Kris walks outside after accompanying another customer to her taxi and watches it leave. With the car out of sight, he turns around at Victoria who’s standing in front of the neon sign.

“Does it bother women when they know they’re only getting the third best?”

“Does it bother you?” He counters as he approaches her. She evades his gaze and returns her attention to the photos for a quick moment. There’s a few empty slots but Victoria’s accustomed to that. She rubs her arms as the cold settles in and he holds out a hand.

“It’s warmer inside.”

Victoria just enters inside without his help. Kris, by habit, was used to the occasional fuss some would throw and prolong the excuse to spend time with him. She might’ve done it to , but it’s simply too cold for that. She considered him too. And when Victoria looks back at the double doors, she closes them behind him the moment he’s completely inside.

Most women would grovel at the idea of being alone with him. Never once had she placed her hands on him, something which was allowed. She doesn’t demand his attention and while he divides it amongst his other guests, he’d often look back at her sitting demurely in her seat, simply waiting. There were those who acted like her as well, he quietly preferred it.

Kris gestures to a bottle of wine but she declines it. “Are you afraid not to be sober around me?

“Not at all.” She replies but he chuckles. “Don’t give me that look, I pay my dues here...” Did he think this spot was more deserving of someone else? “You’ve never asked me to leave.”

Kris’s smile remains, but his features soften just a tinge. “That’s not my intention.”

There’s a clatter of glass and Victoria looks behind as Kris exhales.

“You men are sleazy, forcing women into debt-”

“We welcome them.” A host counters back.

Victoria and a few others watch the argument come to life between a woman and the host, her friend appeared embarrassed and hid herself deep in her booth. Everyone else kept to themselves.

“I know how you work, charming, sweet, but oh so deceptive. These girls are being brainwashed, how do you feel working for blood money?”

Victoria at one point thought the hosts would lose their cool and possibly her out. Instead, the hosts turn their back and ignored the tantrum. The woman huffs and continues her campaign to deaf ears.

“Tired of me already?”

Victoria turns at Kris who’s already sat beside her and appears a little put off by her distraction. She asks, “Are you not going to stop her?”

“There will always be those who walk in and start trouble. There’s no use arguing with them.” He smirks, “Unlike you, their opinions aren’t so easily swayed.”

The hosts don’t stop because of her because they have to keep working, she wasn’t spending a dime, there was no use continuing to encourage her. It was always best to ignore them.

“Has your opinion ever changed from the first impression?” Victoria then asks.

Kris darts his eyes to the table rather than face her, “Rarely has it happened, but there are times that it has.”

When he answers, he side-eyes the other whose gaze is swept over the crowd, searching. Kris is slightly annoyed, “Here I am, answering your questions and you choose to daze off, how impolite.”

Victoria laughs, “Maybe you underestimate me, but I can multitask. I heard every word.”

Kris arches an eyebrow in challenge. Victoria repeats his words exactly. Kris shows no signs of praising her and simply continues where she left off.

“It’s easy to dissect a woman’s character. Men are just as simple.”

Victoria smiled even wider, many might’ve been annoyed at his conclusion. In her world, it was easy to see his point.

“Then are you claiming you’re easy to figure out?”

Kris had been taught to be unattainable to them, once these guests got what they wanted, they prevailed. Their ultimate goal was to have them, once their host was taken, it was off to the next one. Their guests enjoyed the conquest and they had to make it last.

Victoria knew better than to reveal her feelings, but Kris can see them bubbling on the surface. He became wary of her character, how could she make it this obvious?

Victoria tilts her head and reflects. “Truthfully... you make me uncertain.”

It’s a first for him to admit more than he’s prepared. “Oddly enough, it’s the same.” Kris adds. Victoria rounds her eyes and slowly laughs.

She felt free to act as she liked. She needed someone who understood the constraints she was under, and who else could understand than him?

It took that much to understand a bit more about her. She didn’t intend to, but he was glad he received a glimpse of who she was. It was also a terrible thing to do.

His opinion about her changed, and he was only going to become greedier.

-

“30 - love!”

Victoria taps the edge of her shoes with the tennis racket

There’s a tennis court that they frequent often, and though it’s cold, they wear pants and jackets through the games. Victoria sees the competitive edge the players hold and figures she might not have a chance today to play anyone. She debates heading indoors and looks at the club.

“He’s pretty good,” she hears some passer-bys comment. She knows from the games that Ryan’s doing pretty well, as well as his brother. They were a family of excellence that induced envy from everyone.

She sees Ryan glancing her way and smiling when this game ends in his favor. Victoria politely smiles back, deciding she should leave now and grabs her racket. Once the next game begins, she walks to the club-

“Watch out!”

A ball aimed out of bounds to a man’s hot drink that spilled. She managed to dodge most of it, yet she cradled her hand that now painfully stung.

“Are you alright?” The older man asks and she smiles courteously and assures him she’s fine. She at least had a proper excuse to leave the courts now.

Victoria finished wrapping her hand with the cloth when she hears some disgruntled sighs. She sees through the hallway of the club, her father pacing through with a look of distress. She wondered what could have been wrong now but realizes she’ll know eventually and decides not to press him.

She tried her best not to yawn.

“Tired?” She hears and looks to see the widow beaming as they meet up, and like before, there’s another young man accompanying her.

“Late nights,” Victoria answers honestly and glances at the younger man. She didn’t recognize him to be from the club Kris worked at, probably from competition.

