Chapter 3- The 7th Snake

It has been two weeks since Ari and I have started warning for Yongguk. It turns out that his family owns a popular chain of casinos called One Shot throughout the country. That explained how my father ended up owning them so much money, absolutely no self -control. Everyday we have been taking the bus to the main office and cleaning until late. That's when Daehyun, whom seems to take much pleasure from pestering me, takes us back home. 

"ARI! Hurry up, we are going to be late again!", I yelled up the stairs as I rushed around the kitchen trying to eat my toaster waffle and button my work uniform up at the same time. 

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Why must you rush me so early in the morning?", she said coming down the stairs grabbing a waffle also before putting on her shoes. I followed suit with the waffle dangling from my mouth before rushing out of the door. 

"Juice!", Ari called out, tossing me a bottle of orange juice as we walked down the street to the bus stop. We have finally gotten a pretty good routine going for this other than the select days in beginning where they sent Daehyun and Zelo to literally drag us out of bed into the office in our pajamas. Yongguk made us work without changing, in the cold office. I learned to keep all of my alarms on because I refuse a repeat of that mistake. 

After the ride on the bus we quickly hurried to the front glass double doors of the building. Himchan was waiting silently at the door with a stopwatch in his hand.

"You two are very lucky, thirty more seconds and you would have been late.", he said before turning on his heels toward the elevator. 

"I told you.", I whispered to Ari before following him.

"Shut up.", she said under her breath back.

"No need to argue childishly about it. Anyways, Yongguk wants to talk to you two about a job change." 
I raised my eyebrow, 'job change?', I thought to myself as we walked out of the elevator walking in silence to YongGuk's office. 
Himchan knock lightly before the deep voice resonated a

through the door.

"Come in." 

Himchan pushed the doors opened to find the man sitting on a leather love seat looking through what looked like account books and money transactions. 

"Yongguk.", himchan said stating our presence. 

"Come here girls. Himchan I need you to take Zelo to branch three to..... defuse an out of control situation.", he said seeming to pick out his words carefully. Himchan nodded before walking out of the room.

"I'm going to keep this brief to not waste anymore time.", he started nonchalantly. 
"Tonight there will be two groups of people attending the main casino. Each group will be made of three men and they are very important people when it comes to my business. I want you to please them to your fullest abilities."

I raised an eyebrow looking at him skeptically,"What do we get out of it?" 

"Consider it a promotion from cleaning girls to hostesses. And if you mess it up i will just have to make some.........job changes."

"What type of job changes?", Ari asked.

"Don't worry about it, just do your job right.", he said casually before going back to his account books. 
Disappointed we both started to walk back out the door.

"Oh before you go, you both will be singing as entertainment for our little party."

"What?!"

"Did I stutter?"

"No but how do you know if we can even sing?", Ari asked with her eyes wide.

"I have done my research.", he said with a smirk.

"Well I don't even care, I'm not doing it.",  I refused. Yongguk chuckled darkly as he put his book down and slowly walked toward me, grabbing my face pulling me to him.

"You don't have a choice because I own you.", he whispered. I shuddered with fear and anger as he continued to leave his rough grip on my face. 

"Don't you agree?", he said a little over a whisper forcing my head into a rough nod before I yanked my faces from his grasp. He chuckled again before going back to his seat putting his legs up on a coffee table. 

"Good girl, I glad we are on the same page. Youngjae and Jongup will help you get settled and show the basics that you will need before tonight. You are dismissed.", with a wave of indifference, we were dismissed. 

"I'm beating my father's when he decides to come back into the country.", I grumbled as we walked outside the office to wait for a taxi. 

"Don't worry about it because if we do what we do best and work hard it with be over soon.", Ari consoled as we got into the taxi. 

"I hope you are right, I really do.", I said under my breath to myself before giving the driver the address.The casino was not far away from the office. It was only eleven when we arrived, moving quickly to find Yongjae and Jongup. The place was practically deserted give or take a accessional early morning drunk or two sitting in a jazz lounge in a closed off area of the building. The place seemed as if it emerged from a old mobster movie, which is ironic seeing that it is owned by a gang. 

"Excuse me, may I help you?", a shorter male, about Ari's height, asked politely.

"We were sent by Bang Yongguk to be tonight's hostesses.", I said before we both bowed. 

