The alluring fragrance of the white jasmines encapsulating the park warmed Reoni into the unfamiliar situation. There were plenty of other multi-pastel flowers sprinkled in the kempt grass, but none were as consuming as the overhanging jasmine shrubs interwoven with partitions, the scent reminding him of the luscious honey green tea he would make at home. 

Where he sat was on a stone bench in a semi-dilapidated rock garden, hidden from the hotspots of the park with a dusting of trees to shadow the area. Looking at it now, there was little difference—at least it felt like—between sitting in the isolated garden and meeting Rei in a deserted patch of town. The atmosphere was a lot lighter in the park however, and he doubted that other gangs would appear in a place like this. 

His thoughts were cut off by two approaching men—one was Rei, but he wasn’t expecting the second person, and not due to being unaware a second person was coming. He’d been warned beforehand, he didn’t know gang members could have such flamboyant hair, though. His outfit filled him with envy. He had on a simple black roomy top that brought attention to his bright checkered joggers. The vivid colors could only work so well in contrast to the person’s soft face. Why were the leaders of these gangs so pretty?

“You brought my jacket with you?” Rei’s voice popped into his head abruptly. He was daydreaming, again! 

He had looked down to double check that he was indeed holding Rei’s leather jacket. “Yeah. Thanks for letting me borrow it,” he said, extending his arms forward.

Banlue’s lips formed a circle as he shifted his stare between the two. What did they do to warrant Reoni borrowing that precious jacket of his? Didn’t they only meet yesterday?

Rei picked up the jacket and caressed it with his cheek as he squeezed it with his forearms. “Oh my jacket, how I’ve missed you,” he cooed, then wrapped it around his shoulders in one swoop. He sat down cross legged on the bench across from Reoni, prompting Banlue to sit beside him. “I’m glad you mentioned this place to meet. The jasmine flowers are blooming early this year.”

Reoni smiled graciously at the comment, nodding along. “They’re one of my favorite flowers. They’re just so pretty.” He glanced over at Banlue, triggering an introduction on the spot.

“Oh, I’m Banlue.” He placed his hand over his chest. “I love your outfit. It goes together so well with your shoes,” he said.

“Really?” he gasped. “I love your outfit too, but I was too shy to say anything.”

Rei cleared his throat.

“Thanks, let’s start now. I didn’t mean to be distracting,” Banlue apologized.

“That’s okay, I’m a little more comfortable now.” Reoni looked over to Rei again, who was ogling him from top to bottom. “Do you have something to say too?”

Rei averted his eyes and shook his head innocently. “Are you comfortable enough to talk about your past?”

Reoni clenched his fists in his lap. “I’m always comfortable… as long as you’re willing to listen.”

Banlue supported his chin on his knuckles, his knees directed at Reoni. “Of course, that’s why we called you,” he said with a little smile.

“Let’s start with how you got your job at the bar,” Rei directed.

“That kind of starts in the beginning of my life, in my sophomore year…”

I don’t have a lot of memories from before then. I was just a bookworm who wanted to get good grades. One of my favorite hobbies was watching movies and imagining myself in the situations, but I guess I took it too far one day. My first interaction with this guy named Silas was when he called me over while I was passing by his lunch table.

He was my crush for the longest time. He obviously trickled in the bad boy side. That’s a favorite trope of mine in movies, and that’s also what got me into this mess. He constantly made moves on me, would only let me sit next to him in his friend group, and invited me to all his hangouts. It felt like I was experiencing my own magical romance movie. I didn’t question anything because he was a perfect recreation of all my favorite male leads. 

I was very book smart but I had no experiences with my social life. I never really made friends, except for the leaders of the Prisms, but I was only really close to Bul at the time. He had the opposite problem though—he had too many friends. I never felt like I could talk to him without other people coming up to join the conversation. So I was isolated to Silas… and the biggest mistake I made was getting his name tattooed on me. 

He wanted it. I thought it was to be cute, though that still would have been bad. In actuality, it was a seedling to put me into the human trafficking industry. He convinced me into getting wasted, having threesomes, and eventually relations without him. I worked in clubs and love hotels and I was okay with it because he would occasionally treat me out for my work and shower me with compliments. But in my senior year, he stopped doing that. 

I sealed a contract to work for my ex-boss in Sailand Lagoon, and as soon as I did it was as if he leapt from my arms. He would cheat on me with girls and wouldn’t stop after he was caught. The only reason I broke up with him at that time was because it was to the point where Bul noticed. He came up to Silas one day and yelled at him in front of the entire cafeteria about his love affairs and later convinced me to break up with him. I was only crying afterwards when Bul was telling me that the way Silas treated me wasn’t normal by any means.

On my prom night, I hung out with Kijuro since he didn’t have anyone to go with either. Silas was only there to show off the girls he probably had a leash on, and that night he told me he was never attracted to men to begin with. The whole reason why I was abducted into human trafficking was for a man who didn’t even love me. Key broke his face in after that.