Playing with Fire | Yuzuru Hanyu

7. The Meeting

Aurora left her house with a weird anticipation in her step.

It was something that seemed to happen whenever she was meeting a new client. She longed for the excitement of seeing where the night would take her and what the other person would be like.

It didn't happen that often on those days. She had far more regulars than she had new clients and it was easy to get lost in the routine of things.

The fact that this man didn't give her any details was only making her excitement grow.

She arrived at the bar of the hotel about half an hour earlier than the scheduled appointment. It wasn't something that she did that often but given how the circumstances were new and she was slightly bored at home, spending a little money and looking around seemed like a good idea.

The place was as beautiful as she expected, surrounded by fancy lights and artwork that probably cost more than her entire Condo. The atmosphere was relaxed and calm, the very characteristic attribute of such a high-end place.

As pleasant as the whole environment in the bar was, it was fairly empty, something that Aurora didn't know if it was better or worse than having a lot of people around.

She settled on the bar and asked for a Negroni. There was no better place to ask for one than an expensive hotel. Given how picky some rich people were, she always expected absolute perfection in the cocktail selection.
It didn't disappoint, the drink was very well-balanced and the alcohol helped her relax for the upcoming night.

As the minutes elapsed her nervousness only grew. After doing this for a while it was very rare for her to get nervous but it seemed like the unknown was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Not knowing what to expect made her more afraid than she ever expected.

By now, they had sent her the name of the client, one that was unusually Japanese. A lot of things made sense then, he probably chose her for a reason.

The Japanese name was the only thing she knew of the man. There wasn't any data on age and no client needed to provide ID or photographs so she had no idea what to expect.

When the alcohol finally started hitting, Aurora found herself getting more relaxed, a bit more distracted by the ambient music and the environment around her when a soft voice called her name.

"Aurora?"

Her curiosity only spiked as she slowly turned around and saw the man for the first time. Truth be told, she had to get a hold of all of her self-control because it was hard not to react when a supposed client looked like that.

He looked very young, maybe even younger than her but the most striking of things was how handsome he was. Obviously Japanese and with a gentle smile that was more enticing than it had the right to be. The suit he wore looked oversized but still made him look striking.  This was far from her usual client and one that if she was being honest, surprised her to say the least.

"Yuzuru?" she asked, barely able to hide how incredulous she was with the current situation.

It was only then that she realized how completely unpolite she had been by Japanese standards. No one would ever call someone they had barely met by their first name. Then again, he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

He confirmed his identity with a nod and she gulped on instinct. This was one of the first times that she found herself completely speechless with a client. Even if she was quite an introvert in her private life, whenever she was on the job she completely transformed her personality. It was part of the experience.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you." he eventually said, a silly smile immediately setting on her face as she noticed the accent he seemed to be doing his best to hide. He didn't seem to be as comfortable with English as he tried to make it seem.

The one thing about Aurora is that whenever she is feeling crazy and nervous, her self-defense mechanism starts working and you can tell it right away when she tries to use humor as a distracting technique.

"The pleasure is all mine... Or yours, we will see...So...ready for a great night?"

Seeing his eyes widen was something that she loved right away. He seemed like he didn't expect her to be that direct but at the same time, she never felt any judgment on his part.

You see, there was this idea that high-end escorts didn't have to deal with the obvious judgment about their profession. In the end, no matter just how much glam and money you placed into it, they were still selling sex work and that was far from being a reputable profession.

When it came to most of her clients, she knew well that even if they had no shame in using the service, they still judged her for being the one providing it. One thing you learned early on was that the men who hired her were never bad for using her body, but she was instantly bad for being the one they used.

Yuzuru, however, didn't have that judgmental look straight out of the bat. If anything, he looked as curious as she was. He really didn't seem like the type of guy to get a service like theirs so the real question in her mind was if he had any idea what he was supposedly paying for.

Still, Aurora had been doing this for long enough to know that most of the time the guys that looked shier and innocent were usually the kinkiest ones but it didn't seem like she would take too long to find out.