Life in Switzerland

Jetlag

He couldn't sleep. 

He had tossed and turned so many times in his bed that his duvet had ended up on the floor and he had ended up sitting down and turning on his bedside lamp. His room was spacious and comfortable, the Italian bedding lived up to its reputation, he had eaten quite well albeit too fast, yet he couldn't sleep. 

He was a seasoned traveler, and despite the long pandemic hiatus, on his honeymoon in the United States, he had had no trouble adjusting to the timezone. But this time, despite a long day at work, despite the fact that it was already his third night in Milan, he couldn't sleep. 

He looked at his phone. It was 1 a.m. Which meant 8 a.m. in Seoul. He hesitated for a moment, Yejin was an early riser but since the beginning of the pregnancy, she slept a lot more, and usually woke up after him. He didn't mind at all, nothing pleased him more than seeing her well rested. 

But he hadn't been able to call her the day before, his shooting had taken longer than expected, and when he had finally arrived at the hotel, it was far too late in Korea, and he definitely didn't want to disturb her sleep. He remembered when he had stayed two months in Jordan, how she had almost aligned herself with his timezone, while ensuring her commitments, which had worried him a lot, although she reassured him and showed in great shape. He was not fooled and had seen how much it had taken a toll on her. He refused to let it happen again, even if he was dying to hear her voice. 

He missed her. Viscerally.

They hadn't been apart since his return from Jordan, and he had to admit that being away was even harder than he had imagined. 

He knew she was everything to him, he had known for a long time, but he hadn't realized how full of her every minute of his days was. It was the sound of her laughter, her frown when she read something captivating, her wrinkled nose and chewed tongue when she cooked, the songs she hummed while stretching after a workout, her smell of fresh laundry, flowers and sunshine, her mischievous smile when she teased him and managed to make him blush, the way she played with a lock of hair when she watched TV, or the weight of her legs on his knees when she dozed off on the couch. And how his name sounded when whispered by her. 

His life was full of everything that was her, and without her, he felt utterly empty. 

He took the card she had slipped into his suitcase, and his fingers brushed the ultrasound of their baby that was on the front page. 

He didn't know if there were words powerful enough to describe the happiness she had brought him. Meeting her had been the best thing that had ever happened to him, and now she carried a piece of him inside her. It was mind-blowing, and a blessing he would never take for granted. When he had said in a past interview that he worked hard to keep and protect his love, no one had an idea of how much he meant it. 

He opened the card and couldn't suppress an amused smile as he read it again. 

10 words to make you healthy and happy while you're away: 

Son Yejin 

Son Eon Jin 

Me 

Your wife 

Baby 

Kimbap 

Jeju 

I 

Love 

You

It was technically more than 10 words. But it was also the most adorable thing ever. He remembered how she loved that scene when they were filming Crash Landing On You… 

That was it. He was going to call her. 

She picked up after a ring, and her face appeared on the screen. She was smiling, her cheeks rosy, her hair pulled back in a bun, a few locks framing her face and caressing her neck. 

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

And he knew why he couldn't sleep. 

It wasn't jet lag. It was emptiness. It was feeling incomplete. 

"Jagiya, anyyeong!" 

The emptiness he felt was gradually replaced by a warm feeling of fullness. He would have liked to hold her against him, but to hear her voice, to see her face, made him feel like he was home. He was indeed incomplete, and she was the missing piece, the one to make him feel home wherever he was. 

"You can't sleep again?" 

"I miss you…" 

He hadn't realized that his voice was hoarse until he saw her frowning and getting closer to the screen as if she would be able to see him better. It made him chuckle. 

"Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine. I just needed to hear your voice…" 

Her smile widened. 

"I miss you too… you should sleep you know…" 

"In a moment. How are you feeling?" 

She stood to show her baby bump, and he felt the urge to reach out and touch her. She was positively glowing. 

"We're fine, I woke up earlier for a pilates session, and I was about to feed Kitty…" 

She sat back and looked attentively at him. 

"You don't skip meals, do you? Food is amazing in Italy…" 

"I ate well, don't worry, I had pasta for dinner…" 

It piqued her interest, she tried to act cool, but he knew her, and he had to bite back a laugh. 

"Oh, really, pasta… and was it good?" she asked nonchalantly. 

Oh, he loved her so much. 

"It was delicious… " he answered just as nonchalantly. 

"Oh, good, good. But… Was it as delicious as MY pasta?" 

Here. His Yejin and her competitiveness. Even with a random plate of pasta thousands of kilometers from her. 

"No, because, you know, more than 1 million people would have loved to be you, and said that even my pasta looked delicious…" she added with a smug smile. 

"I'm glad there is only one of me then, I don't like to share…" 

She laughed. And looked at him suspiciously. 

"But seriously, which one did you like better?" 

No one made him smile and laugh like her. And no one loved and completed him like she did. 

"Yours. Always yours."