STIGMA

Along the corridor of the hotel, two beautiful women were pushing and pulling at each other. Several cleaners passing by couldn't help but look at them.

"Astrid, I don't think this is a good idea!"

A beautiful woman in a light blue dress was hesitant about going into the room while a woman in a black shirt pushed her forward.

"What's the matter now? I think Veron is drunk. Would you rather another woman take care of him? Stop being silly! This is your chance! Grab it! Just take care of him for a whole night. Nothing else! I'm sure he will appreciate that. He'll probably talk to you tomorrow and confess to you or something," The women in black widened her eyes and snapped.

"But..."

Leila Song was still a little hesitant but Astrid Li had already pushed her into the room. "It's fine," she said. "Just take care of him!"

Astrid Li promptly slammed the door shut. She then turned, grabbed a baseball cap from her bag and placed it at the top of her head, a faint and evil smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She then took her phone out and sent a message. When everything was ready, she fixed her cap so that it covered her face and walked away.

Meanwhile, Leila Song was already inside the room, her heart beating fast. She turned the light on, trying to gather herself. She figured she was just going to take care of Veron and that was it—no more, no less.

After taking several breaths to calm herself down, she finally walked further inside the room.

A man lay on the bed—his white shirt tight around his body. He smelled heavily of alcohol which made Leila frown. She thought to herself, 'Why did Veron drink so much?'

Still, she had some strange feeling stirring up in her chest. She walked toward the bed, stood by it and lowered her head to examine his face closely.

When the man's face came to her view, she was taken aback. He was handsome and his cheeks were tinged with a red hue—probably from the alcohol. He had an evil and knowing look to his face. He was definitely the most handsome man Leila had seen and this man was definitely not Veron Lian. 'Did Astrid take me to the wrong room?'

Before she could react, she saw that the man in bed suddenly opened his eyes and stared at her with his deep, black eyes.

*****

The warm sunshine shone through the curtains. The woman curling up in the man's arms slightly opened her eyes.

Leila Song froze as she stared at his handsome face. Suddenly, all her memories came flooding back to her. She squealed as she grabbed the quilt tightly and moved backwards.

The man was taken aback by Leila's squeal and opened his eyes rather furiously. He rubbed his forehead and stared at Leila, watching the shift of expression on her face.

"What? Shame on you! I'm not letting you get away with this!"

Leila Song roared with resentment, her voice hoarse. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying too much the previous night.

Upon hearing this, the man paused and turned his head to squint at her. Without saying a word, he got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom.

"What are you doing? How arrogant!" Leila Song held the quilt so tightly that she couldn't even breathe.

As expected, he stopped, turned back and grabbed his checkbook and a pen. He swiftly scribbled something before tearing the check off and throwing it to Leila's direction. "Is that enough?"

Staring at the check, Leila sat up and pointed her finger at him. "What do you mean? Do you think l care about your money? Well, for your information, the last thing I need is money!"

Hearing that, the man looked back at her calmly. If one looked carefully, one could see the dark gleam in his eyes.

Leila suddenly realized that she'd caught a cold as the quilt was sliding down form her body. Flushing, she quickly grabbed it so she could cover herself again. "What are you looking at? Do you really think I'm going to let you get away with this?" she shouted at him.

The man, named Max Mu, then thought of something. He knew that he'd enjoyed his night with this woman regardless of how she was acting now. Although he couldn't remember clearly what happened last night, he could still recall that they'd made love to each other.

He then walked toward the bed, to which Leila responded by sitting back. He forcibly pulled her into his arms.

"Be my woman."

She could feel his hot breath on her neck. She turned her head and stretched out her arms to create some distance between them. "In your dreams! I don't care about your money!"

She couldn't push him away and she was afraid that he would do something to her. She then started to sob.