[Bonus Story 2] Honeymoon, July 2023
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7. Funnily enough, the person who visited her younger brother at the army the most was neither family nor friends, but her husband, Taehyeok. He had gone with her at times, but he had also gone alone. When he said he was going even a month before Hwiyoung's discharge, she had wondered what on earth he was doing. But seeing Hwiyoung, upon his discharge, hug Taehyeok and cry instead of his own family, it seemed it hadn't been a complete waste. Mother Yeonhui looked at the two of them with curious eyes. "When did you two get so close?" The two had held their wedding while Hwiyoung was in the army, so there had been no physical time to get close at all. Nayoung answered with an expression that showed she didn't really want to know. "Father must be too much to handle, so he probably wanted to make even his younger brother his ally." Hwiyoung suggested that Taehyeok come along to the discharge celebration party his friends had prepared. "I bragged so much about my brother-in-law that my friends said they really want to meet him." Taehyeok naturally looked at her. Because now he needed Nayoung's permission to attend such gatherings. "If a professor joins a students' party, he'll just kill the mood." When she spoke indirectly, appealing for him not to go, Hwiyoung presented a solution as if to tell her not to worry. "If my brother-in-law wears my clothes, he'll look like he's in his twenties right away. He won't look like a professor at all." "So what if he looks like he's in his twenties? Are you going to set him up on blind dates with your female classmates?" "Ah! Noona. Are you worried about having him snatched away by a younger woman?" When her younger brother smiled and teased her, Nayoung immediately put on a stern expression and threatened him. "I suppose you want to earn your own tuition money when you return to school?" Taehyeok, sitting between the realistic siblings, could only maintain a smiling expression. He couldn't take either side. That was the wise thing to do. In the end, due to Nayoung's opposition, Taehyeok couldn't go to the college students' drinking party. "Surely the Professor didn't want to follow Hwiyoung and go, did he?" On the way home, when Nayoung asked, Taehyeok shook his head while driving. "I'm taciturn, so I don't fit in at gatherings like that." "...." Was he expressing resentment through irony right now for not being able to go? Nayoung quietly watched Taehyeok driving, then turned her head. "Now that Hwiyoung has been discharged, you'll see him even more often than when you visited him at the army." Since he had visited the army so frequently, how much more would they hang out in civilian life? They would surely meet up to drink and chat endlessly about useless things without noticing the time passing, boasting about the bonds men share. "Why? Are you jealous?" At the remark asking if she was jealous of her younger brother, Nayoung let out a hollow laugh, but the truth was that it was the correct answer. When she didn't respond and turned her head toward the window, Taehyeok chuckled to himself. The truth was, he had visited the army often because Hwiyoung had struggled to adapt to military life. But since Hwiyoung was the only son at home, he hadn't wanted his family to know. Taehyeok had no choice but to visit alone. Now that Hwiyoung had been safely discharged from the army, he would be able to face society with more courage. So their meetings might now only be during holidays, like ordinary relatives. He could have told her the truth even now, but Nayoung pretending not to be jealous was so cute that he simply kept his mouth shut.
On the other hand, Nayoung kept worrying about what her younger brother Hwiyoung had said.
'You still haven't gone on your honeymoon with your husband? If you only care about hospital life like that, aren't you sorry to him? If it were me, I'd be very upset.'
She had married during her busiest time as a resident, and besides living together, she had pushed everything back until after finishing her residency. The honeymoon, children too. But she shouldn't take his concessions for granted. Since they were husband and wife, they had to adjust to each other. Nayoung wanted to make Taehyeok as happy as he was considerate of her and her family.
"Professor. Shall we go on our honeymoon this year?"
At her suggestion, Taehyeok looked at Nayoung with surprised eyes.
"But you said we'd go after finishing residency."
"I said that because I was busy as a resident back then, but now I'm almost in my fourth year, so I have some leeway. I can take about two days off."
If they included the weekend, it was enough time to go to Jeju Island or a nearby country.
"We've never traveled together."
"We went to Gangwon-do."
"Then shall we go to Gangwon-do for our honeymoon?"
Taehyeok immediately shook his head and refused.
"For a honeymoon, we absolutely must take a plane."
She laughed and agreed.
***
Once she formally requested time off from the hospital, their honeymoon progressed quickly. It would have been nice to go abroad, but considering that Taehyeok's patients had not yet been discharged, they decided on Jeju Island. That way, if an urgent emergency call came in, he could go straight to the hospital. Of course, the happiest outcome would be for no hospital calls to come until the trip ended. What mattered was that they were traveling together after a long time, so heading to the airport felt utterly liberating.
"This is round one of the honeymoon to Jeju Island, and when you finish residency, round two will be to Europe."
At the suggestion of going for a second round of honeymoon as if it were a company dinner, Nayoung laughed out loud.
"It's my first time going to Jeju Island."
At Nayoung's words, Taehyeok made a surprised expression.
"Really?"
It was a place he had even done a day trip to because Chahyeon dragged him to Jeju Island restaurants. He had assumed Nayoung must have gone at least once on a school trip.
