Chapter Text
“I think I’m going to have to get a new job.” Luo Bin said as soon as she took her seat at the table.
She’d picked a spot in the far back near the kitchen, leaving the more coveted tables for fussier customers. A habit she’d had since her short career as a hostess. It was lunch break for most of the working class in the upper ring, and the Jasmine Dragon was surprisingly busy for such a new location.
“You just got this one like, a week ago.” Chyou said, taking the seat right across from her, while Jae scooted in next to her.
“Three weeks actually.” Luo corrected, she sighed deeply. “Lady Ai hates me.”
“Yeah? I told you she was famously awful before you started, you took the job anyway.” Chyou replied. She was right of course, like usual.
“I know, and I could deal with it if it was just standard meanness. Every job has at least one asshat you have to work around.”
“At least.” Jae said empathetically, no doubt thinking of several asshats he’d dealt with over the years while working at The Overlook.
“But she’s so much worse. She stands over me the whole time I work, insults me, makes me redo things I’ve already done, and she keeps asking me to do extra tasks near the end of my shift. I missed the last train home the other day and had to sleep behind their house!” Luo vented, dumping all the stress she’d accumulated over the week onto the table. The new job had long hours, and this was the first chance she’d gotten to see her friends since starting.
“Oma and Shu, I’ve heard she was bad but that’s insane.” Chyou stared at her with wide eyes.
Lou Bin sighed again. “I don’t know why she feels the need to flaunt how much better than me she is. I’m already on my hands and knees picking pubes out of the bathroom grout with tweezers, any power move on top of that is just unnecessary.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw a server's head turn towards them. Oops, she probably shouldn’t say ‘pubes’ so loudly in public. The Jasmine Dragon wasn’t as upscale as the fine dining places surrounding it, but it certainly wasn’t some lower ring dive bar either.
“You know why, right?” Jae asked conspiratorially, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands. “Because she used to be Governor Wang's maid too.”
“What?” Lou asked incredulously. She tried to picture the beautiful, classy politician’s wife in cleaner’s clothes, on the floor with a scrub brush the way she’d been an hour earlier.
“It’s true, she’s probably worried you're coming for her spot.” Jae said, hazel eyes twinkling.
Lou laughed. “Explains why she likes to remind me I’m ugly.” She self consciously brushed her hair with her fingers, encouraging the strands to fall in a way that covered the pink blotches on the right side on her face and neck.
They paused their conversation when the server made his way over to their table.
He was a boy around her age, his extremely short haircut alone would have made him stand out, but the large scar over his right eye made sure of it. He wore a sour expression, not even pretending to be happy to take their order, which he did without introducing himself.
“And I’ll have a Ginseng, thank you.” Luo said after her friends had already ordered. The server wrote their orders down without a word, and without ever changing the sour look on his face. He walked away, and Luo noticed both Chyou and Jae staring after him as he did.
“Guys, rude.” She whispered.
“I heard the owners were refugees. With a scar like that it makes you wonder what they’ve been through.” Chyou said quietly, still staring at the server who was now taking someone else's order.
Luo knew what it was like trying to work in service when every other customer stares at you like a child who hasn’t learned any better. It probably happened to him as often as it did to her, and it was probably worse for him, since the scar was undoubtedly related to a painful memory, whereas she was just born ugly.
“Not really a good reason, Chyou. I despise it when people do that to me.”
“Do it to...? Oh, right, yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” She said, looking genuinely embarrassed.
The birthmark had been there since Luo was little, blooming from the center of her chest then spreading to the rest of her body in a pink speckled pattern as she got older. She could keep most of it covered, but there was no easy way to hide her face.
“Anyways,” Chyou said, quickly changing the subject. “I’ll ask mom if anyone else she knows of is looking for a maid. You could pick up a couple dish shifts at The Overlook too.” She turned to look at Jae for confirmation and he nodded.
“Thanks, but I’m going to try to stick with it for as long as I can.”
“Seriously Lulu?” Chyou asked, disapproval clear on her face.
“The pay is good.”
“Not enough to sleep on the ground.” Jae countered.
