A week later was his first day at the job. Ranmaru was very pleased to see the location of his work. It was a huge hall with shiny ornate columns and a hefty wooden staircase with intricate carvings that led to a balcony circling the hall. The floor had huge tilings depicting various celestial objects in an illustrative art style.
In a couple of hours, the place was crowded with people with all kinds of men and women who all had one thing in common, they were rich. Ranmaru was studying them all with piqued curiosity, he had been to parties but not to this level of lavishness. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was very pleasing to him. He even forgot that he was working, and imagined himself to be a part of the gathering.
He wasn't blending in at all. Every time someone picked up a drink from his tray and looked at him through their peripherals while engrossed in pointless conversations, they couldn't help but flinch a little in surprise, stop mid-sentence, stare at him for a moment or two before resuming again. Ranmaru couldn't help but be amused at their reactions, he had come to enjoy startling them.
On some occasions, as he left, he heard murmurs among the circles along the lines of, "She is pretty. What is she doing here? She can do much better than be a server." He just chuckled to himself and moved on.
Until there was a new sentence added to the previous mix. something he had lost all hope of hearing,
"Are you all blind? That was a man."
Ranmaru raised his brows and contorted his lips in an expression of being impressed, to himself. He turned around this time to find out who was the owner of such an observant pair of eyes.
It was easy to spot him, he was the tallest in that particular circle. His comment had shut down the whole conversation with the few of them looking away in embarrassment and some other few now staring at Ranmaru to check again.
But he was so sure of his assessment that he didn't need to look twice, he was busy taking a sip of his wine, waiting for everyone to move on. He didn't even notice Ranmaru's gaze at him who looked at him with interest for a moment and then walked away.
⚜
Ranmaru didn't get more time to think about him at all because as time passed, more and more guests arrived and he in turn got busier. He was now starting to feel the pressure of his job and the fun aspect of it was declining rapidly. He practically ran from one place to another making sure people's hands were never devoid of a glass, making sure he didn't bump into anyone in the process.
By the time the party was on its descent, he was dog tired. His face bore a reddish hue and felt warm due to exhaustion, his hair was a little dishevelled and he opened the top button of his shirt as he sat down to take a break. He was sure he was going to die.
Just then he heard his boss's voice, "Hey, new boy! Someone broke a glass out there. Go clean it up."And he was handed a dustpan and a broom. He sighed, rolled his eyes and then got up.
He tried his best to avoid the remaining guests as he made his way through the now-sparse but still upbeat crowd, towards the staircase and up to the balcony. He found the location easily because of the woman on the couch who had fallen asleep and dropped her glass. He squatted down and began picking up the pieces.
When he was done and turned around, his eyes went to a dark corner of the balcony and he got startled as he noticed a figure there. He could make out a hint of a ponytail and a jacket in the silhouette of the person and he wondered if it was who he thought it was. Curiosity got the best of him and he decided to approach him, even if just to make sure he was alright. He put aside his broom and dustpan, making sure it's out of the way and no one trips on it and then made his way towards the dark corner.
