His body felt heavy like waterlogged cotton from tossing and turning all night. After finishing his gym cleaning part-time job and returning home, Hae-wan rubbed his aching surgical site due to fatigue and opened the front door.

“Hyung, you’re home? Come sit down quickly so you can eat.”

As he opened the front door, Yu-jun, who had been standing in front of the small sink, spoke warmly. The sour yet savory smell of kimchi fried rice, seemingly drizzled with sesame oil, hit his nose.

It was still around 7 AM, so while it might not matter to Hae-wan, for Yu-jun it was practically dawn. Nevertheless, seeing his obvious intention of preparing breakfast to coincide with his return time, Hae-wan buried his face in his scarf and chuckled softly.

After the incident with Kang-hyun, Hae-wan completely treated Yu-jun like he was invisible. Yu-jun, who knew that Hae-wan wasn’t the type to stay angry for long, seemed to take it lightly at first.

However, when this silent treatment dragged on, recently he had been coming home before midnight every night and clearly watching Hae-wan’s mood carefully.

Eventually, Hae-wan sat Yu-jun down and made him promise not to ride his motorcycle recklessly except for delivery work. Only after confirming with his own eyes that Yu-jun had blocked Kang-hyun’s phone number from his contacts did Hae-wan start talking to Yu-jun again.

Of course, he didn’t completely trust Yu-jun’s words, but he simply hoped that he had learned his lesson and would be more careful in the future.

“Why aren’t you eating well? Does it taste strange?”

When Yu-jun frowned slightly at seeing Hae-wan picking at his food instead of finishing it quickly, Hae-wan hurriedly waved his hands.

“No, it’s delicious. It’s delicious, but I couldn’t sleep well, so it’s not going down easily. Sorry.”

“Why couldn’t you sleep again?”

Yu-jun’s voice was carelessly peaceful as he asked while taking a big spoonful of rice, but Hae-wan hesitated, unable to answer easily.

Eight years ago, after Hae-eon stepped forward to become friends with Kang-hyun in place of Hae-wan, who couldn’t even say a word to him, Hae-wan and Hae-eon had spent quite a lot of time talking about Kang-hyun.

Not only his name and age, but also the fact that the beautiful mansion on the hill overlooking the coast was a vacation home built by Kang-hyun’s family, and that Kang-hyun was only staying there temporarily for recuperation, were all things he had heard from Hae-eon.

However, aside from such superficial facts, other things were strangely difficult to remember. The time spent talking with Hae-eon about Kang-hyun remained quite memorable, but like a muted video, the content had been forgotten.

Well, Hae-wan never had a good memory. When he was young, he forgot things so often that the orphanage teachers would even send all of Hae-wan’s school supplies with Hae-eon to take care of.

“Yu-jun. Do you remember anything else from what Kang-hyun said about Hae-eon that day, besides what you told me?”

Yu-jun tilted his head while chewing the kimchi fried rice he had stuffed in his mouth.

“Well, besides what I said at first, I don’t really… You know I was completely wasted and out of it that day.”

“That’s why I told you not to drink so much.”

“Damn, I don’t know. I didn’t think I drank that much, but the alcohol must have been strong or something because I got drunk strangely fast… How would I know if I’ve never had such expensive alcohol before?”

Hae-wan swallowed a small sigh inwardly. Then Yu-jun put down his spoon and asked quite carefully:

“What’s wrong? Is Kang-hyun hyung saying something weird to you about Yoon Hae-eon?”

“It’s not that… he still thinks I’m Hae-eon.”

“Should I go tell him again? That I was just talking nonsense?”

“I’ll handle it myself, so don’t even think about meeting that person again.”

At Hae-wan’s attitude of cutting off the conversation without hesitation, Yu-jun looked embarrassed. However, since Hae-wan was still worried that Kang-hyun might report Yu-jun to the police for fraud, he didn’t want to make Yu-jun appear in front of him unnecessarily.

The situation was like a tangled mess of thread, and Hae-wan could see no way to fix it, so he could only sigh.

Kang-hyun was a perfumer. And a talented one at that. This meant that he wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that Hae-wan’s scent was the same as Hae-eon’s.

If that was the case, then regardless of Hae-wan’s own complexes, revealing all the truth would be the only way to clear up Kang-hyun’s misunderstanding.

However, he worried that if he spoke rashly and angered Kang-hyun, he might harm Yu-jun. He was also bothered by Hae-eon’s request not to tell anyone about his death until his next birthday came around.

Although he had dismissed Yu-jun’s earlier words about Hae-eon possibly having borrowed money from Kang-hyun, in fact, Hae-wan couldn’t help but worry that such incomprehensible requests might be due to some serious legal or financial problems.

If there were any clues about the time when Hae-eon wasn’t by his side, could he at least guess why he had made such requests?

With such thoughts, Hae-wan unconsciously let out a deep sigh.

Hae-eon was a genius wherever he went. He was selected for a scholarship foundation program run by a major corporation that only chose three people per year, and received full support to study abroad in America on the condition that he would join the company’s research institute after graduation.

However, Hae-eon cut off all contact with everyone related to the orphanage as soon as he left Korea, so no one knew about his whereabouts afterward.

Such sudden loss of contact tormented Hae-wan for quite a long time. All he could do was try to comfort himself with the thought that Hae-eon was intelligent and beloved by everyone, so he must be living happily wherever he was.

However, when Hae-eon suddenly returned to Hae-wan’s life carrying only a small travel bag with a few clothes, he was the complete opposite of what Hae-wan had hoped for.

