Only after Yeehyeon’s figure disappeared around the corner did Liu’s sedan begin to move. Since he knew the destination, there was no need to risk following too closely.
Yeehyeon’s usual café was located by the canal. The first floor of the building next to it was a pizzeria. Liu slowly parked his car in front of the pizzeria.
Yeehyeon, dressed in jeans and an autumn coat, was sitting at one of the café’s outdoor tables. Under a blue awning, at the table farthest to the end. It was the seat Yeehyeon preferred most whenever he sat outside.
“Isn’t it a bit chilly to be sitting outside?”
Liu immediately checked the temperature on the car’s tablet screen. It was 8 degrees.
His worried gaze fell upon Yeehyeon. While waiting for his order, he was taking out a sketchbook and a pencil. It was a light warm-up for his hands before starting the day.
He didn’t seem to be shivering from the cold, but Liu was not at ease. His coat didn’t look thick enough, either.
It was common to see Parisians sitting on benches in the Luxembourg Gardens or the Tuileries Garden reading a book as long as the sun was out, even in the middle of winter. But at this temperature, most tourists would have avoided the outdoors and opted for the warmth of the indoors.
Even though Yeehyeon’s neck looked cold without a scarf, even though he wanted to at least button up his coat for him, there was nothing his present self could do. He had once been in the closest place to him, even inside of him….
Liu hid his bitterness and forced a smile, as if speaking directly to Yeehyeon.
“Our Seo Yeehyeon, you’ve become a true Parisian.”
Oblivious to the fact that someone was watching him, Yeehyeon began to sketch the objects, scenery, and people around him. Judging by the busy movements of his eyes, it seemed he was drawing the bicycle parked in front of him.
As Liu watched his focused, neat face, the stiff worry on his own face slowly melted away. In its place, a gentle affection bloomed.
Yeehyeon exchanged a few words with the waiter who brought his order. They even laughed together about something.
Every time Yeehyeon laughed, Liu found himself laughing too, without realizing it. Like a moviegoer who, identifying with the protagonist’s emotions, cries and laughs along with them.
To Liu Weikun, Seo Yeehyeon was like a beautifully composed film. A masterpiece he never tired of watching, one that made him marvel at the same scenes every single time.
While chewing his food and drinking his coffee, Yeehyeon would sometimes put down his pen and gaze into the distance. The sharp observer’s eyes would take in the peaceful ripples of the canal, or look at the modern apartment building across from it. He would look up at the bare tree in front of the café, which had shed almost all its leaves, and occasionally, he would stare for a long time in the direction where Liu’s car was parked.
There were moments when, though it was impossible, he felt as if he had made eye contact with Yeehyeon.
At times like that, it felt as if his rapidly beating heart would stop altogether. He couldn’t move a muscle, as if he were a stag beetle whose heart had been pierced and pinned to a mounting board.
Would Yeehyeon notice something at any moment?
Would he stare this way, put down his coffee, and get up to come closer?
Would he walk around the car, and finally, knock, knock, tap on the driver’s side window?
Am I afraid that will happen? Or am I hoping for it?
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, nothing of the sort ever happened.
Having finished his meal, Yeehyeon began to gather his things. He took out his pencil case, put the pencil inside, and closed his notebook before putting it in his bag.
“You’re leaving already?”
With a face full of disappointment, Liu gripped the steering wheel, his fingers drumming on its surface.
“Just let me see your face a little longer.”
Just as Yeehyeon, having paid, was about to stand up, a couple approached the outdoor seating area. With their arms around each other’s waists and shoulders, they had a dog with large ears with them.
While the two were deciding which table to take, the dog showed interest in Yeehyeon. The energetic creature, who still looked young, pounced on Yeehyeon’s calf, begging for attention.
Yeehyeon, who had been about to get up, hung his tote bag back on the chair and indulged the puppy. He turned his body completely in its direction, so his face was even more visible than before. His coat fell open, revealing a hint of the T-shirt he wore underneath. As always, it was striped.
