The information hit him very unexpectedly.

As he had guessed, Sungyeol came to call on him. He treated him politely, telling him what had happened at the airport. He also apologized for turning his place upside down.

“It’s okay,” Sungyeol told him, not bringing up the picture. Woohyun was infinitely glad for that. Instead he told him how he was going to London.

“You’re never going to give up, are you?”

Woohyun controlled himself as he watched Sungyeol smiling exasperatedly.

“No, I won’t. And I will find him, without destroying someone else’s life.”

Sungyeol looked confused as he stared at the anger evident on Woohyun’s face. He was going to ask but Woohyun stopped him, changing the topic.

“When do you go back to work?”

“Tomorrow I guess. It was a fun vacation. So thanks.”

Woohyun shrugged it off and went back to his pudding.

Hanbyul, who had also accompanied Sungyeol and was now sitting at dinner with them, made a sour face.

“It’s good to get time off work. But my father would never…”

Woohyun guessed that Hanbyul’s father had scolded him for wasting time while giving Woohyun the tour. He did look like he had come off from work. Woohyun apologized but Hanbyul looked scandalized, saying that it was the best few hours of his life while blushing profusely.

“You’ll find someone really nice and sweet like you, Hanbyul,” Woohyun said kindly. He didn’t meet the younger’s eyes but he expected that some kind of emotional conflict was going on there. He hadn’t thought much about Sungyeol’s claim that Hanbyul liked him. Maybe he had a sort of crush on him because they were both artistically inclined. If that was indeed the case, he could actually see a future for Sungyeol and Hanbyul.

“You know,” Sungyeol said loudly, drawing attention to himself. “I was wondering…it’s fishy. I mean, somehow you always get the wind of where Sunggyu is – even though he changed three countries, you’re still close behind him.”

Woohyun hadn’t thought about that. Now that he examined Sungyeol’s words, he was startled.

It could only be luck how he had found out first that Sunggyu was in Shanghai, then he met Sungjong there who happened to process Sunggyu’s ticket and now here in Paris, when he was about to give up, he had been aided by a complete stranger and a handkerchief dropped by Sunggyu himself.

It all made sense only if he believed in miracles.

Someone somewhere is helping me.

He looked up at the ceiling and quickly muttered a prayer under his breath. He had been guided across countries, always having Sunggyu slip out of his fingers and then finding him again in the most unexpected places.

“Are you okay?” Hanbyul asked.

He realized he had gone too quiet and both Sungyeol and Hanbyul were staring at him.

“Is it something I said?” Sungyeol asked tentatively.

Woohyun shook his head.

“No, I’m fine. It’s just – I was thinking…” He stopped.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to share his spiritual belief with the others. It was something intimate to his soul and he felt it wouldn’t be proper. Also, he didn’t want to be laughed at and he had an idea that Sungyeol would probably laugh if he voiced his thoughts.

“Well whatever,” Sungyeol said, trying to lighten the mood. “You know, if you waited for a few days you could go with Hanbyul in his private jet. He’s flying to London soon.”

“Really?” Woohyun asked Hanbyul, who nodded morosely.

“Business meeting. I hate it when dad sends me to these trips…I don’t even have a choice. I don’t even like meetings – and he’s sending me to talk to the CEO of a Korean company – I don’t even know Korean that well.”

“You know Korean pretty well for someone who had been brought up here.”

Hanbyul looked visibly upset and Woohyun tried to comfort him, telling him how he shouldn’t let this bother him too much and talk to his father openly about what he wanted to do. Sungyeol cracked a few jokes and the atmosphere was light and relaxed. 

That was when all the talks about business and London stirred a memory – he remembered Sunggyu talking about his business partner, a few years ago.

“He bought a house in London, near Piccadilly Circle. We’ll go see it someday okay?”

And then, after a couple of months, he had even shared the address with him; Woohyun remembered adding it to his address book, just in case. He didn’t know back then that he would thank his lucky stars for doing so someday.

“Oh my,” Woohyun exclaimed. He now understood that Sunggyu had indeed a place to go to in London. He remembered checking the Tokyo office for Sunggyu’s partner and not finding him there.

He’s in London, and that’s where he’s going, to see his partner!

“What’s wrong Woohyun hyung?” Hanbyul asked, seeing the odd glint in his eyes.

Woohyun tapped the table with his fingers, a smile lighting up his face. Sungyeol and Hanbyul exchanged looks.

“Hyung?”

“Huh, what?” Woohyun said slowly, as if waking up from a dream. “Oh yeah, fine. I –everything’s fine. In fact, I know exactly where Sunggyu is.”

He got up, not noticing Sungyeol and Hanbyul giving him weird glances.

“I’ll see you tomorrow guys, if I’m not leaving.”

Running to his room, he rummaged his bag for his address book. When he found the black leather bound diary, he turned the pages feverishly.

Please let me find it, please.

His prayers were answered as he found the name he was searching for – Jang Hyunseung, followed by his address in Tokyo and London. He sighed. In a long time he felt as if he wasn’t running after something he couldn’t see.

Right now, he could almost picture Sunggyu at the end of the tunnel that had been never ending all this time. But now he knew the way and he knew he would never get lost. He felt a vibrant energy surging up his spine.

Being in love feels great.

Apparently, he wasn’t that lucky.

No seats opened up the next day and so he had to take the next flight. But he wasn’t terribly bothered about that since he now knew where to look for Sunggyu. And he could speculate that once Sunggyu went to his partner’s, he would stay there for some time. He probably didn’t remember that Woohyun had the address and even if he did, he couldn’t guess that Woohyun actually would follow him to London.

I’ll surprise you Sunggyu, and you’ll love it I know.

