TEASER 02 × SEATS

» Songdo Beach, Pohang Beach, 11:47 p.m.

"So this is the ice cream parlor you usually meet your friends at?"
Jongsuk examined the small house, painted in pastels, eyes widened and head nodding slowly in agreement. Matching sunshades shielded the outdoor seating area from the burning sun, a handful of customers had gathered under one of them, watching their children building sand castles and baking mud cakes. "It fits you quite well."

Yewon tilted her head at him, a wide smile spreading on her face as she pushed the door to the small parlor open and they were embraced by the cold air that usually held sway over the shop. She gave Jong's face a quick glance and pulled on his hand lightly, making him look at her.

"Maybe we should take a seat outsides... it's pretty cold in there. We could take a seat in the shade or just talk a walk at the beach-"

"No, it's okay, let's eat here. I want to see where my love is always getting bullied by her friends." He grinned at her before pushing the door further open and letting her walk in first, closing the zipper of his college jacket before reaching for her hand once more. Yewon pulled him over to one of the seating areas in the shady part of the shop.

"I usually sit here." Jong chuckled at the way she immediately let herself fall on the soft bench that , except for a small gap to walk through, surrounded the round table completely. "And the girls are usually sitting on my left side... while the guys..." She gave away all of the favourite seating positions of the milkyway squad, pointing at their spots one after another, including the one he had sat down on to face her.

"And who's sitting there?" Jongsuk pointed at the seat directly next to hers, the free one to her right side, at the edge of the bank. He saw Yewon's smile growing even more as she affectionately patted the pale blue leather next to her and her gaze shifted to Jong's eyes.

"It's the seat I secretly saved for you." He blinked at her twice, maybe thrice until he had actually processed what Yewon had just voiced out.

"So you mean this... this is my...you...?"

"Yes, I was saving this seat for you ever since you left Pohang." Yewon's eyes started twinkling in the glow of the fairylights that were part of the table decoration. "Do you remember the promise I made to you before you entered the plane?" Jong nodded, still remembering the day his family left Pohang behind and moved to Beijing.

"Sure, you promised you'd wait for me, and that we'd eat ice cream together the day I'd come back to Pohang... wait, so this is the parlor that was built back then?" Again, she nodded at him while reaching for his hands and started to affectionately play with his fingers.

"I was crying because the opening date had been set for two days after your leave. I was so mad at Mr. Nam that I-"

"She kicked my shin, young companion!" Theeir hands seperated, cheeks glowing and throats quickly getting cleared, as Mr. Nam, a man in his early fifties and also the owner of the ice cream parlor, walked over to their table and greeted them with his loud, yet deep and warm voice. "Yewon, who's this fine young man holding your hands in my shop?" He let himself fall onto the seat next to Jongsuk and smiled at him before putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm Kim Jongsuk, her boyfriend. It's nice to meet you, Si-" Jongsuk had straightened his shoulders a little and made attempts to stand up and greet Mr. Nam formally, yet he was held down by said man's hand that still remained on his shoulder.

"No need to get up, Jongsuk! And drop the formalities, you can call me Larry." Now was the moment for Jong to notice the faintly foreign features of the man next to him. "I moved to Korea and built this ice cream parlor a few weeks before you left, boy. Sad we never got to meet each other before, owned me a nice black bruise on my right shin... You should believe me when I say you found yourself some fine girl!" He laughed his trademark laugh, opening his mouth wide and belting out a deep laughter that reminded his younger customers of Santa Claus himself.

Jongsuk noticed his chance to find out more about his lovely girlfriend and turned to his right to fully face Larry. "I never knew she was such a cheeky girl", he mentioned, earning a hiss from Yewon and a kick to his shin under the table, making him chuckle again.

"Cheeky, you say? Jongsuk, she was a brat!" Both of them kept laughing as Larry started telling him more top secret stories about Yewon especially her boyfriend should never know about, making her groan ("Didn't we come here to eat ice cream...??") at every new tiny secret that was spilled.
"...But despite what a brat she was -or maybe that's why- not a single boy around her was safe from getting his heart broken." Larry's gaze softened as he got up and tousled Yewon's blonde hair, making her squeal. "To be very honest, I thought you would start dating someone else, but... I feel like the two of you make a good match." With that, he went back to the counter to get them the ice cream Yewon had chosen.

Jongsuk took his chance and carefully slit over to "his" seat next to his lovely girlfriend, putting an arm around her shoulders and hiding his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the scent of her hair while Yewon also snuggled up to him. Thankfully, they were the only customers in the parlor, and Larry was too much of a father figure for Yewon to feel shy in front of him about something like that, thinking of the times her friends would casually use her lap as a pillow, or all of the birthday parties they had celebrated in this shop.

"He must love you a lot." Yewon's heart clenched at the words cautiously spilled by her boyfriend, fingertips caressing her plump lips, the sudden wetness of her eyes going by unnoticed by him.

"Yeah, he's always been like a father to me... he even asked out my mother twice, yet she's always been refusing."

"I still remember your dad... faintly, at least. Your mother must have been devastated after he died." Jongsuk straightened himself and turned Yewon's face back to him, now seeing the tears building up in her eyes and wiping them away from the edges with the faint touch of his fingertips. "And you... I'm sorry I wasn't there to comfort you when you needed me the most." When their eyes met this time, the athmosphere seemed to change, the air seemingly heavy and thick enough to cut it.

