Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 79 (Completed)

Yuri lowered his gaze from Ling Xinlu, picking up the documents he had momentarily set down. Immediately, Ling Xinlu snatched the papers away as if taking them by force.

“You can do this later. It’s not important anyway.”

He casually flipped through the documents with disinterest, then tossed them over his shoulder. Turning back to Yuri, he faced him directly and smiled.

“You know, Mr. Gable, the most important thing you have to do is look at me.”

“Anytime, as much as you want,” Ling Xinlu said, meeting Yuri’s gaze.

Yuri, having his work suddenly taken away, blinked for a moment, but then, meeting Ling Xinlu’s eyes, he eventually let out a laugh.

“Then, shall I look to my heart’s content?” Yuri seemed to say, as he settled comfortably into his chair and gazed at Ling Xinlu. At that, Ling Xinlu smiled with extreme delight.

He always smiled like that, just at the sight of Yuri looking at him. And as always, it was such a beautiful smile that Yuri couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Bonus Track.

“Oh my, you’re joking, right?!”

That was Annette’s first remark.

Yuri hesitated for a moment, unable to answer. It was the first thing he heard right after pointing to the person waiting below the clock tower, saying, “That’s my boyfriend.”

It was difficult to know how to react to such a perplexing comment. He couldn’t say it was a joke—because it wasn’t—and yet, claiming it wasn’t a joke and that this person was truly his boyfriend felt awkward somehow.

Seeing Yuri just stare blankly at her without answering, Annette’s eyes widened further. “Oh my, it’s true then,” she said, looking down at the clock tower again.

But after confirming the person below the clock tower, she asked again, “Are you really, truly serious? Not a joke? Surely it’s a joke?” To her,

Yuri gave up trying to say anything more.

Where Annette was blinking and looking, a youthful figure like a flower stood, clad in a black short coat and a striped scarf.

The young man, seemingly cold, was blowing warm breath into his hands, looking somewhat bored. He casually looked around the street, then up at the clock tower, then pulled out his phone from his pocket to check it. Eventually, he noticed the two people standing across the street, staring at him.

At that moment, the young man broke into a radiant, blossoming smile, waving at the two—or rather, only at one—and Annette, witnessing that smile, clutched her chest, whispering “Oh my, oh my, oh my” three more times.

“Oh my, I was truly surprised.”

Annette said with a laugh, a warm cup of tea and tart before her. She, who had just been exclaiming “oh my” repeatedly, now wore an elegant and charming smile. Ling Xinlu, sitting across from her, also smiled back affectionately.

“Oh, were you?”

“Of course. Yuri just said his current partner was curious about me, but he never said a word about who he was dating.”

“Haha, why did you do that, Mr. Gable? Were you ashamed of me?”

To Ling Xinlu, who was feigning a playful eye-smile and lightly elbowing Yuri’s waist, Yuri replied quietly but firmly, “I am not ashamed.”

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than Annette narrowed her eyes, giving Yuri a mock glare.

“Are you really not ashamed?”

“…Should I be ashamed?”

A slightly flustered Yuri, after being glared at by Annette, pondered for a moment before retorting.

At that, she immediately exclaimed, “Of course!”

“How can you be dating someone more than ten years younger than you, and a man at that? If you don’t call this being a thief, what do you call being a thief?!”

At Annette’s bold assertion, Yuri could offer no rebuttal and simply drank his tea obediently. Annette then turned her head from Yuri, looking at Ling Xinlu with a gentle smile, as if she hadn’t just shouted sharply.

“However, I never expected Yuri to be dating a man. That was surprising too, but to be dating someone so lovely, oh my!”

“It was like seeing him standing below the clock tower, like he was the only one in color in a black and white photograph,” she added, full of admiration.

Then, suddenly, her eyes sparkled, and she smiled.

“I was so worried because Yuri said his current boyfriend wanted to see me. I thought it might be a jealous ex who’d try to pull my hair out! I had no idea he was such a beautiful and kind-looking person.”

“Ahaha, a jealous boyfriend, that’s true. I always wondered who was calling Mr. Gable ‘Mon sucre’ every time I called him. I never imagined it would be such an elegant and beautiful person.”

“Oh my, he even heard that? It was a nickname I used when we worked together at the intelligence agency. Don’t take it too hard.”

Annette seemed to be greatly taken with this sweet and charming young man, giving him a rare eye-smile, and this amiable young man, in turn, treated Annette with an uncommonly bright smile.

