By Zephyria 
From a spot a little distance from the entrance, the sound of a car approaching could be heard. The imposing Escalade slowly came into view. The newly purchased Escalade looked no different from the previous one from the outside.
But the fact that it was a car he changed for me, because of me… that’s what matters…
Song Hyun-soo fixed his gaze on the approaching car, pulling his chin into his scarf. As soon as the car stopped, he quickly jumped into the passenger seat.
“I ran into Hyo-jin Sunbae in the elevator on the way.”
Yoon Joo-ho chuckled as he glanced at Song Hyun-soo’s profile, who started off with a grumpy tone as soon as he got in.
“Why is that?”
“It was nothing, but I panicked for no reason… I told her I was going for a walk at this hour.”
As he turned the steering wheel to enter the spiral ramp leading outside, Yoon Joo-ho teased.
“Why didn’t you just tell her you were going on a date?”
“It’s… it’s not a date, though?”
“Even people who aren’t dating can go on dates. A stage of getting to know each other?”
The air inside the car was sufficiently warm. As he unwrapped the scarf he had tied tightly, Song Hyun-soo delivered a sharp retort to his profile.
“I already know enough about you, Sunbae. You seem to forget your place, so let me tell you precisely: Sunbae, you are my ex, my ex. I am your ex-boyfriend.”
His profile, which was focused on the road ahead, stiffened with bitterness.
“You’re not just hitting me where it hurts, you’re shattering me.”
He then turned the steering wheel and nodded.
“Yes, I’ll understand my place and won’t act presumptuous.”
His obedient demeanor was new. He said it wasn’t a date, and they weren’t dating, but a flutter of excitement arose, different from when they were actually dating.
Song Hyun-soo turned his face towards the window and secretly suppressed a smile. He could speak pretty words with pretty lips. How happy are you?
But perhaps not giving up yet, Yoon Joo-ho glanced at Song Hyun-soo’s attire and said,
“I thought it was a date, seeing you wearing that padding and that scarf.”
“S-Sunbae told me to wear it!”
“That’s right. Wear it. It’s yours.”
He couldn’t hide his satisfied smile, even biting his lower lip, as if he was so happy that I wore what he gifted me. His smile tickled more than the breath blowing in my ears, so I cleared my throat and quickly changed the subject.
“But where are we going?”
The car, having completely exited the parking lot, stopped briefly and turned on its hazard lights. As it slowly merged onto the road, Yoon Joo-ho, uncharacteristically, paused. With a face that seemed both slightly nervous and excited, he said,
“You probably wanted to go here today too?”
The place I wanted to go today?
Glancing, Yoon Joo-ho checked Song Hyun-soo’s expression.
“You look like you have no clue?”
A hint of disappointment emanated from him, making Song Hyun-soo feel a moment of guilt. He felt like a boyfriend who had forgotten an anniversary or a place of shared memories.
“Well, it’s fine. You’ll know when we arrive.”
Passing by an apartment complex standing tall in the middle of nowhere, the car drove into deeper darkness.
This time, Song Hyun-soo initiated the conversation.
“Monroe is getting neutered soon, right?”
“How did you know… Ah, it must have been Sang-ho Hyung.”
Naturally, the day after leaving Yoon Joo-ho’s place, he had deleted the home camera app. And also naturally, he was curious about Monroe’s well-being as much as Yoon Joo-ho’s. Because cats can’t explain what’s happening to them, or ask for understanding. Although Yoon Joo-ho was the owner, he worried that the person he saw every day was gone, causing anxiety.
As if understanding his feelings, Director Bang sent updates on Monroe every few days with photos or videos.
“Is he… still not coming out of his room?”
“Did Hyung mention that too?”
Yoon Joo-ho grumbled, “I told him not to,” and added,
“You told him about the cat not coming out of his room, but not about me being sick?”
“Were you sick, Sunbae?”
“I was sick. Vomiting all night, couldn’t eat anything, couldn’t sleep…”
Yoon Joo-ho listed his symptoms and then glanced back at Song Hyun-soo.
“It’s a story to make you pity me.”
“Why would I pity you? You’re fine… now.”
Yoon Joo-ho smiled gently, watching Song Hyun-soo deny it even though he clearly felt pity. A gentle smile, like in a Nuvvo coffee commercial.
“Even then, I was in denial.”
“Denial of what?”
“That we just fought, and that you would come back if you heard I was sick. I was expecting that.”
“…”
“And that day, after you rejected me at the Bar… it felt like it was truly over.”
As if revisiting that moment was still painful, Yoon Joo-ho’s voice cracked at the end.
“You said you don’t pity me anymore.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t pity you…”
“So I felt like Monroe, who was alone in an empty lot.”
“…”
He tried to speak factually, calmly, but he couldn’t completely suppress his emotions.
Perhaps to change the mood, he turned to Song Hyun-soo with a smile.
“It feels like just yesterday I kidnapped him from the top of the wall, and now he’s getting neutered. Time flies, doesn’t it?”
Looking at his profile as he drove through the equally dark countryside, he asked cautiously,
“Can I come with you on the day of the surgery?”
“Of cou…”
Yoon Joo-ho reached out his right arm. He flinched, curling his hand into a fist, as if to stroke his hair. It was the hesitation of someone who had been rejected. But perhaps having decided to be brave this time, he unfolded his hand again and lightly ruffled Song Hyun-soo’s hair. Just as he had before, even before they were dating.
