The swimming pool was almost full. It looked as though a pond had risen in the middle of the thicket.

Gable, who had turned off the water pipe, crouched by the edge of the pool and slowly stirred the water, as if checking its temperature.

The sun had already shifted considerably. At this hour, which could be called either afternoon or evening, a breeze carried a slight chill, but when the wind died down, it was perfectly cool.

“It seems a bit cold to get in the water now.”

“Not at all. This is just right for moving around. Your body temperature rises once you start swimming.”

Gable shook his head as he answered Taeui. His hand, stirring the water, seemed reluctant to stop.

“Well, the water’s fresh. Why don’t you go in and come back out?”

“Hmm……”

Gable gazed at the water as if he wanted to plunge in right that moment, then shook his head as if hesitating.

“Later. We have a guest now.”

“I don’t mind. Kyle’s off in his own world anyway.”

“Hmm……, ……. No.”

Gable seemed conflicted for a moment, but with a tone dripping with regret, he shook his head and walked away, as if trying to shake off the temptation, and returned to the living room.

“What’s going on? You’re usually like a water spirit, diving in at every chance. With a pool this size, if you drained it, cleaned it, and refilled it, you must not have been able to swim since yesterday—your body must be itching. Don’t mind us, just go in.”

“It’s fine…….It looks like we’re almost done now.”  

Kyle’s work was finally nearing its end, as he carefully photographed each page of the forty-volume antique book, now reaching the final volume. Without lifting his eyes from the book, he hummed an absentminded “Mmm”, his voice full of satisfaction. Watching him, Gable let out a small chuckle.

“Kyle, you haven’t changed at all. It’s been over twenty years since I first saw you being dragged out of the antique book exhibition by James by the scruff of your neck, and you’re exactly the same as you were back then.”

“Look who’s talking. Your personality, tendencies, and tastes are all still the same. You haven’t changed at all, to the point where James used to worry: ‘I’m worried that if Yuri falls for someone, it’ll be for life. I hope he doesn’t fall head over heels for some woman with a terrible personality.’ Don’t you remember?”  

“Fortunately, it seems you didn’t end up pining for your first love from childhood for the rest of your life,” – Kyle muttered. Gable fell silent like a stone statue. Kyle, too focused on carefully examining the last book cover, didn’t notice the silence and continued.  

“Besides, it’s not just your tendencies. Even your face hasn’t changed. If you went out on the street in casual clothes like that, no one would think you’re a man in his forties.”  

Hearing this, Taeui looked at Gable again. Oh right, now that he mentioned it, he had felt a strange sense of dissonance since first seeing him earlier, and now he realized what it was…….

“Right. I’ve been thinking since earlier that you look just like before, but now that I look closely, you really haven’t changed at all since I saw you at Seringe. I thought it might just be memory bias…… Wow.”  

Taeui stared at Gable. He had assumed his memory had auto-corrected itself since it had been years, but it seemed he really did look exactly the same as back then.

“Even back then, I thought you looked younger than your actual age, but now you really do look young.”

“Yuri has had that face since he was a teenager.”

“You’ve known each other since you were teenagers?”

“Mmph. Yuri started working part-time at our company just before he entered university. Then he soon dropped out and joined the company full-time.”  

Kyle briefly glanced up from the book, looked at Gable, and declared:

“Yuri will probably still have that face even in his sixties or seventies. He’ll end up in some kind of supernatural record book.”

“No……, come on……., a monster, really…….”

Yuri muttered weakly. Among all the people Taeui had seen, Yuri was by far the most youthfully preserved.  

His actual age had to be over forty, but that face, at most, looked to be in its early to mid-thirties. And even that was a generous guess. With a slight change in clothes or hairstyle, he could easily pass for someone in their twenties…… Ah, no, his expression, manner of speaking, and overall vibe definitely weren’t those of someone in their twenties.  

“Doesn’t he look around the same age as the youngest young master of the Ling clan? When I saw the Ling clan’s youngest master yesterday, he already carried such an authoritative presence that just his aura could overshadow most middle-aged and elderly people. You can tell he’s a Ling son, he’s inherited his father’s imposing demeanor. He’s inherited his father’s powerful aura. Standing next to you now, people might even think he’s older than you, just from the atmosphere.”  

