[CONTENTID1]Chapter 43[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Soundtrack: "The cure" - Lady Gaga

 [/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID3]

“And if you say you're okay

I'm gonna heal you anyway

Promise I'll always be there

Promise I'll be the cure (be the cure)”

August had arrived, bringing with it a really hot weather. Those cold winter days had already gone months ago, and were replaced by the high temperatures and humid summer air. It was Saturday morning, and the sound of the electric fan in that bedroom was no longer a nuisance, for two men ran from one side to the other, picking up a few pieces of clothing here and there and tossing them into a large backpack that was disposed over the bed.

“Did you see my grey underwear?” asked Heung Soo, opening the drawers of his wardrobe rather violently. “I can't find it anywhere.”

“I haven’t washed it yet” answered Nam Soon, as he folded a few shirts and tried to put them inside the already full backpack.

“Yes, I did.”

“I know, I used them two nights ago, I think.” Nam Soon shrugged, not worried at all. He had just managed to shove two shirts inside it and seemed quite pleased with himself.

Heung Soo stopped looking for it and stared at the other in astonishment as he waited for him to explain himself, but apparently Nam Soon hadn't understood the problem.

“You wore my underwear?” exclaimed Heung Soo, having difficulty assimilating what had happened.

“Yeah, what's the problem?”

“You wore my new underwear?” Heung Soo asked again, making sure to emphasize the last two words. Nam Soon didn’t bother looking back at him - he was busy enough trying to put two more slippers inside the same backpack. “I only used it once!” said Heung Soo, still incredulous.

“It’s just an underwear,” Nam Soon finally stopped putting more clothes into his backpack and stared at Heung Soo, who seemed really annoyed by the fact that he actually wore his clothes. “I’m the only one who’s going to see your underwear anyway, so stop complaining.”

“That doesn’t mean you can go around using my new clothes,” Heung Soo tried to hide the tiny smile that appeared on his lips after hearing Nam Soon’s response but didn’t really succeed.

“And I’m sure you probably saw me wearing it and didn’t complain.”

“I was too busy, you know, to pay attention to your underwear,” Heung Soo rolled his eyes and turned to face his wardrobe again, trying to hide the fact that the smile was now wide on his face.

“So, no point in complaining, since we never notice these stuff,” Nam Soon seemed to have finished the discussion, and put back more clothes into his backpack, which now seemed quite full. “Are you taking any more clothes or can I close it?”

Heung Soo took two clean underwear from the wardrobe and placed them in the last free space inside the backpack. “I guess that’s all,” he looked around trying to remember if he’d forgotten something, but since it was only for the weekend they shouldn’t need anything else. Except... “Won’t it be strange for us to take only a backpack... for both of us?” He thought it would be easier to take only one, but now he wondered if it was normal for two friends to do it. “Won’t Moo Yul find it a bit strange?”

“Well, it’s just for the weekend.” Nam Soon shrugged. “Do you think it’s best to split it?”

Heung Soo seemed to consider it for a few seconds before making up his mind.

“No, it’s fine.” He checked the time on his wristwatch and looked rather worried. “We’re late. Get your wallet and let’s go,” Apparently he was a bit more distressed now that he checked the time.

“What time is it?” Nam Soon didn’t have a wristwatch like Heung Soo, so he put his hands in his pockets probably to check the time on his cell phone, but Heung Soo was quicker.

“It's the time we should be arriving at the airport, but we’re still here,” said Heung Soo, taking the backpack off the bed and heading toward the living room to put on his shoes.

Nam Soon followed after him, looking worried.

“What?” he exclaimed, crouching beside Heung Soo to put on his sneakers and checking his pockets to make sure he had his wallet.

“Yes, you and your wonderful idea of packing in the morning before we go. We will have time,” he said, forcing a stupid imitation of Nam Soon’s words.

Nam Soon, who was already requesting a cab on his cell phone, didn't seem too bothered by his comment. In fact, he showed a mischievous smile as he remembered the conversation the night before. “You didn’t complain yesterday.”

