I kept expecting him to revert to the cold and heartless Jyeon of the past the longer we're here, but instead, it feels like we are growing closer, and he's warming up with every encounter. Losing his awkwardness around me and relaxing. Maybe I am too, and I never imagined I would freely accept an invitation like tonight from him without questioning it first. The truth is I wanted to see him. I'm getting used to his presence daily again, and I miss him when I don't hear from him.
He's casually dressed tonight, looking hot in black and denim, and his hair isn't as perfectly styled as usual. Flopping onto his face slightly, yet it's devastatingly sexy. It's a dangerous look on someone blessed with a great bone structure and flawless features.
Both men have half-drunk beers by their side, and it's clear their mood is way more relaxed than anytime we've seen them before. Bryant is usually so formal. Bryant is similarly attired and keeps glancing at Greta like he's sure her second head might pop up at any second and devour him whole. He's not as chilled as his best friend and keeps picking at his bottle label, but it's obvious his entire attention is on my moody best friend, who is ignoring his existence.
I find it funny that it's a complete role reversal to how I knew him growing up and wonder when he hit maturity. He wasn't like this two years ago, and maybe it came from being Jyeon's rock in my absence. They were always close, inseparable, but Jyeon was the less emotional and stable one back while Bryant was the playboy of the century. Thinking of it, I haven't seen anything of his antics since we got here and wonder if he's finally settled own. He's missing his flirty and shameless side in picking up girls when it comes to Greta, and she seems to make him visibly nervous. It's kind of cute to watch.
The waitress walks in with two cokes for Greta and me and our cold starters of sushi, which she places swiftly with expertise and leaves quickly. All four of us pull the plates and start to dig in. I'm not that hungry, but it looks and smells divine.
"Let your hair down, have a drink, and enjoy a normal evening. There's no point to tonight other than to kick back and have fun. We'll take care of you if you get drunk." Jyeon lifts his bottle towards me in such a bro manner it catches me off guard, and I laugh at him before raising my glass and clinking them together. Amused by this carefree side of him lately. Something he missed out on after the age of sixteen. If I'm being honest, and I like seeing him like this, it's infectious. So far removed from office Jyeon, or husband Jyeon, I saw daily for four cold years. I guess because now he chooses to be in my presence, and no one expects anything of it. In a way, the accident freed us both from the pressure hanging over us to be a single unit.
"Neither of us is big drinkers, so if you have plans on getting us drunk, it's not going to happen." I point out and sip my drink, catching a weird, silent staring competition going on between Bryant and Greta to my left. Neither is saying anything, but there seem to be many subliminal things going on, and her expression is frosty.
"I think I would fear less for my life if she mellowed a bit. Maybe a drink isn't a bad idea." Bryant points his beer bottle at her accusingly, and I shove her in the shoulder. Wondering why she's being so hostile.
"Relax. He's off the clock. Think of him as just a regular guy and not the slimy, corrupt legal advisor to a corporation that's trying to steal your best friend despite her protests." I joke at her, grinning wildly and laughing at both men's immediate outraged unified response.
"Hey!!"
Greta snort-laughs then lifts her glass to clink with mine, and nods in approval. Beaming and instantly returning to her sunny self.
"She mellows when she gets to know you a little better. Until then, you just have to put up with it. She's my rottweiler, and she takes her role very seriously."
"She can have the night off and let you use the stand-in guard dog for one night. Jyeon is more than willing to do it." Bryant winks at me and then Jyeon, earning himself a bat on the back of his head from his best friend. Jyeon is frowning his way as though he just heard the cringiest thing.
"That was cheesy, dude."
"He must have learned his lines from you." I flutter my lashes Jyeon's way, smirking, and get a very handsome half-grin in response.
"What is this, huh? Hate on the men tonight? I'll switch seats and keep you lassoed to my side if there's any more of this sass." Jyeon playfully warns me, but I shrug, unconcerned with his empty threats. It all feels a little flirty with him being this way, but it's nice. The heavy tension that always seems to hang over us when we're together is absent for once. Having Greta and Bryant help diffuse my nervousness is a plus, and there's a relaxed ambiance going on despite Greta's blatant hostility.
She doesn't trust them, and I don't blame her. She agrees with me, though that Jyeon isn't part of whoever tried to hurt me, that he doesn't know anything about it either. He seems genuinely trying to make up for the past and the affair and that if I gave him a chance, he would try and start some kind of romance between us. She's worried that he might convince me over time to give it a go, and our life back home dissipates, where I leave her to go there by herself. I understand her fears. I'm her family, and she's scared I'll choose Jyeon and my old life.
I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind more than once. The what-ifs. The thoughts of letting myself trust Jyeon a little and see what happens. I just can't. This isn't where my life is anymore, and I have no desire to return to what I left behind. To be controlled and pushed into the mold of who I became. To have Yoonha cling to me, mother depend on me and losing myself in OLO all over again to the point Jyeon could no longer stand to be near me. This city was claustrophobic back then, and I had no life outside of work. I hated myself and my life, and it crushed my sanity to the point of almost no return.
I tasted freedom and was allowed to be myself to grow these past two years. I can't give it up. I like the island, and yes, I do miss the city itself, but I have so much to lose by not going back.
"Why don't we go do something other than drink when we're done here. Maybe something fun…. like ten-pin bowling. Or an arcade… an amusement park?" It comes out of me from god knows where as I wasn't even really thinking about it. Mulling over my relationship with him, and boom, I'm suggesting an extended night of teen dating. Alcohol doesn't seem like a good idea when my heart is wavering.
"I'm in." Bryant raises his bottle and clanks it against the glass I'm holding, catching me off guard, so I slosh it over my plate.
"Dude." Jyeon scolds him with a soft tone and leans over with a napkin to mop the worst of it up for me. "Steady on, or I'll stop your alcohol intake."
"I mean, it sounds better than staying here to eat overpriced seafood and watch you two get drunk and clumsy, I guess." Greta agrees in her own passive-aggressive way, and I laugh at how hard it is for her ever to give in. She obviously likes my idea.
"If that's what you ladies want to do, then sure. I won't drink anymore and be the driver."
"Uh uh… if we're doing this, we call an OLO driver, and the four of us have to at least mellow with a couple of drinks. An amusement park is way more fun when you're half-drunk. Be like we're sixteen again and up to no good….. I don't think I can handle Miss Terrifying over there without it."
He does have a point. I have fond memories of getting intoxicated on stolen booze and hanging out at the park with these boys on more than one occasion. It made it a hundred times funnier.
"It's not like we have work tomorrow, Greta. How about we have a couple to take the edge off. It's been a rocky week."
"Be warned. Drunk, I am a demon, so best to keep me on the happy and not inebriated." Greta narrows her eyes at Bryant, and there's a flicker of something between them as his face softens and he winks at her.