Chapter 2

• I rolled my eyes lazily. "You were the one who told me to wait for you. Besides, I just want to enjoy this ice cream before it melts."
• I showed my second soon empty ice cream to him, which he quickly dodged. While laughing at his reaction, I went back eating my ice cream.
• "Can you eat that damn thing faster?" he asked with an uneasy face toward me.
• "What do you mean?"
• He leaned his body closer to me, brought his face right to my left ear. "You don't see that old man over there looking at you with a face full of lust?"
• I nodded my head. "I saw him. From earlier, as soon as you entered the toilet earlier."
• "You are… ugh! I can't stand that smell! We're leaving now!"
• He immediately grabbed me and threw away my ice cream container which I luckily had time to finish before he snatched it from me. His hand roughly pulled me away from the men's room where I was waiting for the person who was now pulling me. To be precise, he was pulling me away from the old man who was staring at me.
• Could it be that he worried about me?
• I looked at his back while trying to hold back my joy. I know, I shouldn't be happy at a time like this. It's just that, I want to imagine that what I think is true; because if true, that means I'm not dreaming right now. I mean, this is the first time a stranger has been so worried about me. And this is a new experience for me. So, I just let him continue to take my hand, without asking further where he would pull me away.
• Once in the car park, he finally took his hand off me. Then he turned around, and his eyes were fixed on mine. "It's safe here now. That old man won't get here."
• "You are weird, huh?" I said. I can't hold my laugh anymore, so I laughed at him, which somehow made him turn his face.
• "How come I'm weird?"
• "Like what you did earlier. You didn't want that person to keep looking at me like that. Even though we just met today."
• When I heard what I said earlier, he returned his gaze to me and held my shoulders.
• "Are you aware of it? If you continue to ignore that old man, you might be kidnapped. And he would use you as his way to satisfy his desires. That's terrifying!"
• Hearing his words earlier made me instantly unable to hold back my laughter, and I burst out laughing immediately. He looked even more confused by what I was laughing at right now.
• "This is the first time I know someone worried about me." I said while pinching his cheek. "But thanks for being worried about me."
• He blinked his eyes as I pinched his right cheek.
• "Are you… lonely?" he asked with an innocent face.
• The question just managed to stop my laughter. I immediately pulled my hand that was pinching his right cheek and turned my body away from him.
• "None of your business."
• "But…"
• "Our business is over from here. OK? Thanks for the ice cream earlier."
• Slowly, I stepped my feet away from him. How could he ask such a thing with his innocent face? His words made me remember that after this I had to go back to my house, and just remembering that made me feel so sad.
• "Wait!"
• His voice that sounded so loud just now made my footsteps stop for a moment. I looked around and just realized that in this place there were only the two of us and a row of neatly parked cars. Reluctantly, I resumed my footsteps, trying to ignore his shouts who look more like orders rather than asking me to stay.
• From afar, I could hear the sound of his footsteps which seemed to be running towards me. Still ignoring him, I kept on walking forward until I could feel his hands trying to hold onto me.
• "I said wait, and you pretended you didn't hear it." he said, catching his breath that was panting because he tried to catch up with me earlier. Then he pulled my body towards him.
• "Why should I listen to your words? I told you, our business is over."
• He raised an eyebrow. "Who says that our business is really over?"
• Now it's my turn to look at him with a flustered face. "What do you mean?"
• He did not answer my question and immediately carried me just like that. No matter how hard I hit him to let go of the sling, he still didn't care and kept walking until he came to the front of a white car.
• "Come in." he ordered, as soon as he lowered me from his arms. Confused, I just obeyed his orders and got into a car that I didn't even know whose car I was in right now. When he saw me sitting in the front passenger seat, he immediately put on the seat belt and closed the door. Then he walked quickly to the driver's seat and sat down fastening the seat belt.
• "We're leaving now." he said, staring straight ahead, ready to start his car.
• "Where?"
• "I told you earlier. We're going to a hotel nearby."
• "Are you serious?" I asked as if I couldn't believe what I had just heard.
• He didn't immediately answer my question and was busy turning the steering wheel. As soon as our car moved away from the shopping center, he began to open his mouth.
• "Yes. You think I was kidding about my offer earlier?"
• I nodded my head. "I thought you were just bluffing."
• He just clicked his tongue when he heard my answer earlier. His eyes continued to stare straight ahead while increasing the speed of the car and overtaking several vehicles that were in front of us.
• "Now I'm asking you. Do you want to go home, or come with me?"
• I didn't answer his question at all and turned my gaze to the car window. The trees lined up neatly beside the road did nothing to beautify the road we were walking on. Their existence made their surroundings seem miserable; the trees looked neglected with the food scraps and plastic that were scattered around them making me feel sorry for the trees.
• They are not the ones to blame; it's the humans' fault who were littering that should be blamed for. The trees should be angry, they should be treated like trash cans by those irresponsible people. If necessary, they could just curse them so that the human who did that will realize that littering is not good.
• "If you don't want to answer either, I assume you agree with that." he said as if he didn't care about me who didn't heed his question at all.
• The car that we were riding continued until it arrived in front of a hotel. This hotel…
• "This is not the hotel that you said earlier, right? I remember that the hotel you mean wasn't that far!" I protested when he was opening the car door for me.
