*Red room*

"Ah!" Red's breath caught and his heart skipped a beat...as the man turned sharply toward him.

The client's eyes glittering with anger were clearly visible even in that dim red light, and his face betrayed several emotions at once: anger, sadness, and...even a little disgust.

Red was sure that a little more and those dark eyes would burn him... his heart clenched so tightly that he involuntarily stopped controlling his body, a terrible fear filled his entire being: his eyelids lifted, his eyes widened, his mouth opened, his body stiffened.

Five long seconds and then suddenly...

The man pulled back a little, hummed, shook his head slightly, and then....

He smiled.

"Smiled? How? Is he bipolar? Is he a psychopath?" - A string of questions ran through Red's mind and fear was replaced by surprise when the brunet spoke in a soft baritone:

"I'm sorry... you got scared, didn't you? I'm angry, but that doesn't apply to you. I don't know how I even got here... had a few drinks and my feet were dragging... I wanted to talk to someone... and when I wandered into this club... they told me you were the only one available, but had finished your shift and everything would be up to you... good thing you agreed... for the picture... I liked your eyes..."

Red still couldn't believe such a quick change in the man's mood....

The client looked around the room with an appraising gaze as if he hadn't seen it before, fixed his shoulder-length hair and continued speaking calmly:

"I just don't understand... Why is all this happening to me?" he voiced the same question Hope had asked hundreds of times and continued: "We have time, don't we? Can I just talk to you?"

Red nodded slowly, completely disbelieving what was happening, and the man lifted the edges of his lips slightly. The man's face now looked handsome and friendly, inspiring trust and favor with his interlocutor.

"I had everything: a wonderful job that I ran to with pleasure.  Someone I lived with, worked with, and wanted to face old age with," he began quietly.

"And then... (sigh)... I lost everything I hold dear! And now I don't know how and where to move on... My soul and heart have been torn into a thousand pieces, and the glue to unite these lifeless parts has not yet been invented...hmmm... I haven't found any answers to my questions... Love, passion, interest, joy, pleasure - it's all in the past... and all that's left is to be angry and curse this worthless new life... sad story, isn't it?" The client was like confessing to a family member, sadly and with a smile, and the guy could feel the sincerity in his words.

After the man had spoken, Hope had a burning desire to comfort the man sitting next to him... but Red hesitated for the moment.

A moment of silence.

The man's last question hung in the air and the world around them froze.

"Yeah, that's a sad story...think you're the only one like this?!!..gotta do something...This silence is killing me...What if it is?"  thought the guy.

"Why don't we do something fun to ward off the sadness?" - said the kid in the red robe with a shy smile, and only after saying those words, realizing that the client might have misinterpreted them, Red bit his lip.

The brunet immediately turned and looked into the guy's eyes, a playful smile on his face, "What do you suggest?"

"Well...maybe... It's up to you, Khun," he was already regretting being the first to break the silence, "Stupid Hope! You shouldn't have jumped in with your suggestion... So maybe we should have kept quiet until time ran out!"

"Well...since you're offering...go ahead!" With those words, the client reached towards Red and hovered over him. Avoiding contact the guy moved farther and farther away and, unable to stand it, collapsed with his back on the bed, while the man continued the onslaught and pulled his hand to the hair of the man lying there.

Boom

Red's head abruptly dropped even lower, causing him to be in a state of confusion, and the man held up a pillow and laughed.

"Pillow fight?" He said playfully.

"Really?" Red asked in confusion, and thought to himself, "Who comes to a brothel to have a pillow fight? Is he insane?"

"Why? It's a fun thing to do! The bed is the ring. We play to three falls, the loser ... mmmmm ... will ... will ... will crawl on his knees and meow for a full minute. Agreed?"  the client said this naughtily smiling at all of his 32.

"Is this really the man who just 15 minutes ago scared the crap out of me! Oh well, let's play. It's still at least another 40 minutes of being here together anyway..." Red thought and couldn't hold back a slight smile

"I agree!"

They stood on the wide bed and grabbed the edges of the pillows, the man immediately got into a pose that made it easy to keep his balance, and after a couple seconds he made the first lunge. Red easily dodged it by taking a step to the side and the pillow landed on the bed, lightly touching his leg.

"Ahhh, that's not bad! You're a pro at this! This is going to be fun!" - The brunet seemed to be having fun like a little kid.

Foreshadowing the fun, he immediately threw a couple quick right and left punches to the guy's thighs, but a third side kick to his upper body whistled over his head as the guy crouched down sharply, expecting it..

Seemingly, the client didn't expect it, Red took advantage of the moment and, standing up, brought his pillow down on his chest with all his might. As the man flailed his arms, trying to keep his body upright, his opponent delivered another crushing blow and he fell to the carpet... a second... and his unrestrained laughter rolled through the room.

"Hahaha! Kid, that was powerful! Bravo! How about a rematch?! Now I won't hold back and you'll know the power of Singha!" the man squinted slyly and climbed up on the bed.

(From the author: The Singha (สิงห์ for "lion", English transcription: Singha) is a Thai mythical monster in the form of a lion. There are both pure-blooded Sins and half-blooded Sins (hybrids with other creatures). They usually act as temple guardians as well. The larger Sines stand at the entrance, while the smaller ones can be on gate posts, at doors, etc. There are many such statues in the marble temple of Wat Benchamabophit and in the main palace of Pra Borom Maha Ratcha Wan in Bangkok).