Heung Soo, who was carrying a worried expression so far, let out a sign of a discreet smile that Nam Soon wouldn’t have noticed if he had not known him for so long.

“Hush now baby, don't you cry

Anything you want could not be wrong”

It had been three months since Heung Soo arrived at his apartment and found out that Joo Mi had left without leaving a message. The two following weeks were quite depressing, and Heung Soo avoided that topic as much as possible. Nam Soon didn’t ask him anything, but he knew that keeping quiet about it was only harming Heung Soo, who didn’t seem to get excited about anything.

“Heung Soo... shouldn’t we talk about this?” Nam Soon risked asking on a Friday night, after a tedious dinner in which they just watched a random variety show that was on the television, although Nam Soon was sure that Heung Soo wasn’t even paying attention. He asked him out to grab a drink, but even that didn’t seem to cheer him out of the apartment. In fact, he had only been going out to go to work, and he didn’t even remember the last time he had gone to the gym.

“About what?” asked Heung Soo, not even bothering to look at Nam Soon as he answered.

Even when Nam Soon turned off the television, it took at least five minutes for Heung Soo to realize what he had just done.

“You don’t talk, you barely leave the house, and there’s this mood inside this apartment that looks like someone have died,” Nam Soon said it all out at once. All that had been bothering him the past few days. “Ever since I came back, it looks like you're somewhere else. , Heung Soo, instead of acting like this, if you don’t want to talk to me about it, why don’t you just call her?”

Nam Soon’s words had been rather harsh, but that was what Heung Soo needed to finally respond. He didn’t try to call her right away - it took him at least three days. But that didn’t matter, because Joo Mi never answered. The first time was only his brother-in-law that answered his calls, and apparently Joo Mi was never home, no matter what time he called her - and she would never return the call anyway. After a few weeks, no one else answered his calls. Calling her cellphone was even worse, because she always refused, until he was sure that she had blocked his number and Nam Soon's - which, although she never answered it when he ventured to call, she probably figured it should belong to Nam Soon.

A month later, Heung Soo gave up calling her. Nam Soon didn’t talk about it anymore, and apparently things got better, but Joo Mi’s subject became almost a forbidden topic within that apartment. If nobody talked about it, the mood would always be great. But if for some reason her name appeared, it would be followed by a few hours of complete silence.

Slowly, things were really getting back to normal, except for those times were Heung Soo thought no one was looking, that Nam Soon could tell that somewhere inside him something was still missing.

And it was at one of those moments that Nam Soon came up with the idea of going in a trip during the weekend. That, and also the weather, which was so hot that all Nam Soon wanted to do now was run away to a chillier place. Nam Soon commented about it, but Heung Soo didn’t seem interested until that Thursday night.

“Are you still up to that trip?” Heung Soo asked as they drank some beer lying down on the couch, watching a new TV series that they started following a few weeks ago. “I mean, do you have somewhere planned already?”

Nam Soon stared at him while he ate some chips, without leaving the front of the fan. His hair was bobbing over his face, already a complete mess.

“No, why? Now you want to go?”

“Moo Yul talked about going to Jeju this weekend. What do you think?”

Nam Soon’s eyes were still upon him, finding it a bit strange for Moo Yul to invite them like that. Ever since he and Jin Ah started going out, he was never available to go out at night, let alone on a trip throughout the weekend.

“What? And what about Jin Ah?”

Heung Soo shrugged. “You know I don’t talk much about her, so I didn’t ask,” Actually, he never talked about her. It was probably still an awkward subject, since only both of them knew that Nam Soon was the actual reason why Heung Soo had broken up with her in the first place.

“Fine, let’s go. I can’t stand this apartment anymore. It’s like there’s not even a bit of fresh air inside here.”

“So baby tell me yes

And I will give you everything

I will be right by your side”

Nam Soon and Heung Soo were lucky to have checked in the night before, because they arrived at the airport just a few minutes before the boarding time closed. Moo Yul was impatiently waiting in front of the boarding gate, while an airline employee checked his wristwatch counting the minutes to close the gates.

“A few more minutes and you’d have your names on the speakers. What took you so long?” asked Moo Yul as they headed to the airplane, taking their three reserved seats at the back of the plane.

