58 – Cypress Mosaic

“I ​started ​by ​asking ​around among teenagers ​and ​twenty-somethings ​who ​are ​savvy with that kind ​of ​information. I can ​tell you, there ​isn’t ​a ​single ​social ​media ​platform I didn’t ​scour.”

“Is ​Rian ​already a celebrity ​on social media?”

The man, ​who had ​taken a ​few sips ​of his ​drink, ​shook ​his head.

“These days, ​posting candid ​photos without the subject’s ​consent can cause real ​problems.”

“This story is starting ​to get ​boring.”

The ​man looked at Joshua, who was ​already curling his lip, ​and ​gave ​a ​short ​laugh as he ​took a ​glass ​from the bartender.

“I ​found ​him through a secret account ​that collects ​only ​the most handsome ​men ​in ​New ​York.”

The ​man bragged ​and ​exaggerated, claiming ​that just getting approved to follow the ​account had been ​an ordeal. He ​was clearly trying to ​squeeze more ​money out of ​him ​for his efforts.

The ​man tapped a ​photo on ​the ​phone resting ​on ​the counter.

Several ​candid-style ​photos taken ​on ​the ​street appeared—different from ​the ​ones Joshua ​had ​seen ​earlier.

“These ​are the photos I found first on that account.”

In the photos, a man was waiting for a signal while on a bicycle.

Despite wearing a ridiculous helmet, the bridge of his nose, his cheekbones, and his jawline visible beneath it were flawless. Every feature of his face possessed a perfect sculptural beauty, as if precisely engineered.

It was ‘Rian.’

“The feed was packed with men. Platinum blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes. Those traits alone are rare enough that I found him quickly… but above all, isn’t he exactly the kind of beauty that would make someone like you search so desperately, Mr. Joshua?”

Tap, tap. The man tapped the photo a couple more times.

“The moment I saw him, I knew it was this guy.”

Joshua roughly slapped the man’s hand away for daring to poke ‘Rian’ in the photo.

It had been a month.

It took over a month, but he had finally found him.

He had stayed in New York instead of returning to the West just to find him.

If it had been any later, he didn’t know how he would have spiraled out of control. He might have even mobilized the NYPD.

What kind of expression would ‘Rian’ make when I appear before him?

He wouldn’t smile sweetly, of course.

He would undoubtedly look bewildered and distressed, but Joshua was dying to see even that expression. He couldn’t stop the smile leaking from his lips.

Joshua operated the man’s phone to transfer the photos to his own. Then, he deleted them from the man’s gallery.

He examined them again, one by one.

The background was a plain, casual restaurant. Rian, dressed in a black t-shirt with a long apron tied around his waist, was moving through the hall. Thanks to Rian, the unremarkable restaurant looked like a high-end establishment run by a Michelin-starred chef.

Joshua tilted his head and smiled at the Rian in the photo.

“He looks good in an apron, too.”

Then, he pressed a kiss to the screen.

“Ah… I really do love him.”

Accustomed to Joshua’s eccentricities, the man didn’t pay any mind and simply enjoyed his expensive drink. Then, setting the glass down, the man muttered.

“Elian Bellotti.”

“What?”

“That’s the man’s real name. Elian Bellotti.”

“Elian Bellotti…”

Joshua rolled the name around in his mouth, mimicking the man. The resonance created by his tongue felt like a mysterious incantation.

What expression would he make if I appeared and called him by the real name he had never told me?

Just by getting hold of his personal information, a thrill ran through Joshua’s entire body, as if he had already possessed him.

He wanted to go to that restaurant right now.

He wanted to wrap his arms around that slender waist tied tight with an apron and shower those rose-petal lips with kisses.

“So, where is this restaurant? Give me the address. He works there, right?”

“But Mr. Joshua, isn’t it a bit too dark under the lamp?”

Seriously, he never answers a question directly. He always gets more arrogant after finishing a job.

Frowning, Joshua glared at the man.

“I believe I told you to cut the nonsense.”

“Even so, you were really too much this time.”

“What kind of bullshit are you trying to spout now?”

“I’ve found his current residence, of course. Once the identity is revealed, that part is a piece of cake.”

“Then tell me that.”

The man smirked with a displeased face. His eyes behind the glasses glittered with a mean-spirited pleasure.

“That man, you see, is at your house, Mr. Joshua.”

Joshua liked the results of this man’s work, but his habit of beating around the bush was deeply irritating.

At my house? Just as Joshua was about to grab the man by the collar to see if he was testing his temper, he was forced into silence by the man’s next words.

