Chapter 326: Zero Interest

It was nice getting back to his office. Yohan hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it until he arrived.

His first customer came in a few hours later. She was a middle-aged woman who looked far more stressed than her age suggested.

Mia was attending to another customer while Remi manned the front desk, so Yohan decided to give her the premium Yohan experience.

’Without the sex, of course...’ He swallowed a lump in his throat, guilt flickering across his face. ’Today I’m going to be professional’

So far, he’d slept with almost every customer he’d attended to. The few who escaped were either too old or simply not attractive enough.

Even with the stress lines on her face, the woman was still beautiful, and she had an incredible figure, though Yohan only noticed after she removed her coat.

"Just focus on my shoulders," she said bluntly with an exhausted sigh.

She didn’t bother taking off the rest of her clothes before sitting on the massage table.

"Okay..." he replied as he stepped behind her.

Yohan pressed his thumbs into the base of her neck, and she let out a low groan that sounded nothing like the ones he usually heard from clients.

"Sorry," she muttered. "It’s been a long month."

"You don’t have to apologize for that."

He worked slow circles into the knot just beneath her shoulder blade. It was solid, like she’d been carrying something heavy on that side for weeks.

"This one’s bad."

"Everything’s bad right now."

He didn’t push. That was the thing about being a professional. Half of it was knowing when someone wanted to talk and when they just wanted quiet hands and thirty minutes where nobody needed anything from them.

She had the second kind of tension, the kind that came from being needed by too many people at once.

"You come here often?" he asked, mostly to fill the silence, not because he expected an answer.

"First time." She exhaled as he found another knot. "My sister came here last week. She told me the girls working here are nice..."

Yohan smiled to himself as he worked lower toward her spine.

"That’s good to hear."

The woman’s shoulders dropped another inch beneath his hands. Real progress.

"There," he said quietly. "That’s better, isn’t it?"

She didn’t answer immediately. When she finally spoke, her voice had softened, some of the exhaustion sanded off its edges.

"Yeah... it is."

He continued working for a while.

"Could I ask you a question?" she asked.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Why would a young man like yourself get into this kind of work? Are you some kind of pervert who just likes touching women?"

"Pervert?" Yohan let out a dry, awkward chuckle. "Of course not. My parents actually used to own this place, so I just picked up where they left off."

He smiled proudly.

"I’m very professional and have zero interest in my clients’ bodies."

"Hm? That’s a shame," she sighed softly.

"W-Wait... what?" he stammered.

"It’s fine. I shouldn’t be getting any funny ideas..."

"Funny ideas? I like funny ideas... You can tell me," Yohan said, trying his best not to sound desperate.

"I need some special services..." She gently guided his hand against her shoulder. "I can pay you, if you want."

This was it—the kind of offer many men would dream about.

But this didn’t feel right.

He’d already promised himself he’d be professional from now on. Throwing it all away over a single woman suddenly didn’t seem worth it.

’Maybe I can get her contact after and set a different kind of appointment’, he thought, there was no need to rush after all.

"Good for you," she said. "I was thinking of adding a sexual harassment charge to unlicensed practice of a health profession."

She turned to face the confused expression on his face.

"My name is Jennifer Davis. I’m an inspector sent by the city council."

She rose to her feet with effortless confidence and held out her ID.

Yohan was still processing everything she’d said, so it took him a few seconds before he looked at it.

She really was an inspector sent by the city council.

"So what?" His composure returned as he began thinking of ways to salvage the situation. "You’re going to shut me down?"

"I could do that." She shrugged. "Or maybe hand you over to the police."

That was when Yohan finally understood how serious this was.

"Remi and Mia have nothing to do with this," he said through gritted teeth.

"If they don’t have licenses, then they’re in the same situation."

Her voice carried a hint of amusement as she walked slowly across the room.

"I could even say you people were running a criminal organization. Slap you and your girls with a few years in prison..."

"That’s not true," he said firmly.

"It is if I can prove it." She shot him a sharp glance. "It wouldn’t be difficult. I’d simply tell the judge how dangerous it is for people to trust their bodies to someone the city knows nothing about. As a witness myself, I was terrified, and—"

"I get it," Yohan interrupted. "What do you want?"

By this point it was obvious she had come here for a reason, and it wasn’t for a massage.

Otherwise, how could she have known he was practicing without a license?

’No... I should’ve thought about this sooner. I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal’

His fists clenched as he realized he’d once again put Remi and Mia in danger.

"First, I’d advise you to put your little criminal enterprise on hold. Then I expect to see you at City Hall first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe we can work something out."

"What do you mean by that? Do you want me to bring money?"

"Please." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "I’m not that cheap. You couldn’t afford to bribe me."

"How much do you want?" he asked without hesitation.

She scoffed, convinced he was bluffing.

"Fifty thousand."

"Okay," Yohan replied immediately.

Her eyebrows lifted.

"You’re serious?"