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The penguin is cold, the penguin is beautiful, the penguin is black and white. The penguin feeds on squid, fish, shrimp, and other forms of life in the sea. The penguin is very lucky considering his falls are deadly hilarious. The penguin is monogamous, faithful until death. In the past Seoho used to think that if a penguin could find his soul mate then he could too. And maybe he had found him already, although even these days it was complicated.
Seoho was one of the veterinarians at a spectacular zoo. During his youth he had always been delighted with animals, so he decided to become a veterinarian and during his boarding school he was sent to the cold zone of a zoo just because no one else wanted to go. That's where he became fascinated with penguins.
Penguins were fascinating beings, capable of surviving in extremely cold environments but still with the cunning to bring more penguins into the world and what he liked the most was that they looked like elegantly dressed short people but they walked as if they were wearing their pants to their knees and there was no nothing funnier than that.
He studied much more and got a job abroad where he and another veterinarian would take care of the penguins because the vet who had been there for years would retire. Seoho would always remember it. While he waited for the upper one he watched the penguins through the glass. Six babies, they had just arrived from another zoo. The previous adults had gone to a larger zoo. His task along with the other vet would be to raise these little ones. As he saw every detail of the habitat and the crystal, he saw him. A tall boy in a sky blue knitted scarf with both hands tucked into the pockets of his long white coat. His hair fell over his forehead in a cut a boy would have. His eyes looked at the penguins and, just like him, evaluated the environment. When he looked at him, Seoho turned away as he felt his cheeks turn red. He always wondered what penguins felt when they met their soul mate. Was their heart pounding too and they were immensely attracted but the numbness of their bodies made them groggy?
"You are there." An older man came up to where they were. “Lee Keonhee and Lee Seoho right?” Seoho looked back at the boy in front of him and he smiled. Seoho's heart exploded inside of him. "Good. It's nice to have you here and I feel like I love you already. I'm friends with everyone who loves penguins because I have always said that penguins are an indicator of the health of our planet, and if they are unable to survive, we better take note or we could find our very survival threatened. So let's get started." The man started walking and Keonhee walked up to him.
“Hi, I'm so happy to see that my partner is this young. I was worried, I'm almost a trainee so I hope we can get along." Keonhee couldn't stop smiling.
"Yes of course."
Seoho was to blame for all of Keonhee's exhaustion in the first months of their job, as the boy tried hard to maintain an environment of communication and noise between them. Seoho was naturally shy and it took time for him to let go and show himself as he was. And in fact, he didn't know when it happened. Suddenly he and Keonhee were laughing so hard until other caretakers came to their workplace and asked them to be quiet.
Keonhee unlike Seoho had studied college abroad and after he was one of the best students of his generation, he was offered the dream job. He was brilliant, and that only made Seoho admire and adore him more and more. He felt that a magical bond was between them, for little things like holding his hand, feeling his head on his shoulder, or sharing a drink, meant a lot to him. As if each of those moments were photographs that he would lovingly keep in an album of his history.
Keonhee and he were similar and at the same time so different, but what united them was their love for penguins and that they were both fans of "Chilly Willy". Their cell phone cases had the cute penguin, as well as having the episodes on DVD, t-shirts, action figures, etc. For this reason, the penguins were named Chilly, Willy, Smeedley, Lilly, Maxie, and Wally. His passion and love for his work made the six penguins grow, mate and each couple laid their respective eggs. Seoho was amused when Keonhee got upset because Chilly didn't choose Lilly as his partner but Maxie, his argument being that Lilly always saved good food for Chilly and followed him everywhere “Why didn't they end up together? Has no sense. Because Chilly gave the pebble to Maxie, Lilly was heartbroken and had to accept the pebble from Willy. One-sided love is so sad." And it is.
Months after meeting Keonhee, they went out drinking and for the first time he felt his heart sink when Keonhee said he called his boyfriend to join them. Kim Geonhak, a Broadway dancer. Geonhak was shorter than him but he proudly showed off his perfect muscles with which he hugged Keonhee and he could only watch.
So Seoho decided to hide his love deep in his heart and forced himself to forget any penguin metaphors that linked him to Keonhee.Keonhee wasn't his soul mate, because if he was he wouldn't have a boyfriend the moment he met him. He drew the word “best friend” on Keonhee every time he saw him.
