No apology
He'll never see you cry
Pretend he doesn't know
That he's the reason why
You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning

ALICE

I stare in disbelief at the words that just came out of his mouth. I get to choose. Choose who basically imprisons me, who BOUGHT me. Ugh why do I always attract the weird ones.

"Okay, if I get to decide can I have a moment to myself." Every one of them looks at Mr. Ichinomiya who begrudgingly nods at me.

"Make it quick, or I will decide instead." What a gentleman. They watch me as I move across to the other side of a room, towards a window and I stare at them in return.

"So I have a choice," I whisper to myself, fully aware that they can see my lips moving. "I have one of five options, well six if you consider being sold to someone else an option." I shiver at the thought. I look at the detective, slightly messy dark grey hair, 5 o'clock shadow, a cigarette hanging in his mouth, a plain grey suit that seems fitting for most detective movies; he seems disinterested by what's going on. "I could have a slacker detective or the womanizing thief." I look at Baba, red suit, black pants with a striking white tie to contrast the ensemble, a hat neatly sitting on his brown hair and a smile plastered across his face as we make eye contact; he winks. "Who's very confident in his skills. I could pick the scary looking mobster or the boyish, strange artist." I look at Ota Kisaki and Soryu, they are striking opposites. Ota: blonde, boyish smile, bright eyes and a blue pinstripe shirt hanging openly over a plain white shirt, a necklace noticeable against his pale skin. Soryu: dark mood, dark features. His eyes shoot daggers at me while he sits cross legged and arms crossed. "Or last but not least, the "Jack Frost" of the group." Mr. Ichinomiya sits cooly, calculating and getting annoyed. His features handsomely chiseled against a fitting suit. "How the fuck am I going to choose." I sigh.

"Time's up." I look over at them and see them waiting, some more excited than others. "I will not wait any longer. Choose." I quickly run things over in my head, maybe if I ask them questions I can make up my mind.

"May I ask each of you a question first?" Mr. Ichinomiya seems more annoyed than before but Baba answers first.

"Well, it would be rude not to let you." I nod, slightly thankful for his charming demeanor.

"Detective," He blows a puff of smoke out the window. "You seem pretty disinterested in this affair even though you know it's illegal, why allow these to happen when you could easily arrest them?" He places a hand on his head.

"Jeez kid, you are a headache. You don't know half of what you are saying, so you wouldn't even comprehend my reasons." Yeah, I'm 24 and am not a child.

"Baba," he bows in response to his name, "How many woman would I have to watch you chase, if I were to choose you?" He seems surprised by my question. He places one hand on his chin, trying to think of an answer but the fact that he had to even think made it clear to me. "Sorry, time's up." He looks at me in surprise, a chuckle coming from behind him. "Mr. Kisaki, what would I be to you?"

"You would be my pet, of course." What the fuck? "I would look after you, clean you, feed you and you would obey me." I hold up a hand to stop him.

"Yeah, okay. That's some kinky shit." He looks away, looking slightly upset. "Mr. Mob Boss, would I be in any danger?"

"Why would you be? It's not like you would be going anywhere or doing anything. You would be under 24/7 surveillance because I don't trust woman like you." So in other words, on ball and chain. No thank you.

"Mr. Ichinomiya." He glares at me but I try not to let it dissuade me. "How normal would my life be, if you bought me?" I emphasis my distaste for the word.

"I don't care. You will obey what I ask, when I ask but other than that, I really don't care what you do with your life." So basically, he would be my boss. Choice seems pretty easy but before I say the word, Mr. Ichinomiya stands up and grabs my wrist. "No more games, I've decided for you." He drags me from the room.

EISUKE

Her attitude was beginning to annoy me. I doubt she even realised that we couldn't let her go because we don't trust her to not say anything to anyone; if she did there would be no telling what would happen. She sits on the bed with a pillow on her lap, the nightgown was short but I'm not wanting that from her.

