"I got you something," I hand her the white teddy bear holding a red heart, hoping for her to like it, and as soon as she catches sight of it, a bright smile forms on her face. She takes it, and the softness this gives to her features alleviates some of my affliction. "This is so cute, Mister Jeon. Thank you so much..."

"Do you like it?" I ask to make sure this is the type that she finds pretty, and she nods, caressing the material of it and smiling at this plush toy. "I love it, I can't even remember last time I got a present," she breaks my heart. "And this is so adorable," she touches the red heart, seeming moved. "I'm relieved."

She draws it closer to her stomach and holds it like a precious gem, her facial expression not exuding anything negative at all anymore. I am happy to be the cause of this delight.

"There's something special about it though," I now tell her, and she takes it back in her hands. "What?"

"Look," I get closer to her so that I can show her, and I turn the teddy bear around, look for the button there is on the back, and I press three times on it for the heart to be removed, and I open the hidden pocket. "Here," I let go of it to take a few bills out of my pocket and push them inside. "You can have your own money and save it now. No one can open it unless they press three times on the back, so Sookyung will never know about this," I reassure her as much as I can, aware of how terrified she is about this matter, and I close the pocket to put the heart back where it was.

"It's so kind of you, Mister Jeon...I don't even know what to say..." she shyly responds, but I do not ask anything in return, I was just hoping to see a smile on her face.

Feeling happy at the sight of her reaction, the emotions readable upon her face, I move forward and press a kiss on her temple, but she dives in my arms to cuddle up against me, and I instantly embrace her body. "How was your day?" I lean back so that she can be more comfortable and rest her head on my chest. "Good, what about yours? Did you have a lot of work to do again?"

"It was fine, but yes, I had a lot of work to do. That's why I was a bit late tonight," I comb her hair to soothe her, feeling like she loves it when I do this. "Oh...You shouldn't go to bed too late then. You need to rest a lot."

"I will, don't worry about me," I leave my hand on the side of her head and lower my chin to look at her face, but she does not lift it up, she toys with the teddy bear. "What did—"

"Sookyung booked a flight for Hawaii in two weeks..." she says out of the blue as if she needed to get it off her chest, and for some reason, I cannot be happy about it. "Why did he?"

"We fought the other day, and since this morning, he's been acting weird. It's like he wants to apologize for not showing me love anymore..." she explains without even fearing to reveal too much. "For how long?"

"Two weeks," she causes distress to my mind again. I do not want to imagine myself coming here and not seeing her for two weeks. Fourteen days are way too long without her. I do not even want to think about it. The worst about it is that I know he is not doing this for her, he does not love her, and he has not treated her like a woman he loves in so long, so why would he suddenly care and feel sorry for being an asshole when he literally complained about the fact that I was not using her for sexual satisfaction the night before?

"And what do you think about it? Are you happy?" I do not give my point my view, but she sighs, making her answer pretty evident with no need to say a single word. "I don't know. I'm not going to see you for two weeks, this is kinda long," she moves away to not rest her body on mine anymore. "Would that sincerely do something to you?"

"A lot..." she nods, never looking up at me as if she did not want to acknowledge it. This means a lot to hear that. I love to know that she feels the same way as I do. "It would for me too."

My words get her to lay eyes on me, and she exudes clear comfort. "Cherry will be there to do all the things that I—"

"But she's not you," I make her understand. "No matter how much I love Cherry, she's not you, and she knows you're the one I want with me."

The eye contact lingering between us, the look into her gorgeous eyes makes it hard for me to not do anything, so I go forward and press a tender kiss on her cheekbone. Then when I look at her features and rub her back, I discern a smile curve the corners of her tempting glossy lips, and she raises her eyes up.

However, her watch rings and interferes with this moment. Knowing who this is from, I cover it with my hand and make sure she does not give attention to it.

"He'll wait," I open the buckle of the strap to take it off of her, and I drop it on the table. "He's going to be mad, Mister Jeon..." she fears the consequences of what I did, so I take my phone out and text him without checking what he told her.

[ she's with me, I'll pay to have her with me for almost the whole night >

< she has to take care of other clients, so not tonight ]

[ I'll pay 2000 tonight >

< it's nothing compared to what other vips would give, so no need to insist ]

[ does that mean she's just a toy you use for money?

I write my text without sending it, clenching my jaw and holding back from making a mistake that might trouble y/n more than me.

I throw my phone on the table and heave a sigh, tired of being powerless. "Are you okay?" she worries about this sudden burst of emotion, but I do not answer this question, I fix my eyes on her. "Y/n..." I hold my hands together, deciding that it is the right time to speak. "Do you remember when I told you I wanted to have a talk with you?"

She moves her head up and down without using any words, so I go ahead. "You know when I was talking about someone who can guarantee you to be safe, earn money and all that stuff, I was—" the door opening in an abrupt manner cuts me off and startles the both of us.

"Y/n," Sookyung stands at the door, so I take hold of her watch. "You get out of here and take care of the other clients that are waiting downstairs," he orders her around like he is used to doing, and y/n stands up right away, obeying. She leans towards the table to look for her watch, so I wrap my hand around her wrist to put it back around it.

"She only stayed here for five minutes, why does she have to leave already?" I complain about this change of habit, knowing what he is doing since yesterday's conversation.

/ flashback \

Monday, July 19th, 2021.

9 pm.

"Jungkook, my good friend," Sookyung puts his arm on my shoulders to greet me, being fake as always. "How are you doing?"

