Had things been the way they were before, Jinyoung would have never ended up in a place like Old Woking. Villages were cozy places, and coziness invited community, and community invited things like gossip and eavesdropping and having people’s noses in your business. Jinyoung had always preferred places that could be described as the middle of nowhere, places where you had to walk a mile before you encountered any neighbors, places where the people were just as disinterested in you as you were in them.

But things weren’t the way they had been before. Jinyoung wasn’t as good at being disinterested, and Mark couldn’t settle down in a place that would take him ages to get to work. Neither of them had wanted to live in London—Jinyoung wasn’t a city person, and Mark wanted a yard and some space—so they’d ended up in Surrey, and in the exact kind of village Jinyoung had always avoided.

All the same, he couldn’t help but fall in love with Old Woking, as soon as they arrived with their real estate agent. It was charming and old-fashioned in the same way the old hanok in Inje was. It had the air of a place that hadn’t fully moved forward with time, a place where life was too slow to keep up with the whirlwind pace at which the rest of the world around it was changing. And that was what Jinyoung wanted for the upcoming years: a slow, gradual life.

“Your cottage is this one right here,” the real estate agent, a young woman named Georgiana, said while pointing down the lane. “A good location, close to the church with plenty of places to walk to nearby. And your neighbors-”

Before she could finish her sentence, an older woman poked her head out of the next-door cottage and then stepped outside, followed then by another and another and another. Soon the swarm of elderly women were crowded around Mark and Jinyoung, a flutter of excitement and chatter.

“My, look at you!” one of them said. “We were told we’d be having some young men coming, but you’re a great deal handsomer than we were expecting.”

“And so young, this one!” another said, taking Jinyoung’s arm. “A mere babe compared to us old bags. Fresh out of university, I’d think.”

“And already married, poor thing. Though I suppose I’d have married that quickly, too, if the man asking me had the look of this one.” The third woman took Mark’s arm. “Now, now, don’t blush! Georgiana already let the cat out about the ones moving in being a married couple. Not to out you, of course, I’m sure.”

“Of course not,” Georgiana sputtered, cheeks turning pink. “It isn’t a secret! It isn’t a secret, is it?” She looked at Mark anxiously. Jinyoung noticed that was happening a lot more often now that Mark appeared the older of the two—people deferred to his word more often than they did Jinyoung’s, when once the opposite had been true.

“It isn’t,” Mark said, struggling to hold back laughter at this chaotic display. He lifted his hand, showing the gold wedding band they’d picked out. “I’m quite proud of the fact, actually.”

“Of course you are, all men who rob the cradle are always proud of themselves for it,” the woman holding onto his arm teased playfully.

“There’s only a…what is it? A ten-year difference?” Mark glanced at Jinyoung, who nodded. “And I’m young at heart, and he’s ancient at heart.”

“Then he’ll get along well with us ancients,” one of the women said. She had vibrant red hair and the faintest trace of an Irish accent. “And don’t think we disapprove! Ten years is nothing compared to the nonsense other men get into, like Millie’s ex-husband! You both seem decent sorts, and both handsome to boot, and we’re happy to be your neighbors.”

“Yes,” Georgiana said to Mark and Jinyoung, cutting back in. “As I was saying, these will be your neighbors. The Single Nans, they like to call themselves.”

“Not all of us are Nans, though,” the woman holding onto Jinyoung’s arm said. She was short with permed white hair and lively eyes. “I’m a proper spinster. Never had a man, and never wanted one.” She paused. “Not that I have anything against you two, for being men. Gay men are the only men God made proper, is what Millie’s always said.” She chuckled. “I’m Maude.”

“And I’m her younger sister, Millie,” the woman holding onto Mark’s arm said. She looked similar to Maude, but her blonde hair hadn’t turned all the way to white and her eyes were even more mischievous. “Not a proper spinster, unfortunately. I married a real scoundrel. Ran off with someone twenty years younger, so really, your ten years isn’t so bad at all!”

“I’m also divorced,” the red-haired woman said. “About…four times, was it? Never married a man who could keep up with me, sadly.” She shrugged, as if it didn’t matter a whit to her. “I’m Flannery. I won’t even get into my last names, I can barely keep them straight myself.”

“I’m Lorna,” the last woman said. She was quieter than the others, and a little more elegantly dressed. “I’m widowed. I lost my husband Richard five years ago.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Mark said earnestly. Jinyoung nodded, feeling that familiar pang he always did when someone mentioned death these days. He was far from the days when the thought of death filled him with envy.

“Thank you,” Lorna said. “But I’ve been blessed with friendship enough to get on fine. Millie and Maude invited me to stay with them so I wouldn’t be alone, and last year Flannery joined us, and we’ve been snug as bugs in our little home ever since.”

“And now I should see to making the Tuans snug as bugs in theirs,” Georgiana said. “If you don’t mind, could you ladies pop off for a bit while I get them settled?”

“Fine, fine, we know when we’re not wanted,” Maude said, dropping Jinyoung’s arm. “How would you like coming over when you can for tea? Our doors are always open!”

“We’d love to come,” Mark said. “And thank you for the warm welcome. We just got here, and already it feels like home thanks to you.”

“Oh, you!” Flannery laughed. “A cradle robber and a flatterer! I like him. Which Tuan are you?”

“Mark,” Mark said. “The young, pretty one is my yeobo. Pleasure to meet all of you.”

The Single Nans retreated back to their cottage, and Georgiana sighed. “Don’t mind them,” she said. “They’re a bit much, but they mean well.”

“It’s fine,” Mark said. “I like them. I lost my own grandmothers, so I think I’ll like having them around.”

“I agree,” Jinyoung said. “But shall we go inside now? I’d love to see how it looks in person, finally.”

Georgiana walked them through the cottage. It was quaint, a different environment from the utilitarian houses Jinyoung had lived in in America and the very Eastern-style home in Korea. The heart of the place was the sitting room with its fireplace and windows out into the side garden. He could see Millie and Maude peering from their own window across the way, smiling and waving when he spotted them watching.

Their bedroom was upstairs in a windowless room. Georgiana apologized for the lack of natural light, but Jinyoung didn’t mind. It would be perfect considering their curious neighbors. If they wanted sunlight, there were other places to go in the house.

After the guided tour, they finalized some paperwork with Georgiana and she left them with the key and her best wishes. With her gone, they sank into the floor, still exhausted from the flight and excitement of the move.

