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Kyungsoo walks around the dressing room, inspecting the sex slaves before him, eight men and ten ladies, all dressed and made up to perfection. He gives a satisfied nod, and sends them out into the ballroom, so that they can start mingling with the guests who have arrived at the party early. Kyungsoo hopes that all will be well tonight. The group he has today are mostly made up of newbies, no big names with him tonight. Tonight’s party is important, and Kyungsoo supposes it would have been good if he could have a big name with him tonight, but it can’t be helped. Kim Junmyeon is on yet another overseas trip with the President of South Korea, and Kim Jongdae has been pre-booked to entertain some representatives from the Las Vegas mafia, from Park Yoora’s husband’s gang, here to talk business with Park Yoora’s and Park Chanyeol’s father, the head of the Black Dragon Brotherhood.

Even though today’s sex slaves are new, they are young and well-trained, and Kyungsoo knows that sometimes a fresh face can cause more excitement, in this field where masters are always fickle and looking for the next thrill. That was how Yixing managed to break out of obscurity, all those years ago, after all. He first stood out as a pretty fresh face, then became the latest fad, a hot and limited commodity that became fashionable for all the socialites to chase after, until it cumulated into his record-breaking sale for private use. 

Kyungsoo wonders if he would see Yixing today. He probably would. It’s Byun Baekhyun’s mother’s 55^th birthday bash, and knowing how close-knit F4 is, Oh Sehun would definitely be invited, and if Oh Sehun’s coming, that means Yixing will be there, on his arm. As always when he thinks of Yixing with Oh Sehun, a mixture of longing and jealousy churns within him, but Kyungsoo coldly and ruthlessly shuts down his emotions. He is due for a meeting with Park Chanyeol, and he cannot afford his emotions to distract him now.

Kyungsoo takes the briefcase, and the black plastic folder, and leaves the hotel room that serves as the dressing room for sex slaves of The Roselle for the night. Four of his fellow brothers from the Black Dragon Brotherhood flank him as he walks, two in front of him, two behind him. They take the lift, to the top floor of the hotel, where the most expensive suites are.

After they step out of the lift, Kyungsoo does not need to check his phone to look up the room number of the hotel suite they should be heading to. Which room they are going to is immediately made obvious by the Black Dragon brothers standing guard at the door. The brothers nod to Kyungsoo. They are expecting him. One of them goes inside to inform Chanyeol that he has arrived. A moment later, the same guard comes out again, and lets Kyungsoo and his entourage know that they can go in.

Kyungsoo steps into the suite. There are six men in the room, but Kyungsoo’s gaze bypasses the bodyguards standing against the walls of the room, and focuses on the two men sitting on the white leather couches in the centre of the room. He bows deeply, first to Chanyeol, then to his husband, Baekhyun. When he straightens up, he sees that Chanyeol and Baekhyun have been playing a game of Go. A Go board, one that looks like it’s been made of expensive wood, is placed on the coffee table between them. Chanyeol’s playing white and Baekhyun’s playing black, but Kyungsoo has no experience in Go, and can’t tell who’s winning.

“Come, Kyungsoo, have a seat,” Chanyeol says warmly, indicating a spot on the couch right next to him. Chanyeol has always been warm and friendly to his brothers in the Black Dragon Brotherhood. Kyungsoo sits in the designated spot indicated by Chanyeol, putting the briefcase and folder on an empty spot on the long black marble coffee table.

“Have a drink. Red wine?” Chanyeol offers, indicating the open bottle of red wine sitting in a metal wine holder on the coffee table. After working in the pleasure house for more than ten years, Kyungsoo has become adept at recognising different types of wine, and Kyungsoo can tell that this is an expensive vintage. Kyungsoo nods respectfully, a movement that is almost half a bow, accepting Chanyeol’s offer. A bodyguard standing behind Chanyeol steps up to pour the wine for Kyungsoo, but Chanyeol has already picked up the wine holder, and is pouring the wine into an empty wineglass. Kyungsoo watches in silent awe as the wine flows out and swirls into the glass. Chanyeol picks up the glass, and offers it to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo immediately bows while seated, and accepts the glass, receiving it from Chanyeol with both hands holding on to the wineglass stem, keeping his posture in the bowed position as he takes the glass.

The fact that Chanyeol personally poured Kyungsoo his drink is a high honour, and the meaning of the gesture is not lost on Kyungsoo, or on anyone in the room. It is a mark of how much Chanyeol values Kyungsoo. Chanyeol’s father had given him The Roselle to manage on his 25^th birthday. On the very first day that Chanyeol had received management of The Roselle, he had walked in without prior notification with his entourage of Black Dragon brothers, asking the three big bosses of The Roselle to drop everything and meet him in the VIP room right then, and to show him the accounts, and to brief him on their plans for The Roselle for the upcoming year.

The meeting did not last that long, only slightly less than an hour, but it had been enough for Chanyeol to realise one thing. The three big bosses of The Roselle were essentially, useless. Indeed, for the entire length of time that Kyungsoo had been working in The Roselle, they had done nothing but make use of their positions as bosses of the biggest pleasure house in South Korea to eat, drink, and fuck their own sex slaves all day long. The only constructive thing they did was to suck up to their higher ups in the Black Dragon Brotherhood whenever they had the chance, keeping The Roselle in the good books of the upper echelons. They left the nitty-gritty details of the management of The Roselle to the next in-charge, and for the past ten years, that person had been Kyungsoo. It was Kyungsoo that made sure the needs of all the clients that step into The Roselle every night were met, made sure that they consistently had new gimmicks to attract crowds into The Roselle, made sure that they consistently had new batches of highly-trained sex slaves, made sure that The Roselle consistently had bookings to provide sex slaves for private parties, made sure that not only were their accounts in the black every month, that profits only went up, and never down. Kyungsoo did all these things quietly behind the scenes, while the bosses flamboyantly claimed credit for the excellent running of one of the Black Dragon Brotherhood’s most profitable sources of income.

At the end of the meeting, Chanyeol had swept out of the meeting room, throwing the three bosses a barely-disguised look of disgust, but he stopped to clap Kyungsoo on the shoulder just before he stepped out of the door. From then onwards, when it came to matters concerning The Roselle, Chanyeol bypassed the pleasure house bosses altogether, and dealt directly with Kyungsoo. The pleasure bosses disliked this, and they made Kyungsoo’s life difficult in whatever small ways they could manage, throwing tantrums at Kyungsoo at the slightest excuse, going to the extent of physically throwing things at Kyungsoo, chopsticks or paper or whatever they had on hand, but they couldn’t touch him, not really, not when Chanyeol now knew who Kyungsoo was, and obviously valued him. Chanyeol still kept them in their positions as the bosses of The Roselle, because they were cousins of the second-in-command of the Black Dragon Brotherhood. The second-in-command is Chanyeol’s father’s best friend, brothers in every aspect of the word except that they had no blood ties. Out of respect for his sort-of uncle, Chanyeol kept them at their positions. But they were old and due to retire soon, and Chanyeol had on more than one occasion hinted that he would promote Kyungsoo to boss of The Roselle once they did. For the first time since he joined the Black Dragon Brotherhood, someone in the upper circles was paying attention to Kyungsoo, saw how hard he was working and how much he contributed, and Kyungsoo had to admit that it felt good.

Chanyeol lifts his glass in a toast, and Kyungsoo respectfully clinks his glass against Chanyeol’s. Across the coffee table, Baekhyun raises his own glass as well, and Kyungsoo leans across the table to clink his glass against Baekhyun’s, and they all drink. Kyungsoo opens the black plastic folder he brought with him. The first page is the accounts of The Roselle for the past month. Kyungsoo briefly summarises the expenditure, the revenue, and finally, the profit. Kyungsoo then turns the number knobs of the briefcase to the correct pin number. The lock of the briefcase snaps open with a click. Kyungsoo lifts the lid, and reveals the stacks of dollar bills in the briefcase, all bundled neatly in stacks. Chanyeol makes a gesture to one of the brothers standing behind him, and he comes to take the briefcase from the coffee table. He then disappears into an adjacent room, another brother following him. They close the room door, but Kyungsoo knows that they will be counting the money in the room, to check if the money he submitted matches the amount he just presented to Chanyeol in the balance sheet.

While the money counting is going on, Kyungsoo flips the page of the folder in Chanyeol’s lap. The next few pages in the folder contain the upcoming events that The Roselle would be participating in. Some are events organised by other organisations, and Kyungsoo briefs Chanyeol on each of them, the slaves they would be sending, and how much they would earn from each. Some events are organised by The Roselle, initiated by Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo briefs Chanyeol on the budget breakdown and projected earnings for these. Chanyeol accepts Kyungsoo’s proposals in their entirety, giving Kyungsoo the verbal go-ahead for all his plans. The two brothers come out of the room, and they give Chanyeol a nod, indicating that there was nothing wrong with the money. Kyungsoo relaxes a little internally. The meeting with Chanyeol today had gone well.

The room of the suite opens, and the brother who had let Kyungsoo in announces the arrival of Sehun and Yixing. Kyungsoo’s heart skips a beat, though he is careful to keep his outward demeanour stoic. Kyungsoo had been expecting to see Yixing at the party later, but had not expected to be seeing him now, at such close quarters. Though on hindsight, Kyungsoo guessed he should have expected it. Of course Chanyeol and Baekhyun would invite Sehun to their private suite before the start of the party.

