It was a little early for evening grocery shopping, so the supermarket was quiet.
They went to the fruit and vegetable section and first put salad ingredients to go with the main dishes into the cart. The inside of the cart quickly became colorful.
“Hmm… where was the sauce and pasta aisle again?”
“That way. One, two, three… the fourth aisle.”
Yeehyeon said, pointing at the long rows of shelves. Draping an arm over Yeehyeon’s shoulder, Liu skillfully changed the cart’s direction with just one hand.
“You’re like a local. So reliable.”
“It’s because I’ve been here a few times.”
“Just when you’re getting attached, you have to leave. Right?”
“……”
Yeehyeon, who had pressed his lips together for a moment, soon spoke with composure.
“It’s a trip. That’s how all trips are.”
He looked like a child pretending to understand all the ways of the world, and Liu burst out laughing. He wrapped the arm on Yeehyeon’s shoulder around his neck, pulled him close, and gave him a peck on the cheek. Becoming timid once again, Yeehyeon hid his reddening face with the back of his hand and glanced around.
“Embarrassed again?”
“We’re outside.”
His softly murmuring lips were so lovely Liu wanted to devour them. But he held back.
“Where did the bold man who kissed me first on the tram go?”
“That was… because A wei looked lonely…. Oh? That’s what Yuni-noona asked me to buy. I almost forgot.”
With that, Yeehyeon hurried ahead toward the snack aisle. It seemed Yuni had asked him to buy some kind of snack that was only available in Switzerland. There was no way Yeehyeon would have forgotten it. In every city they visited, he was the type to meticulously pick out gifts not only for his colleagues at ‘The Hands’ but also for his ‘Phantom’ family in Seoul. He was just making excuses because he was embarrassed….
Liu chuckled to himself at the sight of Yeehyeon’s back as he walked ahead, his long limbs swinging awkwardly. And that chuckle soon turned into a warm, faint smile.
So that was it. On the tram, he had read his fleeting emotions. And he had kissed me first to comfort me. The same person whose neck and ears turn bright red from even a short kiss in an empty corner of a supermarket. For me. It couldn’t be anything but love.
Wiping a wide hand across his mouth, Liu slowly pushed the cart in the direction Yeehyeon had disappeared.
Yeehyeon was carefully searching for the snack Yuni had requested. Behind him, Liu found something too.
“Yeehyeon, they have this here too. Should we get it?”
What Liu held up and shook was a bag of mouse-shaped gummies from a famous brand. In Berlin, he had shown interest and tried to buy them, but Yeehyeon had stopped him. This time, too, Yeehyeon frowned slightly and shook his head.
“Don’t you remember the licorice-flavored gummies we bought last time?”
“Hmm?”
“The ones that looked like tires.”
“Ah…”
“You bought them because they were interesting, but in the end, you said they tasted weird and looked weird, and you only had one bite. Give it up.”
“But look at this realistic shape. It ignites my spirit of challenge.”
Liu shook the bag of pink and white mouse gummies.
“For someone with such a strong sense of adventure, A Wei has a narrow palate and a surprisingly weak stomach.”
Liu burst out laughing at Yeehyeon’s plausible analysis.
“Am I like that?”
“You try all sorts of things out of curiosity, but you end up disliking most of the food you try, saying it’s not good. I think you’ve been like that this whole trip.”
“Uh… now that you mention it, I think you’re right.”
“See?”
Liu obediently put the bag back in its place. Then he leaned over the cart, grinning as he watched Yeehyeon. Yeehyeon, who was putting the chosen snacks into the cart, glanced at Liu with a look of premonition.
“What is it?”
“Just thinking about how closely Seo Yeehyeon has been observing me.”
“Well… of course.”
Admitting it so readily. That was an unexpected reaction. Liu’s curiosity and playfulness were sparked at the same time. Pushing the cart toward the sauce and pasta aisle, Liu moved to stand right next to Yeehyeon.
“Why? Why ‘of course’?”
“……”
Yeehyeon’s eyes, as he looked back at Liu, held a hint of resentment. It was a look that said, You know I’m not good at saying things like that, do you really have to hear me say it?
Because you’re my boyfriend. Because I love you. After staring intently at Liu’s face, which was clearly expecting that kind of answer, Yeehyeon whipped his head away.
“It’s because if I don’t stop you, A Wei, you’ll fill the cart with weird things in no time.”
“Ah, yes. I see. I’ll take your word for it.”