"Oh good. I am Yoo Yongjae. I am in charged of work on the floor and special affairs and my college, Jongup is in charge of over all security."

"Well I am Jazmyne King and this is Ari Chamberlan, we look forward to working with you.", we said in unison bowing yet again.

"Very nice, very nice indeed", he said before turning on his heel,"Quickly follow me, you have a lot to learn before tonight's meeting."

We followed quickly behind him as he explained everything. For 5 hours Mr. Yoo taught us quick ettiquet basic when which we pick up on quickly. 

"You must address them each by sit unless they want you to call them something in which they see fit. Keep your heads down and your faces pleasant.", he lectured as we practiced setting the room and greeting the guest cheerfully. It was around five o'clock when another man walked into the lounge where we were currently practicing.

"Are you still training them?", he asked.

"No Jongup, we are finishing up right now. Okay girls lastly don't provoke these men. They are dangerous and I believe it would be very inconvenient for everyone if something were to escalate." 

We nodded in agreement.

"That's good. We are done now so I want you two to hurry up and put these outfits on.", he said pushing black and red outfits into our hands. 

"Oh! I almost forgot, did Yongguk inform you of your performance?"

"Yes he did and we know what we will sing.", I said.

"Okay, just hurry and get dressed in the waitress dressing room and come back here at seven."

We nodded before going to the back where the dressing room was stood away from prying eyes.

I walked into the dressing room which looked like a rainbow unicorn threw up on it. Glitter, costumes, makeup, bras, ect. littered the area. 
"Oh my lord! I looks a hot mess in here!", Ari exclaimed as she tip toed around the clothing. 

"I know but there is nothing we can do about it, huh?" I said as I sat down at a mirror without things scattered all around it. Instead there was two cases placed neatly on front of the of it.

('Make yourselves look nice.' 
-Daehyun ;)  )

I shook my head at him and handed Ari on of the cases, It turned out to be make up.

"What in the world Daehyun, that's a mess.", I said shaking my head. 

"I always look nice Daehyun what do you mean?", Ari said with long distant hair flip causing me to laugh as I began putting the makeup on with Ari soon following suit. Shortly after we got dressed. Ari had on a blue sequin tank top, black shorts, bedazzled black wedges and a bowler hat. I wore a similar outfit but I had a on long sleeve lace crop top, black heels, shorts and a black bowler hat. 

"Oh I look good! Shoot I may not like these people but they do know how to put outfits together.", Ari said while looking at herself in the mirror.

"True that, true that.", I said with a chuckle before standing up to inspect my look. I quickly checked the clock and it was 6:45. 

"Oh snap come on Ari we have to go.", I said before walking quickly, or as fast as I could walk in those heels, back the lounge where Mr.Yoo told us to wait. People were now slowly making their way into the 

"Are you two done?", he asked as he walked up with the man Jongup.

"Yes we just finished getting dressed and were coming to meet you.", Ari said. 

"Okay that good. Now I want you two to go the bar and get two cigar boxes, three bottles of whiskey, a bucket of ice, cups, and  a pitcher of water. Jongup will show you the room will set up."

We nodded and got everything we needed from the bar before Jongup took as into a private lounge area upstairs. The room was big and closed off from prying eyes that would get lost up here. On one side, like downstairs there was a small stage with two microphones and a few jazz instruments.  On the other side was a classy black booth with a cherry wood table. Quickly we set the table before 7:30 and practiced singing 'Back to Black' the Beyoncé and Andre3000 version, together before Jongup came in to tell us that Yongguk was here with Zelo. The two men walked in the door once we were situated at the door ready to greet them. 

"Welcome.", we both said in unison, exactly how Mr. Yoo taught us. Zelo looked at us struggling to contain his humor. Ari looked up at him and muttered a 'shut up' while Yongguk complimented Mr.Yoo's quick work.

"You have done a very good job, Yongjae! They look so professional! Ladies could would get me a glass of whiskey and a cigar?"

"Yes, sir.", I said with a now trying to keep my dislike for the man down in the recesses of my being. They both sat down in the booth as I cut up the cigar handing it to him while Ari lighted it. Cigar smoke began to fill the room but luckily there was a large vent in the room to somewhat cleanse the air.

