A/N: Thank you for keeping up with this story. If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to comments. Thank you~ Enjoy reading.

Tying the ribbon of his hat into a neat bow, Hyesung glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He touched his hair to fix it again out of habit—he couldn’t help it even though it was already perfect, not a strand was out of place. He dabbed the most expensive floral oil among his small collection onto his nape, neckline and behind his ears. The sweet floral scent entered his nose as he tilted his head from side to side, trying to fix the final position of the hat.

He was ready.

Usually Hyesung just left his hair down when he served his clients, which was how most of them liked to see him. This time however, he tied it loosely with a dark purple silk ribbon—since he was going to a formal banquet where a lot of high-ranked officials were going to attend, he thought that he needed to show some manners by doing his hair at the very least. His slender body was covered in an elegant light purple silk outer robe with pearl white inner clothes, the fabric so fine he only dared to wear them for special occasions—and today was one of those days.

“Hyesung-ah, are you ready to go?”

Hyesung instantly stood up when he heard Madam Jung’s voice coming from the other side of the paper door. He took a quick glance at the mirror, just to be sure, inspecting his clothes to make sure no unsightly crease or dirt was on them. He flashed a practiced smile on the mirror for one last time before exiting his room, reminding himself that he needed to do his job properly. It would be another same old long night for him, but he reassured himself that he would go through it as smoothly as he had always done before.

As soon as he exited the gibang, although there was no difference with their usual protocol aside from dressing flashier than usual, the haengsu could feel that all eyes were focused at the small group of courtesans—mostly from males with desire obviously shown in their faces. Some females stole a glance full of contempt before averting their eyes in disgust, some displayed not so hidden jealousy on their looks and outfits. He was too used to people’s staring to be bothered, so he kept on walking silently. His eyes were fixated on the ground, unlike the other kisaengs who were looking around, throwing flirty smiles around while enjoying all the attention towards them.

“Don’t you think it’d be nice if we can meet some good-looking young masters in the banquet?”

Barely five minutes after they had stepped out of the gibang, the girls broke into noisy chattering. Their gossiping, naturally, entered his sharp ears. “I don’t think there are any young masters in that house. We’ve never met any sons from that family, have we?” said the shortest one in the group.

“Maybe they just don’t come to our gibang? But I also haven’t heard anything about young masters from that house,” another kisaeng who was wearing an excessively bright colored robes on her, too much in Hyesung’s eyes, replied.

“Well... Then, he has really missed the good ones. How could any young master in this town NOT come to our place?” one of the oldest in the group stated with a loud voice and a sneer on her face.

Cheerful giggles in agreement followed and it didn’t stop—not until Madam Jung turned her head and gave the girls a sharp glare for being too noisy on public, then all of them went silent as they continued their journey. Kisaengs were allowed to be noisy in the gibang at night, because it was their own place—they were, putting aside his gender, ‘ladies of the night’ after all. However, when they stepped outside their happy confine, they needed to act with decorum and dignity. At the back of his mind, Hyesung snickered on this ironic reality—what is dignity when you practically throw it away every night with some random strangers?
 

Looking up from his stubborn gaze at the ground to the dusk in the horizon, Hyesung recalled the girls’ conversation. He had to admit, he himself also hadn’t heard anything about the sons from the Minister of Taxation’s household. He rarely had a chance to interact with young masters, although many had shown their interest on him. His status in gibang, however, was too high for them to reach.

Most of his clients were of high-ranked officials or top merchants in the town, older people who had amassed enough wealth and influence. However Hyesung still knew the faces of young masters from most of the yangban families, especially those who were frequent clients to their gibang. Along with all the gossip spreading among the girls, he would never miss any recent news. In fact, he even knew some things which weren’t meant to be heard by anyone—dirty secrets and furtive plans.

Aside from its use as a source of entertainment, it was no secret to the courtesans that their home would sometimes be the place for much more covert, darker side of society—a place to exchange valuable informations amongst their high-powered clients. Some of their clients were people who could not usually be seen in daytime, very rarely appearing in public. Therefore, it was not an exaggeration if one said that Hyesung might as well had ‘seen’ it all when it came to the higher officials—of course, he was also wise enough to keep his mouth shut.

After quite some time travelling on their feet, the group finally arrived at the front gate of the Minister’s house. The sun had sunk, leaving no traces of its light, as the night silently crept in along with the chilly winter wind. Waiting quietly for not too long, the huge front gate finally opened and a man appeared—a chamberlain who greeted them pleasantly. He let the group entered the compound, “Please, come on in. The banquet is about to start.”

