A/N
Okay! So you all know that this will be a flashback! However, it won't be from Ichinose's perspective until later. For right now, it is from Lillian's perspective, Ichinose's mother before Ichi-kun was born :3. Also! I'm getting tired of my books getting privated >_<. I wants chu all to kno of my perv mind XD. Lool. Howevers, chu shall be warned >.>. So, I'm going to do things like, í, ó, ú in my words :3. Enjoy~
Lillian's P.O.V
God...what am I doing? I sat in the alleyway, hiding myself from the light and people of the night. With my legs folded up, I placed my head in them and tried to calm down. You are sane... You are fine. This was my decision to help my family... I'm not going to regret this.
But as I chanted this in my head, I can vividly remember the touch of the burly man who asked for me two daya ago. The way his hands roamed around me... The indecent slur of drunken words he spat at me, ranging from slút to bítch in the cruellest way possible.
"Stop it.." I told myself.
Yet he won't stop. His tongue travels along my skin, making me feel disgusted all over.
"I said stop!" I voiced out, while pulling my head closer to my legs.
"Are you crying? Well, you must be feeling it good then. Here, let me relieve you," I can hear him whispering near my ear, going fast to only satisfy himself.
"NOOOO!" I screamed out, tugging my hair. Out of nowhere, a pair of gentle hands shook me roughly. Remembering the hands of the man, I fought against the hands.
"Lily...Lily! Get ahold of yourself!" A familiar voice kept repeating.
I stopped my feeble struggle, and looked at Angela. After seeing me realize it's her, she gave me a warm smile. "Thank goodness your okay. Really, was the customer who asked for you that awful? You usually wouldn't freak out like this Lily."
I stared blankly at Angela, as I tried to get my bearings. I know I was in the alleyway...yet I still envisioned my last customer. I shuddered at the thought.
"Oi...Lily! Come on, stay with me here! Besides that, why are you in an alley? Someone could've come here and done terrible things to you!" She stated out.
I didn't answer her, but instead pulled her towards me for a hug. I really need one right now... I closed my eyes and squeezed Angela, my one true friend who is in the same business as me.
Angela hugged me back, and smiled into my hair. "This hug is nice and all, but I can't help but notice something. Tell me, have you been eating properly Lily?" She spoke in concern.
I gulped, knowing that I couldn't lie to Angela. I licked my dry lips and began to speak. "I...I haven't eaten much in awhile. You know I'm trying to save money, right?"
"Of course I do! You're saving money to leave the business and try to get a real job of your own soon. Don't worry, I haven't told any of the girls this. However, that doesn't excuse why you shouldn't eat!" Angela pouted at me. "Come on! Let's go to my place to get something to eat, okay?"
Angela got out of my embarace and stood up. She grabbed my hand, and lifted me to my feet. I stood wobbly at first, but began to get my footing.
"Food...sounds okay for now. That depends on what it is," I said, as we began to walk to Angela's place.
"Hahaha! Don't worry about a thing! It may not be much, but I do want to help you out Lily. It's not that long ago that you've been a prostitute," Angela said.
"I don't know if four months counts as 'not that long ago' because it seems pretty long to me," I told her with a smile.
"Haha! You just might be right about that! I've been working in this business for years now...maybe that's why I consider it as not that long, y'know?"
After Angela spoke, we walked on on silence. Men and women of all ages were giving us lecherous or jeering looks as we walked. Angela walked on with her head held high in her tight black shorts, white off the shoulder shirt, and knee-high heeled boots. Her red lips were pursed in a flirtacious smirk as her dirty-blond her bounced when she walked.
Angela...was very beautiful. The other girls were beautiful also, but they all had nasty attitudes. I looked down as I walked, avoiding all the stares at us. Noticing my discomfort, Angela threw her arm around my shoulder and smiled at me. I gave her a small smile back. Soon, we were at her apartment building. Once inside the building, we entered her studio apartment.
(For all those that don't know! A studio apartment is in an apartment building, but once inside the room, there is only one floor. The livingroom will be joined with the kitchen, as well as the bedroom. There's only two closet doors, and a door to the bathroom. Hmm...i hope I explained it well! Look it up if yout curious, or I put a pictute up :D.)
I walked in the room and sat on her couch. Angela took her boots off, and walked barefoot.
"God, those shoes were killing me!" Angela complained.
"But Rick gave them to you didn't he? You had no choice but to wear them," I reasoned.
"You're right about that. Rick probably would've been angry if I didn't. Besides, he's paying for my place to lessen my troubles, so I at least owe him that."
I nodded my head, and Angela went inside her fridge. "I have some water, a bag of chips, eggs, and cookies. Although, in the cupboard I may have some cup in noodles. Yeah, let's go with that!"
"Thank you Angela," I told her.
"Huh? Why are you thanking me?" She questioned, and looked at me. "Oi, Lily? Are you crying?"
