Loveboat in 서울

*𝟛𝟚*

Gurgling water echoes in the darkness. Joohyuk lights a candle. It illuminates a flagstone floor enclosed by a solid fence of bamboo poles, a pagoda roof that partially shelters the square space of this bathhouse, nearly a quarter mile from the main resort.

Joohyuk's already pledged a hundred dollars of his own savings to my collection for Jihyo. It's a start. But she and her family, our talk over dinner all weigh on my mind as I grip the knotted sash of my robe. I dip my toe into each of two pools built of flat stones. The smaller pool is warm, the larger hotter than any Jacuzzi. They smell of minerals. A spring pours from their corners, continuously refreshing them.

Joohyuk slides the doors closed. "You first. Promise I won't look."

I hear his smile through the candlelit darkness. Some of my worries give way to the thrill of being here with him. Maybe part of fighting the unhappiness in this world is to seize happiness when we can.

He turns his back to study a line of three showerheads facing as many stone stools while I disrobe and slip into sinfully silky waters. They scald with a delicious heat. My bare feet slip over smooth stones as I sink to my shoulders and find an underwater ledge to sit on. The bamboo walls and the closed doors shut out the world.

"Mmm," I groan. "Let's stay here forever."

Joohyuk slips in beside me. His arm glides against mine. I try not to think of that bare chest, the hard muscles of his abdomen. Our hidden nakedness, with nothing but water between us.

"This is the first time we've been alone since you came back from Busan."

"When we were in my room for three minutes? We should have stayed there. Why did I have to show you the Goo mansion?"

"Because it's the best in Seoul," I mock him.

"True." Joohyuk sinks deeper, to his chin. His voice takes on a sly tone. "You know, some onsen label themselves nonsexual. Just to be clear. Although the gender separation's been a thing since the Meiji Restoration opened in Japan to the West."

"How do you know so much, Wonder Boy?"

"Do I? I guess I read. Everything. And remember all sorts of useless things."

"Not useless." I flick water in his direction. "So in theory, Professor Nam, if two people were to engage in such forbidden activity in this vicinity, would they fly in the face of years of tradition."

"A hundred thirty. And regulations. It would be serious breaking of the rules."

"Too bad."

Moonlight catches his impish smile and he turns to face me and flips a lock of my hair behind my shoulder. Wraps a strand around his fingers. "Does it make me shallow that I'm obsessed with your hair?"

"I didn't know you were obsessed with it."

"It's not just black. "It's blue and brown and red. In the moonlight, parts are silver."

"How would you feel about me if I were bald?"

He kisses my forehead. "I guess you have other qualities. Meaningful ones. Like your shoulder." His hand glides along the bare skin there. "Your neck."

I push him gently back. "What if I were in an accident and got disfigured? Lost my mind? Not trying to be morbid. Just realistic. Nothing's certain in life."

His hand grasps my waist, drawing my body toward him until my thigh bumps his knee. "Remember how I said the timing makes no sense? But you're here. Like you'd finally shown up and I didn't realize I was looking for you." His voice has turned serious. "Maybe some people are meant to be a part of your life. And we don't have any control over when they drop in. Or over anything else that's going to happen that might take them away again. If I couldn't talk to you anymore"—his lips brush the tip of my nose and hover—"that part of me that needs to talk to you would die."