This fresh air was exactly what I needed. The city of Seoul was shrinking behind us, and in its place were barren working fields bordering both sides of the highway, sometimes a large tree popping up here and there. We had left Ji Yong’s apartment at dawn, heading east towards the rising sun for Chuncheon before our final destination, Seoraksan National Park. Apparently to him fall was now the perfect season to trek up a mountain to gain a peace of mind and whatnot.

“Ri Ah-ya, can you pass me my sunglasses?” Ji Yong asked. The visor was doing little to block out the incoming morning sun’s rays.

“Which one?” I’m not exaggerating; he had ten in the car alone. He took a quick glance at the numerous cases resting on my lap and expertly pointed to one, clearly familiar with what was inside. I took them out, an adorably round pair, and then leant over to put them on him. The sight of Ji Yong driving in such a relaxed manner, a single hand on the steering wheel the other slumped on the hand rest, gave off an undeniable form of charisma that just hit me right in the face.

“What?” he asked me. Now it was his turn to catch me staring mindlessly at him.

“Wow, my boyfriend really is cool,” I blurted out. “Now I know why people go crazy over him.”

“There’s something seriously wrong with you lately,” he said, laughing. “Ah, now you’re making me so embarrassed.” I could tell he was because his hand automatically reached up to his hair and started to mess it around.

“You’re so cute.” It’s amazing how much of an open book Ji Yong was to me now. I felt like I knew him better than myself where his every move, expression or thought just came through to me so naturally. It’s so strange. My belief was that it was because Ji Yong had now become a large a part of me as I was to him. During that time we saw each other sparsely, I knew that he thought of me as something like his second heart, somewhere where he spilt the feelings he couldn’t bear by himself. Whether good or bad, he shared them all with me.

“Let’s eat breakfast, I’m so hungry,” Ji Yong said as we pulled into a rest station. The first thing that popped into my head was ramyun. Something about the chilly morning air and a road trip made a hot bowl of noodles sound even better than any high class meal would.

“No! Just order another one!” I exclaimed, protectively pulling my food closer to me.

“Just one bite Ri Ah, come on.” This idiot thought he could steal from me. We were sitting at the food court tables with our breakfast steaming in front of us. Ji Yong had ordered curry rice, but it was clear that the ramyun was enticing him.

“I’ll give you some,” I said, holding up some with my chopsticks and hanging it near his face. “If you do something for me.”

“What, like a dare?”

“Do your Kim Shin Young dance*.” Ji Yong stared at me wide-eyed and then looked around.

“Here!?!?” When he saw me slyly nod, pure glee in my face he started chuckling in disbelief.

“Just stand up and do it.”

“But there are people around!”

“It’s only the restaurant ahjummas. You’ll be fine.” The fact that it was dawn on a normal weekday didn’t really call for a high demand in out of town tourists. He buried his face in his hands, stewing on the option for a moment before jumping up.

“I’d rather buy a new one.”

“Ah, you’re no fun,” I muttered, scowling. I saw him walk towards the middle of the food court and then he started wriggling his body and bottom around before finishing the dance in its trademark ‘Y’ position. I almost spit out my food in shock. The poor guy, he must’ve regretted it the moment he started because he quickly ran back to me. I’ve never seen a skin tone that red.

“Have it. Have it all,” I said, pushing everything to him.

“Let’s go,” he said, pulling me from my seat. “I’m never coming back here again.” I was cracking up so much as we hurriedly walked out towards his car, my stomach in stitches and tears streaming down my cheeks.

“You’re so hilarious!”

 “I swear I’m never following up on your ideas again.”

“No one forced you. You wanted to do it yourself!”

“Ri Ah, this never happened.”

“Alright, alright,” I agreed, for both his sake and mine. I wish I had a video though, for my own personal viewing.

The rest of the trip we spent singing and head banging to Ji Yong’s CD collection filled with a large variety of songs of old and new and varying genres, a lot of which were Western. We reached Chuncheon in no time. This was the capital of Gangwon province, a scenically beautiful city where the legendary drama Winter Sonata was actually filmed. Bountiful in redwood trees, lakes and traditional food I suddenly had the urge to just stay here for the entire trip than to move further North East.

“Can’t I just live here?” I asked Ji Yong as he pulled up to Soyangho Lake. “This feels like something straight out of a dream.” With a slight fog just resting on the water’s surface and the fading cliff mountains in the background, it looked like those sights found in paintings from past centuries.