All of them were led to the inner part of the compound where grand banquet was being held. It was no surprise for Hyesung to see such a huge compound, it was a minister’s house after all—many smaller bungalows were placed strategically leading up to the main house. All of the leaves had already fallen along with the last autumn wind, leaving its trunks standing along the piled-up snow that winter had brought. Everything looked cold and lonely—winter had always brought him such melancholic feelings. The scenery would be amazing in the spring though, he thought as he looked around slowly, trying to improve his bleak mood. All and all, he concluded, the minister’s place wasn’t all that different to their gibang. The only difference was its size—the Minister’s compound was much larger than the gibang of course.

Hyesung’s mind was still wandering, admiring some the minister’s house’s architecture and landscape planning, when he heard small chatters and excited whispers from the girls behind him. Finally directing his eyes up straight to the front, the courtesan was slightly curious about what had made the girls muttered in delight. And at that moment, he was met with a very unexpected scene.

To be exact, it was an unexpected man.

A man Hyesung never even imagined he would meet again—not in this place, not even in his dreams.

Young master Mun…

The name almost slipped out of Hyesung’s lips, although thankfully, his rational sense kicked back in much faster than his tongue. Still, he was surprised to see the man in such an unexpected place. The young master walked calmly towards them—eyes firmly away from the group of courtesans in which Hyesung was standing in the middle of. To Hyesung’s eyes, it was quite obvious that Young Master Mun was deliberately trying not to look at them. The uncomfortable expression on his handsome face told it all, he was trying his best to be invisible but failing miserably as all the kisaengs had definitely noticed him. He was successful in avoiding to look at the little group though—Hyesung was sure that Young Master Mun would have definitely passed them by without a glance, if it was not for the chamberlain calling him.

“Young master, are you going to your room? The girls from the gibang have arrived,” said the chamberlain after greeting the other formally. Young master Mun only nodded silently and was going to continue in his steps, but he was stopped by Madam Jung’s greeting.

“Good evening, young master… Ah, I apologize beforehand, but I haven’t had the privilege of knowing fine young master’s name. May I be introduced?”

It was brilliant, Hyesung thought, as he once again witnessed the charisma Madam Jung emitted through her manner and voice. Madam Jung’s way of asking a question with grace and poise was one of the many things Hyesung admired from her for a long time, ever since he stepped into the gibang. However, most of the time a Madam should not have questioned anything unless permitted, because it was simply not the place to ask and it could be seen as a sign of rude mannerism. Usually Madam Jung would stay silent in this kind of situation, but right now she was as curious as the other girls standing behind Hyesung—all because this one young master.

The chamberlain immediately stepped in and introduced the two, “Yes. Pardon me. This is the Master’s oldest son, young master Mun Junghyuk.”

A slight shrill came out from the girls when they found out that the handsome young master in front of them was the eldest son of the family, which meant that he would be the future head of the family and would probably continue the minister’s legacy as well. The introduction was a surprise for Hyesung as well, he didn’t know that young master Mun came from such a high-profile family when they first met. He began to regret his stubbornness during their quarrel last time in the bookshop, and started to wonder whether his rudeness had angered the other.

“Young Master, this is Madam Jung from the gibang. She’s here with her group for the banquet.” Madam Jung bowed politely for greeting, followed along by Hyesung and the other kisaengs.

The girls greeted him with a bit too much glee on their face, while the young man could only slightly bow towards the group for politeness’ sake. His face said it all, he was ready to run away from them any second. Well, Hyesung could not blame the girls either, since the young master did look dashing in his mahogany robe. He looked even more charming than the last time Hyesung saw him.

When Hyesung straightened himself up after bowing deeply for his greeting, he accidentally locked gaze with the young master whose eyes widened in astonishment. Hyesung did not miss the slight gasp that was formed on young master Mun’s lips, the small inhale of breath due to surprise. Strangely, he found it so adorable and funny that he needed to cast down his eyes at the ground to hide a smile.

Ah, that might be how I looked like just a few moments ago.

“Go-Good evening…” probably because he was taken aback, Hyesung could hear Young Master Mun stuttered his reply,

As Madam Jung exchanged brief conversation with the young master, the courtesan could feel the man’s gaze on him—wavering every now and then, but he could feel that it always came back to him. Bravely, he dared a quick glance at the young man, giving him a soft smile secretly when the others weren’t looking. His gesture was then answered by an equally warm yet awkward smile from Young Master Mun.

