STORIES TOLD, STORIES LIVED

Chapter 5

ARINA'S P.O.V

"Aaaand I'm home."

Alessia's typical loud voice filled the room. It's been a quiet five hours, but when she's back, she's back with a bunch of fireworks.

"Too early? I thought you're going to spend your weekend with her." I replied.

"In a matter of fact, I will." She grinned a big one. "But you're gonna come with me."

"Wait what?"

"She's staying at the hotel, downtown. I'm not planning on jumping onto MRT alone tomorrow morning, so you should come with me, so that we can have girls night out tonight!"

I rolled my eyes. "You know, I'm not into sleepovers..."

"Who said you can avoid the torture?" Alessia was ready to take her second shower of the day because I understood how hot it was outside. "You should get ready."

What. Maybe God has planned this. The misfit meets the popular. Alessia and I were theoritically not fit for each other, yet this roommate pairing forced us to, I guess? And this was one of those days I got to pick myself up to enter her way of life. Obviously it's the end of novel time, right here, right now. Alessia would kill me if I ever sneaked in a book inside my bag. So okay, let's just socialize to stay alive.

I have showered earlier, so all I need was packing up a pajama for tonight's girls night whatsoever, and one more outfit for tomorrow. Packed.

"Which hotel again?"

"Hmm?" Alessia got distracted from her phone. "Oh, downtown."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are like hundreds of hotels around it. Which one we're talking about?"

"Can we enjoy this trip on this very lovely weekend and just see it for yourself when we arrive?"

Alessia pinched my cheek, and nonchalantly locked her eyes back on that phone screen. Okay then, life saver should come in handy. I took out my journal and started writing. And I also chose the opposite seat across from Alessia, because the MRT was pretty much empty, so I could choose wherever I wanted to sit.

About fifty minutes later, we arrived at the station. Then we decided to take the bus, to the nearest point from the hotel, and we would just walk.

"See? Outside is fun." Alessia held my arm excitedly. "You're gonna miss this. I swear."

"What?"

"Good afternoon, ladies." A nice door man welcomed us to this huge lobby hotel.

"Oh." I nodded. "Why didn't you just say that she's staying-"

"Shall I walk you to the room?" That same nice door man cut me off twice already.

Alessia shook her head at me so that I would not ask too many questions. We were going up to the highest level. Of course I did have questions. This was the penthouses floor.

"Hi girl!"

Another man's voice came up from outside the elevator. Alessia, who was standing next to our door man, quickly and excitedly waved back. Sad fact about short girls? When a door man was way taller than you and he blocked your way. Yeah, too late. Alessia has left me. Corridor was empty. Creepy. I looked back at the elevator, it's going down. Where should I go?

And why did I hear a man's voice? Shouldn't we meet her sister here?

"So happy to finally meet you, Arina."