With a triumphant and mocking expression, the man revealed where Rian—no, Elian—was.

“To be precise, the Lockhart estate. Elian Bellotti is currently staying there.”

■

Lorenz could not fall asleep even as the night grew deep. While nights of deep sleep were rare for him to begin with, the quality of his sleep had been relatively decent visit our sitelately. Read on Read BL NovelsHowever, on [stolen content]this particular night, despite having no headache, he found it exceptionally difficult to sleep.

Even wearing an eye mask was useless. The images of Elian and Vincent from that afternoon played on a loop in his mind.

Eventually, Lorenz ripped off the eye mask in irritation and sat up.

He sat on the edge of the bed wearing only pajama pants. The faint night light dimly reflected his well-trained, bare upper body. He ran his hand over his face several times, as if trying to wash away the scenes that remained etched behind his eyelids.

That was when the phone rang.

The screen emitted a blue light in the darkness.

The caller was Lorenz’s private investigator.

He was one of the few people who could contact Lorenz regardless of the time if there was an important update.

3:00 AM.

He wouldn’t have called at this hour for something trivial. Lorenz had a feeling that the detective had finally found something meaningful.

“Did you find something?”

Lorenz’s low, dry voice rang out clearly, like a dot being carved into the silence of the night.

[Yes, Mr. Lorenz. I’ve found an Omega.]

“Where are they?”

[Húsavík. It’s a small fishing village on the northern coast of Iceland. They possess a very rare Pheromone. I’ve confirmed that they are quite famous for their unique Pheromone in the area, and I’ve even bribed an Alpha to conduct a test.]

What the Omega looked like, whether their Primary Gender was female or male—Lorenz asked nothing. None of that mattered in the slightest.

Running his large, dry palm over his face once more, he commanded.

“Bring them to Manhattan immediately.”

His green eyes sank into a dark depths.

■

Elian and Lucas sat facing each other at a table in front of a large window. On the table were pieces of the stolen contentRead on Read BL Novelsseason that Elian had gathered from Central Park yesterday afternoon.

Various types of maple leaves—red, sugar, silver, and Norway—yellow ginkgo leaves, a few acorns fallen from an oak tree, and small pinecones. They were a collection Elian had carefully curated, wanting to show autumn to Lucas.

Lucas treated them as precious treasures. His small hands were extremely cautious as he touched each leaf.

“Lucas, look at this ginkgo leaf.”

Lucas, who had been deeply absorbed in observing an acorn, looked up.

Elian fluttered the leaf held between his fingers.

“There isn’t a single blue part. It’s turned a very beautiful yellow, right?”

The child smiled and nodded, and Elian handed him the leaf.

“I looked for the prettiest leaf because I wanted to give it to Lucas.”

Setting the acorn down, the child cupped his small hands to receive the ginkgo leaf. Just as Elian had done, he gripped the stem with two fingers and spun it around. His brown eyes shimmered, marvelling at the miracle created by the season.

If only this child could see the world with his own eyes and smell it himself…

However, Elian did not let his regret show. Impatience would not make it happen. It was a process like breaking a rock by letting water drop one drop at a time.

“Shall we show it to your brother when he comes later?”

Lucas nodded vigorously. He seemed excited. Elian was also looking forward to it, in a different sense, wondering how Lorenz Lockhart would react to a child showing off leaves, acorns, and pinecones from the park as if they were treasures.

He believed that the current Lorenz would never do something like frown or show displeasure. Though he would likely be flustered, not knowing how to respond to the child.

“While Lucas eats his cake, I’ll try to draw. Hmm… which one should I draw…”

Scanning the collection the child had carefully arranged on the table, Elian chose a sugar maple leaf. The vivid mix of orange, yellow, and red looked like a blazing flame.

“I’ll draw this one. Look, doesn’t it look similar to Lucas’s hand?”

When he placed the leaf next to the child’s small hand, Lucas spread his fingers wide. The two of them smiled at each other.

Moments of bonding with the child like this were gradually accumulating. The first day he met the child—when he couldn’t even enter this room and had to sit in the hallway with the door open—felt like a distant memory.

The child’s attitude toward Lorenz Lockhart had also changed noticeably. The child waited for the [Read on Read BL Novels]time he visited and [Read on Read BL Novels]Read on Read BL Novelsshowed through easy-to-read actions that he enjoyed that time.

Lorenz’s change was also evident.

The man who used to break into a cold sweat not knowing how to treat the child now knew how to get along quite naturally. He would smile at the child, crack jokes, and sometimes play pranks—even if they were jokes and pranks of his own making that the child didn’t quite understand.