Chapter 3

Carnation scanned the invitation card, which was black with a gold leaf design on the right side. The name of the nightclub is written in large letters on the front, and a quote is written in smaller letters below.

'A place where your hidden desire unleash, like pleasure in paradise'

"We're here," the driver announces.

Carnation peered out the car window. "We've arrived. . . I didn't notice. Thank you so much for the free ride, sir."

"No problem. I'm delighted to help you. Let's just meet again when you've decided to take the job I'm offering." She gave him a friendly smile. 

"Give me a moment to think about it, sir."

"Of course, dear." Carnation got out of the car, clutching her bag. She waved to Mr. Lust as she walked into the hospital's main entrance.

The rain had stopped, and the sky was dark blue, indicating that the sun would rise in a few hours, she couldn't sleep anymore. She's been like this for a few nights now, constantly awake and sleep-deprived. Carnation heard her stepmother sob as she opened the door to her daddy's hospital room. She quickly approached her.

"Tita, what happened?" she queried, her gaze fixed on his father, who was sleeping in a hospital bed peacefully.

"Galel arrived and caused havoc. He stated that we must pay him this week or he will take our house as collateral." Carnation's stepmother lamented.

"What? But he isn't capable of doing so! Please, Tita, stop crying. We haven't signed anything yet, Galel can't take the house from us—" Carnation came to a halt as her stepmother's sobs became more audible.

"Wait, did you sign it?" Carnation couldn't help but question her stepmother when she realized what she had done. Oh my goodness, she signed a contract?

"Galel threatened me. I'm not going to let them drag your father out of the hospital. I don't have a choice but to sign the contract."

"I'm sorry if I hadn't been here, tita. I could have stopped them," Carnation said in a very apologetic voice. She walked over to the couch and sat in the empty space next to her sleeping younger brother, Carlgem. She sighed and took the card Mr. Lust had given her from her polo shirt's pocket and read the quote again.

'A place where your hidden desire unleash, like  pleasure in paradise'

She looked up to see her stepmother holding her father's hand. Then Carnation looked at Carl Gem, who was sleeping soundly. He's too young, too young to know the sting of life. What should she do to protect her family?

Carnation's attention was drawn back to the card he was holding. 'What does she really want?' She only cared about one thing: keeping her family safe and out of harm's way.

Carnation stood up as a result of that thought. "Tita, I have an urgent matter to attend to. I'm going to look for some cash "She said her goodbyes and exited the room quickly.

Carnation walked to the parking lot, where Mr. Lust's car was parked. But she was disappointed to see that the old man's car had gone. Her shoulder fell, she marched back to the hospital, but stopped when she saw a familiar figure. The man was smoking a cigarette between his fingers in a smoking area—Carnation was facing the man's back.

"Excuse me, Sir. You're Mr. Lust's personal driver, right?" she inquired. But the man didn't appear to hear anything, so Carnation called him again, this time grabbing his right arm.

"Sir—"

"Don't f*cking touch me, woman!" he yelled. Carnation immediately let go of the man's arm out of fear.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm just looking for Mr. Lust," she apologized as she recovered from the shock. Carnation had no intention of touching him; she simply wanted to catch the young man's attention.

"Is Mr. Lust still around? I can't seem to find his car. Sir, could you please tell me where Mr. Lust is? I really need to speak with him." Carnation is desperate. If she earns a lot of money working for Mr. Lust, this could be the answer to their problem with Galel.

The young man remained silent. He turned to face her and fixed his gaze on her. Carnation held her breath as the man placed his right hand on his waist and drew his face closer to hers. But Carnation was taken aback when the young man suddenly blew cigarette smoke in his face!

"What's your problem?" she exclaimed.

"Why are you looking for him?" the young man asked casually as if he hadn't done wrong to her.

"Aren't you going to apologize for what you did?" Carnation asked angrily. Geez! He should apologize to her for what he did!

The young man stood up straight. "Don't f*ck with my time, woman. If you don't have anything important to say. . . be gone." His words made Carnation's lips parted. The young man put both of his hands inside his pockets and left her dumbfounded; he even hit her on the shoulder when he passed her.

Carnation was enraged by the man's rudeness. She snatched the right pair of her black shoes and hurled them at the young man. It hit the center of his back! Bullseye! That serves him right for being a jerk!

The young man came to a halt in front of her and turned to face her. When Carnation saw the man's darkened face, she became terrified. "You want a war? Well. . . that is something I am able to give you!" said the young man aloud, evilly smirking.

Carnation was taken aback and appeared to be hypnotized by the young man's evil smile. She will not deny that Mr. Lust's young driver is very handsome— he obviously has foreign blood. But her fantasy was shattered when the shoe she had thrown at the man flew away! It landed in the middle of the road, where cars were passing by.

Carnation glared angrily at the man. "Same on you!" she yelled angrily, but his response was only a mocking grin. Carnation picked up the last pair of her shoes and was about to throw them at the young man when she realized he might kick the shoe somewhere else again.

"You want to speak with Mr. Lust? Then go to Casa de Lujuria. . . you'll see him there," he said arrogantly as he turned away from her.

Carnation was standing there, holding the left pair of her shoes. Her eyes lit up as she watched the young man walk away, she delivered him with her gaze. Carnation exhaled the air she had been holding in her chest as he vanished from her sight.

"Jerk!" she muttered angrily. "Ugh! How come that man is so attractive?" she thought to herself, can't deny the fact that she got hooked by his handsome face.

The young man's oversized nose was pointed. His brow is thick, and he has a piercing in his right brow. Its light brown eyes are round and have long lashes. The young man's lip was thin at the top and convex at the bottom; Carnation also noticed a small mole on its lower lip, which adds to his attractiveness. His hair is short and neat, and he has ear piercings on both ears. She didn't notice how many piercings he had because she was too focused on his face— wait! Did she just memorized his feature? Ow, f*ck!