Midnight Poppy Land FanFic

Part 1

Poppy instantly feels overdressed and out of place. This is a strip club and she came dressed for a proposal with Mr. Lam. She hesitates at the site of the bouncer inside, but takes a deep breath and bolsters her courage before approaching him.

"Um, hi.... I was wondering what the cover charge is to go inside?"

The bouncer takes a long look at her, clearly wondering why the hell this chick is in this place. But finding no reason not to let her in, he points to the sign that says $20.

Poppy opens her purse and takes $20 from her wallet and tries to hand it to him. The bouncer shakes his head at her and points to the coat check/cashier to her right.

"Oh, right. Thank you."

She approaches the coat check girl who looks like she's barely out of high school. The girl is wearing a lacy lingerie top and a short skirt that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. Poppy hands her the twenty and her coat. The girl smirks at Poppy and hands her a ticket for the jacket before stamping her hand with a luminescent ink.

"Thank you" Poppy says and cautiously moves into the club. She realizes that not only is she standing out because if how she is dressed, but it's obvious she has never been in a club before. At least not one like this.

"Well don't you look lost, pet." A man wearing sunglasses whispers in her ear. Poppy turns and sees he has short black hair and a lower lip piercing. Nothing about him seems friendly despite the smile he flashes her.

"Why don't you come have a drink with me and my friend. What can we get you from the bar?"

"That's very kind, but I'm actually here to see someone." Poppy says and tries to move away from the man. She feels his hand grasp her arm, not tightly, but firm enough to no longer feel like a suggestion.

"Why the rush? I'm sure your friend won't mind you having a drink with us first, will they? Why don't you invite your friend to join us too, we have great seats over there" he points to the VIP couches as he steers Poppy towards them.

As Poppy looks towards where they are going, she sees Mr. Lam sitting with one of the men who were with him when they left the restaurant. There are a couple women in short skirts sitting with them and pushing drinks at Mr. Lam, despite him looking very uncomfortable with the situation.

"Mr. Lam!" Poppy shouts and waves at him, quickly moving forward to approach the older man.

"I'm so glad I found you, your office sent me to get you. You forgot to sign those papers for your secretary today before leaving the hotel. She asked that you come back right away to get that taken care of, before you continue your evening."

Mr. Lam sputters, clearly looking confused at seeing the young editor show up in this place. Especially after that scene she caused in his office claiming he was in danger.

"I don't know what you are talking about girl, I don't have any papers to sign at the hotel. How did you find me? I told my secretary I wasn't interested in doing business with your company. You really don't know how to conduct yourself appropriately young lady, and I suggest you get your boss to teach you a bit better if you every plan on succeeding. I, myself, managed to do quite well in business..."

Mr. Lam turns to Scharch "did I ever tell you how I made a profit of over 100 million dollars in such a short period?!"

A wicked grin spreads over Scharch's face. "I think you mentioned it before, yeah. Why don't we find a place to talk business that's a little less crowded, eh sir?"

"Well, okay. I wasn't finished talking, but I guess that would be okay."

Scharch gets up and nods to Poppy "how about you join us little lady, seeing how you took so much time and effort to find us. Maybe we should conduct a little business with you too." A predatory smile stretches over his face.