MIM 98

It was his first time drinking to the point of intoxication. Shin-woo stared at his feet while taking careful steps one at a time. Though the amount wasn’t enough to be considered heavy drinking, whether because the wine didn’t agree with him or due to fatigue, he felt slightly tipsy, with his vision somewhat floating.

This defeats the purpose of bringing the gun. Clicking his tongue, Shin-woo looked around the dim surroundings. Being a small village, quite a few shops had already closed after dinner time. Only a few restaurants and bars serving alcohol remained open, while other places were dark. He scanned every corner of the sparsely populated streets, on full alert for anyone who might suddenly appear. He had already roughly mapped out all the routes while leisurely walking down to this village, which wasn’t far from the cabin.

“Hehe.”

While there were no people jumping out, there was sudden laughter. Ma Jae-seung, who had been quietly walking beside him looking at the sky, was grinning at something amusing. Unlike his usual self, he had been chattering and smiling readily throughout dinner, suggesting he too was slightly tipsy. When Shin-woo tried to walk slightly ahead for security purposes as he always did, Ma Jae-seung stubbornly matched his pace to keep their shoulders aligned. As a result, his clear face occasionally caught Shin-woo’s eye. Despite having drunk plenty of wine, Ma Jae-seung’s face was pale.

Whew. When he exhaled deeply, the grape wine scent wafted up strongly. Feeling like a drunkard, he waved his hands vigorously to shake off the wine smell, making Ma Jae-seung chuckle. He was walking with his body half-turned toward Shin-woo.

“You’re drunk too. I didn’t know since you were always fine when drinking at school.”

“Back then, I only had the first glass and stopped. No one offered me more anyway.”

At the beginning of the semester, he had been forced to join a few drinking sessions because Ma Jae-seung wanted to make friends. Being in charge of security, he didn’t drink anything except what Ma Jae-seung gave him. No one said anything even when he just sat in the corner staring into space, so he didn’t bother drinking.

Fortunately, while Ma Jae-seung wanted to be part of the drinking gatherings, he didn’t seem to like alcohol much and never drank unless it was a planned occasion. Far from drinking with meals, he only liked sweet things. Shin-woo wondered why such a person had ordered wine first today. He nudged Ma Jae-seung’s shoulder with his own and asked.

“Did you want to try wine because we’re in France?”

“Yeah. The waiter recommended it. Said it suited me well. That he could imagine that scent on me.”

“Can’t believe you fell for such a cliché sales pitch.”

So that was why he had such an unusual drink to accompany his meal. Finding his weakness for compliments newly cute, Shin-woo smiled, and Ma Jae-seung suddenly thrust his head forward. Before Shin-woo could register the rippling silver hair, the handsome jawline and neck came right up to his face. Do I smell like it? His cheekbones were raised roundly as he asked with his head tilted to one side.

After telling him not to come close earlier, now he’s being cute after drinking. Come to think of it, while the atmosphere hadn’t been right for it until now, he had always been playful by nature. When Shin-woo stepped back a couple of paces to maintain distance, Ma Jae-seung grabbed his arm and grumbled.

“Don’t go. You promised to protect me.”

“I’m not going.”

At those words, Ma Jae-seung stopped in place and stared at Shin-woo. His green eyes, now less mirthful, were warmly flushed. On this starlit night, countless similar days of looking at each other like this flashed through his mind. As they faced each other without avoiding gazes, Shin-woo’s body also grew warm.

Slowly withdrawing his gaze first, Ma Jae-seung began to walk. With Ma Jae-seung awkwardly gripping his forearm and Shin-woo being uncertainly held, they walked quietly to the cabin. It wasn’t an affectionate hand-holding nor an angry grip on the collar—though it seemed strange, the touching body heat wasn’t unpleasant at all, so he let it be.

Soon they arrived at the cabin. Maro, sensing their presence, started barking inside. Though they had fed him and given him water before leaving, he must have been lonely by himself. As Shin-woo hurried toward the entrance, a shadow fell across his path.

“Come here.”

Ma Jae-seung, blocking the way, whispered and tugged on Shin-woo’s arm. This time it was his wrist, not his upper arm. Ma Jae-seung led him toward the back of the cabin. The path leading to the forest was shrouded in thick darkness without a single light. Fortunately, where Ma Jae-seung stopped was within range of the cabin’s exterior lighting.

Behind the cabin were several parked cars and, oddly, a single sun bed. Apparently some guests preferred to tan near their lodging rather than going to the beach. Around that small, ungroomed clearing were wild grasses and unnamed flowers in abundance.

“I saw it earlier…here it is.”

Looking around earnestly for something, Ma Jae-seung’s eyes curved as he pulled Shin-woo along. Though Shin-woo thought he might be introducing some local wildlife, Ma Jae-seung crouched down in front of a small blue flower.