“Sehunnie! You’re here!” Chanyeol and Baekhyun both greet Sehun enthusiastically, standing up and walking towards him and Yixing. Kyungsoo immediately stands too, bowing deeply to both Sehun and Yixing. Sehun doesn’t return either of his hyungs’ greetings verbally, but he is smiling at Chanyeol and Baekhyun as he walks towards them. Chanyeol reaches Sehun first, and he pulls Sehun into a big bear hug, and ruffles his hair fondly. Then Baekhyun reaches Sehun too. He hugs Sehun as well, then proceeds to pat Sehun’s mussed hair back in place for him.

“Yixing!” Baekhyun greets Yixing, pulling him into a hug too. In the past, Yixing would have immediately bowed to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, but now he stands with his back straight, hugging Baekhyun back. Chanyeol pats Yixing on the back in a brotherly fashion, and he steers them all back to the couches. Chanyeol and Baekhyun sit on the side that Baekhyun been sitting earlier, with Sehun sandwiched in between them. Yixing moves over to the other side, the side that Kyungsoo is standing at.

“Kyungsoo hyung!” Yixing greets Kyungsoo excitedly, happy to see Kyungsoo. His dimple is showing, and Kyungsoo’s stomach does a flip flop. Kyungsoo gives Yixing another respectful half-bow, and makes to retreat away from the sofa, so that he can stand behind it with the four brothers he came in with, but Chanyeol waves him back down.

“Sit down, Kyungsoo,” he says. “Finish your drink first.”

Kyungsoo has no choice but to oblige, though his heart beat is pounding in his ears with the proximity of Yixing sitting next to him. Yixing looks good today. He always does. He’s wearing a black jacket and black pants that are almost too tight to be legal, and a navy blue dress shirt. He has a new hairstyle, though his hair colour is still black. When Yixing was at the pleasure house, they used to change his hair colour often, to keep the clients intrigued. Yixing himself loved each new colour change, excited to see what the effect would be like. But since he was sold, Yixing’s hair colour had remained black and only black. Oh Sehun must like Yixing in black hair, Kyungsoo realised. For the longest time, Yixing had the same hairstyle, long fringe covering his forehead up till his eyebrows, but now Yixing had his fringe parted in a side parting, showing his forehead, the bottom edges of his fringe curling inwards slightly. It was sexy as hell.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol are chatting animatedly with Sehun. From what Kyungsoo can hear, though their conversation revolves entirely around Sehun, Baekhyun is speaking around sixty per cent of the time, Chanyeol thirty percent, and Sehun only ten per cent. Their conversation proceeds with Baekhyun or Chanyeol asking Sehun a question. When Sehun does not respond right away, Baekhyun then guesses Sehun’s answer. Sehun either nods, or shakes his head, and if so Baekhyun guesses again until he gets it right. At the very most, Sehun says one or two words in clarification. In this fashion, Baekhyun works around Sehun’s PTSD, and skilfully tweezes out what has been going on in Sehun’s life since they last met. Chanyeol interjects now and then to comment, usually to praise Sehun encouragingly.

Meanwhile, Yixing is speaking to Kyungsoo, asking Kyungsoo how the pleasure house is doing, and asking if his mentors, Junmyeon and Jongdae, would be at the party today. He looks a little disappointed that they wouldn’t be coming. Kyungsoo knows that Yixing wouldn’t have dared to do this, to sit apart from his master and engage in a separate conversation with another man, if he were still a sex slave. Kyungsoo asks Yixing how his modelling is going. Yixing’s eyes light up at this. Now that he is no longer a sex slave, he can hold a proper job now, and he’s joined Baekhyun’s modelling agency. He’s now one of their top models. Yixing tells Kyungsoo about the photoshoots and the fashion shows that he has done recently.

After they had chatted for a while, Baekhyun abruptly remembers that they had forgotten to offer Sehun and Yixing drinks. The same guy steps up to pour the drinks, but once again, someone else has beaten him to it. This time, it is Yixing who is pouring out the wine into an empty glass. He stands up and offers the glass of wine to Sehun across the coffee table, bowing respectfully, both hands holding the wine glass stem. It was the same posture in which Kyungsoo had received the wine that Chanyeol had poured for him. The fact that Yixing would personally pour Sehun’s wine for him, instead of letting Chanyeol’s subordinate do it, and the fact that he offers the wine to Sehun in the manner in which a sex slave would offer wine to his master, tells Kyungsoo that despite everything he has now, he is mindful of his humble beginnings, and does not forget that he owes everything he has today to Sehun. Jealousy sits uneasily in Kyungsoo’s stomach. He wished it could have been him, the one to give Yixing everything, but it was not meant to be.

Sehun wordlessly takes the wine from Yixing, his fingers brushing against Yixing’s as he does so. Silence hangs heavy in the room as Yixing pours himself a glass of wine as well. For a brief moment, Kyungsoo wonders why conversation has not picked up again, then he realises the reason for it. The most chatty of them, Baekhyun, has fallen silent. Instead of making conversation, he is staring intently at Yixing’s hands. Kyungsoo follows Baekhyun’s line of sight, then he sees it too. The thing that has caught Baekhyun’s attention. Kyungsoo’s heart sinks and his mouth goes dry. This can’t be happening, can it?

Baekhyun waits until Yixing has finished pouring his drink, then leans forward and says, “Yixing, your ring…”

He holds out his hand over the coffee table, and Yixing puts his left hand into it. Baekhyun pulls the Yixing’s hand closer, so that he can inspect the ring Yixing is wearing on his fourth finger.

“Nice ring,” Baekhyun comments, smirking with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Erm… yes… it’s white gold, set all around with one carat diamonds…”

“Yes, the ring’s beautiful,” continues Baekhyun. “But I think the issue here is not so much how beautiful the ring is, but the fact that you are wearing it on the ring finger of your left hand.”

Yixing ducks his head shyly, but he is beaming with happiness.

Baekhyun lets go of Yixing’s hand, and proceeds to round on Sehun. “You proposed! You proposed, didn’t you?”

Sehun doesn’t speak, but his blush answers for him. Baekhyun almost squeals, hugging Sehun to him, cupping Sehun’s head in his hands and planting a kiss on the top of Sehun’s forehead.

“Yeollie, Sehunnie’s getting married! Our little maknae is getting married!”

“Congratulations, Sehunnie, Yixing,” says Chanyeol, extricating Sehun from Baekhyun’s arms, so that he can pull Sehun into his own hug. He’s beaming like a proud older brother.

Kyungsoo picks up his glass of wine, which he had barely touched until now, and takes a big mouthful. The wine burns his throat on the way down.

“How did Sehun ask you?” Baekhyun asks.

“We went to the ski resort, the one in which Sehun set me free. Sehun booked us into the same bedroom suite we had been in the other time. And well… it was simple really… nothing fancy… Sehun got down on one knee in the room, and asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”

Yixing’s eyes connects with Sehun’s across the coffee table, and Kyungsoo almost swears that there are stars in them. Yixing is looking at Sehun in the way he used to look at Lu Han back at the pleasure house, when he thought nobody was looking.

“You must let me plan your wedding!” Baekhyun says to Sehun, and Sehun looks slightly alarmed at the prospect.

“I think Sehun wants a small quiet wedding, Baek,” Chanyeol says.

“Of course I know that,” Baekhyun huffs. “An overseas wedding, simple yet elegant, just you and Yixing. With me, Chanyeol, Kris and Jandi as the only guests. How does that sound?”

Sehun nods happily at this. Baekhyun tweaks the bottom of Sehun’s chin in mock exasperation. “You should have more faith in your Baekhyun hyung, that I would know what you want and what you like.”

Baekhyun picks up his tablet, and starts to tap on it. “Hmmm… let’s think about the country first. Where would you like, Sehunnie? England? France? Sweden?”

Sehun shows no reaction to any of these countries, so Baekhyun continues tapping on the tablet. “Oh, how about somewhere cold? A white, wintry wedding in Finland? Look, Yixing…”

Baekhyun leans across the coffee table, holding his tablet in the middle of it, so that Yixing can look at the photos that Baekhyun has searched on his internet browser. “Would you like this? You can say your vows in a glass igloo… Do a champagne toast in the snow… If you’re lucky, the Northern Lights may be out on your wedding night too!”

“Wow, these looks amazing!” Yixing is looking at the photos of wedding portraits taken in the snow. He looks happy. Excited. It is a good look on him.

Sehun looks slightly interested in the prospect of Finland, now that Yixing has shown interest in it. He too leans forward for a closer look.

Kyungsoo has been drinking his wine steadily, and he finally drains the last contents of the glass.

“Please excuse me, sirs. I should be going down to the ballroom… make sure everything is well with the sex slaves…”

“Go ahead, Kyungsoo,” says Chanyeol. “Thank you for the hard work.”

“I’ll see you later at the party, Kyungsoo hyung.”

“Congratulations on your engagement, Yixing.”

And Kyungsoo does mean it. Above all, he wants to see Yixing happy. Yixing beams at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo bows deeply, and exits the room, the four brothers who came in with him following in his wake.

“I’m going for a smoke break. You all head back downstairs first,” Kyungsoo says to them, after they have exited the room. They head to the lift landing, while Kyungsoo turns to go to the rooftop bar. Kyungsoo has barely sent them away in time. Tears are pricking his eyes. He rapidly blinks them away, as he shakily lights a cigarette.

By the time he finishes the cigarette, Kyungsoo is back in control of his emotions. He makes his way down to the ballroom. The sex slaves are mingling with the guests at the pre-dinner cocktail area. They are doing well, classy yet flirtatious.

Right on time, Baekhyun arrives at the party with Chanyeol, Sehun and Yixing, Kris and Jandi with them. Baekhyun moves around the party on Chanyeol’s arm, thanking the guests for attending his mother’s birthday celebration. Sehun and Yixing retreat to a corner of the party, not mingling much with the other guests. Kris and Jandi mingle a lot also, with Kris talking mainly with his business associates. After a while, Jandi joins Sehun and Yixing in the corner, and Kyungsoo can see them chatting happily.

Half an hour into the party, Baekhyun’s mother enters on the arm of Baekhyun’s older brother. The star of the party, the guests immediately crowd around her, fawning and flattering. The party proceeds much like any other socialite birthday party, with speeches from her two sons, thanking their mother for bringing them up, speech from the birthday mother herself, extravagant presents, cake cutting with a 5-tiered cake that is completely edible, and Sehun tops it off by playing a piano piece as his gift to Baekhyun’s mother, to the applause of the crowd. In recent years, Sehun has found international fame as a composer and music director, and it is a rare gift for him to play a piece for someone.

As the night progresses, the guests get increasingly less sober, thanks to the free-flow of alcohol. The guests start requesting the service of the sex slaves. Kyungsoo keeps an unobtrusive eye on them, taking note of where all eighteen of them are at all times, whether they are in the ballroom, or in a bedroom with a guest. Kyungsoo has GPS installed on all their handphones, and he monitors their positions on his phone regularly. The guests know that they are not supposed to take the sex slaves out of the premises of the hotel, but drunk guests have been known to try to forcibly take sex slaves away, and if that happens, Kyungsoo and the other Black Dragon brothers would step in to intervene. Kyungsoo notes that the sex slaves are doing well. The guests look satisfied. He mentally takes notes of which slaves get more requests, and which get fewer. He mulls over this, devising ways in his head to develop each of them, promote them to higher popularity.

Sehun and Yixing leave around midnight, together with Kris and Jandi. Chanyeol and Baekhyun have returned to their hotel suite, with one of the female sex slaves. Yixing drops by to say goodbye to Kyungsoo before he leaves. Kyungsoo watches them leave out of the corner of his eye, notices how Sehun has his hand around Yixing’s waist.

It is past 4 am when they finally return to the pleasure house. The Roselle opens through the night, but the lateness of the hour means that business is winding down for the night. Their peak period usually starts at 10 pm, and ends at around 3 am. Kyungsoo does his usual walkabout The Roselle, ensuring that everything is in order, and helping to handle a couple of drunk and unruly, but at the same time, very important guests. Kyungsoo gives the go-ahead to close the doors after they accept their last customer for the night at 5 am, though The Roselle still remains fully operational behind the closed doors, providing breakfast and concierge services for the clients who have stayed the night.

When Kyungsoo reaches home, it is past 8 am. The walls of his apartment might have been white at one point, but now they are yellowed and cracked. The unit is sparsely furnished. He takes off his jacket, and empties his pockets, taking out his wallet and his keys, and places them on the table. Kyungsoo looks at his table. It is splintered, and shabby. He has a table and two chairs, but they are all mismatched. Like all his other furniture, Kyungsoo had bought them separately, second hand. Kyungsoo remembers the smooth black marble coffee table and white leather couches of Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s hotel suite. He remembers the ring on Yixing’s finger. The ring probably cost more than his entire apartment.

With his pay, Kyungsoo can afford a better apartment, with better furnishings, than this. But Kyungsoo has forced himself to lead a Spartan life, with no luxuries at all. Even drinking coffee at Starbucks was a luxury he rarely allowed himself. He drinks the cheapest house brand instant coffee he can buy at the supermarket. It’s the same for the food that he eats. He doesn’t eat at restaurants. He cooks his own meals, with the cheapest rice, meat and vegetables available. The only relatively expensive things he owns are his clothes, because he needs to look presentable for work. Even then, Kyungsoo makes sure each jacket, dress shirt and pants lasts for a long time. He hand washes them and treats the with care. Almost his entire pay goes into his savings, and Kyungsoo doesn’t touch the money in his bank account, except when he’s using it to buy shares, to invest in his money and make it grow.

For twelve years, he forced himself to live a Spartan life, all the in the hopes of being able to afford Yixing one day. But Yixing himself had made Kyungsoo’s dream unattainable, by becoming the highest selling sex slave in the decade. Kyungsoo had handled the paper work for Yixing’s sale, and the price Kris Wu had bought him for was ten times the amount of money that Kyungsoo had in his bank account at that time. But even after Yixing had been bought by Kris Wu, Kyungsoo continued his frugal existence, trying to accumulate as much money as he could, in the hopes that one day Kris Wu would tire of Yixing, and would want to sell him, and perhaps Yixing’s price would have dropped by then, and perhaps Kyungsoo would be able to buy him. But five years after Kris Wu bought Yixing, Kris had sold Yixing to his F4 best friend Oh Sehun at the same price he bought Yixing for, and Sehun had set Yixing free. Even after that, Kyungsoo had held on to the tiniest bit of hope, that perhaps Sehun and Yixing would break up after some time. If that happened, Yixing would be single and no longer a sex slave, and would have no restrictions as to who he could date. Perhaps Kyungsoo would have a chance to confess his feelings to Yixing then. But Kyungsoo had waited in vain. Sehun and Yixing are not breaking up. Sehun and Yixing are getting married.

Kyungsoo walks to his kitchen sink, and splashes water on his face. He honestly just wanted to wash his face, but he cannot stop the tears from mingling with the water that is running down his cheeks. He heaves loud sobs as he leans over the sink, and he lets the water from the tap run, so that the splashing of the running water on the base of the metal sink makes his sobs sound less loud to his own ears.

Later at 6 pm that day, Kyungsoo walks through the opulent double doors of The Roselle. He goes to his office first, getting one of his subordinates to make him a cup of coffee. It’s a premium brew he drinks this time, since it’s office supplies. The Roselle is generous to its workers. Kyungsoo boots up his laptop, and handles some paper work and checks The Roselle’s schedule for the day. Business is good. They have quite a lot of pre-bookings for tonight. Both his top-billing sex slaves are back tonight, Kim Junmyeon having got off the plane at 1 pm today. Both of them are fully booked for the night, though Kyungsoo has only accepted bookings for Junmyeon tonight from midnight to 4 am, to give Junmyeon more time to sleep in after his flight. There are no special events planned for tonight, and thus far, no super VIPs coming in today, so things tonight should proceed like clockwork.

At 7 pm, Kyungsoo goes on his first walkabout of the night as usual, checking that everything is in order for business, that all the slaves are ready, the sound systems and stage lightings of the main hall are working well, and all the bedrooms are spotlessly clean and made up. As part of his walkabout, he goes into one of the lounges designated for sex slaves to rest and relax in, and walks into his two top-billing sex slaves kissing passionately.

Kyungsoo coughs loudly. Jongdae has the decency to quickly break the kiss, blushing slightly. He makes to scramble out of Junmyeon’s lap. But Junmyeon encircles his arm around Jongdae’s waist, trapping Jongdae in, preventing Jongdae from going anywhere.

“Hyung!” Jongdae whines in protest.

“What?” says Junmyeon. “It’s just Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at Junmyeon. Seeing that Junmyeon won’t be letting Jongdae out of his lap anytime soon, Kyungsoo closes the door of the lounge and locks it, in case someone else walks in on them. The fact that its two top sex slaves are in a relationship is The Roselle’s worst kept secret, but still, best not to be too high profile about it. The Roselle is usually very strict that their sex slaves do not get involved in any romantic relationships whatsoever, but an exception is made for Junmyeon and Jongdae. And besides, for the past ten years, Kyungsoo has been in charge of The Roselle in all but in name, and as long as he’s in charge, no one is going to touch his two best friends, whether they are breaking the rules to be in a relationship or not.

Their friendship is tight, the three of them. The three of them have clung together through thick and thin, building up what they have today by helping and depending on one another. Kyungsoo was instrumental in building both Junmyeon’s and Jongdae’s current popularity, creating chances for them in front of VIPs, planning events for them that showcased their charms. In return, Junmyeon and Jongdae looked out for Kyungsoo whenever they could. Once, when he was much younger, Kyungsoo had been too brash to one of his seniors in the Black Dragon Brotherhood. The senior had his lackeys pin Kyungsoo into a kneeling position, and forcibly spread the fingers of his left hand out on the table before him. The senior was about the chop off one of Kyungsoo’s fingers, when Junmyeon intervened. Junmyeon promised the senior a night with him, in exchange for the senior letting Kyungsoo off. Over the years, both Jongdae and Junmyeon had given out more sexual favours that Kyungsoo could count to aid Kyungsoo’s climb to the top of The Roselle’s management, and now that he was there, Kyungsoo ensured that no one harmed either Jongdae or Junmyeon. He repeatedly rejected every offer to buy them for private use, no matter how astronomical the bid price, so that Jongdae and Junmyeon would not be separated.

