Project: Socialize

So the information I got from Irina is that her father is apparently her agent, which is the middle-aged man I had saw her walking with earlier. In addition, ever since she gained popularity and they've paid off the debt they had incurred, he became quite materialistic and blinded by wealth. That led to his neglect of his daughter and her depressed mental state. That's what money does to people. Without any checks in one's greed, money can be the greatest demon of this world.

I quickly formulated a plan in my head, knowing that I did not have much time. I need this plan to have an effect in the shortest amount of time possible, meaning that I am in a desperate situation. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I decided that it would be best if I ask Irina for her cooperation in my plan. Although she was quite hesitant at first, but luckily, she decided to trust me. She provided me with all the resources I needed, and all that is left for me to do is start the whole process.

I looked around the empty gym and decided that this will be the location where the plan will take place. Therefore, I found myself a foldable chair that was stacked behind the elevated stage and placed it in the dead center of the empty gym building. Next, I found myself some ropes from the storage area and tied Irina up in the chair. Next, I needed to contact her father and have him come here alone, which is what I did.

"Yeah?" a man's voice responded after I called him with Irina's phone so that he would know later on that this isn't a prank call.

"I have your daughter here," I said into the phone with an intentionally altered voice. "If you dare call the police, I will kill her right now."

"Irina? What is this some kind of joke?" The man seemed to not be convinced. "Have Irina pick up the phone."

I looked at Irina in her eyes, nodded as I brought the device to her face. She seemed to understand what I needed from her by the way she looked back at me.

"D-dad?" she said with a tremble in her voice and a light sob. "Help me." As she finished, she began weeping. I gotta say, I'm impressed by how well her acting is.

"Irina?" I could hear the man's voice say from the phone. "What's going on?"

"H-he's a stalker," she continued speaking in a weeping tone. "He got me tied up—"

"I think that's enough talk between the two of you," I interrupted their conversation by bringing the phone away from Irina and to my ear. "We're in the gym at the moment. Come here alone. If you dare let anyone else know, I'll **** her, post the video online, and kill her."

"Y-you bastard." His voice finally started sounding quite frantic. "If you dare lay a hand on my daughter, I'll make sure you die. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO HER. I'm on my way."

"Where did you learn to do that?" Irina asked me as we waited. "Changing your voice and speaking so confidently."

"You have to learn?" I asked as I slipped on a face mask that covered the top half of my face in order to conceal my identity and make myself more intimidating. Then, I checked the prop knife and made sure that it appeared as real as possible.

My entire plan revolves around her father's love for her like I said earlier. Hopefully, it's to the point that I wouldn't have to truly do physical damage to Irina because that might be difficult with this prop knife. Actually, he might not want her have scars on her body for the sake of her career and money... Hmm... that route won't work then. I need to have something even more devastating to a father and not an agent.

"Most people have to take professional lessons to act," Irina said to me.

"Did you?"

"No," she responded.

"Neither have I." I then calculated the time that has passed since I've hung up the phone and determined that her father will probably arrive in the next minute. "Get ready," I walked behind Irina, leaned closer to her ear, and whispered to her as I placed a clean handkerchief in her mouth to use as a gag.

Irina simply nodded to my words and started preparing herself for her role. It wasn't too long before her eyes started tearing up and became bloodshot once again. In addition to that, her facial expression appeared to be one of a genuine fear as well.

"Irina!"

The gym door opened with ferocity and the middle-aged man that I saw earlier stood there by the entrance with the setting sun shining behind him, making it so that it was his silhouette that I saw.

"Mr. Solis," I calmly said in an altered voice and made sure to brandish the knife. "Mind closing the door? You didn't bring anyone with you or let anyone else know right? Because then—" I leaned forward so that my left hand was gently on Irina's lower chin and lifted it slightly in order to show her neck and the knife up against it to her father. "—things will get messy."

"Fine! Fine!" He said with his hands out before him and slowly backed off until he was at the door. Then, he closed the gym door, cutting off the sun's rays and leaving the gym to be illuminated by the few rays of sun that managed to pass in through the windows up near the high ceiling.

"What is it that you want?" Mr. Solis then asked. "Money? How much do you want?"

"I think you got the wrong idea, Mr. Solis." I brought my face closer to Irina's while maintaining eye contact with her father. In the meantime, although I couldn't see her face, I was certain that Irina was acting her part of the victim perfectly. "I want your daughter." As I finished with my sentence, I gently licked the side of her face for effect.

"Stop," Mr. Solis reached out his hand in panic and took a step forward towards me. However, he knew that I had the initiative in this situation and refrained himself from getting any closer. "Anything other than that. Just give me a number. I promise I can get you that money."

"Yeah," I sighed as I stood up to my full height while still having my left hand on Irina's shoulder, close to her neck in order to remind him that her life was in my hands. "Money, money, money. You know once you get her back you can just use her to earn more of it. She's just a money-growing tree to you."

