Three Is A Crowd

Chaeyoung couldn't remember how she got into this situation again. Diane was smothering her neck with sloppy kisses and grazing tongue over her skin. Chaeyoung felt disgusted by it.

Diane’s hands were all over her chest, rushing to unbutton her shirt. Chaeyoung thought that if she would ignore it, she could slip out once they were done. But she knew Diane, this woman wasn’t the type to make things quick and she knew what Chaeyoung liked in sex. Chaeyoung had been booking this woman for almost two years and they were too familiar with each other.

“You want me to do the usual again, babe?” Diane husked over her ear, licking the outer shell. Chaeyoung couldn’t help but wince at the feeling.

She didn’t respond, she stayed still on the bed and the prostitute just hummed, continuing what she was doing.

Chaeyoung couldn't understand why she was resisting this again. She thought it would be different since she loved having Diane around, despite them not bothering to do after-sex cuddling or making meals for each other and the like. It was always them, meeting up discreetly at the same hotel room, having rough sex and then Chaeyoung paid her when they were done, then they leave to their own separate ways.

She just hated the fact that at the moment, while she was with another woman, she could only think of Mina.

Chaeyoung grabbed her wrist gently and stops her. “I don’t think I can do it tonight, Diane.” She looked up at Diane but she couldn't seem to get Mina’s face off her mind. She felt disgusted with herself.

That hasn’t happened in a long, long time.

Diane was a bit surprised at this. “What?” She furrowed her brows and rested herself on Chaeyoung’s lap. “Are you having a bad day or something? You usually fuck my brains out when you do.”

“I know.” She sighed and then tapped her shins to get her off her lap. Chaeyoung stood up once she was free and quickly buttoned up her shirt, then fixed her blazer. “I think it’s best if we just stop everything,” she said as she picked up her neck tie that was discarded on the floor.

“What do you mean?”

Chaeyoung turned to her and dug her hand in her pocket, pulling out a thick wad of cash and then threw it on the bed next to her. “Here, that’s probably worth five sessions. I want to stop whatever we have.”

Diane scoffed, grabbing the money and brushing her thumb over it to see the amount of bills she received, but then her expression changed and shot a glare at Chaeyoung. “Are you fucking serious?” She threw the money on the bed and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. “We’ve been seeing each other for two years and you never had any complaints.”

“I don’t,” Chaeyoung said and shrugged, digging her hands deeper into her pockets and her hand held onto the little tiger charm Mina gave her. “You’re not the problem here, okay? I just don’t want to fuck you anymore.”

“And why is that?”

“Do I really need to give you a reason? I just don’t want to anymore,” Chaeyoung shot back and closes her eyes to compose herself. She was starting to get irritated already but then again, she expected her to get angry like this. Chaeyoung fixed her posture and turned around to exit. “I already paid, that was part of our agreement.”

“What the fuck?” Diane was already getting frustrated. “So you’re just gonna go?”

Chaeyoung stopped and then shrugged at her. “Well… Yeah I am.”

“There has to be a reason, Chaeyoung. We’ve been doing this for so long and all of a sudden you’re just not interested anymore?” Diane was raising her voice now. She brushed a hand roughly through her hair and then stopped. She glared at Chaeyoung again. “Are you dating someone right now?”

Chaeyoung was surprised at this but she had to keep her cool. She didn’t want to expose her feelings for Mina. She clutched the charm in her palm, hoping to find comfort in it. “No, I’m not. Diane, just accept the money and let me leave,” she said calmly, trying to convey the demand in her voice.

Diane scoffed again. “I know you’ve been seeing other women and fucking them too.”

“And why do you care? Isn’t this your job or something? I never agreed to be exclusive with you and you have no right to meddle with my business.”

Diane’s brows twitched, she stomped forward and slapped Chaeyoung hard across her face. “Fuck you!” She shouted. Then she picked up her things, the money and her coat, then turned back to Chaeyoung. “You’ll regret this!”

The sharp sting of the slap was still there. But it wasn’t something new to her. She had received much worse, not from a prostitute, of course.

