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"What are you? Ten?" Dahyun scolds Minhee but keeps her voice low. "Who gets scared of cockroaches?"
"For the nth time, I am not scared but disgusted." Minhee groans, leaning on the reception counter. Dahyun rolls her eyes before attending a call on her phone.
"Merci," Secretary Kim says, taking the keycard from the hotel staff. He passes the card towards Minhee and smiles, "Here Ms Yoon."
Minhee sighs, taking the card key from him. After calling Dahyun to get all her cards cancelled, Jeongguk asked Secretary Kim to arrange for another key for her. So, here they were at the reception, getting things sorted.
"Thank you..."
The elder just bows and waits there. "Do you have enough cash with you?"
Minhee bites her lips, "I have a few hundred euros...in my handbag."
Secretary Kim nods, taking out his wallet. "That won't do, here—"
"Secretary Kim," Minhee places a hand on his, to stop him from removing any money. "You're crossing a line."
Secretary Kim furrows his eyebrows, "Am I?"
Minhee retracts her hand and the elder bows slightly, "I apologise if you found me rude but I just thought you would need some cash. Even though you have your secretary, she'll not always be around...so..." he shrugs.
Minhee sighs. Kim notices her hesitance. He forgot how it feels to accept someone else's money when people do not expect you to be on the receiving end. "Take it as a friend giving it to you."
"Excuse me?" Minhee says with a tone laced in offence, furrowing her eyebrows.
The man laughs, "Well imagine it that way...and not Mr Jeon's secretary. You can pay me back once we are back in Korea."
Minhee stares at the few notes in his hand, contemplating for a moment before taking it. She is so embarrassed at her actions, so stupid to get drunk like that. "...Thank you..."
"You know where to find me if you need my assistance," he bows and walks away.
Sometimes she wonders if one of these two Kims are adopted because they are so different in the ways they carry themselves but then their faces say otherwise. Both are handsome, she won't believe if someone says those genes are from two different sets of parents.
...
Jeongguk knows he probably shouldn't. He was supposed to go alone, supposed to do what he planned to do but he is afraid.
Afraid he might not be able to do it alone.
So he presses the doorbell.
Minhee opens the door and Jeongguk immediately starts rethinking his decision. "Umm...did the cockroach's family come back for revenge?"
Minhee blinks at him, dumbfounded. She crosses her arms in front of her, "I am sure you are not here to know that."
Jeongguk sighs, just say it. "Are you free now?"
"Depends, for what."
"You know...just to explore..." he vaguely gestures in the air, "It's our first time here so..."
"You want to explore the city." Minhee says and then points towards herself, "With me. Why?"
Jeongguk sighs. "Are you in or not?"
"Not until you tell me why." Minhee shrugs, leaning on the half-opened door, "Who knows you plan to take me to the Seine and drown me?"
"Honestly," Jeongguk folds his arms in front of him. "I have better ideas to kill you and that's not even an option. Anyway, are you in?"
A beat of silence.
Minhee huffs, nodding. "I will be out in five."
"Ha, very funny."
...
"Why are we taking the bus?" Minhee says, "We could just take a taxi. The bus takes longer anyway."
Jeongguk chuckles, "I am teaching you how to save money, Ms Yoon. Get used to public transport while we are here."
"I have enough to pay for a taxi ride, you are here too!"
"Do you know the taxi fares here?" Jeongguk puts his hands in his jacket's pockets. "They are literally nine times the bus fare, I ain't paying for that to save a few minutes."
Minhee mentally counts the total amount of money she has in her handbag. With Jeongguk scolding her about keeping all the cards and money in one place, this time she's made sure to slip in a few euros anywhere she can.
The bus arrives and it's crowded. Jeongguk tells her that the place they are going is a huge tourist attraction and Minhee replies, which place here is not? And it's not wrong to assume that even the streets that smell like dog pee have thousands of people walking around and clicking 'Instagram-esque' pictures.
"Mont-mar-t-re..." Minhee whispers, reading the board and then looks up the flight of stairs that lead up to the hill. "Is this the place where we can see that white dome thingy?"
"I am going to enrol you with my secretary for pronunciation classes or something. You guys are awful."
"Shut up."
"Sacré-Coeur Basilica," Jeongguk tells her, answering her question from before. "It's the highest point in the city."
"And that explains the stairs..." Minhee whispers, already dreading the idea of climbing all of those up. "Can we not go?"
Jeongguk gives her a disapproving look. "Seriously, why did you come if you didn't want to do anything. Just stay in your hotel and sleep until you have to get ready for your show."
"But those are too many stairs," she points towards the entrance. Jeongguk rolls his eyes, "So who is making you climb those? We'll take the funicular."
The funicular is an inclined transport system that leads you up the hill— Minhee calls it BTS (Broken Transport System) because it looks like the cable cars are coaches of the train that's been broken from the normal Paris metro. From up high, Minhee can see the whole city in one view and it's mind-boggling when she realises that she's here with Jeongguk.
