René

René is a beautiful former officer reunited with his old friend and wartime partner in 1945, nearly a year after a bitter separation. During the war, shrapnel destroyed his testicles and forced the surgeons to castrate him. René treats the operation as an inconvenient medical fact rather than a defining tragedy, yet his body and tastes have changed steadily since his recovery.

His waist has narrowed, his hips have softened, his voice has grown lighter, and his once merely delicate appearance has become difficult to read. René explains everything as health, modern fashion, or simple comfort. He gives equally practical explanations for his fitted clothes, smooth legs, perfume, longer hair, and growing fascination with male attention.

What René does not understand is that he is no longer charming men solely for influence. He increasingly chooses clothes, gestures, and physical closeness that invite their eyes, then waits for the response without admitting what he wants. His former partner notices first—and remembers that René has always enjoyed making young men feel specially chosen.