By Zephyria 
That day was the first time Lee Hae-sung discovered that he was saved as ‘Carrot Seller’ in Choi Hong-seo’s phone, and it was also the day Lee Hae-sung and Choi Hong-seo officially became lovers.
“There, I’m done. Give me my phone back.”
Hong-seo pulled at Lee Hae-sung’s arm again, asking for the phone, but he wasn’t as assertive as before, his emotions having been shaken violently.
“Choi Hong-seo.”
“……”
“Why aren’t you looking at me today?”
“I am.”
“You aren’t even looking at me right now.”
“……”
“At the hotel, in the car on the way here, and since we arrived at the airport—you’ve probably been like this the whole time, right? And yet you’re taking candid photos of me. I’d appreciate it if you told me why.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Choi Hong-seo stole a glance at Lee Hae-sung. Their eyes likely met for about 0.5 seconds. Then, he spoke in a crawling voice.
“I’m looking at you now.”
“Is this a rebellious phase, or are you bored of me?”
“Bored?”
“Judging by your reaction last night, it’s probably not boredom.”
“……”
“Are you just nervous about meeting Ji-in?”
“I am nervous, but…”
“So that’s not all of it.”
Choi Hong-seo rubbed his face vigorously with both hands and mumbled, his face still buried in his palms.
“You let me win at everything else, so why won’t you let this slide?”
“So, do you hate it?”
“……”
The fact that he couldn’t bring himself to say he hated it was very typical of Choi Hong-seo. Lee Hae-sung gently stroked the back of the frustrated Hong-seo’s head over his hood.
“Tell me. Did I do something wrong? I can’t fix it if you don’t tell me.”
“Hyung’s clothes…”
“My clothes?”
“They’re too different from what you usually wear.”
“Do they look bad?”
With his elbows resting on his thighs and his face buried in his hands, Choi Hong-seo shook his head. He shook it firmly three or four times.
“The opposite.”
“Ah…”
The reason why he wouldn’t meet his eyes, yet stole glances and took secret photos whenever Lee Hae-sung wasn’t looking. Lee Hae-sung couldn’t help but laugh at the reason, which was something he had never imagined.
Of course, he felt good, but more than that, the reason was so absurdly cute and eccentric that he kept letting out small chuckles.
“Your hair, too. Usually, you have that very neat Vice Chairman hair. But today…”
Lowering the hands that had been covering his face to just below his eyes, Choi Hong-seo glanced at Lee Hae-sung again from the corner of his eye.
As for the hoodie, it was the kind of clothing Lee Hae-sung would never have worn if Choi Hong-seo hadn’t gifted it to him. Even during his college days when he enjoyed exercising quite a bit, he only had one or two such items in his wardrobe. To be honest, he was the kind of pampered young master who wore a piqué shirt over training pants even when playing basketball, and he preferred sweatshirts over hoodies. However, today, he had thrown a leather jacket over the hoodie and styled his hair to flow naturally downward, unlike his usual look.
It seemed that had left quite a fresh impression on his lover.
“It’s the disguise method Hong-seo told me about. You told me to try a style I don’t usually wear.”
“I know. I said that. I did say it, but…”
Lee Hae-sung leaned down deeply to meet Choi Hong-seo’s eyes.
“Why? Does it make your heart flutter because I look like a different man?”
A face that turned bright red in an instant lunged at Lee Hae-sung, throwing a punch. Thinking that he might be a subtly twisted bastard for intentionally provoking him while knowing exactly how he would react, Lee Hae-sung still couldn’t stop the pleased laughter leaking out.
“You used to tease me like this before, too, Hyung.”
Grabbing both of Choi Hong-seo’s wrists—who looked quite aggrieved—and pretending to have a contest of strength, Lee Hae-sung narrowed his eyes.
“I teased you? Hmm… I only remember trying my best to look good to Hong-seo.”
“I liked you because I thought you were a kind mister, but thinking back, you weren’t.”
“So you did like me.”
“……”
Choi Hong-seo, whose heart softened the moment I put on a slightly lonely expression. My innocent baby, who thinks he’s well-versed in the ways of the world, having been worn down by the storms of life.
“I… I told you I liked you. Back then, too.”
“Do you like me? Not just as a crush?”
“……”
Choi Hong-seo became quiet. Because Lee Hae-sung had asked the exact same question as before.
“How could I not like you when you’re so good to me?”
“Do you like me? Not just as a crush?”
After exchanging such a conversation, the two had become lovers. Although he hadn’t heard the words “I love you” directly, the sight of Choi Hong-seo struggling to convey his sincerity with a blunt expression had been strangely touching to Lee Hae-sung at the time.
Perhaps it was because it was right after he had witnessed the scene of Jo Seong-hyeon bullying him.
Even though they had only just started dating, every clumsy gesture of the younger man felt pitiful to Lee Hae-sung. As if a memory of loving him from a long time ago—for example, in a previous life—remained somewhere in his subconscious. In that way, Choi Hong-seo was like a sore finger to Lee Hae-sung, someone he couldn’t stop looking back at. From the very beginning.
“Hyung, this is really unfair.”
“What is?”
“You know I can’t be firm with you when you bring up the past.”
“I don’t care if it’s unfair. Do you like me?”
Lee Hae-sung pulled both of Choi Hong-seo’s wrists close. Stretched out like a cat on the side table, Choi Hong-seo mumbled with a flushed face.
“Then, and now… to me, love is just Hyung. You know that.”
Blunt as he was then, and clumsy as he was then.
But words from Choi Hong-seo were more trustworthy than anyone else’s in the world.
He wanted to pull him into an embrace right now. He wanted to kiss his warm skin. To the point where he felt angry that he couldn’t.