“No furniture again,” Mark said. “Brings back memories.”

“The stuff we shipped from Korea should be arriving soon,” Jinyoung said. “We’ll have to go out shopping for the rest.”

“Not right away. I don’t mind no furniture for a few days, if it means we get to rest.” He rolled over slightly, taking Jinyoung’s hand. “Looks like it’s going to be difficult not to be the talk of the town here.”

“It’s fine,” Jinyoung said, genuinely meaning it. “This is probably going to be the last place we live where our ages are appropriate for us to be together. They seem fine with it, so there’s not much for them to question. I think the excuse of my Asian genes will get me through another fifteen years just fine.” He smiled. “I think it’s fine if we take advantage of it. Let’s live as much of a normal life as we can while we can.”

“If you’re for it, I’m for it.”

“Besides, I don’t mind spending some time with the Nans. I’ve never really spent much time with older people. I might relate to them more. Although compared to me, they’re still just like newborn foundlings, I suppose.”

“And what does that make me?”

“Mmm, does it matter? Whatever I think of you, you’re still a cradle robber to the Nans.”

Mark laughed and pulled Jinyoung against him. “And you’re still my yeobo, my baby, no matter what you think of me, so there’s that.” He kissed him gently. “Now that some of the initial sadness of having to leave has passed, I’m a bit excited. I think I’ll like living here.”

“Me, too,” Jinyoung said, kissing him back. “Although I’ll be even more excited when our mattress gets here, won’t you?”

Jinyoung and Mark took the Single Nans up on their offer to come over for tea as soon as they’d done a fair share of their unpacking. The Nans’ cottage was about the same as theirs in layout, but looked completely different thanks to the hodgepodge of decorations that must have been caused by merging Millie and Maude’s belongings with Flannery’s and Lorna’s. One of the Nans seemed to really like lace and doilies, while another had a penchant for classic rock memorabilia. It didn’t work at all, and yet somehow it did.

Jinyoung's favorite part was when they walked into the sitting room. There were four stiffed back armchairs pushed up close to the fire. He could just imagine the Nans sitting there every night, gossiping over tea and laughing over decades old jokes.

“I’m afraid we’re a bit short on more armchairs for you, so the chairs from the kitchen will have to do,” Millie said, scooting a pair out from the dinner table and setting them up by the armchairs. “We’d offer you our seats, but really, all our pillows are perfectly arranged to suit the needs of our creaky backs. It would be a shame to disturb them.”

“Shan’t do it, not even for you,” Maude said, a twinkle in her eyes. “But we will allow you our finest tea and biscuits as our honored guests.”

“Biscuits, as in cookies, right?” Mark asked. “Just want to be sure. I remember reading biscuits were cookies when I was studying for the move.”

The four Nans giggled. “Studied?” Flannery snickered. “Did you go to the library and write lines to remember the proper meaning of biscuits? How diligent!”

“You don’t need to worry so much,” Lorna said kindly. “We know to excuse Americans their…unique adaptation of the mother language.”

“Be careful,” Mark joked. “Just because I live here now doesn’t mean that I won’t defend America. And as you know, America is very good at defending itself against the English.”

Millie clapped a hand over her heart. “Dear me! The cheek!”

“You’ll have to excuse him,” Jinyoung said with a smile. “Mark’s always had the personality of a brat.”

“Has he?” Maude leaned forward. “You must have been quite young when you met.”

“You wouldn’t have thought so, if you’d seen us,” Mark said. “When we met, my yeobo acted like I was the most immature brat he’d ever met.”

“And you were,” Jinyoung said.

“Well, you’ve both grown now,” Lorna said. “Bickering the way that us old folks do.”

“Loving sort of bickering,” Flannery said. “Not like me and my fourth husband. Or the third.”

“Bickering like Lorna and Richard,” Maude said.

Lorna smiled, a sad, longing sort of smile. “Yes,” she said. “Me and Richard used to bicker about the pettiest things. But we always were so very, very happy.”

“A rarity,” Millie said with a sigh. “Make sure you always keep it loving, you two. It’s when you forget the loving that everything else starts to go.”

“We won’t forget it,” Mark said, resting his hand on Jinyoung’s knee.

Maude got the tea ready a served them all in pretty china cups. The ‘biscuits’ were delicious ginger snaps made by Flannery, who was the best baker of the bunch.

“So how did all of you meet?” Jinyoung asked. “Besides Millie and Maude, of course.”

“Oh, it was just the most terrible way,” Maude said, with a grin that suggested she was delighted to talk about it in spite of how terrible it was. “Truly wicked.”

“Oh, don’t judge,” Millie said crossly.

“I will judge exactly as I please, Millicent!” Maude leaned forward. “Back when we were younger, there was this dreadful serial running in a popular ladies’ magazine. Well, I suppose not so dreadful as the things that get written and put on TV these days, but back then it was quite dreadful. One of those romances that’s…well…a bit ty.”

“Maude, what passed for ty back then is what passes for innocent teen drama now,” Flannery said with a roll of her eyes.

“But what matters is that it was very, very wicked at the time, and it was!” Maude cleared indignantly. “Wicked though it was, my dear sister Millie was devoted to reading it, and fancied the lead character, the handsome scoundrel…what was his name?”

“Duke Yeardley,” Millie, Flannery, and Lorna all said at once, a little bit of a sigh in their voices.

“Yes, Duke Yeardley, that was it. The serial became so popular that women started writing little stories about Duke Yeardley, Millie included, and sharing them among their friends. There was even a contest in the magazine for a cash prize for the person who could write the best original story about the dashing Duke Yeardley.” Maude smile got wider. “Millie entered and was listed as a finalist. The contest was so popular the magazine decided to host an event for the finalists and all the fans of the serial…rather like one of the conventions they have nowadays, for comic books. I told Millie if she was spotted at such an event, she would be the shame of Old Woking and everyone in town would judge her for it. But Millie was bound and determined, saying no one we knew would ever appear at such an event. Everyone in Old Woking was far too dignified for ty magazine serials.”

“Excuse me for finding it all a little more entertaining and enjoyable than Dickens or Hardy,” Millie said crossly.

“In any case, I decided to come with her in case a situation would arise where I’d need to protect her good reputation. Millie kept swearing up and down that we wouldn’t know a soul at the event and that our attendance would be a total secret, so imagine my horror when we arrived and right away saw two other Old Woking girls there—Flannery Walsh and Lorna Pickering!”