"Take off your gown." Her blue eyes widen at my command, but she doesn't budge.

"You can't do that to me, I do not consent." Her response angers me, why would I want that from her? I could have my pick of woman much more beautiful than her.

"I don't think you understand." My glare becomes very cold, she squirms a little. "I own you. When I say something, the only response you are allowed is 'yes' or 'okay'; when I order you to do something you have 5 five seconds to do it, do you understand that?" Her eyes narrow in defiance but she nods. "Good. Now show me your chest."

I expect her to question or refuse but her actions throw me off my guard, I do my best to hide it.

"This good enough for ya?" Instead of meekly obeying, she decides to yank the gown and expose her cleavage. She would almost be fun if she was half interesting. She doesn't any burns on her chest and I got my answer. Without saying another word, I leave her in the room.

"Fucken jackass." Was all I hear behind me as I close the door, her anger bringing a slight smile to my face. She's definitely intriguing, maybe I could find a good use for her.

I am met with the other guys waiting outside of the room with interested smiles on their faces.

"What are you idiots smiling about?" I fold my arms and throw them all a glare. Soryu tilts his head at me.

"What are you going to do with her?" I turn my head towards the noise coming from the room. "She's got a mouth on her."

"I think I have the perfect idea what to do with her." I smile coldly at them.

ALICE

Giant, egotistical prick! I watch as he leaves the room, cursing him as he goes. I curl up under the blankets, making extra sure I make a mess of it and look out at the beautiful scenery that's stretched out before me because I highly doubt I would be allowed to leave tonight.

When I flashed Mr. Ichinomiya, he just stared and left; not in embarrassment but more disappointment. My mother always said I had a foul mouth but I wanted him to hear every single word I could say, I didn't even hide it when I called him a jackass when he left. Yet, I can hear him telling the rest of the guys that he has an idea on what to do with me. He doesn't let things go easy, no surprise as he does belong to the Ichinomiya Group but doesn't explain his reasons for holding onto me. Suddenly, Mr. Kisaki and Baba appear in the doorway with smiles on their faces.

"Wow, the bed's a mess. He already had his way with you?" They seem more amused than they should be.

"Mr. Kisaki? Mr..." Mr. Kisaki just laughs.

"He's done such a good job that she's forgotten you, Baba."

"My full name is Mitsunari Baba, you can call me whatever you like my dear." I throw myself back onto the pillows.

"What do you two want?"

"Ignored." Mr. Kisaki nudges Baba in the ribs but he doesn't seemed swayed.

"All we have to do is get to know each other, Ota. What is your name?" I roll my eyes.

"Really, it's been nearly an hour after you dragged me up here and you want to know my name NOW?" They smile at me, waiting. "Ugh, my name is Alice Wallace. Now either tell me what you want or else let me go to sleep." They look at each other in amazement.

"We were told to show you around, pretty irresponsible for Eisuke not to take care of his own things, right? Almost like an owner who neglects his pet." Yes, you have a strange fetish, I get it. Baba looks at me, stroking his chin as if he's trying to recall something.

"You work here, don't you?"

"Yes, Sherlock. You both met me earlier today," I point a finger at Baba. "I also blame you for this mess." Well, not just you. He takes a step back, raising his hands in defence. "If it wasn't for you, I would have gotten my job done before those men came into the basement and I would be in my own bed right now." Baba suddenly smiles.

"So you have bad luck?" I look at him in shock and hang my head.

"Yeah, guess you could say that."

"But now you have met five stunning princes, so I guess in a way, I changed your luck around." I laugh at his comment, more like five prison guards.

"Eisuke's more a dictator than a prince." Ota points out with a smile. I seriously cannot understand how these guys are so chill with everything. "What do you think?"

"You want the truth?" They nod. "He seems like he needs to be brought down a peg or two. He's cold, entitled and acts like he has shit on his shoe when he talks to certain people. He has money and likes to flaunt the fact that he can do whatever he wants because he can just pay whatever the price is." They look almost surprised.

