Chapter 4

I stepped out of the tent and noticed many others were now empty.

I started wandering around nearby. Without realizing it, I found myself at the foot of a hill and decided to explore, only to be stopped abruptly. "Sir, I'm sorry, but this is a private area. Please leave," a man with arms thicker than my legs demanded, filling me with confusion.

A private area? I glanced at them, didn't think much of it, and turned to leave. "Weird, why so secretive?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I headed back to the campsite.

When I returned, I found Aaron yawning weakly, one hand on his lower back, looking utterly depleted. "What happened, exhausted yourself?" I joked.

Aaron waved me over, "Quick, help me out. I can barely stand!"

"Take it easy, man. At this rate, you'll collapse on a woman," I cautioned him.

Aaron chuckled, "Dying in beauty's arms wouldn’t be the worst way to go, right?" I shook my head at his comment.

After helping him rest in the courtyard for a bit, I left the campsite. "So, David, did you enjoy last night?" Aaron teased as he sat in the car.

I laughed while driving, "It was alright. That Quincy asked me to sign up a membership card."

"You didn't actually do it, did you?" Aaron looked alarmed.

"Of course not, where would I get that kind of money?" I scoffed.

"But I have to say, after I refused, Quincy’s service attitude changed completely. Woke up this morning and she was gone."

Aaron laughed and cursed, "No surprise there! Those camping girls may charge three thousand a day, but their real money comes from fooling men into buying memberships."

"Speaking of which, you’ve been spending big lately, haven’t you? I heard membership starts at thirty thousand. You must have topped up a lot," I probed, eyeing him.

"Won the lottery," Aaron replied with a laugh, then fell silent. "Yeah, right," I scoffed, knowing full well how rigged those were, but I let it go.

After dropping the depleted Aaron at his home, I drove to work.

After a few boring days at the office, I found myself missing the campsite.

Besides the busty lolita and the innocent looking girl, I wondered what the other girls were like.

The itch to go back was strong. "Screw it, I'll just use Aaron’s membership card and pay him back if it comes to it," I decided and tried calling him.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later."

Surprised, I frowned at my phone.

In today’s world, a phone being off was like a person being dead.

Had something happened to Aaron?

I pondered for a moment and then drove to his house after work. I knocked for a long time without any response.

"Stop knocking, it's annoying!" A middle-aged man from next door complained.

"Sorry, sir, I’m just looking for my friend. Do you know if he’s home?" I asked.

"Don’t bother, the kid hasn’t been home for days now. Who knows where he’s messed off to," the man grumbled and slammed his door shut.

Stunned, I stood there.

Aaron hadn’t been home for days?

Could he really be in trouble?

Concerned, I reached out to everyone who knew Aaron, but they all said they hadn’t seen him recently.

Even his parents said he hadn’t called them in a while.

His mother even asked if something had happened to him. I lied and said Aaron was on a business trip.

After hanging up, my heart sank. It seemed Aaron had truly vanished.