2. Fiancé (1)
Basel, Switzerland.
Host to Art Basel, one of the world’s three great biennales, and a capital of culture and art brimming with over forty museums and countless galleries.
Liu and Yeehyeon had spent a week here, and today was their last day in Basel. Tomorrow, they would take the TGV back to Paris. Their nearly 40-day “European museum tour” was coming to an end.
On the last day of their long journey, the two visited the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Although they had already dedicated about two days to the place, they had planned to visit it one more time on their leisurely last day.
On a weekday afternoon, the museum was not just quiet, but silent.
While the Kunstmuseum Basel was recognized for its historical and architectural value, it did not, in fact, possess a large collection of famous works that would appeal to the general public. Unless it was during Art Basel, it was rare for foreign tourists to make their way to this small city just to see Picasso’s early works. Most of the few visitors were Basel residents.
Liu’s gaze, which had been wandering as if strolling through the museum, suddenly fixed on one spot.
Chagall’s <The Cattle Dealer>.
A group of children who looked to be elementary schoolers were gathered with their chaperone, sitting under the artwork. The children, sitting on the floor, each had a sketchbook open and were moving their pencils.
It seemed to be a class where they would freely sketch whatever came to mind after appreciating Chagall’s painting. It was a common sight in any European museum.
Liu observed them from a distance so as not to be a disturbance.
He hadn’t told Yeehyeon, but he had visited the Kunstmuseum Basel at least ten times, both for travel and for work. He had just been about to go look for Yeehyeon when he came across the interesting-looking group.
Among them, one child in particular caught his eye.
He was a boy with thin, round, black-rimmed glasses, who had an introverted air but didn’t seem timid. His tightly closed lips and the clear, bright eyes that darted busily back and forth behind his glasses gave him a calm impression, different from the other boys his age.
The child was completely lost in his own world, his pen moving in a state of near self-forgetfulness. The commotion of his friends fooling around right next to him didn’t seem to reach his ears. He didn’t even flinch when a joking friend’s elbow accidentally poked him.
Perhaps a young Yeehyeon was like that?
As he watched the child with that thought, he found himself genuinely missing Seo Yeehyeon.
Liu checked the time on his wristwatch.
“I won’t be long.”
“You can take your time looking around, you know.”
“I’m just going to browse through the works I want to see one more time.”
It had already been two hours since he and Yeehyeon, who had said that, parted at the museum entrance. He checked his phone, but there were no messages.
And yet, for some reason, Liu felt he could find Yeehyeon without calling. He felt like he knew where Yeehyeon would be in this enormous museum.
He started walking again, moving from where he had paused.
As he passed by the boy with the round glasses, he stole a glance and saw that the kid was drawing a comic under Chagall’s painting. Liu’s shoulders shook as he let out a soft chuckle. Still, his skill was exceptional.
If it were a child who resembled Yeehyeon, would he also have a talent for art?
Not just Yeehyeon, but his mother and father, and even my own mother—both families were overflowing with people who painted. So our child might have a talent for art, too. Though it wouldn’t matter if they wanted to do something completely different.
Lost in such imaginings, Liu left the exhibition hall and crossed the corridor to find Yeehyeon. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, shook his head, and scoffed.
Thinking about a child when we aren’t even married yet.
Lately, he had been counting his chickens before they hatched far too often.
Traveling for over a month, stuck together 24/7, had him completely soaked in the feeling of cohabitation rather than just dating. That was the problem.
Who and where was the Liu Weikun who had once claimed he only wanted Seo Yeehyeon and had never even thought about children?
Tsk. Clicking his tongue at himself, Liu composed his expression and began walking again.
Of course, it wasn’t that he specifically wanted a child right now. He was simply imagining his and Yeehyeon’s future following the typical course of things… falling in love with someone you truly love, promising each other forever, getting married, and then having a child.
Besides, Yeehyeon hadn’t even fully presented as an Omega yet.
A child was just a vague fantasy. What Liu wanted was marriage with Yeehyeon. A legal and social union. That was Liu’s true desire.
Who and where was the Liu Weikun who had once maintained that whether a Beta couple or an Alpha-Omega couple, there was no need to get married and that living together was enough?
After meeting Seo Yeehyeon, countless versions of Liu Weikun had vanished into the past, into a history he wished to deny.
Literally a cringeworthy past. Muttering this, Liu slowed his steps as he reached the entrance of another exhibition hall.
The person responsible for changing him like this was right there.
A smile bloomed on Liu’s lips as he spotted Yeehyeon’s back. It was a smile so charming that people passing by glanced at him. It was, after all, a smile meant for the one he loved.
Just as I expected.
Yeehyeon was standing in front of a work by Egon Schiele.
It was one of Schiele’s self-portraits.
Instead of approaching Yeehyeon right away, Liu leaned his shoulder casually against the wall of the exhibition hall entrance. It was the back of someone clearly deep in concentration. It seemed best not to disturb him.
He stood there, watching Yeehyeon instead of the artwork. Within the frame of Liu’s vision, the scene was a work of art in itself. One that stirred a desire for possession. One he wanted to gaze at forever.
Yeehyeon was often called ‘the Egon Schiele of our time.’
Ever since a famous Dutch critic first dubbed him so, there was hardly an article about Yeehyeon that didn’t include the phrase.
Yeehyeon showed neither a positive nor a negative reaction to it. He seemed unbothered, saying that expressions like ‘the second XX,’ ‘the XX of the East,’ or ‘the XX of the West’ were frequently used in every field.
But for an artist serious about his work, being compared to someone else could not have been a welcome situation.
Nevertheless, Yeehyeon held more interest than resentment toward Schiele.
On this trip, the two had spent longer than planned at the Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria. Their four-night, five-day itinerary had even been extended by a day. It was because of Schiele’s works.
A few of Schiele’s works were also on display here at the Kunstmuseum Basel. They weren’t particularly famous pieces. But that didn’t matter to Yeehyeon.
Yeehyeon invariably stopped in front of Schiele’s works. From afar, and then up close. From the overall power of the piece to the detailed brushstrokes. He observed them earnestly. As if to absorb every last thing into himself.
Even now, Yeehyeon stood motionless, facing the artwork.
As if engaged in a showdown.
What world was he wandering through right now?
A sense of alienation and loneliness, like what he felt when watching Yeehyeon from behind while he was completely immersed in his work, trickled up from beneath Liu’s feet. A greed that he knew was unhealthy, was twisted, a desire for all of Yeehyeon, stirred slowly within him.
He had almost lost Yeehyeon because of this.
And yet, the black greed had not been completely uprooted. The fortunate thing was that he now knew how to handle it.
There’s no need to be impatient. Yeehyeon will show me what world he has encountered through his art. And after he puts down his brush, he will always return to me. He will smile at me, embrace me, and tell me he loves me, just as always. So all I have to do is wait for him here. Like an adult. Or at least pretending to be one is fine, too.
Liu took out his phone and opened the camera app.
The moment Yeehyeon’s back, facing the painting, entered the screen in the desired composition, he held his breath and pressed the button.
Right after the photo was taken, Yeehyeon’s shoulders, which had been perfectly still, seemed to tremble slightly. Then, he slowly turned away from the artwork.
The moment his face, which had been submerged in deep immersion, found Liu, it lit up brightly. At that change, Liu felt a sense of relief and happiness so intense it made his chest ache.
If I wait, he will return to me.
It was the happiness of confirming that fact once more.
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