"Yes, I've been abroad, but I've never been to Jeju Island."
"Then we need to be careful."
When he suddenly spoke with a serious expression, Nayoung tensed.
"What? Why be careful?"
She had only ever heard that Jeju was a beautiful island; she had rarely heard that it was a dangerous place to visit.
"I heard the people there talk to pretty women like that. You can't speak Jeju dialect at all."
"...."
Though she thought it was definitely a lie, she felt the pressure of the dialect and worried about what she would do if it were really true.
"Professor, do you know Jeju dialect?"
"Neoman bareumyeon jijeounan mot chameukiyeo."
What? What? The words that popped out immediately upon her asking were practically alien.
"What did you say? Surely it wasn't a curse?"
Taehyeok said while swallowing a laugh.
"Ask the people there when we get to Jeju."
Before she forgot, Nayoung hurriedly typed what Taehyeok had said into her phone and glared at him. If she asked in Jeju and it turned out to be a curse, she wouldn't let it go.
Jeju Island felt even closer than other provinces because it was only an hour away by plane from Gimpo Airport. As soon as they came out into the arrivals hall at Jeju Airport, Nayoung was captivated by the exotic scenery visible outside the window.
"Wow! Look at those palm trees."
"Yeah, I saw them. Let's go."
Taehyeok took the hand of Nayoung, who was clearly acting like a first-timer to Jeju, and strode ahead. They had to take the rental car they had reserved and go eat. Since they were both dressed up more than usual outside the hospital, they felt people's gazes on them. Nayoung looked up at Taehyeok. Under his thick eyebrows, his refreshingly elongated eyes and high-bridged nose were truly masculine. She realized anew just how handsome her husband was.
"But the Jeju people aren't talking to me? Then am I not pretty?"
At her sudden question, Taehyeok flinched for a moment before answering calmly.
"It's still the airport. This isn't the locals' zone."
What nonsense about zones. Nayoung was dumbfounded but didn't retort. Because it was their honeymoon.
The goal of this honeymoon was unconditionally to get along well with him.
Taehyeok drove the rental car. Hongsik had said he would follow them all the way to Jeju to be their driver, but Taehyeok coldly shut him down. He couldn't bring a third wheel on their honeymoon.
The two went to the seaside and ate seafood that the haenyeo caught and sold directly. Nayoung showed the haenyeo the Jeju dialect she had written down on her phone from Taehyeok. She cackled and showed it to the other haenyeo as well. They all giggled as if they were in on it together, and Nayoung felt like a fool. As she had suspected, it was a curse! The haenyeo slapped Nayoung's arm and said in a booming voice, "Everyone is like that at that age. Dolkoronghaem (so sweet), jokeura (must be nice)."
Not understanding a word of it, Nayoung looked at Taehyeok, and he was biting his lips to hold back laughter. The youngest among the haenyeo wrote down an interpretation on Nayoung's phone and handed it back.
The moment she read the interpretation, Nayoung's face turned into a burning sweet potato. If she had known it meant that, she would never have shown it to the haenyeo. Under the clear blue sky, facing the emerald waters of the Jeju sea, Nayoung pounded her husband's back with her fists, and seeing this, the haenyeo cackled again.
***
As the sun set and the Jeju sea turned dark, the two went to the hotel where they would stay during their time in Jeju. The hotel atop the seaside cliff was a place that had long accommodated distinguished guests visiting Jeju. Nayoung could tell that instead of going somewhere far for their honeymoon, he had put tremendous thought into their accommodations, but because of what had happened during the day, she kept her lips firmly sealed. Taehyeok approached her first to gauge her mood.
"Still mad?"
"Even if you're a professor, I'm having fun because it's jamijinan."
When she used the Jeju dialect she had learned in just one day, Taehyeok found her so cute that he hugged her small head tightly with both arms.
"You've become a Jeju native in just one day. Impressive."
This time, Nayoung wanted to headbutt him, but it was impossible because Taehyeok was holding her too tightly. Exhausted from struggling, Nayoung leaned against him as if nestling into his embrace. Traveling and walking around was more tiring than working at the hospital.
Taehyeok pressed his lips firmly against her forehead and said in a slightly excited voice.
"Officially speaking, today is our first night."
Since it was their honeymoon, it was certainly a wedding night, but their true first night had already been spent on the day they first met, so the meaning was not quite complete. Taehyeok cupped her two cheeks with his warm hands and asked.
"Surely you're not dissatisfied that I'm your husband?"
He still sometimes found it amazing that she was his wife. When he fell asleep in bed at night, he would feel anxious that if he opened his eyes, all of this might be a dream.
"That could never happen."
Though she often got annoyed whenever he joked around, there had never been a single time she disliked him. He was the man she loved, the husband she relied on, and the family she had to live happily together with. Looking closely into his dark eyes, her body, which already knew the pleasure he gave, instinctively heated up. When Nayoung stretched out both arms to embrace his neck, their lips naturally met. Breath grew ragged at the deeply penetrating kiss. As they walked while kissing, pieces of clothing fell one by one along their path like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs.