This place is so crowded! Yeming internally sighs in frustration. They've been walking around for a while now, and thanks to their height and well-built body, they're able to steady themselves in this packed area. Though true to Hyeon Seok, majority of the people are carrying beautifully-designed lanterns and seem to be heading towards one direction.

"The river must be over there", Yeong Chul points out, "let's go!", he adds excitedly. Upon reaching the river, the crowd seems to increase tenfold. People are carrying their lanterns towards the river, while some are already getting ready to light up theirs. So this is where the commoners go to celebrate, Yeming learns. Must be nice to be able to celebrate with your family, as he compares to his family.

A soft voice on his left breaks his chains of thoughts, seemingly in panic in contrast to the festive environment. Curiously he turns his head to take a look, and much to his pleasant surprise, it's his angel!. He looks like a kitten who has just lost his mother, looking like he's about to cry. Seeing that, Yeming's body moves towards the boy immediately, as if some force is pulling him, protective instinct flaring like a wildfire. When he reaches the beautiful boy, he is just in time as the boy gets pushed backwards by the fast moving crowd. He reacts by grabbing and pulling the boy towards his chest, protectively, away from any incoming danger. The boy slowly turns and looks up, teary eyes enlarging as he recognises him. Yeming's heart skips a beat as he is finally able to look at this angel's face. From his large, round eyes, to sharp nose and round lips - God, he's perfect.

As Yeming face slowly getting closer, Yao Wang's flushes red in embarrassment and he tries to push Yeming away. Much to his relief, he succeeded, though it is short-lived as another stranger pushes Yao Wang back into Yeming embrace [you did well stranger hohohoho]. Instinctively, Yeming wraps his arms around the smaller man. Contrasting to Yeming's figure, the man in his embrace is slender, shorter and soft, like a woman. Leaning his head down again for the second time, he whispers in the angel's ear, "don't worry, I got you". Yeming's senses are drowning in the man's lily scent.

Yao Wang, feeling scared after getting lost and still unable to comprehend on what just happened, gives up and just closes his eyes while catching his breaths in his hugger's embrace. His heart beats so fast, yet he feels so secure in this man's arms as he basks in this man's musky manly scent. It feels as if he belongs there, in this man's arms. A few minutes have passed and he finally manages to calm himself down, Yao Wang makes a move to slowly push the tall man by placing both of his palms on the man's muscular chests, creating a space between them so he can look at him again. The man looses his embrace yet keeps his hands on Yao Wang's waists, keeping him close as if scared of losing Yao Wang.

"I'm sorry...", Yao Wang tries again but finding his words stuck in his mouth as his eyes drink in the sight of the man's features. He's so different than Yao Wang - his skin looks like caramel in night lights, his lips are thin, and his eyes are sharp bearing promises, yet they look soft at the same time. He's handsome, Yao Wang shyly thoughts. Finding his mouth dry, Yao Wang swallows two, three times before opening his mouth to talk again. But before his mouth can form any words, Yeming cuts him off with a, "come on, let's get out of here", takes Yao Wang hand before he can even protest and take him away from the crowd to a quieter area.

*******************************************************

Yeming leads him into a secluded corner besides a grocery store before stopping completely. With one hand still holding his lantern while the other is being held by the tall man, Yao Wang is at lost on what to do next. Why are we here? The other man turns suddenly with his eyes fixed on Yao Wang's face, startling him.

"What's your name?" I'm Yeming" as he holds his hand out for a handshake.

Unsure of what to do, Yao Wang replies with a reluctant, "Yao Wang", and bows instead of taking the noble man's hand, keeping his gaze onto the ground. .

Not even feeling offended, Yeming finds himself happy knowing this angel's name. Even his name is beautiful - it's suitable for him. "Which family are you from? I've never seen you around", Yeming tries to probe again.

Scared of upsetting a higher ranking nobleman, Yao Wang decided to just come out with the truth, "I'm really sorry, Young Master... I'm not from any noble families. I'm just a normal villager. My friend, Myeong..., thought we could have fun at Hahoe Paradise if I dress up like this tonight...". Yao Wang believes he will get severe punishment for lying his identity to get around. He looks down on the ground, feeling his face burns with embarrassment of getting caught.