In the second round the victory was on the Lion's side. Although Red deftly avoided his opponent's accurate shots for 5 minutes, he eventually missed one punch....

Flop

As he fell to the mat, both men laughed:

"1:1," the boys said almost simultaneously ... and immediately laughed even harder.

"I haven't had this much fun in a long time... Like when I was a kid," Hope thought, he didn't feel bad in this red room anymore, he was himself.

"What a fun kid! Maybe succumb to him next round!" Ran through Lion's head.

In the third round the two took turns throwing punches, and while throwing one of them Red lost his balance on the soft bed and started falling on it, seeing this the man decided to help by extending his arms around his waist... but in the end both of them lost their balance....

The lion was lying on the boy, clutching him tightly around the waist, and their faces were now a centimeter apart. Their gazes met and their breathing quickened from the recent exercise and Red felt awkward... but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't look away from the man's bottomless black eyes, falling deeper and deeper into that abyss.

"Ahem... sorry! I was trying to help you...," the brunet huffed, but then his gaze fell on the guy's black satin underwear and smooth, long, shapely legs as the robe fell open at the fall. The man swallowed and sat up, looking away: "Sorry again..."

Red could still feel the man's pleasantly hot breath on his face, he sat up on the bed, adjusted his robe and felt his cheeks redden. To break the awkward silence, and to control his emotions, he asked defiantly: "Well? Shall we continue?"

"Sure!" – Lion turned and looked at the guy in red, lingering his gaze slightly on his face: "What would he look like not in that red light! Is his skin white or is there a slight tan? Damn lighting! Who even came up with that?"

"Shall we get started then?" - Red was uncomfortable with that look.

And so they began. The third round was for Red, because it was as if Lion was afraid to get close to his opponent. The fourth round was quick, because Lion accidentally hit the edge of the pillow in the kid's eye and the kid staggered and dropped his foot to the floor. The injury was not strong, but the man apologized and tried to replay this round, but Red refused, motivated by the fact that his eye was fine and that he would definitely win back.

In the decisive fifth round the rivals did not concede to each other for 7 minutes and suddenly Red missed a punch, staggered and fell to the floor. He did it on purpose for two reasons: the club's rules clearly stated - "The employee is obliged to fully satisfy the needs of the client, if they do not contradict to paragraph. X, to please him with words and actions. Satisfied and happy customers are a key indicator of the Club's success", and he just wanted to please this man.

The customer didn't notice the catch. Both were breathing heavily and had happy smiles on their faces.

"Hold on, I'll get a little breath now and I'll be ready to look at the kitty," the satisfied Lion collapsed into a star shape, thus occupying almost the entire surface of the bed.

Red leaned back on the bed and looked at the man lying next to him, "Too bad our time is running out..."

"We still have three more minutes. I'm starting! If you miss it, I won't tell you again," the guy crawled farther across the carpet, turned toward the client, folded his hands in the shape of cat feet, gracefully arched his back down and began to move around the room meowing sweetly.

The edges of the silk robe revealed a view of taut, beautiful breasts, the muscles on which rolled with every kittenish movement... The gaze involuntarily went lower to the flat belly... and on to the mesmerizing movements of the buttocks.

"Ah... This isn't how I envisioned this when I thought up the terms of the game... Why is this so sexy! Jake, brace yourself! God, when will this kitty be done already?....Is this punishment for him or for me?" The thoughts were ringing in the man's head, his mouth dry, and he unconsciously clutched the soft bedspread with his hands to calm his arousal.

A couple of times the boy stopped and, purring, pretended to lick his paws. The acting classes he'd taken at school from age 13 to 14 hadn't gone to waste.

"I wonder what that tongue tastes like!!! and the neck?... Gods, what am I thinking! He's just a boy!"  the man tried to restrain his thoughts, but his heart was pounding frantically and his whole being was ready to devour this sweetly purring kitty right now.

Ding-ding-ding

The sound of the clock announced that time was running out.

Red got to his feet and looked up at the man.

"Ahem... Do you have to go already! I see...," Lion fidgeted a bit on the bed, his back was slightly hunched and his hands rested on his knees.

Suddenly he asked: "What's your name?"

"Red."

"And your real name?"

"According to club rules..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it... Thank you, kid. I forgot about my troubles for a while... it was fun!" the man said those words and sighed.

He realized it was time to say goodbye, but continued to look at the handsome kid in front of him... his gaze became sad again.

Hope could no longer hide behind Red's mask, looking into those bottomless eyes full of sadness. He really wanted to say the following words and ended up saying them:

"Take care of your heart, Khun... imagine that your sorrows and pain are birds in a cage, don't keep them to yourself, open the door and let them go free! If you continue to feed them and keep them inside you will miss the chance for a new happy life. Move on and a bright future won't keep you waiting for long, you will definitely find a new job and a new love if you don't let up."

The guy opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, a smiling Norman was already waiting for him, "You were delayed... the client wasn't bad? Hehe... I called you a cab... get ready!"

"...," Red remained silent, but a thought ran through his mind that he didn't dwell on, "Since when did Norman care about me so much!"

He walked towards the Rest Room and before he opened the door, he stopped. Looking toward the red door, he saw no one. Norman, having probably checked that all was well, returned to his office.

"Will we ever meet again, Lion?"

Red made his way to the kitchen, grabbed a container of rice and curry for tomorrow, and went to change clothes.