I wiped my face, just as I heard Angela rush over to me. "I-I'm fine," I sputtered.
"Lily, you are not fine!"
"I...I just don't understand," I spoke while the tears rolled down my face. "You're being so helpful to me when you don't have to. I mean, I clearly don't belong."
Angela listened to me in silence as I spoke. Angela went to her sink, and I hear her turn the water on. Momentarily, she came back with a wet rag. She began to wipe my face gently.
"What a fucked up thought to be worrying over. Is it so wrong to want to help you? To have this want to care for you?"
I sniffled as she wiped my face. Angela continued to speak. "Lily, you know you're the youngest in the business right?"
I nodded my head.
"For whatever reason you're here, a 20 year old shouldn't be in this business. You should be in school. For whatever reason, you're here. When you first appeared on the streets, no one expected you. Not only that, you were different from us. You were young, terrified, and screamed virgin."
I blushed when she said that. Angela smiled at me and threw the rag onto the countertop, she sat by me.
"Was..was different a good thing?" I asked.
She brushed my blue hair that covered a part of my face behind my ear. "Different as in unexpected. You aren't the type of girls Rick would agree to in the business."
Of course I wasn't... Rick's girls were flirty, daring, and stunning. Not to mention their outer appearances were the same. Blonde-haired with big breasts and a die-hard-for-body.
(Note: Please no take offense to what I said D'X!! The guys at my old school always preferred this type of girl Q.Q. They crushed so many pretty girls hearts XD)
I looked down at myself. I couldn't even compare to those girls. I have dark blue hair with bluish-green eyes. Because I haven't been eating properly, I look skinny but not anorexic. Rick's girls have, by a guess, D cup breasts. I'm at a B. They always adorned themselves in flashy, attractive clothes with their pay. Whereas I wear clothes to cover up a lot that aren't even in today's fashion. They wear pounds of makeup, but makeup irritates me. So, I do my best to wear a little or none at all.
Angela poked me on the forehead. "Don't start thinking that you're not pretty in the slightest Lily. You are beautiful in your own way." She smiled. "You have a great charm about you and personality. You hold a sort of innocence, which made you different from us. You're pure."
She rubbed my head gently. "I'm sorry as well Lily."
"Why are you sorry?" I asked her.
"I'm sorry about the nightmares you have about those men. I'm sorry I couldn't fight as hard for your first,customer who took your virginity. It was unavoidable...you were the highest on that day because you were a virgin. If I had enough money to have bought you for that day, I would've made it memorable. You didn't deserve to go through that," she regretfully told me.
I closed my eyes, remembering that day. I bit the inside of my cheek at the thought. It's okay... He wasn't as bad as the rumors of the other men that the other women told me about. But that doesn't mean he was pleasant. I remember washing myself until my skin irritated and turned red. I shook my head, trying to forget that day.
I put my head on Angela's shoulder. "Angela...why are our customers like that?"
"Like what?" She asked.
"Why do they do these things to us? Why do the married men come to us? Why do the loneliest of men come to us? Why do the lecherous men come to us? They...they're scary."
Angela pulled me into a hug. She rubbed my back in an effort to comfort me. "I don't understand Angela... The married men are just being unfaithful. The lonely men aren't being loved. The lecherous men are just disgusting. Why...do they not care how we feel?!"
"Shh...shh... It's okay," Angela cooed. She sighed. "In this business, it's only natural to abandon whatever pride you have left. To just accept it and not complain. Why? Because you're living by doing this. There was no other option for us..."
In that instant, I felt a warm wetness fall on my cheek. Soon, another drop fell on my cheek. I got out of Angela's embrace and looked at her. She covered her eyes with her right arm, and gritted her teeth. She tried to diminish the tears, but to no avail.
I got up and got the wet rag Angela threw and rinsed it out. I came over to her, and handed her the rag. She took it with a weak 'thank you' and cleaned her face. I watched as she did this in silence. She let out a bitter laugh.
"How remarkable of me. I haven't cried in years since I've entered this business... I vowed to never cry again while I was a prostitute. Yet, here I am, crying in front of you. Me, a 27 year old. Jeez...he other women would laugh at me."
"Let them laugh," I countered.
She looked at me. I continued to speak. "The fact that you are crying means that you haven't completely thrown away your true self. That you still cling to the part of you that yearns to leave the business. You do, don't you?"
"It's not that simple..." She began to tell me.
"It is simple Angela! You're just not trying as hard! I tell myself that I will leave this life, no matter what! I am no one's toy or puppet forever..." I stuck my hand out. "Won't you consider sharing in the dream I want? The dream I long for? It may take awhile, but I believe we can do it."
Angela looked at my hand, and back to my face. I gave her a big smile to reassure her. Angela didn't take my hand, but brought her right arm back to cover her eyes.
"I didn't think...that my own daughter would say something so unbelievable. Something so unimaginable, yet, it's possible," she quietly said.
