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Of all the seasons of the year, Soobin finds he hates spring the most.
Perhaps it’s the pungent smell of grass and the way it stains his clothes if he sits in it a moment too long. Or the smell of the ripe fruit and vegetables in his mother’s greenhouse, the lingering smell of rain that fills his nose the morning after an evening downpour, or the small gnats that gather up on the condensation left behind on top of his car and the annoying way they fly up in his face when he tries to go near it. Or the fact that he had just returned from fighting a five year war with one of their neighboring countries. And while his fellow comrades returned home to build houses and get engaged to their long term girlfriends, Soobin was still living with his parents, working on his father’s oil boat skinning squid. He let out a sigh as he walked downstairs, creasing the collar of his shirt while straightening out his tie. He had hoped tonight would change the reality of that.
“I’m going out for a pack of cigars, Mom!” He yells as he passes the kitchen window. A small hum of acknowledgment from his mother reaches into the air, the scraping sound of a wooden spoon stirring in a pot filling up the rest of the room.
“Don’t stay out too late.” His father emerges from the living room just after, newspaper and a glass of wine in hand. “And do you need to smoke so late? You addicted to the stuff or somethin?”
Soobin rolls his eyes before turning to face him, a neutral smile plastered on his face. “Just thought I’d go out and get them now so I wouldn’t run out later. Besides, it’s a nice evening for a walk.” Before his parents can argue with him any more, he turns on his heel to head out the door, a puff of air leaving him as it shuts and locks behind him.
He had lied. He had a date.
After the war had ended, Soobin realized there was more to life than just being a potential martyr for his country. He had spent most of his adolescent years in basic training and out on the fields, watching small groups of his fellow comrades die before his very eyes, and doing all he could to be one of the few that survived. Life back home hadn’t been much better either, his parents constantly wanting to keep tabs of everything he did or where he went. Fortunately, the one soldier he’d managed to befriend decided to put in a good word for him with one of his old friends, setting him up on a blind date. Soobin truthfully wouldn’t be able to confess what had compelled him to agree so carelessly.
Ten minutes pass before he finally arrives at the address Kai had given him, relieved at the light drizzle that had started up when he left coming to a halt. He steps out of his car, brows furrowing as he looks out into the area. Everything on the street was pitch black, save for the flickering street lights on the corner. Had he gotten the address wrong?
A sigh leaves him as he reaches up to stress a hand through his neatly styled hair. Perhaps his date was a no show. He’s about to get back inside his car when a voice calls out from behind him.
“Hey!”
Soobin turns around to see someone standing on the other side of the street, their arms waving frantically to get his attention. He watches them run across the street to approach him, backing away cautiously. For all he knows, this person could be a disguised serial killer and he’s their next target.
He looks up to meet the eyes of his potential murderer, the breath instantly being punched out of his lungs. There stands the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on, brown eyes wide with surprise as she stands before him trying to catch her breath. After a brief moment she finally stands up straight, short brown hair falling forward to frame her round face.
“You Soobin Choi?” She asks, slightly out of breath. Soobin blinks, nodding dumbly in response.
The girl scoffs. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to leave a date waiting? I’ve been standing in the cold for ten minutes!” She scolds, hands on her hips. The dress she wore accentuated the curve of them to Soobin’s shameless dismay, the black velvet fitting her like a well worn glove while a modest string of white pearls elegantly adorned her neck.
Thank you, Jung Kai.
The girl catches Soobin’s gaze after a moment, tilting her head to the side with a smug grin. “Are you always this quiet when you’re out on a date?” She asks, breaking Soobin out of his trance. He quietly apologizes once he’s been caught, a sheepish smile blushing his lips. The girl laughs before holding out her hand for him to shake.
“Well, my name is Beomgyu Choi, and I hope you like music, ex soldier,” She reaches her hand into her coat pocket, retrieving two thin slips of paper with a bright grin. “Because I’ve got a ticket for La Traviata with your name on it.” She grins, showing off the calligraphic print of the show’s title on the stubs.
Soobin grimaces. What sane person drags someone to the opera on the first date? He might as well call it a night now and go home to save the girl’s time—and his. But another part tells him that his best friend would possibly kill him- and that he probably wouldn’t be able to get a chance like this for the next five years or so when the last of his friends had finally gotten married and started their lives and he would still be at his parents’ house—y'know.
“I hate opera.” He blurts, deciding to just be honest. Beomgyu lets out a laugh, leaning in until their faces are just inches away from each other.
“Well lucky for you that you’re with Beomgyu Choi,” and for a second Soobin holds his breath at the chance that she might kiss him. He exhales it when she simply reaches out to adjust his hat before backing away with a cheeky grin. She grabs his arm and links it with hers, eyes sparkling.
“Who cares what you are listening to; it’s who you’re listening with . ”
The drive to the opera house is peaceful, the two throwing pleasantries of getting to know each other while Soobin’s radio hums lowly in the background. From what Soobin had gathered, Beomgyu was a professor in college teaching literature and music theory in the far part of the city, and she has a parrot named Toto after Dorothy’s dog in the Wizard of Oz. Her father was very well known in the mechanic industry, while her mother was a seamstress in her spare time, and her older brother Hyunwon was annoying as all hell. How she hated tomatoes but liked to eat ketchup with her fries. How she was only three months younger than Soobin but seemed to have more figured out with her life than he did.
