The place Kang-hyun took Hae-wan to was a fusion Korean fine dining restaurant located in Cheongdam-dong.

It was a place he knew well, famous for receiving high scores in renowned restaurant guidebooks, but even when he had been working at a proper job, he hadn’t dared to come here because the dinner prices approached 200,000 won. Unable to contain his excitement, Hae-wan kept looking around.

At one time, he used to scrape together what little money he had to visit fine dining restaurants like this for educational purposes, but now it felt like a distant memory from long ago.

From the moment the welcome dish arrived, Kang-hyun watched with interest as Hae-wan carefully observed the plating and savored each bite slowly. He spoke with a hint of laughter in his voice:

“Do you like the food? You look really happy.”

As soon as he heard those words, Hae-wan’s face flushed red up to his neck. He felt embarrassed that he couldn’t hide his excitement like a child. Then Kang-hyun hurriedly added:

“I wasn’t trying to tease you. You seemed familiar with appreciating flavors and such, so I was curious if you frequented places like this.”

Should he tell him? Feeling sweat breaking out, Hae-wan rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to give Kang-hyun any clues that might help him find out who he really was.

But it seemed like it wouldn’t matter. It didn’t look like he’d easily find a way back to his original work anyway.

Hae-wan fidgeted with the tablecloth on his lap and answered quietly:

“I used to… cook. So before I quit my job, I would visit places like this little by little for educational purposes.”

At Hae-wan speaking about himself for the first time, Kang-hyun’s eyebrows twitched with interest.

“Cooking? What kind? Korean? Japanese? French?”

“Just at a small French restaurant. You probably wouldn’t know it even if I told you.”

Even though he deflected appropriately, Kang-hyun still seemed to have many more questions, but thankfully the next plate arrived at just the right time, and both men quietly focused on their food for a while.

Because he had entered school a year later than others, Hae-wan graduated high school only when he turned twenty-one. Since he could no longer stay at the orphanage, he received settlement support funds and help from the director to get a small studio apartment and came up to Seoul.

In that utterly unfamiliar environment, he spent a year drifting from part-time job to part-time job, but when he got employed at a small French restaurant right after turning twenty-two, he finally felt like he had found his path.

He liked creating something where the results could be seen immediately. He also liked being able to bring joy to others through that work.

Moreover, Hae-wan was skilled with his hands and incredibly sincere without any shortcuts, so he easily caught the chef’s eye. Of course, working in a closed-off kitchen with a strict hierarchy wasn’t easy at all for someone with his gentle personality.

Nevertheless, he endured silently and persistently, and after several years passed, he suddenly realized he had become quite a senior member.

Around the time he had been working for five years, the restaurant that had started small gradually gained word-of-mouth recognition and became quite famous.

It was right then that the chef recommended Hae-wan go to university. He said he was considering opening a second location someday, and when that happened, he wanted to entrust Hae-wan with an important position. He also said that learning professionally about cooking or restaurant management would be a great help.

At first, Hae-wan was very flustered by that proposal. He had never once thought that studying was the right path for him. This was especially true because Hae-eon, who had been exceptionally brilliant, had always been by his side during his school years.

However, no matter how much it was university, learning about cooking would be different from general studying, so he developed a strong desire to take on the challenge. On the day he applied to a culinary arts department with a working professional track and heard the acceptance announcement, Hae-wan was so excited that he even jumped up and down by himself.

The working professional track was different from regular university, with actual campus classes only about once a week, while everything else was curriculum through assignments and online lectures. However, he still vividly remembered the excitement and nervousness of first stepping onto campus.

And it was right after he had just finished his first year of university that Hae-eon returned, clearly showing signs of illness.

It was impossible to care for Hae-eon while working fifteen hours a day at the restaurant and attending university.

Therefore, despite everyone’s attempts to dissuade him, he quit his job. He took a leave of absence from school for the time being, but after going through Hae-eon’s death and the surgery, he missed the return deadline and was expelled.

Still, it was okay. He could cook plenty without attending school.

But what really held Hae-wan back was the changes he experienced after the pheromone gland transplant surgery.

While Hae-wan’s disability wasn’t preferred in most jobs dealing with people, kitchens were different. In the profession of chef, where one needed to sensitively distinguish food tastes and aromas, strong scents were actually a disadvantage, so many people in the industry had weak scents.

However, after transplanting Hae-eon’s pheromone glands, his pheromone scent became so strong that it lingered on objects he touched, and most restaurants began to avoid him. The reason was that it could affect other chefs’ sense of smell and cause problems with food quality.

In the end, for Hae-wan to make a living, there was no other way than clinging to part-time jobs like when he first came to Seoul.

His dream was to open his own shop someday, no matter how small, and if he worked alone in the kitchen, it might not be a big problem. However, honestly, he couldn’t see any path forward while struggling with debt without even a proper job.

Hae-wan’s mind, which had been immersed in such thoughts, was suddenly brought back by Kang-hyun’s voice.

