At Blue Hour, I Fall In Love [BEOMJUN] ✓

two

And so, on Sunday, I was forced to visit a boy I didn’t know.

The hospital that Choi Beomgyu was staying in was at the last train station. After being shaken around for about thirty minutes inside the train that traveled in the opposite direction from the one I usually took to school, I finally reached the station that was my destination.

I headed from the station to the hospital, and then towards the fourth floor via the elevator as I’d been told at the reception desk. I walked down the linoleum-covered corridor and reached the door to a hospital room.

I went inside to find a shared room. The patients inside were all men; other than the two elderly men, there was a young boy who was reading a book. He was probably Choi Beomgyu. I slowly approached him. As if noticing my presence, he removed his gaze from his book and looked up.

I was startled by that single glance.

He was indeed a handsome boy.

He was beautiful, but I couldn’t think of anyone that he resembled. He had a soft look in her brown eyes, which were bordered by naturally long eyelashes, making them look more impressive. And his skin was unbelievably white. Perhaps because of this skin, which looked as if it had never been touched by the sun at all, the atmosphere around his was completely different from the other boys in our class. It was as if he had been born and raised in another country.

A beautiful nose-bridge, shapely cheeks and small lips, running alongside each other. A slender, extended back and a balanced figure and his hair his like red wine color.

There was nothing dishonest-looking about his expression; he seemed very direct.

“Choi Beomgyu?” I called out to him timidly.

“That’s right,” he said. “And you are?”

“Choi Yeonjun. Starting this spring, I’m your classmate,” I said, briefly introducing myself.

“I see. Nice to meet you, I’m Choi Beomgyu. Say, Yeonjun-ah, I have something to ask of you,” he said, suddenly calling me informally. “I want you to use my given name and call me Beomgyu, lets drop the honorific.”

I wasn’t used to calling people informally, so I found his request strange. “Why?” I asked.

“Because I want to be comfortably with you and vice versa,” she said.

“Then I suppose I’ll call you Beomgyu.”

“Thank you. I like being called like that,” he said, giving a bashful smile. The moment he did, his white teeth became visible as if peeking out of his mouth. I was a little surprised at how white they were. The way he said the word “like” was somehow friendly. “So, Yeonjunnie, why have you come here today?”

“Ah. Apparently, I have some printouts and stuff to give you, and a joint letter as well. Miss Kim said that you’d probably be happier if one of the students gave it to you,” I said.

“I’m happy, I’m happy.”

I handed Beomgyu an envelope. He took the colored joint letter out of the envelope and started gazing at it with interest.

“Isn’t your message a bit cold, Yeonjunnie?” she asked.

I hastily took a peek at the joint letter. The message that I’d written was in the corner of the colored paper.

I hope your illness gets better soon.
—Choi Yeonjun

“Is it? No…”

I didn’t think that it was really that terrible a message. But it was definitely too short, and perhaps the vagueness due to it having been written in three seconds was visible. And this probably meant that Beomgyu wasn’t stupid enough to not see through it.

“Maybe it is. Sorry.” I stopped trying to dodge the issue and apologized earnestly.

Beomgyu looked at me with a slightly surprised expression. “I don’t really think it’s so cold that you need to apologize,” he said.

He has a strange way of speaking, I thought.

“Yeonjunnie, could it be that you actually didn’t want to come?” he asked. “Maybe the teacher forced you to?”

I felt like it would be insensitive to be truthful and say, “Actually, Kang Taehyun was supposed to come.” I remembered the phrase, “Circumstances may justify a lie.”

“No,” I said. “I came here of my own will.”

“Really? That’s good,” Beomgyu said, looking truly relieved.

He seems smart, but he’s the type who expresses his emotions in a way that they’re easily understood, I thought.

“What is this?” I asked, wanting to change the topic.

A glass sphere that looked like a crystal had been placed on the bedside table. Looking closely, I could see that there was a miniature house inside it. It was a western-style log house. The light trickling through its windows made it look like someone was living inside it.

“Ah, it’s called a snow globe. I really like that. Give it here,” Beomgyu said, letting go of the colored paper and extending his palm towards me, so I handed it to him. “Look. There’s snow here.”

I looked and saw that the ground surface around the house inside the glass sphere was covered in something like confetti that imitated snow.

“I see,” I said.

“That’s not all. If I shake it like this…” Beomgyu shook the snow globe. As he did, the confetti inside the glass suddenly began to dance. Through some trick, the confetti scattered around and fell slowly. “What do you think? It’s like snow, isn’t it?”

Indeed, it was like snow.

“My father bought it for me in the past… I can’t meet my father anymore, though. That’s why I treasure this,” Beomgyu said.

So, his parents are divorced after all? I thought, but I couldn’t ask him.

“I look at it and imagine,” Beomgyu continued. “I imagine that I’m living in a snowy country, and when it becomes winter, it snows. My breath is always white. I spend my time reading books while staying warm by the fireplace. I enjoy imagining that.”

Snow continued to fall inside the glass sphere.

Beomgyu continued talking. Could it be that he had been hungry for someone to talk to? The way he spoke made this thought occur to me. But I didn’t really dislike it. The conversation wasn’t that boring, and I didn’t dislike the way he talked.

The conversation finally stopped when it became evening. I decided that it was time to go home.

“Say, Yeonjunnie,” Beomgyu said as I was leaving. “Will you come again soon?”

I was bewildered. But looking at him lonely-looking expression, I couldn’t say, “No, I don’t have any intentions of ever coming back.”

“Soon.”

I gave him  that vague reply instead.

“And I have a request,” Beomgyu said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I want to eat Almond Crush Pocky,” he said, looking a little embarrassed.

“Pocky?”

“Actually, I’m supposed to eat only hospital food. And my mother is a strict person, so she won’t buy it for me even if I ask. They don’t sell it at the store in the hospital. I don’t have anyone else to ask.” Beomgyu looked at me with slightly upturned eyes. “Is it too much to ask?”

“Mmm, well, alright,” I replied without thinking about it too deeply, and then I left the room.