“What are you going to do now that the war is over?” She asks suddenly, chin propped up on the back of her hand.
Soobin briefly hums in thought. “Keep working with my dad on his oil boat, probably. Maybe become a mechanic and finally move out of my parents'.
I don’t know.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Beomgyu tilt her head to the side in confusion. “You’ve been in the army for half a decade, and you still haven’t figured out what you want to do with the rest of your life?”
Soobin answers her with a shrug, tapping a steady rhythm on the wheel. “Never really gave it much thought, to be honest.” He had already sold himself to the army, thinking that would mark a majority of it down. But the war ended sooner than anticipated, and while everyone else had been able to move on and get on with their lives, Soobin was just—stuck.
“What about you?” He asks pointing the attention back onto Beomgyu as he distracts himself by finding a parking space. “Do you have all your future plans figured out?”
“Of course,” She grins confidently, and Soobin notices that manic sparkle has returned to her eyes again. He’s come to grow fond of how it seems to make them brighter. “I’d like to continue living my life as I’m living it now. With as much risk and pleasure as possible.”
Soobin chuckles. “I don’t think going to the opera on a Saturday night is proving much of a good job for that.”
Beomgyu raises her brows. “And I suppose being a former army officer miserably working on an oil ship catching squid for the rest of his life would?” Soobin closes his mouth. Touché.
Soobin walks around the car to open Beomgyu’s door for her, trying to ignore the evident blush blooming onto the tips of his ears. “You know, opera isn’t so bad once you’ve experienced it.” She says, wrapping her coat around her. “You might actually end up enjoying yourself.”
Soobin raises a brow, choosing to leave the conversation at that. He watches Beomgyu hand their tickets over to the attendant, unlinking their arms to hold one of the double doors open, staring back at him expectantly.
Soobin stares back. “Shouldn’t I be holding the door open for you?”
“I like to be in charge of the chivalry aspect of the relationship.” She shrugs, tapping on the door more insistently. After a while the ex soldier gives in, rolling his eyes playfully as he walks through it with a huff. Beomgyu grins smugly in triumph, nudging Soobin’s shoulder as she brushes past him to walk in front.
They make it to their seats just as the show is about to begin, Beomgyu taking the right seat while Soobin opts for the one beside it. Beomgyu sits up straight, crossing her legs over the other. Soobin glances down at her neatly folded hands resting in her lap and sighs, leaning back into his seat and closing his eyes.
If he wasn’t getting a kiss at the end of the night, he could at least sneak in a nap for the trouble. The orchestra begins to play, the sound of violins filling the air around his ears. Then he felt it—the hair on his neck standing on edge, the vibrato resonating and ricocheting off the inside of his chest and the rest of his body. He cracked his eyes open, heart racing at the sight he found when he looked down.
Beomgyu’s hand was in his, firmly clasped but gently holding it to the point it felt like her skin was barely gliding against his. Soobin cleared his throat quietly, trying to pretend that the fact wasn’t phasing him in the slightest. It was doing something worse. It was impacting him, altering the course his blood had been recently taking. Soobin doesn’t dare move an inch, fearful of hitting play on the frozen pocket of time, of ruining the gilded moment he had found himself trapped in.
Instead, he patiently waits for it to end, for the warmth of Beomgyu’s body to fade and retract from his. He holds his breath, bracing for time to resume.
Then Beomgyu rests his head on his shoulder, and the anatomy of Soobin’s body feels like it’s splitting apart at the seams, the only thing keeping him stitched together is Beomgyu’s warm hand in his. She snuggles closer to him, her lavender shampoo decidedly the most pleasant scent Soobin’s ever smelled. He hopes she can’t feel his hand trembling in hers, but something tells him she notices. She keeps her focus on the show despite it, a silent smile creeping at the corners of her lips. Soobin finds himself following her gaze, silently watching with her.
Two hours pass and the orchestra plays the final chord, signalling the end of the show. The players take their bows and disperse from the stage, the concert hall lights flickering back on. Beomgyu rises from her seat to stretch her legs out.
“So?” Beomgyu asks as they make their way outside the hall, her hand still home in Soobin’s. Soobin doesn’t complain.
“I guess it wasn’t quite so bad.”
It was the best time that he’d ever had.
He grins back when Beomgyu beams at him, fishing into her coat pocket for the second time tonight. “Well, lucky for you, I’ve got also got seats to Beethoven’s Fifth.” The two tickets between her fingers are gold printed this time, with calligraphic black ink instead. Soobin feels his face fall before he shrugs, smiling.
“It’s a second date, then.” Beomgyu laughs at him, stretching up onto her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on the apple of his cheek, pulling away to link their arms together again. She rests her head on his shoulder once more.
Soobin smiles to himself as they continue down the street, keeping his footsteps in sync with hers as they walk down the frost covered pavement.
Life is not the things that we do; it’s who we’re doing them with.