“We weren’t expecting to see anyone we knew there, either,” Flannery said with a shrug.

“I’d submitted my story under a penname,” Lorna said. “I would have rather died than have my parents know I’d written fiction, much less about a scandalous serial I wasn’t even supposed to be reading. I was only at the event because I needed to attend in case I was the winner of the cash prize.”

“Worse yet,” Maude said gleefully. “All the finalists were called up to have a group picture taken for the magazine. And the winner got a special photo taken shaking hands with the editor-in-chief before receiving the cash prize…which went to Lorna! One of the village ladies saw the pictures in the magazine and spread it around to the whole village, and, oh, you should have seen the face the minister made when he heard! The three of them were lectured so fierce that by time he was finished, they were all renouncing Duke Yeardley as the devil and promising never to write anything more daring than Bible verses for the rest of their lives!”

“Lies, of course,” Flannery said dismissively. “I had the whole serial hidden under my mattress and read my favorite parts every night.”

“I wrote dozens more stories, each of them more wicked than the next,” Millie said proudly.

“And the lot of us met up constantly to discuss it, and all the other romance serials that came out after,” Lorna said. “Maude never read a word of any of them, but she joined us anyways.”

“Someone had to look out for you troublemakers,” Maude said primly. “I’ve never cared a whit for romance, so I thought I might be a levelling influence on you.”

“She wasn’t,” Flannery said.

“Still isn’t,” Millie agreed.

“Well, now that we’ve told you our story, you’ll have to tell us yours, Mr. and Mr. Tuan.” Maude said. “What wicked happenings conspired to bring the two of you together?”

They spent a lovely afternoon together swapping stories. Jinyoung and Mark told them about their life in Korea—as much as they could, of course—and the Nans talked about their grandchildren and all the gossip around the village that they’d accumulated.

Both Mark and Jinyoung were smiling ear to ear when they went back to their cottage. “Imagine them writing fanfiction about Regency romance serials,” Mark chuckled. “What a way to form such a lifelong friendship!”

“Kind of made our weird little love story pale in comparison.”

“The lite version, yes. But I’m not sure anything can beat the truth of the whole thing.” Mark shook his head in amazement. “You know what, I’m glad we opted not to live too far away from civilization this time. Having neighbors is oddly fun.”

“Well, let’s enjoy it while it lasts. Shall we take them up on their invitation for weekly tea on Saturdays?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They figured out pretty quickly that skipping church on their first Sunday was out of the question in the village. It was as much a social obligation as a moral one, and it didn’t help that the minister personally came to visit and invite them to services. The Nans invited them to share a pew, so Mark and Jinyoung turned up in their best clothes to join them and meet the rest of the village.

Mark seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Though his faith wasn’t the same as it once was, he still enjoyed all the history and rituals as much as ever. Jinyoung was less thrilled. To him, every hour he had with Mark was precious—he didn’t want to spend any of it going through the motions of worshipping any god.

He was relieved when Mark bowed out quickly of the after-service gathering outside the church. “Yeobo and I really have to unpack some more,” he said. “A lot of the things we shipped from Korea arrived last night, so we have some setting up to do.” Everyone politely protested, wanting to spend more time talking to them, but relented when Mark insisted that the sooner they finished setting up the house, the sooner they could invite people over as guests.

“Thank you,” Jinyoung said when they were out of earshot of everyone else. “You recognized that I didn’t really want to be there, right?”

“That, or I remembered that our mattress was delivered last night and we haven’t even used it properly yet.”

“And whose fault is that? I distinctly remember coming out of the shower last night to find you passed out asleep on it already.”

“You took too long in the shower! I’m in my mid-thirties, I can’t just stay up until 2 am like I used to anymore. Not to mention I was suffering from jet lag.”

“Mhmmm.”

“Whatever.” Mark elbowed him in the side playfully, then his expression turned serious. “I’ll let people know, politely, that we’re Buddhist and won’t be attending services in the future.”

“Thank you. Nothing against the god of Israel, but-”

“But a god’s still a god,” Mark finished for him. “And you’re done with that. I understand. I don’t think anyone will be genuinely offended or anything. England’s multicultural enough to where they’re used to people from different religions. Or at least they should be.”

“Just like the Americans should be, hmm?” Jinyoung pulled open the front door to their cottage. Mark kicked it shut behind them, wrapping his arms around Jinyoung’s waist from behind. “Mmm, so you were actually serious about wanting to get back to our mattress?”

“When am I ever not serious about getting you in bed?” He pressed his lips against Jinyoung’s neck. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“The other day when I dropped by next door to give Maude back the tape we borrowed, I asked her if she still had copies of the stories from the serial contest.”

That was not what Jinyoung had been expecting. “Why?”

“I was curious about just how scandalous it actually was, and she totally seems like the kind of person who would keep those things forever just to have ammunition against the others.” He trailed his tongue down Jinyoung’s skin. “Flannery’s and Lorna’s were pretty by-the-book, making the swooning female lead an avatar for themselves. But Millie’s…” He chuckled. “Well, there was still the female lead, but she seemed to focus a lot on Duke Yeardley’s relationship with his social rival, Lord Ellington.”

“Seriously?”

“It was just a few scenes away from being a BL. A pretty good one, too.”

“All the way back in the 40s?” Jinyoung laughed in amazement. “Millie must have been truly ahead of her time. But why exactly are you telling me this now?”

“Because.” Mark nipped his skin. “It got me thinking. We’re in our Sunday best right now. We’re looking…unusually dignified.”

“Dignified? Mark, I have your hands half down my pants, what about this is dignified?”

“Come on, use that imagination of yours.” Mark moved his hands, making it very hard for Jinyoung to use anything that required proper brain function. “How would you like to do it like two depraved English peers?”

“How would two depraved English peers do it?” Jinyoung asked between gasps for air.

“With a lot of pretty language, obviously. Should be easy for you. You’re a master of archaic expressions.” Mark laughed into his ear. “I’ll be Duke Yeardley. But let me warn you: the ladies weren’t lying when they called him positively wicked.”

Jinyoung had been right about Old Woking; time went by at a slower pace there. Every day felt like a leisurely stroll through a quiet garden, with time enough to stop and smell each individual flower and relish its every detail. His years with Mark in Inje had passed quickly to him, but in this new place, he felt like he could actually sit back and relax for a moment without risking the lifetime passing him by as some had in the past.

