Work Text:
How did you meet the love of your life?
For people in love, this is an easy question. For those who haven’t found the one yet, this might as well be an accusation. Popular culture has told us that meeting the one should be a highlight in our lives – a seemingly unimportant moment transformed into an unforgettable memory with the mere presence of that important person. Even with all the romance titles penned under his name, Seungsik doesn’t actually believe in this special moment.
When he was younger and just starting out as a writer, he was told that one of the most important elements of a romance story is the meet-cute. The best romances highlight that iconic moment when the protagonists first meet each other. Over time, he realized that the best meet-cutes are between two people of different worlds. By bringing together a wealthy businessman and a prostitute, a famous musician and an up-and-coming singer, or an architect in 2004 and a doctor living in 2006, two people’s individual paths converge. The magic lies in the probability of it happening. Not everyone can have that moment, which makes it even more special and unique – in turn make it something worth writing about.
So, for Seungsik, meeting the love of your life is a manufactured experience. Maybe it’s because he’s spent the past few years mapping out the meet-cutes and love stories of various characters. It’s really difficult to think of romance as something exciting when – most of the time – it’s also his source of stress.
Seungsik shakes his head and snaps himself out of musings. The end of the day always gets him into a pensive mood. He thinks that this is the result of writing about love all day. When you get off work, it’s hard not to think about how your own life is so far from the stories you write.
He saves his latest manuscript and closes his laptop. Just as the laptop snaps shut, a text pops up on his phone.
“I’m coming over. Help meeeeee,” the message says.
Seungsik laughs a little, knowing that only one person would be sending him such a text.
“Okay, I’ll leave the door unlocked.” He replies, and moves from his workspace to turn the kettle on. He pauses in front of his refrigerator and decides to reheat some of the leftover stew Seungwoo made the night before. Might as well...
“I’m going to need food for this.” He tells himself.
Thinking about meet-cutes seems apt especially since he knew what his neighbor Sejun would be screaming about as soon as he walked through the door.
“I’m doomed!” Sejun yells as soon as he enters the apartment.
“You only took a minute. That’s got to be a record,” Seungsik says. “Close the door behind you, please.”
“Nah, I got here in around 50 seconds that one time Hanse made ramen. Remember? Seungwoo even timed it.”
“Oh, right.” Seungsik absentmindedly mumbles, preoccupied with transferring the stew into two bowls.
Sejun reaches the small kitchen. “Are you cooking? When I need you the most?”
“Don’t be so dramatic. And you’re going to need a little food in you, otherwise you’d be too hungry to actually make it to your date.”
Seungsik says sternly. “And Byungchan told me to feed you.”
Sejun does a double-take and collapses into one of the stools on the kitchen’s bar. “You talked to him? What did he say? Is he cancelling? Does he regret saying yes to this?”
Seungsik laughs. He finds it cute how Sejun is so worried over a first date with someone he’s been friends with for years. In his opinion, Sejun and Byungchan have been dancing around this relationship for four years now. When Sejun first moved into the apartment at the end of the hall, they were all just university students.
Byungchan and Sejun first met on a night that’s become a normal part of their friend group’s routine: the weekly Friday night dinner. At first, it was just Seungsik and Seungwoo. When they met Subin, they decided to invite him so that he would be less lonely without his family. Subin’s roommate Hanse started to come with him after a few months and he brought his friend Byungchan with him. When he realized that the weekly dinners helped in abating the loneliness that comes with living far away from home, Seungsik invited his classmate Chan and new neighbor Sejun. He and Byungchan immediately clicked because they shared a love for popular music, food, and making fun of their friends. Well, mostly Chan and Seungsik himself.
As he places the bowl in front of Sejun, Seungsik wonders. Would that first meeting be their meet-cute? But they were just friends then. Seungsik puts his spoon into the bowl and raises it to his lips. Does it even count when you started as friends? Or do meet-cutes only happen between potential lovers?
“Sejun, would you consider the first meeting you had with Byungchan as your meet-cute?”
To his credit, Sejun doesn’t even bat an eyelash at the random question. He slurps the soup straight from the bowl and puts it down.
“You mean the first Friday night dinner? That we had here like four years ago?” “Yeah. Is that going to be your special moment?”
“Well, I’ve never thought about it,” Sejun says. “But yeah, I guess so.”
“Don’t you think it would be too... normal?” Seungsik asks.
“Normal? With Byungchan?” Sejun laughs. “When we first met each other, he challenged me to a dance-off. That’s not exactly common.”
“Sure, sure. But who would write about that?”
Sejun sighs and drops his now-empty bowl. “You have got to stop thinking about everything as a novel. Not every love story is as dramatic as the ones you write.”
Seungsik grimaces. “I can’t help it. It just doesn’t seem like a proper love story if you can’t write about it.”
“Well what about yours and Seungwoo’s? Was it dramatic?” Sejun counters.
“What do you mean mine and Seungwoo’s?”
“Your relationship, duh.”
Seungsik raises his head from the soup bowl. “What relationship? Our friendship?”
Sejun stares at him, dumbfounded. Seungsik stares back. He finds it funny as this is one of the few time he’s seen Sejun motionless.
