Chapter 5

Isabella's pov:

In the car,

The night sky was clear as the day, the moon shining brightly and illuminating a path for us. It was painted black, the same dark shade of purple as the night, but not quite as black.

The wind blew gently and carried with it some of the last remnants of the sunset from hours before.

A warm breeze rustled through my hair, making goosebumps break out on my skin. The ambience was silent, not a single sound to be heard except for the low rumbling of engines.

I asked Mr Martinez, "Why is it so cold tonight?"

"If you brought up the window, it won't be anymore." He answered while driving the car.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"What did I do?"

"The Sarcastic talk."

"Probably from you." And he made a smirk at me.

I let out a sigh and asked, "Have you ever thought about how fast the night changes? We were strangers by one night and now we're..."

"We are...?"

I looked at Mr Martinez who was driving us to the house and answered, "Nothing." And continued to look outside the window by leaning on the glass.

He asked me, "Why aren't you talking to me like before?"

"I always talk like this."

"No, You talk a lot. But, now it seems like you have shrunken your words. You can tell me if something is bothering you."

"Why do you sound like you care for me?"

He touched my hair and caressed it while telling, "Because I do."

I remained silent.

"Why are you being quiet?"

"Since you started talking like others I bet you need more space to talk so I'll be silent and let you do the talking stuff."

"How was the food?"

"Topic changed. Expected. Well, the food tasted delicious."

"Looking like you're mad at something. Let's talk later."

"I'm not mad."

"Then why do you sound like one?"

"What do you want me to say?"

He looked at the time and told, "We still got time. Do you want to go somewhere?"

"It's 9 already. Let's go to the house. I feel tired." And let out a yawn.

"Tomorrow's Sunday. There's nothing to do at the house."

"So?"

He looked at me and smirked and let out, "I have an idea." And suddenly started driving the car fast.

I held the handle tightly and asked him, "Wh-Where are you taking me?"

"Lean back on the seat and take a little nap. We'll be there in no time."

What happened to him? Where's he going to take me?

After a while,

We reached the place he was referring to. After looking through the window, the place was lit by colourful lights. Is this a club? But, it looks enormous for a club. Maybe a club for higher people I guess.

By looking into it, I never saw Mr Martinez being drunk even once. I saw Mr Martinez in a club where I was working once but he looked steady that time too. Is he a heavyweight drinker? Mr Martinez said there's nothing to do tomorrow. Did he bring me here to drink with him? He never brought me to any of the clubs in Santa Fe. But why now?

While I was thinking about the place he brought me to, Mr Martinez asked, "Are you going to stay in the car?"

When I looked at him, he was already outside the car. When did he get out of the car?

As soon as I stepped down the car, I felt a cold breeze around me. I took a deep breath and asked him excitedly, "Are we…"

He nodded his head and declared, "Yes, we came to the beach."

"I never came to the beach in the middle of the night before." I looked around and asked him, "Where is it? All I could see were highly raised buildings. Where's the beach, Mr Martinez?"

"Slow down a bit. It's behind this resort."

"Shall we go and see the beach?"

"Haven't you tried anymore?"

"But I want to go to the beach. It's been years since I visited."

He patted my head and told me, "Follow me."

He led the way into one of the buildings and walked over to the reception desk and talked with them. What is he doing? Why isn't he taking me to the beach yet?

I wandered around the reception room to see where the beach was. I knew it had to be there somewhere, considering that I could not see a single other building on this site. I took my phone out and checked out where I was. As soon as the GPS said “here”, I clicked on the location and saw where I was.

Montage Laguna beach. A 5 - Star hotel??? Thousand six hundred per night?? Why did he bring me here?

"Isabella!"

I heard Mr Martinez's voice calling out my name. He never called me by my name since I started working for him. After confessing to me, he started calling my name which felt awkward every time he did because he always calls me by my full name. Isabella. It felt weird when he called me like that because no one has ever called me 'Isabella' for a longer time. The last time I heard someone calling me Isabella was while I was working in Max's club.

I walked over to him and pulled his shirt and whispered to him, "Why did you bring me here? Aren't we here to see the beach?"

He shushed me and asked, "Do you want a king room or two queen rooms?"

"Why are you asking me about the room? We have to… wait, are you planning to stay for the weekend?"

He nodded and said, "Which room do you want?"

"I don't want to stay. Do you know how much it costs per night? Let's go to the house."

Mr Martinez turned to the receptionist and said, "We'll take two queen rooms for the night."

