The elevator doors slid shut with a soft "ding," as the metal panels closed in a smooth, and gliding motion.
Yuuta leaned against the cool walls of the elevator, his eyes flicking briefly to the woman standing across from him.
She still hadn't spoken since he'd slapped her twice, and while her outward calm remained, there was a visible tension in the air between them.
Yuuta tilted his head back slightly, eyes scanning the overhead display. He was in no rush.
They had reached the end of the game on the lower floors and now, he needed to play his hand with a little more finesse.
The elevator descended in its electric motion in absolute silence, with the soft hum of machinery the only sound between them. Finally, when the floor indicator beeped at the sixth level and abruptly stopped, Yuuta pushed off from the wall and stepped forward.
Clap! Clap!
He blinked twice, before he clapped his hands in front of the spaced out woman, who had not realized that they had arrived, with the space between their faces being less than a pinky finger wide.
"Wakey, wakey, were already here"
Yuuta felt the warm breaths of the woman on his face, as he tilted his faced curiously.
In response to his sudden movement, her body stiffened the moment Yuuta stepped too close, and without thinking, her hand shot up to create distance between them.
Her breath hitched, the memory of being slapped rushing back, making her feel exposed and himilated. Never in her life has she been slapped, not even by her father. She couldn't understand why she was subjected to his torment.
Her eyes wide with a mix of caution and fear. She quickly backed away, pressing herself against the elevator wall as she tried to steady her racing heart, before she proficiently, attempted to slowly return to her proficient, and cold demeanour. As expected of a merchant.
The elevator had already opened, as she slightly bowed in respect.
"I-if you may respected sir, please follow me."
The woman was about to turn her back to him, before she felt a small, cold hand slowly caressing the back of her nape.
'Why are his hands be so cold?'
She quickly shook her heads from these thoughts as she went back to the current situation. In a fluster, she looked back to the boy, only to find him he had switched from her nape to her cheeks.
"N-no! I can't have these kind of thoughts!" Her heartbeat that had started to slow down, quickly sped up once again.
The boy, with a gentle smile traced down his index finger from her nape to the part behind her earlobe. He then proceeded with moving it towards her cheek and slowly made a few circles.
The woman blushed slightly as she attempted to stop his movements. Despite being a corporate giant, she had maintained her virginity until now, believing that she did not have time for such ridiculous matter such as romance and marriage. As such, although she occasionally masturbated to relieve herself from stress, she had never had sex before nor had any excessive interactions with the opposite gender.
"S-sir?" She mumbled almost in an incomprehensible voice. Despite her attempting to stop Yuuta from continuing on as she knew it would be dangerous, she could help but felt a tinge of anticipation even though she knew it would be wrong, especially with a 14 year old boy, no matter whether he was a drug dealer, arms dealer, capitalist or not.
Yuuta switched his index finger to his thumb as he caressed his lower lip that had become moist.
However suddenly, he took his finger off.
"Can you lead the way, please?" He gave her a light smile.
Maria revered in disappointment for a moment, which did not leave Yuuta's eyes before she upheld her demeanour once more before she spoke.
"Yes, if you may follow me sir"
The woman's thoughts however were anything but calm, as a faint red color was still present on her neck.
'Why is smile so dazzling? Could it be he actually likes me?'
The woman who had seemingly forgot that the boy had slapped her for no reason, gasped inwardly and the realization, before she remembered those CEO romance stories she occasionally read on 'web-rovel'.
'No way, is that why he slapped me? To make me think that he actually hates me when it was love at first sight? No wonder he slapped me when he first saw me for no reason....'
'That has to be it! B-but, my heart isn't prepared!' She stole a glance at Yuuta who was slowly treading behind her nonchantedly, looking around him in interest.
'Now that I look at him, doesn't he look kind of handsome?' The woman started falling deeper in the spiral of her emotions, before Yuuta noticed her gaze and smiled.
In fact, he may look a bit cute, but Yuuta's looks were quite average.
"Is there something on my face?" He asked dismissivly.
The woman's heart beat furiously against her rib cage, as here breaths became more shallow over time.
'Is this what people call love? B-but I know its wrong, even more with a mere bo-'
She took one more look at the boy before she suffered from a nosebleed.
What the boy did was using two simple concepts, trauma bonding which was first suggested by Donald Dutton, and interminttent reinforcement.
If a man was to constantly beat his woman all day long, and then at the end of the day, he was to walk up to her, apologize, and display kindness to her, then the next day he was to inflict abuse once more and then go back apologize, reaffirm his love to her, etc, and contine that loop forever, what would be the woman's reactions?
Would she hate and loathe him for lying again and again? Perhaps call the cops for his abusive behavior?
Well, I will disappoint you.
The woman will experience what you call OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. It is a disorder where an individual forms a borderline obssesion with something.
So she would form something like stockholm syndrome, where a victim creates a bond with their captor. Now even more, it would be that the victim not only forms a bond with the captor, but when the captor for instance beats them, then comes at the end of the day and-
-apologizes,
The victim would come to forget all the abuse they suffered from, rescripting it as doing something for their own good, and then they would merely remember the good things the captor did which was apologizing.
They would form hundreds of ideas to how much the captor cares for them, why he said this, what he meant with it, etc, etc.
See where I am coming from?
Anyways. Ahem.
Yuuta coughed lightly, which made Maria come back to her senses, as she adjusted the bridge of her glasses using her middle finger and nodded.
The doors slid open, revealing a sleek, modern corridor lined with muted light and minimalist art. The scent of expensive wood and polished stone filled the air. It was almost too clean, too perfect. Yuuta's lips twitched upward as he stepped into the hall.
The woman, visibly stiff, made a small move as if to speak, but then hesitated, her lips pressing into a tight line. Yuuta could practically hear the internal debate happening in her mind.
"Any thoughts?" Yuuta asked casually, his voice soft and unbothered as if he had nothing else to do but indulge in her potential discomfort.
She didn't answer immediately, and Yuuta wasn't surprised. Silence had been her only weapon for most of their encounter so far.
"Just take the stairs," she muttered finally, her voice low but controlled.
Yuuta shot her a quick glance before smirking. "The stairs it is."