The Fragrance Merchant Chapter 7

Evan opened the sun visor and silently stared at the endless darkness outside the cabin. The reading light above his head was dim, warming the book in his hand.

Gabriel leaned on his shoulder. The boy was wearing earplugs and wrapped in a blanket. He huddled in his seat, breathing steadily and slowly. In his arms, he was holding the pink Kirby that Evan had not yet had time to stuff into the suitcase.

They agreed to travel a week ago and originally wanted to take their cat and dog on a road trip. However, after searching more than a dozen B&Bs and being denied pets, they finally gave up and booked two plane tickets instead.

Evan closed the book and adjusted his posture so that the child could sleep more soundly.

Gabriel looked very peaceful while sleeping, his eyelashes were long and black, and he closed tightly. The air-conditioning in the cabin was turned on high, and the tip of the child's nose was a little red. He was curled up in his seat holding a pink Kirby, looking very small and seemed to be very insecure.

Evan adjusted the air conditioning vent above Gabriel's head and raised her head. It happened that the flight attendant was holding a large bottle of mineral water and was asking passengers if they needed water. When Evan's eyes met hers, the flight attendant smiled slightly and walked quickly to Evan's side.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?"

Evan lowered his voice and whispered: "Hello, please get me another blanket."

The flight attendant smiled softly, her tone gentle and sweet: "No problem, please wait a moment."

She left and quickly returned, holding a tightly sealed blanket in her hand.

Evan took the blanket, tore open the sealed bag, and gently draped it over Gabriel's body, covering Gabriel's belly. Finally, he turned off the dim reading light above his head.

This red-eye flight took off in the early morning and would arrive in Kunming at 1 a.m. Evan raised his hand to fill the gap for the boy, then he closed his eyes and leaned against Gabriel to take a nap.

Although he had his eyes closed, Evan was not sleepy at all. Instead, he was extremely clear-headed.

This was thanks to the cup of coffee he drank before leaving. The caffeine really played a huge role at this moment.

He closed his eyes, losing his vision for a short time, but his sense of smell became sharper. The slight fragrance of the boy lingered at the tip of his nose, and Evan couldn't help but try to identify this very familiar scent in his memory again.

Should I say it's very familiar? Familiar yet so strange.

It felt familiar because they had been together so often these days, but it felt strange because even though they had been together so often, Evan still couldn't find the source of a similar smell.

Refreshing, green, and with the warmth unique to spring and summer, but not scorching hot.

The blooming rapeseed fields in early spring, the sandy watermelons in early summer, the golden wheat fields in late autumn, and the falling snow in late winter.

However, all of them are just specious, neither like nor unlike.

Evan gently opened his eyes. The boy was sleeping soundly, totally unaware of his not-so-innocent thoughts.

Evan's fingertips touched the back of Gabriel's neck. Under this thin layer of skin were hidden the Alpha's pheromone glands.

If Gabriel wants to mark an Omega or Beta, this small gland will secrete enough pheromones to help him complete the marking.

Evan never forgot that Gabriel was a genuine Alpha, an adult Alpha who could mark an Omega.

The young man's eyes turned cold, thinking of his irresponsible "father". He always had some invisible prejudice and disgust towards Alpha in his heart. Because of this, there were countless Alphas pursuing him, but Evan always passed through thousands of flowers without getting a single leaf touched.

It was not only because he had no interest in love at that time, but more because he somewhat hated Alpha.

Although we have achieved gender equality, there are still some hidden unfairness. Nearly half of Omegas receive lower salaries than Alphas, or employers prefer young Alphas to weaker Omegas.

These social inequalities that are not exposed on the surface cannot be easily resolved by a few Omega strikes.

When he was still in China, an Alpha senior in his undergraduate class asked him: "Why are you studying as an Omega? You are so beautiful, wouldn't it be better for you to get married soon?"

Evan was unable to ignore the gossip at that time, so he chose to come to a completely unfamiliar country alone and learn perfume making from scratch.

At that time, he knew nothing and could only rely on his unfamiliar French to study an unfamiliar major. If he couldn't understand the lessons, he would record them with a recorder and study them carefully at home. He would look up the words he didn't understand in the dictionary.

Most of those who study perfumery are Alphas, while Omegas tend to study nursing and aromatherapy rather than perfumery.

Evan ignored all those sarcastic and "Alpha supremacist" remarks, and finally took first place in the entire perfumery exam.