“I gave you free time until midnight to sleep in, to rest before you have to get back to work,” Kyungsoo tells Junmyeon pointedly, as he slides in the chair opposite them. “Shouldn’t you be spending this time sleeping?”

“But I missed my baby so much the whole time I was in Japan,” says Junmyeon, planting a kiss on Jongdae’s neck. “I don’t want to sleep. I just want to spend time with my baby.”

Kyungsoo tries to roll his eyes at Junmyeon, but he suspects his expression is too fond for him to pull off the eye roll convincingly.

“So how’s Mr President?” asks Kyungsoo.

“Still enamoured with me,” says Junmyeon easily. “He bought me a new rolex watch.”

“And the Las Vegas mafia?” Kyungsoo now turns to Jongdae.

“Good. I think the service went well.”

Kyungsoo gets up, and makes them three cups of tea. After he sets the steaming mugs in front of them, Kyungsoo finally tells them what has been on his mind.

“I met Yixing at Mrs Byun’s birthday party yesterday.”

“Little Xing?”

“How is he? Is he well?”

“Yes, he’s doing fine. More than fine, actually. He’s getting married.”

“Really? Wow. That’s great! We hardly ever hear of sex slaves being set free, and now he’s getting married to his former master on the top of that?”

“Our Little Xing is doing so well for himself. I’m so proud of him!”

Looking into his mug, Kyungsoo tells them about Yixing’s ring, Sehun’s proposal and their plans to have a quiet wedding overseas.  When he looks up from his tea, neither Junmyeon nor Jongdae say anything. They just look at him sympathetically. Kyungsoo has never told either of them, or anyone else, about his one-sided love for Yixing, but sometimes, he thinks that his two best friends know anyway.

“I’m happy for him,” Kyungsoo tells them, and he means it. He’s jealous, and bitter and heartbroken, but at the same time, he’s happy that Yixing’s happy. It’s a complicated mix of feelings to have.

Jongdae gets out of Junmyeon’s lap and walks around the table, to sit on the chair next to Kyungsoo. He slings his arm over Kyungsoo’s shoulders comfortingly. Junmyeon makes them another round of tea. The three of them sip their tea and chat about other more inane topics, then Kyungsoo leaves them. It’s 8 pm, and The Roselle’s open for business.

Kyungsoo goes to the foyer, greeting the first walk-in customers of the day, showing them in to the main hall, introducing the night’s stage itinerary to them. He doesn’t have to do this, but once in a while, he does what he expects his entry level staff to do, to show them that he values what they do.

Later in the night, a few clients with some social standing come in as scheduled, and Kyungsoo goes to entertain them personally. After he walks out of their VIP room, one of his staff approaches him, flustered. One of the three big bosses had just barged in drunk, and dragged Tiffany into one of the bedrooms to serve him, despite everyone’s protests that Tiffany has already been booked by a client. Kyungsoo sighs, and asks for the name of the client. Luckily it is one of their regulars, one that Kyungsoo knows how to handle. Kyungsoo approaches the client at the bar, where he has been nursing a drink while waiting for Tiffany. Kyungsoo acts like he’s just stopped by for a chat, as he usually does with the regulars. In the middle of the conversation, Kyungsoo casually mentions Jessica, talks about how she’s up and coming, probably the next big thing. The client’s interest is piqued, and he asks more about Jessica. Kyungsoo points her out from where she’s interacting with some other clients across the room, and then the client’s hooked. He changes his booking from Tiffany to Jessica, apologising to Kyungsoo for the inconvenience of the last minute change, to which Kyungsoo sincerely says is no trouble at all.

Potential client crisis averted, Kyungsoo is making his way out of the bar, when he overhears the conversation between two female sex slaves. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, he just happened to hear what they were saying as he walked past. They have their backs to him, and don’t know that he is just behind them.

“Oh, look! The good-looking guy is back again!”

“Where?”

“There, at the table near the wall.”

“Oh yes! I see him now. He’s so handsome! I wish I could serve him, instead of the old man who has booked me for later.”

“You wish. He’s never requested a single service. He just sits there and drinks all night.”

A client who just drinks, and does not request a service? That is strange. The drinks in The Roselle are ridiculously expensive. No one comes here just to drink. Kyungsoo looks over to the table the girls are referring. With slight alarm, he recognises the handsome man the girls are gushing over.

Kim Jongin.

Kyungsoo recognises him because a few years back, Chanyeol was running a background check on him. It was found that Kim Jongin was Yixing’s elementary school classmate. Since Kyungsoo had been the one to purchase Yixing for the pleasure house all those years ago, the brothers helping Chanyeol run the background check approached Kyungsoo, asking him if he knew anything about Jongin, and his relationship with Yixing back then. They had shown Kyungsoo Jongin’s photo, and told Kyungsoo that Jongin was now a police officer.

Kyungsoo mulls over the implications of this. He has a police officer sitting in his pleasure house. Apparently it’s not his first visit here. And each time, he just drinks, so service is not his aim in coming. What then is his purpose?

The Roselle is a legal business. Kyungsoo personally makes sure that their license is always renewed on time, and their taxes paid promptly. But as with all other businesses under the Black Dragon Brotherhood, The Roselle is used as a venue to facilitate the sales of another significant arm of their business, drugs. While providing the service of sex slaves is not illegal, selling drugs certainly is.

Kyungsoo is sure the authorities know about The Roselle pushing drugs, but they have never acted against The Roselle on it. The main reason for this is Junmyeon’s relationship with the President. As long as Junmyeon remains the favourite of the president, The Roselle is protected, untouchable. It was how Kyungsoo manage to prevent the sale of Junmyeon all these years. We need him, he had argued to his superiors in the Black Dragon Brotherhood, he is the protective umbrella that shields The Roselle. And that was how he managed to prevent the sale of Jongdae as well, and get the upper circles in the Brotherhood to close one eye to Junmyeon’s and Jongdae’s relationship. We need Junmyeon to keep the President happy, he had said time and time again, and to keep Junmyeon happy, we need Jongdae. Too bad Kyungsoo did not have a similar argument to prevent the sale of Yixing.

With the President on their side, Kyungsoo supposes he does not really need to worry that there is a junior police officer in his pleasure house. But still, it is always better to err on the side of caution. He walks back to the bar, and asks the bartender to make him two more of the drink Jongin is drinking. With both drinks in hand, he makes his way to Jongin’s table. He offers Jongin one of the drinks, and asks if he can sit.

“By all means.” Jongin indicates the empty seat opposite him.

Kyungsoo sits. Kim Jongin is already fairly drunk from the looks of it, though it could be an act to put Kyungsoo at ease.

“Kim Jongin, by the way.” He extends his hand to Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo shakes it.

So he’s not hiding his true name, at least. Kyungsoo makes a mental note to get his brothers to run another background check on Jongin, to see if Jongin has been transferred from his post as neighbourhood police officer to the triad division, or the drug division.

“Do Kyungsoo.”

“I know. We’ve met before, remember? At Yixing’s grandmother’s hospital. You were the one who told me that Yixing had become a sex slave. That was like, 16 or 17 years ago? I swear you look exactly the same. How is it that you don’t age?”

Kyungsoo remembers that meeting perfectly, but he’s surprised that Jongin remembers it. As Jongin said, that was 17 years ago, and Jongin had only been a 12 year old boy at that time. But bringing up memories of visiting Yixing’s grandmother in hospital on Yixing’s behalf only brings up unwanted feelings which Kyungsoo does not want to deal with right now, so Kyungsoo changes the subject.

“So what brings you to The Roselle today? If you want some recommendations, I can help you there.”

“Nah, can’t afford anybody here.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, but sips his drink instead. Experience has taught him that if you keep quiet, chances are that the other person will keep on talking, and if he can keep Jongin talking, perhaps he can find out why Jongin is here.

“I lost Yixing to this place when we were twelve years old. One day, he was attending school with me as usual, the next day he simply disappeared. We used to do everything together, Yixing and I. But that changed when you bought him for this place.”

The accusation in Jongin’s tone is obvious. Kyungsoo can’t blame him. Kyungsoo too has blamed himself numerous times. If he had not purchased Yixing for the pleasure house in the first place, Yixing wouldn’t have become the utterly unattainable high selling sex slave that only the likes of F4, and not the likes of Kyungsoo, could afford. But then, how was he to know when he looked at that 12 year boy back then, that the boy in front of him was going to be the future object of his affections? He had felt no attraction whatsoever to 12 year old Yixing, just a hunch that he would grow up to be beautiful. And Kyungsoo had been right in that aspect. Yixing’s beautiful now that he’s grown up. Too beautiful for Kyungsoo to handle.

“What was it like for Yixing to grow up here? Was he happy?”

Happy wasn’t exactly the adjective Kyungsoo would use to describe a sex slave’s growing up years. So he diverted the topic again.

“What does that matter? He’s happy now. He has Oh Sehun.”

Kyungsoo tried to ignore the feeling that felt like a cold knife twisting in his gut.