“We will. Once our hair is grey, our faces are wrinkled and we get tired of city life,” he nonchalantly said as he grabbed my hand. “Maybe we’ll have a small farm or something with cows and chickens.”

“You can be part of the town band as a rapper,” I added. We were kidding around but my heart just glowed with warmth at his words. This really was happening, I realized, we were building a future together. Together, we strolled around the border of the lake. After a good half an hour of walking, the leaves constantly crunching under out feet, Ji Yong went up to speak to an old man who was leisurely fishing on side, a couple of catches already flailing around in a bright red pail next to him. I picked up a stone and starting throwing them across the water as I listened to the both of them talking about baits and fishes. I never imagined hearing those words come out of Ji Yong’s mouth, it just seemed too normal for him, but as I see him holding onto the rod which the man had kindly lent him it actually suited him well. He was so quirky that he just fit in anywhere.

“Ahjussi, if I hadn’t known the both of you could pass off well as a father and son,” I said as I approached them.

“Ri Ah he’s teaching me how to fish,” Ji Yong explained happily.

“I taught my son how to fish very well, so be assured your learning from the best,” the man joked.

“Are you from around here?” I asked.

“I was born, raised and I’m happily willing to die here.”

“It must be nice to have such a beautiful town to connect yourself to.”

“Well of course,” he answered. “It’s always nice to belong somewhere.”

“It is,” Ji Yong agreed. He helped him add another freshwater fish to the man’s collection before leaving.

“Here take these before you go,” the ahjussi offered. He handed us two fishes which he placed in a plastic bag.

“No, that’s okay really. Bring it home to your family,” I said but like all friendly old men he continued to push it towards us. We took them and bowed to him once again in gratitude.

“Ah! I knew I recognized you, you’re that singer that’s on the television lately aren’t you? My wife keeps talking about you. This must be your girlfriend,” the man suddenly said.

“Yes,” Ji Yong answered.

“You both must be going through a difficult time. Stay strong okay? Ahjussi will be supporting you,” he exclaimed, hands now in a fist at a determined ‘Fighting!’ stance. The both of us laughed at his kind words and thanked him once again.

It was late by the time we checked in to our hotel, located near the peak of a mountain. It was more of a cabin really; each guest had their own separate house which sat embedded on the hillside.

“I’m so full and sleepy,” Ji Yong whined as he threw himself face first on the couch.

“So am I.” I slumped on the floor below him, our faces a hair’s breadth away from each other. “You didn’t have to do this you know,” I finally said, staring straight into his eyes.

“I wanted to.”

“You should be working, not catering to me.”

“Work is work. You are you. There’s no competition between the two.”

“I know.”

“Is it too difficult?” he asked me, pushing my hair out of my face.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” The past couple of days have been frustrating for me. The attractive premise of setting up a whole new life here was much too disjointed from reality. What I do, it’s not something that has been widely acknowledged in this country. Psychologists are either for human resources in those conglomerate companies that can afford them or for traumatized people with heavy disorders. Someone like me who fights for young adults in their daily regime, there wasn’t really a position created for me. That’s where recruitment becomes a little more challenging. I’ve been in and out schools, government facilities and the like, my face growing sombre as the days passed. I won’t lie, it’s been hard and Ji Yong knew that. A part of me wanted to put on a brave face because I knew he would be ridden with guilt, but it wasn’t his fault and I wanted to tell him that. This was just another obstacle, which life wouldn’t be fun without.

“I’m here so don’t think you’re own your own,” he reminded me.

“I never did.”

“A part of me just wants to protect you, to stop seeing you struggle from all of this.”

“Maybe I should just be a trophy wife like all those ladies shopping in Gangnam,” I mused.

“You wouldn’t last a day in their shoes.” His words couldn’t be any truer. Women trying to one up each other not based on their own accomplishments but on who has the bigger catch. They are in one big psychological cat fight of their own which honestly I wouldn’t dare enter.

“But the press, they’ve been quite easy on you I think.”

“It’s because you’re a non-celebrity, there’s only so much they can do.”

“So my boring life scared them away?” I sighed. Ji Yong laughed at my conclusion and leant forward to give me small kiss.

“It’s better this way, trust me.”

“I think you’re the one that’s going to get bored of me first at this rate.”

“I’ll never get tired of you,” he assured me.

*Strong Heart Episode 124. Apparently it's this weird wriggling bum dance that he likes to do when he's in the dressing room

AN: CRAYON! he...he...he... It's out guys if you didn't know. Here's another chapter to celebrate that! Enjoy!