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“Junjae always acts like a child in front of Jeonggwan.”
“… Hyung is secretly quite affectionate.”
Jeonggwan laughed awkwardly and clasped his hands together demurely. He had been combative in front of Junjae’s father, but with Junjae’s mother, Song Heejin, who had a gentle charisma, he unexpectedly didn’t know how to act. It felt a bit like facing a final boss. Junjae’s father openly showed his dislike but didn’t really interfere much, while Junjae’s mother seemed like she might be gentle in person but might suddenly turn cold behind their backs and tell them to stop seeing each other. Because of this, Jeonggwan couldn’t let his guard down.
“Don’t feel too hurt if Junjae can’t visit often.”
“… Yes.”
“Will you contact Junjae frequently…?”
However, all Heejin expressed was concern and requests regarding Junjae. Just the worries of a mother.
“Junjae didn’t receive much affection… Will you look at his childish behavior fondly?”
“…”
“I’m a mother too… I neglected my child before, but I don’t want him to be hated…”
Heejin stroked her own arm as if embarrassed to make such requests. But her eyes looking at Jeonggwan were filled with desperation. Asking him to love her son even when they’re apart. Not to abandon him.
“I’m asking you this…”
And seeing those eyes, an indescribable sense of relief spread through Jeonggwan’s chest. Not because she wasn’t the final boss he thought she was, nor because she didn’t tell them to break up. Simply, purely because he was relieved that there was family who worried about Junjae.
“… Don’t worry. I like hyung a lot too.”
As soon as Jeonggwan stepped out of the front gate, Junjae immediately followed. With an expression that seemed to ask “Did you hear anything? Are you okay?” Junjae trailed after him, and Jeonggwan found it so cute that he laughed with a deflating sound.
“She asked me to take good care of you.”
“… Mother did?”
“Yeah. She said it’s nice to see how affectionate you are.”
“… I’m not like that.”
The cutest thing is always the cuteness that only the person themselves doesn’t realize. Jeonggwan giggled and hugged Junjae. He was really relieved. That even in Korea where he wouldn’t be, there was someone to watch over Junjae when he was sick or struggling.
“But your dad is going overboard. There’s still over a month left.”
“… I didn’t know he would do that either.”
“Well… Even Kyung Juhwan hyung and Gwan Jihoon are already trying to coordinate dates to visit France.”
“I guess that shows how big your absence will be, and how much they miss you already.”
Then why aren’t you missing me? Jeonggwan held back the question rising to his lips and tilted his head to look up at Junjae after stepping out of his embrace. Seeing Junjae’s peaceful face without a trace of disappointment made him feel a bit annoyed.
“Hyung. Be honest.”
“Hm? About what?”
“You cry your eyes out every day at home, right? And then you pretend everything’s fine when you see me?”
There’s no other explanation for how relaxed you are right now. Jeonggwan squinted and scrutinized Junjae closely. Are you holding back tears because you don’t want to show your inner darkness? Jeonggwan had even prepared scenarios to comfort a crying Junjae, but Junjae was so nonchalant that Jeonggwan ended up asking if he was really okay.
“From now on, we’ll be lucky to see each other once every two months. Are you okay with that?”
“… Why two months? Is school that busy?”
“No, it’s not like France is next door. It’s not easy to come, you know…”
“It only takes 10 hours to get there anyway.”
Ten hours to go, ten hours to return – that was enough time to finish a whole drama series. Moreover, Junjae’s time was especially valuable because of his company, so wasting 20 hours in the air seemed like a huge loss.
“I’m going to visit every weekend.”
That’s ridiculous. How can you come to France every weekend? What’s the difference between that and going to Japan for udon? Jeonggwan laughed incredulously, but Junjae’s expression was bewildered as if he didn’t understand why Jeonggwan found it unbelievable.
“I’m serious…”
“You’re going to come Friday evening and leave Sunday evening? Just to see me briefly for one day?”
“Yeah. Is that not okay? Do you have school on weekends too? Are you very busy?”
Is this for real? Jeonggwan stared at Junjae with an incredulous face. Well, maybe he could do that at first. But after some time, he’d get tired and change it to once every two weeks, once a month, once every three or four months… Jeonggwan nodded as if to say “Alright” to this predictable future, smiling and thinking, “Let’s see you try that.”
“Okay. Then come see me every weekend.”
Even people in a thousand-year love would find that difficult. It’s hard for long-distance couples to meet weekly even when living in the same country, so Junjae’s promise seemed incredibly naive.