In between them, Yuri alone chewed his tart in silence, while the two paid no mind to what Yuri was eating or drinking, simply laughing and continuing their pleasant conversation.

Anyone watching from the side might have thought Yuri was interrupting their date.

“By the way, you two seem to be getting along so well even now, why did you break up?”

Ling Xinlu, as if just remembering, innocently asked her. She replied, “Oh, that,” wrinkling her nose.

“Should I call it a difference in personality? I just didn’t want to date a man who had time to go swimming every morning but no time to go on a date with me anymore.”

“Annette, that was when I was swamped with work at the agency and hadn’t slept for three days…!”

“But you still went swimming diligently every morning,” Yuri fell silent again at Annette’s gentle glare.

Perhaps concluding it would be better for him to just quietly chew his tart alone, he called the waiter and ordered another slice.

“Swimming, huh? Mr. Gable certainly loves swimming.”

“He loves it too much. Xinlu, are you okay dating someone who loves swimming more than you?”

“Ahaha, of course not.”

Ling Xinlu replied concisely with a brilliant smile. Annette’s eyes widened in surprise, and she glanced sidelong at Yuri.

“Oh my, then these days you go on dates more often than you go to the pool? How could you—when you dated me, you wouldn’t spend time with me, but you’d always go to the pool!”

“Rather than that, when Mr. Gable goes swimming, I always go with him. Besides,” Ling Xinlu’s eyes curved prettily into an eye-smile.

“I love water just as much as Mr. Gable does.”

“Oh, really? I thought no one could love water as much as Yuri!”

“I started to love it after meeting Mr. Gable. Just as Mr. Gable said, when you go into the water, it feels like all the heavy things that have accumulated in your chest just melt away.”

“I see, that’s good that you two are a good match,” Annette nodded. “Yes,” Ling Xinlu innocently laughed and nodded back, then gave an eye-smile to Yuri, who was silently chewing his tart beside him.

“It’s all thanks to Mr. Gable.”

He whispered that, then suddenly raised his hand. He gently rubbed away the tart crumbs clinging to Yuri’s lips. After silently gazing at the now clean Yuri, Ling Xinlu’s eyes curved into a smile.

“Because thanks to Mr. Gable, I also met water.”

“…”

Yuri paused, silently meeting Ling Xinlu’s gaze. In front of him, Ling Xinlu blinked and looked at him, then smiled affectionately.

“Now I can’t live without water either. If I don’t go into the water every day, I don’t think I can stand a single day without being submerged in that cozy feeling and swimming.” His slow voice carried a dangerous sweetness.

Yuri, staring intently at Ling Xinlu, unable to turn his gaze away as if captivated, slowly began to blush from some point onwards.

His expression remained stoic, but below it, slowly reddening from his neck upwards, was a clear bewilderment that those who knew him could recognize.

Seeing that expression, Ling Xinlu also chuckled.

“You don’t know how cozy, how warm and snug it feels to be submerged in water. If you swim in it and fall asleep, it truly feels like you’re in heaven.” Every single word was meant for Yuri to hear.

Yuri stood motionless, looking at Ling Xinlu, then slowly, slowly lowered his head. As if he couldn’t bear to meet his gaze, Yuri quietly dropped his eyes to his tart and merely mumbled, “Yes, that’s good.”

“Oh my, you fall asleep swimming in the water?”

Annette asked, her eyes wide in surprise. Ling Xinlu, glancing at Yuri who was still looking down without meeting her gaze, smiled and replied, “Of course.”

“If I don’t want to come out of the water, I just sleep there. I think I might do that today too.”

Beside Ling Xinlu, who was speaking with a smile, Yuri suddenly coughed, as if a piece of tart had gone down the wrong pipe.

“What’s wrong, did you choke?” Ling Xinlu quickly offered him tea affectionately and rubbed Yuri’s back. To Yuri, who mumbled “Thank you,” Ling Xinlu smiled beautifully and said, “It’s nothing.”

Watching the two of them, Annette slowly shook her head.

“You two really seem to get along well. I’m somehow relieved. Even if he’s someone I’ve already broken up with, I sometimes think about him. Is he doing well? Is he living happily?”

At that, Ling Xinlu, who had been rubbing Yuri’s back, turned to her. Ling Xinlu, who had been gazing at her with a faint smile only on his lips, then broke into a brilliant smile that no one could surpass.

