By Zephyria 
The call from Director Bang came around 9 AM. It was 5 PM in Seoul.
Yoon Joo-ho and Song Hyun-soo were sitting side by side at the terrace table, enjoying a leisurely breakfast.
Even though they had fallen asleep only in the early hours, both of them had woken up earlier than usual. They lazed around in bed for about an hour. They could spend the morning feeling secure just being next to each other, without having sex. Very occasionally. Sitting at the breakfast table in their gowns after showering, the Eiffel Tower was right in front of them.
It sounded like the start of a peaceful day full of leisure, but the reality was different.
Barely touching their food, they put their heads together and spent time at the table, checking on Monroe through the Home Camera app.
“Why are you eating so little? Have some more omelet.”
Yoon Joo-ho clicked his tongue, looking at Song Hyun-soo’s almost untouched plate. Even though he himself had only had juice and half a croissant.
“I am eating. I’m still eating.”
Although he was a little less talkative, Yoon Joo-ho didn’t seem nervous. Song Hyun-soo wanted to treat him as usual, but it wasn’t easy. Like someone whose mind was elsewhere, the words coming out of his mouth had no soul.
Director Bang had gone to the courthouse to observe the trial, so Monroe was spending time alone from around lunchtime. He received news from Director Bang every day and watched him through the Home Camera whenever he had a chance, but he missed the warmth and weight of the little one in his arms. And his cute voice, chattering and complaining.
Fortunately, he was running around the house, playing healthily. Now, he spent less time in his room.
He was smiling a little as he watched the little one dragging his rabbit slippers out of his room and struggling to pull them up the Cat Tower in the living room when the phone rang.
Checking the caller ID, Yoon Joo-ho unconsciously reached for Song Hyun-soo’s hand.
“Hey, hyung.”
Yoon Joo-ho continued the call in a calm, subdued voice. His answers were mostly monosyllabic. Because of that, Song Hyun-soo couldn’t guess the outcome of the trial and was burning inside.
During the short call, the grip on Song Hyun-soo’s hand grew stronger and stronger. In the end, his knuckles were throbbing, but Song Hyun-soo didn’t let go.
“Thanks for your hard work on my behalf. When I get back to Seoul, I’ll stop by Lawyer Moon’s office to formally greet him. Yeah, tell him that.”
After ending the call, Yoon Joo-ho slowly turned to look at Song Hyun-soo.
Even then, Song Hyun-soo couldn’t sense the outcome in his eyes.
Yoon Joo-ho’s parents were sentenced to 20 years in the first trial.
As the prosecutor had requested.
Embezzlement, tax evasion, instigation of drug use, false accusation, and evidence tampering—almost all the charges brought by the prosecutor were recognized.
Yoon Joo-ho lit a cigarette and took an unusually long drag.
It was a heavy breath, as if he had been holding it in for years.
They might not accept it. They could appeal.
But the chances of overturning the first trial result were almost nonexistent, and the possibility of reducing the sentence was also almost nonexistent, according to the prosecutor in charge and Yoon Joo-ho’s lawyer. There was just too much evidence.
Tossing the cigarette pack on the table, Yoon Joo-ho stretched his head back as if stretching.
“Good.”
“……”
“Now I can stretch my legs and sleep.”
But Song Hyun-soo couldn’t easily say that it was good. It was like a foreign object stuck in his throat.
His own parents had plotted a terrible crime against their child, were indicted, and sentenced to prison. It was better than not paying for their crimes, but things shouldn’t have gone this way in the first place.
Yoon Joo-ho looked like he had lost his parents and become an orphan, so he couldn’t say it was good.
“Should we just rest at the hotel today?”
“Why?”
“Just… if sunbae isn’t feeling well.”
“Me?”
As if he didn’t understand why he would think that, Yoon Joo-ho raised his eyebrows and asked back.
“The trial result came out the way I wanted, and I’m in top condition.”
He tapped his cigarette into the ashtray, narrowed his eyes, and retraced his memory.
“Today’s course was… going down from Montmartre to the Marais district, right?”
“Sunbae.”
