The Fragrance Merchant Chapter 3

At 1:30 in the afternoon, Grandma's Pastry Shop welcomed its eleventh guest of the day.

The black-haired boy had a slender figure, and his eyes were inky black with a hint of dark brown. He stood on the non-slip carpet, shook off the water droplets on his umbrella, and leaned the umbrella against the corner of the wall.

The grandma who owns the bakery has no children and has been running the shop alone for many years. Since Gabriel was a young child, the grandma would take out freshly baked orange cookies and give them to Gabriel as snacks for afternoon tea.

After school, the hungry Xiao Linzhou would come to grandma's bakery, eat orange-flavored cookies, drink a cup of Earl Grey tea made by grandma, and wait for his parents to pick him up.

There were crispy cookies on the round wooden table. Gabriel picked up one and put it in his mouth. He printed out the afternoon cake order from the computer, stretched his body and prepared to start working.

Gabriel worked like this as a kitchen helper for many years. He was too young when his parents left him, and he often cried until late at night because he missed his mother. Until one night, the old lady from the bakery rang the doorbell of Gabriel's house, holding a black kitten.

Gabriel collected his empty thoughts, walked to the sink to wash his hands, put on disposable nitrile gloves, took out several stainless steel basins, skillfully mixed the cake batter, poured it into several cake molds and put them all into the oven.

Gabriel wiped the sweat from his forehead with his elbow, pinched some whipped cream, and took them out one by one after the chiffon cake was baked.

The afternoon order was simple, two strawberry cakes, one matcha red bean cake, and one salted butter sea salt Oreo cake.

Gabriel adhered the last Happy Birthday chocolate card to the cake as required by the order, packed them all up and put them in the refrigerator, waiting for their guests to pick up the cakes.

Gabriel poured a glass of orange juice from the refrigerator. Before he could take a sip, he heard the wind chimes at the door ringing softly.

The old lady was still taking a nap, and Gabriel was the only one in the store who could receive customers. The boy quickly took off his gloves and threw them into the trash can. He just walked out of the kitchen and gave the customer a professional fake smile:

"Hello, welcome to Orange Bakery."

The boy was stunned for a moment, then revealed a tone of surprise: "...Mr. Evan?"

Evan had just leaned his umbrella against the wall when he was startled by the familiar voice. The young man raised his head and looked towards the cashier counter, only to see Gabriel coming out from behind the counter, seeming very happy to see him again.

Evan couldn't help laughing. He looked the boy up and down in front of him, and gently patted Gabriel's shoulder with his leather-gloved hand: "Long time no see, Gabriel. Are you working part-time here?"

Gabriel shook his head and whispered, "I'm just helping in the kitchen. Grandma is old now, so I help her bake cakes and look after the store."

He looked at Evan curiously: "Mr. Evan, are you here to buy dessert?"

A whole week had passed since they last met. During that week, Gabriel visited the coffee shop every day, and he himself couldn't tell why. The coffee shop was like some kind of magic that existed in reality, always tempting Gabriel to go in.

But Evan did not show up that week, and Gabriel's fantasy of chatting and reuniting could only exist in his fantasy.

Although they exchanged WeChat, the chat interface was always blank. Evan didn't take the initiative to disturb the other party, and Gabriel didn't dare to take the initiative to disturb the other party. Besides, it seemed that he and the other party had nothing to talk about.

Gabriel returned to the cashier counter, holding his cheek as he flipped through Evan's circle of friends. He clicked on a photo, looked at the photo and then at the person who was choosing the cake, and was silent for a while.

Evan was really handsome. Although the word "handsome" should not be used to describe men, the first word that naturally came to his mind when he saw Evan for the first time was still "handsome".

If he had to use three words to describe Evan, Gabriel would choose "grace", "elegance", and "ebony" from a host of adjectives.

He had never met such an Omega before. It was like ebony in winter, and seemed to come from some kind of resin. When he first smelled it, it had a faint spicy medicinal feeling, but it was warm like amber, as if the snow had melted overnight and the ebony was bathed in the warm winter sun.

Even though it's not oud, it's like some kind of warm woody scent.

The young man had no scent on his body, and the only thing that touched his nose was the faint scent of washing powder. A strong soapy feeling, like white moss. It was as if a cut bergamot was soaked in the misty black tea, and finally created the prestigious Earl Grey black tea.

Just as Gabriel was about to continue flipping through the pages, his phone dinged. Evan sent him a short video.

The video was short, only about 20 seconds long, and a fluffy white Samoyed was standing in front of the French window, wagging its tail and grinning. The camera turned and Evan was holding up his phone, half-crouching beside the Samoyed, smiling with his back to the sunset, looking very pretty.

