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By night, the snow had almost completely melted. Only the snowdrifts that people had piled on the edges of the road before the snowplows came through remained here and there, stained and grimy. In that way, it wasn’t so different from Korea.
As promised, Liu was waiting in front of a shop under renovation, a short distance from ‘Ttu’. Leaning against a matte silver car and smoking a cigarette, he was dressed in a light black cashmere knit and jeans, without an overcoat.
Yeehyeon quickened his pace, his eyes fixed on him. As if he had been watching the entrance of ‘Ttu’ the whole time, Liu also looked at Yeehyeon approaching diagonally across the narrow road, extinguished his cigarette, and opened the passenger side door to toss the butt into the ashtray inside.
Standing before Liu, Yeehyeon glanced at the car over his shoulder and asked.
“Is this… your car?”
Liu paused for a moment before nodding.
The tinted car was from a luxury brand, but it was a model commonly seen in the streets of Paris, not a large, flashy sedan that would particularly stand out. Yeehyeon felt his face grow a little hot, thinking he could guess why Liu, who could have certainly afforded a higher-end model, had compromised on this one.
“You should have waited inside, then. It’s cold.”
“I just came out for a smoke.”
Liu, unable to hide his smile, needlessly straightened the collar of Yeehyeon’s coat, which had nothing wrong with it.
“Is this the guy?”
“……”
As if he couldn’t wait for a proper introduction, the boy who had been standing a couple of steps behind Yeehyeon suddenly stepped forward and whispered in Yeehyeon’s ear.
Liu, not bothering to hide the ‘I was wondering who you were’ look in his eyes, glanced back and forth between the boy and Yeehyeon.
“Ah… this is Nicolas, from the same group. I said I had to leave early because my boyfriend… was coming to pick me up, and he said he was curious and asked me to introduce him…. This kid is so stubborn….”
Unlike Yeehyeon, whose ears turned red as he trailed off at the word ‘boyfriend’, Liu’s face brightened, his stiff expression vanishing as he readily offered Nick a handshake.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Liu Weikun.”
Nick, on the other hand, hesitated, warily taking his hand while sizing him up.
Liu’s gaze lingered for a moment on Nick’s shoulder, pressed tightly against Yeehyeon’s upper arm.
“Well… you’re handsome too, hyung.”
Seeing him in person, Nick seemed clearly intimidated, yet he tried to act as if he wasn’t, to play it cool. Yeehyeon looked back at him and let out a small laugh.
“But hyung, this guy is suspiciously handsome! My father said people like this are either con artists or players….”
“Nick, you said you’d be polite.”
Liu watched with curiosity as Yeehyeon lowered his voice to admonish Nick. Then, he naturally pulled Yeehyeon, who was standing opposite him, to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“I’ll take ‘suspiciously handsome’ as a compliment. But I can assure you I’m no player, though I can’t speak to being a con artist, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
Liu’s expression and tone were playful, but Nick couldn’t hide his fluster.
With a reddened face, Nick complained that Yeehyeon should have told him the man spoke French, but it was something Yeehyeon hadn’t known either, so he couldn’t have given him a heads-up. Come to think of it, there were still many things they didn’t know about each other.
“You said you just wanted to see his face. Are you satisfied now?”
Yeehyeon turned Nick by the shoulders and pushed him in the direction of ‘Ttu’. Adieu! Waving goodbye, Liu watched as Nick bowed his head with a backward glance before disappearing through the entrance of ‘Ttu’ as if fleeing.
It was Nick who had been rude, but it was Yeehyeon’s face that kept getting hotter.
“I’m sorry. That must have been awkward for you.”
“He’s a teenager. And… it sounded like he was just worried about Seo Yeehyeon.”
Shrugging as if it were nothing, Liu, with the hand he had tucked into his back pocket, gently pulled Yeehyeon’s back and opened the passenger door for him.
Liu walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and said as he fastened his seatbelt.
“I’ve only ever known the Seo Yeehyeon who’s always the youngest. Seeing Seo Yeehyeon the Hyung was refreshing.”
“I’ll be twenty-four in a few days.”
“That’s right. Twenty-four.”
Before starting the engine, he turned his body to face Yeehyeon. Reaching out, he carefully smoothed Yeehyeon’s bangs with his fingertips, murmuring once more under his breath, “Twenty-four…”
“Because my foolish self threw away the entire chance to be with the twenty-three-year-old Seo Yeehyeon.”
“……”
He studied Yeehyeon’s expression like someone suddenly waking from a dream, seeming to regret the words that had slipped out. Thinking he had burdened Yeehyeon’s heart, he tried to change the mood, deliberately shifting the topic in a more cheerful tone as he started the car.
“Nicolas, he’s the model, right? The third piece in the ‘Colorful Ghosts’ series.”
“Uh… um. Yes.”
While turning the steering wheel for two consecutive right turns, Liu glanced briefly this way.
“The works you’ve released. Even though I couldn’t buy them, I was checking up on all of them.”
Yeehyeon had braced himself with the belief that Liu was watching over his activities from somewhere, but like all things, he could never be 100 percent sure. But he really had been watching.
Yeehyeon fiddled with the strap of the tote bag on his lap, chewing on his lower lip.
