Chandeliers, pure white marble floor, luxurious food, opulent interiors with only furniture from top quality companies… After succeeding as a full-time individual stock trader, Scarlett’s life was quite literally perfect in almost every sense.

Or, she had thought so until she reached her late 20s.

Grumbling, Scarlett took another gulp of the heavily alcoholic whiskey in one go, slamming down the empty rocks glasses down back to the finely cut table. She sighed deeply, looking at the elaborately polished rocks glasses that shone in the light. Now that she thought about it, the rocks glasses seemed similar to her… Beautiful, aesthetically pleasing to look, bright, but empty on the inside—

She stopped with her thoughts when her friends called out her name.

“Can you quit being constipated?” Charlotte, Scarlett’s friend deadpanned, looking at the drunk female in front of her. It was almost ridiculous how the red-haired female in front of her — all charismatic and composed in front of other — would collapse in just one cup of whiskey.

“I’m sooooooooooo lonely!” Scarlett drawled, flailing her arms around. Putting her heated cheeks on top of the cool marble table, Scarlett threw a small tantrum, causing Charlotte to smack Scarlett’s head not too nicely. Charlotte barked at her drunk friend to quit it, wondering to herself why wouldn’t she get a boyfriend...when she was this successful. Everybody complimented her accomplishments, everybody wanted to get close to her, everybody wanted a share of her fame. This didn’t apply only to women, but men as well. So. If this drunk girlie in front of her had a s*** load of men approaching towards her — all of them good-looking, even — why would she not get just pick one of the best one and go out with him?

“I mean, it’s not like I’m asking for a super handsome man or anything!” Scarlett squeaked again as if to answer the question raised in Charlotte’s mind. Charlotte scoffed, drinking down the alcohol that was in her own cup. Scarlett poured more whiskey into her rocks glass, filling the said liquor to the brim of the cup. “I just want someone that would look at me just as ‘Scarlett Valencia,’ not as ‘most-successful-full-time-individual-stock-trader-of-2018 Scarlett Valencia.’ Do you know what I mean? I mean, literally everybody approaches me for fame. My god. Fame my ass…” Grumble grumble grumble grumble.  Charlotte watched her friend whilst drinking down her own drink, then took a look at the clock that read 2 a.m..

“I think we should stop drinking,” Charlotte stated, placing down her rocks glass. She snatched away Scarlett’s cup and dragged Scarlett out from her seat, taking out $50 from her purse. Confidently placing Scarlett’s — not hers — money on the table as a tip, Charlotte further proceeded out to the counter, also using Scarlett’s card to pay while the said female was still wobbling and grumbling about finding a boyfriend. That girlie, Charlotte thought while looking at her best friend. She has to get her s***s altogether.

The two female came out from the shop, and Charlotte looked around, finding for a nearby convenience store. Once she found one that was open, Charlotte told Scarlett to stay here, claiming that she would buy an icecream for the two to eat while going home. Scarlett dismissively waved her hand, causing Charlotte to frown. Will she be okay on her own?

However, Charlotte quickly dismissed that thought as she quickly turned around and left to the convenience store, leaving Scarlett alone to lean against the wall, desperately trying to fight with the tipsiness that was overcoming her senses. Scarlett wobbled, massaging her temples as she leaned against the wall, her eyes closed. She continued to do so, unaware of the footsteps that were nearing towards her.
“Hey, pretty girl.”

It was until a voice directly caught Scarlett’s attention when Scarlett finally noticed the presence that neared towards her. Scarlett stopped and turned around, finding three men standing next to each other, waving while smiling at her.
“Who,” hiccup. “Who are,” hiccup. “Who are you gu—,” hiccup. “Who are you guys?” hiccup. Hiccupping thrice, Scarlett drawled, wobbling as her vision blurred. Her instincts told her to walk away, but her body and her mind couldn’t properly follow those instincts as Scarlett just dully stared at the three men in front of her.

