By Zephyria His car was parked in the large lot of a shop across the street. It was a luxury SUV with a sleek design, like a high-end sedan. He opened the passenger door, watched Choi Hong-seo get in safely, and then closed the door before getting into the driver’s seat.
“When is your return flight?”
“In three days.”
“Then cancel that ticket and stay a few more days with me before you go back.”
“……”
“We have so much to talk about.”
“Is the company okay?”
“Whatever happens, happens.”
He said with a shrug and started the engine. Though he said it like a joke, the atmosphere of not caring about such things didn’t feel like a joke at all.
“Where are you staying? Let’s go to the hotel to pick up your luggage.”
“This hotel. But… where are we going?”
He replied while enlarging the Google Maps screen Choi Hong-seo showed him to confirm the hotel’s location.
“I came straight to the gallery as soon as I arrived at the airport. Your luggage will be in Malibu. I rented a villa there.”
“……”
“Why?”
When there was no reaction, he took his eyes off the screen and looked at Choi Hong-seo.
“It’s just… I’m surprised that you, too, rent things.”
He reached out, playfully pinched his cheek, and smiled.
“The properties I own in LA are for investment. I rent them out.”
The car slowly pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive through the desolate landscape.
“Manager Kang prepared the villa we’re going to today. I haven’t been there myself, so I don’t know what it’s like.”
The hotel was very close to the gallery. After driving for just a few minutes, the hotel building began to appear to the right of the freeway. With most of the surrounding buildings being single-story, even a hotel of only 7 or 8 floors stood out. His expression darkened as he glanced at the peeling, yellowish hotel building.
“I booked a hotel close to the gallery… It’s old, but it’s clean. The rooms are spacious too.”
“Right. Let’s check out quickly and go.”
He tried hard to reassure him, and he also smiled at Choi Hong-seo. However, the look of distress did not disappear from his face.
As the luxurious SUV, rarely seen in hotels on the outskirts far from tourist attractions, entered the main entrance, a doorman, who hadn’t been visible before, quickly appeared from somewhere.
Lee Hae-sung, who got out of the driver’s seat with the engine still running, gave the doorman a generous tip.
“I’m a guest, but I’m just picking up my luggage and checking out. Please have it ready nearby.”
“Yes, understood.”
The doorman, who answered crisply, quickly signaled to another colleague.
While the colleague ran to move the car with the engine running from the driveway, the doorman hurried after the two.
“If you’re checking out, I’ll take your luggage to the lobby.”
He followed, guiding them along a path Choi Hong-seo already knew well. Although it wasn’t a hotel where bellmen and doormen were strictly separated, Choi Hong-seo found it odd because no one had guided him to his room when he checked in yesterday. He assumed the doorman was hoping for another generous tip from Lee Hae-sung after he had moved the luggage.
The overly obsequious attitude made Choi Hong-seo uncomfortable, but Lee Hae-sung didn’t seem to pay much attention to his presence.
“What floor was your room on? I’m sure I remembered, but I forgot.”
The doorman asked with an awkward smile, as if there could be no more regrettable matter, but Choi Hong-seo didn’t understand him. He looked at Lee Hae-sung with a puzzled expression, and he translated.
“He’s asking what floor your room was on.”
“The fifth floor.”
“He says the fifth floor.”
“Ah, right! It was the fifth floor! The elevator has just arrived. Please go ahead.”
The doorman, holding the door of the just-arrived elevator, stepped aside to let the two of them board first. His attitude was much friendlier than when he was taking photos of a family in the lobby and receiving tips.
After getting into the elevator and pressing the button for the fifth floor, the doorman made small talk in a friendly yet polite manner.
“You’ve only been here for about three days, so it’s a shame you’re checking out today. You must be moving to a better place, right?”
From behind the doorman, Lee Hae-sung leaned his head towards Choi Hong-seo and quietly asked in Korean.
“Did you come three days ago?”
“No, I came yesterday.”
“Ah…”
He nodded as if he understood what had happened.
The doorman, still bothered by yesterday’s incident, glanced back at Choi Hong-seo with an almost devastated expression.
“Uber cannot enter the hotel premises due to hotel policy… I hope you can understand generously.”
He could understand the meaning from the doorman’s expression and attitude, even though he only heard a few words like Uber, hotel, and understand. Choi Hong-seo responded with a nod, and the doorman’s face brightened.
No, no, Uber. The doorman had waved his hand in front of Choi Hong-seo, signaling refusal, telling them to turn away the already arrived Uber. He had even turned his back resolutely on Choi Hong-seo, who was at a loss for how to resolve the situation. It was unbelievable that the doorman from yesterday and the one now were the same person. The change was so clear, like flipping a palm, it was more bewildering than satisfying.
Even if Lee Hae-sung had given a substantial tip, and could expect even more tips as a guest, it was the first time he had witnessed someone change their attitude so simply for a few hundred dollars, leaving him bewildered.
Lee Hae-sung instructed the doorman, who had followed them to the room, to wait outside the door. Unlike Choi Hong-seo, Lee Hae-sung seemed to feel no discomfort making someone wait for him and move according to his convenience. It was a different side of him that Choi Hong-seo had rarely seen during his past life as Yoon Hye-an.
“Did you stay here for one night?”
Lee Hae-sung slowly walked across the room, which was carpeted in a dull color, and looked around the interior. He reached the window and pulled back the cream-colored curtains to look outside.
“There’s nothing to call a view.”
