Gabriel Asahavey entered his regular club. The loud music rattled his eardrums as he opened the black glass door. He would come with his friends, but they seemed to be busy with their own business, so he came alone. His gaze searched all over, looking for a place that would be comfortable. He settled in a corner of the room that was quite dark, then smiled at the sight before his eyes. He groaned in annoyance.

Los Angeles is the place that legalized sex, but it made him shudder a little to see a couple making out in a club. Wasn’t there somewhere more discreet? Would they choose to be together in a crowd and be a public spectacle? However, it was most likely only he who found the scene disturbing, as the people around seemed to take it for granted.

The man in the gray suit sat in one row of seats opposite the bartender, ordering a margarita and enjoying the tangy sour taste. It wasn’t for nothing that he had come here. Frustrating having his job transferred to him, as well as the headache of the arranged marriage his grandfather was always planning, made his brain want to explode. Not he didn’t want to get married, but an arranged marriage wasn’t the way to go. He could find one, with no help from the old man.

If you think about it, what can gained after marriage? What was so special about the relationship? Sex? Even if he didn’t get married, he could fuck a lot of women. Children? He can have children outside of marriage. Gabriel can pay a foreign woman to lend him her womb and host his child. Isn’t there something you can do if you have money? Everything can buy if you have money. Including a woman’s body.

“Hey, did you come alone?”

Gabriel looked at the foreign woman sitting beside him. “Yes. As you can see. I don’t have any friends.”

“Do you have a lover?”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed. He wanted to ignore the question, but his mouth betrayed him. Was it because the woman beside him was pretty? So his brain and mouth were out of sync. “No. I have no interest in a relationship like that.”

The woman’s pupils widened. This was the perfect prey for her. She just needed to bait the man. Frustrating, being cheated on by her lover convinced her to do some pretty strange things that she had never done before.

“Do you like sex?”

Gabriel smiled. He didn’t know the woman, but he was sure that the long-haired woman sitting next to him was a little drunk. “What man doesn’t like sex, miss?”

“Then let’s make love.”

The blue-eyed man widened his eyes, quite surprised by the sudden offer. “Are you offering your body? How much are you asking for?”

The woman shook her head while wiggling her index finger right in front of Gabriel’s face, proving that she did not agree with the man’s offer. “No need. In fact, I will pay you. I just want to feel what union and release feel like.”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed again, his nerves widening, slightly shocked by what he heard. This was the first time he had met a woman so naïve and innocent. The woman who wanted to pay him? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? What was wrong with the petite woman who was showing her stupid grin?

“You don’t need to pay me. I don’t need money. I just need unification.” Gabriel clearly refused, as money was not something he needed right now. Just a good, passionate release, that’s all.

The woman waved her hands in the air. “Don’t be like that, sir. I need a man, so I’m the one who should pay you. You just need to satisfy me.” Her voice was typical of a drunk.
Gabriel grinned. The woman beside him was unique. Was she in a lot of trouble? However, he will not ignore this opportunity. Isn’t this a very rare opportunity? Usually, he would set the bait for the fish to come to him, but this time, the fish voluntarily entered his trap net.

...
Bella hurriedly entered her flat. She didn’t care how her clothes and face looked. Isabella woke up naked in a hotel room with a man. She tried to dig up memories of last night, and when some of them came back, she quickly got out of bed and picked up her clothes that were lying on the floor. She ignored the pain in her crotch. All she could think about was how to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

She discarded her sling bag and sat down on the tiny cream-colored sofa she had bought a month ago. The clicking of her tongue sounded frustrated. Then she ruffled her hair and acted like someone who had lost control.

“What did I do last night? I got drunk and asked that guy to sleep with me. I’m not a virgin anymore.” She growled in a hysterical voice. She had lost her chastity, lost her most prized possession, and lost her sanity.

“Bella! You’re not a virgin anymore?” The scream came from the mouth of Christy, Bella’s flatmate. “Where were you last night? Why can’t I call your cell phone?” She approached Bella with a look of confusion mixed with curiosity.

The hazel-eyed woman looked down and sighed for the umpteenth time. “I volunteered to make love to someone else, Chris.”

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you promise yourself to keep your virginity until you got married?”

“Jack cheated on me. He’s playing with other women.” She snorted again. “I got my revenge this way.”

Christy opened her mouth in disbelief, her pupils dilated, and was speechless. Her best friend had lost her mind. How could that woman take revenge by doing something she had never imagined? Virginity is not something to be joked about. Well, now she was sure that Bella’s madness was already in the untreatable phase.

“Do you know that guy?”

Bella shook her head slowly. “No.”

“Oh shit! You’re really.…” The girl hangs up her sentence, searching for the right word to describe Bella’s attitude, “stupid.” She rolled the eyeball. “How could you give your virginity to a strange man? What if you get pregnant? Did he use protection?”

“I’ve lost my sanity. I don’t know if he used protection or not.”

“Yes, without you saying it, everything is clear. You’ve lost your mind. No, you haven’t. You’ve lost your brain.” She scolded once again.

Bella leaned her back against the back of the sofa, then looked up at the ceiling of her flat. “You want to know what I regret?” Her gaze shifted to the curly-haired woman. “I forgot the taste.” She roared, acting like she was crying. “Was I too drunk to remember the sensation when my hymen broke? I don’t even remember how big it was.”

Christy widened her eyes, unable to believe what her best friend was saying. “Does this make sense? You’re hysterical because you can’t remember the size or the taste? Oh, Bella. You’re driving me crazy.”

Frustrated, Bella goes to the bathroom immediately, washing her face that looks messy. The smudged makeup, the lipstick that had crossed the lip line, and let’s not forget her eye circles that the eyeliner that had fallen apart had blackened. Her face resembled an Annabelle doll lying in a ditch.

She tried to remember what he looked like, but the more she tried, the dizzier her head became. How could he do such a ridiculous thing while drunk? How frustrated was she to give up her virginity to a stranger? Although there was a sense of regret, it was no longer useful. After all, everything had already happened. Her hymen had ruptured and the crown she had guarded for twenty-seven years has damaged beyond repair.

How would she explain this to her parents in the future? About herself being tainted, about herself breaking the rules of her extended family. Wait! There was no way her parents would check that. Yes, she could just lie and pretend nothing had happened. She rarely came home, so her mom and dad couldn’t possibly ask her about her virginity.

She was already twenty-seven years old, an adult. There was no way her parents would ask her that. Bella’s parents already believed that their daughter could take care of herself, but foolishly, Bella gave away the very crown she was guarding to a man she didn’t know for free.

“Even a prostitute is worth more than me,” she moaned in frustration.

“Yes, they get paid, but you don’t, Ella. You’re a free woman.”

“Stop, Christy.” She raised her hand right in front of her best friend’s face. “Don’t go on anymore. I know that I’m being silly, but let’s forget that.” She raised an eyebrow and nodded quickly, hoping for Christy’s approval.

Christy just shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I can’t promise to forget what happened to you.” The woman laughed. “It was unique.”