It turns out that Evan raised a Samoyed.

"cute?"

When Gabriel looked up, he saw Evan shaking his phone at him.

Evan carried a white tray and walked to the cashier: "Do you remember what I said before?"

The young man was at a loss, not knowing what Evan meant, and stared at him blankly.

"Your pheromones smell great. If you don't mind, I'd like to invite you to my studio."

Gabriel opened his mouth, the tension in his heart oppressed his nerves, making it difficult for him to make any sound. He had to subconsciously hold the glass next to him. The sweet and sour orange juice rippled slightly in the transparent glass, and the ice cubes hit the glass, making a crisp sound.

His old problem came back again. No matter how hard he tried to speak, his throat seemed to be mute and he could not utter any meaningful syllables.

"Don't be nervous, Gabriel." The young man seemed to see his embarrassment and spoke softly to comfort him: "This is entirely up to you. No one will force you to do something you don't want to do."

"It's okay if you don't want to. Gabriel, relax, this is not a big deal."

"But..." Gabriel hesitated and slowly lowered his head. He was finally able to make some sounds, but they sounded weaker than mosquitoes. "I don't think there is anything special about my pheromones."

The beautiful and older Omega in front of him chuckled and just smiled and said:

"You are not a perfumer, so you naturally don't understand the extent to which a perfumer will be attracted to a strange and unique scent. I dream of being able to replicate it, even if it comes from the highly toxic datura flower."

Gabriel swallowed his saliva, his Adam's apple rolled slightly: "I didn't mean to refuse you, sir."

The boy lowered his head habitually and smiled shyly: "If I can help Mr. Evan, this is exactly what I hope for."

***

A drizzle of rain came unexpectedly, and the rain slid down the car window. Gabriel's fingertips paused on the misty car window, sliding silently on the glass surface, and the mist gradually dissipated between his moving fingertips.

He sat in Evan's car and raised his head to look at Evan who was leaning against the car door.

Ten minutes ago, they were still chatting and laughing in the cake shop, until the old lady squinted her eyes, walked out of the room slowly, and saw Evan at the door of the shop.

At that time, Evan was wearing a suit jacket with an innocent expression, and his other hand was holding a white tray filled with cupcakes of various flavors.

They stared at each other for a while. The old lady stood at the door and looked back and forth at Evan and Gabriel, then waved her hand:

"Since your friend has come to you, don't keep him waiting too long. Xiaozhou, it's time for you to make some friends. If you stay with an old woman like me every day, you will get old too."

Gabriel shook his head, walked over, leaned over and hugged the old lady, and retorted unhappily: "I don't stay in the store every day... sometimes I also go to read books."

The old lady frowned and said seriously, "Go home early."

Gabriel nodded, took his coat from the hook on the white wall, and followed Evan out of the cake shop.

"Mr. Evan, how have you been these days?" Gabriel stood at the rear of the car, raised his head slightly, and asked politely in a low voice.

The boy's dark pupils turned a very dark brown under the sunlight. He turned his head slightly to look at the young man and smiled slowly.

It's a very strange feeling.

The person in front of him was not someone he was familiar with, they hadn't seen each other for a few days, but it felt like they were meeting for the first time again.

Although it was strange, it was very novel. Gabriel lowered his eyes, reached into his pocket, and touched the small Rilakkuma in his pocket with familiarity. He pinched the little bear and gently stroked its soft fur.

Evan was about to answer when the phone suddenly rang. He smiled at the boy, put his fingertips to his lips, smiled and said "hush", walked around to the other side of the silver-gray Porsche, and pulled the door with his slender white hand, slightly exerting force, and opened the passenger door for Gabriel.

The passenger seat was covered with a fluffy woolen seat cover, and a pink Kirby doll was leaning on the seat, giving Gabriel a silly smile, as if it was a silent invitation.

Gabriel pursed his lips, lowered his eyelashes, pinched the small bear in his pocket, and glanced at Evan nervously. The young man was fully focused on the call, and his voice was very gentle. Although he didn't understand French, he thought Evan's French sounded very nice.

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief, carefully stepped over the puddle, picked up the little pink girl and sat in the passenger seat.

He didn't want his shoes and socks to get wet. It would be troublesome if his shoes got wet because it would dirty Mr. Evan's car.

The car looked expensive and he didn't want to cause trouble for his husband.

Evan was multitasking. Although he was answering the phone, his peripheral vision was on Gabriel. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Gabriel had no psychological burden.

Although he really liked the pheromones on Gabriel, he didn't want his invitation to bring social burden to the other party.

Besides, that child seemed familiar to Evan.

