Roses And Thorns

My slender little legs walked towards a particular room, and I opened the door barefoot before going in.

"Rose," the man sitting elegantly and poised, called my name like a sin, not meant to be said out loud but instead meant to be spoken as a whisper.

My little lips parted as my eyelashes fluttered.

"You sent for me; how do I serve you?" I said, speaking just as I was taught, like a good little prostitute.

The man stared at me from my tiny legs up to my beautiful porcelain white hands and then my breathtaking face, which could make any man wish to have me. That is why I became exclusive in the first place. After all, the owner of the business knew where to find his highest gain.

I put on a silver-colored nightgown, which glimmered lightly as I walked in a straight line slowly toward the man like a good little lamb. This is where rule one comes in.

'Be submissive'

"Your skin is so pale; if you bleed, you'd look like a piece of art." Immediately after these words were said by the man in a suit in front of me, I had to stop my feet from moving further.

"What do you ask?" I asked, bowing slightly to show I would listen attentively to how he wished for me to serve him.

"I ask for you to come closer and assist me with something, love." I raised my head, waiting to hear his perverted words that'd follow, but instead, he spoke some words I didn't quite understand.

"You are perfect enough to walk beside him without triggering his fight or flight mode."

"I apologize, but I do not seem to understand your wishes," I spoke with my tiny hands, slightly wrapping around my clothes tightly, obviously showing I was nervous.

"You are so innocent and pure; no one would have known you were just a mere prostitute who works in a brothel."

I didn't reply, but I bowed my head deeply while waiting for the man to continue.

He raised his hand, which was adorned with a beautiful and expensive-looking Rolex watch, which seemed like it was enough to buy me my freedom for a week, which is quite expensive.

"What I mean is that tomorrow, at the same time as I'm busy talking to you, a man and some others will have a meeting. I need you to be present in the room, and I'll pay for your time. Act naturally, and eavesdrop on their conversation."

I nodded.

"You would have been perfect for his brother if you weren't a prostitute." It could be seen that the man's mouth wasn't clean. He stared at my eyes, which looked as clear as glass, and my skin, which was nothing short of fine porcelain.

Rose, as my name says, said, If I were given one, it would look so sharp against my skin; it would make me look like a fairytale that slipped into the world.

"Stay in the room for a while before you leave, just so if we are suspected by him, it would look like we were having an affair after all."

I dared not look at the customers in the eyes, so I could only bow without a word while staring at his shining shoes. He picked up a glass containing a drink I knew nothing about; his hand moved lightly while spinning the contents of the cup.

My eyes stayed glued on anything but his face, and my pure black hair, which was a little below my waist, swayed a little while I looked mesmerized at the beautiful colored drink in the glass.

The man whose face I hadn't seen raised the glass cup towards his already slightly parted lips and took a sip as if tasting the drink before drowning the little content of the glass down his throat.

The fink liquid was gone quickly, and I didn't realize I had been so attracted; my head wasn't down anymore but up, now staring into the man's aged eyes.

His face wasn't so wrinkled but held some wrinkles of age; his orbs were dark, and he stared back at me.

"All the girls in the brothel do not know how to read or write, and most don't understand the words people say because you were all trained to be dumb so you could be used easily and also not be able to spill the secrets of the brothel. I had to go to great lengths to finally find out that the golden girl of the brothel, whose skin looked as white as snow yet as clear as glass, whose eyes looked like staring into the transparent ocean and her hair like a wavy waterfall, who looked so little she could be crushed easily if not treated gently, could read perfectly and speak fluent English."

I had nothing to reply to. We weren't meant to give replies to people, so I looked down quickly, removing my eyes from the man who adjusted his tie and then stood up like an unshakable tree.

"Which means you are the perfect one for this job; your other sisters are just too dumb, and they might not understand the terms used, but I know you will." The man gave me a smile, which I wasn't looking at, only listening to his voice.

"Hm, that will be all for today. Ah, I almost forgot. Have this?" He pulled out a wrinkled rose from the side of his pocket and placed it in my hand. "Remember your rule number five: have no emotional strings attached to any customer; otherwise, you'll be punished severely."

He turned around and reached for the door.

"How do I know the person you asked me to drop in?" I finally spoke coherent words when I walked into the room, except for the sexual words we were asked to say to every customer.

"You know him when you see him." The man disappeared from my sight after he shut the door. I looked at the wrinkled rose and walked towards the bin to throw away the little flower, only to feel a prick.

