Reunion
“Do you have a Macallan 30-Year?”
What Colt was looking for was the brand’s finest aged whiskey.
“I’m afraid not. That product is difficult to obtain. We do have Macallan No. 6 available, however.”
“Can’t be helped. I’ll take that, then. In a Glencairn glass.”
“Neat, I see. I’ll prepare it for you.”
When drinking whiskey, taking it without mixing anything in was called neat; with ice, it was on the rocks.
Colt tilted the bottle into a sleek little crystal glass and filled it halfway. Then he drew in the aroma deeply through his nose before bringing it to his lips.
“Mm... this isn’t bad either.”
The sight of a neatly dressed foreign man savoring whiskey was the sort of thing that could make anyone look twice.
“Do you work in broadcasting or as a model?”
The bartender was convinced Colt must have been in the entertainment industry.
“Not at all.”
“A man who enjoys whiskey as stylishly as you do, sir, is someone I’m seeing for the first time in all my years as a bartender. Hahaha.”
“Thanks. Here.”
Colt took out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it over as a tip.
“Thank you, sir.”
The bartender did not simply thank him with words; he also set out some snacks to go with the whiskey.
“Please think of it as service.”
“Ha. Looks like I can’t get away with not leaving an extra tip.”
As Colt reached for another hundred-dollar bill, a woman walked in and immediately sat down far from him before ordering a drink.
“...I’ll have what that man is drinking.”
“That product is Macallan No. 6, but...”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“The price is a little...”
“How much is it?”
“...Ten million won a bottle.”
Colt ordered a whiskey worth nearly ten thousand dollars a bottle as casually as if he were ordering water.
“......”
The woman narrowed her eyes and glared at Colt as he lifted his glass, then ordered something else. After that, she made a subtle request to the bartender.
“...Ask him if I can join him.”
“Hmm. I don’t want to disturb the customer, but...”
She slipped him a bill and said, “Just ask.”
“...Yes, ma’am.”
While the bartender walked over, she tucked her hair behind her ear and turned her face so it would be easy to see her. But Colt didn’t even turn his head toward her. He merely waved a hand dismissively. He had just talked with James about the life that lay ahead of him, and he was not in the mood to meet a woman.
“!”
Perhaps the gesture had shocked her, because she stared blankly at him for a long moment.
“Sir?”
“Ah! Yes. Yes.”
“The gentleman says he isn’t interested in joining forces.”
“...Why not?”
“Well, how should I know?”
The bartender had no obligation to pry for reasons.
“...Tsk.”
In the end, she got up, took her glass, and walked over to Colt.
“May I join?”
It was a direct request to share his table, but Colt still did not look at her.
“Sorry. I want to be alone.”
“......”
Even after he said he wanted to be by himself, she stayed where she was, and eventually Colt turned his head.
“!”
Colt looked as if he had seen someone impossible, and the woman’s greeting struck his ears.
“Colt, long time no see.”
“...I didn’t think I’d run into you here, Hojung.”
He had thought that now he was in Korea, they might meet someday, but he hadn’t expected it to happen today.
“I heard from Suzy and thought about it a lot.”
Hojung had tried not to meet Colt, if only to sort out her own feelings. So she had not even made an appointment, just walked into the hotel lounge bar on impulse, only to find him seated there.
“More importantly, why did Colt refuse to have me sit with him?”
“I just... wasn’t interested.”
It was the honest truth, but Hojung wondered whether today might be different somehow.
“Are you in a bad mood today?”
“That won’t change in the future either. I think it’s time I lived a new life.”
Hojung did not show it, but Colt’s words landed with a heavy impact.
“...Didn’t you say you were a free spirit?”
That was why, when she met him as usual and he would glance at other women around them, she had let it pass. She had thought that was simply who he was.
“I’m getting older too.”
The more Hojung listened, the worse she felt.
“Why are you thinking about that only now? You should have thought about it when you were seeing me.”
“Hojung, you’re young and beautiful. You could live a happy life with someone better than a guy like me.”
“......”
Hojung’s face was full of dissatisfaction.
“Why are you saying this only now?”
“I’m sorry.”
“......”
Hojung, who had been overflowing with complaints, found Colt’s apology instead to be a small spark of hope.
“Ahem. Then... does that mean you can be tied down to one person now? You’re thinking of finding a cozy little nest?”
“...I don’t know. I’m still thinking about it.”