"He did just buy you for $20 million." Ota tucks a stray strand of hair behind his ear. "But you cannot speak a work of it to anyone, okay?" I nod and get a smile in return. "Good girl."

EISUKE

I sit on the couch in the living room, listening to what Baba and Ota were saying to her, to Alice.

"You want the truth? He seems like he needs to be brought down a peg or two. He's cold, entitled and acts like he has shit on his shoe when he talks to certain people. He has money and like to flaunt the fact that he can do whatever he wants because he can just pay whatever the price is." Her response both surprises and angers me but she does have the attitude that would fit well in for what I have planned, with some fine tuning, of course.

I pay little attention to them as they walk through my living room but I notice that Alice has taken the comforter off my bed and wrapped it around herself. Who told her she could be in my bed? Even though, she tries to hide her reactions to the penthouse, I could see the slight changes in her voice when they showed her each room of the 52nd floor.

"If you ever want to see what the other rooms look like, feel free to come by my room." I watch her shoulders redden by the comment from Baba, he should know better than to try and play with my possessions.

"Hmmm, thanks but I think I'll make do." Baba just smiles at her response. He should be used to being shut down by woman by now, he takes her hand and beacons for her to follow him downstairs; leaving me to my work.

ALICE

I end up sleeping still wrapped up in the comforter. When the morning sun shines through and wakes me up, I notice that, at sometime last night, my clothes I was wearing yesterday are folded on an armchair in the corner. I quickly change and notice the white glove that Mr. Ichinomiya dropped the day before, how funny was fate to create this form of ripple effect. After I change I go into the living room and see Mr. Ichinomiya reading off his laptop, drinking a cup of coffee. My stomach grumbles when I smell the sweet aroma and it's loud enough for him to notice. Crap.

"Good morning, Mr. Ichinomiya." I give a slight bow, as I learnt is a customary way to say hello in Japan. "You dropped this yesterday at the party." I raise the glove up so he could see it. "Such a small thing caused such a big problem." I throw it onto the table by his laptop, anger quickly shooting across his face before it shifts back to his normal cold look.

"You'll be going to work from here, for now." His voice void of emotion.

"Okay." It was first thing in the morning and I didn't want to argue, yet I did want to see what buttons I could push. Sure enough, surprise was what I was granted before he curtly nods at me.

"You can use the same room as last night. Anything else you need, come and let me know. You will return to work and go about your job as usual until I figure out a good use for you." He waves a dismissive hand and I turn to leave. I wonder what he was talking about last night.

I go down to the locker room and am changing into my uniform, thinking about the hectic evening before and feel my blood boil when a loud voice brings me back.

"Alice? Are you okay? You disappeared yesterday and all of a sudden we were told that you went home not feeling well." Kaya looks slightly worried about me, her forehead furrows.

"Yeah, I don't think I got a lot of sleep the other night, I had a terrible headache." I feel sick with myself lying to my friend but it's to protect her. When I left the penthouse this morning, Baba told me that I was to say I felt unwell and had to go home early. Normally I don't take sick days but I guess being the purchase in a black market auction changes things. "But I am alright now." I smile at her, not wanting Kaya to worry too much. "Let's go to the meeting."

Every morning we have a meeting so that each department knows what they should be doing and are updated on things to be improved upon. Mrs. Kenzaki, the general manager, gives us our daily instructions.

"We have many important guests staying with us due to the I.V.C, those of you on the front desk, make sure you pay special attention to them, we want them to keep coming back and refer our hotel to their colleagues. Clerks, your smile is the first thing our guests see; treat them as you would wish to be treated. While this event is happening the cleaning staff will place flower arrangements in every room, after they have had a long day the first thing they would want to do is relax and we want to make sure their private rooms are nice and relaxing." Mrs. Kenzaki is always on top of everything, big or small, she makes sure all the staff is doing their job the best they can and that all the guests are happy so no matter what issues I have going on right now, I need to make sure I do my job at 110%.

