Soo Emi

I looked at the girls with a heavy frown on my face.

They were gathered together with their head down and their bodies close to each other.

I tried to cheer them up earlier, but it didn't work. I didn't do a very good job because nothing about this is ok, but I still wanted to try.

I catch Seokjin in the corner of my eye and I go up to him.

"Seokjin. Seokjin." I quickly call his name. "Hey, Seokjin."

He turns around. "Hm?"

"Look at them." I pointed to the huddled up girls. "Do you see that?"

He shrugs. "See what?"

"Those girls. Do you see how sad and defeated they look?"

"I mean, I guess."

I scoffed. "Seokjin, that's what you're doing to them. Do you not feel sympathy at all?"

"Mixing weak emotions with business is not smart." He pokes my nose. "You should know that."

I was about to yell at him for being unthoughtful, but he turned away before I could come up with something.

"Girls! Up on the stage for the selling!" Someone with a clipboard shouts and started motioning for the stylists to stop what they were doing. "Come on! Go, go, go!"

I went to the girls and gave them a thumbs up. They tried to smile back, but failed and turned away.

"We're going to be ok." I whisper to them. "Stay strong, please."

I was about to go up with Grace, Ashley, and Justina, but I was pulled back by someone.

I turned around and saw Seokjin.

I glared at him. "What do you want?"

"You don't go up yet."

"Why?"

"We...We're going to save you for last." He whispers and pulls me away from the curtain.

"I'm last?"

He pulls me towards the mirror and makes me sits down.

"You're worth way more than those girls out there. We have a special auction for you once those girls are taken care of." He explains while staring at me from the back.

Is he trying to flatter me? In this situation?

Not a chance.

He mentioned last night that I'm worth more in the "realest" way. But in this exact moment, he means money.

"What if I just stand there and do nothing? No one will buy me-"

"The men out there know your story. They know your father and your life. You're worth more than all those people out there combined. You could wear a snowsuit and smell like a dog and they'll still bid like crazy for you."

I crossed my arms and looked down at the counter.

I hate it when he speaks like that.

"I know you told me before that this isn't your fault, but you're still a part of this." I said, balling up a fist. "You're still the one tricking all these innocent girls for personal gain. And you don't even care!"

He didn't respond. Instead, he just avoided eye contact.

"Tell me when I'm on. I'm going to the bathroom." I got up from the chair and left.

*

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. There were no extra lights that made every single of my face seem visible, so I saw me. The me without all the filters and pretty lighting.

I looked different.

I've said this before, but now I just hate it.

This isn't who I am.

I may be a boring, innocent girl that doesn't like to wear really revealing things, but that's who I am! I like who I am.

Changing for someone else is something I don't want to do. I don't ever want to do that.

Especially to some stranger for some money.

Yet, here I am. My dumb butt got myself into this mess and there's no way I could get out.

I looked down at breathed deeply.

Ugh, I can't cry. I have packs of makeup on.

The door slams open and I look up.

Seokjin barges in and traps me by the sink.

"This is the women's bathroom, Seokjin!" I yelled without a thought.

"I basically own this building. I can be anywhere I want, anytime I want." He growled lowly, leaning in closer.

"Yeah, I know that. You're rich. Your dad is rich. This building is packing money. This business is making millions. I get it, Seokjin." I rambled on with built up frustration. "I don't need reminders, Seokjin!"

I turned my face and ignored the burning gaze he had on me.

"Why are you mad at me, Emi?" He mutters. "I told you why I'm doing this. I told you that I'm on your side."

"No, you're not on my side. I'm on your side. I'm forced to be on your side. Stop your crap. I'm getting sick of it."

"Emi, I said I'll check up on you."

"Check up on me? Yes, you'll check up on me. Why? Just to make sure I'm 'doing my job', right?" I completely lost my cool and turned my whole body around.

I leaned over the sink, feeling sick in the stomach. I can't imagine the things I'll have to do for one of those men out there. You can already guess by how revealing our clothes are.

"I'm sorry." He whispers with his head down.

I looked up and carefully wiped my mouth with a napkin.

"I wish I believed you."