At the time, nothing seemed important except the time he could spend with Hae-eon in the ‘future,’ so when Hae-eon was reluctant to talk about his time in America, he stopped asking. 

However, now that all the truth was forever buried in mystery, various regrets inevitably bubbled up.

Seeing Hae-wan put down his spoon, unable to eat any more, Yu-jun grumbled quietly:

“Really, if it weren’t for that bastard Yoon Hae-eon, none of this would have happened in the first place.”

“Kim Yu-jun.”

Hae-wan said sharply.

“Do you think you have the right to blame Hae-eon for how things turned out?”

At Hae-wan’s rebuke, Yu-jun shut his mouth, but he still couldn’t stop pouting with dissatisfaction.

Why did he hate Hae-eon so much?

He was about to ask that, but thinking it would be pointless now, Hae-wan could only let out another deep sigh, one of many he didn’t know he had released.

* * *

“Today I’d like you to help me label these bottles.”

Regardless of Hae-wan’s feelings as he entered the workshop with a queasy sensation, not knowing how to face Kang-hyun, Kang-hyun spoke refreshingly with a completely nonchalant expression.

On the marble table in the reception room, dozens of small fragrance bottles were contained in compartmentalized boxes, with several A4-sized label sheets printed with fragrance names and a cutter knife beside them.

“If you cut the label sheets in order and hand them to me, I’ll check the scent and attach them to the bottles. When I hand the bottle back to you, check the label and put a sticker with the same number on the cap. The caps also absorb scents, so it’s troublesome when different fragrance caps get mixed up.”

Kang-hyun seated Hae-wan across the table and briefly explained what needed to be done. Relieved that it wasn’t difficult work, Hae-wan nodded.

The two began working without much conversation. However, perhaps because his claim about having slow hands was true, when Hae-wan’s work progressed much faster than his own, Kang-hyun opened his mouth sheepishly:

“You have quick hands. I should ask for your help when subdividing fragrances next time too.”

At the awkward voice, Hae-wan deliberately steered the conversation elsewhere:

“Did you subdivide all of these yourself?”

“Yes. The raw materials come in bulk, and since they come in various forms like powder, solid, and liquid, I have to dissolve the necessary amounts in solvents and prepare them myself.”

Looking at the countless bottles on the table, Hae-wan asked with a curious voice:

“How many… fragrances are there here?”

“What I have now is about 500 types.”

“That many?”

Hae-wan’s eyes naturally widened, and Kang-hyun glanced up at him and smiled.

“This is just a tiny fraction. Including both natural and synthetic fragrances, there are said to be over 8,000 types of scents just by count alone. Of course, among those, there are fragrances that are prohibited from harvesting or banned from use due to reasons like causing allergies, so what can be used on people is quite limited.”

Starting with those words, Kang-hyun began telling various stories about fragrances. All the fragrances Kang-hyun used were imported from countries around the world, and it seemed he had personally gone to examine the manufacturing processes and quality before selecting them.

Kang-hyun’s experiences of traveling to Tuscan iris fields, Turkish rose gardens, and even oakmoss storage facilities in Morocco, not just obtaining finished products but observing the harvesting processes of the raw materials, were the kind that were unimaginable in Hae-wan’s world.

Before he knew it, Hae-wan had stopped the busy movement of cutting label sheets and was completely absorbed in Kang-hyun’s stories.

Kang-hyun’s voice was as low, resonant, and solid as his build. In the workshop that was isolated from the outside except for the artificially created courtyard, it felt like the only window to the outside world.

Suddenly, noticing that no more label sheets were coming his way, Kang-hyun looked up. Only when their eyes met did Hae-wan snap back to attention and hurriedly start cutting label sheets again.

Then he heard Kang-hyun’s apologetic voice:

“I only talked about boring things. Sorry, it must have been uninteresting for you, Mr. Yoon Bori.”

Flustered, Hae-wan quickly raised his head.

“No, it wasn’t boring at all.”

“Really? Usually people don’t like listening to one-sided conversations.”

Hae-wan blinked. Come to think of it, Kang-hyun seemed to often start sentences with “usually people.” Even though he didn’t seem like the type to worry about others’ opinions, his use of such phrases bothered Hae-wan somehow, so he carefully chose his words:

“No. I… like listening to other people’s stories. Mr. Yeo Kang-hyun tells them interestingly, and… your voice is nice too… so I enjoyed listening.”

At those words, Kang-hyun smiled slightly. His cheeks burning for no reason, Hae-wan lowered his gaze.

“Still, tell me about yourself too, Mr. Yoon Bori. I know you’re someone with many secrets, but you could at least tell me what you do on your days off, what hobbies you have. That kind of thing.”

It was a common, very easy question that anyone might ask. Nevertheless, Hae-wan couldn’t help but hesitate.

Hae-wan’s current life, struggling to make ends meet and barely managing to sleep or watch videos on his phone when he had free time, had nothing worth telling Kang-hyun about.

In his childhood, he loved riding his bicycle around various places, and when he was cooking, he used to make eating delicious food both his work and hobby. However, now even those felt like distant memories, and he disliked the idea of forcing himself to make things up.

He had never thought about such things because he was tired of living, but suddenly he felt like a shabby and boring person. Pushing away his own pathetic feelings, Hae-wan spoke in a quiet voice:

“I don’t really have hobbies, and on my days off… I mostly sleep. As you know, work keeps me busy.”

Kang-hyun looked at such a Hae-wan for a moment, then suddenly said:

“Then, would you be interested in perfumery as a hobby?”