They were happy, a different kind of happy than they’d been in Korea. They didn’t make many friends their own age like Jackson and the others—perhaps wanting to avoid the same heartache they’d felt leaving behind their friends in Korea had something to do with it—but they loved their weekly teas with the Nans and fell into being like doted on grandsons to the older women. They missed the old hanok and all the memories in the rain, but their new cottage was cozy and charming, and England gave them plenty of rain to watch from the windows, snuggled up together by the fire.

And Jinyoung was never short of ways to help people as a ‘happiness guru,’ though there was no official website this time. Like many an idyllic place—like the whole of England itself—all the prettiness and charm of the village served as mask to obscure darker things. Even among flower roads and pastoral pleasantness, people were just as messed up as they were anywhere else, if not more so with the added burden of having to put on a happy brave face and tough it out. Mark got Jinyoung started by sending one or two unhappy people his way—a girl whose father was not her real father, a boy in love with his twin’s girlfriend—and before Jinyoung knew it, everyone in the whole village was confiding in him. Even the minister had him over to discuss his growing struggles with a gambling addiction.

The Nans were an exception to needing his happiness help, though—or at least all of them but Lorna. Maude was fully content with her life, glad that she had never married and overall much happier to be the queen bee of her little hive of beloved friends. Millie had long gotten over her ex-husband’s betrayal, and as long as she had her children and grandchildren and friends, her failed romance was nothing more than a momentary scandal in the story of her life. Flannery was still living off the highs of younger year adventures, and telling the old stories of them gave her as much joy as living them had. They were a happy, fulfilled bunch who didn’t need Jinyoung at all, but simply wanted and liked having him around.

Only Lorna seemed unfulfilled. Jinyoung wasn’t sure though if it was the loss of her husband still hanging over her or something else. Sometimes he wanted to ask her, but something always made him pause. Over the past few years, he’d gotten good at recognizing when people were ready to talk about whatever was bothering them, and she never gave any sign of wanting to confide in anyone about anything.

He wasn’t sure either if he was ready to listen. If her issue stemmed from the loss of her husband, then that was what they’d have to talk about, and Jinyoung didn’t think he was equipped to provide guidance on losing one’s husband. And he didn’t ever want to be equipped for it.

But regardless of the inevitable troubles and both big and small tragedies of being a human, Jinyoung felt like his days were mostly filled with happiness. Even when Mark had to leave for relief work, he was always there in some form or another, a scent on Jinyoung’s mattress, a face on his cell phone screen. There was never a moment when he was alone, and as long as that was true, he couldn’t help but be happy.

“Jackson called,” Mark informed him one afternoon. “He and BamBam are coming to visit. I tried to switch around and have me visit them instead, but they’re determined to come to England.”

Jinyoung sighed. He knew this would happen eventually. He’d thought Mark’s parents would be the first to come, though. Mark had managed to avoid it thus far by insisting on going to America himself to see his nieces and nephews since it would be hard for his siblings to drag their kids off to a foreign country. They’d spent the past two Christmases apart, Jinyoung staying inside the cottage all day with the lights shut off so the Nans would think he went to America with Mark, like any other proper husband would.

“That’s good that you’ll get to see them,” he said finally. And he did mean it, though he couldn’t help feeling a bit sad for himself.

“It’s only been two years since we left Korea,” Mark said gently. “You could see them, too. I don’t think they’ll be shocked if you haven’t aged much in two years. I haven’t aged much since then either.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Jinyoung shook his head. “I know we could probably get away with it this time. But getting away with it is what causes troubles later on. Let’s say it works this time, and they come again in two years and we say ‘oh, well, it’s no big deal about the aging thing since they were fine with it last time.’ And then before you know it, I’ll be a twenty-looking fifty-year-old, looking the exact same as the first time they saw me twenty-five years ago, and it’s not going to go unnoticed.”

Mark bit his lip. “I…I suppose that’s true.”

Jinyoung smiled bracingly. “It’s fine. I’ll still be able to message them, like we do now. And I still receive regular letters from Youngjae. I haven’t ghosted them, as you used to love to accuse me of doing.”

“Uh…Jinyoung…you can’t judge me for accusing you of ghosting when you literally ghosted me for an entire year. Remember Jeju?”

“Of course I remember Jeju. I’ll never forget Jeju. And yes, you have entirely earned the right to call me a ghoster for the rest of my life. But I won’t be ghosting away from Jackson and BamBam’s visit because I want to. I just want that to be known.”

“I know. It is known.” Mark rested his chin in his hands. “So, where will you go while they’re here?”

“I don’t know.” Jinyoung pondered. “Maybe ‘go on holiday’ as they say? You can tell them I’m visiting my fictional family.”

“Can we avoid an outright lie maybe?”

“Fine, fine. How about I have the Nans take me on a real holiday? Go to some historical places and have them lecture me about Europe’s dodgy past.”

“Which I’m assuming you already know everything about already.”

“Not everything. The last time I was in some of the European countries, it was the 1400s.”

“You’ll have to tell me about that sometime. If you think the Nans are up for a vacation, that’s not a half bad idea.”

“They’re pretty active still, I think. Better to have them away with me, or else they’ll go telling Jackson and BamBam you’re a cradle robber when they both think I’m five years older than you.”

And so Jinyoung wound up going on a five-day tour of the continent with the Nans. They went to France, Germany, and Italy with a brief stop in Austria, seeing the sights and taking full advantage of the local cooking. Jinyoung felt at times like his buttons would pop off, a feeling he rather enjoyed considering that his body was mostly static, remaining very much the same through every era. He wouldn’t mind putting on a little bit of weight if it gave Mark something new to look at. It was hard sometimes, watching the little changes in Mark day by day but never changing himself.

Vacationing with the Nans was a special kind of fun, too. They did their best to pepper everything with historical context for Jinyoung’s benefit, but ultimately they just wanted to kick up their heels and have a great time. Flannery flirted with every handsome old timer they crossed paths with, and Millie insinuated herself easily with the younger locals to pump them on information on trendy, fashionable places they might visit. At any restaurant they stopped at, there was plenty of wine to go around.

“I bet that husband of yours is wishing by now that he came along with us, Signore Tuan,” Maude said on their last night of their trip, spent in a gorgeous villa in Italy. “Shame he couldn’t get the time off work.”