Ever since he won first place in his major, the gossip disappeared without anyone noticing.

From then on, Evan realized that only by standing at the highest peak could one see the scenery that others could not see, and those fragmented, lingering words were the purest evil in human nature. Because he could not do it himself, he also wanted to destroy the hopes of others.

The young man's eyes fell silently on Gabriel, and gradually became soft and gentle.

He has witnessed the purest jealousy in human nature and heard countless bad words. Now he no longer cares about those malicious words, but he still feels that among all the Alphas he has met, Gabriel is the one with the purest mind.

Gabriel does not have the arrogance or Alpha supremacy of those Alphas. Instead, he is clean and pure.

But such a gentle person was almost driven to suicide by this world.

Evan turned on the reading light above his head again. He suddenly felt the urge to write something in his perfumery notes, which had not been updated for nearly half a year.

What is this fragrance?

It is perfume, the "Gabriel" note. The world divides fragrance into twelve notes, and Gabriel occupies one note alone, and should not belong to any of them.

Aroma is the first encounter, the bitter aroma of coffee and the sweetness of berries. It is like a slightly cold breeze, the sound of rain, and the smell of soil. But it should not be as pure as aquatic notes.

But if it were made into a perfume, this would be their top note: the sweetness of chocolate, the smell of water after rain, the stimulating feeling of pink pepper.

Evan's fingers trembled, and he almost instantly wanted to take out a pen and paper to capture this sudden inspiration and write it down on paper.

But this wouldn't work. Gabriel was sleeping very soundly now, and he might wake up even if he moved the slightest.

Evan couldn't help but frown. It had been a long time since he felt this urgent to catch inspiration in time to avoid watching it slip away.

Evan stretched out his hand and placed his fingertips on Gabriel's head, but he noticed the faint dark circles under Gabriel's eyes.

This made his fingers pause slightly, and his desire to wake the boy up was mostly gone.

The young man's hand finally fell gently on the boy's hair, touched his hair, and finally lowered his hand.

As someone who often suffers from insomnia, how could he not know how important a good night's sleep is?

Evan smiled softly, put away his thoughts on writing notes, closed his eyes deeply, and fell into a short sleep.

Insomnia has become a normal thing for him, but the scent of Gabriel lingering at the tip of his nose now seems to have become the most reliable sleeping pill.

The young man suffers from severe insomnia, and it has become a habit for him to rely on sleeping pills to fall asleep. After staying alone abroad for a long time, he gradually develops the illusion of being isolated from the world. There is a gap in information with China, and no one around him can comfort him. Even though he is used to being alone, he still feels that the world is bustling, but he is alone and cold.

Evan leaned against Gabriel, breathing steadily and quietly, and fell into a deep sleep. Gabriel, who was beside the young man, suddenly moved slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

He started sleeping as soon as he got on the plane, but because he had a problem with his bed since childhood, he was always half asleep and half awake.

When Evan covered him with a blanket, Gabriel's heart trembled, and his fingers hidden under the blanket couldn't help sweating.

Although he was nervous, he really liked the way Mr. Evan treated him so gently.

It wasn't until Evan's hand touched the back of his neck that Gabriel's sleepiness was suddenly dispelled.

The older man's fingertips were slightly cool, and he stroked his glands very lightly. Hidden under that soft skin was the most important pheromone gland of the Alpha, which was also the reason why ordinary Alphas would have a susceptible period every once in a while.

The gland that fascinated his rose was the most clumsy thing in the world, a joke creation of the Creator.

Gabriel lowered his eyes in silence. When he was still an infant, the doctor told his parents that he suffered from pheromone gland congenital deficiency syndrome.

This is a very rare disease, it has no cure, and the corresponding symptom is that the glands cannot secrete pheromones. Therefore, he will not have a susceptible period, and he cannot even mark an Omega.

This means that his glands do not carry any scent, nor can they produce any "pleasant" aroma. Gabriel pursed his lips tightly. He was not a normal Alpha. This was what he feared the most, and the truth that he did not want Mr. Evan to discover.

Gabriel sniffed softly and quietly, feeling a little aggrieved. Perhaps he would never be able to realize the little wish buried deep in his heart, which he dared not tell his master about.

He has never been a healthy Alpha, both physically and mentally. Rather than marking an Omega, he would rather be marked by his husband.

Even if Mr. is just an Omega.