“Such a pretty face,” – Kyle murmured to himself while diligently photographing each page. Gable, not at all pleased by the remark, rubbed at his face as if willing wrinkles to appear.  

“Please don’t bring that up in front of Mr. Ling Xinlu.”

“Hmm? Oh, are you worried it might sound like I’m saying he looks old? To be precise, it’s not that the young master looks old. It’s that you look excessively young for your age.”

“Regardless, please don’t bring that up when Mr. Xinlu is around.”

Just as Gable let out a sigh-like breath and repeated his request—

“What is it you don’t want to say when I’m around?”

**************

A cheerful voice approached from the far end of the garden.  

Gable flinched. Taeui flinched as well.  

A tiger.  

The tiger had appeared.  

Now it made sense, that tiger sculpture on the wall must have been modeled after him.  

“Ah, the pool is already full. I thought it would take until tonight to fill completely.”  

With that refreshing voice, Ling Xinlu came into view.

“Have you all been having a good conversation? I apologize for stepping away. There was something I simply couldn’t avoid.”  

Wearing a flawlessly social smile that would convince anyone, Ling Xinlu offered a handshake to Kyle and simultaneously exchanged a glance with Taeui.  

“You came back earlier than expected.”

“Yes. It wasn’t anything particularly troublesome, and besides, I was curious what kind of pleasant stories the three of you might be sharing without me. Why? Were you saying something I wasn’t supposed to hear?”

Xinlu pulled Gable in for a light kiss in greeting and smiled with gracefully curved eyes.

As Jeong Taeui had thought yesterday, Xinlu’s candy-like face, now adorned with an air of sophistication, made him look even more like a dazzling beauty.  

‘If it were just about facial preferences, that kind of face would definitely make me look back twice…….’

Just as Taeui was thinking this, he suddenly felt as if he heard a faintly amused voice in the air saying ‘Aha…?’ Startled, he quickly shook the thought from his mind. 

Though only one more person had joined, the warm and relaxed atmosphere that had filled the space until then vanished as if washed away, replaced by a more tense and focused air.  

Between Kyle and Ling Xinlu, formal pleasantries were exchanged for a while, accompanied by discussions about business trends.  

Taeui couldn’t help being impressed once more time (though he was already familiar with this transformation) at Kyle, who just moments ago had been buried in his books with a fiery gaze like a madman, now appeared perfectly composed and every bit the capable businessman. And then, when his gaze shifted to Xinlu, who was wearing the seamless, practiced smile of a consummate entrepreneur, Gable too was watching him with the same admiring look. Their eyes met by chance. Gable quickly turned away with an awkward smile, and at that moment Taeui thought: Xinlu, too, must surely have another face hidden beneath that dazzling outer shell.

“So, today—you must be catching up with Mr. Gable after a long time. Have you been having a good conversation?”  

Only after wrapping up the formalities did Ling Xinlu turn his attention to the others. Kyle, who had paused his work despite having only a few pages left, glanced regretfully at the open book.  

“Yes, we’ve been chatting well and enjoying borrowing the books. Your father truly has a collection of rare and wonderful books. It’s truly enviable. I haven’t even finished looking through them all yet…… ”  

As Kyle gazed longingly at the half-remaining book, Xinlu quickly took the hint and generously gestured.  

“Please, feel free to take your time and finish.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kyle, as if he had been waiting for nothing else, cheerfully buried himself back in the book. Xinlu’s gaze then shifted to Taeui. It was only then that a faint change flickered across Xinlu’s expression, which had until now seemed like a mask painted with a smile. A touch more human emotion colored his face, but Taeui couldn’t quite decipher what it was, which inwardly made him a little flustered.

If it had been something like fondness, lingering attachment, or even hatred, he might have understood. But instead, it felt more like hesitation, wariness, unease—something along those lines……. But why?  

“Hmm……, what did the two of you…….talk about?”  

Xinlu, who had seemed utterly flawless just moments ago, now asked with a hint of hesitation, his voice softer than before.  

Jeong Taeui instinctively glanced at Gable. Their eyes met, both equally bewildered.  