“Seungsik, you’ve been dating Seungwoo for the past 2 years.” “What? No, I haven’t!” Seungsik denies.
“What the–“ Sejun starts, before his phone rings. “Wait, I need to get ready. We’re leaving in 30 minutes.”
He gets up and starts to drag Seungsik away from his soup. “Here’s the plan: let me borrow some of your best clothes, help me get dressed, then ask Seungwoo if you’ve been dating.”
Seungsik nods, too stunned to say anything. Has he really been dating his best friend?
***
After Sejun finally leaves the apartment – wearing Seungsik’s best jeans – Seungsik sits down on his couch, turns on the television, and then promptly ignores it in favor of mulling over what his friend just said.
His relationship with Seungwoo is one that has spanned the majority of his life. They first met in university, with Seungwoo being the upperclassman who sat beside Seungsik in one of his advanced Creative Writing classes. Seungwoo needed an elective and that class had one more slot open. He doesn’t think of that as a meet-cute. They first met inside a classroom with 20 other people – that’s definitely not romantic.
As undergraduates, they built their friend group together as they practically adopted the others. After Seungsik graduated, he followed Seungwoo to Wonderland Publishing. He had already found his footing as an editor there and scouted Seungsik as one of his writers. Thus, a Wonderland legend was born.
Wonderland Publishing is one governed by a lot of superstitions that have become business practices. The most popular one is the writer-editor pair. In Wonderland, each writer only works with one editor. The reasoning for this is simple: these writing pairs are encouraged to get to know each other so well that writing becomes something fun instead of a typical job. When Seungwoo was a newbie and Seungsik was still a university senior, they were motivated by one thing: to finish Seungsik’s first novel and submit it to Wonderland. The plan was for Seungwoo to pick up Seungsik’s manuscript, edit it for work, and submit it for publishing by the company. As he drapes himself over his couch, Seungsik recalls the sleepless nights they spent here trying to finish his first romance novel. They were lucky enough that the Executive Editor gave the go signal for that novel to be published and allowed Seungwoo to take him on as one of his writers. So, with the exception of his professors who graded his writing submissions, Seungsik has only ever worked with one editor.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Seungwoo knows him best. Their first novel was quickly followed by another within the span of a year. Years later, they’re Wonderland’s most profitable duo. He even has fans who line up for his novels one the day of release. While he’s mostly grateful, he’s come to a point where he feels so much pressure ahead of his latest release. As Seungsik thinks, he admits to himself that this pressure may be part of the reason why he’s recalling university lessons about meet-cutes. It’s difficult not to think about where he all started when the future is so unclear.
Thinking about meet-cutes brings him back to what Sejun said earlier. Has he been dating Seungwoo all this time?
As far as he recalls, he hasn’t been on a first date – ever. It’s an idea that he’s explored in a lot of his works. His second novel, which was focused on the love story of an older couple, was centered around this idea. How do people who have never been in love know that they’re already in love? When he realized that he didn’t have any experiences with dates and the concept of love in general, he turned to Seungwoo.
Honestly, he just turns to Seungwoo for everything.
His phone, placed on the table next to the couch, vibrates. It’s him. “I’m coming over.”
Seungsik freezes. Can he read my mind? Does he know I’m thinking about him? He braces himself for Seungwoo’s appearance, sure that the older man is going to be in his apartment sooner rather than later. Their friendship has always been comfortable, with the two of them welcome in the other’s space whenever.
It’s not long before the door opens quietly. And Seungsik thinks – not for the first time – that he and his friends should probably live a little farther from each other or just live in one place altogether.
“Hey. Got some writing done today?” Seungwoo asks as he slips his jacket off and hangs it on the rack by the door.
“Not really.”
“I figured. You were weirdly quiet today. No questions about where your lead character will meet their significant other?”
Seungsik sits up, turning to face Seungwoo. “What do you mean?” The question is scarily close to his line of thought today.
Seungwoo smiles and says, “It’s just that you’ve been really fixated on first meetings lately.”
“You noticed?”
Seungwoo sits down beside Seungsik, angling his torso to face the other man. “Of course I noticed. I notice everything about you.”
Seungsik pauses, recalling Sejun’s words once again. In one of his novels, that would be a romantic line from one of the leads. Coming from Seungwoo, that’s just another statement. Seungwoo is sweet. He spends time with Byungchan when they don’t have work, he helps Subin with his homework, he praises all of them daily. He says things like that all the time. So Seungsik ignores it and rests his feet on the other’s lap. It’s one of their preferred positions.
“Do you remember how we met?”
“Didn’t I borrow a pen from you in one of our classes?”
Seungsik hums his agreement, mind whirring. What a totally normal first meeting. It’s not even romantic at all. He knows that not every love story has a spectacular meet-cute, especially since life is not like the movies. But is it really bad if he wants something that he would write to happen to him too?
He is many things, but a coward is not one of them. “Seungwoo, I have to ask you something.”
“What?”
“What was your first date like?”
Seungwoo’s hands, which were absentmindedly petting the feet on his lap, stop. “What?”
“Your first date. How was it?”
