-[Chapter 1: Tres Sprades]-
I'm sitting on the stage in the cage, handcuff on my both hand and in front of many people. I hate this. I was being trick. I shouldn't have gone. Or else this would never happen. I should've just escape. I should have killed them. Or I shouldn't have been clumsy and broke that vest.
"…Why is this happening…?"
I'm working in Tres Sprades. I was a maid here. I have no choice but to work here. Almost every day, some of the girls always bully me. I'm used to it. They just jealous that I got to work for the VIP room for VIP guest. They got to work on the regular room.
"All right, let's do our best today!"
"Yes, sir!"
I get out of the meeting room and walk to the elevator. It leads me to the VIP floor. Just as I was going to exit the elevator, the 2 guy was carrying the vest. It looks very expensive. And with their hurry, we bumped into each other and the vest drop to the ground. It breaks. The two of them look at me angrily. Very angry.
"Girl, what do you think you are doing, bumped into us?!"
"This vest is very expensive! Do you know how much it cost?!"
"Um…no?"
Two of them grow angry even more, but I don't really care just until they tell the cost of the vest, "10 million! Do you think you can repay us for that!?"
(…T-ten million?! What?!)
"Crap, now what? The vest's broken and we don't have anything for the auction!"
(Auction…? What are they talking about?)
"Hm…" The man looks at me up and down. "She's going to be in the auction."
"What…?"
"…You're right…"
"Girl, you are gonna be so useful on this…"
The two of them come into the elevator, holding my arms and press the top floor button. I have no choice but to follow them. I can kill them later. They enter the storeroom. They push the button behind the curtain. The door appears. They lead me in there and it appears to be an auction market. A secret door. I don't really know what to do.
"This girl here curses a lot of trouble. She's going to be the item for the auction tonight."
(Oh god… I should have escape!)
"Come this way." A woman drags me behind the stage. The handcuff was on my both hands. At that time, I don't know what will happen to me.
I'm on the stage with lots of people seated. There's a VIP seat above the room, too. Amidst the enthusiastic chatter of the crowd, suddenly a bright spotlight shines down upon me. I'm locked inside the cage and can't really move. The masked audience stares at me.
(Arghhh… I hate this cage.) I sigh.
"And now for the last item up for bid, our grand finale!" The auctioneer says, "A young, healthy, beautiful women!"
(Urgh…)
"Keep her as your slave, keep her as a toy… Do whatever you please with her… It's truly up to you!" He says, "And now we'll start the bidding."
The masked audience raises their numbers one by one in their circular area, "I have $1 million from #5. $3.4 million from #30!" auctioneer says, "$6.5 million from #24!"
The masked audience looks at each other. Some of them were on the phone and some of them staring at me. I feel tense. I can't even believe I was up for the auction.
"$10 million from #5 going once…"
($10 million…?!)
Seat number 5 is right in front of the stage. That man was a greasy old creep. He is a creepy old man. If he's going to buys me…
(Wait… what?! He's not going to buy me! I definitely don't want that to happen. That old creep…)
The man is seat number 5 leers at me. "$10 million, going twice!"
(What is he going to do to me if he buys me with that much money?) I thought.
"If there are no other bids, she will be sold to the man in seat number 5."
(Oh god…) I close my eyes in nervous and can't even imagine what will happen next.
Just then, the auction hall suddenly buzzes with commotion. "Seat #100 with a bid of $20 million!"
"W-what…?!" I gasp.
($20 million?! That's crazy!) My mouth was almost open in surprise.
"Are there any more bids?!"
Through my surprise expression, I see the bid amount flash on the screen. All I can do is staring up at the sum of the winning bid, completely dumbfounded.
A bell sounds, calling the auction to a close. "Sold to the man in seat #100 for $20 million!"
(Someone bought me for $20 million…?! Whoa… I hope he's a good guy.)
My cage is carried over to the edge of the stage. I get out of the cage as soon as they release the handcuff in my both hands. As soon as I get out of that tense cage, two masked men approach me. "…This way."
(…Well, at least that sleazy old man didn't end up buying me.) I sigh in relieve. (But where are they going to take me?)
I feel totally numb from this unbelievable situation, and I end up being taken to the…
I brought to a room on a higher floor than the VIP room. Penthouse. Out of all the hotel employees, only the manager is ever allowed to come up here.
(Penthouse… The auctions going on in the hotel secrete door, huh…)
"We bought her."
Three men sit on the sofa, their legs crossed. "We bought you."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"He means we won you at the auction."