Whether it was because of Xinlu’s gentle tone, which seemed to encourage them to speak freely, or because of the scrutinizing gaze that contrasted with that tone, they couldn’t help but feel as though they had been discussing some secret without even realizing it.  

“We didn’t……. didn’t really talk about anything special……?”  

They truly hadn’t discussed anything out of the ordinary, yet they felt inexplicably uneasy under that piercing stare.  

‘Strange. Why do I feel like I’m being suspected?’

“We just exchanged some small talk, got to know each other, and built a bit of familiarity, that’s all.”  

As Taeui scratched his head and muttered, Xinlu nodded as if to say: “I see”, then cut in casually.  

“Please don’t do that, hyung.”  

“Huh?”

Ling Xinlu smiled faintly. It was a gentle smile, yet utterly resolute.  

“Don’t get close to each other. You’re both decent people—decent enough that it wouldn’t be strange if one of you were to fall for the other. That’s exactly why you shouldn’t get close.”

The tone of those words, which seemed to praise both of them, carried a hint of jest, but the look in his eyes was neither praise nor joke.  

As Taeui replied vaguely: “Uh, umm,……..”, trying hard to figure out what this new situation was, Xinlu smiled brightly and asked again.

“So? What kind of small talk did you have?”  

“What do you think we talked about?”  

At that moment, Gable quietly interjected, throwing the question back at him. Xinlu paused, his smile fading as he cast Gable a sidelong glance.

“Well……., there isn’t much common ground between the two of you for conversation, and if it’s something related to Gable’s personal matters, then it’s likely you were talking about me…”  

Xinlu muttered softly, as if testing the waters, then suddenly shifted his stance, raising his eyes sharply.  

“Now that I think about it, earlier, didn’t you say not to talk about something while I was here?”  

This time, it was Gable’s turn to pause. Ling Xinlu didn’t miss the opportunity.  

“Were you discussing something you didn’t want me to hear?”  

“……. It wasn’t anything that would be troublesome for you to hear.”  

“What was it about, then?”  

“……”

Instead of answering, Gable picked up the largest cookie and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. While he chewed in silence, Xinlu’s eyes narrowed, turning to Taeui as if pressing him for an answer.

“Uh, no, we really didn’t talk about anything special. We just mentioned how it’s been years since we last met, how he looks well, how he hasn’t changed at all, how it seems like he’s been doing fine……, things like that.”  

“Hmm……?”  

Caught between them without understanding the full situation, Taeui fumbled through the vaguest reply he could manage.

Ling Xinlu seemed to ponder for a moment, and this perceptive man shifted his gaze between Gable and Taeui, as if piecing together what might have been discussed. His once bright expression grew blank.  

“That’s right. Mr. Gable really hasn’t changed at all. He’s exactly the same as when I first met him. In fact, he seems even younger now.”  

As he spoke, he scrutinized every inch of Gable’s face. His gaze was so intense it felt like a glare.  

Even the words he flung at him had a stinging edge.

“A person should age as time goes on. Why do you stay like this,—”

“You’ll see. One day, it’ll all catch up at once.”

Gable cut off Ling Xinlu’s words abruptly.  

“It’s true. I’ll age in an instant.”

As if reaffirming it, Gable spoke firmly. Ling Xinlu stared at him intently before twisting his lips in dissatisfaction. After scrutinizing Gable with a mix of frustration and resignation, he turned his gaze back to Taeui.  

“What about you, hyung? Have you been well? I heard you almost died because of that bastard.”

Jeong Taeui, who had been pondering whether it was a good thing for a lover to look young, snapped back to attention at the sudden attack disguised in a friendly tone.  

“Mmmn, which one? Almost dying in Thessaloniki last summer? Or in Gdańsk the winter before that? Or was it that time in Casablanca when I nearly got killed? Or maybe you mean the times before those? Aside from that, I’ve been doing quite well.”

“……”  

Ling Xinlu stared at Jeong Taeui as if dumbfounded, then let out a hollow laugh. Some of the venom seemed to drain from his expression.  