"No," he insisted.

I could see from the beads of sweat that has been constantly forming on his face that he was under severe stress. All I have to do is push him even more and make him go over the edge with that high amount of stress. Notice it, old man. Can't you see in the eyes of your daughter that what she hoped for isn't for you to save her? She want's her father back. Even for me, I can no longer tell if the tears in her melancholic eyes were from acting or from her desire to see that father that loved her once again.

"She's..." he paused as he began thinking.

Good. That is what I need from you. Think about this question: What is Irina to me?, and suffer from it. You need to think and suffer in order to remember who you truly are yourself.

"A tool, isn't it?" I then continued in a mocking and provoking voice towards him. "From the information I got, weren't you gonna sell your daughter to some director for a role in an upcoming movie? Come to think of it, she's a prostitute, a slut. A dirty-ass girl that probably slept her way to her current position. You must be a nice pimp if you can get so many dirty old men to stick their dicks inside her."

"No..." Mr. Solis muttered to himself.

I could see from his pale and gloomy face of terror that I was getting closer and closer. Come on... a little more. Please... remember who you are and who she is. She's your daughter god damn it. Remember your love for her.

"How bout you let me take care of it for you?" I brought my left arm over her and knelt down beside her, speaking with a lunatic smile and voice that it made me disgusted with myself. "I know people that are willing to pay top money to shove it in her ass. You don't know how dirty and perverted these old f*ckers are. They got like the weirdest fetishes. I heard of one guy who bought a girl and shoved knifes into her from down there. Weird and disgusting, I know, but he pays a ton. Probably more than she makes in two years. Don't worry about any structural damage. Just go to the doctors and patch it up. Even when it's damaged like that, there's still plenty of people willing to do a celebrity, you know. We'll just have her go on and on and on, serve up all the men. Even when she's battered and old, we can squeeze a few Vil out of those homeless men that hasn't touched a girl in ages. That way, we'll make tons of money."

"No..." Mr. Solis muttered once again. His whole body was trembling now.

Come on... come on... Just say it.

"What does it matter to you?" I then added. "It's not like you never had the same idea. Just admit it. She's nothing more than a b*tch that you make money with."

"..." Mr. Solis remained silent as he stood there with his head down and body trembling.

I quickly glanced at Irina, who had real tears in her eyes. It was probably from the devastating effect of her realization that even after all that I had said, her father was still unwilling to act or even say anything to refute it. All she had wanted was for him to say something and do something. Like show some emotion of anger... But in the end, he didn't. That's what made her weep real and genuine tears. In her eyes, past all the tears, I could see a look of despair. It was a lifeless gaze, like someone who's given up on life and ready to end it all. I used to have this exact same look in my eyes myself so I know exactly what it looks like.

I'm sorry, Irina.

I walked over behind her and slowly reaching down towards the rope that I had used to restrain her in this chair. I had given up myself, and on my face was also a look of defeat. I didn't expect him to be such a coward on his end... I thought he would've put up more resistance than this...

Surely there will be a way to help her after this all... But not right now. I can't think of anything else. Looks like I will have to endure the punishment.

Just as I knelt down to untie Irina, the sudden voice of her father surprised me and caused me to quickly turn in his direction. It also appeared to have surprised Irina as well since she opened her weeping eyes and looked in the direction of her father.

"She's my daughter," he whispered in a low voice that I could barely pick up.

Looks like you still got it in you.

I concealed a smile as I gave up untying her and erected to my full height.

"What is that?" I continued my act and spoke to him in a provoking and mocking tone while bringing a hand up to my ear.

"I said she's my daughter!" he said, looking up at me. This time, although his eyes contained tears, his gaze was determined and unwavering. "Take all that back. She's a pure and innocent girl that's never done any of those things!"

I quickly glanced over at Irina to check her reaction, and she appeared emotionless after being surprised.

"She's been that way since she's a young child," the man continued. "Yes, I might've been blinded by the money and thought of having her sacrifice that innocence of hers, but I realized that it's wrong now. Please," he looked up at me in the look that only a father that's been pitted in a desperate situation could and begged. "Please give me back my daughter."

"You think it'll be that easy?" I asked in order to verify once again whether that look was genuine or not. However, I was stopped by a gentle nudge of Irina's elbow since I did not tie her tightly to the chair.

I looked into her eyes, and those pure and innocent eyes of hers seemed to ask me to remove the handkerchief from her mouth to allow her to speak. I did as I was told and removed the cloth.

"That's enough, Alevian," she said to me. Her voice was wavering somewhat, but it appeared to be from joy.

As I went to untie her from the chair, Mr. Solis stared at us in a surprised and confused expression. Everything that had occurred before him must've progressed way to quickly for him, and combine that with the intensity of his emotion from earlier, I can understand why he appeared dazed.