Moving Bodies

It wasn’t as bad as she thought. Sana spent her first night in the club waiting tables and cleaning up the mess left by drunk patrons.

So far, she felt safe there, she hasn’t been groped or insulted by patrons. There were occasional cat callers who always comment on what she was wearing or the fact that she was a new face in the club.

Luckily, Sunny had this policy where all new hires wear a tag that signifies that they shouldn’t be touched or requested for private sessions. So, Sana was able to be unbothered for the majority of the time.

Naturally, she made friends at her new job, and they warmed up to her almost immediately. They loved how bubbly she was, always wore a smile when greeting the staff, the dancers, and the patrons. She also wasn’t afraid to show a little attitude when the guests were being too rowdy towards her.

To the employees, it showed that Sana had the guts for this kind of job and that was enough for them to think she could handle herself.

It didn’t take long for some of the dancers to encourage her to join in on their program because they believed Sana had the perfect face and body for it. Immediately suspecting that she had experience with dancing with the way she moved and presented herself.

Sana couldn’t deny it, she joined Mina and Momo in that dance club back in college and the they seemed to enjoy it so much that they stuck around until graduation. But she was too shy to join the dancers on stage, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet.

But it was nice to know that there are people who believed in her abilities. Sana didn’t expect that a strip club had many friendly people working there, granted that not all of them were nice but it was enough for her to feel welcomed.

The bartenders were also kind enough to give her tips on who the regulars were and who were the ones she had to avoid being around for too long.

The dress they provided for her wasn’t as revealing as she expected it to be. Just a typical puffy skirt with a cute corset to finish the look. Good thing she had experience with four-inch heels, so it wasn’t as painful as she thought.

Tonight was no different, she was given the same type of costume to wear and the only thing that was different were the bunny ears every waitress had to wear that night. Since it was the start of the weekend, they were expecting more customers than the previous days.

Sana decided to work a full shift that night as well, since she had no classes the next day and knew that the club needed the extra hands.

However, as the hours passed, she couldn’t help but think of Mina being all alone in their apartment. She was worried at how Mina would take the news about her getting a new job, but her best friend was nothing but supportive about it. Suggesting that she should take less classes during the day to give her more time to sleep and prepare for her evening job.

But Sana didn’t want to jeopardize her job as a teacher, she thought about her students and the excitement of getting new ones that want to be taught under her.

She tried to tell Mina that it would be fine, she could always go home right after her last class and immediately rest. Sana knew she had a lot of time anyway since she needed to be out of the house by eight in the evening and her last class ended by lunch time.

Then the inevitable happened when Mina asked her what the job was, and it made her sick to her stomach when she couldn’t tell her best friend the truth about it. Sana didn’t want to lie; she was horrible at it, and she also wasn’t good at making excuses either.

So, when Mina and Momo cornered her earlier that night to make her spill the beans, Sana just waved it off and said it was a safe job that could help pay the bills and then left the apartment in a blur.

She knew that sooner or later; she had to tell Mina the truth. But when she thought about it; her job hasn’t been that bad after working there for a week. She was paid well and the tips she received were much more than what she thought.

Maybe this was enough to give her the confidence to tell Mina that she was working part time at a notorious strip club in Busan.

Sunny was happy to tell her that she was doing well, the patrons were very pleased to see a new face in the club too and no one had made her feel uncomfortable for the most part, despite the cat calling and all. Majority of the time their attention was all on the beautiful women, in provocative clothing, dancing on each stage in the club.

Sana couldn’t help but think what it would be like to be there just like them. She knew that she couldn’t pole dance yet since all the dancers had rigorous training beforehand. But the dancers that were free to do whatever on the sides mesmerized her the most.

They had freedom in what they did, their expressions made them look like they didn’t care where they were, as long as they danced. A few were busy gathering tips while lazily undulating their hips as they crawled towards the waving bills by the sides. But some were just in their own world, not caring, they just danced to the rhythm of the music, and it looked liberating.

Sunny always offered that Sana should try it out eventually, but she was too shy to do it.

Though the older would always scoff at the comment and tell her that no one in The Lazy Sleeper knew the meaning of the word, it was a forbidden word and feeling in the establishment. The fact that she agreed to being part of them, she had to do the same.