“Of course. Monroe will feel more at ease.”
“…”
“And so will I.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Yoon Joo-ho added.
It felt like going back to the beginning.
They had developed feelings for each other, confirmed those feelings with difficulty, and were now cautiously taking another step forward… it felt like experiencing that ordinary beginning. With Yoon Joo-ho.
As he thought that this wasn’t so bad, and glanced out the windshield, Song Hyun-soo could discern a familiar landscape within the same darkness that looked like any other darkness.
“What? This is near the scene.”
“You still don’t know?”
Yoon Joo-ho, speaking with a smile, drove past the village where Lee Sol and Lee San’s house was located, continuing to speed on.
Only then did Song Hyun-soo seem to know their destination.
“You wanted to go here today too, didn’t you?”
That was why Yoon Joo-ho had been so sure.
His prediction was accurate. After filming the scene today, Song Hyun-soo had definitely thought of ‘that place.’
The spot where they had parked the car the first day they went to find Myung Hae-ri, just the two of them.
The place where they had run hand-in-hand after an intense connection and gotten tangled up in the car.
The car they were in was the same Escalade. Though it was a new one.
The car rumbled as it passed through a short alley and entered an open lot. The sea spread out before them, its endless darkness unchanged. It felt like returning to that day.
Yoon Joo-ho parked the car in the exact same spot as before, leaving the engine running, and unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Wait in the car for a moment.”
“Why?”
“It’s cold, so just wait here for a moment.”
Repeating only the instruction to wait, he got out of the car. Soon, the trunk opened, and the sound of something being rustled out could be heard.
What was he doing?
He looked back and peered into the rearview mirror, but the second-row seats blocked his view, and the deep darkness made it impossible to see clearly. It had seemed eerily quiet when they first visited, but after filming began, they discovered that the five or six houses next to the lot were all empty. Because of this, there were no streetlights, and they had to rely only on the moonlight and starlight.
Unable to bear the boredom and curiosity, Song Hyun-soo finally grabbed his scarf and got out of the passenger seat.
“Why did you come out? I told you to wait inside.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who was kneeling on one knee in front of a heater, looked up at Song Hyun-soo and spoke.
Two camping chairs were set up side-by-side in front of the trunk, and a thick blanket lay on top of them. On a small, collapsible camping table were a tumbler and mugs.
“What are you doing?”
“A date.”
As the outdoor portable heater glowed red, Yoon Joo-ho stood up, brushing dust off his knee. He then gestured to the chair closer to the heater.
“Sit.”
“Are we going to watch the stars by the sea?”
The March night sea still felt like winter. A date sitting side-by-side under a blanket in front of a red heater, enjoying the night sea in the cold, didn’t suit Yoon Joo-ho.
“You complained that I didn’t set the mood.”
“…”
“I know this doesn’t suit me. But if you like it, I’ll do it.”
He wanted to tease Yoon Joo-ho, saying he really didn’t suit it, but he couldn’t in front of his serious expression. He didn’t want to trample on his sincerity. The effort was what mattered.
Song Hyun-soo sat on the chair and spread out the blanket. Yoon Joo-ho approached, meticulously adjusted the carelessly draped blanket, and then sat down next to him.
In a word, he was setting the mood properly.
Even without separate lighting, the heater created a circle of light around the two of them. Yoon Joo-ho opened the tumbler and poured a warm drink into a mug. His already pretty face, bathed in the orange glow of the heater outdoors, certainly enhanced the atmosphere.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Wrapped up like this, of course I’m not cold.”
He replied, taking a sip of the drink in the mug. It was instant coffee. Song Hyun-soo’s favorite.
His meticulous care in every detail made his back tingle, so he casually changed the subject.
“Wow, this little thing is really powerful. I didn’t know there were portable heaters like this…”
“I actually searched hard.”
“For heaters?”
“For ways to apologize to a girlfriend.”
“…”
Song Hyun-soo almost spat out his coffee. Ways?
“And ways to appease an angry girlfriend.”
“Wait a minute. Why am I your girlfriend?”
“Usually, the man makes the big mistakes. So, ways to appease a boyfriend wouldn’t be enough.”
Ah… so that’s why…
Yoon Joo-ho took a sip of coffee and continued.
“Handwritten letters, flowers, romantic dinners, jewelry…”
“…”
“At first, I thought I’d just try all those methods. I figured you’d at least appreciate the effort.”
It wasn’t a wrong thought. He might have appreciated the effort.
“But as I searched for this and that, I had this thought.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t a method I came up with myself, even if it’s clumsy, be more meaningful than the cliché tactics that all men in the world probably use?”
To have thought that far. It was honestly unexpected, and a dazzling development beyond what Song Hyun-soo had anticipated.
With every moment of silence, the sound of waves seeped in.
Yoon Joo-ho’s voice, his long, elegant fingers wrapped around the mug, blended with the sound of the waves.
“I thought I had to give you something that I’ve never given anyone else, and that is simultaneously the most precious thing to me.”
“What is that…”
By now, Song Hyun-soo was completely absorbed in his story. As if waiting for the climax of an exciting tale, he looked at Yoon Joo-ho’s lips with a yearning heart.
His face, looking nervous yet at the same time more confident than ever, gazed warmly at Song Hyun-soo.
“Acting.”
“…”
“Acting for only one person.”