She thought being in Paris with Jeongguk would be the worst thing— the press, the fake smiles, the pictures— but here they are, exploring the city as if it is the most natural thing to do.
Jeongguk takes out his Polaroid camera and clicks just one picture of the basilica. Minhee spots the item in his hand and claps, excitedly. "I have always wanted to buy a polaroid camera. Click my picture too."
"No," Jeongguk says, keeping the photo in one of the front pockets of his bag.
"No, why?"
"Here," Jeongguk produces his phone, "Stand there."
"Not the phone, it's so cliche—"
"One, two, three," Jeongguk interrupts, making Minhee instantly pose with a small smile. "What an ass," Minhee mumbles.
After a lot of insistence, Minhee gets Jeongguk to sit on the Little Train of Montmartre which takes them around the city with two speakers blaring a guide to its history in French. Jeongguk sits bored, as he watches Minhee excitedly note anything she likes and says, "We'll visit this later."
His heart feels heavy and on instinct, he clenches his fist– crumpling the map in his hand as well. He immediately straightens it out when he realises. "Who uses a paper map nowadays?" Minhee says, confused at the way Jeongguk is carefully folding the map. "It's 2021, Jeon, there's something known as Maps in your phone."
But Jeongguk simply shrugs, keeping the map in his small backpack. When they get off at Place du Tertre, a square only a few streets away from the basilica– both of them are mesmerised by the scene in front of them. It's an Artist's street, with many artists setting up easels and tourists getting their portraits made.
Minhee wants to ask what Jeongguk feels about seeing the paintings? Did that artist make a horse or a dog? But she doesn't know where to start and how Jeongguk would react to it. They are walking down the street, looking at the paintings when a man stops them.
"Beautiful couple," there's a distinct french accent in the way he speaks. "Come draw." The man points towards his canvas and the other hand makes a gesture of scribbling. Minhee looks at Jeongguk who is staring at the blank canvas. What's gotten into him today?
"Beautiful couple, beautiful painting." The man says, insisting as he gestures towards the canvas again.
The word couple tugs her heartstrings and she wonders if that is the reason Jeongguk looks so distressed. Then he looks at her and simply says, "Let's get one."
"What–"
But Jeongguk's already sitting on the bench. The man happily sits in front of his canvas as Jeongguk looks at her. His eyes hold an emotion Minhee can't reason. Numbness. Yearning. And Minhee can't point out why.
Having no choice, she sits beside Jeongguk and then the man gestures to scoot closer to Jeongguk.
No questions asked, no teasing remarks, not a single movement except what the artist tells them from time to time. Jeongguk has his arm placed behind her, resting on the bench and the side of his body touches her's.
What is going on in your mind, Jeongguk?
"Fini, fini," the man says, gesturing to them a thumbs up. "Done. Pay."
"He's done already...?" Minhee whispers when Jeongguk retracts his hand, standing up. "But it's just been ten minutes."
Jeongguk shrugs and walks towards the artist to pay. When Minhee sees the sketch, the artist made– her breath hitches.
"This is not us..." she says, pointing at the sketch. "We weren't posing like this..."
"Francois only make happy couple," the man says. He points at Jeongguk and Minhee, shaking his head as if telling them that they aren't a happy couple. "Need to be in love."
"What bullshit," Minhee scoffs, storming off. Jeongguk looks at her walking away, pays and follows her after taking the painting with him.
"Don't let his words bother you," Jeongguk says, catching up with her. Minhee scoffs, looking at him, "So you do know to speak mister."
Jeongguk ignores her taunt, walking off in another direction and forcing Minhee to follow him too. They pass by Vincent Van Gogh's apartment— click a picture of the blue door with the polaroid camera and find themselves a decent lunch place. Jeongguk is quiet when he has his lunch, reading something on different maps and guides he picked up on his way.
Jeongguk is an old fashioned traveller, Minhee thinks, the way he seems to have red circles around a few spots on the map...then he seems to click pictures of places only on his camera...Minhee doesn't understand.
Everytime Minhee thinks about Jeongguk, she always finds herself out of place. That she doesn't belong here in his world. In his life. Jeongguk's mother calls him a few moments later and after sharing the basic greeting, he passes the phone to Minhee. "My mom doesn't want to talk to me anymore." He huffs.
And there are these times when Minhee feels like there might not be any other world than this. Apparently, Mrs Jeon had gone to a school for some event and had a lot to tell Minhee because they talk the whole time they have lunch— Minhee humming every now and then with food in her mouth. Jeongguk scoffs, speaking loudly so that his mother could hear, "Let her have her food mom, " to which he hears Mrs Jeon asking him to shut up instead.
Finally, when he's done paying the waiter, does his mom realise the time and apologise for ruining their 'date'. Minhee sighs, bidding her goodbye before returning the phone to Jeongguk. "Where now?" she asks him. "I need to be back to the hotel by four."