“We’ve lost track of time,” Nam Soon explained, sitting by the window. Heung Soo sat next to him, still out of breath after all the running they did inside the airport.

“In fact, we only arrived thanks to me, because if it was up to Nam Soon here, we would still be at home, slowly packing our bags as if we had all the time in the world,” said Heung Soo, putting their backpack under his seat.

“Didn’t you bring a bag?” Moo Yul asked, noticing that only Heung Soo was carrying one, and Nam Soon had only the clothes in his body.

“We’re sharing one... We thought it was better, since there’s not much stuff to bring,” Heung Soo explained it quickly, before Nam Soon could say anything that would get them in a tight situation.

He didn’t find out if Moo Yul thought this was strange or not, because in the next few seconds they had to put their seat belts on since the plane would take off in a few minutes. Nam Soon spent the rest of the trip looking through the window, apparently fascinated considering he hadn’t been on a plane since he was a child.

He watched the town getting smaller by the minute until it disappeared completely and only clouds were visible in the sky. Those huge clouds clinging to each other began to resemble a large cotton candy, and Nam Soon felt that he could easily step onto them. In fact, in the next few seconds he seemed to be moving toward them while Heung Soo called his name, but his voice was too far away, and he could barely hear it. After a few seconds his words were getting a bit louder until he could hear him clearly calling his name -

“Go Nam Soon!” Heung Soo called to his side, shaking his shoulders. Nam Soon woke up startled, looking around and realizing that he was still on the airplane, which had probably landed just a few minutes ago, since all the passengers around him were already standing, pulling their suitcases from the trunk above them.

Heung Soo and Moo Yul continued to talk about work-related matters all the way to the cab until they reached the hotel. Nam Soon, who was not paying attention, too focused on the entire landscape - the clear sky, the green trees, the beaches and all the tourists taking pictures of everything. He would probably be one of them if his stomach had not started rumbling with hunger, and the only thing he could think about was to drop his things in their room and go out to the first restaurant they found.

They were staying at a two stars hotel in the heart of Jeju. It was just a few yards from the beach, and since they didn’t plan to spend much time in their room - unless it was bedtime; it seemed to be the perfect place, if it wasn’t for the strong smell of bleach along the corridors - Nam Soon just hoped it wasn’t too strong inside their room.

Fortunately, there was a large window at the left, that Heung Soo opened as soon as they arrived, so when they came back at night hopefully the smell would be gone. Other than that, it was a neat room, with the beds arranged side by side with clean and perfectly stretched sheets. There was a small bathroom next to a red TV stand that was stained with some strange dark smudges that Heung Soo really didn’t want to know what they were. An old television was placed over it, but for some reason he was quite sure that it wasn’t really working.

Aside from that, he was pretty happy with the view - they could see the whole beach and the breeze that came from outside was quite refreshing.

“So, what should we do first?” asked Moo Yul, who was sitting on the bed next to the door, since Nam Soon was quicker to pick the one close to the window and Heung Soo got the middle one.

“Eat,” Nam Soon didn’t wait for Heung Soo reply. In fact, he was unconsciously speaking louder than usual to hide the loud noises coming from his belly. “I’m starving.”

Moo Yul and Heung Soo didn’t protest - in fact, a good lunch would also do them good, since they didn’t buy anything to eat inside the airplane. They didn’t see the point at the time, but now Heung Soo wished he had bought at least one kimbap.

“I know a good restaurant in front of Hyeopjae Beach,” said Moo Yul, getting up and making sure he picked up his wallet.

Nam Soon stared at the window, and saw a small restaurant just across the street. He was so hungry that he would rather eat anything over there...

“Sure, I’ll order a cab,” Heung Soo replied promptly, picking up his phone. If it was just the two of them, Nam Soon would suggest eating across the street, since his hunger wouldn't allow him to go too far. He really could eat anything. But he didn’t protest, and twenty minutes later they were on their way to the other restaurant, in a taxi that at least smelled a bit better than that hotel.