If you planned to stay for the night, why did you ask me?

Mr Martinez held my hand and said, "Let's go to our room."

I snapped his hand and said, "What are you doing? Why did you book the room? Didn't you say you would take me to the beach? Then what is this?"

"It's 10. We'll go to the beach tomorrow." And walked before me while saying, "Room key is with me. If you don't want to get locked out, follow me."

I let out a sigh and ran after him.

In the room,

I can't believe my eyes. I was stunned by the appearance of the interior of the room. It was like something out of a storybook, complete with an archway and everything. The walls were made up of white wood, and it looked just as well as if you'd gone in through one of those fairy tale castles.

"This is... really pretty," I said aloud to myself in shock.

The only word to describe it was classy. The red plywood on the floor gave a traditional look, but it didn't have any decorations, no pictures or knick-knacks. It was plain and boring without anything else on its walls but stunning in its way.

The one thing inside, however, was not ordinary at all; it was the chandelier on the ceiling which lit up the whole place as if it was a venue for a party. Lights danced around, twinkling like tiny stars as they hung from the ceiling.

The room glowed in an iridescent soft pink colour as it reflected the light from the many candles, all of which were burning brightly. There were decorative plants in each corner of the room. It looked expensive and well cared for. The walls, the carpet, and everything around were immaculate.

The only thing that gave it away as lived in was a single lamp on each side of the couch and a large curtain to cover the window. It was all very elegant. Very professional.

"Like the room?" Mr Martinez asked.

"Not bad."

I walked to the other room, the bedroom, there were two huge beds side by side with night lamps on each of the beds. I went to mine and laid down on my bed and just sighed in contentment. It was like heaven. It was very relaxing. I sat on the bed to check the comfort, Awwwww… so soft. When I sat on the mattress, it felt like I was almost floating.

I opened the bathroom door, wow! It looked as if it was out of a movie. A huge white bathtub in the centre and a shower in the right corner. A mirror was on the wall behind the tub, and a bathrobe was hung to its side with kitchen utensils on the other side of the mirror.

The kitchen was opposite the bedroom. Inside the kitchen, it was not so furnished. I think it's because of the dinner which I saw near the reception. I came out of the kitchen and walked to the balcony.

I asked Mr Martinez, "Can I open it?"

"Go on."

Pushing the sliding doors to one side, a cool breeze was the first thing I felt. It was refreshing, and it had me taking a deep breath as well, allowing myself to take in just what was going on.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the beach. It looked so beautiful in the night view.

"Looks like you found the beach."

"Mr Martinez, can we go to the beach?"

"We are. But tomorrow."

"I want to go now."

"Now?"

I nodded my head and said, "I want to go to the beach now. How can I stay still after seeing the beach from here? Can you please take me?"

"How can I resist this face? Okay. Let's go." He looked at the time and said, "But we have to return by 12. If that's fine for you…"

Before he completed it, I said, "Promise! Shall we go now?"

He smiled and nodded at me.

At the beach,

No stars were shining above or below me, only a dim, distant moon that reflected a soft white light upon the surface of the water.

The sand underneath was cool to touch and smelled like salt. The wind blew, blowing strands of my brunette hair out of my face and into the air before being blown back in with the tide. I felt the cold sand in between my feet when I nibbled my toes into the sand.

"Why are you looking at the beach like that? Did the beach bring back some nostalgic moments?"

I nodded hurriedly and said, "Yeah, It's been a long time since I came to the beach. It was during my middle school, I came here along with Sophia and Liam. Seeing the beach reminds me of those times with them." I let out a chuckle and continued, "We came here during the spring festival. Since it was a festival, we sneaked out of the school easily and came to the beach. There was a huge crowd, we couldn't find a spot for us but we still enjoyed it and played in the water till dawn. That was the day my mom got mad at me for the first time in my life because I didn't tell her that I went to the beach with my friends. After knowing it through my friend's social page, she got really mad and grounded me for a week."

"Why did she get mad?"

"She didn't know that I knew swimming." I let out a chuckle and continued, "The reason she got mad at me is that she was worried about me."

I looked at the waves on the beach, and without my knowledge, I started walking toward the beach. The wind was still blowing against me, but somehow I didn’t care.

I stopped abruptly when I felt a pair of arms wrapping around me in an embrace. I didn’t react for a second before I turned to look at who it was.

It was Mr Martinez. His hair was down, flowing along with the ocean breeze. He looked peaceful as he gazed back at me.