Only then did Yoon Joo-ho properly meet Song Hyun-soo’s eyes.
His touch, slowly stroking his cheek as if savoring the sensation and running his fingers through his wet hair, was full of affection, as if caring for something very precious.
“Jung-ho is looking forward to it too.”
“……”
“We only have two days of free time, are you going to waste one in the room?”
Jung-ho was scheduled to return to Korea early tonight with Yoon Joo-ho’s manager. Today, the three of them, or rather, Yoon Joo-ho’s two bodyguards as well, had promised to walk down from Montmartre to the Marais district and feel the city with their own two feet.
Still not loosening Song Hyun-soo’s expression, Yoon Joo-ho smiled as he lightly shook the tip of his nose.
“It’s been so long since I started detaching myself from those people… I’m really okay.”
He didn’t believe Yoon Joo-ho’s words that he was okay, but he was in worse condition than expected during the outing. Even in the crowd in front of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, while eating at the restaurant that Song Hyun-soo and Jung-ho had chosen after coming down from Montmartre, and while buying the jam that Han Joo-young had asked for in the Marais district, he was just clinging to Song Hyun-soo.
Whenever he had the chance, he would rest his chin or head on Song Hyun-soo’s shoulder from behind.
He was like a child in poor condition.
A sensitive child whose range of activity had narrowed, huddled up, and only allowed his guardian to stay by his side.
Song Hyun-soo felt like he was carrying Yoon Joo-ho, who was bigger than him, on his back. If that would make him feel even a little better, actually carrying him on his back wouldn’t be a problem…
Perhaps Yoon Joo-ho’s poor condition was only noticeable to Song Hyun-soo.
In response to Song Hyun-soo’s question about whether Yoon Joo-ho seemed strange, Jung-ho nonchalantly asked back while capturing the scenery of the street with his camera.
“Joo-ho hyung?”
“Yeah. He keeps spacing out and clinging to me. He doesn’t seem interested in the trip at all. He says he’s okay, but I think he’s pushing himself too hard.”
“Joo-ho hyung is always strange.”
“What?”
“He’s always strange, and he only knows hyung.”
“No, he’s not that strange…”
“If that hyung acts normal, that’s when it’s really strange.”
Before Song Hyun-soo could argue that he wasn’t, that he wasn’t as strange as he seemed, Jung-ho ran ahead to take another picture.
■
The restaurant that Jung Ji-in had told him about wasn’t far from the hotel where Yoon Joo-ho and Song Hyun-soo were staying. It was less than a 15-minute drive. Paris itself was such a small city.
Although it was in the 8th arrondissement, where landmarks such as the Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Madeleine Church, and Élysée Palace were located, the restaurant was far from those famous spots.
As the car turned into the alley where the restaurant was, Song Hyun-soo immediately spotted Jung Ji-in sitting at an outdoor table. Sitting in a green and white puzzle bistro chair, he was reading a book. Perhaps it was the script for the work he was currently preparing.
The moment his figure came into view, a smile spread across Song Hyun-soo’s face.
Fortunately, he was just Jung Ji-in.
The person who taught him how to tie his shoelaces properly.
The person who protected him when he was terrified of losing Choi Hong-seo in a terrifying way.
One of the few people in this world who genuinely wanted him to do well. Jung Ji-in. Ji-in hyung.
As soon as the car stopped, Song Hyun-soo jumped out.
“Hyung!”
Instinctively raising his head to check Song Hyun-soo’s appearance, Jung Ji-in’s face immediately brightened as well.
“Song Hyun-soo.”
He immediately got up from his seat and approached Song Hyun-soo.
Without either of them taking the lead, they closed the distance and hugged each other tightly. No words were needed. There was no need for an apology because no one had done anything wrong, and there was no need for any explanation or emotional check. The bond between people who had gone through the most difficult times together permeated between them.
Looking at each other and embracing each other, they could just feel it.
That he was the same Jung Ji-in as before, and that he was just Song Hyun-soo.
“You came well. You came well, Hyun-soo-ya. You really came well.”
His emotions were conveyed just by the repetitive whispers that he had come well, and Song Hyun-soo’s nose was already stinging.