The seats were large enough to fit the three on the back side, but Moo Yul preferred to sit in the front. Nam Soon gave a quick glance at Heung Soo at his side, for the first time remembering that they were indeed pretending to be just friends and that, after all these months together, it seemed like a strange achievement.

“I know we’re going to the beach, but I really want to see the mountains and especially the waterfalls,” said Nam Soon, looking at those great mountains around the green landscape.

“There’s plenty of time,” Heung Soo mumbled, checking the time and realizing that it was already past one o’clock. No wonder that he was feeling very hungry at the moment.

“Have you never been to Jeju before?” Moo Yul asked, looking back at them through the mirror.

“It’s my first time,” said Nam Soon. It was true. After he and Heung Soo lost track of each other years ago, Nam Soon never made any kind of trip. In fact, he couldn’t remember anything fun he’d done during all those years aside from his normal routine.

“I came a few times... With noona...” These last two words came out in a very low whisper that Nam Soon was lucky to hear. He knew that thinking about her was still hard for him. Nam Soon quickly glanced at Moo Yul to make sure he wasn’t looking, and reached out to Heung Soo’s left hand. He looked down at it as soon as he felt Nam Soon’s touch.

It didn’t last more than a minute though, and Nam Soon pulled away before Moo Yul could see them. He felt the sudden urge to give a quick peck on Heung Soo’s lips, but he knew that he couldn’t go that far.

Apparently this would be difficult for them. He was so used to only hanging out with Yoon Jae and Joon Hee, from whom they didn’t need to hide, that he didn’t really stop to think about how hard this would be before actually being here.

“If I can't find the cure, I'll

I'll fix you with my love

No matter what you know, I'll

I'll fix you with my love”

It was a really simple restaurant that made Nam Soon wonder why they couldn’t have eaten at that one across the hotel. In fact, the facade of the two restaurant was so similar that it made Nam Soon think that they could be exactly the same. But as they entered, the dishes on other people's tables looked so delicious that Nam Soon didn’t care about that anymore.

Moo Yul chose a good spot in the back of the restaurant - right in front of the beach. In fact, just a few steps ahead and they would be standing on the sand. It was a really nice view - beyond the landscape, they could see all the tourists bathing in the sea or sunbathing on the sand. The water was so crystal that Nam Soon almost forgot his hunger to take a dib.

He was reminded of how starving he was when the waiter came over to him with the menu full of superb photographs of the differents dishes. If it had not been so hot, he might have picked a spicy seafood noodle soup, but he was sure that he would regret choosing such a strong dish under this hot sun, so everyone agreed to share a large portion of raw fish and each of them ordered a large glass of beer. They had no plans to get drunk so early in the afternoon, but all three agreed that it would be impossible to endure all this high temperature without a good drink to feel refreshed.

There was no conversation at the table when the dishes arrived. They were so hungry that only after all the fish had disappeared they finally started to talk again.

“I like it here,” said Heung Soo, also finishing his glass of beer and resting his back on the chair, feeling so full that he didn’t think he would be able to get up so soon. “Really good food,”

“I was here with Jin Ah last month,” Moo Yul explained without looking at Heung Soo, who gave a meaningful look at Nam Soon by his side, but decided not to ask questions.

They shared a large bottle of beer while they digested the food, enjoying the breeze that came from the sea and the beautiful landscape, and it was not less than an hour later that they finally decided to leave.

“May not have the fancy things

But I'll give you everything

You could ever want, it's in my arms”

After a quick strode at the beach, they decided to go visit the waterfalls - not before Nam Soon complained for the third time how much he wanted to see them. It was not that the beach was not fun, but after an hour or so walking with the same scenario he was kind of bored of it. They had only two days to see everything after all.

Nam Soon had read somewhere that there was a longer trail to the waterfalls than the one Moo Yul knew, and thought that the argument of having a complete experience of the place was good enough. For some reason Heung Soo and Moo Yul ended up following his idea.

After almost an hour on this trail, Heung Soo complained for the tenth time about how hot it was and the fact that they brought no water bottle for the ride. And to make matters worse, they were being eaten by mosquitoes. Nam Soon was as tired as he was, but was too proud to admit that he made an awful decision.