It looked very much like the black kitten hiding under the bridge pier in memory to avoid the rain. Its eyes were also a very dark brown like Gabriel's, or even between black and brown. When it saw Evan approaching, it slowly moved closer, lying beside Evan's legs and rubbing against him intimately. Its wet fur felt very warm to the touch.

It was different from any stray cat Evan had ever seen. It never showed its teeth or grimaced. Instead, it was so well-behaved that people felt sorry for it wandering alone in this world.

Evan gathered his scattered thoughts, held the phone in his hand, and continued to speak softly in French:

"I understand what you mean, but unfortunately, I will not return to Paris at the moment. At least for a short period of time, I will still stay in my hometown for a while."

Evan paused and smiled helplessly: "The years I have worked with Hermès have been a crucial part of my career as a perfumer. But at least now, I realize that there are some things that cannot be done in Paris."

The manager of Hermès' marketing department called him, hoping that he could get back to work before spring and develop a new perfume formula.

It's not just Hermès, most of the old perfume companies are like this. They want to launch new commercial perfumes before the arrival of spring. Everyone is urging him to return to his previous work status as soon as possible. However, this is also the reason why Evan left Paris.

He once created perfumes of different scents for many perfume brands, following market demand to please people's noses, but now he is tired of everything he used to take for granted.

"I terminated my cooperation with the company in the middle of the year. As you know, I am just a freelance perfumer now." Evan paused, with his hand on the car door. "I believe you have prepared other plans. If the company needs it, I am happy to recommend an excellent perfumer who is qualified for this job."

Evan hung up the phone and sighed softly in his heart. He returned to the other side, opened the car door, threw his suit jacket into the back seat, and rubbed his cheeks tiredly.

His decision to leave Hermès was actually questioned by many people. Many people did not understand why he would give up such a decent, high-paying job, give up the connections he had accumulated in Paris, and return to China to start all over again.

But Evan could clearly feel that his thoughts were at a standstill and it was difficult for him to come up with inspiration.

Before leaving Paris, his senior perfumer seemed to understand what he really wanted, but he shook his head again and did not tell Evan what he really needed. He just smiled and told him:

"You are just like me when I was young, following the market and reliable data. Sometimes we are more like data analysts than perfumers."

"But there are stories in fragrance, and there are memories in fragrance. When the smell is combined with thoughts, I become a perfumer."

The senior smiled and said, "You have been in Paris for too long. You are familiar with the plants and wind here, and the sunshine and rain here. If your thoughts are imprisoned, you can no longer be called an artist. Evan, why not go and look for it? You know, this is not surprising."

"Move in the direction you want to go, even if it is cloudy, you will be willing to do it. Choice is a two-way street, and at the end of the journey, you may thank yourself for it."

The senior in his memory was rarely so serious. Most of the time, the old guy was nonchalant. He hooked his shoulder and asked Evan to buy him some wine. When he was drunk, he would start to talk about his wife who left him.

He had heard some of those old stories, but the old man still felt resentful. Now that he was leaving Paris, the old man began to act like a senior again, but the fragrance of the wind from those days remained in his words.

... Evan gathered his thoughts, held the steering wheel with both hands, turned his head to look at Gabriel, and subconsciously said: "Gabriel, do you want to travel?"

Gabriel lowered his hands, still immersed in his own nervous world, when Evan suddenly asked him a question. He looked at Evan blankly, unable to follow Evan's jumping thoughts.

...what happened?

Didn’t they just say they were going to the studio together? How come less than ten minutes later, Evan asked him if he wanted to travel?

"It may not be convenient for me," Gabriel hesitated for a moment, and actually followed Evan's sudden idea and thought about the feasibility of it. "I have a little black cat at home. If I want to travel with Mr. Evan, I need to send the kitten to a pet store first."

Evan was silent for a moment, then he remembered that he had a Samoyed at home that he brought back from Paris.

The young man remained calm and smiled: "It's okay, we can take them with us."

"I also have a Samoyed. We can take them with us and go to other cities. There is no purpose. This is just a spontaneous trip."

Gabriel wrung his hands and remained silent for a while. He did not immediately agree to the young man's request, nor did he refuse.

His eyes inadvertently glanced at the car window beside him. The moon and stars previously painted on the window had turned into flowing mist, and it was difficult to find any traces of them from a minute ago.

It exists for only one minute, and compared with those real reference objects hanging in the sky, its one minute of existence is its own significance.

But it is no different from the real moon in the sky. Although it cannot emit light by itself, it refracts sunlight and thus has such gentle moonlight.

Gabriel raised his head, pursed his lips, and nodded slightly.

"If it's with the gentleman, at least, I don't think it will be a bad trip."