In this way they made the penguin habitat the favorite of everyone who will visit the zoo. They did activities with the visitors or played games with the groups of children who went on excursions. Seoho planned them and Keonhee carried them out, he was outgoing and knew how to talk to everyone. He always encouraged him to be the host but Seoho told him that he got nervous in front of a lot of people and getting nervous afterwards made him angry. Keonhee would say “How can you get mad when you see a penguin?” Seoho laughed and promised her that he would one day. And the truth was that he preferred Keonhee to do it, because that was when Keonhee is get distracted and Seoho could see him and release some of the love he felt for him. Keonhee shined so pretty when he smiled, when he talked about the penguins and talked about his “children” fondly. But his favorite part s watching his eyes sparkle from him when he says:
“When a penguin finds its ideal mate, it searches far and wide for the perfect pebble to give it to them. He will lean down and place it in front of him… If the other penguin takes the pebble then it is a “yes” to I want to be with you for life.”
For someone who was very fond of sentimentality in penguins, he was unlucky in love. His boyfriend with whom he already had a relationship of two years, he broke up with him a week after Halloween because he had fallen in love with someone else. Seoho had a feeling that it would happen, when at the Halloween party he kept paying little attention to what Keonhee was saying, looking at his cell phone all the time and leaving early. Keonhee was so innocent that he didn't see anything unusual. That's why when they finished with him, Keonhee came crying to Seoho's apartment and told him everything that had happened. Seoho isn't the best at giving advice, but he is a good listener. Son Dongju was the boy Geonhak had fallen in love with, Dongju was friends with Keonhee since their childhood and he and his boyfriend had met because Dongju was a music director in musicals where Geonhak was a dancer. A long time together had caused them to feel something for each other and they forgot about Keonhee when they decided to pay attention to their feelings. Anyone else in his place would have hated his friend, but not Keonhee. Keonhee loved Geonhak and understood that if he was no longer his happiness then he would have to let him go and not have negative feelings towards the person he now loved.
Keonhee lost some of his shine after that. He would cry before starting any presentation and would leave the habitat to spend time alone when it was over. He looked more and more tired, until he just stopped going. Seoho let him spend the first three days, but when he spent a week he went to his apartment and forced him to go.
"Come on, how can you be like this when you see the penguins? You love them and they have missed you so much.”
"Yes but..."
“You always could. Get out there and charm everyone. Don't our children deserve to be loved by the visitors?” Keonhee smiled.
"You're right, I will."
Everything seemed to be going well. Keonhee did all the activities and gave all the explanations in a charming way. But when got to the end something happened...
"When a penguin finds its ideal mate, it searches far and wide for the perfect pebble to give it to them. He will lean down and place it in front of him… If the other penguin takes the pebble then it is a “yes” to I want to be with you for life.” The visitors applauded and in front of his eyes he saw how Keonhee lost his smile. “Although…” Everyone turned to look at him. “Actually… Not only is a single penguin his ideal partner, he actually have several ideal partners. The males choose their partners and return year after year in search of them. So if one of them feels unique and important, it really isn't. Maybe she's ignoring everything that's going on around her just to prioritize him because she loves him but he has someone else to whom he also says words of love. He has other babies, so your baby is not special. So… where is together forever? Does love really exist? I don't think so... Guys, in this life magic doesn't exist."
“Hehe… That's all for now. Thanks for comming, don't forget to visit the gift shop on the way out.” Seoho took Keonhee's shoulders and led him away from the visitors, leading him to his office. "What the hell happened there?"
"I told you I couldn't." Keonhee sat on the sofa exhausted. “I can't help but project myself into everything. My teachers always told me to focus more on the physiology and biology of animals and not see metaphors in them. They were right. There are no feelings in anything.”
“Keonhee, that's not true. We had six babies who were complete strangers forge a family bond with each other and with us, then we made three couples and soon we will have three babies.”
"That's survival."
"It is not true. Willy doesn't take good care of himself, he is a fan of diving headfirst off the cliff and ever since he hatched his egg he has lived a quiet life. Chilly is selfish with his food and he understands that more penguins means less food, but he has taken care of his egg. They know that they are their babies and that they have to take care of them, because they love them.”
"Survival."
“What you said there is true, however… There are penguins who are loyal to who they decided would be their soul mate. There are penguins who offer their lives to a single partner, the one with whom they fall in love. Don't doubt that." Keonhee tousled the hair from his forehead and sighed.
