The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Chapter 62

62 The Awaited Night

Poppy smiled faintly, wiping the tears that welled up in the corners of her eyes. Thinking of her mother’s sadness made her unable to hold her cry. She took a deep breath before saying, “Thank you,”

“Open it,” Donny asked.

Poppy nodded and took out a shiny pink box that was prettier than its wrapping bag. She pulled off the ribbons that tied it and opened the lid of the box.

Inside the pretty box was a package of very glamour skin and hair care products. There was a glitter body lotion that had the biggest and most beautiful bottle. Poppy couldn’t help but smile at the sweet thing.

“This is.. so pretty,” She mumbled with sparkling eyes.

“Do you like it?” Donny asked softly. Poppy nodded with a wide smile that deepened the shape of her dimples.

“How about you use them for tonight live shoot? Your hair and skin will look absolutely gorgeous. Isn’t that right?” Donny said.

Poppy froze at Donny’s words. Her hand that was holding the bottle of sweet lotion just now floated in the air. She slowly put the bottle back in the box.

To Poppy, Donny was a piece of chewing gum. It was sweet and soft at the beginning, but became bitter and hard at the end. She shouldn’t have forgotten that fact.

.....

The sweet taste that Poppy had tasted a few seconds ago now turned bitter after reality pulled her back to earth after she had flown into the clouds. It was very painful for Poppy to realize that the present was more than just a birthday present. He wanted Poppy to look really pretty tonight.

“What do you think? I’d really like to see you use those things ASAP.” Donny asked again.

Poppy turned to the guy, swallowing the disappointment so it wouldn’t show on her face, “Of course. I’ll use them for sure.”

“Thanks, honey.” Donny kissed Poppy’s forehead happily.

“Oh..” Donny remembered something again, “You’ve taken the contraceptive pill, haven’t you? Don’t forget it. It would be very dangerous for you.”

Poppy was stunned again, then, nodded slowly a few seconds later, “Yes. I.. will never forget.”

***

For Poppy, the trip to the office seemed very short. Even though the location of the hotel was far from that damn building, that’s what happened when we didn’t feel like going somewhere. We would expect a journey that had no end.

That building always scared Poppy. All her nightmares started there. Unfortunately, she still had to go to that hell. Poppy didn’t understand what kind of gangster that had been employing her all this time.

Hell Gate. It seemed the name fitted them very well. If you go into it, you would definitely not be able to get out safely. And of course, if you were dragged inside, you would feel the real hell.

Before starting filming, Poppy rested in the actress’s room. She also took a shower there, using all the body care products that were a birthday present from Donny. Actually, Poppy could no longer distinguish herself from a prostitute. She felt very disgusted with herself. She didn’t even dare to cry, because it would make her eyes swell later. If that happened, she would be killed by the men who made her a slave.

Time passed very quickly. The sky had darkened and the snowing quite heavy. Poppy entered a large room with a bed in the middle of the room, lots of filming equipment, and an additional room at the side that was divided by a soundproof glass wall. Her small body was wrapped in a white towel robe. As much as possible, she did not want to show what was behind the robe.

There were already many people in the large room, including Donny. The man in charge of managing the actresses. He was standing, chatting with a tall man about the same size as him. Just like Poppy, the tall man was also clad in a towel robe. With a heavy heart, Poppy approached the two guys.

“Oh.. Poppy,” Jacky greeted when he noticed the little girl’s presence.

Poppy gave him a faint smile, “Hi, Jacky.”

“Hm.. You’re really using them, huh? Your hair is getting really nice.” Donny kissed Poppy’s head affectionately. Poppy didn’t budge. Because she knew he didn’t do it because he loved her.

Jacky smiled seeing the closeness of the couple in front of him, “You two are very matching, aren’t you?”

Donny laughed, “Well, We are. We work together to build our dream.” he said, looking at Poppy with loving eyes.

But Poppy almost vomited blood by hearing his words. In this world, except the two of them, no one knew that eighty percent of Poppy’s income from that despicable job was taken by Donny. He exploited Poppy so badly. Turned the girl into a cash cow.

Donny suddenly remembered a topic he had discussed earlier with Jacky, “Oh, anyways, Jacky. Regarding earlier, looks like you two have to get acquainted again so Poppy doesn’t feel awkward in the shoot. Haha..”

