Alex only came back down to earth after the beautiful lady had disappeared into the bar. He recalled her face in his mind and smiled.
Lady Carter? Is this the beautiful woman who owns the bar? Alex asked himself.
He walked straight over to the doorman at the entrance. He was also watching the woman.
Alex cleared his throat and asked him about her. Indeed, as he had expected, the beautiful lady was the owner of the bar. Her name was Vivian Carter.
Alex went back inside. He wanted to talk to Vivian about the possibility of buying the bar. He wanted to make sure she didn't sell it to someone else before he had a chance to make an offer.
He followed Vivian and ended up in the office area of the bar.
"Is anyone here?" Alex called out as he walked into the office. There was no one there, only a conference table and a dozen chairs. He decided that Vivian couldn't have come this way, and turned to leave.
At that moment, he heard a woman's voice calling, "Come in." Alex looked over and saw that there was a door on the far wall of the office. The voice was coming from the other side of that door.
Is she calling me? Alex looked around to check that there was no one else in the office and then slowly walked toward the door.
He gently opened it and stepped through.
The moment he walked through the door, Alex froze. His body suddenly felt supercharged.
The door led to a bedroom and sitting room suite with a dressing room at the far end.
A beautiful woman was standing next to the bed with her back facing him. She was completely naked except for her bra and panties.
To add to the allure for Alex, the air in the room was moist and perfumed with the flowery smell of her shower gel. The beautiful woman's hair was wet, and the droplets of water on her body were reflecting the light.
"June, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and give me the fresh towel," said the beautiful lady as she turned around.
This lady really does have the body of a supermodel. Even better if that's possible, thought Alex. His heart was hammering in his chest. He was struggling to control himself.
"Ahh." The lady exclaimed when she saw Alex. She quickly put on her robe and glared at him as she demanded, "Who are you? How much did you see?"
Alex recognized her as Vivian Carter, the owner of the bar and the person Alex was looking for.
"I didn't see anything." Alex waved his hand and tried to act cool, but then two streams of blood started flowing from his nostrils. He wiped them away awkwardly and said with a silly smile, "Sorry. I'm a bit nervous."
"Get out!" Vivian said angrily.
"Okay, sorry," Alex answered weakly and left.
**
Five minutes later, Vivian had dressed and she walked out of the small suite. She stared at Alex and walked slowly toward him. Alex could only smile awkwardly.
At this moment, another beautiful lady, the manager of The Angel bar, June, walked in with a towel in her hand. "Vivian, I've found a fresh towel for you. Oh, sorry, I see that you're already dressed. Who's he?"
"He's here to apply for a job as a waiter," Vivian said before Alex could reply. The boy looked to be only 20 years old, so she assumed that was what he was here for. And she was too embarrassed for June to find out what had just happened in the suite.
"A waiter? We don't need a waiter here, sorry," June said to Alex with a smile. She and Vivian had recently been discussing the need to sell the bar, so they did not need to recruit new waiters.
"June, don't worry about him." Vivian turned to Alex. Only Alex was able to read the meaning behind her stern gaze as she said, "You're a student, right? From now on, you will work in our bar. Of course, we'll not take up any of your studying time. You can come over for all of your free time. I'll pay you ten dollars per hour. Do you agree?"
"Um. Actually, the reason I came was—" Before Alex finished his sentence, Vivian interrupted, "Is ten dollars an hour not enough for you? Look at the clothes you're wearing. Can't you recognize a good offer when you hear one? I offered you a job as a favor. Don't you know what's good for you?"
Alex was stunned. He had assumed that Vivian was a well-mannered lady. He had never expected her to be so unreasonable. Then he thought about how he had offended her just now and realized that she had probably jumped to some conclusions about him too.
It doesn't matter. I will take the job here. It will give me a chance to find out all about The Angel bar, which will be helpful when I buy it.
With these thoughts running through his head, Alex agreed. "Okay."
Vivian replied, "All right, you can leave now. I'll call you if I need anything. Remember to come here to work whenever you're free from classes." Alex nodded and walked out of the office.
"Vivian, our bar is already on the market. Why are you recruiting a new waiter?" June asked, puzzled.
Vivian answered, "Didn't you notice his clothes. He was so scruffy. Our bar is only thriving because of the students nearby. We should learn more about them so we can cater to their tastes." She sounded serious, but Vivian was keeping the real reason hidden. She was worried that Alex would tell everyone what had happened and felt that if he was working for her, he wouldn't do that.