“It is a shame,” Jinyoung agreed. “But what he does is so important, it’s hard to tear him away from it.”

“At least he’s still attentive,” Millie said. “He dotes on you, that one. A lot of those workaholic men forget their hearts and affection in their busyness.”

“Life’s too short for that, Mark says.” Jinyoung smiled sadly. “And it really is, sometimes.”

“Really?” Flannery asked. “I feel like I’ve been alive forever. Feels like I could live an eternity more, in a place like this.”

“But it’s true,” Lorna said softly. “Life is always far too short to spend with the one you love.”

Jinyoung shivered, hugging his arms close to his chest. He could almost feel time pulling at the hem of his shirt, reminding him that no matter how things had slowed, it was still going to drag him forward no matter how he dug his heels into the dirt. His life had always felt far too long. But not when it mattered. Not when it counted.

“My honeymoon was in Italy,” Lorna commented after their dinner table had been cleared and the other ladies had wandered to the balcony to look at the stars. “Not far from where we are now. You’ll roll your eyes, but we didn’t get out much to see it. Stayed inside like two turtledoves cooing over each other. We always thought we’d come back.”

“Did you?”

“No. This is my first time here again, after all these years. I don’t know why we never made the trip. Maybe we were fond enough of England. Happy enough. But I wish we’d come. Even if we didn’t get out much again. Even if all we did was sit on a hotel balcony and talk about old times, old memories.” She sighed.

“You must really miss him,” Jinyoung said.

“Always. Time passes, but the wanting never really goes away. The wishing that they could have been at your side just a month longer. A week. A day. A minute.” Lorna studied him. “You know, I think you worry about that as well. I can see it in your eyes when you look at me. Your husband is ten years your senior. Are you perhaps anxious of him going before you?”

Jinyoung swallowed. “Yes.”

“You shouldn’t worry. One never knows how these things will go. Richard was two years younger than me and went first. It was a heart attack. There’s nothing out there that determines who goes first and when. It just happens. And you’re young, yet. Too young to be fretting so much about the concerns of the elderly.”

“Yes, but…” Jinyoung chewed on his lip. “How do you do it, when you’re not the first to go? What gives you the strength to carry on?”

Lorna considered. Then she turned to the balcony and nodded to the three standing by it. “Them,” she said. “Thing is, I haven’t run out of love. I loved Richard, yes, but that’s just one love gone…or not gone, exactly, but not here in the same way. I still love those old birds. I still love my children and my grandchildren and my home and Old Woking and Surrey and England. I love my neighbors. I want to wake up day after day if it means I still have all these loves with me, all these precious things.” She smiled at Jinyoung. “You’ll have them, too. Things to love in a different but no less important way. And if Mark goes first, he’ll still live inside all those things. In every feeling of love in your heart, he’ll linger and breathe with you until you’re together again.” She patted him on the shoulder. “He’ll be with you always. But now is the most important part of that always. So be with him as much as you can. Fully, and with your whole heart.”

Jinyoung nodded, blinking back the tears that had budded in his eyes. They were such kind, loving words that he wasn’t sure why he was sad until he remembered how love had driven him to tears more often than anything else. That was just how it was.

Lorna stepped away to join the others on the balcony. Jinyoung stayed seated at the table, letting his eyes dry. When they were clear again, he picked up his phone and dialed Mark’s number.

“Jinyoung?” Mark whispered when he answered.

“Why are you whispering?” Jinyoung asked.

“BamBam and Jackson fell asleep on the couch while we were watching a movie. How’s Italy?”

“Beautiful. I wish you were here.”

“We’ll have to go on a holiday of our own there.”

“Yes, but let’s actually do it. Not just talk about it. Promise?”

“Promise.”

“And can you do something for me?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Jackson and BamBam that I love them. And I really wish I could have seen them. Really, truly.”

Mark didn’t seem caught off-guard by this request. “I will. I promise. They miss you, too.”

“And you. I miss you so much. And love you so, so much.”

“You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“It’s not soon enough.”

“Wow. I wish I was recording this. Stoic Jinyoung, wanting this badly to be with me.” Mark lowered his voice so it was even quieter. “Hurry home. I want to be with you just as badly.”

“I’ll be there with you soon.” Jinyoung closed his eyes, smiling just at the thought of the warm arms waiting for him. “Not just in your heart and thoughts, but at your side.”

Jinyoung was waiting impatiently by the door when he finally saw the postman walking down the lane. He practically burst through the door, running to meet him in front of the Nans’ cottage.

“Oh, hallo, Mr. Tuan,” said the postman, a handsome salt-and-pepper haired man in his seventies named Colin. “Bit enthusiastic today?”

“I was expecting a package,” Jinyoung said.

“Ah, yes, got just the one for you.” Colin pulled a parcel out from his bag. “Something you’re eager for?”

“A gift,” Jinyoung explained. “For my husband’s fortieth birthday. Which is today. I thought it wouldn’t arrive in time.”

“Well, you’re in luck, it came just in the nick of it. Forty, eh? Straight into middle age.”

Jinyoung grimaced. He didn’t like the suggestion of a midpoint in Mark’s life.

Colin misinterpreted. “Now don’t you worry! That fellow of yours is the least likely I know to get his head all turned around over some mid-age crisis, hear you me. He’s got good sense and strong principles, he does.”

“Er, yes, I wasn’t exactly worried about that,” Jinyoung said.

“Ah, of course not. Would be pointless for him to chase after youth and beauty anyways, when he already has you.” Colin shuffled his feet and looked towards the Nans’ cottage. “Has Miss Lorna been around this afternoon?”

“Lorna? I saw her in the garden earlier. Why?”

“Ah…she’s usually by the window when I come ‘round. Always has a biscuit or two to share, and lemonade sometimes. But I don’t see her today.”

Jinyoung glanced towards the window. Sure enough, it was empty. “Maybe I scared her off by running out to you like that,” he said with a shrug. “Or she’s gone to fetch the biscuits?”

“Maybe so. Fine woman, Miss Lorna. I always look forward to seeing her while I’m on my route.”

“Yes, she’s great,” Jinyoung agreed. “All of them are.”

Colin nodded. “I’ll never forget how good to me she was when my wife died. Made me dinner for the whole week and helped with the funeral arrangements. She was still grieving herself, but still so quick to step in. Don’t know if I would have made it, without her help.”