“It really is, though.”
They both gave her a look at that. Jae and Chyou were three years older than her, and sometimes it felt like they were playing mom and dad.
“That only happened once. Look, I’ve already caught up on our rent! And It's only been a week. In a few more I might actually have savings.” She relayed the justifications that she’d been telling herself everyday since she started working for Governor Wang. Even with everything she put up with from Lady Ai, it was really nice to fall asleep without agonizing over whether to pay rent or food.
Neither of her friends seemed to know how to respond to that. After all, they knew how it was. They all worked awful jobs hoping to get enough money to get ahead, for the chance to get out of the lower ring someday.
Who was she kidding, none of them were ever going to get out of the lower ring.
Luo pressed the heels of her hands against her eyelids, willing some tension out of her body. She was NOT going to have a breakdown, no sir, not here, not in front of her friends.
“She’s probably going to fire me soon anyways, might as well get what I can out of it.” Luo said.
“See this is why I switched to kitchen work. much less stressful.” Chyou said.
“Pfft, only because you’re not on the line.” Jae scoffed.
Chyou made an exaggerated pouty face at him. “Only cuz yur not on da wiine.” She mocked.
He leaned in towards her, mirroring her pouty face. They both broke into giggles, she leaned the rest of the way touching her forehead to his.
Luo looked away, choosing instead to read the inscription above the door: ‘I’d rather go without eating for three days than without tea for one day’. She loved her friends, she did, but it could be awkward sometimes when they started making bedroom eyes at each other while the three of them hung out. It also reminded her that she was going to be a single virgin forever.
The server came back with their order. As he placed the tea down on their table, a man passing by suddenly injected “What happened to your face?”
Luo automatically started to answer. “It’s just a birthmark-”
“What's it to you?” The server barked back, and Luo remembered that the question could have been directed at him just as much as her.
The man who asked suddenly looked stricken, as if he hadn’t been the one to approach first and ask an invasive question. “Hey, I didn’t mean- uh, um...” He sputtered under the glare of the server, before apparently deciding against speaking any more and quickly leaving.
Luo let out a breath of relief. She was pretty sure the question had been for her. The server’s face was obviously scarred, but her spots could be mistaken for a rash. She couldn’t say she wasn’t glad to have somebody else handle it though, if only to avoid the awkward followup questions while some stranger openly stared at her like a zoo exhibit.
“Why are you such a pushover?” The server turned his glare on her suddenly.
“What?”
“Do you like being treated like dirt?”
Luo froze at the accusation. Why was he angry at her? Was he just talking about the stranger, or did he overhear their conversation?
“Whatever.” He said, turning away and leaving before she could even think of a response.
“I can’t believe he just said that to you!” Chyou exclaimed, slamming her hands down on the table.
“Hey guys, I’m gonna head back to Wang’s house now.” She said, rummaging through her bag for a few coppers.
“Are you sure?” Jae asked.
“Yeah.” She put the money down on the table, threw her bag over her shoulder and exited the shop quickly. Stepping out into the busy upper ring street, she felt her anxiety lesson as she put more distance between herself and the confrontation.
Luo was upset, and it was because she knew he was kind of right. The truth was she would much rather be treated badly than to tell someone off for being awful, and yeah, usually it was about keeping her job, that was one thing. But random rude strangers, her mother, the landlord? There was no excuse, she was pathetic.
Lady Ai shoved her as they exited the back door, causing Luo to stumble onto her knees on the ground.
“You stole it! I know you did! Give it up!” Lady Ai screeched, brandishing a thin whip-like branch that usually stood in a vase as decoration by the back door.
“I’m sorry, my lady. I don’t know what you're talking about! I didn’t steal anything!” Luo said desperately, staying kneeled in the dirt. Her mind was still racing to catch up on what happened. She’d been wiping the bookshelves off for the second time that day, as Lady Ai asked, anxiously aware of the sinking sun and the fact that she needed to finish quickly to get on the train. When the lady suddenly started screaming in her face.