“Fresh air, nature, trees. Why don’t you feel the nature around you and stop complaining about everything Heung Soo?” said Nam Soon, pretending that he wasn’t dying of thirst. Moo Yul, on the other hand, wasn’t talking much. Nam Soon and Heung Soo were in this same discussion in the last thirty minutes, so he didn’t feel he should give his personal opinion on the matter.

“I think I can already hear the waterfall,” he said, in an attempt to make Nam Soon and Heung Soo stop cursing at each other. That seemed to work, at least for now, since both of them got quiet to hear the sound of the water falling. Nam Soon gave a winning smile to Heung Soo.

“See? That’s our prize, and we could still enjoy all this nature,” he was saying when his cell phone began to beep on his pocket. He was surprised to see that the signal had finally returned. This really should mean that they had followed the right path and were not lost somewhere far from civilization.

They walked just a few more minutes and finally reached the river that went straight to the waterfall. Heung Soo had finally stopped complaining with Nam Soon, who was now too entertained having a conversation on his cell phone to worry about the last five curses that Heung Soo had threw against him.

“We are going to see the waterfalls.” Nam Soon wrote back to Joon Hee. He was talking to him about the trip until his phone lost the signal. He stopped suddenly, almost making Heung Soo bump against him.

“Let me take a picture,” Nam Soon said, climbing on some slippery rocks near the river. Moo Yul stopped right in front of him, but Heung Soo kept walking, really wanting to get to the waterfall right away because he was definitely tired of walking. It was not long before he regretted his decision. He looked back after hearing a loud noise of something hitting the water, and realized that if he had waited for Nam Soon he would have the privileged vision of Nam Soon falling directly into the water.

Luckily for him, this region was not yet so deep, but it was enough for half of his body to sink under the water, especially his cell phone even before he could take that picture. 

Moo Yul looked worried, but Heung Soo was laughing before even making sure he was okay. So much that he instantly forgot how annoyed he was only a few minutes ago.

He stepped forward to help him, but Nam Soon shoved him away, his eyes staring desperately at what used to be his cell phone. He was quick to turn it off, but it was so immersed in the river that he had no hope that it would ever work again.

“Was that enough for a complete experience for you, Nam Soon-ah?” Heung Soo couldn’t help the joke. It was all he needed to get his mood up again, though he couldn’t say the same for Nam Soon, who didn’t even speak during the rest of the day. Even when they finally reached the waterfall was not enough to lift his mood, nor the lava tubes of Manjanggul or the botanical garden.

However, Moo Yul and Heung Soo were enjoying themselves, and soon the sun began to set and they decided it was time to take a cab back to the hotel.

”So baby tell me yes

And I will give you everything

So baby tell me yes

And I will be all yours tonight”

It took a few bottles of soju and a few hours in that open-air bar on the beachfront near the hotel for Nam Soon to forget about his broken cellphone and finally start talking again. They ordered a portion of fried chicken and were eating and drinking on a bench a few feet from the sea. There was a band singing inside the bar closest to the street, which they could still hear from where they were, and a group of people actually noisier than the three of them and even the band, but that didn’t bother them at all, since they too were talking a bit too loud at this point.

Nam Soon had went back to the bar to get more bottles of soju and left Moo Yul and Heung Soo to finish the last chicken wings.

“Was Jin Ah fine with you travelling alone with us?” Heung Soo finally asked the question that had probably been running through his mind since Moo Yul invited him to this trip. And he probably wouldn’t have done it if they hadn’t drunk two bottles of soju already.

It took a few minutes for Moo Yul to finally answer him, which made Heung Soo think that he should have waited a bit longer to ask him that. 

“Honestly ...” He stared back at the bar, perhaps to make sure that Nam Soon wasn’t coming back, but Heung Soo wasn’t so sure. “... things between us are not so well ...” He said, and something about the way he said it made Heung Soo think that maybe this subject was the real reason why Moo Yul invited Heung Soo to this trip.

