The next few weeks passed faster than Wooyoung imagined them, getting to know San more and more every meeting the two had in his bedroom. Wooyoung learned more about San's past and how he came to work at the Hide at the age of thirteen, going into more detail about the entire situation that set up his future for the next ten years.

His parents were unfortunate in the likes of money and they became more and more worse-off until they finally had to succumb to their final option...

That being selling San to the local courtesan house, where he works to pay off his family's debts - and he has been since the day he turned of age.

San mostly stayed at his grandparents' home before being sold, but his parents forced him to come back when that day they sold him finally came. He told Wooyoung how he always worried about his older sister, knowing she had also been sold off a few years before he was, but not to the same place. She was sold into another province.

The more Wooyoung learned about San, the deeper the friendship between the two became, and San began coming twice a week instead of only once - when he was able to, of course. San was a very busy man since he was the most requested courtesan.

Wooyoung sits on his bed, waiting for San to come through the hidden door at any minute. He smiles at the thought of seeing him soon. Seeing him always made Wooyoung's heart pound just a bit louder and quicker, but he put it off due to thinking it was because he's doing something extremely punishable, not because that boy might be having an emotional impact on him.

San comes into the room after a couple of minutes of waiting, a smile appearing on his face when he sees Wooyoung and the two immediately begin talking about one another's weeks.

"I finally got the hang of cooking, and now I can cook meat with ease!" Wooyoung says to him, proudly, knowing up until now San's only heard of Wooyoung's struggles with it.

His eyes light up at the word meat, "Really? You'll have to cook some for me sometimes," he jokes, "but really, that's relieving to hear, Wooyoung. I'm so glad you've gotten comfortable with cooking, I'm sure your instructor is also happy to see your progress."

Wooyoung nods, "He is, he is... but I don't want it to have to end," he says, his voice growing warier as he speaks, "since I'm close to finishing the course, that means my mother and father are going to put me finding someone to marry to the top of my priority list and..."

Wooyoung sighs, crossing his legs as he rests his head in one of his hands, "I'm just so scared, San. What if I don't like him? What if he doesn't like me? I know they're going to allow me to choose from a pool of people they've hand-picked, but there are always those bad eggs that weasel through. What if I pick the wrong one?" His voice rises towards the end of his rant, shaking once he asks the final question.

Wooyoung looked up and over to San with glassy eyes, realizing he had been staring at the floor as he spoke and thought about the future, "I just really don't want to choose the wrong person, San..." He says, and San gets up and goes to sit next to him.

"You'll choose a wonderful partner, I'm sure, Wooyoung" San gives a hopeful smile, gently lifting Wooyoung's head up to be face to face with his own, "You have incredible insight and quite the eye for people, so I know without a doubt that you will pick the right one."

Wooyoung feels a tingly feeling throughout his body when San gives him hope with his words, feeling immediately untroubled as San holds onto his face with his warm hand. Wooyoung shyly looks away from San's gaze after a few moments, "You always know just what to say to make me feel better, don't you San?" He asks quietly.

San chuckles back at Wooyoung and shakes his head, "I'm just trying to tell you the truth, my Prince."

Wooyoung has noticed that San always falls back into calling him formally after making any sort of physical contact with him. San gets up and walks around the room like he does when he's thinking about something. From all the times he's been here now, Wooyoung's begun to pick up on some of his habits.

"What are you thinking about?" Wooyoung asks him, always curious about what's going on inside his head.

Wooyoung has always been curious about others' minds, but he finds himself wondering about what San is thinking about quite often now. So many times does he wish he could read the minds of others.

"You know that party that the Hide is having in a few days to celebrate a new courtesan coming-of-age?"

Wooyoung nods, knowing San's been talking about it for a few weeks now, explaining how they've been preparing the new courtesan for when the day comes.

San goes on, "I was wondering if you would like to come with me to the party. You always ask about my work, so I thought you might like to come see how it really is, or at least, a slightly more tame version. I could introduce you to Seonghwa, too. You've said you wanted to meet him one day."

San seems to talk as if he thinks Wooyoung will decline his offer, but he responds quickly, "Of course, I would love to go to the party with you, San."

San tries to hide his enthusiasm, but he's truly ecstatic as soon as Wooyoung agrees to accompany him to the party.

It turns out that Wooyoung's usual attire is not entirely appropriate for the type of party the Hide has in mind. This makes Wooyoung even more nervous about the party, not being a man that likes for people to see his skin, being a prince, but he still agrees to go.

San told Wooyoung that Seonghwa has a more appropriate suit he'll be able to borrow for that night and that he'll make sure Yeosang gets it to him.

Wooyoung decides to tell his father that he'll be staying with a friend from another province that evening, making sure his mother didn't hear of his plans.

Wooyoung gets the suit that Seonghwa had chosen for him the morning before the party. He opens it up to see a deep purple shirt that doesn't button up the front and a pair of black trousers.

Wooyoung feels his anxiety begin to kick in at the sight of the shirt, becoming more and more unsure of this whole thing. He begins to imagine what mother would think of this outfit, knowing she would be calling him wretched names, but he tries to put those thoughts aside.

What would San think of him once he sees him in this? Wooyoung tries to think positively about the whole thing, but he's still nervous.

Wooyoung strips down and slips himself into the shirt and trousers with the help of Yeosang. Yeosang blushes once Wooyoung's all fixed in it and he begins to freak out a bit, turning to his maid, eyes filled with worry.

