Yongguk and I dress up in our warm winter clothes and leave to meet-up with the other guys at the ski slope. Yongguk and I rent our snowboards and we wait in line to ride the ski lift. Right before we take our seat on the ski lift, the clerk reminds us it takes 10 minutes to the top and not to shake the seat while we go up. We sit on the lift and the barrier to hold us on goes down automatically. I smile brightly because it's my first time in Pyeonchang. Yongguk isn't as excited but he lookes at me with delight. He schooches closer and puts his arm around me. 

"Y-Yah... what are you doing? People might see..." I get nervous.

I look behind us and there's a couple. What if they see we're two guys? What if they know us? What if they say we're disgusting? While I have all these concerns in my head, I feel Yongguk's glove-covered hand on my left cheek and he moves my head. Instead of looking at the couple behind us, I'm now looking at Yongguk again. He smiles. He doesn't lean for a kiss but just rubs his thumb up and down on my cheek. It's another one of his signs. He's telling me not to worry about everyone else but just focus on us.

At this moment, I look at Yongguk's entire face. The first time I saw him, I was scared of him. He never smiled and always looked serious. He was our team leader and he had to be tough on us. But slowly I saw him smile and then I'd melt inside. There's something about the way his facial lines show when he smiles. Oh, I can't forget that eye smile of his either. Yes, the one he's showing me right now. Damn.

He removes his right hand on my face but his left arm is still around my waist. I want to lie my head on his shoulder but I'm too conscious of the couple behind us. I shouldn't.

Instead, I lock my right hand's fingers with Yongguk's left. We're now holding hands comfortably and no one can see it but us. I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I look at my left side and watch the scenery on purpose. I'm too shy to look at Yongguk now. But I can tell he's looking at me. We spend the rest of the ride not speaking but holding each other's hand. I'm content with this. But quickly, his hands goes away. I look back in front and we're at the top of the slope. The barrier holding us on the seat rises up and we jump off.

4 of Yongguk's friends already have their skis on. I've already forgotten their names.

"You guys are late! What did you guys do anyways?" 

"We were looking around. The scenery is awesome, you know," Yongguk lies.

If our bodies is what he means by scenery, then yes... the scenery is awesome.

"Geunji-yah, where are the twins?"

"Sangminnie and Sangho already went down the slope."

Ah. That's right. This guy's name is Geunji. He's the tallest one. I'll have to remember that. And there are twins Sangmin and Sangho. Great, I easily forget names and then there are identical twins I have to differentiate.

"We'll see you at the bottom, okay? We're also planning to eat dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the Lodge. We'll see you there!"

"See you."

Yongguk and I hook up the snowboards onto our shoes. For some reason, mine aren't strapping in. Yongguk notices and helps me out.

"Tsk, the straps are too loose. And the board doesn't look good. I'll get a new board for you." 

"Yah. You don't have to do that!"

"Why? Do you want to die while riding down?" 

He forces me out of my snowboard and goes to the one of the clerks standing by. The board rentals are at the bottom of the slope. Where else can he find a snowboard? He walks back to me after talking to one of the clerks. I guess he can't change the snowboards. He puts down my original snowboard and grabs his own which was right beside me.

"Get on."

"Wh..What?"

"Get on my snowboard. The guy said there aren't any snowboards left."

"But then... how about you?"

"It's fine. I know you like snowboarding more than skiing."

"Yah... Yongguk-ah..." 

Although I want to argue with him, I can't. He can be very persuasive. I strap on his snowboard and ready myself at the edge of the slope.

"Then what will you do?" I ask him.

"I'll see you at the bottom."

He pushes me slightly and I'm already moving down slowly. 

"Yah! Yongguk-ah! BANG YONGGUUUUUUUU~~"

He waves and laughs at me while I go down the slope. My start was shaky but now I'm going down the slope easily. I curse under my breath. That damn bastard pushed me down. I wanted both of us to have fun. Now I'm just going down this slope on my own. After a while, I notice a guy on skiis riding down quickly. He seems like a professional. There are plenty of pros here. The guy looks at me and he seems familiar. 

"Kim Himchan! ANNYEONG~~!" 

The guy passes me and is riding down faster than I am. And he knows my name. I put one and one together.

"YAH! BANG YONGGUK! AISH!!"

➳➳➳➳➳

"You ! I didn't know you can ski!" 

I punch Yongguk on the shoulder. The idiot made me look like a fool and he had the nerve to ride down like some kind of skiing pro. We both laugh. 

"I just... wanted to show you a cool side of me."