"Where are you going?"

"Inside."

He looked on either side of him and said, "There are no guards around here so check out the water tomorrow."

"Mr Martinez… don't you know how to swim?"

"Huh? How can you ask me that? Do I look like someone who doesn't know how to swim?"

I chuckled and teased him, "You don't know how to swim."

"No! I know."

"Come with me then."

I grabbed his hand and started running into the water. I didn't know where we were going until he stopped in his tracks. When I looked at him, he had a look of fear on his face, but as soon as he turned to me he smiled slightly. “Let's go,” he said, reaching down for my hand once again before taking off.

I was confused. Is he scared of water? I let go of his hand and pushed him into the water.

"You're crazy."

He cussed at me and returned to the shore. It looked kinda funny. The water was so cold which made me tremble a little. I could hear his voice yelling as he got farther away. After all, we did have some things in common. We were both scared of water. I overcame the fear by being with my friends and happy memories.

I walked towards the shoreline and asked Mr Martinez, "How did it feel?"

He gave a stare and said, "My clothes are all wet because of you."

I laughed and said, "If you're coming to the beach, you shouldn't worry about getting wet, Mr Martinez."

Even though I was trembling in the cold I continued teasing him, "I thought every rich person knew swimming. Are you the odd one out?"

"It doesn't mean I have to learn swimming since I'm rich."

"Gotcha! You don't know how to swim. Admit it!" And laughed at him.

He grabbed my hand and touched my palm saying, "Your hands are cold. Let's go to the room."

"Don't change the topic. Accept your defeat. You don't know how to swim, right?"

He held my hand and headed to the room while I was teasing him.

After we came to the room, he changed the temperature of the room which made it comfy.

"Go and take a shower."

I laughed thinking about what happened back at the beach and walked to the bathroom.

After taking a shower, I shouted from inside the bathroom, "Mr Martinez, there's only a bathrobe here."

After shouting for a while, I couldn't hear Mr Martinez's voice so I placed my ear on the door and listened. Was he talking or not? There was no noise coming from outside so I opened the door just a little bit but I couldn't see anything so I closed it back and shouted again, "Mr Martinez, can you hear me?"

"I'm right here."

It was so close. Is he standing in front of the door? But how did he come quickly?

He continued, "What do you want?"

"There's only a bathrobe in here. We didn't bring any clothes to change. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Change into a bathrobe for now."

I didn't hear him after that. Where did he go? Ufff! I think I don't have any choice other than this bathrobe. I mean, it's a nice one and comfy but it's embarrassing for me to go out in a bathrobe?

After coming out of the bathroom, I felt uncomfortable with the bathrobe since it was a little see-through. When I looked around the room, I couldn't see Mr Martinez in the room.

I called out his name, "Mr Martinez?"

"Yeah?" He opened the door and asked me.

I clenched my bathrobe's neckline and said, "It's your turn now. You can take a shower." And walked to the bed.

In the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep since it was a new place and because of the clothes I'm wearing too. I covered the blanket up to my neck and clenched it tightly.

I turned my head and looked at Mr Martinez. He was lying facing the other side of the room. I couldn't sleep. That's a pretty funny word, for someone who can fall asleep at any time of day or night, but I'm not sure if anyone else has the same reaction to it. I tried everything I could, but I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't know what was wrong. After finishing the alphabet in reverse order, I started counting the numbers.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I heard Mr Martinez's voice among the silence spread in the room.

"Yup."

He turned towards me and asked, "New place?"

How did he know that? Did he just read my mind?

"Yup."

"Try counting the numbers."

"I tried but failed."

"Where are you now?"

"Mmm. Seven hundred and thirty-two."

He gave his hand and said, "Try this."

"Huh?"

"Holding hands can help you to sleep. Believe me."

I didn’t take it because if I did then it would mean I was giving up, that this was all over, and I could go back to how things used to be.

"It's fine. I'll figure out the way on my own." And turned away from him.

"You don't have to be like this. You can…"

"Even though it's been years, It's hard for me to forget what happened. I… I need time to process these things. So, please, give me some time."

The silence that followed was deafening. It felt like a wall had just slammed between us. The atmosphere in the air was thick with awkwardness and discomfort, I could practically taste it as I lay there staring at the wall, not wanting to make eye contact, but still hoping he’d say something to get this weird feeling off our backs.

"Good night."

That's all I heard from him for the night. A goodnight? What did I expect?