There is a moment of silence, before the man called Yeming replies with a smile, "it's okay, everyone deserves a good night out tonight. It's Lotus Lantern festival anyways".

Yao Wang's eyes snap back up, searching for mockery in Yeming's gaze, however he finds nothing but a genuine warmth directed towards him. A beautiful blush and a soft smile appear on Yao Wang face and the image is burned permanently in Yeming's mind.

This man is so nice... I don't understand why Myeong hates him, Yao Wang realises.

"That is a beautiful lantern... it suits you. Did you choose the pattern yourself?", Yeming asks, trying to make Yao Wang speak more just to hear his voice again.

"I... I actually drew it myself, Young Master... ", Yao Wang slowly lifts his lantern up so Yeming can get a closer look.

Beautiful and talented! Is he even real?. "That's amazing! It's really beautiful!".

Yao Wang, not expecting such a high praise coming from a man like Yeming, feels like he can die from embarrassment. Dropping his gaze back onto the ground, with a shy smile he manages to mutter out a small, "thank you, Young Master...".

Without even Yao Wang noticing, Yeming moves towards him in two short steps and hooks a finger under the smaller man's chin, tipping his upwards meeting their gazes. Yao Wang let out a small gasp. "Just call me Yeming... Yao Wang-sshi", the dark-skinned man whispers.

Yao Wang's heartbeat quickens as he can feel Yeming's breaths on his face. So close!

Then it's over. Yeming takes two steps back, smirking at Yao Wang's reaction. "How do you feel about lighting up your lantern from here? It won't be a waste of your effort and we'll get to celebrate together", Yeming suggests.

All Yao Wang can do is nod his reply towards Yeming, not trusting his voice at this moment. But before both of them can do anything, their moment is broken by a sharp voice calling Yao Wang's name.

"YAO WANG!"

Both Yeming and Yao Wang turns to look at Myeong, who is running towards them at such a high speed. "Yao Wang!", Myeong grabs Yao Wang's shoulders upon reaching him and searches his face frantically, "Why are you here? Did he do anything to you?!".

Yeming frowns at Myeong's hands touching the beautiful man, feeling somewhat jealous of their interactions happening in front of him. "If you must know, I saved him after you left him", Yeming supplies.

Not believing his ears, Myeong stutters out, "You... You? You...wha-?".

"It's true, Myeong! I was lost and this young Master helped me to get out of the crowd", Yao Wang defends the taller man instinctively. Yeming feels a burst of happiness in his chest upon hearing this and smiles fondly at Yao Wang.

"Well then, thank you for saving him. I'll take it from here. Let's get you home, Yao Wang". Myeong takes Yao Wang's hand and drags him away from Yeming. Unable to refuse his best friend, Yao Wang looks back at Yeming and mouths 'I'm sorry...' before disappearing around the corner.

After a short while, Yeming calls out, "Gon. Follow Yao Wang and find out anything you can about him. Report to me first thing tomorrow morning". The bodyguard who has been standing nearby affirms his mission and leaves silently.

*******************************************************

"Myeong, I swear I'm alright! Stop fussing like a mother hen!". Ever since Myeong had dragged Yao Wang away from the young master, so embarrassing!, he's been continuously checking up on Yao wang's and bombards him with thousands of questions.

"I have to make sure you're okay! Your dad is going to kill me if something happens to you. Plus I told you that guy is bad news!", Myeong fusses.

"I'm okay, really, I swear. I just want to go home now. I'm tired", pleads Yao Wang, hoping for Myeong to just stop and sends him home. Myeong reluctantly agrees to send him off and calls it night.

***********************************************************

"Gon, you there?". The doors to his room opens silently, revealing a man dressed in an all-black robe. "Yes, young master". Gon enters upon seeing Yeming's hand gesture and then tells his servant, who is currently helping him to dress up, to leave the room.

"Report".

"The man young master seek lives somewhere in the area Jongno street, it is a medium-sized household owned by a man famous for his skills in pottery and lanterns. His name is Lee Hwan Gyeong. He lives with his one and only son, named Lee Yao Wang. He is the man young master ask about", Gon reports.

