Life in Switzerland

Memories

It was a rainy Saturday morning in Lungern, and Ri Jeong Hyeok wondered for the umpteenth time if Seri had taken an umbrella when she had left for her meeting in town. Autumn was in the air, it was in the chilly breeze, in the trees turning red and gold, in the rain-drenched grey clouds.

He had woken up to an empty bed with a note on his nightstand. 

"I'll be back for lunch. Don't miss me too much Ri Jeong Hyeok-sshi." 

He smiled tenderly, his fingers softly stroking the hearts that concluded the message. She didn't realize he missed her the second she was out of sight. 

His gaze was lost outside, as he sat down on the ledge of the bay window that looked out onto their garden. Her meeting wasn't that far from their chalet, she should be okay. She was obviously gone in the car, she should be safe. 

He circled around the chalet, made lunch, worked on his lessons, corrected his students' homework, in a silence disturbed only by the crackling of the flames in the fireplace. 

He took advantage of a lull in the rain to go into the garden, and gazed at the flowering bushes full of rain, the mist that rose from the mountain, clinging to the treetops, and he took a deep breath of air before going back inside and putting on some workout clothes. 

Going for a run would make the time go by faster. 

But as he finished putting on his sneakers, his phone rang and he immediately picked it up when he saw who was calling. 

"Is your meeting over?" 

A sizzle answered him and he frowned. 

"... Can you hear me? ... Jeong Hyeok-sshi ... Breakdown ..." 

Her voice sounded distant, and he pressed the phone closer to his ear, as if to hear her better. 

"What ? Seri, are you okay, where are you?" 

"... Bad network ... Car ..." 

"What ? Is your car broken down?" 

"Yes but ... Rain ... Delay ..." 

"I'm coming..." 

"Wait ... No ... Rain" 

But he had grabbed an umbrella and he was already outside, angry inside that his own car was in the garage for overhaul. He rushed into the garage and hopped on his bike. He knew where she had her meeting , so she had to be somewhere down the road.

It only took a few minutes for the rain to come back, a light but icy drizzle, and a few more minutes for him to finally see the familiar SUV on the road side, hood open, and Seri standing in front of the engine. 

"Seri!" 

She turned to him, her eyes wide, and he saw that she was soaked. Her hair clung to her face, her clothes clung to her skin, and her large eyes made her look like a drowned kitten. 

"Ri Jeong Hyeok-sshi, what are you doing here? I told you it was raining too much!" 

He parked the bike and immediately opened the umbrella above them. She was shivering and he didn't like it. He rubbed her arm and shook his head. 

"You're soaked and frozen, why didn't you wait inside!"

"I didn't want to be late for lunch, I thought maybe it was nothing ..." 

He raised an eyebrow. 

"Can you fix a car?" 

Seri lifted her chin defiantly. 

"We are in the 21st century, Ri Jeong Hyeok-sshi, women can repair cars." 

He suppressed a smile. 

"I know. But can you?" 

She looked away. 

"No…" she mumbled. 

He shook his head, and as the tow truck pulled up, he held her tight against him as the mechanic took a look at the motor.

"I'm going to take it, I can't see what's wrong, do you want me to call you a cab?" 

They looked at each other, then declined and watched the vehicle pull away, towing Seri's car. The rain had not stopped and a thick layer of mist was now rising from the lake. Ri Jeong Hyeok left the umbrella with Seri and took off his jacket. She looked at him, her eyes wide. 

"Don't tell me you're hot!" 

"Put this on, you're soaked and you're shivering ..." 

"But..." 

He draped the jacket over her shoulders and picked up the umbrella he held over them. She pulled the jacket over her handbag, which she carried over her shoulder, and sighed with pleasure as the warmth and his familiar scent enveloped her. 

"Ri Jeong Hyeok-sshi, doesn't that remind you of something?" she asked with a smile as he grabbed the bike and made her sit in front. 

He chuckled and secured his arms around her as she sat down in front of him, somehow holding the umbrella over their heads as well. 

That night in North Korea seemed so far away, as if it belonged to another life, and at the same time so close. 

He drove off and they rolled along the lake towards their cabin.

"You were waiting for me, weren't you? That evening, in the village, you were waiting for me?" 

He kept looking straight ahead. 

"I was just going home..." 

She laughed incredulously and he smiled, feeling a warmth spread in his chest. So much had happened since, and never that famous night he could have imagined how much his life would change. 

Seri scoffed. 

"Admit it, Ri Jeong Hyeok-sshi, you and I know you took a detour. You were worried." 

"I was ..." he said softly. 

He could now admit it. Back then, he was still fighting unfamiliar feelings that seemed to grow stronger by the second. He had never felt that much, that hard, such a need to protect, to see the other happy, a visceral desire that he had fought with all his might, convinced that nothing good could result from it, that he had to protect her from himself as well. 

But it was over. 

"I was worried and wanted to make sure you come home safe and sound ..." 

He couldn't see her face but he could tell her delighted and satisfied smile, her sparkling eyes, her slightly rosy cheeks. 

Who would have thought that they would one day be riding a bike the same way, but in Switzerland, towards what was now their home?

They missed their family in the North, but he was glad he didn't have to fight his feelings anymore. And as they finally made it to home, and as he pushed her under a hot shower, as she dragged him with her under the hot spray of water, as he lost himself in the feel of her body against his, Ri Jeong Hyeok remembered that time when he had told her that he didn't know defeats. 

He was wrong, and succumbing to his feelings was ultimately the greatest defeat ever, one he would never regret.