When Elise gained consciousness, all she could feel was pain. It felt as if someone had torn her body apart.
She felt quite disoriented because of the pain but when Elise finally gathered herself together; she started panicking instead because she saw the one who had caused the pain that prevailed all over her body. He was still asleep, but would probably wake up soon.
Elise hurriedly pulled the blanket that was on the edge of the bed and covered herself. She could feel herself descending into a panic attack.
She had never thought that she would ever have to face such a situation, so even though she considered herself a tough person, Elise couldn't help but break down.
She had been drugged by none other than her own sister. Drugged and sold to this man who was currently lying beside her.
Elise didn't care that the man was the most attractive man she had ever seen. Her innocence was gone now. She was a person who had not even held hands with a guy yet. She had been saving it all for when she finally fell in love.
Elise just couldn't understand. Why would her own family hate her so much? It was as if she was an outsider all along.
The man beside her started stirring, waking Elise up from her thoughts.
***
Roman woke up with a jolt. He scanned his surroundings and saw that there was a woman next to him on the bed, wrapped in a blanket. He felt quite confused about how he ended up in this situation.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and question the woman next to him, he heard his phone ringing. He got up from the bed and found his phone, which was lying on the floor just beside the bed.
Roman saw that the caller was his mother and picked it up. Before he could greet her, his mother started apologising.
"I'm so sorry, honey. It is all my fault".
Roman was about to question her when she quickly added, "I was so desperate for grandchildren that I bribed the server at the hotel to drug you." His mother started pleading with him to not get mad at her. "Don't worry, I have come to my senses now. That woman is just some random woman that I found. You don't have to worry about her. Just give her a little money and come home".
Roman was still furious at his mother despite her pleadings. Although he had no plans of marriage anytime soon, he had been quite cooperative when his mother had forced him to go on dates with his fiancé.
Even though he held no feelings for her, he was still faithful to her and had tried his best to fulfil her demands. Why did his mother have to do something absurd like this?
Still, not wanting to show his anger in front of a stranger, he just hung up the call without saying a word.
***
From the moment she woke up, Elise had been observing the man whom she had spent the night with. He hadn't even uttered a single word to her. As soon as he woke up, he was on his phone.
After the man was done with his call, he finally turned towards her. The look on his face was indifferent.
The man didn't look at her like looking at someone he had spent an intimate night with.
'Ha, what was I expecting? He 'bought' me for s*x. Why would he show any affection?'
Although Elise had not been looking for any warmth from him, she still could not help but feel slightly hurt.
***
Roman looked at the woman before him. She was on the bed with a blanket wrapped around her, with only her head poking out. Her makeup was messy and her hair looked wild.
Though he had spent the night with her, to him, she was just some woman hired by his mother.
Roman didn't even want to spare a glance at her, let alone let her become the mother of his child.
So he took his wallet from his pants pocket and took a card out. The card had ten million dollars in it.
He estimated that it would be enough compensation as he had slept with her after all.
There were two robes laid on the bedside table. Roman took one and put it on himself. Then he threw the card on the bed and said, "Take this money and don't ever appear in front of me again. Make sure to take the pill. If even a word about what happened gets out, I will make sure that you regret it deeply".
With that, Roman took his wallet and phone and left the hotel room. He didn't want to touch the suit that he had worn yesterday.
Once out of the room, Roman called his secretary and told him to pick him up and bring a change of clothes with him.
Alex (Roman's secretary) arrived pretty quickly. He had already received a call from Roman's mother and had been waiting in the hotel lobby as she hadn't mentioned the exact room number.
Alex had already booked the VIP suite of the hotel, as he knew that his boss was a slight germaphobe and wouldn't leave the hotel unless he was clean and dressed.
Alex lacked a complete understanding of the full scenario, so he felt quite surprised upon seeing Roman in a robe outside of the hotel room. However, he knew better than to question him.
"I have already prepared the VIP suite and your clothes are inside the suite. We can head there right away," Alex informed Roman.
Upon receiving an affirmation, Alex led Roman towards the elevators.
After one last glance at the room's door, Roman followed Alex, not sparing another thought about the woman inside.
***
Elise was staring at the card that the man had thrown at her. At this point, she was just numb. Her own sister had set her up and now she even found herself being treated like a common prostitute by the man she had spent her first night with.
She stood up, took her scattered clothes, and went to the bathroom.
She then proceeded to turn on the shower. The water was freezing cold, but she didn't even notice. All she wanted to do was clean the filth from her body.
No matter how much she scrubbed herself, Elise still didn't feel like it was enough.
'Is this life even worth living? My own family who is supposed to love me have shown nothing but resentment towards me again and again'. 'Am I really such a despicable person?'
Still, she couldn't bring herself to end her life. After she finished cleaning up, Elise got dressed. Fortunately, her clothes seemed fine.
Elise had come to a conclusion, she was not going to let this bring her down. She was not going to forgive her sister this time, either.
Her parents had always blatantly shown their favouritism towards her sister. No matter how serious the matter, they would always take her side. Elise had grown up craving for the affection of her parents. She had done everything she could and obeyed her parents' demands unconditionally, no matter how absurd it was. But she had had enough. She didn't need such parents or such a sister.
Elise was going to leave her family and work towards her dreams.
But first she had to visit the medical store.
After taking the pill, Elise took a bus to her 'home'. She lived with her parents and sister in an apartment in a fairly good area. She was going there so that she could pack her things up and move out.
Although she was the one who had been paying for the apartment ever since they moved there and had already given the landlord the down-payment for two years, she didn't want to continue living there anymore. Elise planned to let her parents reside in the apartment as her last filial act for raising her.
Elise opened the door with her key card and entered quietly. She wanted to pack her things first and then announce her decision to her parents.
She didn't know what kind of reactions they would have and wanted to avoid any conflict, but when she entered through the door, she heard her sister (Angela) talking to her parents.
Elise didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she heard her name being mentioned by Angela in a rather loud voice, so she was curious as to what she had to say.
"Mommy, that bitch got away. What do we do? We have already accepted the payment from Mr. Davis. We can't possibly give all the money back," Angela was complaining in a loud voice.
Elise felt shocked when she heard her words. So her parents already knew what Angela had done to her? No, it seemed like they were actually in on the 'plan'.
Elise felt tears forming in her eyes, but stubbornly held them back. She would not break down. She still wanted to hear what her parents had to say.
"Don't worry darling, she will come running back here soon. We will act as if we are mad at you and you can pretend to apologise to her. We will get plenty of opportunities in the future to deliver her to Mr Davis," Mrs Wilson said, trying to comfort her daughter.
"Why would I apologise to her? She has been living under our roof for free and I even have to pretend that she is my biological sister," whined Angela.
"That's enough! We still need to use her. Do as your mother says and don't let Elise ever know that she is not our child. We can not let anyone know that we bought a child through human traffickers," Mr Wilson warned Angela in a stern voice.
Elise, who had been listening quietly from the entrance, could not help but let out a gasp.
(.･`з･)ﾉ