Yeosang reassures Wooyoung that if he keeps his jacket closed then no one will be able to see his bare chest.

Wooyoung tries to calm himself down, deciding to put on some beautiful cufflinks his father had gotten him as a gift to wear to the Spring Festival one year. This happy thought of the Spring Festival makes Wooyoung feel more at ease.

Yeosang insists on putting rouge on Wooyoung to brighten up his face a bit from it being so pale from fear. He fixes Wooyoung's hair, making it have a nice wave to it. Once it's fixed, he goes to look into the mirror and hardly recognizes himself in this getup, thinking to himself, "I would never in my life wear something like this... I just hope that it doesn't draw too much attention to me at the party."

Wooyoung sneaks through the secret door and heads to the Hide, waiting where San said to wait for him. Wooyoung senses the tips of his ears reddening as he looks at how all of the people heading into the party are dressed.

San comes out eventually and he has no shirt on and even tighter slacks that show off his muscular legs. Of course, the courtesans are required to wear near nothing at events like this. Anyone at the party could scoop them up at any time and request their services... But seeing San dressed in such a way makes Wooyoung's stomach turn over. Wooyoung catches himself staring a bit too long at San's fit-looking chest.

San smiles cheerfully when he sees Wooyoung and he tries to smile back, but he's still nervous about the outfit - which he makes sure his chest isn't able to be seen by San.

San gazes down to Wooyoung's hand, badly wanting to hold it, but then moves his attention back to Wooyoung's eyes, "You look breathtaking, Wooyoung..." his eyes are like stars when San looks into them.

Hearing those words Wooyoung's face gets warmer for some reason, but he smiles, slowly feeling more confident in his attire, "As do you, San." Wooyoung gushes, shying away from looking at San's exposed chest.

San's smile turns into a smirk as he leads Wooyoung inside to Seonghwa and San says that he believes Wooyoung looks even better than him in the suit. Wooyoung quickly dismisses his comment and tells Seonghwa 'thank you' for letting him borrow Seonghwa's lovely suit.

Wooyoung looks around the party crowd and his eyes grow wide, realizing that no one will be bothered to look at him in this very conservative suit when compared to what the other people are wearing. Some of them do not even have clothes on at all, which causes Wooyoung to quickly look away and back to San and Seonghwa.

Wooyoung's not used to seeing people showing themselves so openly in this way. It's just the way he's been raised.

Seonghwa agrees that Wooyoung looks lovely and lets San and him go on their way to enjoy the party.

Wooyoung looks up at San and he's still smiling, so he asks, "You've been smiling since we got here, are you really that excited for the party?"

San hesitates before finally responding, "I don't know why I'm smiling so much," he looks down to Wooyoung as he speaks, his bright smile never leaving. It makes Wooyoung laugh, thinking that he's cute and silly.

San leads Wooyoung around, even showing him his room that he has here at the Hide. His room is quite average-sized with only three items inside. A bed, a bookshelf, and a pool table.

Wooyoung goes over to the bookshelf, admiring his selection, turning to him in surprise to ask him in a surprised tone, "Can you read all of these books, San?"

San nods at him and comes over by his side, picking out one of the books from the shelf. It happens to be the one Wooyoung had been eyeing, as he'd read that one in-particular many many times over the years.

"This one is one of my all-time favorites," San says with a sad smile on his face, "I loved reading it because I felt like I could live my life through the characters in the book, you know? I always wished that I could have a life similar to them..."

A pang goes through Wooyoung's heart as San talks about his favorite book, knowing how beautiful the story of it is. It's a classic love story that his father introduced to him that showed the relationship between two men and how they fell in love with each other over the course of the story.

"You'll be able to have that life someday, San. I know that once you're out of this place that you'll be able to find that love you're longing for," Wooyoung says, trying to maintain the hopefulness. He hates the way San seems to make it feel like he will never be able to find a love like the one in the story.

This seems to upset San a bit, as he puts the book back on his shelf and sits on the bed with his face in his hands, "You could never understand, Wooyoung... I won't be getting out of here for many years, and who would ever want someone as used up as I am? You're going to get betrothed so easily. You tell me about your father and mother looking for a suitor for you and how you will even have a choice out of them. I will never get to have that luxury."

Him saying this makes Wooyoung go silent, unmoving as he thinks about what San said. Wooyoung doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything at all. He just sits there looking down at the floor of San's room. Wooyoung realizes that he will never be able to understand how San truly feels or what San has been through throughout his life.

After a while, San stands up, shaking his head as if to shake his thoughts away and puts a smile on his face. He goes over to Wooyoung, kneeling down in front of him, "We should get some food, some of the boys and girls here made it special for the occasion. I think it'll be to your liking."

San clearly was thinking for a long while in that silent moment the two had together. Sometimes silence between two people is all that's needed, but they both know they will have to talk it out more in the future.

San leads Wooyoung out of his room and the two go down a few steps to a room with a large table where food is displayed nicely together. Wooyoung and San gather some food on their plates and start to make their way up the stairs when San is tapped on the shoulder by a strong and burly looking man.

San turns to look at Wooyoung with a grim expression, knowing what this means. He must go do his job.

Wooyoung is a bit taken aback when San's arm is grabbed by the man, "I-I'll keep your plate for when you're back, San..." Wooyoung says, but San is already being taken away.

Wooyoung wanders around, not exactly knowing his way around this place without San.

He prays that he won't be gone too long...

End of Chapter Three