"Zelo, when are The Brothers arriving?", Yongguk said taking a drag of the cigar polluting the enclosed air.

"Jongup said they have arrived already."

"Then where are they?"

"YONGGUK! Your casino is addicting my friend, if I didn't have this to do I would still be playing Black Jack!", a short male walked in loudly laughing as if he was already drunk.

"Yoongi, you play around too much.", Yongguk said with a laugh. 

"Well notice how I'm here and NamJoon is still downstairs playing.", he joked before going to sit down.

We greeted the man, Yoongi also as he walked through the door. He looked at us and paused with a grin growing on his face as he stared up and down at both Ari and I but mostly Ari.

"Oh so you like forgien girls now?", he asked Yongguk as we looked at each other rolling our eyes.

"I really don't care about race, but they are very nice to look at.", Yongguk said looking at us smirking. I shivered involuntary before one other man walked into the room.

"Jungkook! nice of you two to join us!", Yoongi commented with a laugh.

"Yoongi your an ! You saw those girls coming at us and you just ditched us at the table.", a man looking about Zelo's age, exclaimed.

"Oh right, I forgot you already had a girl Jungkook.", Yoongi said still laughing as the two men sat down.

"Yoongi, that was a cold move, I thought you were the ladies man I just like casino games."

"Well I am a ladies man those were I would choose not to involve myself." 

"You too are ridiculous.", a deep voice called. I turned around to see a tall man with blond hair swooped back and sunglasses covering eyes even though we were still inside. 

"It's nice for you to finally join us NamJoon we were beginning to worry about you.", Yoongi called to his friend. NamJoon didn't say anything as he sat down on the booth. 

"Welcome.", I said politely to him as I poured a glass of whiskey.

"Thank you.....", he trailed off looking up at me through the darkness covering his eyes.

"Jazmyne."

"Thank you Jazmyne.", he smiled.

"You are welcome.", I said polietly nodding my head before backing away. I looked over at Ari and saw that Yoongi was continuously flirting with her while she tried to keep the look of indifference and annoyance off of her face; I chuckled to myself while putting ice into the whiskey.

"Jongup, has Jae Bum arrived yet?", Yongguk asked  just barely over a whisper. 

"Yongjae said that he, Mark, and Jin Young have just arrived and will be taking them up shortly."

Yongguk nodded right before Yongjae walked in with three solemn faced men.

"Welcome.", Ari and I greeted yet again as they walked in.

"Would you like anything?", I asked the taller,young man with grey hair. He looked down at me and smiled slightly, "Yes I would."
I waited for him to answer but he never did just sat down along with the two shorter men trailing him. The joking atmosphere seemed to evolve completely as the three men entered. They had a somewhat dark aura around them. The others had the same aura but it was dampened by the joking banter. 

"Jae Bum, nice of you to finally join us.", Namjoon said with a coolness in his voice, his dark glasses adding to the indifference in his voice. 

"No need to be so coarse Namjoon.", Jae Bum counters the indifference with a charisma of his own. 

"There was no need for you to send men into my territory and kill off some of my lower distributors but seem as if you feel compelled to do that too.", he practically growled out. 

"NamJoon! ", Yongguk bombed silencing the escalating arguement.

"That is a conversation for the meeting tomorrow. This is a social meeting, enjoy yourselves.", he said taking another drag from his dying cigar. NamJoon just stared at jae bum through his glasses as I poured our new guest a drink.

"Jazmyne why don't you and Ari sing a song for us!", Yongguk said trying to lighten the now tense mood. I nodded and looked at Ari motioning toward the stage.

"Mr. Bang we do not have a band to play the song.", I said trying to get out of singing for the group.

"I have that covered.", he said as Yongjae opened the door letting in the band from downstairs. I silently cussed at him but told the band the song which they surprisingly new very well.
I let the music play before going into the Andre3000 part, one octave higher. Letting my gaze look into the audience.

"I, I, I left no time to regret
Kept my wet with that same old bet
Oooh you
You and your head high and your tears dry
Get on without your guy and I, I, I went back to a new
So far removed from all that we went through
And you and you you, you tread a troubled track
Your odds are always stacked, you'll go back to black.", the men were silent as the stared at me letting the haunting music engulf them.