“Oh.. You’re right,” Jacky nodded, remembering what he meant. Then, he stretched out his hand in front of Poppy, “Sorry if I seem indifferent all this time. Honestly, I’m a bit shy so I rarely talk to other actresses. Donny said, you feel awkward because you don’t know me well enough. You don’t need to worry, Poppy. I’ll help you later. So, you don’t need to be tensed.” he winked in a friendly manner.

Poppy shook her hand for a little then smiled slightly, “Thanks, Jacky. Sorry to bother you.”

“Nope.. Not at all. I have experience in this field for many years. It is true that girls who are new to this field, like you, will find it difficult to adapt to new co-stars. I have partnered with many girls. So, you can trust me.”

“Well! It’s all clear now, right? You don’t have to be afraid, honey. Like I said before, Jacky is a pro.” Donny put his arm around Poppy and rubbed her shoulder.

In that place, the ones that look the busiest were the crew on duty. Either those who were in charge of recording or those in the small studio that was blocked by a glass wall. That Live Streaming program was a big project. And this was the first live broadcast of the project.

“Looks like this project is going to explode. Just look at how many hundreds of visitors it has. And there are still a lot of accounts that keep signing in.” Said the man with glasses who was the head of the IT department who held the website, to the head of marketing who monitored there.

“Mad! We’re going to harvest money!” He mumbled excitedly.

“The coin purchases have increased drastically. This is crazy! They filled the coin balance wallets into tens of millions.” Exclaimed one of the team.

“We’ll be On Air in fifteen minutes. Get ready, Everyone!” Exclaimed the director to everyone who was there. They immediately stood in their respective positions.

“Come on, Poppy.” Said Jacky.

“You can do this, guys!” Donny left his girlfriend with a man named Jacky. Then, he went to stand in his place, joining the rest of the crew.

Jacky touched Poppy’s back waist to lead her to the shooting point, which was the bed in the middle of the studio.

Poppy gave him a faint smile before the man lowered his head slightly to Poppy’s ear when they were far enough away from everyone.

“I wonder how an innocent girl tastes like,” He whispered with a chuckle. His face looked absolutely hideous when he briefly licked his lower lip.

Jacky’s true form was like a bolt of lightning that roasted all the muscles in Poppy’s body.

Actually, she wasn’t afraid of Jacky just because she never talked to him. But she heard a secret confession from Momo that Jacky was a very rude pervert. He even often harassed Momo outside of shooting hours. But Momo never dared to open her mouth because Jacky always threatened her. The man was also always nice and polite in front of people, so whenever there were co-stars who revealed his ugly sides, people would not believe them and even think it was just slander to bring Jacky down.

Jacky opened his towel robe, revealing his big muscular body that was only wearing long jeans pants.

On instructions from the director, Poppy also, for the tenth time, was forced to take off the towel robe that wrapped her tiny body. Finally.. the whole world could see her wearing an indecent suit with shiny tight materials that only covered the small parts of her body. The cloth was of no use at all. It wore just to arouse the lust of the strange men who watch the program of the catlanguagedictionary.com site only.

Poppy thought it was the same when she did this. The live streaming program would of course expose her face to anyone watching. There was no such thing as face blurring because this was a live broadcast. But even when the whole world finally learned of her depravity, Poppy had been dragged too far into that hell. She couldn’t get out anymore. Because if Poppy ran away, they would easily catch her and finish her off. Now, the problem was no longer to maintain her good name, but to survive.

All cameras and spotlights pointed towards the centre. On Poppy and Jaky. Then, the director raised his hand and shouted, “Everyone gets ready! On Air is about to start, in.. three.. two.. one.. Acting!”

***

Roger received a notification via email regarding the schedule changes of the actress and actor who would premiere in a live program. What was previously mentioned that the player will be Momo, had now changed to Poppy.

Usually, Roger would just curse without being able to do anything. But this time, he would help Poppy one last time. Because, maybe after this, Roger wouldn’t be able to see the sunrise anymore.

The clock showed 00:00. As usual, Roger’s house was always quiet. His parents rarely come home. He only lived with a few housekeepers in his big house but was always cold. Roger left his house without anyone knowing. He drove his father’s car to the port area.