“She really is kind, for sure.”

Jinyoung thought Colin would make a move to get on with his route, but he waffled where he was, still glancing towards the cottage as if waiting for Lorna to materialize. There was something almost familiar in it. Like how Mark had used to linger around his house, waiting for Jinyoung to show him even the smallest kernel of attention. Wanting. Needy. Not just for attention. For love.

Does he like her?, Jinyoung wondered, before shaking his head. Colin was probably just hungry for one of the Nans’ legendary cookies.

He said his goodbyes to Colin and hurried home to wrap Mark’s present. Forty-years-old, he thought to himself. An age to him that always signified having to go, having to start a new life somewhere else. He’d never celebrated anyone else’s fortieth birthday before. He wondered how it felt. Was there really some encroaching sense of panic of not enough time left? A reckless impulse to prove yourself still young and virile through sports cars and with the young and naïve?

Not that he thought Mark would do either. Korea had gotten him too used to trains for him to care all that deeply about cars, and there was no way Mark would cheat on him. Not specifically because he, in a visual sense, appeared to be very young, but because Mark simply believed too strongly in the notion they were meant to be to mess around with someone else.

But he wondered if Mark was at all worried about the passage of time issue. For the most part, Jinyoung doubted it—Mark always spoke of their life together as being long and full. He just wasn’t the type to waste the time he had worried about inevitabilities. And if he did worry, it was only on Jinyoung’s behalf and not his own.

And as expected, Mark was in a great mood when he came home from work to the birthday dinner Jinyoung had made him. Right away, he swept Jinyoung up in his arms, spun him around, and kissed him almost as soon as the words “Happy Birthday” were out of Jinyoung’s mouth.

“The big 4-0,” Mark said with a smile. “I’m twice the age I was when we met. Do you think I’m still handsome, hmm?”

“You’ll probably always be handsome,” Jinyoung said with a shrug. “You have that face.” In a gentler voice he said, “Thank you for being born, Mark.”

“Thank you for sticking around all these eras to be with me, Jinyoung. Even if it wasn’t by choice.”

They sat down to dinner. “So,” Jinyoung said. “Not planning on a mid-life crisis, are you?”

“Who, me? I couldn’t imagine anything that would make my life more fulfilling than it already is.”

“No trading me in for a younger boyfriend?”

“The fact that every man alive on the planet would qualify as a younger boyfriend leaves me with too many options to deal with,” Mark teased. “And if I went with visually younger, I’d be arrested. So, no, I think I’ll stick with you.”

“I’m honored.”

“I didn’t do everything in my earthly power to have you by my side just to push you away after twenty years. Better get used to having me around. I’m not planning on going anywhere.” He smiled. “I definitely don’t see any crises on the horizon. You’ll make fun of me, but I’ve always wanted to be older.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess to get even one step closer to you. To see the world with more experienced eyes so I’m not like I was at the beginning, when you had to explain so much to me.”

“I remember you explained a lot to me, too. About love, especially.”

“But even that, I understand better now that I’m forty than I did when I was twenty. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.” He reached across the table, resting his hand over Jinyoung’s. “I won’t regret any year I have that teaches me how to love you better.”

Jinyoung laced their fingers together for a moment before letting him go so they could continue eating. But as it always did, the warmth of Mark’s touch lingered on him, never truly leaving.

“Did you know that Lorna makes cookies for the postman every day?” Jinyoung asked when the subject moved on to how they’d spent their afternoon.

“Colin?” Mark grinned. “Yeah, I knew that. I had to break up one of their chats one time because they’d been out there for an hour in the middle of his mail route and I really needed the package he was supposed to be bringing me. Their little crushes on each other are painfully obvious. Or should I say it the British way? They absolutely ‘fancy’ each other.”

Jinyoung set down his fork. “You really think so?”

“Of course. You don’t exactly see Colin slacking on the job for any other reason, do you? And Lorna definitely doesn’t make cookies for anyone else except people coming over for tea.”

“But…Lorna already has Richard.”

“Not for ten years, she hasn’t.” Mark looked at Jinyoung with a lifted eyebrow. “I know there were several periods in history where it was looked down on for widows to remarry…is that why you’re surprised? It isn’t frowned upon anymore. A lot of older people date these days. It’s hard for them to be alone as much as anyone.”

“But Lorna isn’t alone. She has the Nans. Her children and grandchildren.”

“Yes, but those fulfill a different kind of loneliness.” Mark rubbed his chin. “Remember how when I met Jackson, you thought I wouldn’t be lonely anymore and would leave you alone? But how a friendship didn’t change the fact that I was lonely without you? It’s like that. Loving someone the way we love each other fills an entirely different kind of need than loving your friends or family.”

Jinyoung nodded. He understood, but was having trouble crossing the short bridge from understanding to acceptance. He’d listened to the longing in her voice when she spoke of Richard. The sadness. How could that be something looked past to the point where she was able to feel a sort of longing for someone else?

He tried to put it out of his mind, but just a few days later when he was out on a walk through the village, he saw Colin and Lorna wandering down the lane, talking to each other quietly. As much as he tried not to see it, it was impossible to ignore their body language, the way they looked at each other, the way they leaned into each other. They were in the bodies of two older adult, but the souls of two young lovers shone through.

Jinyoung wondered why seeing it made him feel slightly bitter. If anything, it should have been heartwarming. After losing their partners, why shouldn’t Lorna and Colin be able to find happiness with each other? It wasn’t as if there was any moral high ground in going through life having only deeply loved just one single person.

Still, his smile felt a little forced as he approached them. Colin glanced at his watch and declared he’d lost track of the time again and should be on his way. Lorna said goodbye with a sigh in her voice, continuing to stare in the direction he’d left long after he was out of sight.

“You like him, don’t you?” Jinyoung said with his own sigh.

Lorna jolted slightly, cheeks turning pink. “I…I…well…he is such a kind man. I do enjoy talking to him, but…”

“No use in denying it now. I know what besotted looks like. I had Mark trailing after me for months with that same look in his eyes. I know what it means.”

Lorna ducked her head. “I…wasn’t expecting something like this to happen. I thought I would be fine living out the rest of my days with the girls in our cottage.”

“But you’re not fine with that anymore?”