“Yeah… that lucky rich bastard. Just cos he’s rich, he was in the position to get close to Yixing, to give him everything, to be his saviour. Whereas commoners like me could not even afford the entry fee into this place, could not even afford to come in for one night to speak to him. I can afford the entry fee now, but what’s the use? Yixing’s not here anymore.”

If Kyungsoo was honest with himself, he had been thinking along the same lines as well. But hearing someone else voice this, Kyungsoo was filled with the sudden urge to defend Oh Sehun.

“He genuinely loves Yixing. He treasures Yixing, and treats him well.”

“So what? I would do the same, if only I had the chance.”

So would Kyungsoo, if only he had the chance.

“The lucky bastard got the chance to, just cos he was born into the right family. Unlike the rest of us, he did not have to work for his money.”

“Oh Sehun has got talent of his own. Everyone says he’s the gifted composer of our time.”

“And why is it that he can pursue his interest in music as his career? It’s because he never had to worry about whether he has enough money to pay the bills. He does not know what it is like to need to have a 9 to 5 job regular job that pays every month. He doesn’t even lift a finger in his family business. He’s just rich because he’s the major shareholder of the oil and diamond companies his parents left him. All he does is attend board meetings once in a while, and the profits of the companies get banked into his bank account on a regular basis. He was born with a freaking silver spoon, and because of that, he could buy Yixing, he could set Yixing free, and of course Yixing’s going to be touched, going to be grateful to him for that…”

“It’s more than that. It’s not just gratitude. Yixing is genuinely in love with him. He is Yixing’s entire world. Yixing wouldn’t choose anyone else over him, even if he were ever presented with a choice.”

It hurts Kyungsoo to admit it, but he knows in his heart that he speaks the truth.

“Do you think that I don’t know that? Why do you have to burst my bubble?”

To Kyungsoo’s horror, Jongin has started crying. He buries his face in his palms, and his shoulders shake with his sobs. Kyungsoo almost envies Jongin, for his ability to express his feelings so freely. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, has hid his feelings behind a mask of cold stoicism for so long, he does not know how to show his emotions anymore. Unsure how to comfort Jongin, Kyungsoo settles for patting Jongin’s shoulder awkwardly.

“You must think I am really pathetic. Yixing probably hardly even remembers that I exist.”

“Why would I think that of you?” Kyungsoo’s voice is so soft, he is almost whispering. Though no one can see his hands because they are hidden under the table, Kyungsoo knows that they are shaking. “Why would I think that of you, when I am in the exact same position as you?”

And he has done it. For the first time in his life, he has admitted what he felt for Yixing to another person. Tears prick his eyes, and he feels his face crumpling. For the first time in a long time, Kyungsoo is breaking down in front of another person.

Then he feels lips pressing down roughly upon his own. Kyungsoo muffles a cry of surprise. He instinctively moves backwards, but Jongin traps him in his arms, pulling him close. Kyungsoo knows why Jongin is doing this. Jongin wants to distract himself from the crushing pain he feels. And Kyungsoo needs this distraction too. Instead of pushing Jongin away, he reaches out for him, and pulls him closer, and he responds to Jongin’s kiss with equal roughness. When they pull apart, they are both breathing heavily.

“My place,” says Kyungsoo, and Jongin simply nods.

Kyungsoo knows that he can easily just use one of the bedrooms in the pleasure house, but suddenly, he is sick of The Roselle, and can’t wait to get out. Kyungsoo has worked here for 17 years, and he has never once left work early because of personal matters. But nothing big is scheduled for tonight, and Kyungsoo figures that The Roselle would survive one night without him. He tells the bellboy on his way out to let his second-in-charge know that he is leaving for the night. Then Kyungsoo and Jongin get into Kyungsoo’s car. They don’t speak for the duration of the drive.

They’ve barely closed the door to Kyungsoo’s apartment before they’re ripping each other’s clothes off. Jongin pushes Kyungsoo down on the bed, and he’s so rough and so impatient, that Kyungsoo barely has time to scramble for the lube and the condoms. He enters Kyungsoo without much preparation, and his thrusts are hard and fast, but Kyungsoo likes it this way, likes the painful way Jongin fills him, stretches him beyond what is bearable, and pounds into him so roughly that it hurts, because the physical pain distracts him from his emotional pain, and his emotional pain is by far more painful. They fall asleep tangled together, and Kyungsoo cannot be bothered to worry about the fact that there is a stranger in his house. He just wants to numb himself, to forget.

The next day, when Kyungsoo wakes up, Jongin is no longer there. It was just as well. Kyungsoo washes his face and brushes his teeth. He hopes that nothing cropped up in The Roselle while he was away. He checks his handphone. It’s not filled with frantic missed calls, which Kyungsoo takes as a good sign. There’s just one text from Jongdae. He opens the text.

Hey! Heard you got lucky last night! They say the guy’s really cute. Tell us about it later!

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Well, if Jongdae and the rest of the staff are in the mood to gossip, at least it proves that no crisis happened last night.

Suddenly, the lock of his apartment turns, and Kyungsoo nearly jumps out of his skin when his apartment door swings open. Jongin enters the apartment, carrying two cups of Starbucks coffee and a Starbucks paper bag.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Jongin says by way of greeting. “I got us breakfast.”

Jongin makes his way to the table, and sets the coffee and the bag down on it. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo is still gaping at him, flabbergasted.

“How did you open the door of my apartment?” he demands.

“I used your keys,” said Jongin easily, taking said bunch of keys out of his pocket and throwing them on the table casually. “You left them on the table.”

“You just took my keys, and left me locked in my own home? What if a fire had broken out?”

Jongin cocks his head to side, smiling. “If a fire had broken out, you would have let yourself out with your set of spare keys. A meticulous person like you would have a set of spare keys placed somewhere in the house, in case of emergencies.”

And Jongin is right. Kyungsoo inadvertently looks at his top most kitchen drawer, where the set of spare keys lies. Jongin follows his line of sight.

“You keep your spare keys in that drawer, don’t you?”

Kyungsoo glares at him. Jongin laughs.

“Sorry, occupational hazard of being a policeman. Please stop glaring at me. You look more cute than deadly, just so you know. Like a very ruffled owl.”

Kyungsoo wants to kill this man. Why had bringing him home seem like a good idea last night?

“Coffee?” offers Jongin easily, as if he couldn’t tell Kyungsoo was plotting how to get away with his murder. He gestures at the two cups. “Black coffee? Or latte?”

Kyungsoo wants to stay angry at Jongin, but the coffee smells awfully good.

“Black coffee.”

“I knew it. You just look like the black coffee, no sugar, kind of person.”

Jongin sits down on one of the mismatched chairs at the table. He puts the coffee cup on the table in front of the other chair, an invitation to Kyungsoo to sit down with him to eat breakfast. Kyungsoo definitely resents being invited to sit in his own home. Grudgingly, he sits. The first sip of coffee is heavenly. Jongin opens the paper bag and he presses a croissant into Kyungsoo’s hands. They eat in silence. As they munch on the buttery bread, Kyungsoo studies Jongin out the corner of eye, under his lashes. Jongin is much smarter than he initially gave him credit for. Perhaps Kyungsoo was too careless to have been swayed by Jongin’s apparent show of vulnerability last night. It might all have been just an act.

“Relax,” says Jongin easily. “I have no ulterior motive for going to The Roselle. I just wanted to be in the place Yixing grew up in, because it makes feel like I can understand Yixing just a little better, make Yixing not seem so far away from me.”

He looks so sad saying this that Kyungsoo finds himself believing him. Kyungsoo suddenly finds that his earlier irritation at Jongin has disappeared, replaced with a sad mutual understanding.

“I’ve got to go. My shift starts soon,” says Jongin, taking a last swig of coffee, and brushing crumbs off his fingertips. “I enjoyed myself last night. Give me a call if you want me to, you know, come over again.”

He slides a Starbucks napkin over the table to Kyungsoo. His number is written on it. Before Kyungsoo can respond, Jongin picks up Kyungsoo’s set of keys again and lets himself out of the apartment. After he locks the door from the outside, he slides the keys back into the apartment under the door.

Kyungsoo does not know why he saves Jongin’s number into his handphone, but he does. Throughout the week, he finds himself scrolling through his contact list, looking at Jongin’s name, and the number below it. However, he always exits the screen after one or two seconds. 

Kyungsoo’s only off day in the week is Monday. Kyungsoo chooses this day because The Roselle’s does its best business on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but Monday is its lull day. Thus, at 9 am on Monday morning, after he has reached home after a busy Sunday night, and has showered and is lying in bed, ready to sleep, he finds himself looking at Jongin’s number in his contact list again. Instead of exiting the screen, Kyungsoo sends out a message this time.

Come over tonight? Kyungsoo

Kyungsoo half expects Jongin not to reply. He’s about to put down his handphone on the bedside table and go to sleep when his phone buzzes with an incoming message.

Ok. I can be there around 8 pm, after my shift

Kyungsoo blinks at the reply. So he would be coming after all. He puts the phone down, and goes to sleep.