“We are prince Henry on a black horse who came here to take the princess,” one of the male stated, smiling a sick smile. Cocking her head to the side, Scarlett processed the man’s words, snorting in ridiculousness at the cringy line the man just threw.

“Sorry, you’re looking at the wrong princess,”  Scarlett snickered. “I’m looking for prince Jayden on a white horse, not black,” she waved her hand dismissively and turned around, ready to go find her friend, when the other man grabbed her wrists forcefully. Harshly pulling Scarlett back to the group, the man who grabbed her wrist then grabbed her shoulders and forcefully made Scarlett turn around, causing the female’s tipsiness to run away quickly. Panicking, Scarlett tried to pry herself out from the men’s grasp, only to yelp in fear as the rest of the men suddenly grabbed both of her wrists and started to pull her towards the dark alleyway.

“Wh, wait. What the fu...fudge are you guys doing!?” Scarlett screeched whilst swearing, trying her best to put weight on her legs and refuse from moving. She wriggled once more, but with no avail, she could escape. “You guys know this is a crime, right?” She appealed once again, flinching when all three of them laughed in mockery.
“We honestly don’t give a s*** if it’s a crime or not. You know, it’s only you who's going to be in trouble if the video that we film goes online,” one of the men stated, causing Scarlett to go white. She tried to stammer out a response, but could not, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes.

“H-Hold on,” she weakly protested. “I-If you’re money that you guys want, I can give you guys as much as you want. I have enough money to make you all live the rest of your lives with opulence, so, If you...could...let me...go…” Scarlett trailed off, fear coursing through her body as the men stopped and looked at each other, smiling creepily.

“That would be quite nice,” one of the men spoke, looking down at Scarlett who relaxed in relief. However, her body went rigid as the other men stated something even scarier than what she had imagined.
“To film the video and to earn money.”

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Scarlett felt her vision blur momentarily in shock, a sob escaping her lips as she desperately tried to pry herself away from the vice grip around her shoulders and her waist. She screamed for help, her scream coming out as half sob and a cry that did no help. Three men holding her just laughed mockingly at Scarlett’s vain attempt to escape, pulling her into darker parts of the alley.

Just as when those men got ready to rip Scarlett’s clothes off, one of the men suddenly collapsed to the ground, rendered unconscious. Scarlett hiccuped in surprise, looking at the collapsed men in front of her with wide eyes. She then trailed her eyes up, finding a young male — around a year or two younger than her — standing behind the collapsed man. The rest of the men shifted their attention to the male in front of them rather than Scarlett, and the male took a glance at Scarlett before he sighed and further proceeded to suppress the rest of the two men.
It was really interesting how the two men who had absolute dominance in power over Scarlett collapsed to the ground with a single punch from the male within the span of one minute. Dazed, Scarlett watched the three unconscious men who were tormenting her just several minutes ago. She then glanced up at the male again, her mouth opening and closing to utter something...However, her attempts failing miserably.

It was only after several minutes when Scarlett was able to speak again, and once she opened her mouth, the only thing she could squeak out was:

“Tank you?”
And that was when Scarlett wanted to disappear into the thin air.
The male in front of her cocked his head to the side, repeating Scarlett’s mispronunciation. “Tank you?”
Scarlett’s face flushed into a nice shade red, stammering out an apology. “S-Sorry! I meant ‘thank you!’” She sputtered, slowly standing up. She held both of her arms — as if she was hugging herself — and looked at the male in front of her. The male in front of her looked different from other men she has encountered until now. Sure, he was extremely handsome, but Scarlett felt her heartbeat speed up when the male’s eyes met with Scarlett’s own eyes. She didn’t really believe in things such as “love at first sight,” but this feeling she was feeling right now was certainly enough to consider her feelings as that.

Grasping her arms tighter, Scarlett took a deep breath and asked the male’s name, her heart skipping another beat or so when she heard the male’s name.

“My name?” The male echoed, a thoughtful expression flashing across his face before he faced Scarlett and reached out his hand. “I’m Jayden. Jayden Colhen.”