No Room For Romance

Chapter 17: You are a Monster

Anaïs had stopped receiving calls and messages from Dane. 'He must've gotten bored of me' she told herself.
However, even though he didn't bother her, Anaïs was already pretty occupied. She would sometimes, miss being a cam girl, but also knew that it wasn't a stable job to return back.

As she was contemplating her thoughts, she kept the books and the files aside and laid down her head on the table.
Even though nothing was going on in her mind, her eyes suddenly started getting watery. A tear drop trickled down on the table and her lips quivered. 'Why am I crying... ' she wiped her tears off.

She heard car honks and peeked through her window. "It's that driver again!"
Her phone ringed and she freaked out. 'It must be him!' she stressed.

'No, I will not let him continue to haunt me. I'm not going to go easy on you!'

She marched and grabbed her phone.

"What?" She yelled.
"Oh, so you already knew it was me? Aren't you gonna even assure yourself if it's someone else?"
"Stop this bullshit and just say what you want."

"You..." she listened carefully.
"... I want you right now."

"I will not do as you please." Said Anaïs sternly.
"Well, if that's the case... I can't do anything much. Good night."
"I-"
The phone got cut before Anaïs couldn't reply. She fell back on her bed, trying to relax her mind.
'Is he seriously not gonna do anything? He's gonna give up on me?' she dropped herself on the bed as her mind felt relaxed. 'That's great news!'
When suddenly her phone ringed again. She looked at it and it was... 'Mom?'

She picked it up.

"ANAÏS! There's some trouble going on here. The whole movie hall which we had enterred is locked down. No one is able to walk out! Alfred is trying to reach out to the manager of this movie hall, but nobody is picking up..."

"Huh? What are you saying mom?" She immediately rose from her bed and tried to calm her mother.

"I don't exactly know, Anaïs... I'm calling you so that you can bring external help for us!" Her mother's voice sounded helpless and weak.

"I'll be sure to do so mother! Please wait!"

The car honked again and again as the level of her tension rised.
She called the cops, but...
"Uh- no ma'am. There's nothing wrong with the movie theatre you just mentioned. Everything is working like normal." An officer informed.

"B-but!" She tried her best to let them know, but nobody believed.

Cedric started counting backwards as he kept his phone on the desk and leaned on the chair.

"6... 5... 4... 3... "
His phone's callertune rang loudly and echoed throughout the room he was in. "Hm... Faster than I had expected." He swiped the screen of his phone to pick the call.

"I'll do as you have said! I'll do it! So..." She huffed. "So... So..." Her tears which she had wiped a little while ago came back and she cried, "...let them go!"
"What do you mean?" Said he.

"My parents! Set them free, you motherfucker!" She yelled.
"Parents? I think they're fine... But... " He paused. "... I had done nothing to them. You should take care of your mother. Although I wonder if you should call them parents."

"Shut up..." Her voice trembled.

"What? I'm pretty sure Alfred isn't your father?" He teased.

"..."

"Get in the car parked outside... You still haven't done enough for the 100,000 my brother had spent on you. I had to refund it back to him..." Anaïs gripped her phone tighter.
"... Although he never said he didn't enjoy it. He said it was the best night he had ever spent with a girl."

Anaïs cut the call. 'Piece of shit!'

*******

Anaïs was in her pyjamas and flipflops. She was brought to a large villa which even had a pool and a beautiful fountain, although Anaïs couldn't care less about the flashy decorations.

Cedric was sitting in a large outdoor chair, dressed in informal clothing. It was the first time Anaïs had seen him wearing trousers and a t-shirt along with an oversized comfortable shirt. 'The heck is wrong with this guy-'

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Why are you dressed like that?" He dodged the question. "Shesh- you're killing the mood!" He nagged.

"What do you want this time and when can I go back home?" She asked directly.
She knew that it was beyond her capacity to retaliate too much, but at least she needed to know to what limits she can afford to set herself free.

Cedric sipped the drink in the large glass he held avoiding her question.

"You need to tell me, so that I can know at least what I am free to do and where I should draw the l-lin-es!" Her voice cracked a little. Maybe because she had been crying quietly all along...

She ignored the voice crack and got closer to him. She gently put her head on his lap and faced him as she knelt. "Tell me what you want, I'll gladly give it to you." She smiled.

Cedric paused as his eyes met hers and then put the glass aside. 'Hah, you're seriously testing my patience-'

He pulled her hair bun and got up from the chair where he had sat. "Hah-"

"You actually thought I like you-?" He scoffed. "It'd be better for you to not think so highly of yourself. You're no less than a prostitute to me." He let go of her hair and threw her on the floor. She felt humiliated and embarrassed, but how lower could she have gone after how her limits were being tested?

"Just because I talked a little sweetly with you, you think that you've put me under your charms?"

Anaïs got up and untied her hair. Her hair bounced and swirled, she tapped on his chest twice. "Knock knock, Mr CEO, or was it the little child I fed in primary school?" She laughed gently.

'Just when I thought she had gotten boring-' he thought to himself.
"Ah, so you finally remembered! But, is that all you got to remember about me? Or was I so insignificant to you to even try to remember in your memories?"

"You're still as childish as you were before. Stupid and obsessed over little kindness people show." Her words plunged him to stare silently at her as she spoke.

"That nanny you loved so much, didn't she die because of YOU? You're seriously one son of a bitch-" Cedric's eyes blazed and his fist tightened as he tried to suppress his feelings, but he couldn't hold it in any longer and slapped her face. He grabbed her hair as he pulled her into the villa.

Although the villa was grand, was gorgeous, there was a place inside the villa which was actually like a hidden chamber. He pulled her as her body dragged on the floor. She resisted and tried to release herself. "LET ME GO!"

"...WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TAKING ME! LET GO OF MY HAIR!" she screamed as her voice echoed. He closed the large and heavy door with a thud as she kept begging him to open it.
He walked away as her screams faded.

*******

(Tbc)