Thursday

The following day, Yuta missed his slot after telling Taeyong that he had something to handle in Busan and Taeyong thanked all the gods he did not believe in for the miracle.

So when Taeyong finally met Jaehyun that evening, he was in the best of spirits. ‘Jae, do you want to visit the Namsan Tower tonight?’ Taeyong proposed. It was a beautiful December’s night, not as cold as the previous few days, but frosty enough for snow to rest on the sidewalk and rooftops.

Jaehyun seemed to be feeling less grouchy today and agreed to the suggestion.

The night had completely descended by the time they reached the top of the mountain. The Tower loomed over them. Just like the guardian of the city, Jaehyun remembered his mother telling him.

The frosty night did little to reduce the flow of visitors. It had begun to snow and Taeyong was grateful Jaehyun had spared him his jacket. Once they alighted at the podium, they were faced with the most enthralling view. Light cottony flakes wafting down from the dusky sky, the air cloudy from the small puffs of warmth radiating from the chatter of young lovers. Christmas was just around the corner and the trees were garnished with a thin later of frost, ornamental and embellished. If the pair had ever witnessed anything roughly comparable to the sight they were facing now, it was consigned to history, because right there, it was as if they had stepped into the most bewitching snowglobe.

‘Wow,’ Jaehyun breathed and scanned the expansive view. It seemed like his moodiness had dissipated and Taeyong was eternally grateful. It was dark but they could still make out the small bamboo houses lining slopes, buses chugging along the highway and clusters of people making their way home in the cold. The city was glimmering – streetlights, billboards, storefronts, an observable buzzing that resonated and vibrated from the streets below.

‘Seoul’s not too shabby, is it?’ Taeyong gave Jaehyun a light shove.

‘It’s so much better than ‘not shabby’,’ Jaehyun purred.

They were standing on a platform now, looking over the railings at the sparkly cityscape. The rails were adorned with locks that bore testament to the love and adoration various couples had professed throughout the years.

‘Look at this Jaehyun,’ Taeyong pulled Jaehyun toward him and Jaehyun felt his heart leap dangerously.

‘S&K, 1988,’ Taeyong read, thumb brushing the scrawny lettering, ‘It’s been exactly twenty years, I wonder if they’re still happily together.’

‘They’ve got to be,’ Jaehyun reassured. Taeyong had never struck him as a romanticist but he had guessed wrong.

‘To my first love, Jisung oppa. You never knew my name but yours was stuck in my head since the first day we met,’ Jaehyun read, cradling another lock in his palm, ‘Sappy but depressing. Unrequited love.’

‘How was your first crush like?’ Taeyong asked abruptly.

‘She was… kind,’ Jaehyun couldn’t think of a better word and Taeyong noted how the first trait that came to the younger’s mind was not ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’ or worse, ‘y’, but ‘kind’. It reflected the type of person Jaehyun was.

‘She had the most pleasing smile, you know the type that makes your heart glow when you see it?’ Jaehyun paused and thought, like your’s Taeyong.

‘Yeah,’ Taeyong murmured.

‘We met in high school, still kids then. I’m not even sure I knew what being with someone even meant. I just knew I couldn’t stop thinking about her and that I wanted to protect her.’

Protection, attention and consideration. That was what love was to Jaehyun, Taeyong thought.

‘You did know what love meant, even as a kid, Jaehyun,’ Taeyong fumbled with the other locks absentmindedly, ‘Tons of people way older than you haven’t been able to figure that out but I think you already did at the age of…’

‘15,’ Jaehyun filled in.

Another pause.

‘How about you? How was your first crush like?’ It was Jaehyun’s turn to ask.

‘He was…’ The pronoun stood out to Jaehyun. He.

‘He was kind… when he felt like it. Loving too, when he had time for me,’ Taeyong’s tone was filled with bitterness or sadness, Jaehyun couldn’t decode. Yet something was so wrong from the way Taeyong had described it, as if he were an object that could be discarded at will and retrieved again when the owner desired.

‘He was from Japan, an exchange student at Seoul University. I never went to college but we met through a mutual friend and that night he was so nice to me, listening to all my troubles. He was the first person who spared me a glance when I was struggling with my family and finances,’ Taeyong explained.

Jaehyun had never heard about Taeyong’s family. It had always seemed like a taboo and Jaehyun didn’t have the heart to pry.

‘He seems nice,’ Jaehyun prompted, ‘Then what happened?’

‘He left.’

Simple as that.

‘I’m sorry Tae.’

‘Don’t be.’

Jaehyun knew it wasn’t the time to lecture the older, but he couldn’t help it. He had had his share of do