Even after the oldest son of the Minister parted ways with the group, presenting his last polite nod, the excited squeals and gossipy whispers from the girls did not cease. They began to ask amongst themselves about how old the man was, about how on earth such a handsome young master never stepped into the gibang, about whether they would meet such fine young man in the city ever again. And the ultimate question of them all, to whom did the young master directed his smile to? Hyesung knew that he was the only one with an answer, but he wasn’t going to share it to anyone else.

Their chatters stopped when Madam Jung reprimanded them once again to behave, especially because they were about to enter the vicinity of the banquet hall. It was important for them to start acting properly since all the guests were high officials in the city, and decorum should definitely be observed among these important people.

Hyesung could feel the unpleasant aura from the girls behind him towards Madam Jung again. It was the girls’ own fault for not acting responsibly, especially outside the gibang. However, they always complained on how Madam Jung was too strict towards them. Hyesung had almost rolled his eyes before he caught himself in the act, the madam would never preach if only they were to act accordingly. Hurriedly dropping his thoughts, he managed to control his expression again just as the door to banquet hall opened.

“Ah! You all finally arrived! Come in, come in!”

Gently taking his seat beside a client he frequently saw in the gibang, with a small smile he greeted the Lord sweetly. As the older man casually put his arm around his shoulders, Hyesung let himself be immersed in his job as the banquet officially started. The night continued on like that, with same old flow and same old atmosphere—and he made sure he was preoccupied enough that his mind never wandered.

*****

“All of you can leave us for now. We will call you back later.”

With that particular command, all kisaengs understood that their lords needed privacy to discuss important things—and those, clearly, were not something they should hear. Not long after they were dismissed, the girls parted in groups while chatting and giggling non-stop, stepping out of the bungalows to look around the garden. Hyesung was about to leave silently to the opposite direction, as far as possible from the grating voices ringing in his ears, when a familiar voice called him.

“Hyesung-ssi, where are you going to?”

The haengsu slightly turned his body and saw that Seonhwa had already stood before him. From her bright looks alone, he knew that she was waiting for Hyesung to invite her to explore the compound together, although he did not even have the slightest intention in his mind for that. He tried to piece together an excuse to get Seonhwa to leave him alone, without using harsh rejection that could hurt her feelings—as cold as he could sometimes be, he still he didn’t want to be rude. Luckily, even before he could pitch a reply, he heard the other girls calling Seonhwa’s name just few meters away from where they stood.

“Seonhwa-ssi, why don’t we walk along together? Hyesung-ssi needs his own time alone, as usual, right? You won’t be having any sightseeing if you are with him.”

The rest of the girls were showing saccharine smiles as one of them spoke. Those sentences might sound sweet and caring to most people, as if they were just trying to be considerate of Hyesung, but these girls had no sincerity in their words. If Hyesung were to translate the meaning behind their words, it would be: ‘It’s better if you walk along with us. Being with Hyesung wouldn’t do you any good.’ It had always been that way, polite words with malice hidden behind—that’s how the girls in the gibang talked to him ever since his status was raised into a kisaeng of the highest tier. This time though, it was fortunate for Hyesung.

“You should go sightseeing with them, Seonhwa-ssi. It’ll be much more enjoyable for you,” Hyesung said as courteously as possible while walking away from where the girls gathered without glancing back. But even after making a quite far distance between them, he could still faintly hear the girls’ conversation about him as they walked to the opposite direction—without the honey-coated words this time. He was fine with it, by now he had already been used to hearing those words and spending his time alone.

The winter wind was still blowing, but the cold didn’t really bother Hyesung. Walking his way from the main house to the garden, Hyesung found himself on a secluded path which ended at a small and isolated gazebo. Standing still while looking at the bright moon up on the jet black sky, Hyesung finally allowed his mind to wander.

Eventually, not that he didn’t expect it, his mind ended up at the thought of a certain young master. He still could not believe that Young Master Mun was the Minister’s son—not because he didn’t have the charisma to be one, but rather because the man’s attitude was different to what he would have expected from a son of such an influential family. After meeting many people during his life at the gibang, Hyesung could immediately and easily see a person’s personality by just spending some time or by conversing with them. Unlike many sons of influential families, Young Master Mun was not prideful, nor was he brash. He was… Sincere.

Never thought there would be a time where I would use that word to describe someone.

Hyesung was also reminded of the indifferent look on the young master’s face when he had coincidentally stumbled upon the group. It was such a rare sight for a young master to look like as if he was purposefully avoiding them. Even normal public would gather around and try to get close when they saw group of kisaengs out of sheer curiosity. But Young Master Mun was so calm and collected until he saw Hyesung—he seemed to look a bit nervous after that. It was a pretty adorable sight to see indeed, he thought.

