I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 13

     I groaned as I got up in the morning. I should not have taken that much wine last night – why am I so stupid? I do things without prior deliberation. How am I going to go through the treasure hunt with this massive hangover?

              "Are you awake?" Mrs. Hilda said as I squint my eyes and look at her.

              "I'm not sure," I said, "Is this reality or dreamland?"

              "He did say you'd be like this in the morning," she said as I sat up in bed. Who is she talking about? "Thankfully he's conscientious."

              She held out an aspirin and a glass of water.

              "What's that?" I asked her.

              "Medicine," she said, as I reached for it. I popped the aspirin in my mouth and gulped it down with the warm water, "For the hangover. Your boyfriend dropped it off last night."

              I almost choked on the water. My boyfriend? Three guesses who it might be.

              "Ryan?" I asked, placing the glass on the bed-stand, all effects of the hangover gone.

              "Yes," she said, smiling knowingly. I blushed furiously as I got off the bed and took a bath. I can vaguely remember what happened last night. Oh no, did I sing a Taylor Swift song? God, what would Ryan think of me? I got dressed quickly, thinking of damage control procedures. I will feign ignorance – it's better if Ryan thinks I don't remember anything than to face the embarrassment.

              We were all told to gather at the sea side as they briefed us on the treasure hunt. I couldn't find Ryan in the crowd – to thank him for the aspirin. Tom was the leader of the treasure hunt and he had a hard time making everyone listen to him.

              "Guys, please listen up!" he cried out as finally everyone quieted down and listened to him, "Okay, my assistant, Bill will go around with a box which has numbers on small papers. Each and every one of you need to take one of it. You will all be divided into partners – the numbers will be a number and an alphabet – for example, 1A and 1B. Please find your partner after getting your numbers. We will then move over to the forest at the back where the chalet staffs had kindly assisted us in getting ready the clues for the hunt. Just go over the clues, get to the next and the first team to reach the finish point with all the clues wins. We have great prizes waiting for the top three winners."

              "Great," I said as Bill came over to our group. Mrs. Hilda, Miranda and Kayla took out their papers and then it was my turn. My number was 4A, "I got 4A."

              "You've got to find 4B," Miranda said, "I'm 20B."

              "Hey did you say you are 20B?" we turned to look at Hilary who called Miranda, "I'm 20A."

              Miranda looked back at us – her expression horrified.

              "Good luck," I told her under my breath as she left us and joined Hilary. I left the group to look for my partner too. I wonder who was mine. I hope it was Sammy – that would be fun. I just hoped it wasn't the Lion. Knowing the tendency of fate playing a cruel game with me, it might be him. I spotted him in the crowd, talking with a colleague of ours and my heart fell. Maybe that's his partner. What was I thinking? I hoped he wasn't my partner, but when he was with another person, I feel disappointed.

              I turned to leave, just as he turned and our eyes locked. He smiled and waved. I returned it. I wanted to just walk away but he left his partner and walked towards me. I fidgeted, not knowing whether to run away or just stand and face him.