"Well, I kinda figured," Ben replied as he made his way in, the moment I swung the door open right after he took one glance at me.
"Where's your card?" He asked with a straight face and I instantly pointed to my wardrobe, right before I began to vigorously search for it, abandoning the way my hair pointed in every direction.
A few minutes passed and I was starting to doubt the fact that it was even in the wardrobe I pointed to.
Even without looking back, I could already feel Ben's gaze boring into my back, already imagining how impatient he must be, only to turn around and see him, sitting beside the night stands with all the drawers open.
"You can't find it right?" He asked with a clearly disappointed expression on his face, and for a mini-second I was tempted to lie only to suddenly start shaking my head to show that he was indeed right.
"I'm sorry Ben but this probably means I won't be able to go with you especially since you can't be late. Its my…" I said just about to begin apologizing with a sad expression on my face that I surprisingly felt when I watched Ben reach into one of the drawers to bring out the card I had been searching for, for the past ten minutes.
"Figured you might find another in the wardrobe you were looking through,"
"But why didn't…"
"Let's go…" Ben interrupted getting on his feet, with his eyes sliding across my entire outfit and especially my still rowdy hair without saying another word, as he made his way out of the room.
I hurriedly picked my card and hurried right after him sliding my fingers through some of the tangled strands on my head as I quietly followed Ben to his car, not seeing a reason to try asking any more questions about the place we would soon get to.
The drive was surprisingly a little long and by the time we got to the outskirts of the city, past a long dirt road that led to a large and exorbitant mansion with enough guards in every corner for any thief to know to back off.
"Here?" I muttered more to myself as Ben continued driving without saying a word, as I looked around and saw a trail of pretty fancy cars in front of us and come ordinary ones.
It took a while to actually get to the huge black gates, before being allowed in after Ben showed them a black silver lined invitation card, before he was allowed to drive in.
We got out of the car the moment Ben found a parking space, and walked straight towards the entrance, right before we were both given numbers after handing over the invitation and pointed to our respective seats with the respective numbers.
Mine was 34, Ben's own was 21 which meant that we had to split up to sit in our respective seats.
But just as I turned to leave, Ben tapped me and pointed at the phone in my hand, whispering a few words before leaving.
"Check your phone,"
The moment I got to my seat, that was the first thing I did, a little surprised to read the detailed information Ben finally decided to share with me.
The building we were in belonged to a popular Madam, called Madam Shelly. She owned a lot of hosting houses across the country, and the underground event that was being hosted was to invite viable clients to get a taste of what they would enjoy, if they patronized her houses.
The theme was: You come first, You lose.
The men and the few women I could see in our midst would be allowed to freely spend time with a girl, and the longer we lasted the more money Madam Shelly would give us.
One hour: 1000 dollars
Two hours: 10000 dollars
Three hours: 15000 dollars.
Four hours: 20000 dollars
With each hour that went by it practically thrippled, which was something I found hard to believe in, especially since ten thousand dollars was way more than my three months salary.
"Clack...Hem…"
The sound of the mic on the small stage in front of us filled the air followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat as I looked up to see an extremely elegant woman dressed beautifully in red open her mouth to begin to speak.
"We all know why we're here…" she spoke in a silky tone that had enough sexual undertones for my eyes to wander all over her, especially at the extremely low cut on the chest area of her gown.
"The competition would begin without any delay. There are enough rooms for everyone, and each of you would be called using the number tags that have been given to you at the entrance. The rules are simply but just in case, I would state them again fo ensure fairness," She said taking a slight pause as she looked around the room before she continued to speak.
"The number one rule: Once you come, you lose and you would immediately be escorted out of the room back to the hall.
There are cameras in every room and the rooms are well-lit so cheating is impossible. Last but not the least, a drug test would be performed in the hall on each of you, something each of you must have been told and agreed to, for you to have decided to come. We can't have any cheater win, now can we?,"
"Your cards have all been collected and a medical history is being done on each of you as we speak. Anyone with erectile dysfunctions of course wouldn't be allowed to stay," she said with a serious expression on her face, one that quickly dissolved to a gentle one, as she turned to the side, beckoning for someone to join her.
Of course, almost everyone's gaze was instantly drawn to where she looked, including mine as I watched a young woman wearing a silver gown with pale skin the color of snow, red plum lips and blue coloured eyes that was bound to draw attention to her wherever she went, walking slowly up the stage to meet her.