Jeongguk flicks his wrist to see the time and nods. "One last place and we'll go back."
"I didn't take you for a traveller," Minhee says, chuckling. "Your mother told me you don't like to see a lot of places."
Jeongguk shrugs before he takes out his map to navigate to the next place. It's now when Minhee's legs start to hurt and she starts regretting coming here. She has to be the guest at Abbie's show tonight, what the hell is she doing here? She would be pretty exhausted by the end of the day, given the jet lag is still affecting her.
She quietly follows Jeongguk, five or six steps behind him. They arrive at an open gate and Minhee is confused. It looks like a park, did Jeongguk want to come to a park?
But when a mural of black tiles with white writings comes in her view, she realises.
It's the Wall of Love.
Why did Jeongguk bring her here? Why did he want to come here?
Minhee walks closer to the mural, touching one of the tiles. She looks up, "How many...languages are these...?"
"Two fifty," Jeongguk replies, taking out his polaroid. "All say the three magical words, three hundred and eleven times."
"Wow...oh there's Korean!" Minhee amuses, pointing at the Hangul writing. She steps back to see the whole wall. "And people have already seemed to ruin it." She points at the red splashes in a few places.
Jeongguk chuckles, bringing the camera to his eyes. "That's part of the mural." He tells her. "Shows a broken heart and how humanity has been torn apart. That's why they made this wall, to kind of signify the world being one."
Minhee chuckles. "Typical." She crosses her arms, observing the wall. "Why did people back then think these monuments and these places...are a symbol or expression of love? What were doing? Charity for their grandchildren?"
"Did they?" Jeongguk says, holding the film in his hand. "Or have we twisted the meanings to give hope to humanity right now? What do we even know what the artists were thinking while they made all of this?" He shrugs.
"Well..." Minhee looks at him, thinking, "It's written...some of them left their notes or something."
"Art, Minhee, cannot be that simple." He says and looks back at the wall. There is a sad smile on his face, a glaze in his eyes and Minhee thinks she said something wrong. She should have kept her mouth shut. "Two years later if you ever come back here, you'll know that those are pieces of a broken heart and not a ruined mural...art always feels different, with passing time."
Minhee doesn't say anything, trying to replay his words in her mind and store it somewhere. She wants to remember it, she wants to see how Jeongguk sees the world.
They walk back to the summit of the hill, through the flight of stairs.
With every step-down, Minhee groaned, "Hate the stairs," she whines, "So many stairs."
Jeongguk chuckles, "What? Are you auditioning for a female Hulk or something? You gotta shout more, 'No stairs'."
Minhee rolls her eyes, groaning again. Then an idea strikes in her mind and she licks her lips. Jeongguk wouldn't get too mad, right?
"Hulk-smash!"
And she's jumping on his back, wrapping her arms around his front and hooking her chin on his shoulder. Jeongguk yelps, halting in his place as his hands hold her thighs up. You'll be the death of me, Yoon Minhee. "What the fuck, Minhee? What if I lost my balance?"
"You would have needed plastic surgery."
"It's not funny," he groans, "I am not climbing down with you on my back."
"Just a hundred stairs." Minhee coaxes. Jeongguk shakes his head. "Alright, seventy-five."
"Nope, you get down and walk down like every other adult."
"Aww baby, you're so strong." And that's a couple walking down the stairs with the man holding his lover in his arms, in bridal style. Minhee and Jeongguk look at them with their expressions scrunched in disgust.
"Like adults, huh?" Minhee whispers, chuckling. Jeongguk sighs, "Fifty only."
And Minhee ruffles his hair.
Jeongguk closes his eyes for a moment. He wonders if Minhee can feel his heartbeat thumping in his chest, can feel the way his hands grip her legs, the way his ears and neck are flush. If she does, what does it make her feel?
"Let's go!"
Minhee is relatively stiff on his back and Jeongguk wonders if she's uncomfortable. But it's not like he forced her to get on his back, if she got on it then she must be comfortable. Her breathing calms down and Jeongguk only hears a few sighs that send a shiver down his spine every now and then.
He probably should be counting the steps but his mind is all over the place. They complete fifty steps long back but Jeongguk doesn't put her down and Minhee starts feeling bad. He must have been equally tired and wondered if there is a place to sit. "Is that a carousel?"
She pats his shoulder, "Put me down."
Jeongguk does, stretching right after and cracking his joints. But before he could say anything, MInhee is already skipping her way to the ride.
He shakes his head. She's ten, for sure. He follows her, sits on the bench as she gets on the carousel, almost fights with a kid for a white unicorn but the kid's smart as he starts making a face of crying. She immediately sits on the light brown one, mumbling something under her breath.
She spots Jeongguk sitting and waves at him with a wide grin.
Fuck.
This was a bad idea.
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