“Isn’t it pretty?”

“What is that? Isn’t it just a weed?”

Shin-woo responded teasingly on purpose. Ma Jae-seung had spent much time in the garden while confined to the mansion. Though he might not know now, before losing his memories, Ma Jae-seung had quite liked flowers. Shin-woo crouched down beside Ma Jae-seung to examine the flower. Though he’d thought it was blue, looking closely, it had a purple tinge.

“It’s a gentian flower. I saw it earlier and thought it was cute, so I looked it up online. It’s the only one around here with such vivid color.”

“True.”

“Have you heard of it? Gentian flower. I never saw it in the garden.”

“No. I don’t know much about flowers.”

Though he knew roses and tulips, this was his first time hearing of gentian. When he shrugged, Ma Jae-seung narrowed his eyes.

“I thought you would know well. About poisonous plants and dangerous mushrooms too.”

“Those are completely unrelated to flowers. If I wanted to kill someone, I’d use a knife or gun, not poisonous plants.”

“That’s not what I meant. There’s that mountain behind Wangwol District. I thought you might have foraged there when looking for food.”

“I have caught and roasted wild boar before.”

Though it was true, Ma Jae-seung burst out laughing as if it were an outlandish joke. After his laughter subsided, he gently touched the gentian flower and looked back at Shin-woo.

“You said you liked flowers, didn’t you?”

Did he? Shin-woo wrinkled his nose awkwardly, trying to recall when he’d said such a thing.

“Actually, I don’t really like them. I just said that to convince you to join the flower arrangement club.”

“That’s funny. Then who left that withered flower in your room?”

Withered flower. As soon as he heard those words, Shin-woo vividly remembered that flower. He clearly recalled how it was positioned, which parts had crumbled, and how the color had faded. A single flower that had ended up withering pitifully, even when kept in shade away from the wind.

“It’s not mine.”

Shin-woo answered with a small smile. Ma Jae-seung, observing Shin-woo’s lonely-looking face, carefully shook the gentian’s stem. The beautifully blooming flower nodded toward Shin-woo as if greeting him.

“Its flower language is pretty too.”

“What is it?”

“I love you when you’re having a hard time.”

The tender sentence lingered sweetly at his lips. His heart beat heavily against his knees. Shin-woo silently stroked the gentian’s head with his fingertips. He focused on the blue color, hoping even a faint scent would linger. While trying to push the sticky olive color out of his vision, Ma Jae-seung suddenly asked.

“Was I perhaps well-versed in plants?”

“…What makes you think that?”

Ma Jae-seung explained with quite a serious expression.

“You said I played hide-and-seek in the garden. I wonder if I might have memorized plant encyclopedias and known the names of all the plants in the garden, and if that knowledge disappeared along with my memories.”

“No. All you did was play hide-and-seek.”

“You didn’t know I could speak French either.”

“So you’re saying you were actually a plant expert?”

“Isn’t it a plausible hypothesis? What else would I have done there? There was nothing to do except look at the garden and solve puzzles.”

After brazenly insisting, Ma Jae-seung chuckled, perhaps finding his own reasoning absurd. He slowly raised his eyes from his hand touching the gentian to meet Shin-woo’s gaze. 

“Maybe…who knows.” 

The trailing words carried a grape scent. One that suited Ma Jae-seung well.

“There might have been someone who went along with my boring talk and kept me company.”

The subtle words of inference tickled inside. He wanted to drink deeply of the wine they’d already had plenty of, enough to wet his lips.

Enough. Shin-woo sharply turned his head and stood up, dusting himself off. He must be quite drunk indeed.

“Maro’s still barking. I should go in. You can come in later if you want.”

At Shin-woo’s words, Ma Jae-seung looked toward the barking sound and stood up lightly. As he straightened his long legs, their eye level naturally rose.

That was when it happened. Something heavily tapped the chest he hadn’t been conscious of while looking up at Ma Jae-seung’s eyes.

Looking down, Shin-woo blinked.

The blue gentian had found its way to his chest.

“Take it. It’s yours.”

Ma Jae-seung grinned and slowly turned around. The scent he had hoped would just barely touch his fingertips now filled his nose strongly. His head spun with the mixture of intoxication and thick flower fragrance. When he came to his senses, Shin-woo’s hand, which had roughly pushed back Ma Jae-seung’s shoulder, was emanating a strong flower scent.

With hands stained blue from crushed petals, Shin-woo grabbed the back of Ma Jae-seung’s neck. His parched lips, thirsting, followed the wine scent until they finally crushed together in a single breath. Fuck. Between pressed and tangled lips, Shin-woo swallowed a curse.