Fiancé (1)

While Yeehyeon wrote a postcard at the standing-height table in the center of the post office, Liu looked around the interior.

It was brighter and cleaner than he'd expected, looking quite modern. Various postal-related items were also for sale — postcards, writing paper, envelopes — which made it look almost more like a stationery shop than a post office.

Liu's gaze wandered over the displayed merchandise before returning to Yeehyeon. Standing diagonally across the table, Yeehyeon kept his eyes lowered as he quietly moved his pen. Today, his strokes seemed particularly decisive.

Liu, who had been watching with his chin propped on his hand, took out his phone.

Silently, he captured another moment of Yeehyeon on the screen.

Almost at the same time, Yeehyeon set down his pen and looked up, searching for Liu.

"I'll go mail this."

Liu smiled briefly and nodded.

When Yeehyeon came back after mailing the postcard at the counter, his expression looked somehow lighter than before.

Liu, who had been leaning against the central table, extended a hand to him. Yeehyeon approached with quick steps and took it.

The street they stepped onto, hand in hand, offered plenty of sunshine and breeze.

"What are we eating today?"

"Hmm... what sounds good? We're at least making gnocchi with the leftover dough."

"But the amount of dough is awkward."

"Right?"

"It's a bit too little for both of us to share as a meal, but a bit too much for one person."

"Then should we grill a steak to share alongside it?"

"Sounds great!"

"So cute."

Looking down at Yeehyeon's face, free of any wrinkles as he smiled, Liu stroked his cheek with one hand and kissed him.

As the trip continued, Yeehyeon had grown quite accustomed to these brief, open-air kisses. Sometimes, as he had just done on the tram, Yeehyeon would even initiate one himself. Though it was rare.

They headed toward the supermarket, swinging their clasped hands back and forth like children.

Their Basel lodging was just behind the SBB Station, in a quiet residential area slightly removed from the city center.

It was convenient that Coop, a popular Swiss supermarket chain, was only a two-minute walk from their accommodation, and Migros, another chain, was five minutes away. For the past week, the two had stopped at one or the other almost every day on the way home.

On days they didn't eat out, they would sometimes buy ready-made pizza or salads, or pick up bacon, bread, eggs, and tomatoes for Liu to make an English breakfast. They'd also found a few varieties of Korean ramen for sale, which they had cooked and eaten a few days prior.

Yeehyeon still found it amusing to watch Liu eat ramen or a hamburger.

"It's because you look like a prince trying something for the first time."

That was the reason.

"You do know I've eaten these before, right?"

When Liu retorted with a sulky look, Yeehyeon would laugh his bright, innocent laugh, and Liu would have no choice but to laugh along. It was as if Yeehyeon were a device programmed to make him laugh whenever he smiled. Even Liu sometimes found it absurd — but what could he do? He liked it.

It was a little early for the evening grocery run, so the supermarket was quiet.

They headed to the fruit and vegetable section first, loading the cart with ingredients for the main dishes and a side salad. The cart quickly became a riot of color.

"Hmm... where are the sauces and pasta again?"

"Over there. One, two, three... the fourth aisle."

Yeehyeon pointed toward the long stretch of shelving. Liu draped his arm over Yeehyeon's shoulder and steered the cart expertly with just one hand.

"You look like a local. So dependable."

"I've been here a few times."

"We're leaving just when we're starting to get attached. Right?"

"......"

Yeehyeon pressed his lips together for a moment, then spoke with composure.

"It's a trip. That's just how trips are."

His manner — acting as though he understood the whole world — struck Liu as so childlike that he burst out laughing. He pulled his arm from Yeehyeon's shoulder around to his neck, leaned in, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Yeehyeon, turning shy again, hid his flushed face behind the back of his hand and glanced around nervously.

"Embarrassed again?"

"We're outside."

His small, muttering lips were so adorable Liu could have swallowed them whole. But he held back.

"Where did the bold man who kissed me first on the tram go?"

"Back then... Awi looked lonely.... Oh? This is what Yuni nuna asked me to buy. I almost forgot."

With that, Yeehyeon walked ahead toward the display shelf where the snacks were kept. It seemed Yuni had asked him to bring back some specific Swiss snack. There was no way Yeehyeon had actually forgotten — he was the type to meticulously prepare gifts for his colleagues at The Hands and the Phantom crew back in Seoul from every city he visited. He was just making up an excuse because he was shy.

Liu let out a small chuckle at Yeehyeon's retreating figure as he walked ahead, awkwardly swinging his long legs. That chuckle soon softened into a warm, quiet smile.

So that was it. On the tram, he had sensed Liu's momentary emotion. And he kissed him first to offer comfort. Someone who turns bright red all the way to his neck and ears from a brief kiss in a deserted corner of a supermarket. For me. It had to be love.

Liu broadly wiped his mouth and slowly pushed the cart in the direction Yeehyeon had disappeared.

Yeehyeon was carefully examining the snack Yuni had requested. Behind him, Liu also spotted something.

"Yeehyeon, they have these here too. Should I get some?"

What Liu was holding up and shaking was a bag of mouse-shaped gummies by a famous brand. Yeehyeon had stopped him from buying the same thing in Berlin. This time too, Yeehyeon furrowed his brow slightly and shook his head.

"Don't you remember the licorice-flavored jelly we bought last time?"

"Hmm?"

"The jelly that looked like a tire."

"Ah..."

"You bought it because you thought it looked fun, but in the end you said the taste was weird and it looked weird, so you ate one piece and never touched it again. Let's pass."

"But look how realistic this shape is. It really stirs up my competitive spirit."

Liu shook the bag of pink and white mouse gummies.

