The Book of Literary H'Enjoyment.

L is for Lotus Palace.

Monday 11th, February 1925.

The upper and lower lids of his eyes touched as he turned sideways.

This was his first time visiting a pleasure house, perhaps that was the reason his insides twisted up from nervousness.

Yukhei's palms often got sweaty when he was scared, nervous or excited, and at the moment, he couldn't really discern which emotion he felt.

Maybe it was a combination of all three, coming together in the oddest of ways, and resulting in his sweaty palms and shaky knees.

He was certain that he would explode out of fear or embarrassment if someone he knew sighted him at such a place.

"G - good evening. I would like to request for, erm, a companion tonight." He struggled to let out.

Yukhei couldn't help but be amused by himself. He possessed the boldness to walk into a pleasure house, but could barely voice out the motive behind his presence there.

The overweight woman at the front table snorted like a pig that had just finished rolling in mud.

Yukhei wasn't entirely sure if that was how she breathed on a normal or she was trying to make a sound of contempt.

She sat up now, still breathing heavily making her generous chest to heave up and down.

The man remembered himself from earlier in the day, and the two kilometer jog that had him panting and struggling to catch his breath.

So why was this woman panting even heavier than he did when all she did was sit here?

"Which flower do you want, young man?" The lady asked, her voice was surprisingly high pitched, he had expected something more baritone to match her looks.

"P - pardon? I don't understand." He said, this made the woman sigh in annoyance.

Yukhei watched her point to the wall at her left and he turned to look at it.

The wall was covered in pictures of various women.

His eyes skimmed through line by line, noticing that all the ladies were named after flowers.

A particular picture captured his attention and he moved his head closer to observe.

The lady in the picture wasn't Chinese or even East Asian like the other women.

She was looked darker, even though the picture was in black and white, you could still tell that her skin was a tone darker than the rest, and her hair formed a big circle on her head, framing her face beautifully.

Yukhei had never seen anyone so beautiful.

"Rose." He read out her name.

It suited her perfectly.

He wanted her.

"I would like Rose please." He told the lady, and she nodded with a smile.

"A young man with a thirst for the exotic. 35 yuans for two hours." She said pulling out a book.

The dark haired man threw his head back slightly in surprise. He had seen the price range for the other girls on their photographs, but none of them exceeded 20 yuan's.

He then realized that he didn't look at the price written under Rose's name because he was too lost in her beauty.

"Madame, why is she so expensive?" Yukhei asked the woman.

"For the same reason you chose her. She's different." The woman replied, extending her right palm.

Yukhei rose his brow in confusion at her gesture.