high-class vacation village. Among them, the vacation home Jukyung had rented was at the highest elevation.
Even though we seemed to have climbed quite a bit up from the coastal road, the sound of waves could be heard fairly close. The vacation home was a three-story building, but it was long sideways with an annex attached, so rather than a typical vacation home, it looked like a pool villa at a famous resort. I’d imagined a small, ordinary vacation home, but unexpectedly it was at the level of a luxurious mansion.
The front of the building, which could be called vast, was wide open enough to play soccer. I thought there was nothing on the spacious grounds except well-maintained trees and lawn, but to the side of the building there was also a tennis court, an outdoor pool overlooking the sea, and what looked like a glass greenhouse.
Going inside, rather than a living room or reception room, a space like a hall in some European castle unfolded. From the outside it looked like one solid building, but inside several buildings were connected with a fairly wide courtyard in between.
“That building over there has an indoor pool and a fitness room and such, so look around slowly later and use them when you feel like it.”
Jukyung pointed to the building beyond the courtyard while going up the stairs.
“Let’s use this room.”
When Jukyung opened one of the doors lined up on the second floor, a large bedroom appeared. Through a large window with a balcony on one side, white lace curtains and blackout curtains were fully drawn back, refreshingly revealing the outside scenery. The king-size bed attached to the middle wall was neatly arranged with white bedding at sharp angles, like a hotel ready to receive guests.
“This one is at least the least chaotic.”
Jukyung muttered as if grumbling while carrying the bag into the dressing room.
Sure enough, while this room was neat, not only were pictures hung on the walls, but there was a lace tablecloth on the table in the middle of the room, and even a vase with lushly blooming flowers on top of it. That alone gave it a quite different atmosphere from Jukyung’s house. Of course, since it wasn’t Jukyung’s vacation home, that was natural.
“Someone must have come in advance to prepare.”
I said looking at the flowers on the table. Jukyung shrugged his shoulders as if it were obvious.
“There’s someone nearby who manages it. It’s needlessly spacious so there’s a lot to take care of.”
Needlessly spacious. Even if the owner isn’t here, isn’t that too harsh?
“Anyway, to just lend out a house like this, you must be incredibly close friends?”
“Well… yeah. Anyway, aren’t you hungry? Let’s wash up quickly and eat. You wash in here. I’ll wash outside.”
Jukyung suddenly hurriedly pushed my back toward the bathroom. When I said I was hungry a little before arriving, he’d mocked me asking where all the snacks I ate so much at the rest stop had gone, so I wondered why he was suddenly acting like this. I tilted my head watching Jukyung’s back as he disappeared in an instant.
***
When I came out after washing, a delicious smell was wafting up from somewhere. Had Jukyung already started preparing a meal? Following the smell and the clattering sound of dishes, I went downstairs and a kitchen appeared. As soon as I looked inside, my eyes widened.
Like some fairy tale helper had come and gone, the large dining table was full of food. Not only did the basic side dishes like grilled fish, stew, and seasoned vegetables look delicious, but a refreshing-looking clam soup and two large bamboo steamers placed in the middle of the table particularly caught my eye.
“Wow…”
When I opened the lids, one was full of seafood like abalone, king crab, and scallops, and the other side had tender beef and mushrooms puffing up fluffy steam.
“What is all this? Did someone come?”
