"What do you mean by that?"
"You replace Lola," Ava said innocently.
"Wait a minute," Gaea said, "You want me to dance in Lola's place?" she asked in disbelief.
Ava nods still with her innocence.
"You're crazy, huh!?" Gaea exclaimed, "Ferdinand will know if it's me right away!"
Ava shakes her head, "Not if you are wearing a wig."
"Wig!?"
"I think it's a good idea," Lola approves of Ava's idea, it sounds crazy indeed, but they have no other choice, "please help me this time, Ge," she asked pitifully.
Gaea doesn't budge at all, "Why must it be me? Why not, Ava?" she asked, it wasn't her idea, why take such a huge risk?
"I want it but it's my first day, so I can't do it because I have to take care of my ID card," Ava replied, anyway, their height is so different. Lola is 178 cm and she is 168 cm.
Ava has a point, and she also has the closest body shape to Lola's body in every way, there is only one difference, "But my breasts ..." Gaea blushes. The one thing that is different from Lola and always makes her jealous is Lola's breasts that are bigger than hers.
"Don't you know the power of the pad," said Lola while rolling her eyes, "Moreover, your breasts are not so different from mine," Why would it be a problem? Did Gaea take that as a competition? Even about bodies? How absurd, "Gaea, you're the most suitable, and you know the risk of keeping the customer waiting too long, right?"
Of course, she knows that, but doing a sexy dance in front of foreign men still embarrassed her, "I can't dance!"
"Bullshit," said Lola rolling her eyes, "Just tell me if you don't want to do it," she continued, "Goodbye my job ..." she sobbed, pretending to be sad.
Gaea pats her forehead.
There goes Lola again with her sensitive side, or you could say over dramatizing things.
Seriously.
Why is Lola so good at acting that it's so hard to tell which one is real or fake? Make her feel so guilty.
Gaea pats her forehead, "Alright," she gives in.
"You're really the best friend!" Lola said with a smile as sweet as possible, "I love you so much!"
Gaea is starting to feel disgusted, and don't forget Lola is someone who is a genius at bragging, "Give me your wig."
Lola's smile is getting wider, handing over a little silver key to Ava, "Could you get it please, Ava~?"
Ava nods and opens Lola's locker.
Gaea rolls her eyes again, sometimes thinking whether Lola is too good at manipulating people to obey her words.
"Here it is."
"Thank you," Gaea accepted it gladly. Gaea is a little bit surprised seeing that Lola even bring a hair net to the club, "You planned this, right?"
"How can I," Said Lola irritably. Why plan this? To have to fall just to see Gaea look like her? "Come here fast!"
"Ugh," Gaea grumbled but still cooperating, sitting next to her close friend letting Lola do the 'magic' on her long brown hair.
"Hm~ hm~ hm~" Lola hums while putting a hairnet on Gaea's hair. Right as people said, there's a purpose behind every accident. After ensuring it is attached perfectly, going to the next step, putting on the wig and wearing clips on every side, "Done! It's really tight, but don't flick your hair, okay?"
Gaea rolls her eyes, "Why should I do this?"— and where is that painful moan!?
Lola removes the strand of her black hair with full confidence to the back of her ear, "Maybe you're going to love this customer, Ge."
Alright, that is crossing the line, "No way!" Gaea argued. She loves another man even if it's only one-sided love.
Lola rolls her eyes, "Come on, as the saying goes, there's plenty of fish in the sea! You cannot just focus on Eryk," she said, "Although I have to admit that Eryk is really a 'daddy material', but still he is indifferent to you."
Gaea can't argue with that. How can? That's the fact. She ignores it, choosing to take her shirt off, leaving her underwear, which feels uncomfortable as if she were naked.
"Gaea, don't close yourself, okay?" Lola said gently, sometimes worried about Gaea who is too in love with Eryk that she refuses other men all this time, even though Gaea always uses the excuse that those men are not her type, nonetheless.
"I'm trying," Gaea answered half-heartedly, wearing a long jacket to cover her body.
"I'm serious!"
Gaea chooses to ignore her friend's words again, walking out upstairs while wearing her eye mask. Her green eyes start looking for the figure of Ferdinand. Upstairs is much larger than downstairs. There is a casino especially for rich people or people who have business with Eryk is always here, and there is a bar that is much bigger than the bar downstairs making her wish she can work there, but she hasn't work there for a long time and only the experienced ones can work upstairs.
Gaea glances into the casino, looking for Ferdinand who might be there, her lips can't stop expressing her admiration seeing so much money on the card table, the waiters here are sexier. If downstairs they just wear a miniskirt, here only wearing the 'sexy bunny' costume and don't forget the black stocking and bow tie that gives a naughty impression.
Her eyes flicker. What is she doing? She shouldn't be here! Back to the main purpose again, which is to find Ferdinand, that apparently result in nothing. She rolls her eyes. Of course, no one is here.
