By Zephyria 
Having finished preparing to leave work, Chae-young pulled a strand of hair that had gotten caught inside her jacket, speaking with envy.
“Ah… Oppa, you’re so lucky. Paris in this weather.”
“I’m going there to work, though.”
“That’s what makes it even better! The plane and accommodation are all free.”
“They’re included, I guess.”
Smiling and nodding, Song Hyun-soo slipped his arms into the sleeves of his jacket.
“I might go on a backpacking trip around Europe before I graduate, with the money I’ve saved from my part-time job.”
“Didn’t you go to Europe before?”
“I went with my parents on a package tour when I was in middle school, so I don’t even remember it.”
“You were rebellious back then.”
“I just stuck to my phone the whole time, and now I wonder why I did that.”
The two, having finished preparing to leave work, greeted the manager. In the meantime, the manager, with a pen cap in his mouth, checking inventory, looked quite like a manager seeing them off. The manager, who used to leave closing to the staff and leave early, seemed to be enjoying running the store quite a bit now.
As Chae-young had predicted, maybe ‘Jessica’ could survive even after he quit. He hoped so. Song Hyun-soo had that wish as he stepped out of ‘Jessica’.
The place where he first met Yoon Joo-ho.
His life, and Yoon Joo-ho’s life, had begun to change drastically from that day.
He hoped that this old place, which had become a watershed moment, would last a little longer.
“Chae-young, well, see you when I get back.”
“Huh? What, aren’t you taking the bus today?”
Since they used to go to the bus stop together, Chae-young pointed in that direction with a puzzled look.
“Ah… well, I’m going to the convenience store.”
“There’s a convenience store on the way to the bus stop.”
“They don’t have what I need at that one.”
“They don’t have it?”
“Go in carefully! I’ll contact you!”
Chae-young waved back with a dazed expression. Song Hyun-soo turned his back on her and hurried away.
He had received the Porsche he had dreamed of as a gift, but he couldn’t bring it to work at ‘Jessica’. If Chae-young or the manager found out, he wouldn’t have any excuses to make.
Instead, Yoon Joo-ho drove him every time.
On the one day a week he worked at ‘Jessica’, Yoon Joo-ho volunteered to be Song Hyun-soo’s driver, making various excuses.
He was going out to exercise, he had a meeting, he had business at a gallery in Seongbuk-dong, he was feeling stuffy staying at home and wanted to take him for a drive… Looking back, he had never taken the bus to work since they started living together.
What is it, Monroe Dad, quite overprotective, wasn’t he? He always made excuses so naturally that he didn’t even notice.
Turning around the cafe, which was already dark after closing, Yoon Joo-ho’s Porsche came into view.
Blink, blink. The headlights sent a signal. Trying to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out, forcing himself to slow down his pace, Song Hyun-soo got into the passenger seat.
“Did you wait long?”
“Not really.”
Then, Yoon Joo-ho naturally reached out and pulled Song Hyun-soo by the back of the neck. He gave him a short kiss and ruffled his hair, looking at his face for a moment. It was as if he was checking if anything had changed on his lover’s face during the few hours they had been apart. A faint smile even appeared on his lips.
“You don’t have to pick me up every time.”
“Did I come every time?”
Song Hyun-soo nodded, as if asking if he didn’t know.
“Come to think of it, sunbae, you’ve been picking me up and dropping me off every single time.”
“Since when?”
“Since we started living together.”
Yoon Joo-ho shrugged and started the car.
He was enjoying being Song Hyun-soo’s driver, but he didn’t want his lover to notice. Yoon Joo-ho wanted to keep it as his secret pleasure.
“It must have been a coincidence that the timing worked out.”
“Ah… okay.”
“That’s an impudent answer, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“You answered sarcastically.”
Song Hyun-soo, who had been staring at Yoon Joo-ho as he checked to the left to merge onto the main road past ‘Jessica’, asked in an unpleasant voice.
“Do you hate admitting that you’re picking me up and dropping me off that much? Does it hurt your pride?”
“……”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had entered the road, turned to look at Song Hyun-soo. He looked a little surprised.
“Why are you taking it that way again?”