"Good. Lead me to his place," Yeming order. His needs to see the beautiful face has been growing ever since he last met him last night, needing it like he needs oxygen to breathe. Why am I feeling this way? Who is he to stir my feelings like this?

The lotus lantern festival an ongoing event for three days straight, and that explains the long queue of customers outside of Yao Wang's house. When Yeming arrives, he wonders what is it with the line. Gon explains the popularity of Yao Wang and his father's work on drawing paper lantern designs is incomparable. Yeming smiles remembering his fondest memory from last night and recalls the lantern he saw on Yao Wang's hand. Well, it was beautiful.

Cutting the line without a slightest care, Yeming enters the working area, trying to watch Yao Wang at his work. However when he spots him, the smile on Yeming face disappear and replaced with a frown, not liking his view at the moment. What he is seeing is a man in his 40s is looking at Yao Wang with such lust plastered clearly on his face, making his intentions clear to everyone. It is a wonder why Yao Wang does not just take off and runs away far from him. Yao Wang shortly finishes his drawing on the costumer's lantern, and asks the older man if he likes the drawing. The erted man forms a big, dirty smile and says he is happy with the drawing. When he hands the payment money to Yao Wang, he's takes a chance to grab the smaller man's hand and rubs it indecently. Yao Wang is seen to be flustering uncomfortably.

Upon seeing this, Yeming face grew darker and darker by the second. Even Gon can sense the wrath of his young master standing in front of him. Yeming is seething with anger, Get Your Filthy Hands Off Of Him!. He is about to approach the old man and give him a severe punishment for touching what is his, though, before he manages to make a further step, someone already cuts him.

"Excuse me sir", grabbing the old man hand to release Yao Wang, Hwan Gyeong stares deeply into the old man and say with a menacing smile,"Thank you for coming to our humble house and seek our expertise....", leans down towards him and whispers to the old man's ear, "but I will like it even more if you keep your hands to yourself. Because if you don't, I will personally will chop these hands off myself". Hwan Gyeong returns to his posture and continues to smile fakely. Embarrassed from getting caught red handed, the old man huffs his breath and leaves the place red-faced. .

Yeming gives deathly glare when the old man walks past him. Yeming turns and look back at two man who's having a conversation, scolding Yao Wang lightly for not being able to refuse unwanted advances. Yeming then asks,"Gon, the man over there, who is that?".

"That would be Yao Wang's father, Lee Hwan Gyeong, Young Master" Gon replies. Yeming looks again at the line and notices there are more men than women standing in the line - some are old man but mostly young nobleman. Displeased at the view he's seeing, soon thought of an idea. Yeming calls one of the worker in Yao Wang's household. Puzzled, the worker obediently approach Yeming and ask if there is any thing he can help with.

"As a matter a fact, there is" Yeming smiles delightfully thinking about his brilliant plan.

****************************************************

"Where were you? For a moment, I thought you weren't coming" Yeong Chul asks, as Yeming walks through the doors at their favorite hangout. Hyeon Seok has a big cherry blossom tree near a lake right outside his 누ㅁㅏ루 (Numaru; balcony)*. Thus, his place has becomes one of their favorites to enjoy the scenery.

Taking his seat, Yeming vaguely replies, "there was a serious matter I had to attend to".

[Memory flash back: at the wine store, Gon beat the old man who was ually harassing Yao Wang. Gon pushed the man face to the ground and pull his head back up again so he could look at the man who stood before him. Yeming examined one of the liquor bottles and took a sniff, he sure does has a good taste in liquor, how unfortunate... Yeming looked at the beaten man he in disgust.

"Please...why are you doing this? Why? What have I done to you? Please tell me..." The old man whimpered painfully. "You haven't done anything wrong to me, however.. .you have touched something that is mine alone. Consider this as a warning". Yeming face moved closer to the man, "if I ever find or even hear you anywhere near Yao Wang again, there will be a severe consequences that you can't possibly imagine". The battered man mumbled his apologies barely incoherent, but that is enough for now. Yeming and Gon left him and started to walk outside as if he owns the place.