Hyesung sighed, Young Master Mun probably did not expect that they would meet again, especially not inside his own household. For this reason, he suddenly felt like he had done something terrible, like barging into someone’s home uninvited. Still, there was a tiny wish, one that he kept far away in the back of his mind—Hyesung hoped he could see the young master’s face one more time, before the time they were supposed to go back to their gibang.

“We always seem to meet in unlikely places.”

A low voice that had somehow become familiar suddenly could be heard from behind him. Hyesung swiftly turned his head and saw the object of his musings—the one who was in his mind only a few seconds ago was now standing a few meters away from him. He could not believe it, that his tiny little wish actually, miraculously, came true.

Although he showed up with a warm smile, Young Master Mun lightly rubbed his nape, a tell-tale sign of awkwardness. Hyesung himself was not sure how to reply to the man. For about half a minute, thick silence fell between the two men.

Hyesung’s reflect to fill the silence decided to jump in after the long moment, suddenly started working once again. “Ah, Young Master Mun. Yes… Indeed,” he finally answered, but he still felt like he had forgotten something important. When he realized what it was, he quickly scolded himself in his mind. How could he have forgotten his own manners? How come he didn’t even give the young master a proper courteous greeting?

“Good evening to you, Young Master Mun,” the courtesan greeted, bowing deeply.

“Good evening to you as well,” the taller man replied with a kind smile, seemingly not bothered by Hyesung’s disrespectful attitude. Hyesung noticed that the Mun’s eldest had an infectious smile, which eventually made his own lips curl up. Slowly walking towards him, the young master closed the gap that separated them. They ended up standing side by side inside the spacious gazebo, both stayed still without conversing, enjoying each other’s company under the soft glow of winter’s moonlight.

The silence was fine at first, but it slowly grew heavier—awkwardness started to set between them once again. Hyesung wrecked his brain thinking of what to say, until he remembered a topic to ease the heavy atmosphere.

“Young Master Mun,” Hyesung carefully called, continuing his words only after the man next to him moved his dark eyes from the moon towards him. “I want to express my gratitude for the book you gave on the other day in the market once again. Thank you very much. I really enjoyed reading it.”

Young Master Mun shook his head with a tender smile that lingered on his face, “It’s nothing. Glad to hear that you enjoyed the book, although it’s not actually me who gave it to you. Minwoo did.” The older man looked at the sky once again before continuing, “Because somebody persistently shoved the book away before I had the chance to give it to him.”

Hyesung’s eyes widened with nervousness after hearing the man’s words. So his worries had been right all along, the young master did get angry over his stubbornness in the market. All he could think was that he needed to apologize quickly before he angered him even more.

However, before he could open his mouth to say it, his apology was preceded by the other’s voice, “Not that I am angry or anything. I was just… You know... Stating the facts.”

Hyesung’s face might have betrayed too much of his anxiety that Young Master Mun actually felt the need to clarify that to him—of course, modestly. It was faint, but he swore he saw a childish grin and a naughty twinkle in the young master’s eyes as he spoke—a sign that the man was not angry after all. The haengsu breathed out a relieved sigh that he had been subconsciously holding in.

“I apologize for my poor manners, young master.” Hyesung carefully started, “And if young master do not mind, please send my gratitude to Young Master Lee as well…”

The other nodded and replied shortly, “Will do.”

Hyesung thought that the atmosphere had already warmed up enough for them to be comfortable with each other now, but he was wrong—he felt the awkwardness seeped in again. This was quite an unusual situation for him, Hyesung might be naturally quiet and reserved but due to his work nature he had learnt how to keep a conversation going. Yet, with this certain young master, he had no idea of what to say, how to keep up with the flow. Maybe it was because he usually did not have many interactions with clients around Young Master Mun’s age, therefore he was a bit confused on what topic would be good to talk about. As his cogs were still turning in his brain to find an opening to chat, the other had beaten him to it.
 

“Have you heard that when a hedgehog walks by, the night has come?”

“Eh?”

Completely dumbfounded would be the perfect description for Hyesung’s current state of mind, he could not fathom why the young master suddenly started talking about a hedgehog, “Excuse me? What hedgehog?”

