White Lilies: A Russie Features Short

Atlanta to Saint-Etienne

October 2015
1:46AM EDT

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to bring her along.” 

“It’s too soon.” Jin-ho raised a brow at this but didn’t press. “I told her that you needed me to go with you for a business meeting. Which is sort of true, given that you suddenly have three clients to meet with,” Mathieu told him dryly. 

“I’d like to take advantage of our time.” Jin-ho reclined against his seat and removed his tablet from its case, signaling for the conversation to be over. In the seat next to his, Mathieu sighed. A stewardess approached and offered him a drink; he refused but Jin-ho asked for a cold glass of juice. 

At the moment, the two were currently flying over to France. While Jin-ho had business matters to attend to in one of France’s cities, Mathieu had other personal matters to deal with. The Korean glanced at Mathieu, “We still have a lot of time to go. Aren’t you going to do something?” 

“I was thinking of sleeping,” Mathieu rolled his eyes and fished around for the eye mask in his bag, Jin-ho watching quietly. “What?” 

The other male shook his head and refocused his attention on his tablet. “It’s nothing. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to eat.” Jin-ho reached for his earphones and plugged them in, then slid the buds onto his ears. By the time he was playing the second song in a classical playlist, Mathieu was already in deep sleep. 

It was at that point in which he allowed himself to look at the other fully, a blank look coming to his face. Asleep, he observed quietly. And to think Mathieu never really sleeps when we fly out. 

“Sir? Here’s your drink.” Jin-ho blinked and thanked the stewardess as the cold glass was handed over to him. “Does your companion need some earplugs?” 

“I don’t think he will. Thank you, anyway.” She smiled and left, Jin-ho scanning the rest of the people with them in the first-class area. Most asleep and others just like him, passing the time until drowsiness could even hit him. Without anything else to do, Jin-ho loaded an e-book onto the screen and proceeded to read silently while drinking from his glass. 

The hours passed by slowly. Before he knew it, Jin-ho was already feel sleepiness tugging at his eyes and reluctantly lay down after tucking away his tablet. As he was about to fall asleep, he could have sworn that he had seen the figure of Mathieu slowly manage to pull himself up. Despite this, Jin-ho fell asleep before he could even confirm to himself whether what he had seen was real or merely just the exhaustion kicking into his system. 

In the dark of the flight, Mathieu silently confirmed that those around him were asleep and merely sat there, running his hands through his hair while the faintest memory tugged at his mind. 

They had gone to Saint-Étienne for a different reason altogether. It was something only known by himself, Jin-ho, and Tony – that the reason why he and Jin-ho flew out to France at a particular time per year was because Mathieu always paid a visit to someone back where he had lived. 

He knew the place like it was the back of his hand. Mathieu could list the different establishments he and Jin-ho would have to pass by, could remember the different street signs which Jin-ho had attempted to read a couple of years back (and failed miserably at). He could remember how many steps it would take, the number of minutes spent on public transport as he made his way from the hotel to there. Mathieu remembered. 

They kept at the same ritual every year. Stayed in Saint-Étienne for a maximum of three, four days. Accompanied Jin-ho to wherever he had to be. Wander around the place he had called home and observe whether the old places were still there or if they had been overtaken and replaced by something else. 

The first time he had come back with Jin-ho, everything felt different. But as the years passed, he slowly settled and came to the fact that things had to change. Certain aspects remained the same. Certain aspects had to change. There would always be different people, different reasons, different motives. 

But his remained the same. 

“How fucking long have you been up?” Mathieu blinked and glanced next to him, seeing Jin-ho squint at him in the dark. “It’s a little creepy, you know. Waking up and then seeing someone stare into the dead of the night. Or whatever time it is right now.” 

“Not too long.” The redhead disregarded the question and reached for something in his bag, “Sleeping in planes are weird. I’m not used to it, remember?” 

“Yeah. Sure.” Slowly, Jin-ho lay down again and closed his eyes. “We’ve got. Five or four hours left to burn on this flight, so do whatever the fuck you want.” 

Eventually the plane landed in the Saint-Étienne-Bouthé airport, both men eventually getting out with the rest of them. Jin-ho checked the time on his phone, which he had adjusted to reflect France’s time moments back. “Do you want to check in and have room service, or do you want to go out?”

“Anything.” Mathieu glanced up from his phone before answering, “I’m fine with either.” 

“Nothing in particular?” 

“I’m not too hungry.” Jin-ho inhaled, resisted the urge to call out the other on his bullshit, and merely kept his mouth shut as he navigated his way through the airport with Mathieu following closely behind. 

* * * * *

Adagio Apparthotel

Saint-Etienne, FR
9:21AM GMT+2

“You didn’t have to book us in here.”

“Shut up, I wanted to.” Jin-ho browsed the menu that was left in the hotel room’s table, “What do you want?”

“Anything, you pick. I’m not choosy.” The Korean sighed and eventually wrote down the meals on a piece of paper, tossing it to Mathieu after. The Frenchman reached for the phone, dialed a number and conversed with the other person in rapid French, ordering for the two of them. Jin-ho yawned and flopped onto the other bed, lazily unlocking it. Eventually he heard Mathieu put the phone down and he cleared his throat slowly. 

“…hey. When do you want to go?” 

Silence. Jin-ho glanced at him and saw the same, blank expression his companion had when they were on the plane. He wondered if it was the right time to bring it up. He was about to open his mouth to say something in haste, but Mathieu gave a tiny shrug and answered: “Evening.” 

And said nothing more. 

For the rest of the day, the two merely stayed in. Mathieu dwindled in and out while Jin-ho kept the curtains closed and buried himself under the covers. Occasionally he heard Mathieu quietly talking to someone over his laptop; he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming if he heard a vaguely familiar female voice come from the device. It wasn’t until he heard the “have a good day, sweetheart” that he realized that Mathieu was talking to Aether over Skype. 

“Was that Aether?” he asked groggily. Mathieu nodded with the faintest of smiles and checked his phone before getting up and leaving the closed laptop on his bed. “Wait, are we going already?”

“I’ll go ahead.” He took his jacket, which was hanging from the nearby chair and slid it on, “Need to buy some flowers before the stores close. Lilies, orchids. I’ll meet you for dinner.” 

“Don’t you want me to come? Jesus, give the man a minute to dress up,” the Korean groaned. But Mathieu shook his head. 

“I’ll be fine. It’ll be quick.” Upon hearing the out of place tone in his voice, Jin-ho squinted and saw Mathieu giving the faintest of smiles. “I’ll be okay. I just…need time alone.” 

Understanding, Jin-ho fell back onto the bed and pulled the covers over himself again. “If you say so. You know the way around. Bring one of the keys with you.” 

“Got it.” The sound of a door opening, footsteps leaving – and Mathieu was gone. Buried, Jin-ho let a quiet sigh and shut his eyes again, thinking nothing else of how exhausted his companion sounded before falling back asleep.