“My ring! My gold sapphire ring that my dear husband gave me. It was on the vanity and when I came back into the room it was gone. You were the only one in there so I know it was you! Give me my ring back!” She swung the branch and Luo barely managed to bring her arm up to protect her face in time.
“Please! I didn’t take anything of yours!” Luo cried.
“LIAR!” She swung again and again. Luo couldn’t do anything but try to cover her head with her arms and brace for it. Squeezing her eyes shut as they teared up from the stinging bite of the branch.
“You rotten, ugly diseased little rat-pidgeon! I knew my husband shouldn’t have hired you, but he’s too good of heart and pitied your disgusting, ungrateful-.”
Lady Ai yelped, and Luo heard her take several frantic steps until she was behind her. Luo cautiously lowered her arms from her face to see a figure clad entirely in black, except for a terrifying blue mask of a smiling demon. He held two dao blades, and stood a couple feet away facing them.
“What- what do you want?” Lady Ai asked in a shrill voice. Luo turned to look at her, noticing the branch in her hands had been cleanly cut, the other pieces were on the ground in front of them. The Lady still aimed the remaining wooden nub out in front of her as if she thought she could defend herself with it. It might have been funny if Luo wasn’t currently scared out of her mind.
The figure said nothing. Luo couldn’t even hear him breathe.
Lady Ai pulled a coin purse from her sleeve and threw it at his feet. “There! Now leave at once!”
The figure didn’t move.
Lady Ai kicked Luo’s side, who glanced back at the woman before she understood her meaning, and pulled her own, much smaller coin purse and tossed it where Lady Ai’s was.
The terrible blue face stared them down with beady black eyes, and still didn’t move.
Lady Ai made a desperate sound and then pulled her earrings, bracelet, and necklace off, pulling a ring out of her sleeve and threw all of it at him, and Luo had only enough time to register that it was the same ring she’d just been accused of stealing when the figure lunged forward, slashing the air in front of the Lady's face.
Luo swerved around him and bolted for the direction of the stations.
Later that night, Luo laid awake on her old futon, agonizing over the fact that she may have just let her employer get killed.
Which also meant that she was officially out of a job.
She hated that it was one of the first thoughts to occur to her. Lady Ai was an awful person, but Luo wasn’t the type to want bad things to happen to people, even if they arguably deserved it. Of course, it’s not like Luo could have fought off the killer anyways. Maybe she should have tried to catch the attention of a Dai Li agent, but she’d been terrified, and just wanted to get as far away as possible. If she had started screaming for help, they might have chased her down to silence her.
Luo curled up on her side. Anxiety and guilt wracked her body and her heart was beating too fast. Lady Ai had probably bled to death in her own garden. By now, Wang would have found her, and he’d be wondering who did it and why-
And all she could think about was money.
She rolled onto her back.
An unfamiliar shape in her usually empty bedroom appeared in her peripheral vision. She turned to see the silhouette of the masked man and bolted upright, scream caught in her throat-
He was already gone.
She blinked, trembling slightly, wondering if her anxiousness had made her imagine it. Then her eyes fell on something in the window sill.
A fat, green velvet coin purse, backlighted by the glow of the moon.
It was Lady Ai’s.
Luo stood and walked slowly to the window. She peaked out, but saw absolutely nothing but a couple local neighborhood bums sleeping where they always did.
She looked back to the coin purse, and then with some hesitancy, opened it.
Part of her expected to see something bloody and horrifying, like a severed finger. Instead the purse was filled with gold coins, Lady Ai’s Jewelry, and her own smaller coin purse tucked inside as well. She pulled her purse out to see the exact number of silver and copper pieces she’d had since she left the tea shop still inside.
Luo crammed the rest of Lady Ai’s stolen wealth into a rat hole in her wall and crawled back under her covers.
Luo got up at the normal time she did every morning.
She made breakfast like she did every morning
She set aside a portion for mom, who’d wake up sometime later, like she did every morning.
She cleaned the kitchen like she did every morning.
Then she went back to bed and slept for another four hours like she hadn’t done in years.