Her footsteps move back, sweeping the VIP room, Gaea just remember how big of an upstairs it is, her job as a bartender doesn't make her as free as Lola or Ava, even though Eryk often goes upstairs.
Maybe this is a sign that both of them can't be together ...
Gaea shakes her head firmly. It's not the time to feel bad for her love life, she must find Ferdinand! "Ah!" Her eyes accidentally catch a hair with 'stand up' style at the end of the stairs that leads to the rooftop. She runs a little to Ferdinand before he gets out of her sight.
Wait a minute! She's already dressed up like Lola, but their voice is different!
What should she do!?
Before Gaea can solve her problem, Ferdinand notices her and gets closer.
Gaea herself is suddenly petrified, her brain is blank, thinking about how to talk to Ferdinand. If only she had a bow tie that could change voices like in the detective manga that she read.
"Lola? Are you okay?" Ferdinand raises his eyebrow in wonder, "you're still here? Let's go to VIP room number seven, Eryk has been waiting for you."
Gaea wakes up from her shock. Fortunately, Ferdinand gives her the number of the room where she is supposed to go without having to talk. Without a word, nods cheerfully towards room seven.
How is it possible not to be happy?
Ferdinand says that Eryk has been waiting for her there~
Waiting for her to dance sexily~
Sexy—eh?
Gaea finally realizes, her step is stopped.
Eryk is waiting for her—? What does Ferdinand mean? Is Eryk requesting a special dance and not for his business partner as usual?
Gaea begins to feel jealous. She is wondering if Lola ever did the sexy dance for Eryk without her knowing it. If it were Lola, she wouldn't dare to tell her to protect her feelings.
"Rose?" someone with brown hair and a muscular body asked her.
Gaea sighed. There is just one answer, "Yes."
"Come in," said the muscular man while opening the door slowly.
Gaea hesitates for a moment before eventually stepping inside, then closing the door gently.
Gaea knows that the moment her footsteps in this room, all eyes are focused on her, but she doesn't dare to stare yet, afraid that her suspicion might be right that there's a couple of blue eyes observing her.
"How long do you want to stand there?"
Gaea wakes up from her daydream and continues her footsteps with mixed feelings.
That was Eryk's voice, confirming that her guess is right, Gaea is confused. How long has Lola hidden this from her? She is sure that this call isn't the first time, her heart begins to burn in jealousy. In a moment of despair about her love for Eryk, behind her back, her friend is giving the man a sexy dance? She will talk about this to Lola after their work is over.
Gaea stops right in front of Eryk that is staring at her—more precisely, seeing her body intensely, which makes her feel uncomfortable. Her worried heart hopes she won't get caught.
"Take off your clothes," Eryk instructed flatly.
Gaea, who is still feeling uncomfortable, follows his instruction, even though wearing underwear in front of Eryk doesn't change her heart. There is someone else next to him who is perhaps Eryk's business partner—wait, Gaea knows the man with the black hair which she remembers as Rainer, Eryk's friend.
Rainer rarely comes to the club, so she barely recognizes him, his body looks slimmer than the last time he was here, perhaps too busy working—? She remembers Rainer is Eryk's colleague.
It feels weird standing between these two men, they completely have a contradictory appearance, Rainer's style is far simpler by wearing a dark blue sweater and covered by a black jacket than Eryk's who is elegant wearing a suit.
Their physique is also different, she remembers that Rainer is a Japanese descendant while Eryk is more like an American, both are handsome in different ways.
If it's a romantic drama, probably the female audience would be jealous of her.
Wait, why think about that? Eryk's style is like that because of the demand of his job, different with Rainer who is more casual ... perhaps?
Eryk rests his chin on the shoulder of the sofa, "Show your best performance to him, Rose."
Gaea sighs in relief—unexpectedly, Eryk doesn't realize her disguise, she should be happy, right? She gets closer to Rainer and starts to dance. Even though she is disappointed, it can't be denied that she feels a little comfortable that Eryk is here to protect her surely, even though she is not sure Rainer will mess with her.
"As we agreed, you give me the information first, Rainer," Eryk begins to open the conversation, his voice sounds flat.
Information?
Gaea feels interested. What kind of important information is that, so that it must be paid? Did he commit a crime!? Indeed, she has heard cheap gossips that her boss is involved in smuggling illegal goods or something, but there's no clear evidence.
"Where's my payment?" Rainer asked calmly.
Eryk's thick and black eyebrow fused, annoyed, "Alex."
A young man with brown hair who has been silent in Eryk's side takes out a black suitcase, puts it on the table, and opens it, showing the dollar bills inside.
Gaea's eyes pop out. How important must that information be so that it requires so much money? She believes it reaches a million dollars.
Rainer's black eyes glances for a while into the suitcase, before going back to Eryk, "that's not the payment that I want."
"Then, what?" Eryk asked, sounds mocking.
Rainer closes his eyes, "You know it."
"Don't be such a child," Eryk replied coldly, "You can't keep on looking at the past, 'best friend'."