“Oh, it’s not as simple as that! If I lived the rest of my life in that cottage, it would be a very happy, enjoyable life indeed! But…I do worry going out like that would mean missing out on a different companionship that has come to mean…well, the world to me! I do so like talking to him…being with him. He’s just such a kind, sweet man! I can’t help but want to be around him when I can.” Lorna sighed. “Heaven knows if he feels the same. His kindness might not signify anything special.”

Jinyoung bit his lip. He knew he could tell her outright that her feeling were reciprocated, and that with a little nudge, Colin might just take her out for dinner. But still he was hesitating, no matter how cruel it felt to. He knew if it were Mark in his shoes, Mark would do the right thing and urge them along. Jinyoung, if he was half the happiness guru he claimed to be, should be just as eager to do the same.

“Do you think you’re really ready to move on?” Jinyoung asked before he’d even realized it was a question he’d been wanting to ask.

Lorna folded her hands. “I’ve asked myself that a lot,” she said. “I’ll always love Richard. Nothing will change that. But I’ve thought and thought about it, and all I can think is… I was blessed by his love, and I feel blessed all over again now. And if this love I’m feeling is a blessing, how could it be wrong for me to feel it? How could something that makes me feel this happy again be something I shouldn’t allow myself to have?” She squared her shoulders. “If I’m moving on, I’m still carrying him with me. But I’m carrying something new within me. My heart has room for both, I think. At least I don’t feel so crowded inside that I have to shove someone out.” She looked at Jinyoung, eyes serious. “Do you think it’s all right?”

It came upon him almost instantly—he did think it was all right. Of course it was all right. She was happy, and if there was one thing he wanted humans to be in a world stacked against them with unjustness, it was that. The only reason he’d hesitated was because he’d looked at her situation not fully thinking of her. He’d been thinking of himself. He’d been thinking of the path of his own future more so than the path of hers. And that wasn’t fair. She was her own person. Her happiness didn’t define what Jinyoung’s would be. And he couldn’t hold her back simply because he saw only one love for him in his life, as opposed to the second chance she saw for herself.

“I think you’ll make Colin a very happy man,” Jinyoung said gravely. “Because I think his heart has room for you, too, and he’s been waiting for a while now for you to step in.”

Lorna’s smile made her look years younger in a single moment. “You think so?”

“I know so.” He wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. “Be happy, Lorna. As many times as the world lets you have.”

There was a wedding in Old Woking a year later. Jinyoung pulled out his Sunday best for the first time since their one trip to the church their first week in the village, and he and Mark spent a lovely afternoon at the simple ceremony with the rest of the villagers. Lorna wore a plain but beautiful dress, and Colin looked handsome in a nice set of tweed. The Nans were beside themselves with delight. Millie wept through the whole thing while Maude her back with a sisterly exasperation, and Flannery leaned into Jinyoung and whispered that she was starting to consider finding herself a fifth husband after seeing what a good match her friend had made.

There was a short reception—no dancing, just tea and cake and conversation—and things wrapped up relatively early, as the newlywed couple wanted to be on their way to their honeymoon. They were headed to Greece, where Lorna’s eldest daughter lived, and would visit her before going to Corfu for some alone time.

When they arrived back home, Mark guided Jinyoung to their chairs in front of the fire. “I want to talk to you,” he said in a solemn voice.

“What is it?” Jinyoung asked. “Usually people say that kind of thing before throwing divorce down on the table, right?”

“Divorce?” Mark snorted. “Don’t you dare use that word around me. I never want to talk about that. Ever.”

“I figured as much. So what do you want to talk about?”

“Something I should have talked to you about a year ago. The thing is, I know you too well, Jinyoung. At risk of sounding creepy, I’ve made a study of you from the beginning. Probably because you were so enigmatic that if I really wanted to understand you, I had to put effort into it. But also because I just want to know you better than I know anyone else in the world.”

“Yes…? I know this about you. You’ve told me before that you wanted to know me like a book, front cover to back.”

“For someone who’s been through so many moments, your memory is very good.”

“There’s not a single moment with you in it that I would neglect to remember.” He shook his head. “But what is it that you know too well about me?”

“Your initial reaction to Colin and Lorna. It wasn’t because of any past customs about widows remarrying. It’s because it made you think about…about the possibility of falling in love with someone else when I’m gone.”

Jinyoung wasn’t about to insult Mark’s intelligence by denying this. He should have known himself that Mark would figure it out on his own. “Yes,” he said. “It crossed my mind.”

Mark swallowed. “And thinking of it made you unhappy. Of course I never like it when you’re unhappy, but a part of me was glad. It’s not like I want you to entertain the possibility of someone else while I’m still living and breathing, of course.”

“I didn’t entertain the possibility very seriously.”

“Yes. And you don’t have to right now. But…” He held Jinyoung’s eyes. “I want you to be able to entertain it after I am gone. I want you to know that if you meet someone else after I’ve passed away and you fall in love with them, I want you to be with them happily without beating yourself up about it.”

“Of course,” Jinyoung said, smiling shakily. “Of course you’d say that. I knew you would.”

Mark’s brows furrowed. “Please tell me you’re not being condescending now of all times.”

“Of course I’m not. I only do that to tease you, and I wouldn’t tease you about this. I know you well, Mark, just as well as you know me. I’ve made just as much of a study of you. And there’s not a single particle of you that would stand in the way of any particle of my happiness.”

Mark nodded, his brows still furrowed. “OK…but why does it still seem like you’re not taking this as seriously as I am.”

“Because you seem sure it will happen, that I’ll meet and fall in love with someone else. And I think it’s next to impossible that I will.” He waved his hand quickly. “Rest assured, Mark, if I did, I wouldn’t fight it for the sake of your memory. I know better now than to waste a single second I have with someone I love. But it’s really unlikely to happen.”