Heung Soo thought about some comforting words that he could say to him, but nothing came to mind, and Moo Yul was back to talk about their relationship. And now Heung Soo was definitely sure that he should be anxious to talk to Heung Soo about it, without Nam Soon nearby - probably because he didn’t feel close enough to Nam Soon to talk to him about it, or perhaps because it was something he was too ashamed to admit to anyone else.

“In fact, Heung Soo... I’m sure that she still has feelings for you,”

Whatever Heung Soo was expecting him to say, it definitely was not this. And if he had no words of comfort to say before, right now he would have any at all.

“Are you seeing someone?”

He didn’t like were this was going, but Heung Soo knew that he should say something before the mood got even more awkward between them - though he couldn’t be completely honest about it. He stared at Moo Yul, and opened his mouth only to close it again just a few seconds later; and Moo Yul realize how strange this conversation sounded.

“No!” He exclaimed in exasperation. “I’m not going to tell you to go back to her, don’t get any stupid ideas,” if it wasn't for the alcohol, Heung Soo would be sure that Moo Yul's cheeks flushed right after saying those words, probably too embarrassed about the misunderstand that he almost caused.

Heung Soo sighed in relief. He definitely wouldn’t know what to say if he ended up suggesting this absurd thing.

“I’m seeing someone,” he said as Nam Soon returned with three bottles of soju and another portion of chicken wings in his hands - Moo Yul seemed surprised that he had managed to bring it all without dropping anything. After the way in which Nam Soon fell into the river this afternoon, he expected that any other disaster could happen to him at any moment. Unlike Nam Soon, he didn’t seem surprised by Heung Soo’s words, and helped him hold the portion and grabbed one of the bottles of soju from his hands - which Nam Soon handed him without resistance, still staring at Heung Soo.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Moo Yul asked him, placing the portion on the table and opening the bottles with his shirt. “Who is she?”

After realizing that Heung Soo hadn’t said anything so revealing, Nam Soon opened the remaining bottles and sat down in front of them. He took two shots and laid his back against the chair, his cheeks a little stained from the alcohol.

“Do you know her?” Moo Yul’s eyes were now on Nam Soon, who looked at Heung Soo and back at Moo Yul a few times before replying.

“Oh...”

“The girl Heung Soo’s seeing,” he explained, as if Nam Soon hadn’t understood what they were talking about.

“...Yeah... I know her,” said Nam Soon, now letting a funny laugh escape, but fortunately Moo Yul did not notice.

“So why wasn’t I introduced?” Moo Yul seemed insulted, and Heung Soo thought about saying he was not really available in the last few months, but he didn’t think he had the right to criticize him since he was just lying to him.

“She lives very far,” was the first thing that came to his mind, but now that he said, that seemed like a very bad excuse. And apparently Moo Yul thought the same, since he stared indignantly at him.

“Nam Soon knows her!” he pointed out, staring at both of them as if he was still waiting for a good excuse.

“She's a friend of Nam Soon's,” This was the second excuse he found, and it was too late for him to realize that his lie was already going too far, where soon enough Moo Yul would definitely realize that something about it was strange. Luckily, it seemed a pretty convincing excuse, because his expression changed to a pitying one almost instantly, and he looked at Nam Soon, who was too distracted eating the chicken wings and finishing his bottle of soju.

Moo Yul was now shaking his head slightly as he looked at Nam Soon, who still hadn’t realized that for some reason his interest was now in him instead of Heung Soo.

“Did he get your friend, too?” Moo Yul asked, and it took a while for Nam Soon to realize that he was talking to him, and even longer to understand what he meant. Apparently Moo Yul was sure that Heung Soo was dating Nam Soon’s friend - who didn’t even exist - and that Nam Soon had a secret crush on her, just like it happened with him and Jin Ah.

Nam Soon let out a chuckle and took his last shot of soju before staring at him again, thinking this was rather fun than something he should really worry about.

“Not at all,” he said as he picked out another chicken and took a bite before facing Moo Yul again. “I’m gay.”

And Nam Soon regretted his words only a second after saying them.

“I'll undress you, 'cause you're tired

Cover you as you desire

When you fall asleep inside my arms”