Real or not real? (Five Hargreeves) Book 2

Chapter 11 'I vote'

The door to the suite where Diego and Lila had been before creaks slightly as Stellar pushes it open and steps inside the room. She stops slightly when she sees she already has company. 

Five looks up from his pacing, huffing slightly.

"What?" He asks.

"Nothing." Stellar replies innocently, walking into the room to inspect the 'doorway' that Diego and Lila had said they went through. 

And everyone would eventually go through.

Honestly, Stellar didn't actually know why she was here. She knew what choice she was making. She knew what would happen anyway. But something about this room was off. It had a different aura to the rest of hotel. Suspicious, which made it deeply compelling. It was probably the same for Five. 

She knew his choice was stay. He'd rather die than admit Reginald was right. She could see that. What other's might vote was...blurry. But again, it didn't matter. She runs her hand over the wall and frame of the 'door'.

Stellar knew that Reginald wasn't someone to wait around. Him and Five shared that in common. But Reginald would get his way. 

Even if it cost him lives.

She looks back, where Five is still pacing, thinking. He seems deep in thought, but when he feels her eyes on him, he looks up, meeting her gaze. They share a beat of silence, each second filled with words and feelings unspoken before Five clears his throat and continues pacing. 

The air between them was slightly awkward now. Not in the way that it was when they first saw each other again, or when she was helping him with the paradox psychosis. Stellar didn't actually know if she was the only one that felt awkward, because he'd probably forgot all about last night. 

She tried to convince herself she should too. He was drunk, she was tired. Hell, maybe she just hallucinated. But deep down she knew that he had definitely said it. 

It was stupid, really. Why did she care so much about him saying she was pretty? Was it that she'd never had anyone say that to her in her life? At least, genuinely? Was his even genuine? 

Or was it that it was coming from him? The retired grandpa of a hitman who pretends to hate everyone? Was it that she actually wanted him to mean it?

Stellar glances at him again, still walking around the room, hands in his pockets.

She quickly looks away as she feels a stirring in her stomach. 

What the hell was happening to her? Maybe she was sick. 

Her gaze flickers to a clock on the wall. She sighs before clearing her throat. Five looks up.

"We should get back to the others. It's been 55 minutes." She hesitates before continuing. "Made your choice?"

Five nods firmly, looking determined.

"Yeah. Let's go." He turns and walks out of the room, his hands in his pockets. 

Stellar steals one last look at the room before following suit.

She knew her choice. She knew most of everyone else's.

But in the back of her mind, she was in denial.

She was sick. Nothing more, nothing less. The fluttering she briefly felt in her stomach was because of her body acting up. Maybe she was just exhausted from the night before.

And Five wasn't stealing his own glances at her a little too often while she inspected the frame. 

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