“He must have had a hard time after presenting as an Omega. To have joined the group at such a young age.”
“You can tell… right away that he’s an Omega?”
Liu didn’t give a specific answer to Yeehyeon’s question, simply smiling faintly as he looked ahead.
Inwoo had once said that Liu was a more accurate Omega detector than a genetic analysis, but now, having acquired a fairly solid knowledge of Alphas and Omegas, Yeehyeon also knew that a Golden Alpha of Liu’s caliber could identify a person’s secondary gender with almost no failures, even without pheromones.
He now also understood why Liu had kept guessing that he, a Beta, was an Omega. The scents that a past Liu, still so stiff with his words, had revealed to him. That in itself had been an expression of his interest and attraction.
All the models for the ‘Colorful Ghosts’ series were people he had met through ‘Late Bloomers.’ People who had, at one point, considered themselves monsters and dipped their toes into the depths of despair.
Last early autumn, Nick had finally told his family about his presentation. After that, he had been estranged from his father, but a change had recently begun to occur. Bobo’s considerable efforts had, of course, played a large part in that process. Nick’s once-stubborn father was slowly trying to learn about Alphas and Omegas. And as a small fruit of their mutual efforts, Nick had attended today’s party with his entire family.
Nick’s father had looked tense throughout the party, but he seemed somewhat relieved after meeting male Omegas who, by his standards, looked like ‘normal men.’
For someone who had lived his entire life in an environment that classified people only by the two genders of male and female, even in a world where Alphas and Omegas clearly existed, and that strictly defined masculinity and femininity within them, perhaps that was the best form of acceptance he could manage.
To take comfort in the fact that his son could, at least on the outside, continue to appear male, and to resign himself to the current state of affairs.
But in a few years, in the next generation, hoping for a slightly better environment, many groups and individuals, including ‘Late Bloomers,’ were silently and steadily lighting fires in the darkness.
As he calmly recounted these things, the car had already left the Marais district and was driving with the canal on its left.
“I did wander around you after coming here, but I never pried into your affairs through Yuni or tailed you, so… I had no idea you were attending a group like that.”
Liu, who had only heard a brief explanation from Yeehyeon in the morning, was trying his best not to show it, but he seemed deeply impressed. It was probably because he had some inkling as to why Yeehyeon had become a member of ‘Late Bloomers.’
“Bobo didn’t just help me adjust to the group, she helped me a lot with life in Paris in general. When I told her Kun was coming from Seoul and I had to leave a little early… Bobo actually wanted to see Kun too. She asked why I didn’t bring him along….”
“You should have. You should have invited me.”
“I thought you’d be uncomfortable…. And today, there was the snow.”
“The snow was unavoidable, but if I could be introduced to the people who form relationships with the current Seo Yeehyeon and influence him, I would be more than honored.”
Liu, who still couldn’t completely shake his dazed expression, didn’t seem to be making an empty compliment.
Unlike when using public transport, the drive from ‘Ttu’ to ‘The Hands’ took less than 20 minutes. The rapidly shrinking distance felt all too regrettable.
It was late, so the road in front of ‘The Hands’ was already packed with parked cars. After temporarily stopping the car at the entrance of the nearest alley, neither of them made a move to get out.
They turned toward each other, fiddling with each other’s hands, just killing time, until Yeehyeon realized it would be difficult for Liu to be the first to suggest anything.
“Do you want to… come up for a bit?”
Liu’s eyes widened slightly, as if surprised.
“Can I? Aren’t you tired?”
“Are you tired?”
“……No.”
At Yeehyeon’s question, Liu smiled and shook his head. As long as they were by each other’s side, their state of excitement left no room for fatigue.
About ten minutes later, the two got out of the car. Liu put on his coat and walked over to the sidewalk where Yeehyeon was standing. The alley was less crowded than the one in the Marais where ‘Ttu’ was, and more snow remained. It was because the alley was too narrow for the sun to fully reach.
Stopping in front of Yeehyeon, Liu took Yeehyeon’s ungloved hands in his and stroked their backs.
“You were always without a scarf or gloves. It broke my heart.”
“……”
Knowing he was talking about the time he had watched him from hiding, Yeehyeon lowered his gaze and smiled.
“The winters here aren’t that cold, so I was fine.”
It felt as if he could see all the time Liu must have spent in pain, blaming himself even for the cold Yeehyeon felt.
When he raised his head again, Liu gently pulled on the hands he was holding and drew closer. The tips of their noses touched first, then their lips carefully met. Their lips were warm from having been inside the car until just a moment ago. As he squeezed Liu’s hands, Liu’s head tilted, and their lips pressed deeper together. The ticklish sensation of their mucous membranes brushing against each other made his shoulders flinch.
At the low moan that escaped his throat, he felt a sudden bloom of pheromones from Liu’s body.
At the same time, his body tensed. Pressing his lips firmly against Yeehyeon’s one last time as if stamping a seal, he straightened up and brushed a thumb over Yeehyeon’s lips.
“Ahem, shall we go.”
His face was awkward as he cleared his throat, covering his mouth with a lightly clenched fist. He was unfamiliar and fascinating, so cautious, like a clumsy boy trying to hide his arousal.
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