"Awi, for someone with such a strong sense of adventure, your range of taste is surprisingly narrow. You're actually quite squeamish."

Liu burst out laughing at Yeehyeon's plausible assessment.

"Am I really like that?"

"You try all sorts of things out of curiosity, but you end up disliking most of them. It's been like that this whole trip."

"Well... now that you mention it, it really does seem that way."

"I told you so."

Liu obediently put the bag back. Then, leaning over the cart with a grin, he looked at Yeehyeon. Yeehyeon, placing the selected snacks into the cart, glanced sideways at Liu with an expression of sudden foreboding.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking that Seo Yeehyeon has been observing me very closely."

"Well... of course."

To admit it so readily. That was another unexpected reaction. Liu's curiosity and playfulness were piqued at the same time. Pushing the cart toward the sauce and pasta aisle, Liu pressed right up against Yeehyeon's side.

"Why? Why is it obvious?"

"......"

When Yeehyeon turned to look at Liu, his eyes held a faint trace of resentment — the look of someone who knew Liu couldn't easily say things like that, yet still wanted to hear them spoken aloud.

Because you're my boyfriend. Because I love you. Yeehyeon stared hard at Liu's face, which clearly expected an answer along those lines, then quickly turned his head away.

"Because if I don't keep an eye on you, Awi immediately fills the cart with all kinds of strange things."

"Ah, I see. Alright then. I'll take your word for it."

Even without hearing the words he wanted to hear, Liu was simply enjoying this time. Shopping together was a special kind of date that could only exist when they were heading back to the same home. It was different from dates at restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, galleries, or parks.

Liu's Apartment 601 in Paris also served as their hideout, and they would shop together for supplies and groceries there too. But the longest Liu ever stayed in Paris was about five days. This was the first time they had genuinely lived together — returning to the same home for such an extended stretch.

Of course, there had been a time when Yeehyeon lived at Liu's residence in Seoul. But even then, they had separate bedrooms. They'd had no leisure for the small daily rituals of shopping together or cooking. Back then, Liu had been consumed by a pathological obsession, constantly chased by anxiety.

All of that time had been swept away into the past. They had endured the time it took for Liu's sins to come to light, and the time of repentance and forgiveness.

Recalling those days — parking his car a little way from The Hands and secretly watching Yeehyeon — felt as distant as a memory from a past life. Not faded, exactly. The time he spent wandering like a ghost after losing Yeehyeon could never truly fade.

Just thinking back to that period gave Liu a slight chill.

He brushed the back of his neck with his palm, feeling the dizzying, creeping sensation of falling from a great height. He shook his head to clear it and hurried after Yeehyeon.

The pasta and sauce aisles faced each other down one corridor. They didn't actually need to buy pasta today since they had leftover gnocchi dough, but it was a convenient setup all the same.

Holding a glass jar of tomato sauce in one hand and cream sauce in the other, Liu asked Yeehyeon,

"Which one are you leaning toward today?"

Yeehyeon, who had been scanning the shelves a few steps away, glanced over.

"Or maybe basil pesto?"

"Hmm... what about Awi?"

"I asked first."

At Liu's childish retort, Yeehyeon let out a small laugh and replied,

"Then let's go with basil pesto today."

Liu smiled, satisfied, and returned both jars to the shelf. He then began deliberating over which brand of basil pesto to choose from the four varieties.

"Should we make mackerel pasta instead of gnocchi? I saved a recipe I found on YouTube."

"Mackerel pasta? You said you didn't like it last time, Awi."

"Have we ever actually put mackerel in pasta?"

With a jar of sauce still in his hand, Awi furrowed his brow. He clearly didn't remember at all.

"The day we had Yuni nuna and Michelle over."

"Ah..."

Only then did Liu nod, narrowing his eyes. The taste he hadn't cared for came back to him.

Liu readily abandoned the mackerel pasta idea and showed Yeehyeon one of the three types of basil pesto he'd been comparing.

"Should we go with this one?"

"Sounds good."

"Then all we need now is the steak."

Pushing the cart with only his left hand, Liu wrapped his free arm around Yeehyeon's neck again. He rubbed his nose affectionately against Yeehyeon's temple and murmured in a low voice.

"The day we made the mackerel pasta."

"......"

"The sex we had that night was so good it wiped out all my other memories."

"......"

Pretending to be calm, Yeehyeon tried hard not to let any change show on his face. But his earlobes and the rims of his ears, instantly turning flushed and hot, could not lie.

"Seo Yeehyeon was especially forward that night, wasn't he?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe it was the mackerel? Then maybe I should add mackerel today too?"

"If you're going to keep joking like that, I'll go wait at the checkout."

Oh no — had he taken the joke too far?

When Yeehyeon's voice went grumpy like that, it meant Liu's teasing had reached an unbearable level. Liu hastily grabbed Yeehyeon's arm as he started to turn away. He wrapped his arm from behind across his collarbone and over his shoulder, and pleaded while pressing a kiss to his temple.

"I'm sorry. Don't leave me."

Even while grocery shopping for dinner at the supermarket, their own little drama unfolded several times over. Liu knew anyone who saw it would click their tongue and call it childish — but he found this moment thoroughly enjoyable.

"Don't say things like you're going to leave me."

Yeehyeon gently wrapped his hand around Liu's wrist where it rested on his shoulder and murmured. Even though his voice still sounded a little displeased, he was bothered by Liu's use of the phrase "leave me" — worried that this was how Liu perceived their past separation.

Yeehyeon's concern sent a sharp pang through Liu's chest. He rubbed his nose against Yeehyeon's temple and whispered,

"Yeah, I won't. My angel."