Page 121 of The Photograph

Seo-jun reappears with a man with a camera, who introduces himself as Ji-woo, but just Woo for Westerners, he says with a wink. Grinning broadly, he leans in and says, “This is terrifying taking pictures at a photography exhibition. I want to apologize in advance.”

Alex shakes his head. “Not at all. Believe you me, I look at the photographs on the wall, and it doesn’t seem like they belong to me, you know?”

“They’re amazing,” Woo says, gazing around the gallery, and Alex stares at him for a beat before slumping a little. I’ll bet my bottom dollar the photographer’s opinion is the only one he really cares about.

“What I’d like to do is get a picture of you guys talking together in front of one of the photos.”

Glancing down at our linked fingers, he beams. “Holding hands would be awesome, too.”

As Woo positions us where he wants us, Alex is still pale. Maybe I need to try to make Alex laugh, because the guy needssome happy pictures, right? So I lean into him and say, “What do you call a man with a rubber toe?”

“What?”

“What do you call a man with a rubber toe?”

“Des, we don’t have time for this.”

“Yes, we do.” I pull on his hand. “Ignore the photographer. What do you call a man with a rubber toe?”

He sighs and tilts his head back to gaze at the ceiling, and I grin at his tipped-back head, and when he comes back down, a small smile is twisting his lips. Woo snaps away.

“I have no idea, Des. What do you call a man with a rubber toe?”

“Roberto!” I say triumphantly, and he places his hands over his face. But I know him too well now, and I caught his half smile before he hid it.

“Why did the can crusher quit his job?”

He drops his hands and glares at me. “What? Stop it right now.”

“No. Come on. Why did the can crusher quit his job?”

“This is fantastic, guys,” Woo says. “I’m getting some great pictures.”

“See?” I say, stepping into Alex and pulling him into a hug.

“Great, great,” Woo says.

Alex shakes his head and glowers at me. “I don’t know, Des, why did the can crusher quit his job?”

“Because it was soda pressing!”

Even I find that funny, and his lips quirk as I watch the point where he can’t hold it back anymore. His lips curl up into the wildest grin. Smiling back at him, I place a kiss right over his laughing mouth and he closes his eyes. When I pull back, his eyes pop open and he rolls them at me.

“That was fabulous!” Woo says, bounding up to us. “At the end there.” He makes a kissing noise and shakes his head. “Just perfect.”

Turning his digital camera around, he shows us the picture and my breath stalls. I’m grinning at Alex like he hangs the moon and stars for me, and oh fuck, he’s looking at me the same way. I stare at the image on the screen. Woo swipes to the next one where I’m smooching him over his smiling mouth and we’re both laughing. We look like we’re madly in love. I mean we are, but how can a photograph capture it so well? Holy shit. After all this time, all these false starts then thinking I’d lost him. My throat tightens. Shit, I’m going to cry.

I turn away, and as I do, I hear Woo say, “Didn’t he like them? There are other ones that …”

Alex clears his throat. “No, no. I think the problem is he liked them too much.” And his hand lands on my arm before I’m even three or four steps away.

“Des.”

Urgency thrums through his voice, and I press my fingers into the corner of my eyes.

“I’m just trying to get myself under control,” I mutter.

He turns me around and pulls me into his arms. “It’s okay.”

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