He tried to imagine Sunggyu’s reaction. He would be shocked of course, but Woohyun knew in the deepest corners of his heart, he would be happy. He would be glad for what Woohyun had done, he would cherish the moment when Woohyun would forgive him for running away and tell him to return with him.

And he will say he loves me. He will…

The thoughts of the impending meeting filled Woohyun’s head as the plane flew over the Parisian clouds, heading straight for Heathrow airport. Both Hanbyul and Sungyeol had come to see him off at the airport even though he had vehemently opposed their plan. Of course they exchanged their numbers and Woohyun found himself behaving much more normally with Sungyeol.

The change in his mood had caused him to forgive Sungyeol a little and the last thing he had said to him was - “Love is not hopeless.”

But now, 40,000 feet above the ground, he found it difficult to think about anyone or anything other than Sunggyu. He visualized Sunggyu so clearly, that he even once reached out in front of him only to clutch at thin air. He chuckled, causing his co-passenger to glare at him weirdly. But none of it could deflate his mood; he felt so light that he could fly.

He wondered how someone could love another person so dearly. He also knew what he felt for Sunggyu was very real, very much alive. He couldn’t deny it and he didn’t want to. And the knowledge was strong in his heart that Sunggyu felt just the same.

He told me so. And I believe him more than I believe myself.

“Hey wake up.”

Someone was tickling his neck, where he was the most sensitive.

“Getoff.”

He wanted to sleep and even though the aroma of coffee and something very sweet beckoned at him, he tried to ward off the hands tickling him gently.

“Woohyun, wake up!”

He felt strong hands pulling him into a hug. He felt a presence behind him, a warm presence and he shifted his body to fit into the curve of the figure holding him from behind, not opening his eyes. “You’re so lazy.”

Hot breaths ghosted over his nape and he shivered, even as he felt warm hands snaking over his waist, wrapping around him tightly.

This feels so good.

Presence.

Nearness.

Embrace.

They were good enough to make him feel paradise in his bones.

“Don’t you get comfortable now, you have to wake up.”

The voice too – it was like molten chocolate and he could never get enough of it. He would feign sleep all day just to hear that voice coaxing him to wake up.

“Woohyun?”

The voice stopped and the next moment his nape was being attacked with soft kisses, while the arms tightened around him, tickling his stomach. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He turned abruptly, taking Sunggyu by surprise and kissed him full on the lips.

Sunggyu kissed back enthusiastically and it would have gone on for some time if Sunggyu hadn’t pulled away and said, in a mock angry voice, “It’s worse than waking up my brother for school.”

Woohyun giggled in Sunggyu’s chest, tracing circles on his forearm. This was the best way to wake up indeed, in the arms of his beloved. In many ways, Sunggyu spoiled him and he enjoyed every moment of it.

“Your brother - was he difficult to wake up?”

Sunggyu made a face.

“More like impossible.”

“And did you…kiss him awake too?”

Meeting his eyes, Sunggyu scoffed.

“More like doused him with icy water.”

They both laughed, leaning in for another kiss.

“Can you stop laughing, it’s creeping me out.”

Woohyun started. His co-passenger, a middle-aged woman, was now looking at him with wide eyes and an expression that stated clearly that she thought he was crazy.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, trying to fix his expression.

He had been reminiscing so hard that he had actually laughed out loudly and he didn’t blame the lady beside him for thinking he was a maniac.

But he went back to daydreaming about Sunggyu soon. Now that he thought about it, Sunggyu didn’t have a lot of close family members. He had spent his childhood traveling between his father and mother, who had divorced right after Sunggyu had been born. His father had remarried and he had spent a significant amount of time with his younger half-brother. After his falling apart with his mother, Sunggyu had reestablished connections with his father and brother, who lived in another part of Seoul. He knew this would hurt his mother if she found out, but he still did it.

Woohyun didn’t like to suppose that Sunggyu was actually taking revenge on his mother but deep down, he knew the grudge against his mom had caused him to do something like that more than the loneliness.

Fortunately though, he had never asked Woohyun to accompany him – if he had asked, he wouldn’t have been able to accept because that would have been like betraying Mrs. Kim, whom he loved very much.

That was one thing that was common between them – Woohyun had no family and Sunggyu had very little that he acknowledged. They were in ways, loners. That was until they found each other. Woohyun had once heard a friend of his saying that lonely people have sad eyes and they can identify each other from miles away. Even though they don’t know why, they feel attracted to each other – it’s apparently that loneliness bringing them closer. He wondered if that was what had happened between him and Sunggyu. But he knew he could trust Sunggyu from the moment they had met.

Maybe that was because Sunggyu had found him when he was at his most vulnerable and yet hadn’t taken advantage of him. The exhibition where they had met – that was Woohyun’s first. It wasn’t a big exhibition – no fanfare, no press or media – he had been out of college for a year only. His father, who had been threatening to disown him from the moment he entered Art College, finally had taken to pen and paper and done it.

Woohyun was like a kite stuck in a tree, his string cut and not knowing where to go or what to do, he had collapsed headfirst into a branch.

Sunggyu had been there, at the exhibition that wasn’t a success, and he had praised his paintings. Woohyun had opened up to him because he had realized that if someone understood his art, they would understand him as well. And Sunggyu had understood him in a way his family never could. Most importantly, he respected his passion and his decision, his determination and had told him not to give up.

“I know what’s it like to lose what you love.”

So Sunggyu had dislodged the kite and let it fly free. Literally, Woohyun’s life had taken off. His next exhibition was a success and finally, he found his footing in life.

And Sunggyu was there, at every step.

Supportive.

Comforting.

In love.

It was no surprise when he proposed and Woohyun felt his life was finally complete.

Sunggyu, you complete me. A part of what makes me, me is Sunggyu.