Zsch, zschhh. A loud noise.
Aoi slowly opened her eyes and closed them again the next moment.
Far too bright, she complained.
She rubbed her eyes, then opened them again.
Where was she? This place was completely unfamiliar to her.
She looked at the television mounted on the wall in front of her. It was big and modern, very modern. Actually too big for such a room. And from Sony.
Her gaze slowly wandered to the left, and she yawned.
A small brown bedside table was to her left, with a telephone and a small black wooden alarm clock. You could hear the ticking of the hands. Next to it stood a night light.
Only 8:20, then I can still sleep.
She lay back down, her head still heavy, still throbbing, as if someone were pressing a hot iron against her forehead.
As soon as she closed her eyes, the memories shot through her mind again.
She tore her eyes open, her breathing now deep. Her gaze went nervously under her T-shirt, then she immediately checked her underwear.
...
...
...
...
In the end, she let out a relieved breath.
But she was now fully awake, and her gaze slowly drifted through the room.
She discovered a small wooden table in the right corner of the room, with a completely full water bottle and a packaged egg sandwich.
Her wet red jacket was hanging on the chair next to the table.
She still wondered where she actually was when she suddenly noticed that she was covered with two bath towels and two blankets.
Only now did she feel her still slightly damp clothes.
Her head was full of thoughts from last night.
"I fainted… there was someone...
Ah, yes there was... that boy...,"
she mumbled to herself and tiredly touched her forehead.
Flashback:
"Hey… are you okay? Are you fine?"
English…?
"Do you speak English?"
End of flashback.
She looked around again in confusion and finally stood up.
She noticed that the light in the bathroom was still on.
"Hello," she said uncertainly.
"Hello…"
It remained silent.
After a short time, she finally decided to slightly open the bathroom door.
She slowly stretched her head into the doorway. But the bathroom was empty.
The more she thought about the whole situation, the more a shiver ran down her spine.
She went back to the bedside table and took her phone.
100% charged.
At least she doesn't have to worry about that today anymore.
Brrr. Brr.
Her stomach growled, and her gaze wandered to the food on the table.
Hesitantly, she stretched her hand toward the food, then stopped.
There was a note right in front of her.
Note:
For you
She tilted her head thoughtfully to the side and finally reached for it.
She drank the entire bottle of water in one go and slowly ate her sandwich.
Her thoughts sank back into last night.
But she couldn't remember more than the brown-blond hair. No matter how hard she tried. She finally groaned and gave up.
Mss Mss.
Her gaze fell on the phone.
2 new messages:
Yuna: Aoi, are you okay?
Yuna: Sorry, we lost sight of you yesterday and forgot.
Aoi: It's all good, I think, but I'm still dizzy and my head hurts.
Yuna: Hahaha, you'll get used to it. Again today?
Aoi: No, I'll pass. I don't think this is for me. Maybe another time.
Yuna: Oh, don't be like that. I'll pay too.
Aoi turned off her phone and stared at the ceiling. Without wanting to, she thought about that boy again, annoyed.
Her back was lit by the rising sun and slowly warmed.
Her hand was still twitching a little, then she took one last bite of the egg sandwich, took her red jacket, and went to the door.
Her pink knee-high socks were still very wet, but that didn't matter since her white Nike shoes were too.
When she reached the hallway, she saw a large elevator and hesitated briefly before turning around once more, just to be safe.
You never know.
Then she took the elevator and pressed the ground floor. She was calmer now, but still hoped for some answers.
When she reached the ground floor, she left the elevator.
In front of her was the reception.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
Aoi remained silent… "Go… good morning," she finally replied with relief.
"Would you like to check out?"
Silence…
"Um…" She panicked and reached into her pocket. "I don't even have a key," she said uncertainly.
Why didn't I pay attention to the door lock? I had one job. Even though I could swear there was no key.
"One moment please, that's not a problem. We have a master key. I would just need your room number."
"Um… the room number should have been 418."
"Oh, then everything is fine. The check-out has already been completed."
"You must be confused," said a voice from the other side of the reception. "Your boyfriend already returned the key shortly after he booked the room today. That must have been around 1 a.m. Normally we don't do that, but I made an exception for him."
"My boyfriend?" Aoi said questioningly.
I don't even know him.
Aoi wiped the sweat from her hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed he was your boyfriend. Isn't he?"
Aoi hesitated. "Ah… you mean my boyfriend. Sorry, I was thinking of a colleague."
She awkwardly tapped her head.
"Hahaha, yes, he is my boyfriend. To be exact, for half a year already."
What am I even saying?
It became quiet.
Aoi swallowed.
"Then everything is fine. I wish you a"
"Excuse me," Aoi interrupted her. "Could you tell me what happened yesterday? I can barely remember."
"Oh, hahaha, well, that doesn't surprise me."
"Your boyfriend carried you here in the rain, rented a room, and didn't even care about the price."
He carried me?
"Shortly after, he left the hotel, came back briefly and asked if it would be possible to complete the check-out now, since he had something very, very urgent to do. As I said, we don't usually do that, but we have all the data just in case."
"Ah, is that so… yes, now that you mention it, he did tell me that he still has important things to do today."
Aoi glanced nervously at the wall.
"Then everything is in order."
"If you want, I can check the data again, if that would be okay."
"That's not necessary."
"I insist, we don't want there to be any complications."
She fell silent. Why did I just say that?
"I have to inform you that sharing customer data is strictly prohibited."
"But I'm his girlfriend." Again!! She raised her hand to her mouth.
"The rules apply to everyone, whether girlfriend or not. We cannot make exceptions."
She sighed. Of course...
"Okay, as you wish. Thank you for your time."
Aoi left the hotel building.
Who was this guy anyway? And why did he help me?