"Daughter?" I questioned.
She smiled. "The reason I want to help you is because you remind me of my daughter. The first day you came, your very essence was something I wanted to protect. My daughter...died in a fire. I couldn't protect her because I was being foolish...going around bars to fill myself up with alcohol. The next morning, I found woke up at a friend's house. She kept crying, telling me what happened while I was passed out. Apparently, my ex-husband intended to kill us both in blazing flames."
Angela sniffled. "My sweet Veronica...forgive me. Forgive me for leaving you on that day. Forgive me for not loving you wholeheartedly," she cried out.
"So on the day I came-"
"You looked abandoned. Whatever happened to you, you looked frightened, lost, and alone. I couldn't help but think that's what Veronica felt. So, I was compelled to help you out... I felt it was my duty for doing that to my own daughter," she told me.
I lifted the arm away from Angela's face. "If that's how you feel, then it would make sense for you to take my hand and believe in me. Believe in me when I say that we will start a new life for each other, together."
I hugged Angela, and she hugged me back. Her tears continued to fall and wet the back of my shirt. I smiled into her neck.
"Come on, let's eat some of that food that you said we could have," I said with a smile.
We laughed together at that, and prepared to eat before we headed out into the night.
2 Years Later(Yeah...I'm sorry for a big jump XD)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slap!
I knew it was coming, but the fact that I was getting slapped hurt my face a lot.
"AHAHAHAHA! You've got jokes Lily, but enough with your foolery. What do you mean you're quitting?" Rick questioned me.
Rick was our boss. He was a guy that knew people who knew people. Rich people in fact. No matter how old, or what they look like, he cared about the money and our services for the pay. If we did a bad job, Rick made it known that he would make our next customer give us hell.
"I...I have enough money to make it on my own now. You can't just keep me here for the rest of my life," I told him strongly. Over the years, I made it my job to try and make myself look more desirable to the eyes of men. I realized that the more grown up and less innocent I looked, the more gentler customers came to me. And this...was all Rick's plan. He wanted to toughen me up, so he recommended me to the worst possible customers.
Big mistake jackass.
"I'm quitting the business. Would you like me to say it again for you to hear? For the past two years, my life here has been hell. I've gotten enough money to have my own place and to work at a bar. They don't expect me to 'service' the customers, but only servicing them with drinks."
Rick clenched his fists as I continued. "I never planned to work as a prostitute for as long as people requested of me. So-!"
Rick cut me off. "I helped you! When you came into this business, you were nothing without my help. Even if you never planned to work for me that long, you wouldn't have been able to talk to me like this without help," he told me bluntly.
"What?!" I angrily said.
"I'm the boss of this business. I know exactly how much you're paid. You may not overspend like the rest of my girls, but you still wouldn't have been able to own your own place with that meager money you would have." He walked towards me and stopped in front of me. "Which means, there's someone else who is helping you. You better hope, and pray to God that whoever is with you on this is not one of my girls."
"You don't scare me," I told him through clenched teeth.
"It's amazing how my obedient little lapdog is now baring its fangs at me." He lowly said, "But what would happen if the dog has no more fangs to bare at me?"
I gulped, and he smiled darkly at me. "Then the dog is reduced to nothing but an even more obedient lapdog."
He walked away from me and opened the door to his office. "Leave if you will. If you stay or even dare come back, I won't be forgiving to you...my sweet, innoncent betraying dog." With that, he entered his office and closed the door.
At the shut of the door, I fell on my knees. My heart was thudding wildly in my chest, as the adrenaline wore off and the anxiety kicked in. Tears welled up in my eyes, but before they could fall, a pair of arms encircled around me.
"You did it... I can't believe you did it," a familiar voice said to me.
I gripped those arms tightly, and let out a joyous laugh.
I'm free... I'm finally...free.
A/N
Gosh...PLEASE FORGIVES ME Q___Q.
I'm sorry for breaking my promise about updating yesterday! I was so busy, and my sister came home unexpectedly so I was happy as a kid getting their first taste of cotton candy XD! Not to mention...I broke my ipod Q_____Q waaaahhh.
I think Ichinose's chapters might be longer than Lance's...hmm...either way..there is so much going on. I...I just couldn't XD. Even in this chapter, my friend got sniffles lol.
Forgives meh for my mistakes ^3^. They'll get fixed...eventually ): D. Maybe after the whole book's completed?
Crap...meh phone's about to die, and I didn't save a lot of shiz on this chappy o_o...
ALSO...DO U C MEH NUMBER?!? Omg..I'm almost at 200 followers Q__Q. I told my friends that and they were like, on instagram :o!?! I saids no. They said twitter? I said ugh no XD. They were like then what then? I gave them a troll face and said...wattpad XD. The confusement on their faces..ah..bootiful <3 :P.
Till my next booky update(hopefully today or tom.), I shall see chu then. Burr byes <3 :*.