“Don’t you regret it? If you hadn’t chosen that bastard back then—”  

His narrowed, faintly smiling eyes asked the question outright: ‘Had you never once thought such a thing?’

That time.  

The time that he turned his back on Ling Xinlu’s anger and took Ilay’s hand.  

If he hadn’t done that then.  

Looking into those black eyes, still steeped in their pitch-dark hatred for that man, Taeui suddenly felt a wave of weariness sink into him. His shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh.

“Hmph……. I’ve often wondered why I had to suffer like this…… but I’ve never once thought it would’ve been better if I hadn’t met him, or if I’d made a different choice.”  

He couldn’t gloss over it or lie. But he felt he owed Xinlu the truth.  

Rubbing the stiffness from his shoulder blade, he fell into thought for a moment. Then he lifted his gaze and looked Xinlu straight in the eye.

“But I did think of you sometimes. Hoping you were doing well.—What about you? If you had kept me by your side back then. If you were living a different life from the one you have now. How do you think it would’ve been?”  

Suddenly, all expression vanished from Xinlu’s face as if it had been washed away.

His face, frozen and motionless as if carved from ice, began to twitch faintly, almost imperceptibly.  

What he might have gained—  

And what he would have had to give up as a price for it.

“…… I wouldn’t want it.”

The words slipped from his lips sooner than he could even think.  

“I like my life now. I like what I have now. I would never, never trade it for anything.”  

In an instant, a dark flame surged and coiled in his eyes. Unconsciously gripping Gable’s arm, Xinlu glared at Taeui—or perhaps at the other possibilities that might have existed in his life.  

A terrifyingly fierce weariness and anger froze the space around them in an instant.  

That sharp tension, however, melted away the moment Xinlu’s eyes met Gable’s, who had been watching him blankly. After looking intently at Gable, Ling Xinlu abruptly leaned in and kissed his cheek. A relaxed smile returned as he pecked him on the cheek several times, as if playing around.  

Settling back comfortably into the sofa, Xinlu turned to Taeui with a calm expression.  

“Even now, there are plenty of things that annoy me—work and all sorts of nonsense. There’s no shortage of people I’d love to wipe out of my life. But still, I like what I have now. It’s a life where everything most important to me is in place.”  

There was no pretense or disguise on his face as he spoke calmly.

“I wanted you back then, and even now I think you’re a very fine man. It twists me up inside to see that crazy bastard living so happy and joyful with you, but still—I’m grateful you left my side back then.”

Those words, delivered with a slender smile as if in jest, were filled with sincerity.

Jeong Taeui’s expression grew subtle as he gazed at that honest face.

In other words, this was essentially,

—Thank you for disappearing from my life.

It meant the same thing.  

“……Oh, yeah.”  

Accepting the thanks with a somewhat arrogant tone, Jeong Taeui couldn’t help but burst into laughter.  

A wave of cheerfulness washed over him like a rising tide. The shadow that had lingered in a corner of his heart, something akin to guilt, was suddenly washed away.  

I see. Because of that, you were able to become happier. Just like me.

That’s how life flows. What we once desperately longed for often turns out to be something we were never meant to have. Or what we once dismissed as trivial or insignificant, or even tried so hard to avoid, might actually have been the most important piece of our lives.  

Jeong Taeui genuinely felt relieved.  

That’s good.

You weren’t fooled by life’s tricks, and you found what you truly needed.

**************

*Thessaloniki is Greece’s second-largest city, located on the Aegean Sea in the north. Founded in 315 BC, it has a rich Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman past, with many UNESCO monuments. Today it’s a vibrant university, cultural, and culinary hub, famous for its festivals and lively atmosphere.

*Gdańsk is a historic port city on Poland’s Baltic coast. Once a major Hanseatic trading hub, it blends Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, especially in its beautifully rebuilt Old Town. The city is also famous as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement in the 1980s, which played a key role in ending communist rule in Central Europe. Today, Gdańsk is a vibrant cultural, academic, and tourist center.

*Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and economic hub, located on the Atlantic coast. Known for its modern vibe and French colonial heritage, it’s home to the impressive Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world. Today, Casablanca is a dynamic center of business, culture, and trade, blending tradition with a cosmopolitan atmosphere.