Taming the Green Eyed Monster

Coq Au Vin - First Paired Date

Ye Jun put on his best outfit. Being tall, handsome, with an athletic body, he looked good in nearly anything. He knew this but he wanted to look especially good for his date with Si Woo as it was the first time that he anticipated a romantic outing.

It was a Thursday night and theirs was the first paired date.

Peering at himself in the mirror, he gave himself one last check over before heading out the door.

They had agreed to meet at the XY train station. Their date was going to be simple, a visit to an art exhibition Si Woo was interested in and then dinner. Normally the idea of peering at painting after painting would have him quickly finding an excuse to bail but, for once, Ye Jun didn't care what he had to do as long as they could spend time together and he could explore these new found feelings.

Ye Jun spotted the sunbae in front of the theater kiosk. He cut a pretty figure in a navy sports jacket and jeans. They would look good together, he thought as he continued to make his way toward him.

"Sunbae," he called out.

Si Woo turned. "Ye Jun-ah," he said in greeting with an opaque smile. For a second, it felt unnatural to Ye Jun, not necessarily insincere but almost indifferent. It was such a stark difference to what he was used to and for a moment, Ye Jun was taken aback.

"Did you wait long?" he asked him.

He shook his head, "Maybe 5 minutes or so." They began to walk and an uncomfortable silence came over them.

"The exhibition today," Ye Jun began, breaking the quiet. "I read that it's of a Dutch painter."

Si Woo nodded. "Jan Steen, a 17th century Dutch artist. I've been looking forward to it for a while now. His paintings are rather comedic but there is an evident love or perhaps obsession for his subject matter. He is known for manipulations of the people, turning a mundane everyday moment into something mischievous or satirically devastating."

Ye Jun listened to him with interest but when the other paused, he wasn't entirely sure how to respond. He knew little about painting or art; beyond a few comic books he had read in his youth, he had had very little interest in it. Unlike this sunbae.

Unlike Jong In.

He frowned as the thought came rushing toward him. Jong In was probably a better fit for the sunbae. Suddenly, there was an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

Better not to think about it.

"How did you like the exhibit?" Si Woo asked later that night as they sat at the restaurant. Ye Jun had picked it, a high end French restaurant known for its atmosphere. Si Woo with his stylish clothes and elegant appearance seemed well suited to the environment.

"It was fun," Ye Jun responded and in fact, it had been. Contrary to what he had expected, Jan Steen's paintings were animated, bordering chaotic and it was amusing trying to guess what all the characters were thinking. It was a lot like a game he had played when he was younger where he and Jong In would sit outside a convenience store near their home, waiting for their mothers to come home from work. They would sit on the stoop and guess what the passersby had done that day based on the expression they were making.

"I think that man had his butt bitten by his dog today," he had once said, giggling at the disgruntled expression of a middle aged salaryman.

"Or he lost his panty!" Jong In had added, also giggling.

It had been fun. Ye Jun hadn't thought about these moments in a long time. He recalled they had stopped playing it abruptly, had even stopped going to the convenience store for a while and he briefly wondered why before the memory struck him.