Chapter 1-The Encounter
Kelly’s POV
I am Kelly, a young dancer who loves to dance and is passionate about every moment on stage.
I didn't come from a wealthy family, and in order to make ends meet, I had to perform everywhere and make a living with my dancing.
In my mind, I was calculating how much money my next performance would bring in, as I had to pay for my grandmother's care.
Walking down a busy street, a limousine sped by, but I was too late to avoid it, and the vehicle slammed into me as it braked sharply.
Instantly, I felt my whole body lose balance and fell to the ground.
With a sharp pain in my body, I rubbed my forehead and struggled to get up.
I realized that my clothes were frayed and my knees were bleeding.
The limousine pulled up beside me, the door opened and a young man stepped out of the car.
I stood up with difficulty, and my eyes looked out to see another woman of great flavor on the passenger side.
"Are you blind?" He looked at me coldly, "How dare you walk without looking at the road."
I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, trying to stay calm, "I'm walking normally, you're the one driving dangerously."
The man took a look at my tone of voice, the corner of his mouth raised to reveal a sneer, "This little injury is nothing, see you have such a hard mouth, seeing as you're fine in this condition, I'll give you a hundred dollars, as compensation."
I was burning with anger, this man I knew, was a famous businessman, often having gossip appearing in magazines.
I knew I probably wouldn't get anywhere arguing with someone like this.
"Sir, I would like an apology from you." But I didn't hold back, I wanted his apology.
The man nonchalantly took a hundred dollars out of his wallet and handed it to me with a snappy look, "What an apology is, I never know. Stop pestering me or I can sue you for extortion."
In the end I didn't ask for his money, his attitude made me uncomfortable, like I was the kind of woman who would extort money.
I got up from the pain and wiped the blood from my forehead while packing my knocked over backpack.
Hurrying to the performance, the other dancers were already warming up when I arrived at the theater.
Backstage, I put on my carefully prepared performance costume.
As the music started and the stage lights came on, I walked onto the stage with the other dancers with a graceful stride. The pain from the tearing wound made my dance moves a little strange, but luckily it was all within my tolerance.
Gradually I immersed myself in the dance, forgetting the pain.
My dance was elegant and full of power, as if releasing a unique charm in the beating notes.
The audience was deeply attracted by my performance and enjoyed my dance with devotion.
To the accompaniment of the music, I moved my body and fully integrated myself into the art of dance.
The audience applauded as if they were applauding me for my resilience and bravery.
At the end of the performance, the audience gave me a standing ovation, filling the auditorium with passionate and powerful applause.
I felt the recognition and support of the audience, and the darkness in my heart dissipated.
Leaving the stage, I went backstage and changed out of my sweaty dance clothes.
Today's performance went well. Although the car accident made me go through an unpleasant experience, I chose not to be bothered by it, and I knew how to release my negative emotions and vent my inner dissatisfaction through dance.
This performance was not only a presentation to the audience, but also a demonstration of my own resilience and grace.
After the performance, the theater manager settled my paycheck for the day.
Suddenly two tall men in black T-shirts appeared backstage at the theater, they walked up to me, looked me up and down, and said in a tone of voice: "Excuse me, are you Mike's sister?"
They mentioned my brother and my first thought was that my brother was in trouble again, "Yes, I'm Mike's sister, may I ask what happened to my brother?"
I said as I contemplated how I was going to leave, I hadn't heard from Mike in a month and I wasn't sure of his condition myself.
"He's fine, except he owes us a hundred thousand dollars, he told us to come to you and said you'd pay it."
"How could I possibly get that kind of money."
That amount of money was astronomical to me, what the hell was Mike doing that he owed so much money?
"You guys are from the casino." I said with certainty.
The man in black didn't deny it, "Not bad for a sister who still knows her brother."
Didn't he promise me that he wouldn't go gambling anymore?
Seeing that I didn't say anything, the man in black gave another man in black a wink, "If you still don't pay up, then don't blame me for not being polite today."
After saying that, that person unceremoniously started to smash the backstage of the theater, this is the theater's stuff, I have to pay for it if it's smashed.
I rushed forward and pulled the hand of one of the men, hoping to stop them, "Please, don't smash it."
Unfortunately, I was thrown off and slammed into the wall.
My back was on fire, and blood was seeping back out of my knee, which had been injured in the afternoon.
"Don't smash it, I'll pay it back, please give me a few days, I'll get the money together as soon as I can, please believe me."
I begged them not to smash it, but it was as if they couldn't hear me.
Suddenly a man in a suit came in through the door and kicked away the men in black who were trying to pick me up and slam me against the wall again.
The men in black then attacked the man in the suit, and when they realized they couldn't beat him, they began to retreat to the door.
The theater manager heard the sound and rushed to me, he walked to me to make sure that I could still hold on, then he shouted to stop, "Please leave, this is a theater, not a place for you to be wild, if you keep this up I'm going to call the police."
Facing the theater manager's shout, they stopped their hand movements and said with a contemptuous smile, "You can call the police now."
"Manager, I'm sorry for causing trouble for the theater."
The theater manager had always taken good care of me, I couldn't drag the manager down.
I stood up and solemnly said to the man in black, "Please believe me, I will definitely pay you back."
Perhaps the men in black also didn't want to make a big deal out of it, after seeing my promise to pay back the money, they said, "Give you three days, if you don't pay back the money, you'll be waiting to collect your brother's corpse."
After saying that they turned around and left, and did not forget to kick over a chair before leaving.
I was a bit backed up, my heart was beating hard, and a strong sense of suffocation made me gasp for air.
The pain that had disappeared a moment ago re-invaded my nerves, causing my forehead to start sweating.
"Kelly, I'll take you to get the wound treated." The manager pointed to my knee.
I shook my head, "It's fine, I'll pay for the damage to the theater. You go back first, I'll clean up here."
Seeing my insistence, the theater manager didn't say anything else and waved his hand and left.
I went to the restroom to briefly clean up the blood on my body and as I left a man stopped in front of me.
"Hello Kelly, I'm Matthew, are they your debtors? If you want I can offer this money to help you pay off your debts if you agree to be my mistress."
Matthew spoke with a magnetic voice, his low voice reaching my ears making me drift off for a moment.
Was it him? The man in the suit from earlier.
I looked up at the man standing in front of me, leaning against the wall outside the restroom, dressed in an expensive handmade suit, wearing a valuable watch, and handing me a hot gold business card clutched in his long fingers.
The oppressive feeling emanating from him made me feel nervous again, and my eyes lowered as I took the card with both hands.
On it was only Matthew and a set of phone numbers, nothing else.
This name I had heard from my colleagues in the theater, low-key and mysterious rich man, the old man who supposedly was, I didn't expect it to be a handsome man.
"Thank you Mr. Matthew for your kind words, but I think I might not be able to use it for a while." I put the business card in my pocket.
Matthew smiled and didn't say anything else.
But I couldn't read the smile that came from under his eyes, "What are you smiling about?"
"You can contact me anytime." Matthew shrugged and didn't answer my question.