Despite the drama of our beginnings, our actual relationship was perfectly mundane to the point of being yawn-inducing. But we didn’t care. Because whatever it was or wasn’t, we were in a relationship.

It became a habit of Gyu-ho’s to come sleep at my place after his weekend shift at the club. He treaded softly because he knew I was a light sleeper and washed only his face before creeping under the covers and falling asleep in ten seconds. I woke, despite the faintness of the sounds he made, and nestled my nose up to the back of his head, where I could smell the tobacco in his hair or on his forehead as I tried to get back to sleep.

We’d get up late in the afternoon, boil ourselves some bean sprout or kimchi stew, and go out. I never would have ventured from the bed (especially not to go anywhere with crowds) unless someone told me to, while Gyu-ho felt caged in when he was in one place for too long. I couldn’t understand how he had changed me, but thanks to him, I was now seeing the world.

The course of our dates followed the flow of Seoul’s gentrification. The galleries of Samcheong-dong and Bukchon, Serosugil, near where Gyu-ho worked, and past Bogwang-dong, Mangwon-dong, Haebangchon, and Seongsu-dong . . . We each gained over ten pounds while we were together. Gyu-ho mostly picked up the check, for the sake of his minimum-wage, dirt-poor boyfriend. And whenever he told me to get famous soon and pay him back, I’d always answer with a boisterous “Of course!” But we both knew that was never going to happen.

◊

Gyu-ho came home one day with a piece of Australian beef to celebrate his promotion to Head of Consultations. What kind of two-bit operation must this clinic be to have given him a promotion already, I mused out loud as I cooked the beef. Hearing him talk about it, Head of Consultations didn’t seem like it was that big a job, but the chief at the clinic did seem to have taken a liking to Gyu-ho. According to him, he was fond of Gyu-ho for not being like kids these days.

—What does he mean by me not being like kids these days?

—It means you’re country as fuck.

I could tell what that doctor was thinking. Gyu-ho’s frugality with words, his steadfast personality, combined with the looks of a juvenile delinquent—a combination that, oddly enough, inspired trust in his character. I should know, since that was exactly what attracted me to him as well.