By Zephyria 
The woman blinked her lush eyelashes and looked up at Lee Hae-sung, who let out a light scoff before sipping his champagne and staring straight ahead.
As soon as Choi Hong-seo stepped off the stage, he was surrounded by people. It seemed difficult for him to take even a single step due to the flood of requests for photos. The distance from the stage to the bar, barely ten meters, felt as though it would never close.
It felt like the heart of a parent who had placed a toddler, just learning to walk, at the far end of a carpet and was waiting with open arms at the other end. Anxious, mouth running dry, yet feeling proud and admiring of every single step the child took.
Of course, there was a very, very big difference from a toddler in that he wanted to shower that child with sweet kisses the moment he leaped into his arms.
“How does it feel to be this handsome on top of owning a company like ARA?”
Perhaps noticing that Lee Hae-sung showed no interest in the woman, a man speaking Korean stepped forward proactively this time. Dressed provocatively, revealing a toned abdomen and well-maintained arms with a pleasing amount of muscle, he stroked Lee Hae-sung’s arm, sliding his hand from bottom to top.
“You can sleep with anyone you want to, right?”
Lee Hae-sung looked down at the movement of the hand with vacant eyes, as if observing the progress of some experiment. The man hooked his hand near Lee Hae-sung’s elbow and closed the distance, pressing his shoulder tight against him. Lee Hae-sung’s face instinctively frowned at the scent of strong perfume.
“I use an ARA phone, let’s take a selfie together.”
As the man pulled out his phone and extended his arm, Lee Hae-sung pushed the man’s wrist down with force, a deep crease forming between his brows.
“The hand, the camera. Could you clear them all away?”
“Why are you being like this? Do you not like us?”
The woman asked, tilting her head. As she twirled the end of her shimmering, tightly braided blonde hair, her face clearly suggested she believed such a thing was impossible.
“Is neither of us your type, Mister?”
The man spoke in an equally self-assured tone. He had thought they were just children fascinated to see a celebrity in person. Was this just some cheap pick-up attempt?
Lee Hae-sung asked the man.
“Third-generation Gyopo?”
“Oui(=Yes).”
“Your Korean is good for that.”
“My Grandfather was strict.”
“But could you stop calling me ‘Mister’?”
“Ah, did that offend you? Korean men hate that word, right? It’s not because you actually look like an old man, I just…”
“No, no, I don’t care what the reason is.”
Shaking his head with a look of annoyance, Lee Hae-sung cut the man off. Choi Hong-seo, having finished his fan service, had finally approached to within two or three meters. Keeping his gaze fixed on his lover, who was approaching with an apologetic smile, Lee Hae-sung spoke to the man.
“There is only one person who can call me ‘Mister’.”
“……”
“And that person is definitely not you.”
■
Draining his champagne in one gulp, Lee Hae-sung stepped away from the bar table. Watching Choi Hong-seo approach from the front, he took a few steps forward as if to greet him. When only a few steps remained between them, he saw Choi Hong-seo’s gaze scatter behind Lee Hae-sung’s back. The strange duo had likely left the area.
“Was that someone you know?”
They finally had some time alone. Choi Hong-seo’s first words were different from what Lee Hae-sung had expected.
“Hmm?”
“The people who were talking to Hyung here a moment ago. Do you know them?”
“I think one of them recognized my face. Asked if I was Lee Hae-sung of ARA.”
“Is that all?”
Lee Hae-sung lightly draped an arm over the shoulder of the hesitating Choi Hong-seo and led him toward the bar table. Leaning his upper body over the table to look deep into Choi Hong-seo’s face, a thick smile pooled at the corners of Lee Hae-sung’s lips.
“Why? Does it bother you?”
“Of course it bothers me.”
“Why? What’s so obvious about that?”
Choi Hong-seo, staring blankly at Lee Hae-sung, who was grinning and arching an eyebrow, pressed his lips tight. It was a clear expression of his intent not to give the answer he wanted.
After asking the bartender for two glasses of champagne, Lee Hae-sung leaned obliquely against the table and toyed with Choi Hong-seo’s bowtie for no particular reason. Unlike Lee Hae-sung’s usual bowtie, it was a cord bowtie tied in a ribbon shape with thin, long strings. As if he might pull the ribbon loose at any moment, Lee Hae-sung fiddled with the end of one string.
“Still, I’m actually a bit grateful to those two.”
