Love Me, Hug Me

In the most famous Glamorous Bar in Cloud City, the lights were fluorescent.

In distress, Nancy Martin stood in Booth 988 on the second floor.

Under the dim light and amid ear-shattering music, men and women were hugging each other.

They were rolling dices, playing games, and even...

"Come on, Sam, restrain yourself in the presence of Mr. Green. Don't groan with the woman there."

"Got it, almost there."

Nancy could barely discern the speaker and only saw him hugging a woman on a shaking chair.

"Eh, who's this, the new girl?"

The man named Sam swiveled his eyes, looked at Nancy, and shouted.

Nancy tugged at her miniskirt that could barely cover her waist.

"Yes... I... I'm here for... sale."

Nancy was so nervous that her teeth chattered and she spoke with a lisp.

No sooner had her voice died away than the whole room burst into laughter. They laughed unscrupulously as if it was a good joke.

"Sis, how much do you ask for? We'll see if we can afford it."

The man continued to ask.

Nancy was so nervous that she could hardly speak.

"I... need... 50,000 yuan. Take me with 50,000 yuan."

Nancy was so diffident that the volume of her voice kept diminishing.

There came another burst of laughter mixed with unabashed sneering, "So expensive, are you clean?"

Nancy stiffened a bit. Was 50,000 yuan expensive?

Nancy bit her lips and hastily corrected herself, "I can be cheap... 2... 20,000 yuan will do. I'm clean, very."

As soon as her voice died away, there was another burst of laughter.

Nancy couldn't understand their laughter.

"Expensive, sis." Someone said.

Nancy felt helpless.

"This... this is my bottom line."

Nancy gritted her teeth and insisted.

"Okay, 20,000 yuan will do, but how do we know if you're clean. How about you get undressed and let us take a look?"

Nancy had never heard such obscene and disgusting words in the past 18 years.

She stood there still.

"Come on, aren't you for sale?"

Nancy hesitated for a long time. Tears of humiliation were welling up in her eyes, and her trembling hands reached for the button.

With cigarettes between their fingers, those men drank wine, held women, and looked sarcastically at Nancy.

Ned Green looked at the shuddering girl who forced herself to remain calm, flicked the ash into the ashtray, and suddenly opened his mouth, "That's enough, I'll take you."

The noisy booth instantly quieted down. Now that Ned, the top dog of the Green family and an omnipotent man in Cloud City, spoke, no one dared to defy.

Nancy halted her trembling fingers and looked over with her red eyes.

Him. She had been observing the man.

He was sitting in the seat of honor silently the entire time.

Like a square peg in a round hole, he got no women around him and sat loftily in the middle all alone.

Noticing Nancy's gaze, Ned reached out for a glass of wine and took it to his mouth for a sip.

Under the dim light, Nancy was unable to discern the expressions on his face, but his hand holding the goblet looked slender and fair. There was a ring on his ring finger but without a diamond.

Nancy hadn't expected such a man to claim her at the most embarrassing moment.

After a moment of daze, she hurriedly buttoned the buttons.

Such a speech of trade somehow warmed her heart.