“You’re so insistent that you didn’t do it because you wanted to, but just because it happened that way.”
While waiting for the signal to make a U-turn at the Hyehwa-dong Rotary, Yoon Joo-ho leaned his upper body over the steering wheel and sighed. He felt like he had to confess to his lover. He turned his head to look at Song Hyun-soo and reached out his arm.
“Did it sound like that?”
“It sounded like that.”
He stroked his cheek and then fiddled with his earlobe.
“It’s not because my pride is hurt.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?”
Song Hyun-soo retorted as if it were absurd.
Who in this world is more shameless than sunbae?
“I want to drop you off, I want to pick you up when you finish. It’s the first time I’ve felt this way without finding it annoying. I don’t know how to express it.”
“……”
“I’m embarrassed because I’ve never done it before.”
“Wow…”
“Does that answer your question?”
Song Hyun-soo nodded. Yoon Joo-ho raised his upper body from the steering wheel and started the car again.
“I can’t always do this for you. This is a special time. When I get busy, I won’t be able to do it even if I want to.”
“So you’re going to do it a lot now?”
“…Yeah.”
Song Hyun-soo smiled brightly, showing his teeth. Yoon Joo-ho glanced at his lover’s face and chuckled.
“When sunbae gets busy, I’ll pick you up and stuff.”
“You think you’ll be free?”
“I’ll be freer than sunbae, right?”
“Where does a rookie have time to be free? You have to work harder than me.”
Yoon Joo-ho lightly tugged at Song Hyun-soo’s earlobe and added playfully.
“I’m going to get you so much work that you won’t have time to rest, so be prepared.”
Lightly arguing over trivial things that others would laugh at, explaining, and then smiling happily again. When Song Hyun-soo was with Yoon Joo-ho like this, he always ended up feeling happy.
He hoped Yoon Joo-ho felt the same way.
He was glad that his face seemed to say so.
“Ah! Sunbae, look at this.”
“What is it?”
Song Hyun-soo, who had been looking at Yoon Joo-ho’s profile, rummaged through his jacket pocket and took out his phone. He took advantage of the signal stop to show Yoon Joo-ho the screen.
“Let’s go on this too.”
It was a blog about Bateaux Mouches he had found on the internet.
“Everyone who goes to Paris takes this once.”
“Just because everyone else does it, we have to do it too?”
“That’s not it.”
“If others die, are you going to die too?”
“Mouth, mouth, mouth. Your mouth’s on fire again, huh?”
“……”
When Song Hyun-soo pressed him, Yoon Joo-ho rolled his lips inward and pretended to zip them up. It was a gesture of repentance.
Satisfied with the surrender, Song Hyun-soo continued his briefing.
“If you take this, you’ll pass by almost all the famous places in Paris. The Eiffel Tower, the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, the Pont Neuf, Notre Dame, the Île de la Cité… People like us who don’t have time can take this and see Paris, even if it’s just a superficial look.”
Yoon Joo-ho didn’t react much. Song Hyun-soo, who was looking for another blog about Bateaux Mouches, exclaimed.
“Wow! We have to take it at night! Sunbae, look at this.”
Song Hyun-soo kept pulling on Yoon Joo-ho’s right arm, not taking his eyes off the phone screen.
“The night view is crazy!”
“If you take that, about a third of the people will be Korean, to exaggerate a bit. Someone will definitely recognize us.”
“We can disguise ourselves. Wear a hat and a mask… And they probably won’t recognize us because it’ll be night.”
Yoon Joo-ho tried to persuade Song Hyun-soo, but his lover, who was excited about his first overseas trip, seemed to be already mesmerized by the Eiffel Tower video that sparkled every hour on the hour.
“Should I book this, sunbae?”
“Do we have to book it?”
“It’s cheaper if you book it. Should I book it?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Yoon Joo-ho reluctantly agreed.
It was their first overseas trip together, even though it included a business trip.
Yoon Joo-ho, who had prepared a special plan of his own, was anxious because he couldn’t reveal his secret to his lover. But he hadn’t ruined the plan yet.
He was looking forward to taking the Bateaux Mouches and seeing the night view, so it seemed like a good thing.