• "It's not. But it's a lot safer here than the hotel I was talking about." he replied, avoiding my feet that were preparing to kick him.
• "Well, I missed it. I'll make sure I won't miss it later."
• "Yes."
• As soon as I got out of the car, he asked me to remove the sling bag with the frog motif that I was wearing earlier and put it on the chair where I was sitting earlier. Reluctantly, I complied with his request (which again felt like an order to me) and put my beloved bag into the car. Then he locked the car door and we rushed into the hotel.
• Upon arriving at the reception desk, a woman seemed to greet us with a smile of business.
• "Please the room as usual." he said, opening his wallet and taking out a black card at the receptionist earlier.
• The receptionist took the card that he handed out and put it into the EDC machine. Then she asked him to enter the PIN for the card, which he quickly did. I didn't see the total bill on the machine at all because simply put, I didn't care. As long as things are over, I won't make a fuss like that.
• The receptionist then took the yellow card that I thought was the room key ordered by this man who was standing beside me while returning the black card.
• "Thank you. Come on." he said, dragging me away from the reception desk.
• The two of us then walked to the elevator which is located not far from the receptionist earlier. As soon as the elevator doors opened, the two of us immediately got into the elevator. When he pressed the button to close the door, I realized that in this hotel there were almost no guests. There were only a few people who were at a few empty tables near the fish pond. They all seemed to be busy with their laptops and smartphones, while the receptionist sat back in his chair with a lazy face. The business smile that she had shown us earlier, is now gone without a trace as if her smile had never existed.
• And the elevator doors are closed. There's only the two of us in this elevator. I can feel my heart now starting to beat fast. For some reason, I was so nervous that I wanted to feel like I pushed the button for the elevator door and opened it, then ran away from the man beside me. But I couldn't move at all; I can feel my body completely unwilling to comply with my wish to open this elevator door and run as far as possible.
• While covering my nervousness earlier, I turned my gaze to the painting that adorned the wall of the elevator we were currently riding. Seeing the painting made me feel a strange serenity.
• "Do you like it? If you like it, just say it." he asked. His eyes also turned to the painting that I was seeing right now.
• "No. Too vulgar." I said, looking back at the elevator doors, hoping we would get to our destination quickly. The painting is just as I describe it. It's vulgar and too indulgent for the figure of an almost naked woman with sensual poses. The figure of the woman seemed to be surrounded by several men who tried to approach her like idiot people.
• I wonder why there are paintings like this in hotels, which I had seen in front of the hotel entrance, claiming that their hotel is a five-star hotel. They should have put a painting that is more… elegant, although I have to admit that the painting has its aesthetic value which is difficult for me to express in words.
• "If the painter hears your words, he will be very sad. Poor him."
• "Like I care." I said, rolling my eyes.
• He didn't seem like he wanted to resume our conversation, and the two of us kept quiet until we reached a floor that seemed like our destination.
• As soon as the elevator doors opened, he walked ahead of me, inviting me to come out only afterward. It seemed like he wanted to make sure if I'd change my mind and closed the elevator doors. Which of course I didn't let what he was worried about come true.
• "Good. Looks like you don't regret your decision."
• I just smiled wryly at his words which were more like mocking and followed his footsteps until I arrived at a room with the number 314. He inserted the yellow card into the doorknob earlier and automatically the door opened. He then inserted the card into the door switch that seemed to be devoted to putting the card, and the room that had been dark turned into light.
• "Come in." he said, inviting me to enter first. After I entered the room, he immediately closed the door and immediately pulled me into his arms.
• "I can't take it anymore. Would you like me to serve you as my Mistress?"
• "You sure about that?" I asked.
• He released his embrace and knelt before me. "Yes, I'm sure. Do whatever you want until you're satisfied."
• I pulled his hair forcefully and forced him to look at me. "Before you ask for something, you don't forget what do you have to say, right?"
• He nodded his head. "Yes, Mistress. I didn't forget."
• I raised my eyebrow. "What did you say earlier?"
• "Mistress. Is there something wrong?" he asked with a confused face.
• Hearing his question earlier made me want to grab his hair even more. "With other people, maybe it doesn't matter if you call Mistress. But I want to be called Master, not Mistress. Understand?"
• He nodded his head with a terrified face. Satisfied with the answer he gave, I finally removed my hands from his hair and kicked him slightly away from me.
• Then I walked to the window, saw the view that appeared from the room window where now there was only me and that person.
• "What is your name?" I asked, turning back at him.
• "Dominik Lawrence, Master." he replied, without moving from his position earlier. His face kept lowering his head to the floor as if he didn't dare to look at me directly.
• I'm satisfied with the response earlier. Looks like I didn't misjudge this person; he did obey my request earlier to call me Master. Trying to stop myself from laughing, I looked back at the window that wasn't that interesting to look at.
• "Should I close the window?"
• He nodded his head while maintaining his position earlier. I could see he is squeezing his hands together; it looks like he is feeling tense. Even though he asked himself, but now he looks tense.
• I just smiled at his reaction earlier and walked slowly towards him. Then I lifted his chin with my right index finger, biting slightly below my lip.
• "You think I'll do it for you?" I asked, followed by the harsh slap I sent him right on his left cheek. He immediately fell to the floor, holding his left cheek which now looks red due to my slap.
• "Sorry, Master." he said in a low voice.