**
Alex felt tired as he walked toward the school. He had told Ben and the others that now he had rented a house off-campus and wouldn't be staying in the dorm very often. Tonight though, they had insisted that Alex stayed with them.
When he got to the dorm, he found his friends half-dressed, lying on their beds, and laughing loudly.
When they saw him enter the room, Ben said excitedly, "Alex, you have to see this. Cathy is also doing a live broadcast. We're dying of laughter watching it. If you don't believe me, ask Max and Joe."
Alex looked at Max and Joe, who were also lying on their beds, and then looked at the screen and laughed.
Alex washed up and then laid on the bed. He sent Debbie a good night message and opened the live broadcast channel. He asked Ben for Cathy's live broadcast number and entered the live broadcast room.
On the screen, Cathy was speaking passionately. Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing way too much makeup.
She was saying, "Everyone, thank you for watching my live broadcast show. If you want to get involved, just send me a message. Let me know what you want, and I promise to fulfill your request. Come on everyone, send in your bids."
Max said to Alex, "Alex, you won't believe what Cathy did just now. Someone said they wanted to watch Cathy shake her head side to side fifty times. Cathy immediately shook her head like a madwoman. After shaking her head, she was so dizzy she fell off her chair."
Alex frowned slightly. Cathy is clearly hoping to use the live broadcast to earn the three hundred and fifty thousand dollars that she needs to pay Billy, he thought. He glanced at the screen.
The comments appearing on the screen were all mocking and ridiculing Cathy.
One said: [This girl has a great set of boobs. She can be my friend anytime.]
Another said: [She could have used her looks to make a living, but she thinks she's got other talents.]
[Best looking female broadcaster on the entire web.] said another.
Cathy ignored the barrage of insults and innuendos. All I need is to make enough money to pay Billy. If I don't, he'll go crazy, and I don't know what his friends will do to me, she thought.
She had looked his friends up on the internet and knew that they were capable of just about anything. The sicker the better.
She had already attracted more than five hundred fans but had only earned around 50 dollars. If it continued this slowly, she would not be able to get the money she needed.
"Hey, didn't Cathy dump you for Billy? Just wait, I'll punish her for you," Ben said to Alex and smiled.
"Please don't do anything to her." Alex tried to stop him, but his friend was already engrossed with the live broadcast.
"Don't worry," Ben replied casually. Soon, his bid appeared on the screen.
"Big Brother: [Stand on the table and jump three times for 20 dollars.]
Alex glanced at Ben with annoyance. He was disappointed in his friend asking a girl to jump on the table. How dangerous is that? He thought. It's just not worth it.
However, Cathy accepted the dare. She said to the screen, "Big brother, I'll do as you request. Please don't forget to give me the reward later."
Cathy put down her phone, stepped on a stool, and climbed onto the table. She looked at the camera and said, "Big Brother, I'm going to jump."
Once.
Twice.
Three times— "Ahh!"
The third time she jumped up, Cathy stepped on the corner of the table, causing it to shake, and she lost her balance and fell. She cried out in fear as she fell heavily onto the ground with a loud crash.
Her two roommates quickly helped her up. Luckily, she wasn't hurt. Cathy sat hunched on her chair and said to the screen, "Big Brother, I've done what you told me to do. Now you can give me my reward."
[20] appeared on the screen as Ben sent the money.
Ben sniggered and proudly said to Alex, "Bet you feel better now?"
Alex suddenly felt angry. He frowned slightly and said to Ben, "Haven't you got anything better to do?"
Ben's face stiffened. Thinking about it, he realized that he had overdone it.
Alex glanced at Cathy on the screen. She was trying to swallow her pride and continue her live broadcast. He sighed softly and was about to turn it off.
At that moment, several words suddenly flashed on the screen of his phone.
"The Duel" was a new segment released by the broadcasting network that streamed Cathy's show. It involved two individuals randomly matched and competing against each other for bids from the audience. The winner would receive a cash reward.
The prize money that the winner would receive was shown on the screen.
[100 thousand dollars.]
That was almost the largest prize anyone had ever heard of.
Cathy's eyes lit up when she saw the figure of one hundred thousand. If she could win this amount, she could pay off almost a third of the money that she had to give Billy. This was a great opportunity for her.
Then Cathy's opponent appeared. She was another beautiful student called Minnie. She already had more than twenty thousand people in her live broadcast room.
Looking at Cathy, her competitor, she smiled. The broadcast had started a few hours ago, and this girl only had five hundred supporters in her room. Minnie knew that she had a huge advantage.
She knew that surely the one hundred thousand prize money was hers for the taking.