*

"Last, but CERTAINLY not least! We have Soo Emi!" Seokjin's dad introduces and points to me.

The curtain opened and I walked out with the brightest smile on my face.

I waved towards everyone and placed my hands on my hips.

"We'll start the bid at-"

"10 million!" One person raises his sign.

My eyes widened.

The room got louder and louder. People raising their signs and shouting out number after number.

My heart raced as I overheard "20 million won".

"Alright, let's settle down!" Seokjin's father raised his arms. "Gentlemen, let's settle down!"

The noise lowered, but the looks on everyone's faces stayed eager and impatient.

I fiddled with my fingers as I laid on my eyes on an empty table. I was too scared to look at anyone in the eye.

"Let's do this in a ordered manner. I'll make it a bit easier." Seokjin's dad announces. "I'll give an offer."

Chatter rose and so did my gaze.

"We'll start at 25 million won."

My eyes widened again.

Many people raised their signs, but some had their head hung in defeat.

"30 million won!"

Some still had their signs up, but some lowered theirs.

"40 million won!"

This time, so many signs lowered and only two had theirs up.

My mouth went dry.

"These 2 gentlemen have an offer for Soo Emi?"

I looked at both of them.

One of them had a black mouth mask on, covering most of their visuals. The other one had their whole face exposed.

"My offer, 45 million won." The exposed face said and set down his sign. "I stay at my offer."

"And you," Seokjin's dad looked towards the other one. "Can you beat that offer?"

His eyes flickered towards me and I immediately looked down.

"50 million won." He said out loud, keeping his eyes on me.

My jaw dropped and so did everyone else's in the the room.

Seokjin's dad had his eyes as wide as his head. He looked back at the other man and pointed to him.

"Can YOU beat that?"

He shook his head in disappointment.

"That's it, gentlemen! Soo Emi goes to that man for 50 million won!"

*

The area cleared out in a short amount of time.

The men left with their girls. I tried to bid a farewell to them, but everything was so hectic, I couldn't get to them.

A pair of hands landed on my shoulders, making me jump.

"Look at you!" Seokjin cheered and turned me around. "50 million won! You did that!"

I shrugged.

"Aren't you excited?"

That triggered me.

"Excited? Really? You expect me to be excited about being an object in your stupid game? Why would I be excited?! I'm no longer my own person! I don't care how much you guys got off of me. That money isn't mine! It's yours! All of this is yours!"

"Emi, I've already explained to you that this isn't my fault-"

"Seokjin, you can back off now." Another voice appeared.

I spun around and saw the man from earlier, who bought me.

Whoa, he's tall.

"Excuse me?" Seokjin's eyebrows furrowed.

"She's technically mine now and it seems like you're bothering her, so please don't speak to her. We're leaving."

Seokjin glared at the man, but did as told. He walked away from us with his hands in his pockets.

I turned towards the man. "Thanks, I guess."

"No problem."

We both didn't say anything and just nodded.

"Let's go." He finally says and motions me to follow him. "Let's get out of this toxic place."

*

"I'm Lucas." He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Weird to meet you like this, but hey, what can we do?"

He smiled so cheekily when I took his hand.

"Yeah, more like, what can I do?" I sighed and leaned against the passenger seat. "You can do whatever you want."

"Right, right. That was the rule. Yeah, yeah." He nodded with a bitter smile. "It's a stupid rule, if you ask me."

"It is, but you paid 50 million won."

"I didn't."

"What?"

"Well, it's late, let's get you home as fast as we can." He starts the engine and drives out of the parking lot. "Let's listen to music. You listen to Kpop?"

*

We arrived at his, obviously, nice house.

I'm too tired to go into detail. It just looks really nice.

"Alright, so you can wait in the living room and I'll get us some water." Lucas points to where his living room is. "Oh, by the way, your room has a sign with your name on it. If you need to change or something, you can find it easily."

"Ok, thank you."

He leaves and I walk in the direction, following his finger.

I turn past a wall and notice someone sitting at a couch. I didn't think of it too much until I noticed his orange hair.

Oh, f**k.

"Hey, Emi." His deep, mocking voice sent chills all over my body.

He turned around and smiled brightly.

"Thought you got away from your favorite husband?"