"You don't need to be sorry... you had your own problems back then. I had my family and my friends to keep me company while you had to adjust to a whole new country." Yewon bit her lower lip, carefully choosing her next words while she heared Larry humming in the background, thinking out loud about what decorations to put on top of their desserts.

"I'm just... glad you're here with me now." She felt Jongsuk hugging her even tighter, until it felt like there was barely any space between them. "Let's forget about the past, the present is much more pleasant, after all."

Larry came and brought them something to drink, asking them if they'd stay in the shop to eat- they decided to eat their ice cream under one of the sunshades outside since Jongsuk still couldn't really get used to the temperature in the parlor.

Larry went back to his counter, and the following small moment of silence turned into another chance to cuddle and bond for the young couple, exchanging smiles and gazes and laughing silently as the tickled each other lightly and both bumped their elbows at the table... They had just sunken back into the baby blue leather of the bank they sat on, when Yewon decided it was the right moment to take another step.

"Jong?" The whisper of his name made him turn his head to the left, only to directly gaze into the sparkling eyes of his girlfriend. Time seemed to stop and all sounds stepped into the back of their heads, all that mattered was the sight, the closeness to their significant other. He noticed Yewon's pupils constantly swaying between the sight of his eyes and his lips, signaling she was ready, she wanted to overcome this small last wall between them, and she closed her eyes-

Yet no sweet warmth came to her lips, no nose brushed past hers, the warmth of Jongsuk's arm even vanished from her shoulders, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw him turning away from her, acting as if he was trying to see what Larry was doing. Yewon gave him a questioning look and put a hand on his shoulder to check on him, Larry came back with two ice cream cones in hand.

"Here you two, take our special treat for couples and have some fun- Are you okay?" He mustered both of them with widened eyes, now noticing how red Jong's face had gotten, while Yewon still looked at him in anticipation. "Ooh, did I interrupt you again? You should've just continued, you wouldn't have been the first couple kissing in my shop-"

"Larry, what's the bill?", Yewon interrupted him, smiling, yet somewhat eager as she reached for her purse.

"No money, dear. Just visit me again, you two." With another wide, toothy grin, he gave them their huge ice cream cones afterthey had risen from their seats. "I want to see everyone's faces when you show up with your new boyfriend... oh, and please keep mentioning my parlor in your blog! The customers outside came from

"We'd be happy to visit you again." Jongsuk shook Larry's hand and put an arm around Yewon's shoulders, noticing how stiff she suddenly was now that both had said something that reminded her of the reason Jongsuk was even here with her.

After eating their ice cream cones under one of the sunshades, they decided to put their bags into the car since they'd surely become a hassle as soon as they went to the beach to play by the water and take a walk, so Jongsuk and Yewon went to the parlor's small parking area first. Yewon hadn't spoken a single word since they had left the small shop, leaving Jong with the feeling of guilt since he all-to-well knew the reason for her sudden change of mood- yet he also knew her, and he realized it was one of these moments where Yewon didn't want to talk about her concerns.

"I barely remember the beach, but it looked pretty nice on your blog..." he started while Yewon opened the trunk and put her handbag in, followed by his small satchel. "...could also be because you were on most of the pictures, though." The only answer he got was a weak smile on her side, and so he decided not to try pushing her onto the happy road any more, until-

"What's that small metal case?" Jongsuk pulled it out of the trunk, viewing the black object with a huge pink heart on it as if it was meant to explode every second.

"No, put it bag down, it's important!" Yewon reached for the small case, yet Jong was faster- he held it up high, just enough for her fingertips to brush against it without the chance to actually grab it.

"Jong, seriously, if that case falls to the ground, I will-"

"Okay, okay. Would you mind telling me what's inside, though? Seems to be super important to you." He grinned as she finally snatched it out of his hands and safely put it back into the depths of the car.

"Is it something I'm not supposed to see yet?"

She released a barely noticeable sigh as Jongsuk closed the trunk with a loud thud and she pressed the button on her key to lock the car. "Let's go, before all of our ice cream goes to waste." And without even waiting for him, she walked straight down to the beach, with him following her like a puppy wagging it's cute stubby tail at it's owner.

"Hey, what's with that face? I know what's in that case, I was just going to wait for you to tell me." Just like he was wagging his tail at her, her puppy ears and tail now would've hung low because of her queasy conscience. She should've told him right away, should have trusted him more when after all, the insides of the case were meant for both of them -
"You could've just told me you're wearing these silicone bra pads, I know you must be on the flat side, I mean, you're so thin-" He put his arm around her again, nudging her sides and finally making her laugh... Being called "Stupid!" in return was a small prize for that.

Feeling as if a huge weight was taken from her shoulders, Yewon grabbed his hand and pulled him with her, coming to a halt right in front of the water mark in the sand where they doffed their shoes and keys and Yewon ran, just ran into the wide ocean until she couldn't stand anymore and Jongsuk, fearing for her life because he had never seen how lively she could be around the beach, begged her not to go in too far.

Remembering he couldn't swim, Yewon made her way back to him and as he scolded her for getting all wet, all she could do was look at his face that was glowing in the warm sun and squeeze his hand a little harder while hoping he'd never have to know about the insides of that damned case.