Chapter 4

"Huh?"

That's all I can utter. I don't understand what did Morette mean. It's unbelievable to hear it from her since no one over-made her smile while dancing on the stage. What more triggers this side of her? This is just awesome!

Did she even mean what she's talking about? That those men... is it true? I want to know!

"Stupid! Prepare your best self and dance perfectly! Don't disappoint them, they're a good catch!" 

I didn't get what she meant, but I prepared. When I came out backstage, I was looking down. The song was the slowed version of 'Mr. Saxobeat' and it is a good song. Especially, when this song hits the chorus. This is one of my most requested songs to dance. 

'You make me dance' 

I started to wiggle my body. Dancing sensually and at the same time enjoying the beat. 

One of the things I learned here is to enjoy the song. Don't dance to a song that you don't like. It'll ruin your performance and you'll lose self-confidence, you'll look stupid and you'll earn nothing. 

'Bring me up, Bring me down' 

I moved up and down slowly while holding onto the cold steel of the pole glued on the center of the private stage. 

'Play it sweet' 

Starting to slowly untie my sheer dress, letting it fall to the ground. I'm now dancing only wearing a pair of bikinis. 

I tried to rise my glance to see my visitors. I saw four men, they're wearing suits that I'll bet, costs a fortune and a living if compared to all the money I have. They look corporate and indeed, they're handsome. 

One man got my attention. He's not chatting with the other men. He's looking intently at me, his eyes are full of unreadable emotions that I can't explain.

 I don't know if he's displeased or what. 

I didn't lose my focus.

'Make me move like a freak'

I ground myself to the cold pole and honestly, it sent shivers to my spine while doing it looking directly at one man. It felt like I was dancing only for one person that I didn't even look at the other guys. 

He was watching my every move and like a scanner that scanned all my movements, and so was I. 

I couldn't even mind what I'm doing. It felt like I was teasing him and I'm enjoying it. I hope he is too. 

'Mr. Saxobeat' 

I lip-synced this part and as the instrumental part is playing, I was undressing completely. I thought he's going to enjoy it, but he didn't. His eyes burned and he looked mad while looking at my body then looking back to his friends with him. 

"Stop." 

One word is what it all took for the music to stop. 

I suddenly felt shameful. I'm wearing undies with no music and with clear lights in front of almost drunk men. I couldn't do anything but look down. 

"Are you offering an extra service?" The guy wearing a blue coat asked me. 

I know he was asking politely, but my mind was stuck. I don't know how to respond. Suddenly, I felt like crying. 

"U-Uhm, n-no." 

Still looking down, my hands are intertwined. They're playing with one another. 

I heard a thump of glass hitting the glass table, which made my reflex react. My eyes went in that direction just to see that man grinning evilly. 

Is he enjoying this? He's enjoying seeing me suffer? I thought he's a nice guy. Or at least I thought he's decent, but he isn't. He's laughing at my humiliation just now. 

"Really? That's amazing!" 

The guy with dimple reacted. I was amused, honestly. I thought they're going to insult me furthermore, but it turns out that they asked if I was doing extra service too. 

"W-what do you mean, sir?" I pulled all my shame to ask this question.

"Nothing, you just looked expert and skilled while grinding to the pole earlier," he replied. 

"Don't take it wrong, it's not an insult. It's a compliment," said the good-looking guy.

What do I mean by good-looking? Because he looked like the nice guy in the group. 

"Now I get why they called you a slut-"

I was dumbfounded by what that guy said. What is he talking about?

"Dude! Off-limits! Below the belt! Gay-ish comment," the dimple guy interrupted.

"What?" he asked like he did nothing wrong. I thought he's nice. It turned out that he's a jerk! 

"With all due respect, sirs. Can I l-leave now? I get that you don't respect the job that I do, but please don't slap it to my face," I interfered while bowing. 

I'm nervous, okay? I'm nervous since they're VIPs and only one request to Lucio, and he will kick me out.

"I'm sorry, miss. Yes, you can go-"

"I was talking about what happened earlier," the jerk defended.

Earlier? What is he talking about?

"Those boys with pebbled lengths in that stupid-looking school."

Wait... 

Is he talking about the incident at the school a while ago? My eyes widened. He's that man who looked like an emo guy?

"You..." my lips couldn't construct a concrete sentence to say. 

"Yes, I'm that man. The man you left to dance here," he rolled his eyes. "Without even saying thank you. What a grateful person, aren't we?" 

My eyes widened once more. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm s-sorry for leaving you. I-I just really needed to go. Also, t-thank you. Thank you so much, sir."

Instead of responding to my panicking statements, he said, "What's your name?"

Huh? What does he mean?

Even while confused, I answered his question. "E-Ethel Vergara, sir."

"Ethel, a noble lady, why are you in the commoner's market, then?"

What? Is he a poet? why does he keep using old and deep words I can't understand?

"He's weird, sorry," the man wearing a blue suit said.

"Tss, I'm Terrius Monzanto, Ethel," he then offered himself. 

His name is Terrius.