* * *
Originally, Jeonggwan had planned to quit the cafe as soon as someone was found to replace him. He had a lot to do, like finding a place to live. However, thanks to Junjae’s father, he got a great house in the best location for free, so he had time to spare. Because of this, Jeonggwan decided to stay at the cafe until a week before his departure, wanting to see Junjae as often as possible.
“Every time I see you, you seem so energetic and radiant…”
“Noona, I don’t believe that either.”
“Boss, I’m being sincere.”
Suki clapped and called Jeonggwan the true winner of this era every time she saw him. Every minute, every second their eyes met. Moreover, Suki and Hwang Jun, who had sincerely congratulated Jeonggwan when they first heard about his study abroad in France, now bowed their heads in greeting every time Jeonggwan passed by after hearing that he received a 12 billion won building from Won Youngjae, Junjae’s father and the CEO of Wonjae Electronics. Calling him the future boss.
“I’ll keep an eye on the director every day. See if he’s meeting anyone else.”
“You’re just watching to satisfy your own interest, aren’t you, noona?”
“Busted.”
Puhaha. The three of them, cleaning up together in the kitchen, laughed so hard they could barely breathe, oblivious to the customers watching from outside. They were complete strangers brought together by Jihoon, but somehow they had become comfortable noona-dongsaeng friends.
“When you open your own shop later, please hire me, future boss.”
“Jun-nim, Jihoon will kill me for poaching people.”
“I’ll hold Jihoon back. Take me too.”
“I can’t afford noona’s salary.”
Knowing it’s not easy to find such fun and compatible coworkers, Jeonggwan felt a great deal of regret about having to leave this place.
“What is it? What are you laughing at?”
“Jihoon’s smelled something interesting again.”
“Oh, tell me too.”
Most importantly, there was no friend in France who was as compatible as Jihoon. Junjae was Junjae, but for Jeonggwan, who was a social butterfly, leaving his friends in Korea was really not easy.
“Everyone, come visit France. I’ll provide a place to sleep…”
“Ugh, I don’t even want to see France.”
“I don’t have money.”
“My schedule doesn’t match with Kyung Juhwan’s. I’ll go separately later.”
Jeonggwan, already homesick before even leaving, invited everyone to France with a tearful voice, but Suki, who had lived in France for a long time, shuddered saying she didn’t even want to hear the ‘F’ of France, and Hwang Jun firmly refused, saying he had no money. Even Jihoon, whom he had trusted, responded with an indifferent face, causing Jeonggwan’s rising spirits to instantly deflate.
I should go meet Junjae and act cute again. Jeonggwan untied his apron and headed to the changing room, turning his back on the three. These days, he and Junjae had been going around trying Korean restaurants that could only be found in Korea, and today’s menu was jjusam. Jjukkumi (webfoot octopus) samgyeopsal (pork belly) that Junjae had never tried before.
Recently, Jeonggwan had been going to the gym after work to build up his stamina in order to keep up with the intense classes at the French school. This was to prevent collapsing from not eating for three meals a day like last time. Of course, he didn’t plan to starve there, but he was preparing for the possibility of missing meals if things got too busy.
When the workout was over, it would roughly match Junjae’s getting off work time, so Jeonggwan turned on the phone he had put in his locker, thinking he should hurry and exercise.
[I might be a little late today. Do you want to go home first? I’ll head home when I’m done. – Miracle of the Peninsula]
But he received another message from Junjae saying he would be late. This was a message he received 8 out of 10 times when they planned to meet. He wasn’t particularly upset. It was routine, and he knew Junjae was extremely busy with his important position. Moreover, when Junjae was late like this, he would shower Jeonggwan with all sorts of affection, embarrassingly so for the neighborhood, before Jeonggwan could even feel upset, so Jeonggwan was really okay with it.
After sending an emoji punching the screen repeatedly, contrary to his reply saying it was okay, Jeonggwan giggled and exited the chat with Junjae. Then he scrolled through other messages he had received,
[Jeonggwan, can we meet for a moment? – Jung Taegeon]
Why, they say ex-boyfriends come back like a bad penny, and that saying was spot on. Somehow he must have heard about the study abroad again, and there was a DM from Taegeon, who had said a cool goodbye back then.
[Nope.]
Jeonggwan sent a rejection reply without blinking an eye. There was no need to meet and potentially cause unnecessary trouble.