"We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
I go back to her and you go back to, (you go back to)", I finished my part and Ari went into the Beyoncé part her voice and movements seemed to provoke a haunting uality to the song.

"I, I loved you much, it's not enough
I love blow and you love puff
And life, is like a pipe
And I'm a tiny penny rollin' up the walls inside.

We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her and I go back to."

"We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to, I go back to black.", we both sang the last part letting the music play a little more before the song came to an end.

I looked out into the group of men and they were all staring at us. But Jae bum's calculating hungry gaze was the most disturbing. Causing a shiver of unease go down my back.

"And you didn't want to sing tonight!", Yongguk cheered smugly as we walked off stage.

"Who are those girls?", I heard Namjoon whisper to Yongguk not looking away from us.

"Just a old debt that has yet to be paid.", Yongguk said with a smirk before putting out his cigar.

For the next few hours, they drank, joked and drank some more. Eventually everyone but NamJoon, Zelo, and Mark(Jae Bum's bodyguard) were wasted.

"Hey you in the blue, come here pretty lady and sit in Suga's lap!", Yoongi called to Ari casing her to roll her eyes before looking at me, 

"Drunk people are ridiculous.", she said before walking over to him, sitting next to him keeping her distance. 

"Yoongi, you're a drunk idiot.", Yongguk exclaimed while Yoongi continued to flirt sloppily.

"Jazmyne, could you go get some more ice for me please.", NamJoon asked.

I nodded grabbing the ice bucket walking out the door to get ice from the bar downstairs. I quickly filled up the bucket when I noticed Jae Bum stumbling toward me as I walked back to the room upstairs. 

"Mr. Im, are you okay?", I asked politely. Secretly not caring to interact with the drunk man. He looked up at me then smiled an evil wide smile. He didn't answer me but as I tried to pass him he pushed me into the wall cause some ice to scatter out.

"Ms. Jazmyne do you like snakes?", he said his voice lacking  the slur of a drunk. When I didn't answer him, he just kept going,"Well I like snakes. They are all so smart and so trick and sometimes disguise themselves to fit in. I see myself as a snake sometimes, disguising myself to get ahead.", he had me pressed against the wall as he stared down at me with his dark brown eyes. 

"Could you let go?"

"I'm not done yet!", he exclaimed smashing his fist to the wall by my face causing me to flinch slightly as I tried to move away but he forced me back. 'Sir I do not want your life story.'

"But you seem to be a snake yourself that's why I ask. Enchanting, disguised as innocent. What do you hide behind this guise. ", he said looking me up and down with hungry eyes. 

"Jae Bum! What are you doing?", Zelo called from down the hall. Jae looked up and sighed before looking back at me," Until next time, Jazmyne.", he whispered before walking down the steps with his hands in his pockets.

"Are you okay?", Zelo asked as he got closer to me grabbing the ice bucket.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it that dude just seems a bit off."

"He has always been like that. Come on.", Zelo said with a shrug as we walked back to find that the already drunk men were drunker. I just shook my head and began to call a cab for all of them because it was nearly midnight. NamJoon had to help me carry Yoongi and Jungkook into the cab.

"Hey Ari, Call me!", Yoongi called out before the car drove away causing me to laugh. Mark and Jin young had left earlier once they noticed their boss had left. And Daehyun had to come and pick Yongguk up as he was practically passed out once everyone was gone.

"Somebody should have stopped him before he got like this.", he scolded while I just shrugged as if to say 'too late now.' After getting a good laugh at us being hostesses for all those men he left with Zelo. Once they all left Ari and I cleaned up quickly before changing back to out regular clothes ready to go home. 

That night, it didn't take long for me to sleep but my mind was not yet at rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~

I was back in the dark room with the three men. Again each man had on a black robe with their hand reached out to me. And yet again I grab the hand of the one motioning me towards him, and again I felt the danger coming from him. But this time as the room disappeared and the men began to fall, one of the robes dropped releasing six cobras, slithering toward the mysterious man I was holding onto. They each grabbed at him moving up to his neck then bit him, causing him to fall like the others before him. But before he fell out of the previous fallen robe came a seventh snake, larger than the others and less brutal. This snake made it's way towards me, I tried to move away but I couldn't, I couldn't even scream as I watched to snake wrap around my neck choking me as I fell into blackness.