"For $20 million. The boss must've gotten dragged into it, too." Those two men who just bought me here take off their masks, revealing themselves.
"Ota…Kisaki?" I say the name of the angelic artist. He's the famous artist here. Everyone knows who he is. Even my friends do.
"Bing bong! That's right!" He smiles.
"And the stranger guy…"
Ota laugh, "Pfft, she doesn't even know your name, Baba."
"Well… boss buys her anyway." He grinned.
"Wait here… I shouldn't have been up for the auction!" I said.
"Anything and everything's for sale at that auction." Baba grinned.
Ota said, "Yep. You can buy stolen art, secret information about politicians… Even hire a hitman."
"If there's someone out there to buy it, you can sell it. There are no rules." Baba says, "This is actually the first time a person's ever been auctioned off, though."
"You must've done something pretty bad, huh?" Ota said.
I sigh silently to myself, (I broke the vest in the elevator… but the auction…)
"But I think there's no way an auction like this would ever be allowed here." I said. "Who in the world would've approve-"
"I did." The guy name Eisuke said.
"What?"
"If it's worth anything, it's here." He smirks.
"You're reckless as always. This woman isn't worth anything." The one name Soryu said.
"But won't it be fun thinking up ways to use her?"
"Hm… good idea." The red hair guy smile evilly.
"What gives you the right to decide that?" I don't really know if I could kill them right here. I tense up a lot here, with 6 guys staring at me.
"…Who gave you permission to speak?"
(…Argh.)
"Don't open your mouth unless I say so."
Soryu smirk, "If you gotta problem with it, would you rather go back to #5?"
"…" I got silence. I rather die than be sold to that scary, nasty old man. And with that, I shake my head.
"C'mon now, Boss… Soryu… You should be nice to girls." Baba grinned. "Plus, we need to figure it out who gets to keep her."
"Ohh… I'm pretty fond with her already…" The red hair man grinned teasingly.
"Elsword, just let her decide who gets to buy her first, and you can play with her." Eisuke smirk.
"Who gets to keep me? Is one of you going to buy me?"
"That's right. But there's nothing to be afraid. If I buy you, that is." Baba smirks. "I'm the only good guy here, so you can rest easy with me."
"Says the world-famous thief. But you would say that, huh?"
"…Thief?"
"You're just trying to lower Baba's stock." Ota says. "Eisuke, you've got tons of groupies. Just play with one of them."
Eisuke smirk, "Soryu's the one who could have his pick. I'm sure there are lots of women who'd do anything to be the lover of a Hong Kong mobster."
"Hong Kong…mobster?" I speechless for a moment, but then I pull myself together. "I don't care who you are. Human trafficking is illegal. I'm going to report this to the police!"
"Hey Els, you see cop anywhere?" Baba said.
"Yeah, right over there." Elsword turn his gaze to a worn-out looking man standing by the window, smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, don't just blow my cover like that!" He says.
"Better now than later. Right, Mr. Detective?" Ota smirk.
"Grow up, Kisaki." The man sighs.
"There you go again, always acting like you're only adult here." Ota grinned.
(He's a detective…?)
"You're a detective?" I ask.
"Yeah, well." He speaks like he doesn't care.
(…Even a police are on this?!) I stare on the ground. (I hate this… I want them to let me go.)
"Doesn't look like we're going to reach a decision any time soon." Ota said.
All the guys except for the guy name Kishi stand up and saunter over to me. The guy name Eisuke stands in the center with his arms crossed, looking down at me with cold eyes. "Make a decision. I'll let you choose who buys you."
(…Well…) I look around them. But I stop at the guy name Elsword. He smiles at me. I feel like I know him somewhere. And yet his smile makes me trust him. Not really… but a little trust that he's not going to do something bad to me.
"I choose Elsword…" I pointed at him.
"Well, Els. She wants you." Baba grinned.
"Just as I expected." Eisuke said.
"Sore loser?" Soyu said.
"Yeah, right."
Elsword stare at me silently. He brings his face close to mine our lips almost touching. I back away and he laughs with amusement. "You're perfect. Just right!"
Baba sighs in disappointment, "Aww… she is very cute. I wanna be the one who got to take care of her…"
"Yeah… I wanna play with her just a little…" Ota's expression changes to disappointment. I don't really care. I rather just escape and go back to my normal life.
"Well, time to go." Elsword suddenly carry me in his arms and walk to the staircase. I hesitate, but he just holds me tighter. "Don't struggle. Or I'll drop you." He smirks.
(…I wanna escape as fast as I can. If I have a chance.) I thought. (This guy… is he someone I know?)