“What do you mean? You were there.”
“No I wasn’t,” Seungsik counters. “Actually you’ve never told me about it.”
“I didn’t know I needed to! You were there!” Seungwoo replies. “We went to that French restaurant. You invited me!”
They’ve only been to a French restaurant together once. It was while they were writing their second novel together. Seungsik got the idea that an older couple should first meet in a classier restaurant. But since he had no idea what people would expect once they were inside, he decided to do some practical research. So, having no one else he would rather go to a restaurant with, he asked Seungwoo to accompany him. He remembers how it happened, mostly because it’s a memory he had to examine over and over again while he was writing that novel. He waited for Seungwoo at the company office one day and simply asked him after his shift ended. Now that he’s recalling it, he can remember that Seungwoo was a little more energetic that night. Was that a sign?
“Was that a date?” Seungsik asks.
“It wasn’t?!” Seungwoo yelps, scooting away from him.
“You thought it was?”
“You said, ‘Seungwoo, you’ve been working hard. I want to treat you out. Come with me?’”
“You memorized it?”
“Of course I memorized it, it was one of the best moments of my life!”
Seungsik stares at Seungwoo, astonished. The older man’s face is red and he looks on the verge of crying. What is going on right now, Seungsik wonders.
“I felt guilty because I was making you work hard since I needed a lot of help with my novel.” Seungsik explains.
He didn’t think it was possible, but Seungwoo’s face becomes paler. “So you mean it wasn’t a date for you?”
Seungsik shakes his head. Seungwoo laughs out loud, putting his head down. With his hair covering his face, he mumbles. “All this time, I thought we’ve been dating. That was our first date.”
“What? But you never even changed how you were around me,” Seungsik says. “We’ve been like this since we met.”
“Yeah, and I’ve loved you since then!” Seungwoo blurts out, then quickly covers his mouth. They stare at each other.
“Seungwoo...”
“I’m sorry, it’s my mistake.” Seungwoo turns to leave. “Please forget this happened.”
“No, wait!” Seungsik gets up from the couch and grabs the other’s arm. His mind is whirring. Have they really been dating all this time? But he’s never even noticed it! In his head, they’ve acted like they always have. Sure, he’s more dependent on Seungwoo. But that’s just he’s both his best friend and editor, right? Working together explains the proximity and their job is the reason why they always talk about dates and couples and relationships. It’s research! But at the same time, Seungsik knows that he can’t deny it. Seungwoo is the best person he knows.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I didn’t know it was a date. I know you said I asked, but honestly I asked because I needed to know how dates in that restaurant worked. Before that I’ve never even been on one.”
Seungwoo stills. “Oh god, it really wasn’t a date.”
“It wasn’t romantic! I asked you to go out in the middle of the lobby, what even is that?” Seungsik says, shaking his head.
Seungwoo sighs. “Not everything has to be like one of your novels, Seungsik. Sometimes real life is quiet and life-changing decisions happen in the middle of an office on an ordinary work day.”
He removes his hand from Seungsik’s grip. “But don’t worry, you don’t have to pity me.”
Maybe he has forgotten. Creating romance has blurred the lines between real life and fiction. He has to admit that he has fallen into the trap of thinking that every love story has to be something worth writing about. But Seungwoo is right – most times, life just is.
Seungsik grabs his arm again. “No, you’re not leaving. If that was my first date, then it was my first date.”
Seungwoo hesitates. “But it wasn’t. If you want, we can go on a date again.”
“And reset years of dating?” Seungsik smiles. “I know I may have been oblivious, but I do love you.”
Seungwoo begins to smile. “I’ve never heard you say it before.”
“You’re the person I turn to when I’m questioning myself, my abilities, my experience with dates in French restaurants,” Seungsik chuckles.
“Maybe I never even noticed we started dating because we’ve always acted like we were already dating.”
He pulls Seungwoo into his arms. “I think it comes with the profession. Or maybe it’s just me. But I’ve always thought that love has to be grand. First meetings have to be impactful. I’ve forgotten that romance stories show what people want to see. So yes, sometimes love isn’t bombastic. That doesn’t make it less real. I know because as soon as you said we’ve been dating all this time, I knew it was true. I may not have had the words for it, but I could feel it.”
Seungwoo hugs him back and sniffles a little. “You know, I do think meet-cutes are important. But for me they’re not what matters.” Seungwoo continues, “Meet-cutes are what get you hooked on the story. But it’s what happens after that really gets you.”
“Huh.” Seungsik considers.
“In the end, people remember how they met. But they reminisce about the times after that. The good, the bad. The life lived in between,” He pauses and then smirks. “Look at us. A totally normal first meeting. But wouldn’t it be funny if you wrote about a romance writer who didn’t even know he was in a relationship?”
Seungsik huffs and punches the other’s arm. He might have a point. The meet- cute is something you write in the premise of the story to reel audiences in. But the story moves because of what the characters do after. Each decision they make can lead to a number of possibilities so it might not be the best decision for him to obsess over the start. And if what people do after meeting the love of their lives is more important, then he’s going to have to do some research on how that happens. Luckily, his boyfriend is here to help him.