When Kyungsoo wakes up later, he goes to the supermarket to stock up on groceries, his usual routine on his off day. As he loads his trolley, he wonders if there is a certain casual sex etiquette that he does not know about. He’s have had his fair share of casual sex over the years, he works in a pleasure house after all. Kyungsoo has been told many times that he is rather good looking, and there had been more than enough sex slaves willing to spend some time alone with Kyungsoo in one of The Roselle’s bedrooms. But this is the first time he is having casual sex with someone who is not a Roselle sex slave, the first time he’s been having casual sex in his own home. Kyungsoo wonders if he should provide dinner for Jongin, who seems to be coming over straight after work. In the end, he finds himself selecting higher grade beef than he usually would buy.

When he reaches home, he loads his groceries in the cupboards and in the fridge. It’s time to cook dinner, and Kyungsoo supposes he can’t postpone deciding whether to cook a share for Jongin or not any longer. Should he just cook extra, and invite Jongin to eat when he comes later? But what if Jongin doesn’t want to eat? Kyungsoo does not want to have to deal with leftovers. In the end, he sends Jongin another text message.

I’m cooking dinner. If you want, you can eat at my place later

Jongin’s reply comes in almost immediately.

Cool! Thanks

Kyungsoo measures out the rice into the rice cooker, adds in the water, then fires up the stove. He cooks a simple meal, stir-fry beef and stir-fry vegetables, then waits for Jongin to come.

Jongin turns up a little after 8 pm. He’s brought a six-pack of beer with him. Kyungsoo lets him in, and invites him to sit at the table. The two dishes of beef and vegetables are already on the table. He ladles out the rice from the rice cooker into two bowls, then scoops out some kimchi into a saucer. Then, they eat. Kyungsoo feels slightly uncomfortable, not knowing how to make conversation with Jongin.

“This is really good,” Jongin says as he eats heartily, picking up another piece of beef with his chopsticks. “It reminds me of my mum’s cooking.”

“Well, I learnt it from my own mum.”

Kyungsoo notices that Jongin is hardly touching the vegetables, so he eats it all, not wanting to waste food. After dinner, Kyungsoo takes out the six pack Jongin brought, and they sit in front of the TV. Kyungsoo hasn’t really watched TV in ages, but apparently Jongin has. He’s been following the television drama that’s on right now, and is stoked to be watching today’s episode. He explains the background of the drama to Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo nods politely intermittently, though internally, he’s not really bothered. Throughout the one hour drama, both of them drink steadily, and by the second can of beer, Kyungsoo realises that Jongin is being increasingly handsy, first putting a hand on Kyungsoo’s knee, then casually progressing upwards. After Kyungsoo removed Jongin’s hand from his upper thigh, Jongin proceeds to sling his arm over Kyungsoo’s shoulder, drawing him close.

He’s wearing cologne, Kyungsoo realises. The same brand that Kyungsoo himself uses. The same brand that Yixing endorses.

By the time the show ends, they’ve each finish three cans of beers. After Kyungsoo switches the television off with a press of the remote, he finds himself in the embrace of Jongin, and Jongin is kissing him full on the lips. They peel each other’s clothes off less hurriedly this time. Jongin takes his time, exploring Kyungsoo’s body, kissing and touching him everywhere, until Kyungsoo gets impatient, despite wanting to come across as the stoic and laidback one. He wraps his legs around Jongin’s waist, and whines. Jongin smirks and obliges, gently pushing into Kyungsoo’s well-stretched hole. This is not what Kyungsoo wants. If he wanted gentle vanilla sex, he would have chosen one of the sex slaves in The Roselle who looks at him with moonstruck eyes.

“Harder. Faster.” Kyungsoo gasps out.

Jongin slams into him. Kyungsoo cries out with the force of it, his back arching off the bed, his toes curling into the mattress. Jongin does not allow him time to breathe. He pounds into Kyungsoo mercilessly, and Kyungsoo welcomes it, the base use of his body, the way the pain fills his entire being, his consciousness, making him unable to think of anything else, making him forget for a little while.

The next morning, Jongin buys them breakfast again.

“So, you’re off on Mondays?” Jongin asks him, in between bites of his croissant.

Kyungsoo swallows his sip of black coffee, and nods.

“So… I’ll come over next Monday again?”

Kyungsoo takes a sip of coffee, then another, to buy himself some time. He slowly puts down the coffee cup on the table, and nods.

“Cool.”

They settle into a comfortable routine. Jongin drops by every Monday. Kyungsoo makes dinner, they watch television, drink and smoke for a while, then fuck. Kyungsoo starts to vary what he cooks for dinner on Mondays a little, so Jongin doesn’t have to eat the same thing two weeks in a row‒ ginseng chicken soup, kimchi soup, beef stew, bibimbap. Though he wonders why he bothers. Jongin just shovels down whatever Kyungsoo puts on the table, saying that it’s really good. He still has an aversion to vegetables though. It can’t be good for him. During their dinners, Kyungsoo starts picking up strands of vegetables using his chopsticks, and depositing them into Jongin’s bowl, on top of his rice, leaving Jongin with no choice but to eat them.

Kyungsoo honestly thought that their arrangement would last for a few weeks at the most, but a few months later, Kyungsoo realises that Jongin’s still around. Kyungsoo realises that throughout the entire time that he’s been sleeping with Jongin, he hasn’t slept with anyone else. Kyungsoo wonders when sleeping with just Jongin has become enough. Kyungsoo also realises Jongin hasn’t been rough with him during sex in a while. Jongin’s style, Kyungsoo realises, is sweet and slow, and their first night hadn’t been his typical style, though it was what attracted Kyungsoo to Jongin in the first place. Kyungsoo wonders when he had started accepting Jongin’s usual style.

Jongin has started leaving belongings at Kyungsoo’s place. There are two toothbrushes in his bathroom now, and two shavers. Jongin leaves some clothes at Kyungsoo’s place too, which Kyungsoo washes for him when he does the laundry.

One Tuesday morning, when Jongin leaves to buy breakfast as usual, he doesn’t take the set of keys Kyungsoo leaves on the table. Instead, he takes the set of spare keys from the kitchen drawer. After that, he doesn’t return the set of keys to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo doesn’t ask for it either. Instead, he goes to the locksmith to make a new set of spare keys to put back into the drawer.

After a while, Jongin swaps his off day with his colleague, so that his off day falls on a Mondays as well. This allows them to meet earlier in the day, and Jongin accompanies Kyungsoo when he goes grocery shopping. Sometimes, Kyungsoo accompanies Jongin to the cinema, when there’s a movie Jongin wants to watch.

Six months after this thing, non-thing, he has with Jongin, Kyungsoo returns to his apartment one Saturday morning, after a long, gruelling Friday night. Kyungsoo is weary to the bone, and can’t wait to take a long bath and hit the sack. When he steps into his apartment, he is surprised to see Jongin inside. Jongin usually only comes over on a Monday. A strong smell of alcohol permeates the apartment, and Kyungsoo can see that Jongin is drinking hard liquor. From the almost empty bottle, Jongin must have been drinking through the night.

Kyungsoo wordlessly lets himself in, taking off his blazer and hanging it on a hook, and emptying his pocket of his wallet and keys, leaving them on the table. He trusts that Jongin will tell him what’s bothering him, without him asking.

“Yixing’s married.”

Jongin pushes a newspaper into Kyungsoo’s hands. Kyungsoo tells himself not to look at it. Hadn’t he already read and reread the newspaper article many times, since the evening gossip daily published it for the Friday night headlines? Everyone in the pleasure house had been talking about it, and Kyungsoo had lost count of the number of times someone in The Roselle had shown him this article through the course of the night, gushing about how lucky Yixing is. Still, Kyungsoo can’t help torturing himself. He reads the article for the umpteenth time, poring over the photograph of Yixing’s and Sehun’s marriage certificate that takes up about three quarters of the page. His eyes linger over the two names on the cert. Oh Sehun. Zhang Yixing. Bound in holy matrimony. The words seem to stab right into his heart.

The article also contains the opinions of a couple of retired politicians, who used to serve Sehun’s grandfather when he was President. “We’re so proud of Sehun,” the ex-politician says. “First he set a sex slave free, then he disregards their discrepancy in social status and marries him. His grandfather had tried so hard to abolish sex slavery. He lives up to his grandfather’s name. That is more than can be said of our current president. He practically eats out of the hands of that Roselle slave.” The same group of politicians had also been the ones to diss Sehun publicly just a few years ago, whenever Sehun had been photographed at an event with Yixing on his arm, calling him a disgrace to his grandfather’s legacy.

“You don’t look surprised.”

Jongin’s tone is accusatory.

“You are taking this too calmly. You knew, didn’t you? Even before this article was published.”

Yes, Kyungsoo knew. Everyone who reports directly to Chanyeol in the Black Dragon Brotherhood was told that Chanyeol would be overseas for the past week, with Baekhyun. Kyungsoo hadn’t thought much of it at first. Chanyeol often went on vacations with his husband. He only started paying attention when he heard that the country Chanyeol had gone to was Finland. Kyungsoo then asked around. When he found out that Sehun, Yixing, Kris and Jandi were on holiday to Finland too, Kyungsoo had known. He had known, but had been powerless to do anything, to prevent Yixing from being lost to him forever. But then again, Yixing had never been his to lose in the first place.

