Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

Author:Sang Young Park
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2021-10-19T16:04:33+00:00

PART THREE

Love in the Big City

1.

Gyu-ho and I decided to go on a trip to Japan together, to commemorate our two-hundred-day anniversary. We pretended to be working in our respective offices while actually composing on a spreadsheet our itinerary for the three-night, four-day trip. Or to be more accurate, I would propose something, and Gyu-ho would automatically agree.

—We’ll go to Asakusa, take pictures with the Doraemon at Odaiba, and do the hot springs in Hakone.

—Sure, sure.

We took so long packing on the day of the trip that we arrived with only minutes to spare at the airport. The queues at security and immigration made me sure we would miss the flight, but thankfully everything was moving fast. Until we presented two passports at the ticketing counter and one came back to us.

It was mine.

—Sir, this passport is expired.

Like an idiot, I had brought my expired passport, issued from before my military service. Gyu-ho was freaking out next to me (“What do we do what do we do”) and we had only a few minutes until boarding.

I gave up and handed him the envelope of Japanese yen we had exchanged in advance.

—Pocket money from your hyung.

—What?

—Everything is booked and it’s too late for refunds. At least one of us should get to enjoy it.

—You want me to go to Japan, by myself? What’re you going on about?!

Gyu-ho’s Jeju accent was rearing its cute head, which always happened when he was upset. I stuffed the envelope into his pocket and showed him the itinerary on my phone.

—Follow this plan and find some guy to spend the night with. They say Japanese men have bigger dicks. Have a million affairs. OK?

—Seriously, what the hell?

Gyu-ho grinned, more disconcerted than anything else, as I pushed him into the line for customs. He kept looking back at me, and I waved at him to go on.

I got back on the airport link alone. Gray, empty marshland stretched on and on outside the window. I felt like I was watching the same movie on repeat. My ears craved music, so I put on Kylie Minogue’s album Aphrodite for old time’s sake. Days like this reminded me of her voice. My lips kept drying out, but my pockets turned up empty—no lip balm. This was usually Gyu-ho’s cue to hand me some of his. That wasn’t all he did for me. He came home before me, cleaned the floor, had the stew cooked salty just the way I liked it, struck me speechless with the many ridiculous things he said . . . What was I going to do without him for four days? I thought of how long it had been since Gyu-ho and I had had sex. I’d never had a relationship so unmoored from sex before. And it was me who had told him to sleep around with Japanese guys, so why was I feeling shitty? Proving once again that no one is a bigger idiot than me.

◊

I first met Gyu-ho at what’s now a defunct gay club in Itaewon.

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