Chapter 19: What Are You Looking At?
Arianna froze when she heard his name. The woman continued, “The man is hiding from me. Find him immediately and tell him I’m waiting here for him. Room 225. I won’t leave if he doesn’t show up.”
Arianna didn’t know how she got to the terrace. Her mind was not registering her surroundings. Nevertheless, she knew that the woman could easily speak about someone with the same name.
It was impossible for this to happen. But she couldn’t manage to slow down her heart rate.
After dialing her home phone number halfway, she canceled the call. She did not feel like she was fit to see people at the moment. She went back inside and poured herself a glass of ice water from the complimentary refreshment table in the lobby.
She drank it slowly. The more normal she seemed when she got home, the fewer questions would be asked.
Her second glass went down faster, and she felt a little better. But she now had a dilemma. Should she go home and continue to hide away from all her miseries or wait here to see if Travis would show up and answer her questions?
Perhaps leaving was the best choice, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull out her cell phone again.
****
He arrived only fifteen minutes after Arianna decided to stay. Travis Cooper was still the neat and tidy man in her memory. He walked forward quickly, not noticing Arianna at all.
Arianna quickly found out that theory and practice were two different things. She knew what she should do to handle it better, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
A waiter working at the party noticed the miserable look on Arianna’s face and headed over to her. She asked, “Are you okay, miss? Is there anything I can do for you?”
She shook her head, “Thank you, I’ll be fine in a moment.”
Some relief washed over her. Though she was young and naïve, Travis gave her his real name.
Arianna sat down at the table behind the refreshments. After several moments, she called her home phone number but found that the line was busy. She couldn’t wait any longer.
Without being fully aware of what she was doing, Arianna began heading upstairs like a wandering spirit. Some unknown force drove her to the doorway of Room 225.
Her heart was beating fast, feeling like daggers stabbing her chest from the inside.
The soundproofing in the walls was not very good. On her way down the second-floor hall, she could hear many different conversations from inside the hotel rooms.
When Arianna got to the door, she didn’t have to try very hard to hear what they were saying. The woman’s voice was still melodious, though she sounded clearly upset, “I know you’re a hotshot now. You can ignore me all you want.”
There was no response, or perhaps he was speaking with a very low voice.
She continued, “You need to go back to school and finish your studies.”
Still no sound.
“You know, I’d rather ruin everything myself. I don’t want you to be involved in this.”
She sighed loudly before adding, “Travis, everything I do is for you. I don’t have any family members left. I can’t afford to lose you… I’ve put all my hopes on you. I need you to be serious with your future and don’t let me down.”
Her tone was getting lower and lower, from the initial firecracker-like yells to sounding as gentle as a stream of flowing water. But the voice of the man was still absent. Arianna almost forgot the situation and began to sympathize with the woman.
Suddenly, the woman raised her voice again, “Okay, fine! If I ever start caring about your business again, I’ll be damned!”
Travis Cooper’s voice suddenly flooded the room with deep bass, “Since we met, I’ve heard you say this at least one hundred times.”
Arianna knew it wasn’t right to eavesdrop, so she was about to leave. But after hearing his voice, her feet were nailed to the floor.
However, the door suddenly opened. Travis was walking out with the same empty expression, and nothing changed on his face when he saw Arianna.
A glass of red wine exploded below his feet. The shards of glass and wine covered his shoes and hit Arianna’s hand. She winced in pain.
The woman in the room said hoarsely, “If you walk away like this, you are walking out of my life forever!”
Travis finally turned his head and said calmly, “You’ve said this one hundred times, too.”
The woman threw another glass at him, but Travis instinctively ducked. The glass struck Arianna right in the chest with force so large that it pushed her back a step.
When she heard Arianna’s cry, the woman headed out the door as well. But at that moment, Arianna was staring into Travis Cooper’s eyes. His eyes did not evade, and he let her calmly watch him.
Travis didn’t say anything, and he still carried no expression.
The woman came up to Arianna and asked with great concern, “Did I just hit you? Are you hurt?” Her tone was very mild, the polar opposite of how she spoke to Travis just now.
She looked from Arianna then to Travis and asked, “Do you know this woman?”
He was silent for two seconds and replied, “An acquaintance.”
“So you know each other?” She asked flatly.
Travis chuckled, “I feel I am acquainted with those who seem normal.”
Arianna’s feet suddenly regained the ability to move. She said, “I’m sorry. I was just passing by.” She got to her feet and was about to turn and leave.
The woman grabbed Arianna’s arm and said, “Hey, didn’t I see you down in the lobby?”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
She squeezed Arianna’s arm tightly, causing her a little pain. She tried to shake off her grasp but failed. Arianna said to her, “Please let me go.”
Travis looked around like he was an outsider. He, too, was about to leave when the woman grabbed his sleeve with her other arm. She yelled sarcastically, “Don’t go. This little girl seems to have something to say to you.”
He turned back lazily and gave the woman a sly look. She spoke back preemptively, “What are you looking at? Am I intruding on your business again? You know I like to be a bitch.”
The woman finally rolled her eyes and let them both go before entering the room and slamming the door behind her. She quickly reappeared with a coat draped over her left arm and an opened bottle of wine held in her right hand.
She stormed off between the two of them and disappeared down the hall.