Luo had no job to go to, and after a night of tossing and turning those extra hours made all the difference between feeling like shit and feeling like death. A weird calmness had taken over her, maybe because her body had decided that being constantly anxious for so long wasn’t feasible.
She threw some laundry in a tub and thought about what she was going to tell the Dai Li later, who probably wanted to talk with her when they investigated Lady Ai’s death. She didn’t think about the money and jewelry in her bedroom wall upstairs.
Luo dumped a cup of soap in the tub and stirred the clothes.
What she really wanted to do was talk to Chyou and Jae. But they wouldn’t be starting their shifts at The Overlook for several hours, So she had to occupy herself until then.
“What are you still here for?”
Luo jumped at the sound of her mom’s voice. The older woman stood leaning on the doorway of their shabby little kitchen pipe in hand.
Great, that meant she’d gotten her medicine on credit without consulting Luo first, meaning they now had an open account at the apothecary, and she’d just gotten them out of debt too.
“I had the morning off, So I’m going to catch up on some household stuff until my dish shift later.” Luo said, not even considering telling the truth.
Her mom exhaled smoke from her lungs, squinting at Luo and tilting her head.
“What?” Luo asked.
“What happened to your face?”
Luo was confused for a moment, wondering why her mother would ask that about a birthmark that had been there most of her life. She brought a hand up and touched the side of her head, only just now noticing how tender it was. Right, she’d been beaten yesterday. She’d forgotten.
“Oh, Lady Ai accused me of stealing and uh, hit me with a branch.”
Her mother laughed. A gross cackling sound that almost immediately turned into a coughing fit. “Did you?” She croaked out after catching her breath.
“No, she found the ring she was looking for later.” Luo said flatly.
“All that for nothing huh, too bad. Maybe if you ever thought ahead you would have stolen it.”
Luo continued to wash the clothing, ring them out and hang them on the twine that ran along their kitchen wall. Sympathy from mom was something she’d long ago learned to stop expecting. It still bothered her though.
“Kept myself in that awful work for years even though I could have done something with my life, worked my hands to the bone for you, and never got anything for it. You wouldn’t understand that kind of sacrifice, since you were never able to do anything else anyway.”
“Yeah.” Luo said, knowing full well her mother wasn’t actually looking for a response. Not a real one, anyways.
“But that's just what good mothers do.” She took a long drag from her pipe, blowing smoke from between her thin lips. “What's Tohru ’s girl up to these days?”
“Chyou? She still works at The Overlook.”
“She planning on going back to school?”
“Yeah, next semester I think.” Luo said, not wanting to get into the details of her friend's indecision and the reasons behind it. After all, her mom didn’t really care about Chyou.
“She ought to, after getting such a fat scholarship. Oh If only you could have done something with everything I gave you.”
“Mhmm.” Luo dried her hands off on her apron. “I’m going to go ahead and head to the upper ring now, see you later tonight mom.”
“Love you, dear”
“Love you too mom.”
A few hours and one train ride later Luo Bin walked through the backdoor of the exclusive restaurant known as The Overlook, named for the view from the second story dining area. It wouldn't be open until later that evening, but a handful of workers were already bustling around the kitchen doing prep work.
Luckily, Chyou and Jae were both already there.
“Shit Luo, what happened?” Jae said immediately when she peaked through the kitchen door, causing everyone else to look up.
“Kind of a story...got time for a break?” She looked to Chyou, directing the question to both of them and ignoring the stares.
Her friends left their stations immediately and met her behind the restaurant where garbage sat uncomfortably close to crates of fresh ingredients. The narrow alley was separated from the street by a high stone wall, giving a rare sense of privacy in the city. They listened to her recount the story without interruption, Chyou’s expression growing more shocked as she went on, her mouth agape but silent while Jae just looked pissed.
“I saw Ai and Wang eating at Baba’s during my shift this morning. She’s not dead, there wasn’t even a scratch on her.” Jae said, eyeing Luo’s face.
An enormous weight lifted off Luo’s shoulders. Lady Ai was alive, and apparently felt well enough to go out for a breakfast of hotcakes.
“Good...that's really good.” She leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling very light and faint now that the panic factor was gone.
