“Excuse me, I’d like to pay.”

Ethan looked up… and just stared. He could not help it. He couldn’t not stare. No matter how many times he had seen this person, his looks never failed to astonish Ethan. 

“Sure,” Ethan said, smiling -- not because this customer came back today again after dropping in two nights ago. And no, he was certainly not keeping tabs. Nope.

One night, a few months ago, this customer came to Ethan’s bookshop just as he was about to close the store. Booked Life sells a wide variety of books, from non-fiction to fiction, novels to manga, mainstream to indie authors, old and new. As varied as the goods sold in the store, the customers varied as well. Most of them were hobbyists or collectors, but there were teens or young adults dropping by from time to time. There was not a lack of good-looking people among the usual clientele, but no one could be compared to this person. 

Mr. CEO, as Ethan called in his head, looked out of place inside his store. Booked Life was not dingy nor shabby in any way, but it seemed humble compared to the price of Mr. CEO’s tailored suit. With a tall stature, high cheekbones, strong jaw, and dark brown eyes that seemed to see into anyone’s soul, the man looked like he jumped out of a web series cover. It was not as if he was big and looming like some gym rats Ethan knew, but this customer seemed to take up all of Ethan’s visual field.

Mr. CEO was the embodiment of Ethan’s ideal seme.

Of course, this customer could be straight for all Ethan knew, but for his BL fantasies, this was what he pictured a perfect seme would look like.

“Hmm?” the customer cocked his head to the side when he caught Ethan shamelessly ogling him. 

Ethan gave Mr. CEO a tight smile and went back to his job. He glanced at the book in his hands, it was the newly released sci-fi book, some productivity books, a memoir, and a Jane Austen book. Huh. Weird and random. He would have pegged Mr. CEO to be reading business books, about finance and stocks and all that business stuff. But then again, he did not really know if Mr. CEO was really a CEO, other than looking like one.

For most of his regular customers, Ethan would make a comment on their books and maybe have a chat with them, but Mr. CEO did not seem like he was open for small talks or had the time for chit-chat. Well, Ethan did not have the courage to start a topic.

Just as Ethan was about to give the books, he noticed his customer staring at the ‘mini altar’ he made near the counter. He placed a small bookshelf near the register where it contained all the printed books of his favorite web novelist. He spent so many nights studying how to create banners on software, and he was so damn proud of the outcome. With this, he managed to turn some of his customers to a fan. But when it was Mr. CEO looking at it, for some reason, he got nervous. 

“Here are your books.” Ethan gave his most business-like smile, but it was returned with a frown.

“You seem like a fan of this author, but I’ve never heard of them before.”

Ethan just stared and closed his mouth with a loud click. Did Mr. CEO initiate a conversation with him?!