"I can't do it." I shook my head repeatedly at the request. It was embarrassing enough to dance on stage with two other girls, dancing alone is something I couldn't do.

"It's freestyle. You can do anything you want and you'll earn double the amount you're supposed to be paid." Tommy warmly uttered with my hands still held by him.

Money!

"O-Okay. I'll do it." I sighed and agreed to dance on stage again because of the money. The quicker I make a lot of money, the better it will be for both me and my mom.

"Yes. We are going to make shit loads of money tonight." Tommy said before stepping out of the dressing room.

"This is just like our high school days, we would join tables together and you would stand on it and twerk to anaconda. I'll go out so I can watch you dance." She squealed in delight, giving me one last hug before leaving the dressing room.

This is it, Wraya.

This is hustling.

I walked closer to the mirror to take a look at my pathetic shameless self in the mirror one more time before going on stage to embarrass myself.

Glitters were smudged all over my face but surprisingly, it looked good. No wonder they called me Glitter Girl.

Finally stepping outside the dressing room, a lot of other strippers were in the passage, staring at me.

"That's the new girl." Whispering about me.

"I heard her name is Glitter." Gossiping about me.

"She's taking Siren's spot as the face of Oniria." Murmuring about me.

"It's about time that dead woman stops lingering around this club." Supporting me?

I needed to focus on the dance I'll be performing on stage. My mind went back to the moves I'd learned and I tried to piece them together to form a new dance.

As I stepped onto the stage, the sound of clapping and hoos could be heard across the room. Extremely nervous, I turned my back and stared at the wall. I swayed my hips immediately when Skin by Rihanna started playing.

"The mood is set uh-uh and you already know what's next uh-uh-uh," I slowly lower myself and twirl my head. My high ponytail twirled in the air. I felt money getting thrown at me.

"Tv on blast turn it down, turn it down. Don't want it to clash with my body screaming out n-ow now," I knelt on the floor and slowly crawled, turning to face the crowd while lip-syncing to the song. I chose to only look at the same man I looked at in the previous dance.

The beige man.

"I know you hearing it oh-oh," I brought my knees together and swiped my hands from my waist to my neck, holding my neck with both of my hands. A bill landed on my breast as I danced.

"You got me moaning now," I let go of my neck and slowly stood up while my hands moved to my inner thighs, giving it a slow rub.

Was I ashamed? Yes

But do I want the money? Yes

'Just think of this like it was high school and these men were your girl pals that set up a table for you to dance on' I told myself.

"I've got a secret that I wanna show you oh," I quickly walked to the nearest pole, I held it tightly while I let my hips move sensually.

"I've got a secret imma drop them to the floor oh," I opened my legs and went down on a mid-split while still holding the pole.

"and no teasing you waited long enough," I closed my legs with the pole in between my thighs as I threw my head back.

"go deep, imma throw it at you, can you catch it?" I let go of the pole and stood up. Walking away from the pole, I could see the beige man leaving the room and his friend following him.

Confusion was written all over my face but I quickly shrugged it off and continued with the dance.

T A E H Y U N G

I came to the strip club after eight years for a mission but I wasn't able to pay attention. I should discreetly be looking at Anton Stepanov instead, I was staring at a stripper

"Who's that girl in blue lingerie?" I leaned towards James and asked as he was a regular VIP at the club. "You mean behind kiss? I've never seen her before. She's probably new." He concluded while he continued to intensely watch the three girls dance.

"Why? Is the great Kim Taehyung interested in the newbie?" Jungkook's voice rang beside me. I didn't bother to answer him because I didn't know the answer to the question.

"She gives off-you know who vibes," James spoke to Jungkook while still watching the performance.

'you know who vibes' That's Ecstasy Norman.

Better known as Siren.

Reality's Birth mom.

James was right, the new girl does give off a vibe similar to ecstasy. Was it the reason why I couldn't take my eyes off her? Siren had the same effect on me.

I continued watching the performance, completely forgetting about Anton Stepanov and Andrei Stepanov. I needed to have one night for myself.

Her gaze suddenly met mine, I stared straight into her eyes as I didn't know what to do. I could see nervousness written all over her face. Her hands were shaking like someone with essential tremour but I was sure that nervousness was what made her hands shaky.

It was probably her first time dancing in front of so many people.

The song came to an end too soon, I wanted to see her dance more. After the song had ended and the three girls made their ending pose, she was still exchanging eye contact with me.

The girls finally left the stage and another stripper came on stage and started performing. "James," I started.

"Yeah?" He answered. "How can I get that girl to dance again?" I questioned and I could feel James and Jungkook's jaw dropping even though I wasn't looking at them.

"You mean you want the girl to dance more?" Jungkook repeated. "That's what I said," I confirmed, still not sparing them any glance.

"I'll get her on stage. We just have to pay Tommy." James responded and stood up. He walked towards Tommy's office.

"Since Siren, I never thought this day would come." Jungkook leaned toward me and let out with a warm smile.

"Don't make a mountain out of a molehill. I just think she's a great stripper and I want to see her dance again-and what do you mean by 'I never thought the day would come'." I quickly explained before he turned the situation into something else.

"I know you really liked Siren. Wasn't that why you asked her to keep reality? You took care of her the entire time and back then, I could have sworn you two would get married." Jungkook let out.

"That's not true. I asked her to keep reality because it's my baby. I only took care of her because she was carrying my child and I never would her married a stripper." I spat out. I wasn't sure if I was telling the truth or not but what I was sure of is that I didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Then why were you secretly crying when she passed away after giving birth to reality-" I cut him off.

"Can we just drop this? Please..." I pleaded. The circumstances of reality's birth is one that I didn't like to talk about. I hated talking about it. He was diving too deep into the past and It was hurting me.

How I felt about Ecstasy was a mystery to me. I wasn't sure if I liked her that way or if I was just able to tolerate her because she was carrying my baby.

"If you say so..." he quietly replied.

"Yo! Turns out a lot of people had already paid Tommy for that girl to dance again. Her name is Glitter. She has already been named 'face of Oniria'. She'll definitely be like 'You know who'." James said as soon as he sat beside me.

"You know you can say her name in front of me right?" I said to James, earning a skeptical nod from him.

A few minutes later, the girl-Glitter walked on stage. Cheers and Hoos could be heard in the room. Glitter turned her back as a sensual song began to play.

Swaying and moving her body made me feel weird things. My tummy was churning but In a good way. I couldn't watch the dance anymore.

I'd be better off at home, cuddling with my ticking bomb.
"Guys I'm leaving," I informed.

"You can't leave just yet, you asked us to come here with you but you're already leaving?" Jungkook exclaimed. "...and you're not even going to watch Glitter dance? The performance you paid for?" James added.

"I don't care... I'm leaving." I stated and stood up.