Chyou scoffed. “If you say so. Your blue man, I guess he must be some kind of modern hao han.”
“The bandits from kids books?” Luo asked.
“Well, that whole ‘steal from the rich, give to the poor’ motto certainly fits.” Jae said.
“Didn’t they work in groups?” Luo tried to remember the specifics of the stories. Chyou’s mom used to read them sometimes when she slept over, but that was years ago.
“He might have some friends hiding somewhere. Who knows, not like it takes more than one fit person to knock a snob on her ass.” Chyou spat. “He’s a hero in my book anyways. You better not try to return her gold and jewelry.”
Luo shook her head “I don’t think I could even if I wanted to, they might think I’m in on a scam with him or something.”
“Good.” Chyou said. “Stick around till lunchtime, you’re treating us to some tea.”
The Jasmine Dragon was even busier than the last time they’d visited, and they ended up waiting several minutes before the scarred server could come around and flip an empty table for them, which he did without saying a single word or even looking at them. He immediately left for the back as soon as they sat down at their freshly wiped table.
“Surprised you wanted to come back here, after you tore into that guy yesterday.” Jae said.
“Shh!” Chyou hissed, waving her hand across her neck in a slashing motion.
“What?” Luo asked.
“Oh yeah, she really gave him a hard time after he upset you.” Jae said.
“Why Chyou? That's so embarrassing!” Luo hated creating trouble and drawing attention to herself, and she felt like she was doing way too much of both lately.
“He was rude to you, and a bad server. I’ll tolerate a lot, you know that, I used to be a server and it sucks, but everything about that yesterday was completely uncalled for.” Chyou said defensively.
“The owner even offered our orders to be free.” Jae added. Luo groaned.
“Which I refused!” Chyou amended quickly. “The tea was great and I don’t mind paying for quality. I just needed to let that guy know he couldn’t just lay into a girl for no reason.” Luo didn’t get a chance to say anything else as they were approached by a short, portly man with a gray beard and hair. He introduced himself as Mushi.
“I’m glad to see you back, miss. Again I apologize for my nephew’s brashness. I hope that both of you can forgive us and enjoy some tea.” He said to Chyou. His demeanor was so calm and friendly, Luo found it hard to believe he was actually related to the boy who snapped at her yesterday.
“And I hope you are okay too?” He turned to her, looking concerned as he eyed her face. Earlier, Luo had finally got a look in a mirror while waiting for her friends to go on break. There was a long narrow bruise going from her temple to her cheekbone, and a second similar on her jawline, both on the left side of her face where she didn’t even have spots to obscure them, how lucky.
“Oh yeah. It’s fine, I’m fine.” She brushed her hair over the side of her face self consciously.
He nodded, although still looked concerned, and took their orders. When he left, Luo went back to glaring at her friend.
“I will not apologize.” Chyou said.
Luo rolled her eyes but dropped the subject. Instead, asking her friends about any job leads they’d heard of.
“I could ask Auntie Zhang to boot Toshiro out and make you the main dishwasher, he bails on his shifts often enough I’m sure she wouldn’t mind someone more reliable.” Jae offered.
“I don’t want to do that to Toshiro.” Luo said. Dishwashing didn’t pay much, it would only keep her afloat for so long before she would need to find something else, it just didn’t seem worth it to screw someone else over for.
“Mom said she didn’t know anybody looking for a maid. But she’ll let you know the second she does. Do you really need to start working again so soon, though?” Chyou asked, keeping her voice low.
“That money isn’t going to last forever.”
“Still, you could at least wait until all that's all healed up.” Chyou motioned to the side of her face.
“Going too long without a job just makes me feel anxious.” Luo replied.
“Excuse me young lady, I don’t mean to eavesdrop. But did I hear you were looking for work?” Mushi had reappeared with their drinks, much faster than she would expect with so many people in the shop, making her wonder if he’d booted their order to the front of the queue.
“Uh, yes I am.” Luo said.
“Well we’re looking for some extra help here if you’re interested.” Mushi said, placing the drinks on the table.