Jongin tears the paper away from Kyungsoo’s hands. He slams Kyungsoo against the wall. Winded, Kyungsoo gasps for air, but Jongin has already covered Kyungsoo’s mouth with own. His kiss is hard. Rough. Demanding.

He tears Kyungsoo’s clothes off him, without bothering with buttons, just ripping. Kyungsoo doesn’t have time to bemoan his ruined dress shirt, because Jongin is already pushing him roughly down on the bed. Jongin has pinned him down on the bed, and is attacking his neck. Kyungsoo uses his free hand to fumble for the condoms and the lube on the bedside table. He succeeds, and he presses both into Jongin’s hand. Jongin simply flings them away.

Kyungsoo sits up in alarm. He doesn’t mind no lube, but no condom? Jongin pushes Kyungsoo back down on the bed. Kyungsoo struggles slightly, but he is easily overpowered by the younger, more muscular Jongin. Jongin spreads Kyungsoo’s legs, then, in a single swift movement, his hard cock has breached Kyungsoo’s unprepared hole.

The pain makes Kyungsoo gasp. His back arches of the bed, colliding with Jongin’s body on top of him. Jongin uses his body weight to pin Kyungsoo back down on the bed, and he slides all the way into Kyungsoo. The pain, the stretch, the friction, it’s all too much. Kyungsoo cries out. He instinctively wants to arch up, to move away, but Jongin has him trapped between his own body and the bed, giving him no room to manoeuvre.

Jongin is moving, sliding in and out of him, hard and fast. The pain fills Kyungsoo’s entire being, dulls all his other senses, chases away all the thoughts that occupy his mind. There is nothing that Kyungsoo can do but cling onto Jongin’s back as Jongin pounds into him mercilessly, the pain making his breaths come in shuddering gasps. And Kyungsoo loves this, loves the way it numbs the pain, makes him forget.

Later in the day, Kyungsoo wakes up, naked and alone in bed. Jongin is nowhere to be seen. His ass is painful, sore, and it aches as he walks to the bathroom to get cleaned up. He sends a text message to Jongin.

U ok?

Jongin does not reply.

When Monday comes along, Kyungsoo waits for Jongin to turn up at his apartment, so that they can go grocery shopping together. Jongin doesn’t show up. Kyungsoo sends Jongin another text message.

Coming over today?

There is no reply for this text either.

Kyungsoo leaves his apartment to go to the supermarket on his own. When he cooks dinner, he cooks Jongin’s share too, just in case. He waits until it’s over 9 pm, but Jongin doesn’t show up, so Kyungsoo eats alone. He keeps the leftovers in the fridge, to heat up for tomorrow.

The next Monday, Kyungsoo doesn’t send Jongin another text message, but he keeps glancing at his handphone, and his apartment door, keeps waiting for Jongin to text him, or walk in, but Jongin does neither. Kyungsoo cooks for one this time, figuring that he can cook cup ramen for Jongin if he does show up. He doesn’t.

Kyungsoo supposes that he won’t be seeing Jongin around anymore. Well, it had been nice while it lasted. It already lasted longer than he expected it to anyway. Kyungsoo finds a box, and packs all of Jongin’s things in it. He leaves the box by the door, to make it convenient for Jongin if he ever comes back to pick up his things.

A few days after that, Junmyeon and Jongdae escort separate clients to the same party, and they come back to The Roselle with news for Kyungsoo. Apparently all the guests at the party were gossiping about how Baekhyun had just bought over the gossip daily that published Sehun’s and Yixing’s wedding certification in a hostile takeover. The gossip daily had been one of the few publications in South Korea that hadn’t been part of Baekhyun’s family’s media conglomerate, and now they’ve been swallowed up as well. The first thing that Baekhyun did as new boss of the gossip daily was to sack all of the editors. The official reason given was ‘restructuring’, but everyone knows they were fired in retaliation for invading Sehun’s and Yixing’s privacy. This is in line with what Kyungsoo understands of Baekhyun’s character. No one is going to bully Baekhyun’s little Sehunnie, and get away with it.

The following Monday, Kyungsoo is at the supermarket as usual. The next item on his list is pepper. Kyungsoo scans the shelves. The cheapest pepper brand is right at the top. Kyungsoo puts down his basket, holds on to one of the lower shelves for leverage, and tiptoes to reach for a bottle. Before he can reach it, someone reaches up from behind him, easily taking the pepper bottle in hand. Kyungsoo turns around. Jongin presses the pepper bottle into Kyungsoo’s hand. Kyungsoo takes it wordlessly. Jongin picks up Kyungsoo’s basket, and holds it out for Kyungsoo to drop the pepper in. They walk around the supermarket, steadily picking up the items on Kyungsoo’s list, as if this were one of their usual shopping trips, as if the past couple of weeks didn’t happen.

After they’ve returned to Kyungsoo’s apartment and unpacked all the groceries, Jongin wants to change into something more comfortable. He rummages through the wardrobe, but his clothes aren’t there. Sheepishly, Kyungsoo picks up the box from where it has been sitting for the past week next to the front door. He opens the box, and Jongin sees that all his things are packed neatly inside it. Jongin raises an eyebrow at this. Kyungsoo flushes, flustered, knowing how this must look. To Kyungsoo’s relief, Jongin doesn’t question Kyungsoo on this, but merely starts unpacking the box, putting his clothes back into the wardrobe. Kyungsoo helps, putting Jongin’s toothbrush, shaver and toiletries back into the bathroom.

Later that night, when they are having sex, Jongin is slow and gentle. He puts on the condom without Kyungsoo having to cue him. He worships Kyungsoo’s cock with his mouth, and prepares Kyungsoo thoroughly. He pushes in slowly, giving Kyungsoo time to adjust before moving. He moves slowly, unhurriedly, and pauses often to kiss Kyungsoo. It is almost loving.

After they’ve both completed, Kyungsoo is lying in bed on his side, facing Jongin, feeling satiated and content. Jongin is lying on his side too, facing Kyungsoo. He reaches out to cup Kyungsoo’s cheek, stroking Kyungsoo’s cheek gently with this thumb.

“I’m sorry I was so rough with you last time.”

“It’s alright. I liked it,” Kyungsoo said honestly.

“I will never be rough with you again,” Jongin promises.

Kyungsoo blinks at Jongin. Does this mean they are never going to have rough sex again? But Kyungsoo had liked the rough sex. But Jongin is staring at Kyungsoo so intensely, in such a way that brooks no argument, so Kyungsoo lets his protest die in his throat, and closes his eyes to accept the kiss as Jongin leans over.

About two months after this, Kyungsoo and Jongin are standing in line at the Starbucks near Kyungsoo’s home. It’s a Monday morning, and Kyungsoo had just survived a stretch of three big nights at The Roselle, when they had back-to-back events from Friday to Sunday. Kyungsoo wants to buy himself a cup of hot chocolate, then flop down in bed and sleep in for the entire day. Jongin has recently started coming over to sleep on Sunday night, letting himself in while Kyungsoo is out at work, so that he is waiting for Kyungsoo at home when Kyungsoo reaches his apartment on Monday morning. When Kyungsoo had texted him, saying that he had a hot chocolate craving, Jongin had come down to meet Kyungsoo at Starbucks to accompany him as he buys his drink. Kyungsoo is nearly asleep on his feet, and is grateful for Jongin’s hand on his back, pushing him forward gently, reminding him to step forward whenever it’s his turn to shuffle in front as the queue moves.

“Jongin!”

A chirpy voice calls out from behind. They both turn around. A pretty young girl has just joined the queue behind Jongin.

“Yeri!” Jongin greets back. He tells Kyungsoo, “She’s my colleague.”

Kyungsoo expects Jongin to remove his hand from his lower back, now that Jongin has run into someone he knows, but Jongin’s hand remains where it is.

“This is Kyungsoo,” Jongin says, introducing Kyungsoo to Yeri.

“Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo! You must be Jongin’s boyfriend!”

Before Kyungsoo can say anything, Jongin has already answered.

“Yes.”

Kyungsoo is stunned, but he has no time to process his feelings, because Yeri’s hand is already extended in front of him. Kyungsoo dumbly takes it and shakes it.

Jongin and Yeri chat as the queue progresses. Yeri says she’s in the neighbourhood because she’s accompanying her mum to visit her auntie, who stays in the area. Jongin tells Yeri that Kyungsoo stays just round the corner, so he frequents this Starbucks often.

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to order. The staff at the counter asks him for his order. Kyungsoo just stares at him blankly. Jongin steps up, and orders two hot chocolates, to go, for both of them.

While waiting for their drinks, Jongin and Yeri continue chatting, talking about their long schedules for the week ahead. Kyungsoo is grateful when their drinks are ready. They collect their cups of hot chocolate, bow to Yeri’s mother and auntie who are seated at a nearby table, then say goodbye to Yeri, who waves cheerily at them. They step out on the street, walking down the sidewalk towards Kyungsoo’s apartment, holding their cups of hot chocolate.

“So,” Kyungsoo says slowly. “We’re… boyfriends?”

“Yes, we are,” Jongin replies. “Aren’t we?”

Kyungsoo can tell that Jongin is trying to sound nonchalant, but he can’t keep the tremble out of his voice. Instead of looking at Kyungsoo, he is looking down at the sidewalk as they walk. Jongin is usually cocky and carefree, sure of himself. But now, he looks apprehensive, almost vulnerable.

