By Zephyria Even after driving for a long time, the road continued endlessly. The initial excitement had subsided, and Yu-jin became quiet. He seemed bored, but he didn’t complain to Winston. Winston glanced at the watch on his wrist, spotted a gas station in the distance, and opened his mouth.
“Shall we get dinner? Over there, would that be okay?”
Yu-jin, who had also turned his gaze at Winston’s words, widened his eyes. The diner next to the gas station looked exactly like the ones he had seen in illustrations. It was obvious without having to say anything. Winston parked the car leisurely in the parking lot, then took Yu-jin’s hand and entered the diner.
“The diner from the book I read last time looks like this.”
Yu-jin, unable to hide his excitement as he constantly looked around, whispered after finally sitting down.
“What book were you reading?”
Winston asked with a smile, also lowering his voice. Yu-jin was about to answer immediately but stopped. He glanced furtively towards the owner, then whispered in an even smaller voice.
“The owner wouldn’t like it if he heard. A man who was dealing drugs got shot and died. The store was a mess too.”
“Oh dear.”
Winston barely managed to hold back his laughter. Yu-jin, unaware of his reaction, added with a serious expression.
“How sad the owner must have been that his precious store was ruined.”
“Wouldn’t he have had insurance?”
Winston said, unable to hide the smile spreading across his face, and Yu-jin suddenly widened his eyes. At the point he hadn’t thought of, he quickly asked in an excited voice.
“Then what happens? Is the store okay?”
“Of course. He might even have become much richer. If the owner had taken out expensive insurance, that is.”
In fact, Winston didn’t care at all. But if it made Yu-jin happy, it wasn’t too bad to make up these kinds of stories. Seeing Yu-jin smile brightly and breathe a sigh of relief, Winston once again confirmed that his choice was right.
“They’re just characters in a book, so you don’t have to think that far.”
Winston said lightly, pointing to the paper with the menu on the table, and Yu-jin replied.
“But it’s pitiful if they lose their place to live.”
Winston looked up, and Yu-jin was looking at the menu. He was silent for a moment, then muttered.
“How are you going to live with such a soft heart?”
“Huh?”
Yu-jin looked at him questioningly, but Winston just smiled nonchalantly and changed the subject.
“I’ll have the classic sandwich with extra patty, what about you?”
“Ah, um… oh, I’ll have this, the avocado sandwich.”
“Do you know what this is? Do you want to try it?”
Winston asked, pointing to one of the items on the menu. Yu-jin quickly looked at him with sparkling eyes.
“Actually, I saw this in a book too, but if I order this too, it seems like too much… I can’t eat it all.”
“You can leave some. What about drinks? How about this?”
After deciding on the rest of the menu with Winston’s recommendations, Yu-jin waited with a pounding heart.
“Where are we going?”
He took a sip of the drink that came out first, sucked on the straw a couple more times as if fascinated, and then finally spoke again. Winston answered casually.
“I have a summer villa. It won’t be used for a while, so if we go now, it’ll just be the two of us.”
“A villa? Just the two of us?”
Yu-jin’s face, repeating his words, quickly flushed red. Winston wanted to kiss him, but he couldn’t because the table was in the way, so he pinched his cheek gently instead. Soon after, the food came out, and Winston watched Yu-jin, who was constantly exclaiming in admiration and slowly putting the food in his mouth, with a smile the whole time.
* * *
It was already after sunset when they arrived at their destination after driving for a long time. Yu-jin had fallen asleep at some point, and Winston closed the convertible top before it got dark so that he wouldn’t get cold.
After passing a few quiet mansions located quite far apart from each other and driving down a familiar road, he finally slowed down the car. He pressed the remote control fixed to the sun visor, and the parking lot gate opened with a rattling sound. He drove the car straight in, then got out of the driver’s seat and hurried to the passenger seat.
Yu-jin was still asleep. Winston smiled wryly, carefully picked him up, and entered the mansion. The villa was extremely quiet.
Thanks to the prior arrangements made during the day, the interior was clean, but a faint smell of dust still lingered. He carried Yu-jin up the stairs two or three steps at a time and headed straight to the bedroom.
Yu-jin didn’t open his eyes even when he was laid down on the bed. Winston stroked Yu-jin’s hair, looked down at his sleeping face for a while, gave him a short kiss on the lips, and then left the room, muffling his footsteps.
Alright, then.
Back in the living room, he straightened his shoulders and looked around the house once.
Should I check the refrigerator first?
* * *
“Whoaaaa!”
Yu-jin screamed and sank. Winston quickly grabbed his waist and pulled him above the water. “Phew,” Winston gently embraced Yu-jin, who was gasping for breath and desperately clinging to his neck.
“It’s okay, Yu-jin. You can learn slowly. Don’t be too scared.”
“B, but…”
Yu-jin gasped for breath, his shoulders heaving, completely soaked. On the third day of being at the villa, Winston had offered to teach him how to swim, and Yu-jin had accepted without much thought.
But he didn’t know that even floating on the water would be a challenge.
“Once you can float, it’s all over.”
Winston said gently, encouraging him.
“You don’t have to push yourself too hard. Let’s just learn how to float while we’re here, okay?”
He couldn’t say he couldn’t do it now. Yu-jin had no choice but to nod and say yes. And for about 30 minutes, the special training continued again.
“Haaaah.”
Yu-jin, completely exhausted, lay down on the sunbed and let out a long breath. Winston, who followed him, smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
“You worked hard, are you very tired?”
He didn’t even have the energy to answer, so he just blinked. Winston stroked Yu-jin’s hair as if he understood everything, then straightened up and said.
“I’ll make you something to drink. Let’s rest for a bit and then go out for dinner.”
Yu-jin just stared blankly at Winston’s back as he walked away, whistling. It had already been a few days since he came here, but it still didn’t feel real. That he had come out of the Separate Residence/Annex and was living so freely in this completely new place. Just the two of them, with Winston.Turning his gaze, he saw the endless expanse of the distant sea. He had never imagined the villa would be by the sea, so Yu-jin was surprised once again when he first learned of it.
“Once you’re a bit more used to the water, let’s go to the beach.”
Swimming in the sea would be easier, Winston had said, but Yu-jin was still too scared to even consider it. He heard that this was the Campbell family’s private beach. If you weren’t a Campbell, no one would come looking, and they wouldn’t come here either, so this place was completely their own space.
He didn’t know what was going on…
He guessed it was for a similar reason that Harold couldn’t come, but he couldn’t ask deeply. He thought that even if Winston told him, he wouldn’t understand, and he was afraid of whether he should even know that much, so he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
If it was something I needed to know, Winston would have told me first.
Yu-jin thought so and decided to do his best in the time before him. It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Once in a lifetime…?
The word he suddenly thought of made his heart drop. Yu-jin blinked his eyes rapidly without realizing it.
Are we going to break up…?
Someday, we probably will. It was like being doused in cold water. What will happen to us in the future? Is there even a future between us? It’s obvious, Winston and I are just dating, and no one knows what will happen.
He might marry someone else…
It was such an obvious thing to say. Just imagining it made him feel a heart-wrenching pain when suddenly the doorbell rang. Startled, Yu-jin reflexively turned around, but no one was in sight. Where did Winston go? He became anxious, but the doorbell continued to ring incessantly. He couldn’t stand the pressure to go out. Yu-jin stood up awkwardly and carefully opened the connecting door, stepping into the living room. He saw Winston walking across the room towards the front door. He let out a sigh of relief and slumped his shoulders, but as the door opened, the visitor came into view. Winston, seeing a tall beauty with elaborately styled long hair, paused and opened his mouth.
“Evelyn, what’s going on?”