”We’re always competing with others for their attention. If we don’t capture it, they’ll just find someone else.”

Victoria realized how true that was. She looks down at the bandage on her hand, and a part of her can already imagine Kris’ reprimanding.

When she visits the club and stands by the doorway, she sees Kris standing up from a guest. Her phone rings before she occupies her usual booth and answers it.

Kris heads to the front when one guest shamelessly grabs his waist and he forgoes his job. He’s pulled right beside the brazen woman.

“Am I the most beautiful woman you’ve seen?” She asks him with endearing almond eyes.

In every sense, she truly was. “No one else can compare,” he smiles back and encourages her pride. The customers who entered varies and ranged to every look and standard of beauty.

“We’d be amazing together, wouldn’t we?” The beautiful woman adds.

Most likely, Kris silently answers and sees the possibilities roam her eyes. If he had admitted the truth, he’d say that those looks of her may last her a while, but they weren’t permanent. And once she tried desperately to regain that youth, her personality would sour almost instantly.

He’s learned from this business that while their physical appearances bring them in, it means little. They were fleeting.

Kris huffs when he returns to the back once the club is closed for the night, helping to count the till as another host lights his cigarette.

“Here’s a few more resumes.” The rookie says and brings them to the host who’s declared number one within their club. The first host reads them over, “I’ll start interviews tomorrow then.” With their staff constantly changing, they always had to fill in the empty slots on their walls.

Kris returns the counted stacks in the metal container and writes the information down.

“You’re doing well,” The first host commends Kris who gives a murmured thanks.

“Still haven’t convinced Victoria to buy a drink? I doubt tonight would be the night.” The rookie asks and Kris is confused as the man leaves to attend to the other errands for the club. Kris thinks back but he’s sure he hadn’t seen her at all that night.

A few more night pass and Kris rests in the back for a short break.

“I haven’t seen Krystal in a while,” a host laments.

Kris nods, “I think it’s best not to call. She won’t come by.”

The host doesn’t ask and simply deletes her number from his cell. A customer lost, but best not to brood over it. Kris has an inkling that the young woman had something to do with it. Kris is prepared to reprimand her, he’s prepared to overcome any excuse she could give him, whether rational or not.

All in all, he was prepared to be near her, no matter what subject they would speak of that night. It could have been anything, and Kris would accept it. Except nothing came of it.

His eyes had unconsciously searched for her presence throughout the night, she hadn’t come at all.

He takes a breather outside in the hallways and recalls every detail of her physical appearance. Yes, she was attractive, but if that had been it, she’d just pass his thoughts without lingering.

There was more to her than that, something that in his mind, deserved more than just a second look.

The upcoming morning isn’t so bad this time around, not when she’s all he can think about.

-

”Huang Yi Cheng has embezzled funds from dozens of families, many linked to campaigns and other who’ve fortunes are wiped clean. Police have stated that...”

Everyone had seen the news, and whether it affects them or not, it’s nationwide.

Kris pauses by the small television that shows the man in custody being brought to a federal building. He listens keenly before the channel changes to a sports one, but he keeps it in check as he returns to his customers. It was just ordinary news to most of the country.

To Victoria and her family, it meant a lot more.

An investor embezzled the money from her father’s funds, and now they had nothing left.

“That couldn’t have been everything.” Victoria hears her mother yell. Her father just keeps his head bowed. “Why would you do that?!”

Victoria felt like her life was crashing around her. More than her life being stripped away, she felt betrayed.

Huang Yi Cheng had been a close family friend, someone akin to an uncle to her. Of all the people she had known throughout her life, she never thought he’d do this to them.

“It was a man we trusted, I trusted.” Victoria grounded. “Who else can we blame Ma? He fooled everyone.”

Her mother is in such distress that she leaves to her bedroom as her father remains quietly brooding inside the main room. The police are still in the next room, discussing some options but Victoria could hear their lingering distaste.

“Life has been too good to them, so what if they lose a few cars or so?” A cop mutters to another.

“It’s time they lived like us.” The cop replies and the two continue their job.

Victoria can still feel their judgemental eyes on her, she takes a deep breath but it’s still suffocating. She puts on some shoes and grabs a jacket, walking out the door. Right now, this was the last place she wanted to be.

It’s almost near morning though the sky is still dark. She doesn’t care as she finds herself walking through the streets, jacket on her shoulders as she tries to clear her mind.

A cab pulls on the curb she’s near and enters her vision, and then the door by her side opens wide.

“Get in.” The voice says, though he’s obscured by the dim lights.

Victoria’s aware of who it is, and does so.

Kris just stared as tears rolled down her cheeks, stoic to the sight that troubled most men.

“A girl’s tears mean nothing to me.”

He had truly become a monster. It’s a crippling thought but doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Do you want false comfort?” He offers quietly, Victoria tightens her fingers on her skirt.

“For tonight, I do.”

She closes her eyes and rests on the seat.

She’s moved to his shoulder, and he places an arm around his waist to shelter her head from the bobbing movements of the car. He closes his eyes and realizes he catches the hint of a woody scent, and though it’s not as feminine as other perfumes he comes to know, he feels it suits her.

He knows exactly how to comfort, to soothe a woman’s heart. He’s prepared for all of that facade if she needs it.

What’s odd to him is how he’s willing to do so, for a woman who had nothing.