"Ouch," I moaned, lightly letting go of the rose before looking down at my pretty hands, which had a drop of blood slipping out of the picked spot.

There was a knock on the door, and I raised my head quickly to look in the direction of the closed door. Hasn't the man gone yet? I wondered before walking toward the door and pulling it open.

The person who stared at me happened to be my boss.

"Since you are done with that, go back to your room before the poor leeches see you and try to force you to have sex with them."

It felt like she had seen the future, and all I could do was nod.

"Tomorrow everyone will be dressed in Victorian style; your clothes are in your wardrobe. I told Taylor to make sure she tightens your corset properly so you'd look more beautiful as you have a customer who booked you for tomorrow."

All I had to do was keep nodding to show I was following the conversation.

"That's all. Now go to bed, Rose. I'm sure you are tired," she said while staring as I walked into the room until my beautiful legs vanished from her sight. "Good girl," the woman whispered when I wasn't able to hear her anymore before she walked around to the other girls who were busy having their lunch while I had my nap.

Seeing the manager appear without Rose most times at the dining table was so usual; they didn't ask about Rose anymore, who was probably sleeping in her beautiful king-sized bed while they struggled to sleep well with other people snoring in their ears, and their little bed, which is only enough to contain two people, contains four.

"And she isn't eating with us again today," a girl named Lily said while stuffing her mouth with dumplings.

"Well, that isn't your problem, is it?" Another girl, whose name is Daisy, doesn't like Lily and shuts her down before she can continue. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Keep quiet, all of you; your style for tomorrow is Victorian style. Your clothes have been placed in your rooms with your respective names on them. I do not want anyone wearing the wrong dress tomorrow; otherwise, you'll be punished.

"Yes, ma'am," they all replied in uniform, their heads down like an act of being submissive to their boss. Every lady in the brothel was beautiful. Ten ladies are each named after flowers.

They all had branding on a corner of their backs, which was made there with hot steel; the only girl who wasn't branded was Rose. According to the boss, this would reduce the quality of the product.

"Eat, finish, and go have your teeth washed. We don't want customers complaining about their ladies having bad breath."

"Yes, ma'am." With that said and done, the lady who had power over them all walked out of the cafeteria.

The girls continued eating quickly, as their lunchtime would be over and no one was allowed to eat after lunchtime was over.

In the brothel, every lady was available according to men's cravings, either black or white, either short or tall, either a model-looking figure or fat and still pretty. According to men's lewd thoughts, shall they be satisfied?

The bell rang like a curse, and everyone looked in the direction of the bell while shoveling more food into their mouths. While everyone was busy trying to fit as many dumplings as they could into their mouths, Sun, who was one of the ladies, took some dumplings and put them in her pocket while also stuffing her mouth to remove suspicion.

Her lashes fluttered and watered as she heard the footsteps of the guards coming in. Everything felt so slow as their footsteps sounded heavier and closer.

Sun had her pockets stuffed already and proceeded to pick up the glass of water and gulp it down as the water spilled on the table, and she coughed from rushing so much in her mouth at the same time. Her eyes watered as she felt a hand pull her away from the table.

Her hand still reached for the water; her throat hurt, but she wasn't allowed to touch the glass.

"Just this one, she begged as her throat hurt, but the man who held her didn't show her mercy. After all everything, they said anything could be done to the girls as long as the goods weren't damaged.

He walked out of the room while pulling her along. Sun couldn't breathe as she was choking. I walked out of my room to see the girls rushing to their rooms before I saw Sun, who couldn't breathe, being dragged by the guard.

"Pause," I told the guard, who stopped as if hypnotized by me. "You are in pain," I said to Sun, who couldn't breathe.

The sun nodded as if seeing her savior in a shining nightgown.

"This is for that; come inside my room, and I'll help you; in return, you'll help me too."

Sun gave me a questioning look while tears fell down her eyes and the other got stuck on her pretty lashes.

"I'll have the food, and I'll help you," I whispered in Sun's ear. Sun wanted to deny it, but looking at the guard, who obviously wouldn't give her anything to help, she nodded quickly.

"Good, come in. Let her go," I said to the guard, who reluctantly left Sun for me.

Pulling Sun into the room, I grabbed a glass of water and gave it to the girl, who gulped it quickly while reaching her other hand towards her throat as if to soothe it.

"Thank you," Sun said to me, who sat in front of the dressing mirror, my beautiful and innocent eyes staring back at her.

"I do not need your appreciation; a deal is a deal."

