“Buy Love?”

“Yeah.”

He’d bought a lot of things the past week. He bought clothes, bags, makeup, hair dye.

He’d bought a lot of things his whole life. He bought his house, his way into school, his car, his reputation, his everything. He bought everything. Even things he didn’t want. His parents bought it for him. “Status”, they called it. He didn’t really get a sense of money unless it was asked for in the thousands. And even then, it was kind of like pocket change.

Like this, there was hardly anything he didn’t buy unless he didn’t like it. When he was young he had toys and books, now he was a little more grown he has clothes and three cars, has housemaids and he has… Everything. He never felt as if he was missing anything. 

The normal, or ‘poor’, kids in school just told him, “You have nothing other than money.” But that was not true. he was very happy with all his money. When he bought things he was happy. When he bought things people could never even dream of having he felt happy. When he bought things he wanted he was happy. He didn’t believe in, “Money can’t buy you happiness”.

“How do you buy Love?”, he asked, sitting up, interested in something that he never had the chance to “buy” before.

He had heard of Love before, many times. In stories, in books, in dramas, all the sappy tearjerkers of men and women torn apart by familial or societal circumstances. But he didn’t think Love was a necessary experience for him because it looked time-consuming and very tragic.

But buying Love?

The stranger coughed and smiled, like he got that question all the time. “We do not exactly sell Love, but rather the experience of Love. Our customers range from curious people who want to know what Love feels like, to people who have fallen out of love and want to relive those beautiful days one last time before they close that chapter of their lives. We market a service, like how you pay for a bungee jump or school tuition.”

“So… You sell the experience of being in love?”

“Yes, exactly,” he smiled. “My name is Aric.” The stranger offered a name card. “If you ever feel bored or need a twist in life you can contact us. We’re available from ten to ten.”

With that, he stood up and bid goodbye. Key watched him as he left, striding out of the cafe into the cold city air. It all happened rather suddenly, what with just a simple latte on his own in the evening.

He didn’t know how long he spent sitting there contemplating what he had been told. “Fallen out of love”, “curious people who want to know”. He fell into neither of those categories, but he was still curious; how they recreated this situation of “love”, and if it really worked. It all sounded like a huge scam and a large part of Key told him it was.

But scams never bothered him much because he only spent money he could afford to lose. And this… This was something different.

Lost in thought, he only realised that an hour had already passed when the waitress approached him telling him it was time to close the shop. He checked his watch, which showed nine-thirty, and he was surprised at how long he’d sat there since Aric left.

He rang his driver, “I want to go home,” and hung up. A few minutes later, his car arrived. The door opened and he stepped into the car, and they drove off. Like this, Key had gotten around all his life. He had never taken any form of public transport, not that he wanted to, and he never really walked more than 200 metres to get to anywhere. Would he be capable of love? Someone who was brought up as selfishly and pampered as he was?

What time did he say they were available until?

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“The Anteros Bureau is an organisation that aims to recreate the experience of being in a perfect relationship that not many people will get to experience. Clientele are able to hire a temporary boyfriend or girlfriend for a span of 3 months to 5 years, depending on how long a contract they are able to afford. Our services are employed by people who want to know what it is like to be loved, those who want to love again, or in cases like yours, those who want to know if they can love,” Jonghyun said smoothly, setting a cup of latte on the table for his customer.

“How did you know why I came?” Key asked, half amazed and half shocked.

“It’s easy to tell, rich kid,” Aric said, nodding at Key’s Armani Exchange shirt. “I don’t think you’ve ever loved.”

Key shifted uncomfortably in his seat and pulled his shirt back by his shoulders. “Well yeah... I haven’t.”

Aric smiled wryly, “Well then, shall we get down to business?” He picked up his pen and clipboard, flipped to an empty page and started scribbling. “What kind of person do you think you’d like?”

“I like confident people,” Key started. “I can’t stand people who don’t carry themselves well. I like people who dress well too.”

“Confident, stylish… Tiffany?” Aric mumbled, scribbling more names.

“I also like people who are honest.”

“None of us are honest here…” Aric muttered again.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, please continue.”

Key thought for a while more. “Someone who is poised on the outside,”

“Poised… Krystal..?”

“But shows a softer inside only to me.”

Aric furrowed his brows. Those were quite demanding expectations for someone who had never dated in his life. But there were not many expectations they were not able to meet, anyway.

“I have a list of names here that I can look through for you to see if they’re taking on any assignments currently,” Aric said, “but I have a tiny suggestion that you can consider, seeing the type of person you seem to be.”

“What type of person do I seem to be?” Key asked.

“Mmmm, even for a man you seem to be used to being taken care of. I don’t think you’ll like a relationship that needs you to take care or be protective of someone, so…”

Key nodded slowly; it was true.

“Rather than have to take care of a girl... Would you like to date a man?”

And that is how I met Castor.

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