Second Date

I woke up sore, naked, covered in bruises and hickeys in a hotel room. My waist was covered in hand-shaped marks, unsurprisingly. Red and blotchy skin, sensitive to the touch ran from my ass right to the top of my thighs. I had a headache and a dry throat. Annoyingly, there was a sealed bottle of mineral water on the hotel nightstand with a pink love heart shaped sticky note on it.

Baby,

Don’t be stubborn.

I balled my fists, wanting very badly to smack the offending bottle onto the hotel carpet floor and smash it with my foot.

But I was seriously thirsty and the room had a still, empty air. I unsealed the cap and drained the bottle angrily, guzzling almost half of it in a single go. I was really dehydrated.

The room wasn’t the cheap sort of hotel that you rent by the hour. Bigger than my own dormitory, the deep red carpet offset cream painted walls. A landscape in a wooden frame hung over a small breakfast table to one side. A pair of pristine white bathrobes sat on hooks beside the bathroom door. A spread of room service trays were on the coffee table. Thick navy blue curtains were drawn over the room, but through the gap I could see the blinding light of the city outside.

I finished off the bottle of water and stood up on shaky legs. My ass muscles twinged, my insides felt like I’d been heavy-lifting, but nothing was torn or broken. I almost wished I had more evidence of the roughness from last night.

Another sticky note almost disappeared under my foot. I winced, bending down to pick it up.

Baby,

Good morning~

I crumpled the note, tearing the paper. This fucker…

I found yesterday’s clothing folded neatly on one of the chairs in front of the coffee table. I tore off the sticky note on top of my shirt and scrunched it into a tiny ball of hate.

Baby,

My number is in your phone. I’ll message you around lunchtime, okay~

Since I was clean, and my mouth smelled like mint, I guess he must have cleaned up the mess last night, while I’d been unconscious. The thought of what he might have done to me while I was in the bath was too infuriating!

Who the hell was this psycho? What the hell happened to me yesterday! I couldn’t accept it, I wouldn’t! I wanted my goddamn virginity back!

My clothes were freshly laundered, still smelling faintly of fabric softener. I tugged on my uniform and adjusted the tie. Most Imperial colleges don’t have a uniform, except for Dawson Royal Academy. The uniform helped remind people of its lofty reputation.

My phone was in my pocket. I opened it, checking the time. It was a little before eleven. I didn’t have any classes until after lunch.

Three text messages showed on my lock screen from ‘beloved boyfriend.’

Fucking serious?

He knew my phone password and even set his own contact name? This wasn’t normal, right? I hear some girls complaining about controlling or overbearing boyfriends, but this…

No, that wasn’t the point, the point was, I wasn’t dating some psycho who kidnaps young men, violates them, then arbitrarily decides he’s their boyfriend, without even knowing his name!

I unlocked my phone.

Baby,

Last night was so good, I cannot wait to do it again, but take care of your body, you can’t go wild again today.

I slammed my hand down on the delete key.

Baby,

You look delicious this morning, instead of school cafeteria food, I want to eat you.

Accompanying this message was a photo of me, sleeping in the hotel bed.

Baby,

I already paid for the hotel room, you can rest all day if your body hurts too much. Your beloved husband will make sure his baby is well taken care of.

Fuck, I wanted to just throw the phone out of the window. It was contaminated with this pervert’s very essence.

Every message, I could hear his smug, irritating voice, slithering down my very spine.

I shoved my phone into my pocket.

Another note on the table and the trays caught my attention.

Baby,

Eat breakfast. You need to replenish your energy. XOXO

Every single message just pissed me off more and more.

Like hell I was going to stay in this filthy hotel and eat anything that bastard made me! Did he think I was some sort of obedient pet? To hell with him!

I put my shoes on and stormed to the door.

A final note sat on the door handle.

Baby,

I already miss you, let’s go on another date soon!

Already miss me from what? Did he even know my real name? Just calling me baby this and baby that every single second of the day! No one talks like that normally! So irritating!