Though, she didn’t understand why this was difficult to do, it wasn't a negotiation or a fist fight. There was something about this that made her feel confused. But one thing she knew was that she didn’t want to fuck anyone just for the heck of it anymore.

Chaeyoung lifted her head up and looked at Diane. Still as stoic as ever. “Okay. I’ll go now,” she muttered and started walking her way to the door. But Diane caught up with her and grabbed onto her wrist.

“Wait. I’m sorry,” she said and her expression was softer now. “I didn’t mean to. Maybe we can work this out.”

“No, I’m sorry, Diane.” Chaeyoung gently pried her arm away from hers and opened the door. “I really don’t want to do this anymore.”

Before Diane could argue any more, Chaeyoung quickly stepped out from the hotel room and closed the door. Rushing towards the elevator and waiting for it to arrive. She looked back at the room, worried that Diane was going to catch up with her. But the elevator rang on her floor and she quickly got in, pressing the button for the basement.

Once the door closed, she leaned back on the wall and let out a long breath. Taking the tiger charm out of her pocket and just stared at it.

As much as she enjoyed the simple relief that she got from sex, she just couldn’t find it within her to do it anymore. It couldn’t be because of Diane. Or whoever Jeongyeon hired for her. And she had tried, even before this last meet up she had with Diane.

It just didn’t work anymore. She couldn’t stop thinking of Mina. Not that she already wanted to have sex with her. But when Chaeyoung tried to close her eyes and get sucked in by the pleasure from these women, Mina’s face kept coming back and it was starting to drive her crazy. It was as if her source of relief was somewhere else now.

Of course, Jeongyeon noticed something with the first few girls she booked and wondered why none of them lasted for more than ten minutes. Chaeyoung kept telling her it was because of the scar on her stomach. But Jeongyeon didn’t buy it. Chaeyoung knew the stab wound didn’t do anything to her and she was still able to do things normally despite this.

Maybe it was the frustration of not working out yet. She shook her head. It definitely wasn’t because of that.

She kept the charm safely in her pocket as she arrived at the basement and immediately spotted Dahyun on the phone, talking to someone and smiling from ear to ear.

It was probably Nayeon again.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes at this, considering if she should scold Dahyun for being on her phone all the time ever since she and Nayeon started seeing each other, but she didn't have the energy to. She managed to walk closer to the car without Dahyun noticing her and stood next to her driver, leaning on the trunk of the car.

Dahyun jumped a bit in shock when she noticed Chaeyoung there and was about to put the phone down but Chaeyoung held her hand up and urged her to continue her call.

“I’ll call you back,” Dahyun quickly said over the phone but turned around suddenly, covering her mouth with her hand. “I know babe, I’ll message you later. Bye.” Dahyun pocketed her phone and then unlocked the car.

Without uttering a word, Chaeyoung decided to sit at the front seat this time and immediately slumped herself on it. Chaeyoung raised her brow when she saw Dahyun hesitate but she evenutally jumped in the driver’s side to start the car.

“So is babe the new name for Nayeon now?” Chaeyoung couldn’t help but ask, smirking at her driver as they drove out of the parking spot.

Dahyun knitted her brows and her cheeks were turning red, her eyes were darting back and forth from Chaeyoung and to the road. “How did you know?”

“Dubs, a monkey could have guessed it too,” she said leaning her head on the head rest. “I know you took her out on a date. Felix and I saw you with her at the park.”

“Oh.”

Chaeyoung waved her hand lazily. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t have a problem with it.” She turned to look out the window, watching the buildings passing by them. “In fact, I’m happy that it's Nayeon.”

Dahyun cleared her throat and firmly gripped on the steering wheel. “Thanks, boss.” She took a quick glance at Chaeyoung and then back on the road. “Why are we leaving so early? Did something happen to Diane?”

“I cut things off with her,” Chaeyoung said simply, not wanting to get into details with it.

“Does that explain the red mark on your cheek?”

Chaeyoung touched her cheek with her fingers and then sighed again. “Yeah. She didn’t take it very well.”

Dahyun hummed at that, nodding her head and then tapping her fingers when there was a stop sign. “Do… you want to talk about it?”