My White Lotus (ZhanYi)

3: That man

Wang Yibo looked at his reflection on the make-up mirror. Looking at himself, he felt delusional. The eyes, nose, lips... Everything about him felt unfamiliar. He stared at himself. Smiled and then made a crying face. The reflection did the same but it seems like another person, not him. Looking at it, he said a "hello". The reflection also imitated his lip movements but it has no voice and no choice. He asked to it : "who are you?". It mouthed the same. Wang Yibo felt dizzy. He forgot to blink his eyes and spaced out staring at himself. 

A knock on the door brought him back to senses. He jerked awake from the delusion and looked at the closed door of his dressing room.

"Yibo, it's almost the time. Are you ready?" It's the manager.

"Mn" he hummed.

"Good. Come out after five minutes, okay?"

Another "Mn". He heard the foot steps of manager getting weaker.

Yibo again looked at his reflection. Now it is him again. He took a lip gloss and dabbed it over his matte pink shaded lips. Pressing the lips together, he enjoyed it's cool, tingling sensation. This would be his last performance.

Will he miss it? Yibo don't know.

Actually he planned to stop it all by the end of this year but who knew that his life would change in just one week?

He recalled the particular evening, a week ago:

Yibo just came after a day off and instantly got informed that he have to perform in a bachelor party. To be honest, Yibo hate it to perform in bachelor parties. The never ending demands, needs and pleads. But the payment will be high. And he wasn't wrong. The offer he got for that particular performance was indeed huge.

He performed to the fullest but surprisingly, the groom didn't seems like demanding, though his friends were. They touched him, caressed him and one even dared to kiss him on neck while he was still doing some moves.

He just compiled. Smiled seductively, reciprocated one or two, touched them even before they got a chance to lay hands on him and when it was about to went overboard, he rejected. Rejected sensually. It is a skill that he acquired down by being in this profession for all these years.

In between, the groom caught his attention. He was laughing and rocking with his friends but never had ever he touched Yibo, not even when he served him the drinks. The groom seems avoiding his gaze though he touched and rocked with other strippers in the hall. It made Yibo amused and a little bit disappointed too. It was the first time he saw someone who could resist his charms. Even if the groom played with the other strippers in the hall, he never crossed the line. A little caresses, a few touches and squeezes. That man never used his lips to touch anybody let alone allowed others to touch his lips. Although he can't, Yibo couldn't help but envy his bride a little. What a loyal man!

But...

But how wrong he was!

He changed his views about the man on the very next day. That groom booked a VIP room along with his friends and he insisted to have Yibo's performance. Most importantly, he payed triple times to have Yibo's 'VIP service' after the strip tease, alone...

Yibo smirked internally. All are the same. It was very unprofessional of him to see specialities in that man. That day, after the performance, he waited in the private room for what seemed like an eternity. The manager said, that man will come soon and he sat there on the edge of bed, feeling bored until he dozed off. When he again opened eyes, it's already witching hour. He looked around, heart beating fast. But there was none except him. Yibo found himself on the bed, tucked in a blanket and a note on top of the drawer beside the bed, which reads : "sleep well, be ready for next time :)".