When I found out who this damn pervert was, I’d murder him! There’s no helping it. My heart brimmed with indignation and irritation.

I closed the door behind me and was hit by the fact that this really wasn’t a cheap hotel. The hallway was decorated like an old Earth mansion. It must have been an expensive place to book.

Ah! The booking, the hotel name, I could figure out who the hell this pervert was! Inspiration hit me as I rushed to the elevator and took it down to the lobby.

The hotel had three hundred floors, this was one of the higher floors, probably one of the more expensive rooms, because the view of such buildings were always gorgeous.

The lobby was quiet and while a few guests were about, the reception desk wasn’t overflowing with business. Perfect. The two young women behind the desk saw me as I approached from the internal elevator.

“Thank you for staying with us, Mister Wei.” The first one, a brunette, greeted me.

I stopped in my tracks, “You… know my name?”

She flashed a smile, “Yes sir. Was the room to your liking?”

“A-about the room…”

“Did you need to put anything on the tab?”

I shifted my feet, feeling sheepish for what felt like a bit of a deception, but I nodded, “Uh, what name is the tab under?”

She blinked, “The tab for your room?”

“Yes. My p-partner, did he put it under his name?” The very term made my insides churn with rage. What partner! What boyfriend! Peh!

“There’s no name on your tab. Mister Wu’s credit chip was put on file this morning.”

Mister Wu? Who the hell was Mister Wu? Did I even have a classmate called Wu? I frowned. Then, horror struck me. “Wait… Aiden Wu?”

She nodded, smiling wider, “Are you two close friends?”

There was no way the guy last night was the class and department prince, Aiden Wu.

If you’re talking about cat-boys, it’s only natural to think about the model on the front cover of Fashion Star magazine. The sort of publication mainly aimed at teen fashion, full of cosmetics for women and inter-galactic advertisements for sweets and theme park planets. The Star’s favourite cover model, Aiden Wu, leaned toward the camera lens. Black hair and black cat-ears on his head, skin so pale it seemed almost translucent. A sweet, cute and innocent smile, big black peach-blossom round eyes and a petite figure.

Aiden Wu, the most adorable, perfect cat-boy of the thirty-third century. Aiden Wu barely came up to my shoulders, there was no way he could carry an adult on one arm!

A man so adorable and cute, that any prejudices toward their species felt like you would be bullying a kitten.

Humans called them cat-boys or cat-girls, although they came from a galaxy with three large moons, and a planet called Aura. Aura was settled by humans in the late twenty-seventh century, due to the environment, they’d genetically modified their bodies to survive better. When the human empire reconnected with Aura, the Auran’s were universally shorter, more agile and possessed the ears and tails of feline species.

They were an instant pop sensation to a galaxy of novelty. Rich men wanted an adorable cat-girl girlfriend. Their adorable appearance and animal traits appealed to fans of cute fuzzy animals and fans who liked a pretty face.

My crazy boyfriend must have robbed Aiden’s wallet.

Wait, what if after he was done with me, he…

“Uh, nothing to put on my tab. I have to go.” I gave her a swift and formal bow and tried not to run for the door.

Did the psychopath finish toying with my virgin body and then go to play with the school’s biggest celebrity? What if Aiden Wu was kidnapped just like me?

I could already imagine the horrible scenes that such a bastard would be enacting on tiny Aiden’s tender body!

Sunlight hit my eyes when I rushed onto the street. I was right next door to the capital plaza of the Imperial Star’s main hub. Cars whooshed through the air overhead, traversing traffic lanes and delivering travellers from one doorstep to the next. Fluffy white clouds puttered through the morning sky, warm spring air hit my face, the smell of plastic was always a little strong this close to the middle of the city.

I covered my eyes and looked for a cab to take me back to campus. What if someone thought I had a hand in Aiden Wu’s kidnapping? The whole school would murder me! The women from his fanclub were downright terrifying in their territorial claiming of his every move. If they thought I was breathing anywhere near such a prince, I’d be bullied to death.

