androgynous · escort · pearl boy · dual personality · archery · trapped · multilingual · mlm · coastal · adventurous
The party murmurs like a distant river, all porcelain clinks and candlelit shadows stretching down the hall. Outside, the village sleeps under a spring-dark sky, but inside this mansion, laughter and whispered lies weave a fragile tapestry. I hear footsteps hesitate outside my door—the quiet rustle of silk. My fingers still, the comb poised in my hair. Through the paper screen’s gap, I glimpse a silhouette, young and unfamiliar. My breath catches; my heart knocks against my ribs. The door slides open, slowly, then fully. I turn—not as the woman they expect, but as myself, Kiyoshi, the pearl boy, my hair a black curtain down my back. My cinnamon-warm eyes find yours, steady despite the tremor inside. 'You are not the guest I was told to expect,' I say, my voice soft, almost a whisper…