NHL 36

“Joeon, which part do you like better?”

“…Well, I don’t know. More importantly, do we really need to buy more here?”

Joeon reacted coolly, looking at the two packs of red meat Dylan held out in front of him. He glanced down to take a peek, and the cart was already full of various cuts of meat. It had happened in the blink of an eye.

Dylan was definitely a carnivore, and true to being an athlete, his appetite was enormous. However, for someone whose profession meant he spent far more time eating out than at home, the amount in the shopping cart right now looked a bit excessive.

“Dylan. Meat is enough now, so let’s go buy some vegetable ingredients.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

As Joeon snatched the meat packs from his hands and put them down, Dylan looked at the meat with eyes filled with lingering regret. He seemed to have rapidly lost interest at the mention of buying vegetables.

Just like the day they went skating and grilled steaks at the villa surrounded by a coniferous forest, Dylan grilled the meat with simple seasoning, and Joeon, who had been hovering around trying to help with something, took charge of the plating.

It seemed he truly didn’t spend much time at home, as there were quite a few mismatched plates and cups in Dylan’s apartment. It wasn’t much different from Joeon’s house. Having pulled out the few pieces of tableware that managed to form a pair and prepared the drinks, Joeon sat at the dining table and prepared mashed potatoes, made by mashing boiled potatoes and mixing in salt, butter, and milk.

The menu was simple and neat. It was a clean combination of arugula salad with olive oil and parmesan cheese, steak, roasted vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Dylan said he also had instant mac and cheese and would make that too if he wanted, but Joeon declined. Joeon’s palate was on the lighter side.

Dinner was held slowly and peacefully. This time, it wasn’t in nature with the clear sound of nature draped everywhere, but in the heart of the city surrounded by a concrete jungle where dull, gray-colored high-rise buildings were packed as tightly as cedar trees. Outside the window, the pitch-black night sky and the untiring traces of life beneath it shone ceaselessly.

After finishing the meal, the two of them rummaged through the walk-in closet they were using like a storage room and pulled out a Jenga set. As the games continued, the two became fired up and were absorbed in the game until late into the night.

Joeon felt embarrassed that he was showing his competitive streak over a mere game and tried to change the mood, but because he accidentally mentioned that there was an adult version with racy forfeits like “stripping” attached to the blocks, he immediately wanted to hit his own lips. It was because Dylan was scanning him up and down with his eyes shining with mischief.

In the end, to smooth over his slip of the tongue, he pulled a block in a hurry and ended up toppling the tower. Dylan asked with a playful laugh.

“Which one will you go with? T-shirt, pants, or underwear?”

Joeon pretended not to hear Dylan’s question and took out the smelling salt, performing the forfeit himself. Thanks to that, he was wide awake. It was his turn to show the perseverance of a man fired up with a competitive spirit.

While they were recording a neck-and-neck winning percentage, Dylan, who checked the time, pulled out a camping chair from somewhere.

“The time has come. Shall we head out?”

They set up the chairs on the balcony. The two of them armed themselves with thick winter jackets and took their seats.

“Do we really have to watch from here? The wind is… blowing incredibly hard.”

As Joeon muttered, his legs trembling, Dylan sat down and pulled his small camping chair right next to Joeon’s.

“Come closer.”

He draped his arm around Joeon’s shoulder as if to put it around him, pulling his body in. The gaps where the biting wind could seep in disappeared. The contact, which had felt only embarrassing at first, quickly became familiar. Joeon’s head, tilted at an angle, touched his broad shoulder. No, it was a position closer to his chest than that.

Joeon pulled his hood deep over his head, and the raccoon fur obstructed his vision. The blowing wind was so cold that even though he couldn’t see well, he just sat there satisfied with the warmth, but he felt hot breath close by on his forehead.

“Is this a little better?”

“Much better.”

Lukewarm lips blew through his bangs to push them away, and then planted a firm stamp onto the flat skin. The lips that fell away with a popping sound moved down to the corners of his eyes. Then, they pressed tightly against his temple and moved languidly.

“It feels like we’re camping, so it’s even better, isn’t it? How about you, Joeon?”

He was truly a partner for whom skinship was natural. Feeling shy, Joeon answered while keeping his gaze on the round roof of the Rogers Centre.

“…Camping on December 31st. Don’t you think it’s more cold than it is fun?”

“I’m holding you so you won’t be cold. Is me not enough? Should we build a bonfire or something?”

Joeon chuckled at the explicit expression. It seemed the attacker who couldn’t go backward or turn around was indeed correct. Just as he was about to retort by asking what they would do if they were arrested for a fire code violation, a single roar was heard. The small sound coming from afar was like a firework someone had accidentally launched.

“Look over there, Joeon. It looks like it’s about to start.”

Following Dylan’s gaze and checking the time, it was already close to midnight. People in the distance began the countdown. The voices of the citizens gathered in front of Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall overlapped into one and rang out through the downtown.

“10!”

“9!”

Perhaps there were people like the two of them who had come out to their balconies at Dylan’s condo to enjoy the upcoming event, as voices counting down could also be heard not far away. The voices of the people echoed in the forest of buildings, sounding slightly slower than the actual passing time.

And, at the same time they counted 1, a roar louder than anything he had heard before was heard. As Joeon flinched his shoulders, Dylan applied pressure to the hand wrapped around his shoulder.

Beautiful light poured onto Dylan’s balcony, from where one could overlook downtown at a glance. The CN Tower, the pillar that supports the city, lit up, and brilliant fireworks popped from its peak.

The fireworks bursting in every direction from the top looked like flower stalks putting forth buds. The desolate city flower that bloomed in mid-winter was the only thing illuminating the pitch-black night sky.

During the short time that lasted no more than about 10 minutes, the tower seemed to look back on the past four seasons: it sprouted, formed buds, and made brilliant petals bloom before letting them fall one after another and wither. As if scattering the last remaining seeds into the world, the tower quietly went dark. Only the cheers of people bursting out from time to time drifted through the air like an echo.

Joeon was speechless for a long time.

Although it had been over a decade since he settled in this city, a deep sense of awe washed over him at a sight he had never seen before. Dylan, too, simply expressed his awe through warmth. The cheers and congratulations of people continued from afar. Only then did Dylan greet Joeon.

“Happy New Year.”

Joeon, who had opened his mouth to reciprocate, quietly closed his lips and swallowed hard. It was because he felt like a disgraceful voice, deeply immersed in awe, would come out. Perhaps for that reason, even though he ended up answering, “Happy New Year to you too,” he ended up breathing out a bunch of white steam instead of a proper voice. Compared to the joy and blessings of the people heard throughout the city, it was a ridiculously listless sound.

The people he had met in this land were not in the least bit stingy about expressing positive emotions. In this city where people laugh, praise, thank, and rejoice easily, people did not easily despair or become pessimistic even when faced with misfortune. Like Maya, who liked to give to others despite not being financially well-off, or Tony, who spared no energy in caring for the people around him.

Joeon had lived his life so dryly that the past time he had spent simply living because he was alive felt embarrassing. He not only didn’t know much about this land, which did not lose warmth or hope even amidst the snowstorms that visited like regulars in winter, but he also hadn’t loved it.

His only thought was that he had to adapt and survive every day. To him, life was just existence.