■ ■ ■
Across the canal, between the moored boats, Yeehyeon ‘s favorite café could be seen.
He and his colleagues would surely appear along that path and return to ‘The Hands’. To watch them return, it was safer to wait from a slight distance. Liu waited for Yeehyeon from across the canal.
While the call connected to Manager Han, Liu kept glancing at the clock on the car’s tablet.
He had already canceled his 1 PM flight. Telling himself, just a little longer, just a little longer, he’d dragged things out until it was nearly 2 PM. In Seoul, it was evening, approaching 8 PM.
There was a flight to Incheon at 4:30. For now, he planned to take that one.
[Hey, it’s me.]
Manager Han’s relaxed voice, fitting for a Sunday evening, came through the phone.
“Were you resting?”
[Just lazing around at home. Ah… I think I drank too much yesterday. I’m still hungover.]
“I figured as much.”
Liu chuckled, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead. He hadn’t expected a get-together with Choi Inwoo and Shushu to end with just a meal.
[Choi Inwoo is one thing, but when did Shushu become such a heavy drinker? She drank two bottles of wine by herself! Director Liu, have you ever seen Shushu drink like that?]
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had drinks with her, too.”
[Hasn’t it been a long time since you’ve had drinks with anyone, Director Liu? Huh?]
It seemed his sheepish, apologetic laugh had carried over the phone.
[Trying to laugh it off, are you? Anyway, wow… She’s been hanging out with Choi Inwoo a lot lately. Jung Se-in has become a total boozehound.]
Jung Se-in was the Korean pronunciation of Shushu’s Hong Kong name, Zheng Shui-an. Just as Liu was known as Director Liu in Korea.
[Ah, but why the call?]
“About tomorrow, would it be possible for me to come in in the afternoon?”
[We finished all the exhibition prep last week. It’s fine. Why? Are you still out of town?]
“Yeah, it turned out that way.”
[Did… something happen?]
Manager Han’s question sounded both worried and as if he were subtly probing for something.
“It’s nothing like that. I was just organizing my thoughts here and there. I figured I’d spend the night here and head out tomorrow morning.”
[That’s a good idea. Clear your head a bit more and come up slowly.]
“Thanks. You must be tired, get some more rest. I’m hanging up.”
Just as Liu was about to end the call, Manager Han urgently stopped him.
[Director Liu.]
“Yeah?”
[You can just take tomorrow off. No need to push yourself.]
Unlike the playful tone at the beginning of the call, Manager Han’s voice was serious. It was a voice tinged with sympathy for a man who couldn’t escape the pain of a broken heart.
Who would have known a day would come when he would make those around him worry over something like this?
No, no one had ever predicted that Liu Weikun would fall so deeply in love that he would lose his senses.
Life is truly unpredictable, Liu thought, laughing silently.
“No, it’s fine. I should go in in the afternoon. Thanks.”
After finishing the call, he hurriedly booked the 4:30 flight. Even as he did so, he didn’t forget to keep an eye on the situation across the canal.
When he had decided to come to Paris, he had made two promises to himself.
First, he would never capture Yeehyeon ‘s image in any visual form, like photos or videos.
Second, he would not get so lost in this that it interfered with his work in Seoul.
He had kept them well until now, but this was the first time he had extended his stay in Paris to the point of canceling a booked flight. For some reason, he found it especially hard to leave today.
Perhaps it was because he had spent almost all his time yesterday signing contracts for the apartment and car, so he hadn’t seen as much of Yeehyeon as usual.
“Once it hits 2 o’clock sharp, you’re leaving. Dragging this out any longer is a violation of the rules.”
As Liu muttered sternly to himself, his fingertips tapped nervously on the steering wheel.
If he broke the rules, it was obvious he would want to throw away Phantom and everything else and just settle down in Paris. Even now, his true inner desire was to do just that. He was only holding back because he felt that such a man would not be loved by Yeehyeon .
His gaze fixed across the canal, Liu fumbled for his cigarette pack and dropped it by his feet. As he swung his arm to grab the small box and lifted his head, Yeehyeon and his group appeared at the end of the bridge, as if by magic.
“You don’t give me a moment to let my guard down.”