My own pain right now was nothing compared to the terrible future I would suffer if Aiden Wu was being molested by my crazy boyfriend.

What to do? How could I find out if I was about to be murdered by a horde of crazed, enraged fangirls? If only there was some way to check up on Aiden Wu’s status or location!

Wait, feeling like a total idiot, I pulled out my phone and navigated to Aiden’s Star Journal. The last update was from this morning at seven. He posted a selfie in the school cafeteria.

Relief flooded me. I’d never been so happy to see those fluffy black ears and small chin, smiling and holding a cup of yoghurt. The captain read ‘After heavy exercise, you have to eat! Not the set breakfast I wanted, but you can’t miss meals!’

He wasn’t covered in hickeys or bruises from what I could see of the exposed skin, so… so Aiden Wu was probably eating a bad breakfast because my crazy boyfriend stole his credit chip.

I was holding a storm of emotion from relief to maintained horror. I wouldn’t be murdered by female fans avenging their idol today. But Aiden Wu probably knew his card had been stolen.

Worse, what if he didn’t believe me that I definitely didn’t steal his account? Even worse, what if he made the police shoot me for theft?

Okay, okay, the police probably wouldn’t shoot me for theft. Security cameras would definitely prove my innocence!

I was panicking and over emotional right now after such an ordeal. I needed to calmly and rationally deal with today.

Aiden Wu was in the same department as me, and we had three classes in common, but none of them were today. Besides the fact that he was a model, whenever he was on campus, the guy was surrounded by an absolute crowd of bodies. I’d never be able to talk to him outside of class.

He was popular with most of the Arts majors, but I didn’t make it a habit of hanging out or socialising with the other students so aside from not having any school friends, I didn’t have any contact information aside from the teacher’s on my phone.

Right now, the ten numbers in my phone were my parents, my three course teachers, my older sister and my favourite three fast foods. The last number belonged to the virginity and card-thieving bastard!

Right now, social isolation was giving me a serious brain aneurism!

A cab pulled up in front of me and I sat in the backseat glumly, tapping in the college address on the on-board screen. The door closed after I pressed my phone to the screen to accept the fees on my credit chip.

After I collapsed in class yesterday, Aiden Wu said he would carry me to the nurse’s office. After that, I must have been drugged and taken from the nurse’s office. The school nurse was a plump middle-aged woman, so I was pretty sure she wasn’t the direct perpetrator, but maybe she saw that bastard? There was a chance Aiden also saw the bastard, but again, I didn’t have any means of contacting him.

I bit the nail on my thumb, chewing the corner in deep thought. There were no cameras in the school and a tech disabling net was over most of the campus to ensure the privacy of students. Phones worked but the Star Net local permissions disabled cameras and recorders. This was aimed at preventing cheating as well as more famous students from being video-taped 24/7. Being filmed taking a toilet break happened to one student and ever since, the school clamped down on it. Right now, this was a problem for me.

The car took an hour to get to the campus and I got out, feeling even more annoyed. This bastard might not be on camera at the school, but surely the hotel would have something in the lobby! Just how would I convince them to look at it? I didn’t exactly feel like telling the whole world about last night.

My phone buzzed.

Baby,

How are you feeling? Did you properly eat breakfast, the hotel told me you didn’t touch the food I ordered for you. Don’t skip meals. You have a weak body and low blood sugar. If you don’t eat properly, I’ll have to feed you by hand.

I had an overwhelming urge to bite the screen.

This crazy fucking bastard charged a meal in a hotel to a celebrity’s chip and had the audacity to follow up on it with me, I wanted to crack open his goddamn head and find out if it was full of clouds!

All! My! Rage!

I shoved my phone angrily away and went to get my afternoon supplies from my dorm room. I had a model painting tutorial this afternoon. Normally artists these days used virtual canvas but the class was on traditional mediums used by ancient Earth people. We’d spent a week making canvas and studied oil and water colours from the period.