Daehyun woke up abruptly…not in an unpleasant way, just suddenly. He stood up and stretched, the joints in his back sounding like popping popcorn as he made his way to the bathroom. After his morning routine and a hearty breakfast, Daehyun returned to his room. He went over to the side of the bed, kissed the forehead of the girl laying there, grabbed his wallet from his bedside table, his keys from off the hook, and his bag from by the door before leaving for the day.

The day was as tedious as all the others had been before them. By habit moreso than by choice he smiled at customers, cleaned tables, mixed drinks. He counted back change, mopped up spills, handed over receipts while wishing people he didn’t know or care about a very nice day.

She would be getting up right about now, his girlfriend would. She would wash up in the sink, put on one of his oversized shirts and eat the plate of food he left for her. After her breakfast, she’d watch a cooking show where contestants had to make cupcakes out of oysters, dark chocolate, and basil before changing the channel to talk shows where overweight women talked about how their fathers had left them as children. Daehyun knew her schedule by heart.

Night fall. Time for his second job, the one that required the most out of him. He stopped by a coworker’s house to shower, change, and ride to work together. The ride was quiet, but in a companionable way. They spoke of things that neither of them really cared about: the weather and the news and who won the latest talent show. Jazz and R&B music played softly during the breaks in conversation.

This kind of work is the most demanding of Daehyun, although if he thought about it, it was really more smiling and pretending. What Daehyun wanted more than anything was to be done with this part of his life. He wanted to go home, wrap his arms around his girlfriend and lose himself on dreams. Wishful thinking in the most extreme way. However, Daehyun had only one more month of this before he and his love Sunhwa could run away together.

The boss gathered them all in the lavishly decorated waiting room. As they waited for every employee to arrive, Daehyun let his eyes rove over the room. He took in the rich, burgundy colored walls, the hidden lights that illuminated the room softly. In the corners of the room were pillar like stands holding vases with flowers of different species that attempted to give a sense of innocence in the otherwise serious room. The dark wood of the floors was covered over with embroidered carpets that looked like they came straight out of a sultan’s palace.

Daehyun looked to his left and right, taking in the faces of his coworkers. The girls stood to the left, every shift of their weight making their shimmery costumes dance in the light. The ones that met his eyes smiled a little and a few of the braver ones gave a quick little wave. The guys to the right looked down or away when they met Daehyun’s gaze. He could understand that. Most of them were just as embarrassed, if not more so, than he was that they had to do this.

When Madame Jung swept into the room the low murmuring completely died out. She was a young woman but Madame Jung was no nonsense, and definitely did not kid around when it came to her business. She snapped her fingers once and waited until everyone looked at her before she began to speak.

It was the same speech every night, down to the change in inflection at the end of every sentence. Daehyun found that by the end of his second week working for Madame Jung, he could imitate her start of work ‘pep talk’ word for word. Instead of focusing on the words coming out of his boss’ mouth, Daehyun’s mind wandered back to the girl that was in his bed right now. He needed to get home soon. He had to have as much time with her as possible.

Daehyun’s thoughts were brought back to the present by the sudden amount of movement around him. They’d all been dismissed to their rooms to await the list of patrons they’d be servicing tonight. Daehyun nodded shy greetings to coworkers as he passed them, making his way to the third door on the second floor landing that had been assigned to him.

Barely ten minutes had passed before there was a knock on Daehyun’s door. He opened it and greeted his customer as jovially as he could. His mind wasn’t all the way on the task at hand. While his customer, a leggy, busty, 20-something, took in her surroundings, he mentally shook himself and prepared for the night.

“I’m sorry if I’m really awkward,” the girl said. “I’ve never done something like this before.”

Daehyun smiled at her. He’d heard those words a thousand times before and knew just how to soothe her. “That’s okay honey. Most people never do this, but I have to tell you, I’m a very direct person.”

“And…?” she asked nervously.

“What I’m saying is, I don’t like when people say ‘something like this’ or ‘this kind of experience’. This is ion. I am a e,” he said matter-of-factly. “We’re both adults right? We should use grown up words.”

Daehyun watched how the girl’s face turned red, not all over, but just  across the bridge of her nose and underneath her eyes. It reminded him of his lover, how crimson bloomed on her face when he called her beautiful, or confessed just how much he really did love her…Daehyun shook his head. It wouldn’t do for him to get unfocused.

 “Well then. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” She walked from her place by the door over to the bed where Daehyun was lounging.

“There are rules here, you know,” Daehyun said. He was starting to get into the game now. He cocked his head to the side, looked the girl up and down in a way he knew would make her face flush. “The first rule, as I’ve already alluded to, is that you be direct with what you want.” He smirked at her. “Do you know what you want?”

She nodded. Sunhwa did the same thing-nodding or pointing instead of talking.

“Use your words.”

“Kiss me.”

And so Daehyun pulled her by her waist so that she was straddling him on the edge of the bed and pressed his lips against hers for just a few seconds. He loved having girls sitting on his lap, the same way he positioned Sunhwa more often than not.