“We did so much together. Everywhere I go I see him and it's so hard. Sometimes I have thought that the best thing is that I leave, return to Korea and…”
"No, wait a minute." Seoho sat next to him and took his hand. “I know it's hard, that he was your love for two years but… You can't shut yourself down like that and think about giving up. We need you, you are the soul of this habitat. You have worked hard for our children. Please try once more." Keonhee started to cry.
"But I just can't go out there and smile, not when I don't want to."
"Time heals wounds. What hurts you now will stop doing it at any moment.”
"Really?"
"Sure." Keonhee wiped away his tears.
“So… can you be the host?”
"What? No wait…” Seoho stood up. “We are in December, it is high season, many people come and I'm disgusting when it comes to encouraging visitors. They'll kick us out if I'm the host."
"Seoho... Please... it's the only way I could go on." Seoho puffed out his cheeks as if worried about something. The host? Even though it was cold Seoho couldn't help sweat from nervousness or get stuck, he was sure something like this would happen to him and he would end up on the internet in a viral video. But he couldn't let Keonhee leave, he had pushed himself so hard lately. He had been through a tough time, he deserved a break. "Okay, I'll do it." Keohee smiled and hugged him. "Don't worry, I'll help you with the planning."
Through a Skype call he told his sister everything that was happening, she gave him the advice to fix himself, even if he was wrong or made a fool of himself if he looked handsome, no one would pay attention to his mistakes. So he did, he realized that he looked good when he thought he saw that Keonhee blushed a little when he saw him. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, even though he got a little stuck and people laughed at him it didn't feel so bad. At the end of the day, after leaving dinner for the penguins, Seoho was checking the temperature of the habitat when a girl, the fur seal vet, approached him and offered him a coffee.
"Hello. What are you doing here?" he asked her. “I was going to leave this for you. I heard that they did well today, they were very popular, there was no one who didn't talk about the penguin vet.”
“Well… I didn't sweat like I thought I would. The worst scenarios didn't happen." The girl laughed and took her hair between her fingers.
"Who let you in?" Keonhee came to them with a bucket of some fish. "We are penguins. Why is there a sea lion visiting our habitat?"
"I came to see Seoho, not the penguins."
"You saw it, now go." Keonhee pushed the girl and she refused to get out of it.
“I wanted to ask if you want to go out to dinner. I can invite him.”
"What?"
"No. Seoho has responsibilities to his children today, he can't go to dinner with you."
"But it's time to close..."
"We are expecting babies, our hours are longer.” The girl sighed and raised her hands in defeat.
"It will be later then."
“By then we'll have the babies.”
“Someday he'll have it free and he'll go out with me. I'm a sea lion, I hunt penguins.”
"That's cruel!"
The girl left and together they went to where their lockers were. They took off their uniforms and while Seoho put his things away, Keonhee kept looking at him.
"What's the matter?" Seoho ask him after a while. "Don't listen to them. They'll come like flies. We have always been called freaks, just because we are scientists and we love our work. Approaching you just because they finally saw how handsome you are? Pff! witches.”
"Did you call me handsome?"
"Have I never told you?" Seoho lowered his gaze and tried to control himself so as not to show himself with a red face. “Well you are. I thought you knew." Seoho kept changing and fighting to control his heart. "Where did you learn to do makeup?"
"During our teens, my sister used to practice on my face before putting on makeup. I guess I learned how."
"Sure. Your eyes look great like that." Keonhee appeared in front of him. "Do you think Mr. Handsome wants to have dinner with me?"
“I thought we had a matter…”
“I lied. I want to go downtown to see the lights, it's almost Christmas and I haven't seen them. Today I feel good, so do you want to go? "
"Yes. Come on."
Everything was beautiful. The trees were adorned with lights, there were several Christmas trees, the snow made everything look so much more beautiful. The children ran and they were throwing snowballs, others were at the skating rink. Seoho discovered new places that were set up especially for the Christmas season like majestic carriages just for taking photos, light sculptures, even little decorated houses selling Christmas-themed cookies. Keonhee mentioned that he always went with Geonhak when it was the opening of everything and that they took pictures at every place they liked. Before he got sad Seoho told him that he would buy him a box of whatever cookies he wanted and he would take the best photos of him anywhere he liked. Keonhee was immediately happy.