Releasing the grip on the wrists, Lee Hae-sung instead interlaced their fingers. Choi Hong-seo still had a grumpy expression, but he was looking at Lee Hae-sung from the corner of his eye. And now, Lee Hae-sung realized. It wasn’t a grumpy expression, but rather a look of not knowing what to do with his shyness.
While pulling on Choi Hong-seo’s hoodie strings with his other hand, Lee Hae-sung spoke.
“Yeah, I know. Hong-seo knows I’m not asking because I don’t know. Right?”
Nod, nod. Choi Hong-seo nodded his head twice.
To think that just wearing different clothes and a different hairstyle would cause such a commotion. The more Lee Hae-sung thought about it, the cuter and more amusing his lover was. Then again, considering how he himself marveled every time a new concept was shown during a pictorial shoot, it was understandable.
“Vice Chairman, it is time to board.”
Picking up Choi Hong-seo’s backpack following the attendant’s guidance, Lee Hae-sung thought he should give the stylist a bonus. It was just a change he attempted to spend a more comfortable time in Paris away from public eyes. To think it made him tremble to the point where he couldn’t even look properly. It was an unexpected harvest.
Since it was a small airport, there wasn’t a separate boarding wing for private jets. Lee Hae-sung’s party moved toward the gate at the western end of the general boarding wing. Every time an Asian passenger appeared, Choi Hong-seo lowered his head further and stood closer to Lee Hae-sung. Even though no one would recognize him anyway because of the mask that barely showed his eyes.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“Wait a second.”
Choi Hong-seo, who had been shrinking and on guard, suddenly pulled Lee Hae-sung’s arm and whispered so only he could hear.
“Why? Do you want to go to the bathroom?”
“Not that. Just the two of us for a moment.”
Checking the attendants’ reactions, Choi Hong-seo pulled Lee Hae-sung with both hands.
“Why, what is it?”
After signaling the attendants to wait, Lee Hae-sung followed where Choi Hong-seo led him.
The place Choi Hong-seo took Lee Hae-sung to was in front of a mirror. A large full-length mirror attached to the wall. In front of it, Choi Hong-seo took out his phone and opened the camera app.
“Want to take a selfie?”
“Let’s take one together.”
Lately, Choi Hong-seo had been collecting memories of the two of them on social media. Of course, the account was private and the only follower was Lee Hae-sung, but he was steadily gathering moments related to the two of them, from small daily routines to special events like this Cannes Film Festival.
Unlike Choi Hong-seo, who immediately lowered his mask and put on a practiced expression, Lee Hae-sung felt only awkward.
Whether it was a selfie or a self-portrait. He was even less accustomed to photos taken in front of a mirror. Although he had been photographing as a hobby for years, he had never taken a photo of himself. Choi Hong-seo was the only person on earth who would suggest taking a mirror selfie together. He was also the only person who had requested him to send selfies.
Lee Hae-sung stood behind Choi Hong-seo and spread his feet wide to lower his height. Seeing Lee Hae-sung’s form in the screen, with only his eyes peeking out over the large hoodie, Choi Hong-seo made a disappointed face.
“Do you hate taking it that much?”
“It’s not that I hate it, I’m just trying to make it look fun.”
“I want to leave a lot of memories with Hyung…”
“……”
“Since it’s a side of you I don’t get to see often, I want to take photos together.”
Hmm… Lee Hae-sung let out a sigh and returned to his original height. It wasn’t a heavy or tired sigh, but a sweet sigh of happiness, pretending to give in to his lover’s complaining. Then, he lightly wrapped his arm around the shoulder of Choi Hong-seo standing in front of him, crossing over his collarbone.
“If Baby wants to, then we must. What power do I have?”
“Huh?”
Choi Hong-seo turned his head and looked up at Lee Hae-sung with a face full of laughter.
“Ah…”
Only then did Lee Hae-sung narrow his eyes and sigh. Since he had said ‘Baby’, he had to receive a penalty. He still detested the texture of cooked eggplant, but if Choi Hong-seo liked it this much, what did it matter?
“Do you enjoy seeing me suffer while eating eggplant that much? Our Hong-seo has a surprising sadistic streak.”
“Hyung, you don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?”
“Hyung knows everything and is good at everything…”
“Surely you’re not saying you hate me for that?”
A youthful face that looked no older than twenty-five or six looked up at Lee Hae-sung. With a mock-scolding expression on that face, he fiddled with the phone again.
“That’s why you’re always cool, and that’s why I like you… but when you eat eggplant, you’re like a child.”
“Like a child?”
“I like it because you’re cute when you’re struggling because you don’t want to eat it.”
Cute… Cute, huh…
He had always thought his role was the one doing the finding things cute, but hearing that he was cute from Choi Hong-seo didn’t feel bad.
Lee Hae-sung looked down at Choi Hong-seo. He was scrolling through countless camera filters one by one. To Lee Hae-sung’s eyes, the filters all looked similar. However, Choi Hong-seo’s face was dead serious as he skillfully operated the phone with fingers peeking out from under the loose sleeves of the oversized hoodie. Who is calling whom cute? Who is the truly cute one here.
“I think this filter is new. It’s nice. I want to take it with this one.”
The ordinary daily life of someone his age, enthusiastic about proof shots of a trip with a boyfriend, had finally become Choi Hong-seo’s share. Lee Hae-sung felt he had a duty to protect and cooperate with that. He pulled the arm wrapped around his lover’s shoulder a bit closer, pressing his back tightly against his chest without a gap.
Click.
Along with the sound effect, the image of the two of them captured in the screen was quite pleasing. To anyone, it was a moment of a happy couple excited about their journey.
Leaving behind Cannes, which had brought them the Palme d’Or, it was now time to head to Paris.