Even without hearing the words he wanted to hear, Liu was simply enjoying this moment. Grocery shopping together was a special kind of date you could only have when you were returning to the same home. It was different from dates at restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, museums, or parks.
They had used Liu’s apartment, unit 601 in Paris, like their own hideout, and they had shopped together for necessities and groceries for it. But the periods Liu stayed in Paris were, at most, about five days long. This was the first time they had lived together like this, returning to the same house for so long.
Of course, there was the time Yeehyeon had lived at Liu’s home in Seoul. But back then, although they lived in the same house, they had separate bedrooms. There had been no time to build a quiet daily life by shopping or cooking together. The Liu of that time had been steeped in pathological obsession, chased by his own impatience.
All of that time had been swept into the past. Liu’s sins had been revealed, and they had both endured the time it took to atone and forgive.
Thinking back to the days when he would park his car a short distance from ‘The Hands’ and secretly watch Yeehyeon felt as distant as a memory from a past life. That wasn’t to say it had faded. That time, when he had lost Yeehyeon and wandered like a ghost, could never fade.
Just thinking about it sent a light chill through Liu.
A dizzying, hair-raising sensation, like falling from a great height, made him rub the back of his neck. He shook his head to shake off the feeling and hurried after Yeehyeon.
The pasta and sauce sections were in the same aisle, facing each other. They had leftover gnocchi dough, so they didn’t need to buy pasta today, but it was a convenient setup nonetheless.
Holding a glass jar of tomato sauce in one hand and cream sauce in the other, Liu asked Yeehyeon.
“What are you leaning toward today?”
Yeehyeon, who was scanning the shelves three or four steps away, looked over.
“Or maybe basil pesto?”
“Hmm… what about you, A Wei?”
“I asked first.”
Yeehyeon chuckled at Liu’s childish retort and answered.
“Then let’s go with basil pesto today.”
Liu smiled in satisfaction and put both sauce jars back on the shelf. Then he began to ponder which brand of basil pesto to choose from the three or four options.
“Should we make mackerel pasta instead of gnocchi? I saved a recipe I saw on YouTube.”
“Mackerel pasta, you said you didn’t like it last time, Liu.”
“We’ve put mackerel in our pasta before?”
With the sauce jar in hand, A Wei furrowed his brow. His face showed he had no memory of it at all.
“The day we invited Yuni-noona and Michelle over.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Liu nod, his eyes narrowing. The taste that hadn’t suited his palate came back to him.
Having readily given up on the mackerel pasta, Liu showed Yeehyeon one of the three basil pestos he had been comparing.
“This one?”
“Sounds good.”
“Then all we need is the steak, and we’re done.”
Pushing the cart with only his left hand, Liu once again wrapped his arm around Yeehyeon’s neck. Then, he affectionately rubbed the tip of his nose against Yeehyeon’s temple and whispered in a low voice.
“About that day we made mackerel pasta.”
“……”
“The sex we had that night was so good, I forgot everything else.”
“……”
Trying to act nonchalant, Yeehyeon struggled to keep his expression from changing. But his ears and earlobes, which instantly grew flushed and hot, couldn’t lie.
“Seo Yeehyeon was especially proactive that day, wasn’t he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it because of the mackerel, perhaps? Should we add mackerel today, then?”
“If you’re going to keep teasing me like that, I’ll go wait at the checkout counter first.”
Oops, it seemed the teasing had gone too far.
When Yeehyeon used that sulky tone, it was a sign that Liu’s teasing had reached a level he found hard to handle. As Yeehyeon turned to walk away, Liu urgently grabbed his arm. From behind, he wrapped an arm across his collarbone and over his shoulder, then pleaded as he kissed his temple.
“I’m sorry. Don’t leave me.”
Even while grocery shopping for dinner, their own little dramas played out several times. Liu knew that if anyone else knew, they would click their tongues at how childish it was, but he was simply enjoying every moment.
“Don’t say things like that, about leaving me.”
Yeehyeon murmured, gently taking hold of the wrist of the arm Liu had wrapped around his shoulder. Though his voice still sounded like he wasn’t fully appeased, Liu’s choice of words—‘leaving me’—had bothered him. He was worried that was how Liu perceived their time apart.
At that thought from Yeehyeon, a sharp pang went through Liu’s heart. He rubbed the tip of his nose against his temple and whispered.
“Okay, I won’t. My angel.”
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