Twenty minutes later, Bella was standing outside her hotel. She had just gotten out of the cab she and Jake had hailed.
"Great! Now you know where I'm staying." Bella teased.
"Would it even things out some if I told you where I was staying too?" He countered.
Bella shook her head. "You wouldn't get in, anyway. It's an all-female floor."
Jake laughed. "Relax, woman. I am not entering those doors just to stalk you, okay?"
"Okay, okay." Bella stuck her tongue out. "Well,", she continued, "I can't wait to shower and rest."
"My charms wore you out, huh?"
Bella looked at him. "Your charms and your wit."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ice Princess is showing signs of melting. Forewarned is Forearmed."
She swatted his arm. "Then just learn to swim in the icy waters, silly!"
"I'll take that under advisement, Princess Bella."
"Good night, Jake Park."
"Good night, Bella."
"Torres."
"Huh?"
"My family name. It's Torres."
Jake nodded and went in for the hug. Bella did not back away. His hug was warm. "Good night, Bella Torres."
"Thanks for dinner. I had a really great time." She told him sincerely, rubbing his back.
He pulled away. "I did, too. Sleep well, Bella."
She gave him a curt nod and walked into the lobby. There didn't seem to be anyone at the front desk. Walking towards the elevator, Bella pulled out her keycard and used it to power up the elevator. Punching in her floor number, she stepped out onto the third floor. Opening the glass door with her keycard, she made her way to her room and scanned her keycard.
Removing her sling bag, she hung it in the closet with her turtlenecks.
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Crossing into the middle of the room in three steps, Bella picked up her wicker basket, her towel and her sleeping clothes. She had brought with her a set of purple cotton jammies. She threw them over her shoulder and made her way to the bathroom on the sixth floor.
Entering the elevator again, she punched in the number six for the sixth floor. Once the elevator dinged, Bella stepped out onto the floor and was met once again with a glass door that had the number of the floor, in this case it was six. Using her keycard, Bella opened the door and saw the bathroom door directly in front of her. Yet again, she tapped her keycard and the door opened.
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Bella found herself in front of a row of four cubicles. She soon learned these were the toilets. In front of each cubicle was a walkway and then one sink in front of each cubicle. Beside the last set of cubicles was a hollowed-out space fitted with mirrors and four individual stools. For each stool, one hair dryer was allocated. There were also some toiletries and cotton buds in a wicker basket to the far end of the mirror. This clearly was the vanity. A little further inside, Bella found a row of lockers. She chose one, placing her jammies inside.
She then stepped into the shower cubicle, which was just a few steps away. She turned the water on after stripping off her jeans and turtleneck. The water felt so good on her tired body. That morning, when she woke up at 3:00 am, she was still in Cebu. Tonight, she would be sleeping in Taipei. She let that sink in while she stayed under the rush of water.
Despite all the challenges she had gone through, she was her own woman at the tender age of 24. She entered her company as a management trainee, fresh out of college at twenty-one. To unwind from the pressures of her training, Bella would often log into an online game. She had always been a gamer, ever since she got her hands on a PlayStation gifted by her mother.
"Mom." She called silently. "I wonder if you'd approve of the things I'm doing."
Bella's mom had passed away just a few days after the good news of her job acceptance. Unbeknownst to Bella, her mother had been silently fighting a battle with breast cancer. Bella knew nothing of it, wondering sometimes why her mother would stand in her doorway and tell her that she just wanted to watch her daughter doing her everyday routines. And then one day, she was gone and Bella understood. For a week, Bella remained curled up in her bed. If not for her scheduled trip for training, she wondered if she would ever get out of that slump. Bella had to dust herself off and put on a brave face. It was her mother who urged her to apply for this job and she was going to give it the best she got, if only to honor her mother's memory.
It was during some of these tougher days that Bella had turned to online gaming to release stress. There, she took on the role of a mage attached to the hip of one of the top ranked hunters in their server. Eventually, they took this partnership into the real world. It ended after three years with him ghosting her.
Bella shook her head. "You're stronger than this.", she chastised herself. She told herself that she was no longer defined by him. Though she had taken on a supporting role in the gaming world, she would be a strong lead character in her own life.
Turning the water off, she took the loofah and shower gel. Mixing them together, she worked the gel into a lather and scrubbed the day's dust off her. Reaching for the bottle of shampoo, she worked that into a lather as well. Feeling sufficiently clean, Bella turned the water back on and rinsed herself off completely.
Taking the towel, she wiped herself dry and wrapped the towel around her body. She stepped out of the shower cubicle and went to take her jammies out of the locker. After changing, she sat down in front of the vanity and dried her hair using one of the hair dryers. Next, she brushed her teeth in the nearby sink.
Now all ready for bed, Bella made her way back to her room. Arranging her wicker basket and putting it on top of her side table, Bella finally lay on her bed. She looked around for her phone and realized that it was still in her sling bag. She got up again and took it from her bag, reaching for her charging cable as well.
Unlocking her phone, Bella was about to set her alarm when she noticed a Line notification. She decided against opening it now and cleared out the notification instead. Setting the alarm as she had originally intended, Bella plugged her phone in and she climbed onto the bed. Before long, sleep had overtaken her.