I see him blush. This is one of the rare moments he becomes shy. He's always acting so cool. I see now he does it on purpose to impress me. I find this cute. We spend a lot of time together at the slopes. We snowboard, sled... he even teaches me how to ski. Time passed by so quickly that it's already time for dinner. 

We go to the chinese restaurant at the Lodge. There seems to be quite a number of people inside. We keep searching with our eyes then Yongguk taps me on the shoulder to tell me he spotted the guys. When we walk towards them, they don't notice us. They are talking very loudly.

"Yah, have you guys seen Yongguk and Himchan? They seem strange..."

"Right? Don't you think they're too close?

"I heard rumors at the base that they're dating. I even heard someone say that when Yongguk invites Himchan to his office, they're actually ing. Can you believe that ?"

"Whoa... so they're gay?!"

"Totally gay! They're even sharing a room together with a king-sized bed! They're totally sick--"

"Who's sick?" Yongguk interrupts.

The guys are surprised to see us. They talk bad about us and they're surprised? Are they kidding me?

"He-hey, Yongguk-ah. We... uh... we weren't... we didn't mean--"

"Who are you calling ing gay? I'm not ing gay!" Yongguk yells at them.

"But, aren't you sharing a room with Himchan?"

"We're friends! We're just friends. I'm not gay. Right, Himchan-ah?"

They're all staring at me. Yongguk and I are definitely more than just friends. I know we can't proclaim ourselves as a couple, but I never thought Yongguk would be set-on denying we're together. I thought he'd... defend me instead. And to call gays disgusting? Isn't that what we are?

"Yeah.. we're just friends. Haha!" I fake a smile.

The guys don't believe us completely but they change topics fast. I guess people can tell Yongguk and I have something going on.

➳➳➳➳➳

The guys invited me out to go drinking, but I didn't feel like joining. Who in their right mind would want to hang out with the people that talked nasty about you?

I lied and told them I was exhausted. I went ahead to my room but Yongguk stayed behind. Of course he'd do that. He doesn't want to join me. That would just invite others to spread more malicious rumors about our relationship.

I'm lying in bed, watching TV. I switch from channel to channel. I can't relax. My mind fills up with all kinds of insults about me. I can imagine the guys getting drunk and just saying I'm a gay that's waiting to pounce on one of them. Yongguk is probably joining in the conversation and having a laugh. Maybe he'd even start and say I made a move on him but he rejected me nicely. Maybe he'd try to cover himself up and say that instead of him it was another Staff Sergeant asking for my . 

I hear the room door open and it's Yongguk. 

"Hey..." he greets me. 

I don't respond. He removes his jacket, throws it on the floor and climbs on the bed. He tries to kiss me but I turn and face the other way. He doesn't deserve a kiss from me.

"Are you mad?" he asks me.

"Of course I'm mad, you idiot."

"But Himchan-ah...you know I had to lie to them."

I sit up and look at him straight in the eyes.

"You saved your own skin!"

"No, I didn't! I told them we're just friends."

"But you denied you were gay. What about me? I'm not part of your little act?!" 

I stand up and grab one of the pillows and pull the blanket from underneath him. He falls on his but I don't care. 

"What are you doing?!" he questions me.

"I'm not sleeping on the same bed as you... I don't even want to talk to you..."

I lay the blanket on the floor and lie down with the pillow under one of my arms. I wrap the blanket around my body and I try to find a comfortable sleeping position as I hug the pillow. I hear Yongguk's voice call for my name but I don't respond. As of now, I can't see myself with him. Not like this. I don't want to continue being with him if it means having to hide. We've been hiding our relationship for a year. I'm not hiding anymore.

From this moment on...

I'm never seeing Bang Yongguk again.

➳➳➳➳➳

A year ago, I made the decision to be on my own. I gave myself to someone I thought loved me. I felt it... but at the same time, I doubted him. Or maybe I've been doubting myself. You can call me a coward for not staying with him but everyone has a weakness. My weakness was him. He controlled me. He controlled my body. He controlled my heart. I gave so much to him. I had to leave before it was too late.

But here I am speaking to him. My new assigned police partner.

It was at the army where I shared A Rare Moment with You. It's strange to see you again...

"Bang Yongguk."

THE END...or is it?

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Here's the last chapter for my short story for A.R.M.Y - BangHim! Did you like it? Please tell me~

I know this ending is probably not what you expected. Maybe you wanted them to end up together at the end. I wanted that too. But then I realized BANGHIM'S STORY ISN'T OVER. Their "ARMY" themed story is over... but there's more coming.

"ONCE, 사랑에 빠졌다" is the SEQUEL to this short story~! If you want to read more on BangHim, please subscribe to ONCE.

Thank you for a lovely comments and support. Please subcribe to A.R.M.Y short story collection as well.