Donny had a temperament. He even dared to be rude if Poppy upset him by not doing what he asked. Because of that, the love that Poppy used to feel for Donny had now turned into fear.
-Flashback-
When Donny asked her to drink with his friends at a bar, Poppy had already refused. But Donny almost threw a tantrum at her. That day, Donny seemed so emotional that his anger was very easily ignited. Frightened, Poppy finally had no other choice but to join the drinking event. Poppy did not expect that her decision would be the beginning of the destruction of her own life.
There, Poppy was repeatedly forced to drink because she had lost a game, which she didn't even know what kind the rules were. It was as if Donny and his friends had planned to trap Poppy in the first place. When she finally lost consciousness because the alcohol took over, she woke up and found herself lying in a long sofa, with her body covered only by a thin white sheet.
Poppy was hysterical when she realized she was naked in an unfamiliar place. Because her head hurt so much, it took Poppy a while to realize that Donny and his friends were near the sofa. They were playing cards at a round table.
"You've been sleeping for a long time, honey," Donny said when he saw Poppy had woken and sat up.
Poppy's body shook violently. Cold sweat instantly trickled down her forehead. She pulled the sheet to cover her tiny body even tighter, curling up. She felt embarrassed because there were five men in the room. "Do.. Donny! Why am I naked?! What are you doing to me?!" she screamed.
"What? Why are you asking? Don't you remember that last night we all had a great time here?" Donny replied casually.
"Right, Poppy. You really entertained us," Brian said with a thumbs up while grinning widely.
"Hem.. With such an innocent face, you're really great, apparently. You surprised us last night. Haha .." Lary added.
The answers of the damned men gave chills over Poppy's back. Her heart was beating so fast that she couldn't think anymore. Tears welled up in her eyes, "Ugh.. No.. No," she muttered hoarsely, shaking her head.
Without realizing it, Donny was already walking towards her. The guy slowly hugged her tightly, "Shh.. Don't cry, honey. Don't be afraid. I will always take care of you. Remember.. You are my lover, right? Like I always said, I will never let you go from my arms, Poppy."
Yes, when Poppy confessed her feelings to Donny, the guy smiled gently and hugged her. He accepted the girl's feelings. At that moment, what Donny said made Poppy put her whole heart in the man's hands. And now, Donny gave her the same treatment and sentence again. But it's.. with a different feeling. Poppy didn't feel warm and happy. It's cold and scared!
The man took Poppy out of his arms. Then, showed his cellphone screen right in front of her face. On Donny's cellphone screen, a video filled with laughter and moan played. It was an execution that cut Poppy's head off.
Poppy covered her mouth with both hands. Her crying was getting worse. She couldn't believe those guys.. no.. even her own boyfriend, had the heart to do such heinous things to her when she was drunk. Poppy felt like she was watching a stranger who had the same form as her was doing filthy things with five men. She really looked like a whore!
"Honey, would you like to help me do something? I wish you would. Because if you don't.. maybe this fun video will be playing on every campus student's cell phone. And even.. on your mommy's phone. You're going to be very famous, honey." he said with a faint smile.
"That's right Poppy! You don't have to worry. The job isn't that hard. You just need to do things like last night. But, the recording will be using a better camera." Said Brian lightly.
- Flashback Ends-
***
Poppy did not expect, she had to take the bus to the harbour area almost every day. Arriving at a building with peeled off grey and white paint wall. A building that from the front had a name the frozen seafood company branch office, was actually a headquarters for demons. And that place was a prison for girls who were victims of forced labour like her.
Poppy climbed the stairs to the second floor. She opened the door with lowered head. There were a lot of men and five other women who Poppy knew were fellow actresses like her. They all had the same depressing face as Poppy. Then, there were also six actors in the place.
"Wow.. Finally our actress has arrived. Since you're the number one cat, you're going to be a big headed, huh?!" Brian said with arms akimbo.
"Shut up." Donny stepped past him to approach Poppy. Then, he embraced the girl in his arms while handing her a box of diet milk. After that, lead her walking to join the others, "We can start the briefing now,"
Poppy sat beside Donny on a two-seat sofa. Her two black irises continued to stare at the long sofa nearby which was already fully occupied by five women. It was as if Poppy's trauma had been ignited until her heart started beating hard. It was sad that she had to return almost daily to the place where she was abused by her own boyfriend and his friends.
"Our income for one week has been increased. Thank you to all of you who have worked hard." Said a man in a shirt with neatly arranged hair and round silver-rimmed glasses, who looked like a young office man.
But in fact, he was the vice-chairman of the Hell Gate group and also the director who oversees the company behind the website catlanguagedictionary.com. The man's name was Matsumoto Kei or more familiarly called Kei. He was a person that Hell Gate's leader trusted the most.
It was Kei who made sure Hell Gate's source of income went well. No one had ever seen that such beautiful-looking man fighting. He was always under the protection of the very powerful gang leader.
"It so happened that the creative and marketing team gave a breakthrough for our website. I saw it as a very interesting breakthrough and it is likely to increase our income many times. And the good news, in this program, there will be a bonus system for the actress and actor. So it will increase your income too." He continued with a smile. Then, Kei instructed the one man standing at the far end to stand beside him.
The man with square glasses approached Kei with a paper in hand. He was the head of the creative team that Kei was referring to.
"Yes, so this program is called 'Cat Live and Cat Live Game'. The program will be combined with a live streaming event, which is also a new program. So this is a Bidding War game. In one live broadcast session, ten Bidding slots will be opened, where one slot will last for only two minutes. During those two minutes, the viewers are invited to bid or offer how many coins they can give to win prizes. The winner is the one who can give the highest number of coins until the time in one session ends. The prize offered is, the winner will be given one right to ask the actress and actor to do anything they want at that time, through a special comment column. You could say, they have the right to control the actress and actor. But of course, violence or any kind of spread on the internet other than on our website is not allowed. So everything is safe." The man explained.
All the actors and actresses there were immediately stunned. What other crazy things do they have to do? But unlike them, the members of Hell Gate immediately applauded loudly while chuckling in admiration for the brilliant idea of their creative team.
"For now, during the trial and promotion period, we are only opening the 'Cat Live Game' feature on live broadcasts carried out by selected lucky actors and actresses. Of course, because of your achievements, we have chosen all of you here. For other actors and actresses, they have to wait about a few more months to be able to activate this feature in their live broadcast session. While those of you here are the lucky ones to be able to try this golden opportunity. Because at the beginning of the launch, the audience will definitely be willing to bet a very large amount of coins to watch your show. From the earnings on this program, you will get a bonus of two percent." Explained the man with a handsome face and two shady grey eyes who was the head of the marketing team.
'Two percent?! Are they crazy? This is called slave labour!' Thought of almost all actors and actresses. But they only kept those thoughts in their minds. Not daring to get a word out of their lips.
"What do you say, people? You are all understood, aren't you?" Kei asked all the actors.
They all nodded fearfully, "U-understood."
Kei smiled, "Okay. Then, this program will start in the next few days. The exact schedule will be notified further by Donny. That's all for the meeting today. Thank you for your cooperation."
After the original meeting was over, Kei immediately went up the stairs to his room on the fifth floor. As usual, he was followed by two big bodyguards with dark skin. Then, all the office people were also got off, returned to their respective jobs.
Donny stepped in again to give a further briefing to all of the actors and actresses, "Okay.. After this, you all can go straight to the studio to shoot for the cover of this new program. And remember, don't mess up." he said, receiving nods from all of them.