“You and I are not lovers,” Daehyun continued, working on the buttons of her top as he talked. “We are not friends or acquaintances. All I am to you is a good lay. Rule number two is this: after tonight, unless you want to pay to play again, I do not exist.”

The girl nodded eagerly, watching with extreme interest as Daehyun took off his own shirt before motioning for her to stand up. With a few practiced gestures, Daehyun removed the clothes of his patron and himself. He positioned the girl on the bed so that she was looking up at him as he got between her legs.

“Rule number three…number three is more of a personal request than a rule.” He leaned down, got close to her ear and whispered the rest. “You have to scream my name near the end.”

A faint pink blush rose to the girl’s cheeks as she timidly asked nodded. “And what is your name?”

“Call me Dae.”

The course of Daehyun’s night fell into a rhythm, much like the night before and the night before that. He used his inherent charm to sweet talk shy co-eds and the occasional macho man who would admit to almost any taboo thing besides being gay. Whatever. All Daehyun wanted was to get through his client list, go home, and shower so he could be with his woman.

Daehyun didn’t get to do any of that until after 2 AM when he was able to catch a ride with someone going his way. The car’s hard seats were a bit uncomfortable but his mind wasn’t on the pain in his lower back or the tiredness that seemed embedded in his bones. Home. He wanted to get home. He had to get home. He was starting to feel antsy.

His coworker’s car to his street and Daehyun’s heart sped up. Bright blue and white lights were flashing on the pavement right outside Daehyun’s apartment building. He got out the car a few blocks away and casually walked up to the yellow and black tape. His neighbor, JiEun, saw him and pointed him out to a police officer who confronted him.

“You are Daehyun, correct?” the officer asked.

“What’s going on?”

“You are the occupant of 126, Jung Daehyun, correct?”

“Yes. I’m Daehyun. What’s happening?”

“We got a call about a missing person being spotted here. You’re going to have to come down to the station with me.”

All the tension left Daehyun’s body as a second officer came behind him and escorted him to the waiting police car. One of the officers was reciting his rights to him but he it only sounded like a dull ringing to Daehyun’s ears. His face was pressed against the glass, trying to get one last glimpse of his love. She appeared at the entrance of the building being ushered out by yet another officer. She was holding onto a thin blanket, nodding to questions Daehyun couldn’t hear. When Sunhwa’s head came up to survey her surroundings, her large, dark brown eyes locked with his, causing Daehyun to shrink back and his heart to sink. He’d been expecting to see concern for him at the very least but all he’d read in her gaze was pure contempt. Why was she acting this way towards him?

“Explain yourself son,” the officer said sternly. Daehyun looked around the station. When had he gotten here? Weren’t they still in the car?

“Daehyun…son, talk to me. Why did you kidnap that girl?”

“Kidnap? She was there willingly.”

“Is that so? Then why did my team have to break open the cuff on her leg?”

“Oh that? That was for…personal reasons.” Daehyun shrugged. “I’m into some not so mainstream things if you know what I mean. I was in a rush this morning and forgot to unlock her after last night.”

The cop rolled his eyes, not buying a bit of Daehyun’s story despite the boy’s honest tone. He’d seen a lot of people who claimed to be innocent but this boy...something was off about him and the officer just couldn’t place his finger on it, however he was grateful the boy was cooperating in his own way.

“Daehyun, you did know that there were people looking for Miss Han, right?”

“I know. That’s why she was staying with me. I was protecting her.”

“You were protecting her? Did you think someone was going to hurt Miss Han?”

“No,” Daehyun replied. “They weren’t going to hurt her, but they were going to take her away from me.” Daehyun’s voice turned hollow and low as though he were speaking to someone that wasn’t the officer in front of them. “They can’t have her,” he said, his voice rising with tendrils of anger embedded in it. “They can’t have her. She’s mine. I love her.”

There it was. The chill that went up the officer’s back confirmed his suspicions. This kid was off the deep end.

“Does she love you?”

Everything went still, like the quiet before the storm. Daehyun sat perfectly motionless as the officer’s question swam around his brain. Does she love you? Does she love you? The thought had never crossed his mind before. Now he felt like he was going to go crazy. She loved him, didn’t she? She said she did, every night when rolled off of her. She swore to the heavens and back she loved him every time he’d asked.

“She loved me,” Daehyun said aloud, though the words had no conviction. His voice fell flat as he began rocking back and forth in his chair. He looked around wildly, his eyes stretched wide. His chest heaved as he took deep breaths, rocking all the more violently.

“She loved me! She loved me, she loved me, she loved me!”

The officer shook his head and pressed the button under his desk. Three others from his squad entered the interrogation room. The head officer only shook his head as Daehyun was escorted out of the room, screaming to the top of his lungs that she’d loved him.

“Poor kid. Love will make you do crazy things, but when you’re crazy, love will drive you insane.”