Chapter 3

"Mr. Miller, why are you interested in my perfume?" Hanna asked Ethan.

She didn't mind if he was gay, but that seemed impossible considering how great he was in bed. Her face flushed at the thought.

"I'll pay you. Bring me the perfume you used," Ethan said.

"Okay," she replied, puzzled by his sudden interest in her perfume.

Her grandmother had taught her to make perfume using various flowers, with the scent of roses being her favorite.

"Okay, you may go."

"Mr. Miller, it's raining heavily."

"There's a waiting shed over there. Take shelter. Get out!" he ordered.

"It's dark in the waiting shed. I might get raped there. And I don't have an umbrella. Please take me to the town center at least," she pleaded.

He thought for a moment. "Alright, but on one condition."

"What is it, Mr. Miller?"

"Let me smell your neck for three minutes," he demanded.

"What? You want to smell me? Okay." His request was weird, but it was fine as long as he took her to the town center, given the heavy rain.

"Type the address into the monitor." He pressed something in front, and the car started giving directions.

Hanna distracted herself by looking at the scenery outside the car. They stopped in a dark part of the road.

"Mr. Miller, my house is still further away."

"Let me smell first."

Ethan's request was indeed weird. She moved her hair aside and brought her neck close to him, feeling uneasy.

"Close your eyes."

Hanna complied. Though his skin didn't touch hers, she could feel his fragrant breath on her neck.

She opened one eye and saw him with his eyes closed, his nose almost touching her neck.

What was Ethan up to? Hanna felt a bit scared. Maybe he was a bit crazy.

"Mr. Miller, three minutes are up," she said.

Ethan opened his eyes and looked at Hanna with a smoldering gaze. She got chills from the desire she saw in his eyes.

"Alright, Mr. Miller, I'll just walk. My house is close. Thank you!"

Hanna quickly got out of the car. So much had happened that day, but she was very happy because she now had money for her sister's chemo. Truly, God never slept. When she thought all hope was lost, help arrived as if sent from heaven.

***

Ethan was left inside the car, still able to smell Hanna. He glanced down at the bulge in his pants. He got hard just from her scent. He wanted to curse himself. He was obsessed with that scent!

Even when he got home, he still remembered Hanna's scent.

Ethan washed his face, but his body was still hot. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, hot scenes playing in his mind. He couldn't get the woman he had taken at the bachelor party out of his mind.

The organizer had brought women. Ethan had danced and taken the masked woman. He couldn't forget her scent. Another thing he couldn't forget was the map-shaped birthmark on her right butt cheek, which he saw when he woke up. The woman had had her face buried in the bed. When he came back from the bathroom, she was gone. All that was left was a red stain on the bed sheet and a necklace.

***

The next day, Ethan went to the office. He hadn't even sat down when he asked his secretary, "Terry, any updates on the woman I asked you to find?"

"Mr. Miller, still nothing. The women came from the black market. The transaction was online. The event organizer didn't know the women. As long as they met the requirements, they were sent to the party."

"It's impossible that we can't get any information. Pay whatever it takes," Ethan demanded.

"Another problem is that the event organizer is in jail for human trafficking," Terry said.

"Ask around about this necklace," Ethan said, taking it out of his pocket.

"Mr. Miller, where should I ask?"

"I don't care where, just do as I say!" Ethan snapped.

Terry was terrified.

"What if many people claim the necklace?"

"The owner has a birthmark on her butt," Ethan revealed.

Terry laughed, which turned into a cough when he saw Ethan's glare. "Mr. Miller, you might get sued if you check every woman's butt who claims the necklace!"

"What's money for? It's easy to silence people when you shove money into their mouths."

Terry scratched his head. "Okay, Mr. Miller. I'll tell our people to do what you asked."

"By the way, call the new cleaner here," Ethan instructed.

"Mr. Miller, that girl is pretty. Do you like her? It's better than looking for the woman with the birthmark."

"Post a job hiring for a new secretary. Include ‘not nosy' in the job posting."

"Mr. Miller, come on, I was just joking. Alright, I'll call her."

When Terry returned, he was with Hanna.

"Where's the perfume?" Ethan asked.

Hanna handed him the small bottle.

Ethan opened it, took a sniff, and shook his head. "Are you messing with me? This isn't the scent."

"Mr. Miller, that's the perfume I use. The scent changes depending on the person using it. It's called body chemistry. Even if we use the same perfume, it will smell different because of body chemistry," Hanna retorted.

"Come here. Use it. You too, Terry. Put the perfume under your ears," he ordered them.

He smelled the perfume on Terry's neck.

"Mr. Miller, I'm ticklish there." Terry stopped laughing when Ethan glared at him.

"Now you," Ethan told Hanna.

Hanna closed her eyes. Ethan inhaled the young woman's scent and swallowed several times. The two women's scents were the same. Hanna's scent was just a bit stronger than the woman he had taken several times that night.

"I'll pay for this perfume. How much?" he asked.

"None, Mr. Miller. It's free for you," Hanna said, smiling.

"Nothing is free. How much?"

"Okay, 200 dollars then."

He took out 1,000 dollars and handed the bills to her. "Keep the change."

She accepted the money and was about to leave the office.

"Wait, clean in here. It's dusty," Ethan ordered.

"Okay, Mr. Miller. I'll just get my cleaning equipment." Hanna stepped out for a moment.

"Mr. Miller, it's obvious you like Hanna," Terry teased, grinning widely.

"I'll also like firing you if you don't stop talking. Do you think I'd fall for a cleaner?"

"Well, Mr. Miller, you're even looking for an escort that you met last night."

"Shut up! I'm looking for her because... Why am I even explaining to you? Get out."

Ethan didn't like what was happening to him. Why did he seem to be going crazy over the scent of the woman he had slept with one night? And why was he dragging other women into this?

Ethan remembered the first time he met the woman. Funny to think that he hadn't even had the chance to ask her name.

***

Back then.

Ethan was in the kitchen, getting a glass to pour some wine. He noticed a woman struggling with the zipper of her dress.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"Yes, please zip it up."

He gently closed the zipper of her dress. Her body was beautifully shaped. When she turned around, he saw she was wearing a mask. Her lipstick was thick, and her eye makeup was heavy.

"Thanks." She took the glass from his hand and drank the wine in one go.

"Easy, that's not water," Ethan said.

"Give me another one. I need the courage for the show later."

Ethan got another glass and brought the bottle of wine to the garden. He invited the woman to join him.

"Are you a friend of the groom?" the woman asked as she drank more wine.

He nodded.

"I saw you earlier. Why do you look sad? Are you broken-hearted?" she asked.

Ethan felt he could tell the woman anything. After all, they would never meet again.

"Well, I just caught my girlfriend and my stepbrother having sex in my condo," he revealed.

The woman shook her head. "As handsome as you are? Your girlfriend still cheated on you? Don't worry. A woman who will love you faithfully will come along."

"She's my childhood sweetheart. She's beautiful and smart. She's perfect. I was about to ask her to marry me."

Ethan raised his glass of wine.

"Let's drink to the heartache you're feeling. Who's your traitorous stepbrother? I'll slap him for you," she said, a bit slurred.

"The groom, who's having his bachelor party now," Ethan replied.

She patted his shoulder and rubbed his back before taking his head and resting it on her chest.

Ethan smelled her fragrant scent and felt a sense of peace and warmth in his body.