He was back. Dominic was back to the place he'd run from swearing never to return to. Except this time, things were worse.

Dominic no longer had the relative safety of the hotel, the manager refusing to let him back there after Dominic had disapeared without warning two months prior. That meant the work, now, was not only degrading and risky, it was down right dangerous, his clientele more brutal and disgusting than the former glut of people who had bought him for a few short hours here or there - it was back to less than square one, tossing tricks in a side alley and running from the police who showed up to disperse the evening crowds, only to find another alleyway and start again.

If it wasn't Hell, it was close.

Having woken up one morning alone, Zoey got up and searched around for Dominic and not finding him anywhere. She decided to go back to Japan. Go back to her old life.
Remembering The Red Light District, Zoey decided to walk around, reminicing. She never felt so alone in all her life. All the people she knew probably weren't here anymore. She looked around and noticed someone familiar, Dominic. Angry, she clenched her fists and walked up to him. "What a shame." She said to him shaking her head.

Dominic's eyes grew wide. The last person he wanted to see here was staring him in the face.

"...Zoey..." Swallowing hard, nervous, he moved back away, trying to do his shirt up while his eyes were locked on hers. She was mad, understandably so, but in his mind, him leaving had been for the better - she didn't need him around, fucking up again and again.

Already bruised from the labors of the street, the fear he'd had when he'd been new to the trade was strong, and it was with fear that he looked at her now.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

She noticed how scared he was. "I should be asking you the same thing." She stepped closer, "I was lonely, thought I'd come back and start again. I like this place a lot even with all the shit that has happened. But... why? why did you come back here? You look horrible." She frowned, her hands still fists.

Unsure, and eyes flicking side to side, looking for a way out of the narrow backstreet, Dominic muttered "I left you a note." It didn't answer her question, and the note had been all of "I love you; I have to go - goodbye.", but he simply didn't want to admit what he was doing.

Avoiding her. Avoiding the fucked up reality which he'd bring her. Running away. Selling himself at practically any price, whether to survive or to lose himself, he didn't even know anymore.

Abandoning her.

Zoey grabbed his arm aggressively, "A stupid note! How could you do this? Why are you back here? Back to this..to this dump. Back to the people that treated you like shit! You know you don't have to do this anymore..' She shook him roughly, "Why are you doing this?!"

Flinching, already bruised enough, he pulled out of her grip. "Leave me the hell alone! It's none of your business!"

"Like hell it isn't! Dominic, what happened?" She said a tear running down her cheek. She tried so hard before to get him out of here and he did. "Just tell me!" She yelled more tears cascading down her cheeks.

Pulling out of her grip and stepping back, Dominic was at wits end - and so he yelled back. "What happened was I left!!"

She shook her head, her hands in her hair. She didn't like this one bit. Stepping forward and quickly, Zoey pushed Dominic against the wall and kissed him passionately and aggressively, missing the feeling of him against her. There was many things she wanted to say to him but none as important as him being there. "Don't leave me." She said in a soft tone the hurt clearly showing in her voice.

Dominic stood there, pressed against the wall, all the fight gone out of him. It was so incredibly tempting, to surrender his guilt and insecurities and just breathe in that embrace. It screamed of safety, of home - of being as close to Heaven as he would ever get.

But he couldn't.

"How can you possibly accept this? Accept me? I'm... nothing. You could have anything you wanted, anyone who you could dream of. I won't let you choose this. I tried, and I failed. Leave it as a lover's fantasy, and make your way back to a world in which people are worth something."

She glared at him and slapped him across the face then kneed him in his stomach, "How could you say that?! I know what and who you are. I choose who and want I want. If you didn't want me, you could have just said so. We could have talked but you ran away like a little bitch with your tail between your legs. Now, that's worse. You couldn't be a man about this? After all you been through and done, you couldn't atleast stand up to me?" She clenched her fists glaring at him. She didn't know what it would take to make him see clearly.

Dominic was apparently more injured than he looked - either the slap to the face had re-opened a wound in his mouth, or the knee to the stomach had aggravated internal bleeding - because blood began to cascade from his lips, even as he doubled over, falling against the wall, his shirt riding up and showing extensive bruising across his torso.

But he didn't reply, because she had hit him.

It was apparent from the look in his eyes, that a line had been crossed, and the last ounce of trust he'd held on to was either gone or going. The look in his eyes was no longer the skittish wariness of the possibilities presented by his surroundings, it was terror.

Dominic was terrified of her.

Perhaps the hurt caused by words had been bad, but the tranformation into physical violence rendered him entirely victimized - he simply did not know how to stand up to her; he couldn't fight back, he couldn't run - instead, he stood, his weight resting against the wall being the only thing keeping him on his feet, bleeding and trembling, looking down.

The worst part was that she was wrong.

Zoey looked at him and was in complete shock. She felt horrible. Here was Dominic, looking like hell, probably feeling like it too. How could she be so crude? She took a few steps back and hanged her head in shame.
"I'm..I'm so sorry." She looked at him, frowning. She wanted to help him, he looked so helpless. But she wouldn't help him, she has already tried that.

The bloodflow stemmed, and he risked a look up, arms crossing defensively over his chest of their own accord. All the bravado, all the confidence, all the trust - all of it was gone. And yet the truth remained.

"...It wasn't..." Dominic looked down, unable to say the rest.