Hojung had to force down the throbbing vein in her forehead and keep her temper in check.
He says one thing and then another...
“Haa.”
If I’d known I’d end up like this, I wouldn’t have come...
Hojung had thought that today she would finally be able to cut away every last thread of attachment she still had to Colt. If he would only push her away with a cold attitude, that would be the end of it. But Colt was looking at her with eyes full of melancholy, only making her attachment run deeper. Worse still, he was quietly revealing that he wanted to settle down, and that only made her more restless.
Why do you have to drive me crazy like this!
Hojung emptied the glass she had brought and held it out to Colt. Colt filled her crystal glass with whiskey.
“Shall we have a drink toge—”
Whoosh.
Colt had only just started to suggest they drink together when Hojung’s hand shot out and snatched the glass away.
Glug, glug, glug.
Thud!
She drained it in one shot, then scrunched up her face.
“Krrrgh.”
“If you drink whiskey like that...”
With alcohol content reaching 48 percent, it was a harsh whiskey even Colt could not down at once the way Hojung did.
“Why do you care?”
“Of course it’s none of my business, but...”
“Another one!”
“......”
Colt silently refilled the glass, and Hojung emptied it just as quickly again.
Thud.
“Ghk... another one!”
“Haa.”
After pouring her a third drink, Colt quickly called the bartender over.
“Please keep it for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hojung, who had drained her glass and watched Colt clear away the bottle, laughed at him.
“Pfft. You think I can’t keep drinking just because of that? Bartender! One more of what I ordered earlier!”
“Hojung. You’ve had too much.”
“It’s only three glasses.”
Including the ones she had ordered and already drunk, it was four. And they were not tiny pours but full glasses, which meant she had taken in a fair amount.
“What are you going to do if you get drunk?”
“...Then Colt can just do whatever he wants.”
Her sudden strike sent Colt quiet.
“......”
“Are you sick of me? Already tired of me?”
“N-no. When did I say that?”
“......”
Hojung’s eyes, already full of frustration, began to brim with tears little by little.
“...Hic. Then why are you doing this to me?”
“......”
“Huaaah. Why are you dumping me for no reason? Why are you doing this to meee? Waaaah.”
“Hojung...”
Not every breakup Colt had ever experienced had been clean and quiet. There had been plenty of women who cried and clung to him. Of course, that had mostly been back when he was young and inexperienced in romance; in recent years, there had been almost no women who clung to him like Hojung did.
“Hic. I wanted to break up cleanly too. But what am I supposed to do when I can’t? Why do you keep appearing in front of me and making things so hard? Waaah.”
“......”
Did I go looking for you? You’re the one who came here.
Colt swallowed the words before he could say them out loud.
“Why am I the only one... Why am I the only one like this... and Colt acts like nothing’s wrong...”
“Ha...”
For a long while Colt watched Hojung lamenting through tears, then took out his phone.
“Hello?”
Hojung was apparently too drunk now, because even while Colt was on the phone, she kept muttering to herself.
“I’m not this kind of person, I’m notttt! I’m not, I said! Waaah.”
“......”
“-Colt? Why?”
He had called James, who was probably in the middle of a pleasant time with his lover.
“I hope I’m not interrupting an important moment.”
-Time with Suzy is always an important moment.
From beyond the receiver, Colt heard James talking, and then Suzy’s laughter as she called out for her older brother.
“...Put Suzy on for me.”
He had called James in the first place so he could speak with Suzy.
-Suzy? What’s wrong? Do you need a translator?
“I ran into Hojung at the hotel lounge bar.”
-Whoa. Hojung came looking for Colt in person?
“Just put her on already.”
-Okay, okay.
Suzy took James’s phone.
-Colt. Hojung is there?
“...Whoever told her came all the way here?”
It was an oblique accusation aimed at Suzy. If not Suzy, there was no one else who would have known Colt was at this hotel.
-Ahem. That’s because it came up while we were talking on the phone.
“Anyway...”
Colt said, looking at Hojung, who was now folded over the bar table in tears.
“Hojung’s had a bit too much to drink, so... why don’t you take her home?”
-How much did she have?
“Three glasses, no, four?”
-She’s not the type to get drunk on just that little.
“She drank a strong whiskey in a glass. Back to back, too. It was probably almost a whole bottle.”
The whiskey Colt had kept for her had less than half left, so that estimate was probably about right.