“Thank you for your concern, kind Annette. But Mr. Gable is living very well, happier than ever before. And he will continue to do so.”

“Then, see you next time,” Annette said, waving her hand and walking away. The two of them remained silent until her figure disappeared from their sight.

Eventually, as she turned the corner and vanished from view, only then did Ling Xinlu speak.

“She’s a decent person.”

“…Yes.”

Ling Xinlu let out a light sigh, then turned his steps as if he had finally relaxed. He took Yuri’s hand and began walking towards the hotel, not far from where they were.

It was all because of ‘Mon sucre.’

Ling Xinlu had accidentally overheard Yuri’s phone conversation with Annette and was deeply bothered by the nickname she used for Yuri.

At that time, Ling Xinlu, who had accompanied Yuri on a brief trip to Germany for a relative’s wedding, insisted on meeting Annette himself when Yuri mentioned he had an appointment to see her for work.

Thanks to that, Yuri ended up introducing his boyfriend to Annette unexpectedly. However, his vague worries were unfounded, as they had a rather pleasant meal and parted ways, returning to the hotel with a sense of relief.

“You two seemed to get along well.”

Yuri suddenly said, as they walked down the sparsely populated street, perhaps due to the cold weather. Ling Xinlu looked at Yuri with a subtle expression. Then he smiled bitterly and said, “I think that’s what I should be saying…”

“It’s strange… Mr. Gable is so perceptive, why doesn’t he understand that? We weren’t getting along, it was a rivalry.”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you think I could possibly get along with a woman who used to date Mr. Gable? Though, it wasn’t just me; she was also intently observing what kind of person I was.”

Only after hearing Ling Xinlu say it as if he couldn’t believe Yuri hadn’t known, did Yuri blink, realizing, “Oh, so that’s what it was.”

“But, it doesn’t matter. Because I won.”

Yuri looked at Ling Xinlu strangely again as he spoke boldly, chin lifted. He had no idea when he’d won, as they hadn’t fought, and simply tilted his head in confusion.

“I thought I wasn’t slow, but it seems my intuition has dulled considerably,” Yuri thought to himself, clucking his tongue, when Ling Xinlu suddenly mumbled beside him.

“I wouldn’t say I regret coming out to see what kind of person she was, but still, I don’t feel good about it. Being in the same place as someone who used to date Mr. Gable actually upset me much more than I expected.”

Yuri quietly looked at Ling Xinlu, who was sighing heavily with a displeased expression.

“I don’t like other people calling Mr. Gable so intimately, I don’t like them talking about having dated him in the past, and I hated being told I’m young all the time… I’m not young because I want to be. I wanted to have years spent like friends with Mr. Gable too.”

A flash of resentment crossed Ling Xinlu’s face. Even though he said he won, he couldn’t help but feel resentful about a few things he simply couldn’t possess.

But why?

He had no reason to be resentful. At least, not regarding Yuri.

Yuri slowly stopped walking, and Ling Xinlu looked back at him. Yuri looked down at his feet for a moment, lost in thought, then glanced around the deserted street, then thought again. Finally, he quietly pulled Ling Xinlu’s arm. Very gently, enough that he could easily pull away if he wanted to.

Ling Xinlu stared at Yuri for a moment, then his expression turned strange. He stared blankly at Yuri, who was silently tugging at his arm, then suddenly smiled. He had realized that this was the choice Yuri was giving him.

Even though it’s the street, even though it’s sparsely populated and people pass by occasionally, if it’s okay, I can embrace you.

The gently tugging hand seemed to say that.

And Ling Xinlu did not hesitate. There was no reason to hesitate.

Ling Xinlu approached him and hugged him tightly. Yuri, in turn, wrapped his arms around his back, embracing him back.

“Why are you suffering on my account, Ling Xinlu?” Yuri’s usually stoic face seemed to flush slightly. He remained silent for a moment with that flushed face, then nodded once.

It could mean “I know,” or “Me too.”

Either interpretation was fine. Both were correct. Yuri reached out his hand. This time, he took Ling Xinlu’s hand.

As Yuri began to walk in their original direction again, Ling Xinlu silently followed.

Yuri half a step ahead, Ling Xinlu half a step behind.

Walking like that for a long time, sometimes they would walk side-by-side, and sometimes Ling Xinlu would be ahead, but one thing would always remain the same.

Their steps, walking hand in hand, always kept a similar pace, moving forward together.

End of Volume 2. The End.