After touring the place, Keonhee took him to a nice restaurant overlooking the park. They ordered a lot of food as Keonhee said that they should celebrate that Seoho didn't faint during the introductions to the visitors. As they ate dessert, Seoho noticed that Keonhee's eyes were shining from the tears he was holding back, so he took his hand.
"What's the matter Keonhee?"
“I haven't had this dessert since the last time I came with Geonhak to this place. It's my favorite… I don't understand, I don't understand why I stopped visiting all the places I like just because they remind me of him. So I thought if he can hang around with my friend without any problem, I can do it too." Seoho stroked Keonhee's hand with his thumb. “Thank you for coming with me today. Christmas makes me happy and today as I walked through all the pretty lights I realized that I was going to let it go and I was just going to feel sad. But no more, I'll continue. I'll decorate myself with lights and ribbons and I'll continue, I'll be very happy. I promise."
And as he smiled and his face was illuminated by the colored lights that adorned the restaurant and his eyes shone like stars, Seoho thought about how much he loved seeing Keonhee smile and seeing that despite the words of encouragement he had given himself likewise, he kept shedding tears of sadness, he thought about how much his heart ached to see him cry.
He would do something, something so that Keonhee's new path would be adorned with more than lights and ribbons. And looking at Chilly Willy on his phone, he knew what to do. He didn't sleep a whole night managing his entire plan: the birth of the penguin babies. He and Keonhee had done everything so that the birth would take place in 40 days, at first their only intention was because 40 was a beautiful number, but they hadn't realized that the 40th day was Christmas Eve. As if it were fate. Seoho designed posters and printed and posted them all over the zoo. The next day Keonhee scolded him for not only advertising at the zoo but for doing it on social networks, in addition to promising that the penguins would be born on Christmas Eve, he promised a "live" on Instagram so that from anywhere in the world they could see the penguins being born. the Penguins. Seoho had faith and was confident that they had done everything right and that the penguins would arrive that day.
He prepare everything, buy decorations on internet and made a candy house with wood and paint. He bought Santa Claus outfits for him and Keonhee and rode all day on the 24th.
He had activities planned as well as a camera recording the eggs all the time. The habitat was turned into a pretty Christmas village, with lights and ribbons everywhere. People began to arrive early, so many people gathered that they couldn't talk for long with Keonhee, who dedicated himself to giving brief explanations to the visitors since Seoho was the host who was in charge of the activities and everything else. More people came than Seoho expected. What started as an event full of enthusiasm turned into something where on Christmas Eve people gave up patience and gave up, leaving complaints about being tricked in the zoo mailbox, in addition to thousands of non-stop comments. mocking and calling those who promoted the event scammers. When the zoo closed, Seoho turned off the camera and sat down to watch the penguins through the glass.
“It looks very nice at night. You really knew how to decorate the habitat.” Keonhee came to sit next to him. “What did you do with the decorations the zoo gave us?”
“I threw them away, I bought these on the internet.”
"It's lovely."
“I think I'm unlucky. It was supposed to be a special, magical event, and now everyone thinks I'm crazy."
"Well... I told you that it wasn't very sure that they would be born in 40 days as we wanted."
"I'm sorry."
"You dont have to apologize. Every scientist has a hypothesis that doesn't work."
"No. I mean…I…I made all of this for you.”
“So that's why it went wrong. I'm unlucky, do you forget?"
"No, it's serious." Seho got up. “I don't like to see you sad and after you said that Christmas makes you happy I thought I'd do something to make you totally happy, so I remembered that penguins make you happy too. I planned this to be pretty for you so that you would laugh again and light up the habitat with your brightness from before, I did so much. I spent a lot on decorations, on these outfits... I ruined my clothes while making the candy house and I made a north pole even though there are no penguins in the arctic and I think that's why it went wrong we're not supposed to change the bibliography and that our duty is to educate visitors and not confuse them, but I wanted to give you a Christmas village because I knew you liked it, so then nature is the one that punished me making my plans not work out. I deserve, I shouldn't even in a performance take away the territory of the Atlantic puffins. But now we'll probably get fired because everyone tells us we're…” Not knowing how it happened, Keonhee was in front of him grabbing the collar of his Santa suit and pressing his lips together in a kiss.
"I had to do it, you wouldn't stop spewing words."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to."
"Since when?"
“I think it's always just that… I ignored everything around me because I already had a partner. But after he left me, despite the cold these days, you gave me the warmth that only a good coat gives you and that I only feel with you."