Luo blinked. “ Well, I usually clean houses.”
“Cleaning is what we need help with the most right now. We’ve gotten quite busy, and it’s been difficult to keep up with just me and my nephew here.”
“She’d love to!” Chyou answered for her, then turned to her friend. “It’s so close to The Overlook that Jae and I could come eat lunch with you! And since this place closes before dinner, you could easily keep taking dish shifts whenever they come up. It's perfect Lulu!”
Her friend's ecstaticism smothered Luo’s apprehension. It was a pretty good deal, all things considered.
“Uh, yeah, I can start...tomorrow?” She asked.
“We’ll see you tomorrow morning then! Thank you so much, we really do need the help.” He left them to enjoy their tea, walking back to the kitchens.
Luo smiled, the last bit of weight lifting off of her shoulders. Mushi seemed very nice, and the tea shop seemed like a decent place to work.
Then she caught sight of the scarred boy by the door to the kitchens, exchanging words with his uncle that she couldn’t hear. He looked heated, while his uncle looked happily unbothered. The boy looked in her direction, glaring before storming away into the kitchens.
“He’ll get over it.” Chyou interjected before Luo could say anything. “If you really want, I’ll make a cake you can bring tomorrow as a peace offering.”
“Couldn’t hurt.” Luo said.
“And I’ll make lunch!” Jae added cheerfully.
Luo Bin lowered herself into the bathtub. The water wasn’t quite warm enough to be comfortable, but she didn’t care enough to look for something to try to feed the flame and coax it big enough to heat her tiny crummy wood tub.
It had been just a bit too long since she’d actually soaked herself, rather than quickly washing with a soapy cloth and calling it good enough. But tomorrow she’d be leaving to get on the earliest possible train to the upper ring for this new job, she might as well try to make a decent impression.
The window to her bedroom was open, like most nights, in an attempt to create some airflow in the stifling heat of almost-summer. She passively looked out of it at the tiny sliver of sky she could see past the roof of the building opposite her apartment, watching for an interesting cloud, maybe.
There were no stars in the sky in Ba Sing Se, she’d never seen them, having lived in this city her whole life. The light from the many lanterns lining the streets drowned out their starlight, or so Chyou had told her. Luo had to admit she didn’t understand how that worked exactly, but then again Chyou was the smart one. She was also the pretty one, the capable and confident one. Luo thought, not for the first time, that her friend really deserved everything in life, even if she could get over bearing, it came from a place of love and concern, something Luo was starkly lacking at home.
Shouts from outside pulled her abruptly from thought. Luo grabbed a towel and half haphazardly wrapped her torso as she walked quickly to the window to peer outside.
She saw none other than the blue masked man, running along the roof opposite her building. Looking in the direction he came from, she saw two figures who must have been Dai Li chasing him.
“Hey!” Luo shouted, waving her arms to get his attention, then made the universal “come here” gesture.
In two agile leaps he was crashing into her bedroom. The shouts from the Dai Li got louder and closer. She grabbed the Blue Masked man by the front of his shirt and pulled him over to her closet doors, shoving him in so that his back was against the back of the closet. As long as the door was open he wasn’t visible from the window
An agent stepped in through her window but didn’t get more than one foot in her bedroom before Luo started screaming.
“Out! Get out of my room! You PERVERT!” Her towel had slipped a bit during the action, which added nicely to the act of a violated citizen she was putting on. She was using one hand to hold it to her body and the other hand was on the masked man's chest, pushing him further into the closet.
The Dai Li agent was startled. “I-I’m sorry ma’am! We’re chasing a criminal we thought-”
“GET OUT!” She moved so that she was mostly hidden from the agent behind her closet door, pressing in closer to the masked man as a result.
“Sorry! I’m Sorry I’ll just-.” The agent backed out of her window quickly, running off in the direction they’d originally chased him in.
Luo waited, her room suddenly extremely quiet, making sure the agent was gone. She wasn’t used to so much adrenaline in her body, it made her feel lightheaded and a little sick.