"Yeming~, earth to Yeming~", Hyeon Seok waving his hand in front Yeming face, trying to catch his attention. Annoyed, Yeming grabs Hyeon Seok's hand. "What are you doing?" Yeming frowns. "That should be my line!" Hyeon Seok counters back and taking his hand back. "Are you even listening to what I just said?". Yeming just stares blankly. Puffing in frustration, "You asked me to look into that 'angel' from last night, didn't you?". Looking back at Yeming, he continues, "do you remember now?".

Feigning disinterest, Yeming takes a sip of a tea to hide his excitement and said, "I remember. Go on, I'm listening". The others are now looking at each other questioningly because they never seen Yeming acting this way before, he is acting more like a human being in contrast to his usual robotic behaviour.

"So, what I was saying, that guy isn't actually a higher rank like us!". Yeming internally puffs, I knew that before you did. " I think it was that Myeong guy who dressed him up to pretend to be like us so he could sneak into Hahoe Paradise and blend in". Yeming recalls on what Yao Wang was wearing last night and it was such a beautiful hanbok and the colour suits him, as he takes another sip of a tea "Apparently, he is from a middle class background, his father is the infamous potter master. He lives somewhere in Jongno street". Growing impatient, Yeming hopes he tells something new soon. "...Passing six households and turn right in the corner. Before his father became famous due to his skills, it was just two of them, I think his mother passed away when he was young. At this, Yeming pities his angel and understands how he feels as he too, has lost his mother at a very young age and left with his father. "...And every early morning he would go visit his mother's grave and takes care of lily flowers growing in that area. That's why I could smell lily scent near that guy last night". Hyeon Seok smiles and recalls about the scent on Yao Wang's body.

Yeming frowns at Hyeon Seok expression, disliking his reaction. Luckily, Seo Joon notices Yeming facial expression grow darker and quickly hits Hyeon Seok head with his book. "Ow! What's that for?!", Hyeon Seok rubs his now bruised head and shoots a glare at Seo Joon. "I did that for your well-being sake", Seo Joon pats behind Hyeon Seok's back. On the other hand, Ye Joon releases a long sigh and says dreamily, "it's a bit pity that the angel is a man or I would have proposed to him already to become my wife. I even had dream about him last night and he was wearing beautiful white and soft pink female hanbok", Ye Joon drools. Seo Joon facepalm himself, great, another idiot.

Yeong Chul silently admits the word angel is suitable to describe the fair boy last night. For a moment, he too felt his heart beat quickly, when he looked at the boy last night. Frustrated at his friends' confessions, Yeming stands suddenly and startles everyone.

"Where are you going now?", Yeong Chul asks. Gravely he replies, "I have seemed to lose my appetite to eat. I'm going home now..", and upon seeing Hyeon Seok making a move to stand up, "it's okay, I can walk myself out". Feeling sour, Yeming leaves from Hyeon Seok resident in a bad mood. Everyone is looking at each other not knowing what just happened for Yeming mood turning bad, except Seo Joon, who lets out a long sigh.

*****************************************************

Seeing his friends has made Yeming feels like he lost all his energy in one go. Upon entering his room, his eyes automatically searches for Yao Wang's lantern which he had placed safely next to his bed. Yao Wang had left his lantern behind when stupid Myeong dragged Yao Wang home, and Yeming could not bear at the thought of leaving his angel's lantern on the ground like some worthless piece. It is a treasure indeed.

He takes the lantern and take a seat. Then places it on his study table. He stares at the drawing - it is lily flower with a small lady bird on it. The drawings are so clear and neat, that only professional artists would be able to create such art. Turning the lantern around, Yeming spots some wordings on the other side which he had missed last night. 'I wish I can see my mother's face in my dream'. Yeming frowns and pities Yao Wang with what he just read. Unlike Yao Wang, he is fortunate enough to have a drawing of his mother before she passed away so he can always remember her face. Such hardships must have you gone through, my dear. Yeming takes a quill and dips it into a black ink, and writes neatly next to lily flowers on the lantern, '내 나 리 꽃' (My Lily Flower).

Authors' note:

*[refer to this site: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/AC/AC_EN_4_5_2_4.jsp]