The lobby is decorated more extravagantly than anything I have ever seen before, our uniforms seem so plain compared to all the stylish guests; I see Mr. Ichinomiya surrounded by women like usual. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the attention but then he is used to being fawned over like a prince so the attention must get pretty boring after a while. He walks away from the group of woman towards the penthouse elevator, with a woman on his arm. She was beautiful: tall, long black hair, natural make up and breasts the size of melons but the smile on her face made her look as silly as the hoard that follows him. There is no way that idiot is his girlfriend? I shake my head in surprise and try to think of a logical reason why I think that, to eliminate jealousy. Mr. Ichinomiya is too much of a handful for someone so... ditzy or is he actually nice to her? I feel a shock down my spine as Mr. Ichinomiya sees me watching him, he makes eye contact and I tense up nervously; he never even paid attention to me this morning so eye contact is a shocker. Shit, now I have to deal with him after work...great. I sigh and continue to the linen room.

I go around all the guests rooms, cleaning and checking like every day with a fellow maid but this time we place flower arrangements in all of them. The flowers are beautiful and the guests would love them, Mrs. Kenzaki definitely has an eye for detail.

"How ya going, Alice?" I look up and see Lexi's big smile poking through the door, her green blue eyes shining with excitement.

"Good, how's your end of the spectrum?" She exaggerates wiping sweat off her brow. "The flowers are definitely going to make the guests happy, they are amazing! But the extra amount of work we have to do to make sure everything is perfect is exhausting, would kill for a pie right now." I laugh at her, even when she's super busy Lexi still has time to smile and joke.

"The rooms are looking great." The hotel concierge, Takashiro stands behind Lexi, examining the room we just finished. "Keep up the great work. You are what makes our hotel stand out. Lexi smiles warmly at him, she's secretly crushed on him from day one and who could blame her; he pays everyone individual attention and always makes his staff feel valued. We all enter the hallway and go our separate ways as Erika comes into view.

"Good luck." Lexi places a hand on my shoulder. She has it easy, me? I seem to bring the worst out of people.

"I heard you left work early yesterday, Alice?" She folds her arms and looks me up and down. Her two parrots standing behind her. "It must be nice being a maid for regular guests because if your in charge of the V.I.P's you can't afford a day off." She looks almost upset by this, I start to feel sorry for her. "But even if you are an ordinary maid, you shouldn't be such a slacker."

"Yeah, a slacker!" Yup, those feelings popped faster than they arrived.

"I was sick, Erika. Or would you rather me cough, sneeze and be sick all over the guest rooms?" She looks horrified at the thought.

"If you were that sick, why didn't you go back to the staff dormitory?" I ball my fists at her questioning, what's it to her anyway?

"Is your life that boring that you got to poke your nose around mine?" I sharply respond. I can't say where I was but I had to say something otherwise I looked like I was hiding something. Which I am. "I was at the hospital." Erika raises an eyebrow.

"I don't believe you for a second. You are so.. so.." She tries to think of a word when a voice calls from behind me.

"Alice, there you are." We turn to see Ota and Baba coming towards us and Erika bows deeply to greet them.

"It's the famous artist Ota Kisaki."

"The other guy looks like he's famous too." Rina and Kana both have their hands to their mouths in shock. If only Kaya and Lexi could see them look this stunned, it would definitely make their day.

"Hey guys." I wave out to them. Erika glares at me.

"How do you know Mr. Kisaki?" She searches my face for an answer, I am almost stunned as I haven't got a good one that wouldn't get me in trouble.

"We have something we need to talk to you about." Baba swoops in to save me. "Will you come with us?" I nod, they are guests so nobody, not even Erika, can argue if I was to leave to help them. Ota smiles, grabs my hand and pulls me towards the elevator.

"Ugh, why does Alice get to go to the penthouse? She's not even that special." I hear Erika and I smile to myself. Oh, if only you knew.