Chapter Text
Ji Woo gives up on Ti Aspetto the very day the camper that was always parked in an obnoxious proximity to his house, vanishes.
He reaches the restaurant before sunrise and starts prepping for the day as usual. The coffee stain on the countertop steadily gains permanence.
7.55 am.
He could have just woken up late, his heart supplies, helpfully.
He’s an hour and a half away from Seoul, his brain corrects. He’ll make it to his shoot on time.
Ji Woo scrubs every nook and cranny of the restaurant till the clock strikes twelve. Then, he locks the door for the final time.
There was no point in waiting anymore.
___
Ji Woo still cooks. He had planned to give up on cooking. As an act of penance, predominantly. It was a shared love, after all. Also, why should he get to do what he loves when Seo Joon had not faced the camera in 6 months?
Yes, Ji Woo regularly read the tabloids now. No sign of Seo Joon for the last 6 months.
And Ji Woo hated cooking more than anything.
Yet, life went on and Ji Woo cooked. He had long since accepted that this was only thing he was halfway decent at. So, this would have to do. Even though he hated the smell of eggs now.
The last bit was especially problematic because he worked at an American-style diner now and was specifically in charge of the breakfast shift. Why this unknown town that was nowhere close to Seoul had an American diner, Ji Woo didn’t know.
Actually, he did. Some hapless soul with a similarly tenuous grasp of reality as Ji Woo had decided that a village in the middle of nowhere was the ideal location to sell the true taste of America. This hole in the wall place would shut down in no time, undoubtedly. Ji Woo inwardly groaned at the prospect of finding another workplace in the next few months.
A sudden yell broke him out of his thoughts. Ji Woo frowned. A commotion this early on in the day? Here?
The solitary yell seemed to bloom into a whole pandemonium in no time. Who were all these people? This was a small town not much different from the one he had been born in. Everyone knew everyone’s grandmother and yet…
“Han-ssi, don’t lean out of the window,” the aged owner of the next shop shouted out to him good-naturedly while leaning out of his own window, “They’ll mistake you for a celebrity and mob you as well.”
“Celebrity?” Ji Woo was lost.
The man laughed instead of answering, “The butcher’s boy just stopped by. Apparently, some big shot is in town. Or they think he is anyway. I’m locking my doors. Don’t fancy getting rioters in the shop this early in the morning just because some dandy from Seoul showed up.” Ji Woo saw him moving towards the door already. “You should do the same, Han-ssi.”
Ji Woo did not lock his doors.
And in exactly one minute, by some incredible trickery of Providence, he found himself facing the man of his dreams and his nightmares at 7.45 in the morning.
Except…
“Sorry… I’m sorry, I… this was the first door that was open. I tried the others but… sorry,” the man in front of him rattled off without ever, even accidentally, locking eyes with Ji Woo. He seemed to be trying to fold in on himself while desperately trying to keep standing at the same time. His arms desperately cradled his down jacket to his chest.
It didn’t seem like he could lock eyes with anything at the moment though since his eyes kept flitting restlessly across the doors and windows at the front of the restaurant.
Ji Woo had never seen anything like this before. Dozens of fists banging against the glass panes. The wooden panels creaking under their unrelenting pounding.
“Kang Seo Joon!”
“We know you’re in there! Come out!”
“Where have you been for the last six months? The public deserves to know.”
“Is the baby yours? Is that why you shifted to this…”
The world closed in on Ji Woo. Unable to move… or react, all he could do was watch.
It wasn’t a down jacket in Seo Joon’s arms. It was a baby blanket. A shock of soft black hair and impossibly soft skin.
“Don’t… Don’t cry… please,” Seo Joon kept chanting as he desperately rocked the baby in his arms. He had finally given in and sunk to the diner floor.
The baby wasn’t, in fact, crying. Which was a miracle in its own right because the man was breaking down right above him.
Soon enough Seo Joon seemed to realize the inevitable reality of the situation.
“I… I can’t breathe. Can you… please?”
It took every last ounce of strength in him just to look up and hold the baby out to Ji Woo.
This is when the other terrible reality of his situation dawned on him.
“You…”
Ji Woo knew this was the moment he needed to act. And he did. In no time he was kneeling in front of Seo Joon, not just attempting to hold the baby but also to wrap Seo Joon in his arms.
The shove that he received in return seemed more accidental than intentional but the intent itself was evident in the horror that spread across Seo Joon’s face.
“You?”
Ji Woo pretended not to notice it when Seo Joon pulled the baby towards himself protectively and turned to shield him.
He desperately tried not to think about how Seo Joon had been ready to hand away his baby to a random stranger but apparently did not trust Ji Woo enough not to hurt the baby.
He tried to clear the haze that was swirling in his mind.
“Yes, me.”
That’s all. Those were the only two words that his brain managed to form. Two words that served absolutely no purpose to soothe the man cowering in front of him.
Unlike him, Seo Joon seemed to have been shocked back to his senses somehow.
“I need to leave.”
That was the first coherent sentence Seo Joon had been able to form in all this while. Three words that made absolutely no sense to Ji Woo.
The moment these were uttered, the sound of the fists against the glass returned. Barely two minutes have passed, Ji Woo realized. The vultures were still at the door. They seemed to be minutes away from shattering the glass windows.
If Seo Joon left now, he would be torn to shreds. Ji Woo could picture no other outcome.
“Darling… Joon-ee, listen to me,” he whispered urgently as turned to face Seo Joon. “Let’s get you both upstairs. There’s a room where you can rest till they leave and then…”
Seo Joon wasn’t staring at him though. He was too busy staring at the bundle in his arms. From this distance Ji Woo could see the eyes staring up at him from the blanket.
Calm. But not curious. It was impossible to read the expression in those eyes and yet they seemed familiar somehow. The nose was all Seo Joon but the eyes? Whom did the eyes belong to?
“You think I am afraid of them?”
Ji Woo jerked his head up to look at Seo Joon.
“I should be afraid, yes,” Seo Joon went on. “I am afraid. Because I am terrified for him,” he nodded downwards before he raised his eyes. “But you know what? Had he not been in my arms, I would have been out of the door this instant.”
Ji Woo didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer.
“I should leave, I know,” Seo Joon continued, “I know what you feel about me.” A wry smile spread across his face. “And I can assume what you feel about us,” he said, rocking the baby gently. “I would have left, trust me. But I don’t think I should. Not with him.”
Before Ji Woo could react, Seo Joon got back to his feet.
“So, I guess I have to take you up on your offer of the room upstairs after all.”
Ji Woo knew that there were miles of misconceptions that he had to rectify before he could even dream of reaching a place where an apology would matter. But, for the moment, he was so relieved that he sagged into the ground.
“Yes… uh, you can use the bathroom upstairs if you want to. I’ll get you a fresh towel and I’ll be right up with some food for you and I don’t know what the baby eats but…”
Seo Joon was already at the top of the staircase when he turned back. Ji Woo had the strangest feeling that he was clutching the baby to his chest to shield himself. To shield his heart.
“We are truly grateful,” he smiled, “And let me know what the bill for the room and the food comes up to. I’ll take care of it later. Don't worry. I won't become a burden again.”
It was 7.55 am again.