Tossing the cigarette pack onto the trench coat on the passenger seat, Liu took off his sunglasses. Even as he hooked the arm of the sunglasses into the neckline of his V-neck knit, his eyes continued to observe the group’s movements.
A smile spread across his face when he spotted Yeehyeon , his hands thrust into his coat pockets.
What could he do? Just seeing him come into view made him happy.
It seemed they hadn’t gone far. They appeared to be on their way back from a meal northwest of the canal, across the bridge.
The group was still boisterous. Baek Yuni and his girlfriend, unlike before, were holding hands, and in Baek Yuni’s other hand was a small bouquet of flowers. It was a simple bouquet made of three or four purple cornflowers. Even from this distance, the color was remarkably vivid. It was probably a gift for his girlfriend.
They looked happy. They walked down the street as if dancing, pushing and pulling at each other’s hands. Yeehyeon , hands in his coat pockets, followed slowly behind them.
Liu’s brow furrowed. It wasn’t because of the November afternoon sun pouring through the windshield.
As if watching the climax of a movie where the conflict was escalating, he clasped his hands in front of his lips. His chest felt so tight that he had to take several deep breaths. The breaths were more like sighs.
As the group completely crossed the bridge and headed north toward ‘The Hands’, Yeehyeon ’s steps fell further and further behind.
Then, he began to walk backward, toward the spot he had just passed.
Yeehyeon came to a complete stop in front of a gift shop. The sign and finishing, painted in a dark, grayish mint, gave off a vintage impression.
Yeehyeon stared at one spot inside the show window with intense focus. Although he enjoyed observing his surroundings, it was rare for him to show such interest in merchandise for sale.
What is it? What caught Yeehyeon ’s eye?
Liu leaned as far forward over the steering wheel as he could. But no matter how much he squinted and concentrated, he couldn’t see inside the show window.
As if completely captivated, Yeehyeon stood there, motionless.
The group, noticing Yeehyeon had broken away, stopped about ten meters ahead and looked back. They seemed to be waving their arms, calling for him. Yeehyeon looked at them, too. Yet he kept glancing back at the inside of the show window.
Even until the moment he fully left the front of the shop, Yeehyeon ’s face remained turned toward the show window, as if with lingering attachment. He looked like someone leaving against his will. It reminded Liu of the puppy that had stared endlessly after Yeehyeon as he left for the park that morning.
“What did you like so much?”
He was angry at his own situation, unable to even gift Yeehyeon the object that had piqued his interest so much. He wanted to rub his face with both hands in misery, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Yeehyeon .
Was it just his imagination? Yeehyeon ’s shoulders, now rejoining the group, looked heavy. With his collar turned up, his chin tucked in, and his head lowered, his listless walk didn’t seem to be just because of the cold.
Was there something he wanted? But he wasn’t a child who would get sullen just because he couldn’t have something…
Once ‘The Hands’ group disappeared into the alley, Liu put his sunglasses back on and started the car. The temperature was low, but the sunlight was fierce. It was dangerous enough to drive without sunglasses.
His worried heart made his grip on the steering wheel tighten again and again. He parked the car in front of the gift shop and rushed out, almost jumping out of the vehicle.
Liu stopped at the very spot where Yeehyeon had stood. He felt like an avid fan visiting the actual setting of a favorite movie to reenact a scene.
“……”
As if bewitched by something, Liu slowly slid his sunglasses down.
His gaze became fixed on a large doll placed at the right edge of the charmingly decorated show window. Just as Yeehyeon ’s had.
Standing there was a figure of the rabbit from ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
The rabbit, holding a pocket watch and dressed in a vest and jacket, looked to be a rather elaborately made, high-quality item. It was also quite large, about the height of a four or five-year-old child.
The drawing that Lim Morae had put up on the wall of the beach club in Bali.
And the drawing that was now preciously placed on the nightstand next to Liu’s bed.
In that drawing, the Liu Weikun drawn by Seo Yeehyeon was the White Rabbit with the watch, guiding Alice into Wonderland.
The emotion Yeehyeon must have felt, unable to leave this spot, seemed to well up from beneath his feet and swallow him whole.
“You fool. Forget about a rabbit like that.”
His grip on the sunglasses tightened, veins popping on the back of his hand.
“It hurt you.”
It felt as if the sunglasses would shatter in his hand.
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