“That was really close. Huh?” She turned to look at the masked man, and came to the sudden realization that she was standing barely two inches from him, clutching a towel uselessly in front of her body in a way that covered nothing.
He was still pressed against the back of the closet, his head angled slightly upward and to the side, making it clear even with the mask on that he wasn't looking at her.
And she was still touching his chest.
She jerked her hand off of him and took a step back. She started to fumble out an apology, then stopped when she noticed he was very obviously erect.
Luo had always been certain that boys would be too grossed out by her skin to ever find her attractive, and experience had only proven that to be true. She only ever got hit on by gross older men who had such low standards that a bag of manure with a hole would probably satisfy them.
But standing here and looking at undeniable evidence that at least one man- this man held desire for her? The same man who had rescued her from the wrath of her employer and made sure that she got something back from the whole awful experience?
A strong, pleasurable feeling spread across her abdomen. Maybe it was the adrenaline still in her system, but she got an urge to do something she didn’t think she would ever do.
“Hey, um, I never got to thank you for everything.” She murmured, finally dropping the towel to the side and stepping closer once more, placing her hands on his chest.
He turned his head back towards her but didn’t respond. She dropped to her knees, trailing her hands down as she did until she reached where he was bulging out. She lightly stroked him through his pants, feeling his cock strain against the cloth.
His chest rose, taking a deep breath but making no sound at all. He seemed to lean into her touch.
“You know if you don’t want this you don’t have to. I mean, I wouldn't be insulted if you left...” She trailed off. He looked like he was enjoying it, but she thought she should make sure.
He didn’t respond. But he didn’t leave either.
Luo pressed around the shape of his erection again, and again he leaned into her, pressing against her palm. Seeing him want It sent a wave of excitement through her.
She reached up to the top of his pants and pulled them down until his cock sprang from the restraint. A shock of pale white skin stood out against his dark clothes, and seemed to glow in her dimly lit room. She carefully wrapped her hand around it, twisting her wrist she stroked up and down along the length. Luo had never seen one in real life until now, so she didn’t have anything to compare it to, but it certainly looked impressive to her.
“So, um, I’ve never done this before.” Luo said, continuing to play with him with one hand, rubbing his thigh with the other. “Sorry if I’m not that good.”
Bringing the tip to her lips she gave it a tentative lick, tasting slight bitterness on her tongue. Then she took the head into her mouth, sucking on it lightly and still stroking the base with her hand.
In the back of her mind she knew this is not a good thing to do. Good girls did not suck off criminals whose faces and names they didn’t know. Mom would have a lot to say about it if she knew, and Chyou would probably be disappointed in her recklessness, and disregard for her own health and safety.
But then he moaned low and raspy, sending another wave of intense excitement through her and she couldn't care less what they would think. Being a good girl never got her anything.
Luo bobbed her head on it, taking it a little further into her mouth with each movement while staying hyper aware of her gag reflex. It would probably kill the mood a bit if she started gagging.
He arched his body towards her as she kept at it, she could feel the heat and tightness of his muscles under her hand. His own hands were pressed against the wall as if he was afraid to touch her anymore than this.
The hinge of her jaw was starting to hurt from holding her mouth wide open, and there was spit running down her chin. She wished he would say something, any indication that she was doing this right and not just being a sloppy unsexy mess-
A low muffled groan sounded from behind the mask a second before she felt his cock pulse in her mouth. Cum hit the back of her throat before she was ready and she pulled off, coughing and choking while more cum shot out onto her neck and chest.
Luo couldn’t even react to her embarrassment at messing up and looking like such a mess because she was still coughing and sputtering. She turned away from him, searching for the towel she’d ditched earlier to quickly wipe herself off.
“Sorry about that-” She turned back to him only to see that he was already gone. Disappeared out the window in the few seconds she’d turned away. Only the stickiness on her skin and the taste in her mouth to indicate that it hadn’t all been some hyper realistic fantasy.
Luo got back into the now lukewarm water of her bath. Carefully scrubbing her skin to make sure no hint of her dirty escapade with a criminal stranger was left on her.
Tomorrow was her first day of work, and first impressions were important.