It was as he said. Outside the window, there was only a bus company’s garage and a mobile home parking lot; there were no beautiful or exotic landscapes to admire.
“I was so tired that I fell asleep right after returning from the gallery. So I didn’t find anything uncomfortable… Oh, and breakfast was quite delicious. There’s also a swimming pool, though I didn’t go.”
Lee Hae-sung, who had been looking at the uninteresting scenery, turned to look this way. Choi Hong-seo, who had been standing near the entrance of the room and making excuses, quietly closed his mouth. He rubbed his arms over the thin jacket he was wearing and waited for his words.
“Are you upset that I stayed in such a shabby hotel?”
“……”
“That’s right. I don’t feel good about it.”
He admitted it directly and looked intently at the bed where Choi Hong-seo had collapsed and fallen asleep the previous night, tired. More than the shabby hotel, he seemed to be suffering and feeling guilty about having left him alone in such a place.
“I’ll pack my things quickly. It’s not much.”
Thinking it would be best to leave with him quickly, Choi Hong-seo picked up his backpack from the drawer where the TV was placed and started packing.
“Did you come to LA with just one backpack?”
“I came in such a hurry, and I didn’t really need much.”
As he hastily stuffed clothes, a phone charger, and a few toiletries into the backpack, Lee Hae-sung remained silent. Choi Hong-seo, returning from the bathroom, stopped short.
Lee Hae-sung, standing next to the bed, was holding the script he had placed on the nightstand. The script for
He stood there, dazed, gazing at the script in his hand, as if he had discovered a long-forgotten memento while tidying up the room.
“I brought it, but I fell asleep without even looking at it.”
Wanting to avoid seeming like he was boasting about his hard work, Choi Hong-seo approached him, making excuses.
“Can I take a look inside?”
“There’s not much… I just wrote down whatever came to mind… You can look, but please don’t read the content.”
While earnestly asking him not to read it, he stood beside Lee Hae-sung, who was flipping through the pages, and kept watch. If his gaze lingered too long on any page, he would cover the content with his hand and turn the page.
The traces of his struggles in the script were written not with intellectual or plausible words, but with simple, easy words, like a raw diary. Some parts had spelling mistakes, and it felt like his inner thoughts, making him embarrassed to show it.
“Are… are we done now?”
It seemed he was reading the content. He tried to pull the script away, covering the cover, but he didn’t let go. Choi Hong-seo thought he was playing a prank, but when he looked up, his face revealed complex emotions.
“You’re still diligent.”
Only then did he understand. He had discovered another trace of Choi Hong-seo, not Yoon Hye-an, in this script.
Diligence. That was the strength Choi Hong-seo had presented upon their first meeting, and it was a word that had left a deep impression on Lee Hae-sung.
Feeling his emotions surge again, he lowered his gaze and pulled at the script once more.
“I know my innate talent isn’t that great.”
Lee Hae-sung, who had let go of the script willingly, gently cupped his chin and lifted it. His gaze, which had been fixed on Choi Hong-seo’s eyes, gradually shifted, and his careful hand reached out to caress his eye area.
“Everyone will think I made you cry.”
“……”
“And that’s the truth.”
He shook his head, as if his bitter smile was self-reproach.
“I just cried, you didn’t make me cry.”
Lee Hae-sung bent down to look more closely at Choi Hong-seo’s face. As his face came close for a moment, he involuntarily inhaled and held his breath.
The thumb holding his chin gently stroked his skin. A faint smile spread across his features, which looked cold like a sculpture carved from an ice rock when he was expressionless. Yes, when he first saw him in Director Kang’s drawing room, Lee Hae-sung had seemed like a frightening and imposing person to Choi Hong-seo.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“……”
“It’s painful to see you cry, but if you must cry, it should be because of me.”
While Choi Hong-seo was contemplating how to respond, Lee Hae-sung’s smile deepened and he pulled away.
“Your eyes are very swollen. They need to go down.”
Lee Hae-sung released his chin and walked towards the room entrance. Watching his back, Choi Hong-seo realized that he had been expecting a kiss just moments ago.
At the gallery, he had held him the entire time, and it was as good as declaring that he would no longer see him as Yoon Hye-an. In fact, Choi Hong-seo had clearly felt his changed attitude. However, his lips had not yet touched his.
Even though he said it was okay.
Even if he thought of him as Choi Hong-seo, it would naturally take time to fully accept it. He had told him to confirm as many times as he wanted until he was completely sure. He felt pathetic and ashamed of himself for feeling disappointed just because he hadn’t kissed him yet.
Choi Hong-seo wiped his trembling lips with the hand holding the script and shoved it into his backpack. This was now his last piece of luggage.
“I thought you’d have a lot of luggage, but it’s just one backpack. You don’t need to move any luggage, so could you tell the concierge that we’ll be checking out from the room?”
Choi Hong-seo heard Lee Hae-sung speaking to the doorman waiting outside the door.
“We’ll pay the room charges as if it were a suite.”
“Of course, that’s possible. We have a club lounge on the 8th floor. How about checking out there? It’s much more comfortable than a room.”
“Ah… thank you, but I prefer places where I don’t run into people.”
What were they talking about? Choi Hong-seo, holding his backpack, walked to the foot of the bed and peered at the two men standing at the open door.
Lee Hae-sung casually patted the doorman’s shoulder, and his hand naturally dropped, placing another tip in his hand.
“And please bring some ice first.”
“Yes, sir. I will do as you say.”
The doorman, who seemed willing to do anything Lee Hae-sung asked, left the doorway empty.