“Yes,” Kyungsoo states. “We are.”

A smile breaks out across Jongin’s face. He’s back to being confident and cocky. He reaches over, and takes Kyungsoo’s hand in his own. They walk the remainder of the short distance to Kyungsoo’s apartment hand in hand.

Later that night, when they have sex, Jongin does not want to use condoms anymore, and Kyungsoo lets him.

A few months later, they are sitting in Kyungsoo’s kitchen, eating cup ramen for dinner, because Kyungsoo’s too lazy to cook.

“Do find it weird?” Kyungsoo asks Jongin, in between lifting strands of ramen from the steaming cup with his chopsticks. “That we’re boyfriends, but you’re a police officer, and I’m from the Black Dragon Brotherhood?”

“Why? Someone from the Brotherhood asked you about us?”

“No. Just asking.”

It’s true no one in the Black Dragon Brotherhood has mentioned anything about Jongin to him, and Kyungsoo himself has told no one, save for Junmyeon and Jongdae. But Kyungsoo has no doubts that Chanyeol already knows about his relationship with Jongin. Kyungsoo is now undoubtedly one of Chanyeol’s favourites in the gang, and Chanyeol runs frequent background checks on all the subordinates he entrusts important tasks to, to make sure no one close to him ever betrays him.

“Well, no one in the police station asked me about you being in the Black Dragon Brotherhood either. I mean, they all know that I’m attached, and once in a while, someone will ask me more about you, what your job is, just to make conversation, and I just change the topic if that happens. But I guess, one day, sooner or later, someone from either one of our sides is going to find out about us.”

Kyungsoo wonders how they can handle the situation if that happens. He lifts his chopsticks, and shovels some noodles into his mouth.

“If that happens, I suppose I’ll just resign.”

Kyungsoo quickly slurps the noodles up, and swallows. He looks up from the steaming cup at Jongin.

“Well, you’re so invested in The Roselle, and you’ve obviously spent many years building up your career, so it’s going to hurt you badly if you don’t have your job at The Roselle anymore. And anyway, even if you wanted to leave, the Black Dragon Brotherhood is not going to let you walk away so easily. So if you’re not going to leave your job, then I’ll just have to leave mine.”

Kyungsoo stares at Jongin.

“But, don’t you like being a policeman?”

Jongin shrugs.

“I do,” he says easily. “But you’re more important. It’s just a job. I can get another one.”

Kyungsoo quickly bows his head over his steaming cup of ramen, taking another mouthful. Jongin puts down his own cup. He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, lowering his head so that he peers up at Kyungsoo, so that he can see Kyungsoo’s eyes despite the fact that Kyungsoo’s head is bent over his cup of ramen.

“Are you tearing, hyung?”

“No,” replies Kyungsoo tersely.

“So that’s just the steam getting into your eyes?”

“Yes.”

Jongin laughs, a throaty chuckle that reverberates through Kyungsoo’s small apartment, and Kyungsoo wants to kill him. Jongin takes the cup of ramen away from Kyungsoo, and he leans over and kisses Kyungsoo.

A month later, Jongin’s promise is put to the test. Chanyeol treats Kyungsoo to an expensive dinner at a French restaurant, to thank him for his hard work at The Roselle. Baekhyun is there as well. Halfway through the dinner, Chanyeol brings up Jongin.

“So, we hear you’re dating a policeman, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says casually.

Kyungsoo freezes. He respectfully puts down his cutlery, bows while seated, and admits that yes, he is.

“I’ve known about your relationship with Kim Jongin for a while, but have never said anything.”

Unlike Kyungsoo, Chanyeol is eating steadily, slicing his steak into a bite-size piece before he elegantly lifts the piece into his mouth.

“He works in a small police station, that oversees a rich residential neighbourhood. The Black Dragon Brotherhood does not have much activities in that area, so there hasn’t been any conflict between his job and us thus far.”

Chanyeol pauses to take a sip of red wine.

“But apparently his good job performance has caught him some attention. The head of his police station has recommended him for promotion to the police headquarters. Police HQ is considering putting him in the Major Crime division.”

All this is news to Kyungsoo. Jongin has never mentioned this to Kyungsoo before. Kyungsoo realises that it must be because Jongin himself doesn’t know. Chanyeol has found out about Jongin’s impending promotion even before Jongin himself had.

“Now, you can imagine that if he’s in the Major Crime division, there’s bound to be conflict between him and the Black Dragon Brotherhood sooner or later. It’s important to me, that the Black Dragon Brotherhood is united. And it’s going to be hard to not have fractured relations between you and the rest of the Brotherhood, if your boyfriend is going to be hauling our brothers to the police station every now and then.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Good.”

Chanyeol’s tone is firm, and brooks no arguments.

Baekhyun leans forward, and pours some more wine into Kyungsoo’s almost empty wine glass.

“We don’t object to you seeing Kim Jongin.” Baekhyun’s tone is warmer, more friendly. “We like Kim Jongin. We’ve met him before. It’s just his job that we have issues with. But I’m sure between my family’s companies, and Kris’s, and Sehun’s, Jongin is bound to find a job that he likes? Just let me know what position he’s interested in. I’ll make him a job offer.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll speak with him.”

After the dinner, Kyungsoo calls Jongin. The next day, Jongin submits his resignation letter, and serves the required one month notice. The day after Jongin’s last day as a police officer, Chanyeol promotes Kyungsoo to boss of The Roselle.

Jongin doesn’t take up Baekhyun’s offer to find him a job though. He finds a job as a security guard at a museum. It’s a five day work week, with a weekday and a weekend off. Jongin requests Monday as his off day, and his new boss obliges, so Jongin gets Mondays and Sundays off every week. His contract also states that he has to work two night shifts every week, but Jongin willingly offers to do night shifts every day, a move that buys him favour with all his new colleagues, because it lessens the number of night shifts that they have to do.

Jongin moves in to stay with Kyungsoo after that. It just makes sense, because their schedules now match perfectly. They go to work at the same time, reach home at about the same time, and sleep at the same time every day.

It’s a Monday, grocery shopping day again. He and Jongin are queuing up at the cashier, when Kyungsoo remembers that he had forgotten to buy mouthwash. He forgot to pick it up, because he had forgotten to write it in his list. He leaves Jongin to continue queueing up, while he goes to take it. He chooses two bottles, of different flavours. He makes Jongin floss and use mouthwash after he brushes his teeth now, something Jongin never used to do. It would be more cost efficient if he could just buy one big bottle, but Jongin absolutely refuses to use the mouthwash brand that Kyungsoo uses, because he says it burns his throat. So Kyungsoo has to buy a separate bottle of obnoxiously brightly coloured brand of mouthwash that tastes sickeningly sweet for him.

On his way back to the line, he passes by the magazine rack, and he sees that Yixing has graced a magazine cover again. He stops to pick up the magazine. He hasn’t seen Yixing in a while. The last time was three months ago, at a party. Kyungsoo is sure that Oh Sehun’s mailbox is flooded with party invitations every month, but he hardly attends any of them, so that means Yixing hardly attends them too. Kyungsoo cannot help admiring Yixing. He looks good. Smouldering and sexy.

Kyungsoo is about to walk back to Jongin, with the two bottles of mouthwash and magazine in hand, when he sees that Jongin is also holding on to that same magazine. There’s a magazine rack near where he’s queueing too. He is flipping through the insides of the magazine already, absent-mindedly pushing the basket on the floor with his foot when it’s his turn to move forward. Smiling, Kyungsoo replaces the magazine on the rack, and goes to join Jongin. In the past one year they have been together, they have always religiously bought any magazine that features Yixing.

Jongin is alerted to his presence when he drops the two bottles of mouthwash into the basket. He looks up from the magazine, then angles it, so that Kyungsoo can see.

“Look, hyung. Yixing’s on the cover again!” he says happily.

Kyungsoo leans in, and they both admire Yixing’s photospread. The shoot is done in Shanghai. There are photos of Yixing amongst old traditional Chinese buildings, in an old traditional Chinese teahouse, and the quaint background contrast starkly with Yixing’s sleek and modern clothes, in a good way. Yixing looks ridiculously hot.

“He looks so good!” Jongin says happily.

Kyungsoo looks up at Jongin. There’s no trace of pain, or bitterness, or regret, as Jongin flips through the magazine. This is unlike how Jongin looked at magazines with Yixing in the past. Kyungsoo likes this look on Jongin. A look without pain, only happiness.

He can’t help himself. He leans up, and plants a kiss on Jongin’s cheek.

Jongin looks up from the magazine. His eyes light up, and his lips quirk up in an amused smile. It is unlike Kyungsoo to do public displays of affection. It’s their turn at the check-out counter, and Jongin lifts their basket and puts it on the counter. As the cashier scans their purchases, Jongin rests a hand on Kyungsoo’s waist.

It’s a simple life they lead, Kyungsoo realises. There will no fireworks, no extravagant gifts, no big romantic gestures for them. But it is a stable life, filled with small simple joys made up of spending time together, running errands together, making a living for themselves together.

It’s a simple life, but to Kyungsoo, there is nothing more precious in the world.

THE END