After a while, Sana decided in the end that if she had some practice then she would give it a try. Sunny even mentioned that the manager would have loved to see her be a part of their dancers.

It took some time for Sana to discover that Sunny wasn’t the owner of The Lazy Sleeper. The dancers told her that Sunny was the oldest professional dancer there and while she still did take in requests by faithful patrons, majority of the time she took care of all the girls, like a matriarch or something. Which made total sense to Sana as to why she was the person who interviewed her at the bar with Kazuha.

The real owner was Sunny’s old friend, Han Ong. He was bald, short, and fat. He also looked like a pork bun. It was funny to Sana with the way Sunny described it at first, but when she saw him in real life, she couldn’t help but agree with her.

But he wasn’t a sleazeball or disrespectful. In fact, he was barely there. Sunny would mention that he would either be out on business or he was cooped up in his office that was on the highest floor of the club.

The older woman assured her that she had nothing to worry about with Ong, as what everyone called him, he was just happy that there were customers every night and there wasn’t any fuss, so it didn’t really give him a reason to butt in.

At the moment, Sana found herself at the bar, waiting for the bartender to fill her tray with beer so she could serve it to the men in suits on a table far off from the stage.

“Are you still nervous?” The bartender asked as he placed the bottles of beer in front of her, giving her a kind smile.

Sana giggled and waved at him. “No, not anymore. I think I’ve gotten used to it.”

He chuckled while popping the caps off from the bottles. “That’s good. Sooner or later, you’ll be up there with the girls.” He smirked and placed them on the tray, pointing towards the women dancing on stage. “You seem to want to be with them too.”

She sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

He smiled and then shrugged, in seconds, his smile faded and looked at her. “Sunny, on your sixth.”

She turned around and saw Sunny rushing towards her. The slender woman grabbed her arm gently and looked around, calling the other waitress to come over. “Let’s have her serve this, I need you for a bit.”

Sana raised a brow, a sudden concern filling her chest. “Is something wrong?”

Sunny waved her hand at her as she dragged her to the back office for employees only. “No, darling.” Once they were in the changing rooms, Sunny immediately rummaged through their outfits and took out a few garments and hovered them over the younger’s body, returning the ones she didn’t seem to like. “Well, not really—but remember how you wanted to dance?”

“I-I never said that.”

“Honey, it’s written in your face. You’ve been here for a week, and I can already tell.” The older deadpanned as she finally settled with a nice, silky nightgown. “Change into this. You can keep your heels on.”

Sana hesitantly accepted the garment and looked at Sunny again. “What’s going on?”

Sunny walked over to the door and took a peek from the small window on the door. After a few seconds of watching and waiting, she looked back at Sana. “Okay, so, someone requested for you."

She felt her heart shoot up to her throat. "But I thought I wasn’t allowed to accept private dances?”

This was the risk she was worried about when she accepted the job. She still needed more time to get used to being a waitress, maybe learning how to balance ten bottles of beer without any of them falling off her tray.

The last thing she could think of was dancing for a stranger in a private room without Sunny being there to supervise or anything. And here she was, being thrown into the den of lions in a blink of an eye.

Sunny shook her head in slight frustration, and ushered her to a changing booth. “I know and I’ve said the same thing, but I found out who requested for you, and I can’t say no.” The older woman leaned in and covered her mouth with one hand. “This is taboo, but let’s say they’re sponsors of the club, and they’ve been sponsoring us for almost a decade.”

The younger raised her brow, trying to register what Sunny told her just now. “But they’re not really sponsors?”

“I can’t really say. When Ong took charge of the club, these people would choose a random date to visit, and they usually book one of our dancers for private sessions.” Sunny explained, giving Sana an apologetic look. “I tried to argue for your case, but Ong and the visitor agreed to have you instead of our other dancers. They didn’t give me the chance to argue.”

Sana hummed, clutching the silky garment in her hands. Before she closed the curtain, she looked back at Sunny. “I understand, but why me?”

“Not sure, honey. But best to still comply or Ong will throw another bitch fit.” She said, giving Sana’s shoulders a tight squeeze. “Remember, ring the bell when something bad happens okay? We’ll get you immediately especially when you feel like you’re in danger.” She paused and leaned in again, whispering. “But we’ve never had a reason to use the bell when these people visit. I can assure you that we can trust them.”