Chapter 3

I punched hurriedly into my phone as the taxi driver held my gaze in the rearview mirror. After scrolling through my phone for a few seconds, I snapped my fingers and nodded.

“DoubleTree by Hilton, please." I smiled at him.

He nodded and sped into the street.

Sighing, I leaned into my seat. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had done the right thing. But if there was anything I knew, it was the fact that I had had enough of living with Isak.

The more I lived with him, the more I wished for the world to end. And since the world was not ending anytime soon, it was better if I ended what was left of the sham.

For a while, I worried about how disappointed my parents would be, and I feared that my father might disown me if and when he found out what his only child had done. But it was either them or me, and it was glaring who I chose.

As the taxi sped on, it felt as though a large part of my worries were also speeding away (even though I knew my problems still existed).

The envelope I handed to Isak contained documents that were going to end our marriage—divorce papers. But I knew Isak too well. He wasn't going to sign the papers.

Well, if he wasn’t going to sign the papers, then I could at least relocate somewhere else, even though his refusal to sign the papers still meant that I was his wife.

I sighed and ran my hand through my auburn hair. “How many more minutes before we get there?”

“In ten or at most fifteen minutes,” the taxi driver said.

I muttered my thanks and yawned. I was hungry. These days, I catch myself undergoing unintentional starvation. It was very bad that even Isak, who wasn't always with me, noticed too. It wasn’t like he cared that much, though.

The breakfast I had that morning was little compared to how hungry I actually felt, but there were bigger worries to deal with.

Before deciding to go to DoubleTree, the initial plan was to rent myself an apartment since the goal was to just get away from Isak at all costs, and returning to my parents was not even an option.

But then I had a change of plan. A little fun was not going to hurt, was it?

I didn’t care if I was going to spend half of my entire savings at DoubleTree and then the other half trying to rent an apartment; all that mattered to me was clearing my head and moving subtly far away from Isak and my parents.

As soon as the taxi stopped at DoubleTree, I knew I had done the right thing by deciding to stop by the resort to clear my head.

I smiled my thanks to the driver as I paid him before walking towards the reception office. I was still feeling hurt and tired from everything I had gone through in my marriage to Isak, but I was determined to get the best from my short stay at DoubleTree.

I slid on my sunshades as I walked in. The last thing I needed was for anyone to identify me as Isak’s wife and give my hideout to him. Things could quickly move from one to zero if that happened.

Flashing my best smile at the receptionist, I said my hellos. I was about to start a new life.

I stepped out in my skimpy, short gown and twirled happily. I was even happier that it was night and the resort was dimly lit, so it was going to be very difficult for anyone to notice I was scantily dressed. I couldn’t even remember the last time I was this happy.

No, I wasn’t about to deceive myself or twist things. I still had problems. Big ones at that, and I wasn’t in denial of them.

For one, Isak was going to come home to see that I had vanished—just like Arthur had vanished from my life back then. Well, I didn’t mean to remember Arthur now. I had long gotten over him, even though some part of me still missed him, which was subtly normal.

I knew Isak was not going to notice my disappearance tonight. It wasn’t like he cared that much, and he might think I went to see a friend or even my parents.

But I was very sure that in two days, he was going to notice that the worst had happened. I was very sure that the first thing Isak was going to do upon noticing my disappearance was to call my parents and ask them to bring me out from wherever I had run into.

And my parents, too, were going to try to get through to me on the phone. And I was going to totally ignore them. Thankfully, I had changed my numbers.

Irrespective of those, I was still going to make myself happy here. I walked around the dimly lit resort, twirling and humming one of my favorite songs. I was still twirling and humming when I bumped into somebody.

I jumped and turned to look at who it was. Even in the dimly lit light, I could make out the figure of a tall, shirtless, and muscular man. I could see that I had caused something to fall from his hands, and he now had one of his hands tucked in his pocket, expecting me to pick up whatever had fallen to the ground that belonged to him.

Suddenly, the lights became brighter, and the resort was no longer dimly lit. It was as though someone was watching us and had decided to brighten the lights just so we could see each other properly.

I spent the first few minutes staring dumbly at him. He was handsome! And he was damn muscular! I couldn’t believe I could feel my heart thumping as I swallowed hard and struggled to look away from him so I could pick up his keys, which had fallen when I twirled and bumped into him.

“You’re neither going to speak nor pick my keys?” He finally spoke, and once again, I was even more rooted in the spot where I stood.

He had this rich, deep voice that any lady could kill for. I blinked and stared hard at him. Was he human at all?

“Hello?” he waved in my face.

“Yeah, hi!” I snapped out of my reverie and immediately bent to pick up his keys. “Here you go.”

I handed it over to him and skipped away before he could even say anything. I was embarrassed. I had not expected my first day at DoubleTree to go like this.

The best thing to do was just find my way into my room and bury myself in movies.

And that was exactly what I did.

*

I was having breakfast with intense vigor. I was alone at the table, and that was exactly how I wanted it.

Just like last night, I was extremely happy, even though I couldn’t place a finger on the exact reason I was this happy. Maybe it was because I was away from Isak at the moment. I didn’t mean to badmouth Isak, but he had this noticeable bad energy that I detested.

“See who we have here?" a familiar voice boomed from behind me.

I turned to see who it was.

Surprisingly, it was the guy from last night—the guy who I had bumped into and allowed his keys to fall. I cleared my throat and adjusted in my seat.

“Hi,” I said as he came to sit next to me, holding his breakfast.

Earlier, we had been asked to walk into the large dining room and serve ourselves any available dish that we wanted. I happen to be the only one in the dining area at the moment.

Except, of course, for this guy who had now come to share my space with me.

“Good to see you again,” he said, his rich, deep voice filling my ears. “I expected to see that you had caused something to fall or perhaps bump into something like last night. But it’s pretty cool that."

“I’m not even as clumsy as you think." I cut him short, rolling my eyes.

“Oh, then what are you?” He grinned with a twinkle in his eye.

Somehow, the twinkle in his eye was beautiful, and I hoped I was going to get to see it again.

"I'm... " I wondered about the perfect reply to give him. “Normal.”

“Oh, well,” he grinned. “Hi, normal. I’m Ian.”

I burst out laughing as I dropped the fork in my hands. I didn’t even see that coming.

“I’m Iris, anyway,” I said when I laughed to my fill.

“Pretty name.” Ian nodded. “You’re staying here for a while?”

“Not that long.

"I shrugged. "I just came here to clear my head and then return to my base.”

“Came here to clear my head too,” Ian nodded. “Makes us even.”

I smiled and said nothing. What was there to say?

“So, does that mean we’d be seeing each other often?” Ian asked.

“Depends on what you call 'seeing',” I shrugged.

“Well, I do want to see you again.” Ian smiled. 

I smiled back. Why did he want to see me again? Did the future hold something promising for the two of us?

Maybe, just maybe, if I had seen into the future, I would just have disappeared into thin air at the sight of Ian.