“Why did you quit your job?”

Flustered by the sudden question, Hae-wan hesitated for a moment before stammering:

“Well, I wasn’t feeling well.”

Kang-hyun’s expression clearly darkened. His heart sank at that face, and he asked once more with a careful expression:

“Where were you sick?”

At the quite worried voice, the thought that he had said something unnecessary filled his head completely. And the more such thoughts made Hae-wan panic, the more he couldn’t think of even a decent excuse, so he lowered his head and mumbled vaguely:

“…I was just a little sick.”

Even to his own ears, it was a series of insincere answers, and there was no way the conversation could continue well like this. Sure enough, he could feel Kang-hyun letting out a barely perceptible sigh.

He should have lied, like an idiot.

Even with delicious food in front of him that he was tasting after a long time, he felt like he might get indigestion, so Hae-wan just lowered his gaze and bit his lips.

Kang-hyun, who had been observing such a Hae-wan, suddenly spoke up:

“My name is Yeo Kang-hyun, and I’m twenty-seven years old. Well, my profession is perfumer, like you know. I majored in chemistry in university, and I chose that because I thought it would help with perfumery too. Since I was young, my sense of smell was so sensitive that I lived surrounded by all kinds of scented products. Naturally, I became interested in perfumery.”

At the unexpected self-introduction, Hae-wan looked puzzled, and Kang-hyun smiled naturally and said:

“Since Mr. Yoon Bori has many things he can’t talk about, I thought I’d talk about myself instead. That’s okay, right?”

That one sentence smoothly dissolved the awkward atmosphere. Feeling grateful, Hae-wan couldn’t help but smile.

Throughout the dinner that followed, Kang-hyun led the conversation without asking more questions that might make Hae-wan sensitive. As it turned out, he was quite good at conversation, so even Hae-wan, who had firmly decided to be careful with his words, found himself responding without realizing it.

After finishing the meal, Kang-hyun said he would take Hae-wan home, but when he firmly refused, they compromised on dropping him off at the subway station that went directly to Hae-wan’s neighborhood.

Kang-hyun’s car was an expensive foreign sports car that Hae-wan had only seen in movies. Although it was less than a 10-minute distance to the subway station, it felt awkward to be sitting in a car he had never even thought he might touch once.

“So, we’ll see each other Friday evening, right?”

After arriving at the station, Kang-hyun asked while Hae-wan was unbuckling his seatbelt. Like today, Wednesday, he would go from early afternoon, and on other days, he would go to Kang-hyun’s workshop after finishing his convenience store work.

“Yes. Thank you for dinner tonight. It was a place I wanted to visit, and thanks to you, I really enjoyed the meal.”

“Really? I should take you again next time. I know many other delicious places besides there.”

Kang-hyun answered cheerfully, but Hae-wan felt something heavy settle in his chest. A dinner costing several hundred thousand won might be nothing to Kang-hyun, but the problem was that he was spending money on the wrong person.

Of course, he knew Kang-hyun didn’t think that way. However, for Hae-wan, who knew all the truth, it was still difficult to endure the discomfort of feeling like he was in a place where he shouldn’t be.

“You don’t need to do that.”

At the words that popped out because he couldn’t bear it, Kang-hyun’s face hardened. Hae-wan tried to continue in a light tone:

“After a month, when you find out I’m not Yoon Hae-eon, you’ll feel like the money was wasted, right?”

He had tried to pass it off as a joke, but it didn’t seem to work as intended, and Kang-hyun’s hardened face showed no signs of softening.

Kang-hyun, who had been silent for a moment, slowly spoke while stroking his face with his long fingers:

“I don’t know about you, Mr. Yoon Bori, but I don’t think people’s words are that important. It’s too easy to spit out lies with your mouth.”

“…”

“But since I agreed to play along for now, I’ll do my best for a month. That way I can prove what I said to you too.”

Hae-wan found himself looking at Kang-hyun without realizing it. He had once again spoken like he was completely certain Hae-wan was Hae-eon, but what caught Hae-wan’s attention wasn’t the tone but the sense of déjà vu he felt from Kang-hyun’s words.

Soon he remembered where he had heard those words.

‘Now it’s proven, isn’t it? What I told you back then.’

Those were the words Kang-hyun had said on the day they first met at that arboretum.

Having nothing to say in response, Hae-wan just bit his lips.

He couldn’t even begin to guess what words Kang-hyun had been harboring for eight whole years that he so desperately needed to prove to Hae-eon. After Hae-eon returned to Hae-wan’s side, he hadn’t said anything about Kang-hyun.

If he knew what it was, would he be able to find a way for Kang-hyun to just let him go?

This entire situation was so frustrating he felt like he might go crazy. But Hae-eon was no longer a person of this world, and he knew he had no right to ask Kang-hyun about it.

“…I’ll be going now.”

Hae-wan got out of the car without looking back. No matter how deeply he breathed, the feeling of something heavy sitting on his heart wouldn’t disappear.