Dry Monsoon

I didn’t know how many stares I had to endure coming down to the first floor while holding Lee-Hyun’s hand. I had to control my heartbeat which was pounding and hurting my ears. As we exited the department store, Secretary Kim was standing in front of a waiting car. He politely greeted me and opened the passenger door. Lee-Hyun went to the other side of the car and climbed into the driving seat, it seems like he was planning to take me somewhere today.

“Those shoes look good on you.”

It was rare to hear a compliment from Secretary Kim. I glanced at Lee-Hyun from the corners of my eyes. He was trying to hold back a smile all while maintaining to keep a frown.

“Thank you. You have chosen a nice colour for your tie.”  I complimented Secretary Kim back.

He gave me a slight nod and closed the car door. It was 7.00 pm, and just looking at the downtown city area packed with cars heading home from work made me feel suffocated. However, Lee-Hyun smoothly glided the car onto the busy road. The comfortable silence that had been tolerable a while ago seemed to weigh down on my body now that it was just the two of us. Unable to stand it, I threw a glance at him and broke the silence.

“Seeing you show up so suddenly surprised me.”

“You didn’t answer your phone, so I had to come myself.”

“Ah…! Sorry, I was in a meeting at that time…”

“It’s fine. I’m used to being ignored. Although I wasn’t in a very good mood.”

I bit on my lower lip and kept my mouth closed. To be honest, I didn’t do it on purpose, it was something I did on impulse. It was because my heart wasn’t ready to hear the words that would come out of his mouth, and I felt scared. I could never predict what this man was going to say.

Fidgeting with my fingers, I tried to change the topic.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“We’re heading to Gapyeong. I want to show you the site.”

“It’s seven o’clock? It’ll be past nine by the time we arrive.”

“You’ll understand when we get there. Anyway… have you been doing well?”

We were stuck in a heavy traffic jam. He slowly navigated the car through the congestion and turned his head.

“Tomorrow is the last day of my job.”

“Do you like the place you’re transferring to?”

“Yes, it’s not bad. Oh, the name of the new office is Hae-in Architecture. I didn’t mention it before because it was a bit hard to tell you… It’s only a coincidence, you see…”

I peeked at his expression. Despite Hae-in’s name, he calmly nodded and smiled faintly.

“It’s a strange coincidence. Anyway, get some sleep. If you were shopping with Soo-Yeon, you probably don’t have any energy left.”

“Hmm, okay.”

In fact, the seat was so cosy that my eyes immediately began to droop. 

Letting out a small sigh, I turned my head towards the window and closed my eyes. White, yellow, red, and blue hues swam behind my closed eyelids.  A sweet jazz melody tickled my ears. I could feel his gaze on me from time to time, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as before.

What made him come to the department store suddenly today? I lulled to sleep thinking about the man who always kept me awake at night. It was absurd.

On the verge of between dream and reality, I wondered about Lee-Hyun’s standards. Especially the topic of flavour, whether it was bland or salty.

***

“Lee Ji-Eun”

My body shook lightly. When I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, my body was engulfed in total darkness. Startled, I struggled and happened to grab Lee-Hyun’s arm. I was terrified and was clutching his arm tightly, he lowered himself towards me and wrapped his other arm around the back of my head. He led my head towards him, and half hugged me.

“It’s me, Kwon Lee-Hyun. Don’t be scared. It’s dark because the lights are off.”

When I was woken up so suddenly, my rationality was almost non-existent. Engulfed in the dark, my drowsy eyes finally found Lee-Hyun’s silhouette. As I raised my eyes towards his face, I found a man who looked rather tired.

“I was startled. By the way, did I snore?” I asked drowsily.

“A little? It’s okay, it was cute.”

Hiding my embarrassment, I escaped from Lee-Hyun’s arms and looked around outside. We were at a place where even the moonlight couldn’t reach. Lee-Hyun turned to the backseat to grab something and handed me a pair of sneakers from the floor.

“Change your shoes before you come out. Be careful, it’s dark.”

What was this place? I was suspicious of the forbidden darkness, but as he said I changed into the sneakers and got off. He stood staring at something.

“Is this Gapyeong? Where in Gapyeong…”

As I moved toward him, a small green light flashed in front of me, cutting off my words. I couldn’t take a step further. 

Starting with one, hundreds and thousands of fireflies appeared in the grass as if lighting a sea of fire. Instead of the darkness, the sound of grasshoppers crying, the sound of creek water coming from somewhere and fireflies surrounded them.

I just stood there with my mouth gaping open at the fantastic spectacle.

“This is the place. This is where you will build.” Lee-Hyun said, approaching me.