A fond and nostalgic laugh escaped Liu’s lips.
Yeehyeon’s striped T-shirt felt like proof that the Seo Yeehyeon who had said he loved him and the Seo Yeehyeon of now were still the same person, that he hadn’t changed.
The couple, noticing the dog’s actions, spoke to Yeehyeon, and Yeehyeon continued the conversation, looking up at them while stroking the dog with both hands.
“You must be popular with animals, too. Why wouldn’t you be?”
Resting his chin on his hands, which were placed on top of the steering wheel, Liu simply watched Yeehyeon with a contented smile. He was grateful to the dog for letting him see him for even a little longer.
The way Yeehyeon’s hands touched the puppy’s face and the scruff of its neck looked quite skilled. It wasn’t the touch of someone who had only done it once or twice.
Perhaps he was so popular with the neighborhood dogs every time he came to the café that he had looked up how to pet a dog in a way that made it feel good. Yeehyeon was certainly capable of that.
The couple chatted with Yeehyeon and naturally took the table next to him. Even from a distance, the atmosphere looked very pleasant. The young, handsome man from the East, who exuded an aura as clear and elegant as an ink wash painting, also possessed a gentle smile and voice; who wouldn’t feel an affinity for him?
“Don’t be so nice to everyone.”
Liu whispered quietly, his chin still propped on the steering wheel.
“What are you going to do if they both fall for you?”
One-third of it was genuine, one-third was a joke. And the remaining one-third was pride in a lover who was adored by all.
Lover….
The smile on Liu’s contented face slowly faded. The gray in his eyes deepened, overpowering the blue.
He watched Yeehyeon stroking the puppy’s small face and asked quietly.
“Are we still lovers, Yeehyeon?”
But of course, he could not hear an answer from him.
Yeehyeon took out his phone. From his gestures, it seemed he was asking the couple if he could take a picture of the dog. They readily agreed.
Yeehyeon seemed to take quite a few pictures of the playful face of the puppy, which had its front paws on his lap. Laughter flowed ceaselessly among the three of them, as if they were old friends.
The sight of Yeehyeon, laughing in this distant place after leaving him, filled Liu with contradictory emotions.
And yet, he couldn’t wish for Yeehyeon to spend his days crying….
Finally, Yeehyeon stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. The dog, which lifted its front paws to cling to Yeehyeon’s calf, seemed to be begging him not to go. After stroking the puppy’s head a few more times, Yeehyeon left the café area completely.
The dog watched Yeehyeon walk away, then looked back at its owners. Then it looked at Yeehyeon again. Its posture from behind seemed to say it didn’t understand why Yeehyeon was leaving already instead of playing more.
Because the puppy was acting that way, Yeehyeon also stopped walking and looked back several times. He burst into a laugh that seemed to say he found it cute, and waved at the dog and the couple.
“You’re the cute one, you know.”
Watching Yeehyeon wave, Liu also unfolded the hand that had been propping up his chin and gave a small wave.
Stalking wasn’t something just anyone could do. It was a job that required you to talk to yourself to someone who wouldn’t answer, to smile while watching a smile not meant for you, and to wave at that person as they looked at someone else.
Liu suddenly realized.
This was also similar to a one-sided love.
A one-sided love. He’d never even experienced that during his most sentimental adolescent years.
Then again, it was during that very adolescence that Liu had received the ‘sentence’ of being a Ghost and had practically fled to Boston with his mother. Even a one-sided love, where one yearned for someone from afar, was a luxury for the Liu of that time.
There, he had focused solely on training to become a Golden. All so that he wouldn’t unknowingly turn some Beta into an Omega. All so that he wouldn’t commit such a terrible act.
Liu gave a bitter, self-deprecating laugh, his shoulders shaking.
Because all that effort had been in vain, as he had ended up Changing the most precious person to him.
If he had become a Golden Alpha and been able to control his pheromones, he could have prevented the Changing. After all, Changing was ultimately in the domain of pheromones.
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