“You can’t be sure of that-”

“I know I can’t. But Mark, I’ve thought a lot about this over the past year. You were right that I was a bit upset at the thought of Lorna finding someone else, because I saw so much of myself in her love for her husband, and yet I couldn’t conceive of myself loving anyone but you even though she was capable of moving on. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was a reason for that. She and I have our similarities, of course, but there’s something hugely different.” He took Mark’s hand. “One of the things I love so much about you is how you accept me for who I am. Even before you knew what I was, you were ready to accept whatever it was with an open heart, whether it was me as a vampire or me as an alien. And after you knew, you accepted all the terms that came attached. The moving every fifteen years. The keeping me from your family. The fact of there being no way to make me mortal and no way to make you immortal so that our lifespans would match. You loved me anyways. You love me every day, even through all these obstacles and complications that keep us from having a fully normal life.” Jinyoung smiled strongly. “Mark, just how often do you think I’d come across a person capable of all that? A person I could trust with every detail of this secret of mine, a person who could confront it with all the unshakeable love and courage that you have? A person who loved me just as passionately, and who I loved back enough to be willing to subject myself to every difficulty and complication in return? You’re not one in a million, Mark. You’re just one. I don’t think I’ll ever again meet a soul like yours. And I don’t think I could love a soul the slightest bit lesser, now that I’ve known yours.”

Mark stared at him, his eyes filled with sadness. “Is it really such a sacrifice that no one else would be willing to make it for you? You’re worth it. You’re worth every last bit of it.”

“You’re strong, Mark. So strong, in ways you don’t even fully grasp. But not everyone is as strong as you. Very few people are. Very few people would even believe my story to begin with, and even fewer would believe it and not run screaming in the other direction.”

“But that’s not fair.” Mark bit his lip, struggling to keep it steady. “I want you to be happy. Even if it means there’s someone else. I just you to be as happy as Lorna was today.”

“I know, Mark, I know,” Jinyoung said gently, brushing his cheek. “It’s why I love you. But happiness takes different forms. Mine doesn’t have to be in the form of another lover. If that isn’t what’s down the road for me, I’ll find it whatever form it comes in.” He kissed Mark’s cheek. “Here’s something else I remember with this memory that’s filled with you: you saying that you’d hate to die after finding love, because you’d leave that person alone. That’s why this means so much to you, right?”

Mark nodded.

“Then fill my memory even more. Feed my heart so it’s so full that it will still be nourished when the time we have now ends. Stay with me, even when you’re gone. I won’t be alone, then. I’ll be happy. And I’ll never be without you.”

“Wow.” Mark’s laugh was watery. “After all those times I begged you to stay with me, now you're the one doing it.”

“Well. Here’s time telling me ‘I told you so’ when I thought I knew better.”

“It’s good sometimes, to be wrong.” Mark rubbed his eyes. “And maybe you’re wrong, and there will be another person who accepts you wholly one day. But even if not…I hope you’ll keep the door to your heart open. You have so much love inside you, Jinyoung. So much more than you can expend on just me.”

“We’ll see. I’m sure time’s not done telling us ‘I told you.’ For all my talk, I have no idea what will happen.” He rose to his feet. “Enough talk about the future, now, or before we both know it, it will have arrived before we’ve properly enjoyed the present. I’m all dressed up and dignified again. What are you going to do about it, Duke Yeardley?”

Mark laughed, blinking his eyes dry. “Still not sick of that one?”

“I like it when you’re wicked. And you’ve just been far too good.” Jinyoung took his hand, pulling him out of the chair. “Come on. You don’t have to bear everything like a saint all the time. We can have fun. I want you to be happy, too, right now, right here, with me.”

The fifteen years hit their midpoint, and just like a more insecure man than Mark reaching his midlife, they became slightly more frantic, more agitated. Things began changing, far more than just Lorna moving to live with her husband. Maude had a fall and broke her leg, and a year later had another that broke her hip. She went into the hospital for surgery, and never made it out. She died at eighty-five, beloved by many even though she left behind no children or grandchildren. Millie was inconsolable, seeming to age even more herself from grief though she was the youngest of the bunch. Flannery just seemed lost and confused by Maude’s absence. They’d learn months later that this was an early warning sign of dementia. Millie couldn’t care for her, so Flannery had to leave Old Woking to live with her son and daughter-in-law. The next door cottage was left to Millie alone. Mark and Jinyoung still visited her often, though the atmosphere of their teatimes had lost some of its joy and color without the others. Millie left all four armchairs positioned in their exact spots in front of the fire. Out of respect, Jinyoung and Mark never sat in them, but always used the kitchen chairs when they visited.

As for Mark, as his forties crept towards fifties, a few gray hairs started appearing. The differences in appearance between the two of them were now even more striking. Everyone in the village believed Jinyoung to be in his late thirties so understood it not to be as big of a gap as it appeared to be, but some still made comments about how much it looked like Mark was gadding around with someone half his age. Jinyoung tried not to let it bother him, but it did. He could see the momentary wrinkle in their noses when he and Mark were affectionate that hadn’t been there before.

The winds of change were everywhere again. He knew what that meant. Soon it would be time to go.

And it would be hard all over again. Maude and Flannery weren’t around to say goodbye to, but it would still be hard to leave Lorna and Colin and the other villagers, and especially Millie, who took so much strength from their regular visits. They’d miss Old Woking and Surrey and England. They’d miss their cottage, which had become a beloved home in its own right. Their old mattress wouldn’t be able to make the trip with them this time. It had reached the end of its lifespan, and with Mark’s back more prone to stiffness than before, it would have to be replaced for something sturdier and more supportive.

But they’d have to leave all the same. That was the sacrifice Mark had chosen to make in loving Jinyoung, and the sacrifice Jinyoung had chosen in loving the world. It never truly got any easier; they just got slightly more accustomed to doing it.

So they sat down and planned for the next chapter. They couldn’t be a married couple in their next versions, and Mark put his foot down against them pretending to be related in any other form (“Imagine if we got caught with our pants down and you’re posing as my nephew, or something!”), so they settled on one of them posing as hired help, provided that they got a nicer house this time around so that they could pass for affluent enough for such a thing as live-in help. Jinyoung had enough money from his investments to pull it off, along with the money Mark earned and the amount Maude had left them in her will.

Since a big house was part of their cover story, they mutually decided on somewhere beachfront, somewhere they could relax and where time would hopefully pass slowly again. Mark nosed around at work to see which branches of the Red Cross were hiring, and got accepted to the office in Belize City. They both agreed it was close enough to America that he could visit his aging parents in California when he needed, but not so close that they could expect regular visits that Jinyoung would need to avoid. 

In the end, it didn’t matter to Jinyoung so much where they went. He just prayed for fifteen more beautiful years. That Mark would stay well and safe. That no clouds would fall over their happiness. That the fifteen years would go by slowly and the next occasion where they would have to leave would be long in coming, and arrive only after a rich and delightful chapter of living that gave them the strength they needed to open another new chapter.