I stare at him while he carries me up to the staircase. He chuckles, "What? You already fall for me?"
"No…?!" I turn my face away.
"Go, Els!" Baba smile.
"Looks like tomorrow, you're not gonna be here." Ota smirk. "Enjoy your night."
"As if they would do something like that. W omens are such pain." Soryu sigh. "Good thing that she didn't pick me."
"Well, that's over." Eisuke said. "Let's play card."
"Yeah! I bet I'll win this time." Ota smile. "Hey, Elsword. Join us if you done with that girl."
"I will." He laughs. He walks to his room with me in his arm and with his teasing face. "Hey. You have to stay in my room tonight."
"What…?"
"I'll explain it later." He smirks.
There's only me and him in his room. There are 2 beds. I feel relive that there're 2 beds. He smirks when he sees my expression, "What if there was only 1 bed?"
"N-nothing." I turn my face away and look at the window. The view caught my eye. We're so high that I can see my apartment from here. Elsword pull my hand and lead me to bed. He sit me down and stare at me silently like he did before. I got tense and look down. He laughs silently and sit down next to me. "Hey, what's your name?"
"…Eve."
"Eve…huh…" He nod and smile. "That's a good name. Nice to meet you, anyway."
"Yeah…"
"So, why are you in that auction? You get in trouble or something?" He ask.
I sigh. "I broke the vest that cost $10 million."
"Whoa. So you get in trouble after all… I feel bad for you." He grinned. "But no worries. You're with me now."
"As if I would happy." I said. "…Can you let me go? I wanna go back to this hotel dormitory."
All of a sudden, he brings his face close to mine. So close that I can hear him breath. "…No. You couldn't go home tonight." His eyes turn into serious. "You have to stay here until I trust you."
"W-why?"
He sighs. "These are 3 rules. Listen and remember it in your head."
(Rules…?) I hang my head to the side.
"1: Obey me no matter what." He grinned.
"O-obey?!"
"Yes, yes. Just be a good girl or you won't get hurt." He smiles brightly. I have no choice but nodded. And he continue, "2: You are not allowed to tell anyone about me and the auction."
"No telling?" I said.
"Or we'll be arrest. And if you tell, you will get punish." He said. "3: You must live in this suit."
"This suite…? But I live in hotel dormitory. How am I suppose-"
Suddenly, Elsword called someone on his phone. After a minute, a manager comes into this room.
"You call, Mr. Elsword?"
"M-Mr. Kenzaki?!"
He's the manager of this hotel. And he call Elsword 'Mr.' I don't really know what was going on. I exclaim in surprise, but Mr. Kenzaki pays no attention to me or not even glances at me.
"Here is the penthouse pager and the elevator key card."
"Very well. Now, about her…" Elsword smirk.
"Yes sir."
"Good, you can go now."
The manager bow deeply and leave the room.
(So he knows about the auction. But isn't he the manager of this hotel?) My thought was full with doubt.
As if he notice how I act, Elsword chuckle. "Eisuke is the one who own this hotel."
"H-he does?!"
"Yeah. But we never told anybody. Just for fun." He smiles. "Here." He hand me a pager and an elevator card. "Whenever I page you, you have to come here within 35 minute."
"Within 35 minute?"
"Yep. Come here on time or I'll punish you." He grinned evilly. "And that card is for the elevator. Use that key card when you come up here."
"Oh, okay. So can I go home?"
Elsword look at me annoyed. His face says what I know what will it says. With that, I nod. "Okay… Stay here…"
"Good." He pats my head. "Well, it's late. Let's take a bath."
"Wait… right now?" I glance over at the bathroom. And Elsword smile. "What, want to bath together?"
"No thank you! I would never bath with a stranger!" I turn away while he grins like he enjoys himself. He walks away in the bathroom, the door close. I lay down on the bed, exhausted. Thinking about today was the long day for me. I can't believe I do something dangerous like this. It's good that I didn't sold to that nasty old creep. I bet he'll do something bad to me. Good thing I've sold to this group of guy. Actually, they're not really a bad person if I get to know them better.
(I don't really know what will happen to me after this…) I sigh.
I fall into the deep sleep.
-[End of the Chapter]-
Som: Wuhahaha. :D
Elsword: I might look so handsome in this. :3
Elesis: I bet… I will never gonna be in the story… NUUUU.
Eve: You're right…
Som: Yeah. xD Sorry. T.T
Raven: Feel bad for you.
Add: …
Som: Well, you have to find out the story will go sad or happy. *wink* xD
Chung: lol
Elesis ;-;