The room itself was lovely and when Naty walked in she was met with lovely scents. She had never been to a hotel so luxurious in the states. It contained a single, king-sized bed that looked to have the most comfortable bedding set. There was also a large window with beautiful curtains she knew she could take lovely pictures in front of. A flat screen hung on the wall next to a desk with a beautiful mirror. There were bedside tables, a mini fridge, and a comfortable couch to lounge on. The closet even had a complimentary robe and pajama set!

Everything was just so…luxurious!

Naty felt the immediate urge to jump on the bed but decided she would take a shower and change before doing such. She put her luggage on the ground and opened it only to find that it had been gone through. A steel knife of nervousness stabbed her gut. Was that what took Fred so long? Had he been going through her stuff?

A knock on the door captured her attention. For a moment she was frozen. The sick, gross feeling of a man touching her belongs made her unable to move. Naty felt violated and horrified. She did not sign up for that.

The knock came again and she let out a sigh. Perhaps if it was a member of the hotel staff that she could ask to take her items to be washed. It would be the only thing to make her feel at ease.

Naty looked through the peep hole and found that it was not hotel staff but two women with masks on. She called out, "Who is it?"

"Fred said he told you we'd stop by," one of them answered.

Oh, it was a different kind of staff.

Naty opened the door and stepped to the side so they could enter, "Good evening."

Only one of them took off her mask in time to smile a reply to her. They walked into the room as if it belonged to them. Naty felt like an intruder on their private space. She shut the door and reminded herself that she had been asked to be there. She had been invited. That made her welcome.

"So, I am Ashley," the one that smiled spoke as she sat down on one side of the couch.

"I'm Tara," the other one spoke as she took off her mask, "And you're the famous Natalia Higuera."

"I wouldn't say I'm famous. It's nice to meet you," Naty immediately noticed the two had accents like Chan's. She took the chair that belonged to the desk to avoid sitting on her bed with airport clothes, "Fred said you would be here in an hour."

"Right, we thought it better if we got a chance to talk to you immediately," Tara spoke with a tone that seemed to imply that she was not very pleased.

"I'm sure Chris broke the news that we uncovered your little plan," Ashley, though nicer, seemed just as upset as Tara.

Naty furrowed her brows, "What plan? He just asked me to come and said he would pay for the travel arrangements. I didn't know it would be an issue."

The two looked at one another. It seemed as if they were trying to determine if they should believe Naty. Tara did not, "That sounds very likely."

"It's true. If my being here is an issue then I'll just leave. I'll find another hotel room somewhere else and just go to the shows," Naty was already fed up.

"Let's not go that far," Ashley's tone softened, "You have to understand that we had no idea you would be coming. The Kids tried to get a few people here behind our backs. No one knew you would even be here until this morning. It wasn't until we realized a few rooms on the floor were booked by strangers that we were able to do some damage control."

"I wouldn't call the fit they through over her damage control," Tara mumbled.

"I'm sorry. I'm totally confused. If you don't want me here then why am I here?" Naty felt her mind spinning.

"Oh, come on," Tara rolled her eyes.

"The Kids threatened some ridiculous things they just might go through with if you weren't allowed to stay in the hotel. That being said, we'll need to take your phone now," Ashley spoke seriously.

Naty shook her head, "I'll get a flight out of here. I'm not giving my phone."

"Just give us your phone. We can't risk you leaking anything to your followers. If a scandal breaks out it could ruin Stray Kids. Them achieving their success is our only priority. Just give the phone and sign this," Tara unrolled what appeared to be an NDA with a pen.

"I'll sign this but I'm not giving my phone," Naty spoke as she scanned the legal document to make sure it didn't have anything too ridiculous on it.

Tara opened her mouth to say something but Ashely cut her off, "It's fine. If she leaks anything…we'll just tell everyone she's a sasaeng."

The word made Naty's blood run cold, "I was invited here."

"You were basically smuggled in here," Tara took the NDA that Naty signed and looked over it with satisfaction, "I don't know what relationship you think you have with Chris but we won't let you ruin his career. We have every right to throw you off this property after you made him miss his flight last year. The only reason we even allowed you here this far is because you made no mention of the incident on your Instagram."

"I didn't make him miss his flight and I can just leave right now. I don't deserve to be treated his way. Chan and I are just friends. I didn't make him miss anything and I didn't trick anyone into inviting me here. He called me and if this is too much of an issue then I'll just go home," Naty felt her insides shaking.

The two women were silent for a moment. They seemed to be weighing her words and calculating possible outcomes if she did leave. Something made them rethink and Ashley spoke, "You're not going anywhere. You'll stay here and watch the shows as planned but there will be no catching up and no dinners afterward. The Kids really want you to be here so we'll honor that but our job is to protect them and their image. We cannot have another airport photo scandal going around again. We don't want to be horrible people but we will be if we have to."

Tara smirked at that, "We'll be your point of contact for the duration of your stay here. Anything you need is on us. Order room service as much as you'd like and get yourself a massage. Enjoy the spa. But do not talk to the Kids unsupervised. Understood?"

Naty swallowed hard. It had been a long time since someone made her feel two-feet tall but suddenly there she was with her feet swinging off the chair. She wished that any of her friends were present and she immediately thought of Axel and what he might do in the situation.

"Understood?"

"Absolutely," Naty put on her biggest Axel smile, "I'll take you up on that massage. I'd like it booked for tomorrow at 9 am. I know Fred went through my belongs so I expect all of my clothes to be fully dry cleaned and returned before that time. Understood?"

Ashley smirked while Tara narrowed her eyes in anger, "Understood."

The women stood and Naty removed items she needed from her luggage before zipping it up and giving it to them. Tara took the handle of the rolling back before looking into Naty's eyes, "Don't make an enemy out of us, Ms. Higuera."

"I wouldn't dream of. Have a lovely night," she smiled and then happily slammed the door shut.

Naty slowly walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on to its hottest temperature. That feeling she had been trying to evade was present and she could not get it away. She took in a deep breath and immediately began to cry.

She didn't know if it was an anxiety attack or panic attack but she knew she was crying and could not get herself to stop. Naty wiped at her face as much as she could but the tears were unstoppable. She always remarked how different these tears were to her regular ones. They felt slick and hot and had a different viscosity she couldn't describe. All she knew was that if she didn't ground herself she would only get worse.

Naty took off her clothes and quickly got in the shower. The feeling of the hot water helped her to relax and she grabbed some of the complimentary soaps to smell and distract her. Her knees were a little too weak and so she decided to take a seat in the tub while the shower water flowed over her. She shut her eyes and wrapped her arms around her own body while she counted and took deep breaths. She asked herself, what does my body need?

The answer was food and hydration.

Naty turned off the water and found comfort in the fresh towel and the robe she wrapped around herself. The tears slowed but her body was still shaking as she walked to the phone. There was a menu that she gazed through and was able to quickly make a decision when asked what she needed. She then quickly got dressed in the complimentary pajamas and, with her hair wrapped in a fresh towel, jumped completely beneath the blankets.

When she had calmed down enough…Naty felt embarrassed by her outburst. It was the long flight and she wasn't exactly used to so much conflict or hostility. She was confused and felt out of control in her confusion. She felt sick and thought it might be best for her to just go home.

No, it was too soon to decide such a thing. She needed to eat and then sleep and then decide how she felt in the morning. Naty did have to admit…it was nice to see Chan even for the moment.

A knock on the door promised her food had arrived. Naty quickly got up and retrieved it with a sincere thank you. Getting complimentary room service was pretty nice too.