"Good," I do not return the question, smoking my cigarette and focusing on that only while waiting for one woman only. I do not care about how he is feeling, he does not even deserve my attention. "Why? What brings you here?" I suspect an issue, and he takes his arm away to put his hands in his pockets and reflect my posture. "Nothing. I just wanted to know how everything's going with you," he shrugs but does not seem honest, making me wonder what is the real matter that he is hiding.

I glance away, showing no concern, and I look for the one who should be out of the changing room soon.

"How is it going with y/n?" he finally lets it out, broaching the topic he wanted to talk about. "What do you think of her?"

"It's going well, why? Has she said anything about me?" I turn my head towards him to breathe the smoke out in his face, but he does not look at me, he only checks what some of the employees are doing. "She hasn't. I'm just personally wondering about something."

"What is it?" I tap the ash off my cigarette to bring it back to my lips, and he emits some noise of complaint. "I don't know. Why do you never ask for services from her?" he gets to it, nearly sounding annoyed. "I mean, the other VIPs are always asking for her, but you've never paid for more than her time."

"Is it bad?" I hold my cigarette down to free my lungs from the toxic air, and he eventually makes eye contact. No sympathy but only disdain is perceivable in his stare. "Well. Not bad but odd. You know, just because we're friends doesn't mean you should be afraid to ask for a service from her. I won't be mad at you. Unless the problem is the price, I'll lower it for you if you need."

"I don't even know the prices, but I don't care. I don't want to pay someone to satisfy my sexual needs," I tell him the truth, loathing him and the way he treats his girlfriend, this one woman I would give everything to if I could. "Why? Y/n would be happy to do it, she loves her job a lot."

This is such a lie, and he is so disgusting for pushing me to do it and use his girlfriend.

I sigh to let the smoke out of my mouth and glance down at my formal shoes. I do not want to keep arguing with him.

"I'll bring the price of oral sex lower if you want, or a lap dance, it's very popular, but I'll—"

"I said no," I cut him off and look in his eyes to make myself clear. "I don't want to. Spending time with her to talk is enough."

"Alright then," he gets that I will not change my mind and drops it, so now that it is over, I stub my cigarette out. "You cannot be the most important VIP anymore if you only ask for her time," he dares to side with those perverted bastards, and without even hearing anything more from me, he glances down at my watch and smirks. "You'll get another girl—"

"Honey!" a familiar voice that I have not heard in a while puts an end to this tense interaction, and I whirl around but see the one woman I missed like ever. Cherry. A bright smile momentarily grows on my face, and she lifts her arms up while heading towards me, so I take her in an embrace and press my lips on her jawline. "Cherry, I missed you so much," I hug her tight, loving the scent of her fragrance, her hair.

"I missed you too, and look at you," she pulls away to pass her fingers through my hair. "This color fits you a lot, you're even more gorgeous," she makes it difficult to not be affected by her sincere compliments, and I  avert my eyes from her but affectionately rub her waist with my thumb. "You're gorgeous too."

"I'm coming back after checking up on the girls, alright?" she combs my hair with her long nails as her lips turned up, so I nod and smile to let her go. I watch her walk away in her high heels, being beautiful no matter what she does.

/ end of flashback \

I keep my stare fixed on him but stand up as y/n is heading up to him, and I pronounce her name while looking into his eyes, then drift my attention to her when I see her stop and turn around. "Don't do anything you don't want to. Tell me if one of the men forces you to do anything. Alright?"

She lowers her head but nods, and I stay quiet while watching her go. Once she is not within sight anymore, Sookyung follows her but slams the door behind him, leaving me all alone again.

I came here to see her only, so if I do not have the right to be with her again, I will either have to ignore his rules, or not come anymore.

A sigh escapes my mouth as the anger filled me, and I drop my body on the sofa behind me. I do not even know what happened to her earlier, I can only be certain that he hurt her a lot.

30 minutes later...

The music banging against the walls to reverberate through the whole nightclub, I lean over the high table to tap the ash off my cigarette and steal a look at y/n, who is standing on one spot and waiting to be called or given a task.

Once I lay my eyes back on something else, the temptation runs through my veins and obliges me to glance at y/n again, loving her behavior, even when she does not do anything. I watch her check her surroundings, the clients, and I bring the cigarette to my lips, trap it in-between them, and take a puff.

Her body fidgeting out of discomfort in her high heels, her sparkling eyes meet mine and catch me staring from a distance, but none of us break this eye contact, we only prolong it.

As if this had an effect on her, she does not move from an inch anymore, and we both stare deep into each other's eyes. The music slowing down, the red and blue lights fading to darken the room, her features blur in it, so I gaze down at her legs and feet to check if she is in pain but discern how difficult it seems to be for her to stay up on her feet.

Once the lights go back to their normal shades, I breathe the smoke out and set my eyes back on hers, but she glances down, and her body language exudes some restlessness. Since she is not returning it, I get my attention on the ashtray to clear the tip of my cigarette, and I take a long drag on it right afterwards, feeling the relaxation it brings me and not caring about the toxic side of it.

I let everything out once my lungs cannot take much more, and I straighten my back to be in a proper posture. Out of thirst, I take a sip of my drink and gaze at y/n to make sure she is not around any men, but as soon as I land eyes on her, I realize that she was already staring, and I cannot help but smile at the quick reaction that got her to throw her look in another direction.

I cannot stand this no longer.

I finish my cigarette to stub it out, and I drink some more of the cocktail, keep the glass in my hand, and head towards her.