"Why dont you tell me before?"
“Because until now I can be honest and tell you that just like the penguins… I feel that you are my soul mate, only you make me feel that magic does exist and that metaphors are real. Thank you for doing all this. It's lovely." Seoho opened his arms and Keonhee hugged him tight.
"Merry Christmas Keonhee."
"Merry Christmas Seoho."
That night they didn't leave the habitat, they delivered the gifts that Seoho prepared for the penguins and bought delivery food and wine from a cardboard box. They watched Christmas movies and sang some Christmas carols. Keonhee told him that in reality he had been in love with him practically since they met but because he had a boyfriend he had to force himself not to think about it because he had to be faithful to their relationship and thinking of someone else made his feel like he was betraying his nature. penguin. And after their relationship ended, he also couldn't just run to Seoho and tell him that he loved him because a part of him felt betrayed and hurt that he did love his boyfriend and because he didn't want to give the impression that he was going to him for revenge from Geonhak. And maybe he would have let more time pass, but it was Christmas and Seoho had made it possible for his penguins to live in the North Pole just to make him happy, he had to kiss him and let his know his feelings. Embracing each other and telling each other about all the times they were about to say they liked each other, they fell asleep on the sofa they had in their office while a CD of Christmas carols kept playing in the background.
By Christmas morning, Seoho remembered that he had another present for Keonhee. One that he had kept for a long time and that he thought he could never give him. After going back to his locker and finding Keonhee still asleep, he placed the gift in front of him and headed out into the habitat. His heart was pounding, although he always dreamed of this moment, he never thought it would come true so he wasn't sure if what he wanted to say was the right thing, so he took out his cell phone and started to write his thoughts.
When Keonhee opened his eyes, he found a sky blue velvet box. Sleepy he got up and took the box, before opening it he looked around and didn't see Seoho anywhere. The zoos wouldn't be open for Christmas, so he might have gone to get something for breakfast. Returning his attention to the box, he opened it and what was inside it made his eyes fill with tears and an overflowing joy was born in his heart. He took his coat and went looking for Seoho, finding him in the habitat just as he was about to tell him something, he threw himself into his arms and kissed him with feeling, wanting to convey to him everything he felt about receiving a nice pebble as a Christmas present.
"So that's a yes?" Seoho asked after parting ways. Because he was crying Keonhee could only nod. "I found it one day when I was walking along the dock. There were many pebbles and I searched all afternoon for one that was perfect. It didn't make sense, I was looking for a pebble and all I could think about was you. What would be the ideal one to give it to you with the hope that if you were my soul mate I could have the way of asking you to spend your whole life by my side." Keonhee hugged him tightly again. The pebble Seoho gave him was truly unique: perfectly rounded that looked like it had been made, dark gray, and with aesthetically stacked pores. A naturally perfect pebble, made to forge the Lifetime bond of two penguins. "Yes, of course I want to spend my whole life by your side."
And while Seoho hugged him, he saw how the three pairs of penguins were carefully approaching their eggs and when he saw them he realized that one of the eggs was beginning to hatch.
"It's time."
"What?"
"It's time, we'll be grandparents. Look." Hr released himself from his grasp and turned Seoho towards the penguins.
"We'll be grandparents! I'll go get my camera." Keonhee stopped him.
"It's nature's gift to us. Don't interrupt her again."
"But Keonhee we must clear our name, the world thinks we are scammers."
"So what? We can do another campaign for them to come see the babies, now… this moment is only for penguins." Keonhee put his hands on Seoho's shoulders. "Let's take care of our family and then we can take care of ourselves."
"There is nothing I want more in the world."
There are up to 18 species of penguins and despite their variety, they are some of the most familiar and recognizable birds in the world. But they are also extremely vulnerable to climate change, pollution, predators, oil spills, and other hazards. And despite that they live life looking elegant as if they were wearing a tuxedo, returning every year to their place of origin to bring another penguin into the world. Seoho and Keonhee knew the vulnerability of their penguins when they noticed how small a penguin is when they hatched, but when they looked into each other's eyes and saw that they shared the illusion of wanting to see them grow and make their family grow even more, they knew the strength of their love and the strong bond that united them as soul mates.
Laughing at seeing their three complete penguin families, they realized it was the right thing to do.
Who is not happy to see a penguin?
🐧🐧🐧 The end 🐧🐧🐧