“For what?”
“Thanks to them, I was reminded once more. That my original taste wasn’t for younger men, and just how special of an exception Choi Hong-seo is to me.”
“Y-you’re getting out of it that way, aren’t you?”
“You know that’s not true.”
“……”
Out of embarrassment, Choi Hong-seo’s gaze dropped to the table, wandering here and there. Lee Hae-sung playfully tugged at the end of his tie.
“We finally have a moment alone, are you going to stay pouting?”
“I’m not pouting. It’s just…”
“Just.”
Choi Hong-seo rubbed the edge of the table, carefully choosing his words, and Lee Hae-sung waited patiently.
“Because that man touched Hyung’s arm.”
“Because he touched it.”
“I felt… really bad about it.”
“Were you jealous?”
“Do I have to say it out loud?”
“……”
After meeting Lee Hae-sung’s deep, silent gaze for a moment, Choi Hong-seo let out a small sigh and inevitably confessed the truth.
“I was. Jealous. A lot.”
Only then did Lee Hae-sung smile with satisfaction. He then wrapped his hand wide around the back of Choi Hong-seo’s neck and gently pulled him in until their foreheads touched. It was a measure to endure the urge to kiss, much like a heavy smoker chewing gum in a non-smoking area to soothe the craving. Though it didn’t seem particularly effective.
“Sorry. I should have brushed them off immediately. But I chased them away right after. Please be generous and let it slide just this once.”
At Lee Hae-sung’s plea, Choi Hong-seo glanced at him. After thoroughly scanning the more fashionable hairstyle than usual, the new tuxedo that made his broad shoulders stand out, and the bowtie he had gifted him, he nodded.
“Well… it wouldn’t make sense if no one approached you.”
The profile of him muttering as if to himself was seriously lovely. Knowing he shouldn’t, Lee Hae-sung massaged the back of his neck and pressed his lips close to his temple.
“Ah… I’m dying to kiss you.”
He thought Choi Hong-seo would surely jump back and push him away, asking what he was doing here. But Choi Hong-seo, with a flushed face and pressed lips, was staring intently at somewhere on the table. That was how Lee Hae-sung knew. His lover felt the same way.
Just then, the bartender placed two glasses of champagne on the table.
Lee Hae-sung handed one of them to Choi Hong-seo.
“Shall we toast, just the two of us?”
“I’d like that.”
Without any words of celebration, they simply looked deep into each other’s eyes and clinked their glasses. Even while drinking the golden liquid, they did not break eye contact. It felt as if everything needed to survive was prepared within those eyes. Neither the music nor the lighting was a distraction anymore.
Lee Hae-sung newly realized that eye contact was far more effective than touching foreheads for enduring the urge to kiss.
“You were so cool, not even intimidated by such a huge event.”
“Were you watching?”
“Of course. I didn’t miss a single moment.”
“I was shaking so much on the inside.”
“Even that was cute.”
“When I was receiving the award, I wish Hyung had been there with me.”
“If we were, the scene of us kissing would have been broadcast to the whole world.”
Choi Hong-seo chuckled and gave Lee Hae-sung’s shoulder a light nudge. He clearly took it as a joke. Lee Hae-sung laughed awkwardly along with his lover and quickly grabbed the hand that was pulling away. Then, so as not to be seen by the crowd filling the hall, he firmly interlaced their fingers below the waist.
It was exactly then that someone behind them looked for Hyun-seo.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hyun-seo.”
Lee Hae-sung looked over his shoulder with a menacing aura. Interrupters were swarming everywhere. This was why he detested parties. Choi Hong-seo twisted his wrist to pull his hand away, but Lee Hae-sung stubbornly refused to let go.
“Who are you?”
Despite Lee Hae-sung’s overtly hostile reaction, the other person was not intimidated at all.
“Hello. I’m an editor for the culture magazine ‘Heterotopia.’ You are the actor Mr. Hyun-seo, correct?”
A woman with a simple silhouette black dress, a closely cropped short cut, and thick horn-rimmed glasses handed her business card to Choi Hong-seo and Lee Hae-sung.
‘Heterotopia’ — it was an art magazine with a fairly solid niche following that covered any genre as long as it was an interesting field of culture and art.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“First of all, congratulations on your award, Mr. Hyun-seo.”
The editor reached out to shake Choi Hong-seo’s hand.