By Zephyria 
“It’s almost your birthday, and it’s almost our first anniversary.” I wanted to give you something meaningful.”
He said he happily looked around at various rings. He was happy enough to casually ignore the curious gazes of the staff towards actor Yoon Joo-ho, who seemed to be there to buy ‘couple rings.’
“I probably won’t be able to get married. I think I’ve felt that way since I was young. And it didn’t really feel unfortunate. Work was important, and marriage was out of my interest. I wasn’t confident in treating someone well or living happily.”
Considering his relationship with his parents, it wasn’t surprising.
Yoon Joo-ho rubbed his intertwined thighs and paused before speaking.
“But now, I feel anxious that I can’t be legally bound to you.”
“……”
“So, I wanted to give you a ring, but then I wondered what would change even if we suddenly wore rings.”
Yoon Joo-ho stopped talking for a moment and let out a long sigh.
“I can’t even promise that I won’t take this ring off in any situation. Because of my job. Not only when I’m filming a project, but also because I’m always exposed, I can’t wear a ring often in everyday life.”
“I’m an actor too. It’s the same for me now.”
“Right. So, I started to wonder what’s the point of a ring that has to be kept preciously in a case.”
There were still times when it was difficult to keep up with the ‘Crown Prince’s’ ideas. A man who goes to buy a couple ring and has all these thoughts… But I could guarantee that he wasn’t a man who could easily take a couple ring lightly. He probably had never shared a ring with anyone before. He was the type of man who would rather tell the truth and get slapped than whisper empty words of love.
I laughed, imagining Yoon Joo-ho excitedly going to buy a ring and then becoming dejected after thinking about all sorts of things. He was just so cute and lovable.
I tilted my head towards him with a face full of laughter.
“So, are you sulking? Because you can’t wear a couple ring?”
“So, I got a tattoo.”
“…What?”
I thought I misheard.
“What did you do?”
“A tattoo. I got a tattoo.”
To Yoon Joo-ho, his body was his life.
His acting career was everything to him. Everything in his life, no, his entire life, was tailored to acting. There wasn’t even a common small tattoo on his beautiful body. Because he didn’t know what kind of role he might take on in the future. He could do post-processing to erase them one by one, but that would make many people work hard.
“W-What about acting? You always said that actors have to be prepared for any role.”
Yoon Joo-ho straightened his upper body, which had been leaning back, and brought Song Hyun-soo’s hand to his lips.
“Pull it.”
“Yes?”
“Your lower lip, try pulling it.”
“……”
“Be gentle, it still hurts.”
Even then, Song Hyun-soo couldn’t figure out what was going on. In a daze, he gently pulled his lower lip as he was told. As Yoon Joo-ho pulled Song Hyun-soo’s wrist further down, the truth was finally revealed.
Song Hyun-soo covered his mouth with his other hand.
His name was clearly engraved on the inside of his lip.
Song Xianshou
“It’s engraved here, so there won’t be any problems when I work.””
Yoon Joo-ho said as if that solved everything.
“I-Is that why… you couldn’t eat or drink anything today?”
“I can’t drink acidic drinks. I can eat in a few hours. Something like porridge.”
He spoke as if it was nothing. Song Hyun-soo was the only one who looked pale.
“Earlier at lunch, is that when you went to get it?”
Nod.
“He’s a famous tattoo artist, so it was hard to make a reservation.”
“Reservation?”
“I made a reservation two months ago.”
It wasn’t something he did impulsively. In the first place, he wasn’t the kind of person who would impulsively engrave something like that on his body.
Song Hyun-soo couldn’t even touch his lip and frowned, gently touching his cheek.
“Doesn’t it hurt? It hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Not really.”
“It’s one of the most painful places to get a tattoo, there’s no way it doesn’t hurt.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had been quietly looking at Song Hyun-soo’s face as if he was the one in more pain, smiled playfully.
“You have to take responsibility for me now. Who would even look at a bastard with another guy’s name engraved on him?”
“Don’t call me a bastard. I’m yours.”
Yoon Joo-ho chuckled. With lips that had Song Hyun-soo’s name engraved on the inside.
“How could you do something like this… You’re really crazy, sunbae.”
“That’s right. You’ve fallen for a crazy guy.”
The wind blew Yoon Joo-ho’s hair. He wrapped his hand around Song Hyun-soo’s. And he gripped it tightly, putting strength into his fingers.
“I’m sorry. That you can never break up with me.”
With a calm face, but with an unfathomable sincerity hidden inside, Yoon Joo-ho apologized. Instead of saying he was sorry for not being able to let go, he could have just said he loved him. A complicated man.
I still couldn’t believe what he had done.
I covered one eye as if suffering from a headache, shook my head, and then suddenly hugged him.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my chin on his broad shoulder. Beyond his shoulder, the moon was rising above the yellow-lit Eiffel Tower.
The first human to leave a mark on Yoon Joo-ho’s body.
His beautiful body, like a flawless work of art, with my name engraved on the inside of his lip. Song Hyun-soo recalled that fact.
If a moon walker who landed on the moon left a name on the lunar surface, then the moon that humanity looks at from then on would be the moon with that name engraved on it. Because there is no water or wind on the moon, no weathering would occur. At least, it would remain that way for a very, very long time.
Even if no one knew that fact, the moon would still be the moon with that name engraved on it.
I liked the fact that no one knew even more.
A romantic and extreme, extremely Yoon Joo-ho-like secret between the two of us.
“When we return to Korea, let’s go visit my grandparents.”
“……”
“Not just to visit. Let’s introduce you as my boyfriend. Formally.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s body, which was holding Song Hyun-soo, flinched.
“It’s not the legal form you want, but let’s at least say hello first.”
A large hand clumsily stroked the back of Song Hyun-soo’s head.
“Is that okay? If they’re shocked and something happens to their health…”
“Fortunately, they’re not that weak. They’ve been through a lot.”
I smiled, imagining the faces of the two who would be surprised to see Yoon Joo-ho. If the other person was the Crown Prince, maybe they would even welcome him even if their grandson brought a man as his lover.
“After we say hello, let’s go to my grandmother’s house for the holidays. Let’s eat my grandmother’s braised ribs and my grandfather’s dumplings.”
I hugged Yoon Joo-ho’s waist even tighter and rubbed my face against his warm neck.
“Because I’m your family now.”
As if trying to prove that we could never break up, Yoon Joo-ho wrapped his arms around Song Hyun-soo’s body tightly.
Family.
Warmth, reassurance, a deep sense of connection, the common feelings that people associate with that word. But for Yoon Joo-ho, those images were just learned concepts.
But the moment he heard it from Song Hyun-soo’s mouth, that word suddenly came to him with a completely new meaning.
Family. Yes, I wanted to become family with this guy. The strongest bond that people talk about, one that can never be broken.
“Sunbae, I think it’s exactly 10 o’clock.”
Song Hyun-soo, who had broken the hug, smiled, pointing behind Yoon Joo-ho.
Yoon Joo-ho held his lover’s hand and leaned on his shoulder, watching the sparkling Eiffel Tower. He had visited Paris dozens of times. It was the first time he felt the beauty of that tower.
The first and only moon walker who entered the door that no one had ever entered, the door that even Yoon Joo-ho himself had chained and locked from the outside.
Song Hyun-soo’s footprints were clear on the white snowfield that had been built up over decades. It was full of his warmth and healthy laughter.
I think I finally understood.
Why so many people dream of this city. Why they sing of this city as the capital of love.
The End