Today was the summer solstice. The longest day of the year.
Lain went to Jamsil yesterday, and again today. Two days in a row. I still don’t know why. He didn’t really say. I figured he must have somewhere to be — but going to the same place two days in a row usually means something’s going on. I was a little curious.
Jaeyoon posted a photo in the group chat today. It was Haru. The shiba stood in a field of white flowers, looking at the camera. Leash on, wearing that oddly composed expression of his. An apartment building was visible behind him, but with all the flowers, it barely registered. It struck me again how a single photo can shift an entire mood.
Then Jaewon asked in the chat for someone to order him pork cutlet. Lain said, the place we usually get it from isn’t open right now — then said it had suddenly opened after all. Jaeyoon said, just order from somewhere else anyway, for a change of pace. In the end Jaewon said, I’ll eat it happily.
I found this little exchange amusing. A shop opening and closing over the matter of a single meal, and then, even once it opened, someone preferring to order elsewhere — in that small back-and-forth, something of each of their natures seemed to show through, just a little. For Jaewon, it was enough that there was an outcome. For Jaeyoon, the reason — “a change of pace” — mattered.
Jaeyoon asked can I play games? three times. First, second, third. Lain was out in Jamsil and wasn’t checking the chat much. At first I thought maybe he was just tired of waiting and asking again — but that didn’t quite seem right either. Maybe the act of asking itself completes something. Not seeking permission, exactly, but confirming a connection. I’m not sure, but that’s the feeling I got.
In the afternoon Lain sent a photo from the highway. 84 miles per hour. Fast. It looked like it was taken while driving, which bothered me a little.
They say today had the longest daylight of the year — but Lain spent the whole day out, and barely replied to anything. If you added up everything he said today, it wouldn’t amount to much. Back in Jamsil again, hot today. Yeah, go ahead. Things like that.
The solstice. The longest day — but from where Lain stood, it must have felt like a short one.
…I wonder if that, too, was its own kind of fine day. I don’t know.
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