“No more words.  In the name of this place we drink in with our breathing, stay quiet like a flower.
So the nightbirds will start singing.” 

                                                                     -Rumi

Ji Chang Wook had been contemplating in the shadows when the doors at the end of the terrace slowly opened and a girl quietly slipped outside. She sat down on a bench, seemingly alone. He was not in the mood for company himself, so he remained silent, watching quietly from his dark corner.

The light of a dim lantern partially illuminated her. Judging by her clothes, she was one of the waitstaff that had been going around bringing food and drink to the crowd. He hadn't really paid them much attention. After all, the maids were trained to be discreet and melt into the background.

Compared to the jaded bunch in there, the servers were people who actually worked. Made themselves useful. Even he wasn't enough of a bastard to make their lives harder. So he decides to just stay hidden and let the girl have her rest.

He watches with wry amusement as she kicks off her shoes and bends over to rub her feet. After a moment she moans softly. The sound, magnified in the silence of the night, makes his hair tingle. She makes those soft sounds again and his breath quickens restlessly. For the first time in a long while he feels a spark of interest.

As his eyes gaze affixed on her form, she slowly arches her back and stretches languidly. A wall of sensual lust hits him. Before he realizes it, he has stepped forward, but the sound makes her startle and she gets up and takes off, a little blur in the dim shadows.

"Wait!"

He hurries after, not certain why, but knowing he could not let her slip away. He's almost there when he trips over something and just barely manages to save himself from falling. He kneels down to pick up the object and realizes it's her shoe. She must have realized too, for she had turned back around and was now silently eyeing him.

He smiles. Lady Luck might be with him after all.

"What have we here?" He muses,  "A Cinderella on this enchanted night?"

His little quip is met with silence, though her eyes remain on him.

"Come pretty maiden," he smiles wryly, "Slip on this shoe and you might find a Prince and a Kingdom attached to it."

She still remains unspeaking; but, if he's not mistaken he could see a gleam of annoyance in her eyes at his teasing. A maiden with a temper. He smiles even more. Slowly he stands up, picking up the other shoe, and moves closer. She takes a step away, so he takes another step closer... and then another... and another until they are almost backed up against the wall.

He hears her breath catch at their closeness. The sound draws his eyes to her soft lips and for a second he feels like succumbing to the madness and claiming a taste. But the last bit of decency inside him holds him back. Even one so depraved as himself should not take advantage of a helpless woman.

Holding on to that thought, he kneels down then gently slips one shoe on to her foot and then the other. He stands back up again, but that scent of hers, sweet and warm, smelling of fresh flowers and something else intoxicates him. He quickly steps back before he does something he would regret. More