Sun brought out seven dumplings and shoved the last one in her mouth right in front of me. I rolled my eyes at Sun's cute behavior.

"We had a deal."

"I am still hungry; lunchtime isn't up to five minutes, and dinner is worse, just so we won't get fat," Sun grumbled, and I nodded before picking up the dumplings elegantly and eating them slowly.

"I can hear footsteps; someone is coming this way," Sun said to me, who nodded while still eating the dumplings.

"Hm, then you had better hide; else you will be punished."

"Wow, how could someone as cute as you be so cold?" Sun couldn't help but complain.

The sun rose, and every lady in the brothel was woken up by the normal bell, while I was already awake, staring out the window.

The door opened to reveal two women who walked towards my bathroom to run my water, then one of them moved to pull off my clothes while the other added a mixture to the water.

"Sink in this for ten minutes straight," said Taylor, who happened to be the same woman who was being talked about the previous day.

"I'd have wrinkles," I said to Taylor, who shook her head.

"No, you won't; it would make your skin radiate more beauty."

"What if the water gets cold?" I asked once again to the ever-patient Taylor while the other woman rolled her eyes. Jealousy was obvious in her dark green orbs, which didn't make her look pretty.

"You'd be fine," answered Taylor before holding my hand to let me sink slowly into the bath.

Both ladies moved into the room to prepare their tools for dolling Rose up. The girl who looked like she couldn't kill an ant some seconds ago now stared blankly at a wall with her brows furrowed in annoyance.

"They are coming earlier than we planned." I heard words from the other room, and I already knew what was going to happen, of course.

It meant my time was limited and ticking fast; I had to prepare fast.

Taylor and the other woman, whose name was Grace, helped me out of the bathtub before wrapping me fully in a towel and drying my body and my beautiful silky hair.

They rushed me into my dress for the day, which was a very beautiful and light gown with a very tight corset.

I am used to it all and didn't complain; I watched in the mirror as they adorned my face. My eyes were moving to every one of their moves as if trying to learn the art of applying makeup.

"Are you trying to learn what we are doing, Rose?" asked Taylor, who noticed my stare.

"Hm" was my only reply before Taylor chuckled.

"Why isn't she ready yet?" The door was opened by Lucy, who was the head of the brothel. She knew the meaning of an important guest needing the exclusive was very clear, so why weren't they done?

"We just need to make her look dumber than she already is." When Grace said this, Taylor frowned, but Rose didn't even lift a finger.

"We are giving her innocent-looking make-up," Taylor corrected Grace, who didn't care.

"I do not care about what you are doing; get her out of this room this instant; they are coming in.

I stood up barefooted, assisted by Taylor. We both walked out of the room with Lucy leading the way, while Taylor had to stop at an ointment. At this moment, it felt like she was giving out her child's hand in marriage.

I turned around to look at Taylor one last time before I picked up the hem of my dress and followed Lucy.

I did all this while barefooted; the floor wasn't too cold, nor was it too hot, but it was my sign of working in a brothel.

While others had hot irons used to make signs on their backs, mine was the rule of not wearing footwear. Except for a pair of socks.

"Bow," Lucy said, but I stood without a sign of submission. Staring straight at the man who walked in.

An epitome of perfection, looking like I couldn't stare to my satisfaction, but I knew it was time to bow my head after all my aim had been achieved.

He looked like he could crush the earth beneath his feet with just a word. The word about the bastard son of Mr. Mars had gone out, and now the man who seemed to be feared by all had the fate of his family right in his palm. After all, the son born to his father in marriage didn't have the strength to carry the bloodline.

For goodness' sake, the news covered it every day, and it could be seen clearly that these two brothers would forever be at war with each other.

The news carried different reports daily about the dirty life of the bastard son who dared challenge his authority.

The man who only needed to raise his hand to determine the faith of the world. But they said he looked like a monster; after all, someone that smart is meant to look ugly with a potbelly, but seeing him right now, I couldn't help but be shocked yet satisfied.

Looking down quickly, my beautiful porcelain hands held my gown in fear.

He walked right past me like the fresh ocean breeze, carving away all that seemed to be my worries and fears. The same eyes that could freeze the world made me feel like I felt peace for the first time. Something I haven't felt for the past nineteen years.

I felt something was wrong somewhere; I hadn't even talked to this man nor had any contact with him, yet those gray eyes looked like they could carry me to the moon and back. Even if it was a sin or a curse, I had to hold on at all costs.

Rule 5: Have no emotional strings attached to any customer.

"Come with me." Now that rule never felt harder.