-...We’ll head down soon.
Fortunately, the two of them seemed to have been in the hotel room. It was only natural, since the lovers had just reunited after so long.
“...I’ll wait.”
The two of them came down not long after, and Suzy approached the drunk Hojung. Only then could Colt finally relax.
“Phew.”
“What on earth happened? How did Hojung get this drunk...”
“I didn’t make her drink it. She drank on her own and got drunk on her own.”
“Still, isn’t it your fault, Colt?”
“...Fine. It’s my fault. I sowed the seed.”
“Huh! Are you saying you got her pregnant?”
“What are you talking about? Why would a baby come out of that?”
“You said you sowed a seed!”
While the two of them bickered, Suzy called out to them.
“You two, help me out here! Hojung can’t pull herself together!!”
“Oh. Got it.”
“Tch.”
In the end, Hojung had to be carried on Colt’s back.
“If Hojung rests, she’ll sober up, so it’s best to take her upstairs for now.”
“Right. Hojung should sober up if she rests a bit. It’s not right to send her home looking like that, either.”
Inside the elevator, Suzy and James entrusted Hojung to Colt and held hands tightly. Then they got off one floor below, where James’s room was.
“Hey! What am I supposed to do about that...”
“Figure it out, Colt!”
“Jinjin!”
-The door is closing.
Whoosh.
The elevator, whose doors had already shut, rose upward.
“......”
In the end, Colt had to take Hojung to his own room.
When he laid her on the bed, her face was streaked with tears.
“......”
He remembered the women who had chased after him when he was young, saying they liked him.
Were they like you now...
He still had a handsome face even now, but in his youth people often said it looked as though light itself shone from his features. It had been nothing more than good looks, but back then that had been an enormous advantage. Women had been drawn to Colt like moths to a flame, and Colt had been able to choose among them to suit his own taste.
I really made a lot of women cry...
He had dated several women at once and experienced just as many breakups. Looking back now, it had been disgraceful behavior. He began to think that even the women who had turned away as if they were untouched and too cool to be hurt probably had not found the breakups easy.
Who was I to do that...
A young man always became an old man in the end. Time could not be reversed. Even what little advantage he still had would soon disappear. Colt wondered what would be left of him then.
What kind of strengths do I even have?
“...Cooolt...”
“......”
Colt fell into thought as Hojung called his name in her sleep.
Hojung, why do you...
“Don’t... hate... me...”
He did not hate Hojung.
“I don’t hate you. You’re a good woman.”
“...Hee. Hee.”
Even drunk, Hojung’s silly, smiling laughter made her oddly more alluring.
“Do you like me even like this?”
“...Cooolt. I like youuuu.”
“Why do you like me?”
“You’re... kind... and dependable... and handsome...”
Even after that, Hojung kept listing, in a drunken voice, everything she felt for Colt without holding back. Colt found himself smiling before he knew it.
Is there anyone else who sees me this kindly?
But her conclusion was turning strangely off course.
“And rich... but you’re a bad man who doesn’t even give me pocket money...”
“What?”
“Baaad man. So bad.”
“Pocket money... that James idiot is the weird one.”
“Bad. So bad.”
It was hard to expect a coherent conversation from someone drunk.
“Huaaah. Bad. Aaaah.”
“Hojung...”
Hojung started crying again.
“You leaving me... all alone... Colt... is way too bad...”
“...I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Waaah. Waaaah... hic... huuuh... hehe.”
Hojung fell deeply asleep as if nothing had happened.
“I’m sorry. For leaving you alone.”
Colt thought it was time to live the sort of life he had never once tried before.
“Responsibility...”
Taking responsibility for someone had never existed in Colt’s way of living. He simply met women easily, and parted from them just as easily in order to cast off the burden of responsibility. Marriage, children, building a family around them—he had never had the confidence for that.
“It feels daunting already, though...”
The moment he thought about marriage and children, the weight of responsibility still felt vast and distant, but it seemed as though he would have to start somewhere.
“All right then. Let’s try it, responsibility.”
Colt stroked Hojung’s cheek as she slept deeply and gazed at her in silence.
“...Can you take responsibility for me too?”
“Hmm.”
A small smile was resting on her face as she shifted in her sleep.
“How ridiculous...”
“...Hee.”
“You... are really pretty today.”
“Hee...”
Colt kept watching Hojung’s sleeping face without end, waiting for her to wake.