Young Master Mun seemed to realize that he had blurted out strange things out of nowhere. Watching the taller man’s expression changing from its usual neutral state into a shy one was very amusing to Hyesung. Eventually, he could not hold down a small chuckle from coming out of his lips, especially when he saw a slight blush had risen on the young master’s cheeks. The courtesan knew it was neither the polite nor acceptable to laugh at the other, but he could not help it. He could see how the young master had been feeling equally awkward but had also tried his best to ease the awkwardness, the whole situation was new to him—and he found the innocence of it all very interesting.

A muffled “It’s nothing,” mixed with an embarrassed chuckle was heard before Hyesung looked up and his eyes met the young master’s once again. More laughter rose as both men saw the amusement in each other’s eyes. It was at that time Hyesung finally felt the awkwardness had faded away almost completely.

“I didn’t know that you’re the son of the Minister, Young Master Mun. It was quite a surprise to meet young master today,” Hyesung carefully started their conversation again—trying to keep his eye-contact with the other party.

“Not many people actually know it... And I like it that way. Keeps everything neutral, I guess,” the man said unpretentiously.

“I see...”

It was nice to see such modesty from the young master, he rarely got to witness any humility from people around him—life at the gibang is all about trying to impress, flaunting beauty, wealth and power. As expected, Young Master Mun was different—and Hyesung had never been this intrigued before, “I think I have never seen you at our gibang young master, except for that one time with Young Master Lee.”

“Ah yes… Well, about that… Let’s just say I have very little time outside this house.”

“By any chance, are you studying for the official exam? I heard that it was not an easy one to pass. Ah... But I suppose I should not have said that… I’m sorry...” although Hyesung’s questions came out of normal curiosity, he became concerned seeing that the young master hesitated to reply, unsure of what to say. He started berate himself for asking too much, mentally weighing the few questions he had asked to check whether they were too bothersome or intrusive.

A soft sigh slipped out of the man next to him, smiling weakly at the haengsu he answered, “I am. But not this year... Next year, maybe.”

Young Master Mun’s restlessness was so palpable even though he was standing still, looking at the moon with his soft gaze. Hyesung started feeling guilty, maybe his uneasiness was really because of his questions.

“Oh, I was being too nosy... Please forgive me if my questions have annoyed you, Young Master Mun...”

At his apology, the other turned his head towards him, his gaze was reassuring and he shook his head, “You know? I’m not that great of a person that you need to always be so respectful around me Hyesung-ssi…”

It was the first time the young master had ever called his name, and it was also the first time somebody had said his name with such a kind voice. Hyesung would have been flustered if he was not so taken aback by the other’s words.

Quickly after he heard the young master’s down-to-earth words, he shook his head fervently, “I can’t do that young master.”

Young Master Mun did not reply, he just smiled at Hyesung’s words as if he had expected those exact words from the beginning. The haengsu found himself smiling back at him in no time—as he had thought before, this man’s smile was infectious.

“Hyesung-ssi…”

Both of them were startled by a voice calling the courtesan’s name. It came not far from the stairs leading up to the gazebo, where Seonhwa was standing there waiting, “I’m sorry for interrupting, but we are called back to the hall.”

Her words pulled Hyesung back to the reality—today wasn’t a free day like the last time he coincidentally bumped into the young master beside him. He was here for work in the Minister’s household, and he should concentrate on that. For some reason, he felt a bit dejected that the time had passed by and his meeting ended so fast, only when they started being comfortable with each other. After answering Seonhwa with a slight nod, he turned back to the young master for a last greeting.

“It seems I have to go back now. It was an honor to talk with you again, Young Master Mun. Thank you very much for your time.”

Hyesung bowed deeply at the end of his words. In exchange, he received the other’s warm smile. Just for a moment, a thought crossed his mind—that he would not get bored seeing that smile even if he was to see it everyday.
 

“It was me who should be thanking you for accompanying me. I enjoyed our chat today, Hyesung-ssi.”

“It was my pleasure young master. Good evening Young Master Mun.”

“Good evening.”

Hyesung went towards the stairs where Seonhwa was waiting, and he could see her giving a silent greeting to the young master with a bow. As he walked away, the courtesan glanced at the young master as he passed him on his way to leave—finding out that Young Master Mun was looking at him. He could feel his cheeks getting warmer and he quickly averted his eyes before it could get worse.

After stepping out of the gazebo and walked alongside Seonhwa to the main building, Hyesung looked back at the gazebo when he thought there was a safe distance in between. He saw the tall figure of the young master, staring at his direction. Noticing that Hyesung was looking at him, Young Master Mun gave a small wave of goodbye, his ever gentle smile still plastered on his lips.

This time, even the cold night air could not cool down the warmth Hyesung felt on his cheeks.