11:23896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGLWNsIzvH
The numbers flickered crimson red.
L’s gaze swiped past the digital clock to land on her phone, lying docilely on the perfectly made bed. She tossed the towel to an armchair and walked toward it.
Tiny drops of water rolled from her hair onto the mountain lion tattooed between her shoulder blades, then to the small of her back. Her feet, still wet, left sure imprints on the carpet as the slippers were long forgotten.
The night air sent prickles through her skin. A three-hour air travel indicates certain climate changes, and she’d come north besides. North, to her hometown. L didn’t bother looking for a gown. Instead, she hurried her steps, crashing into the warm hostility of the white blankets.
Ignoring the fabric that scratched at her, she sighed contentedly and reached for the phone. Arabian numerals arose before her eyes. Time and date.
“Oh god,” she murmured.
Valentine’s Day. She grimaced despite better sense. I worked myself to death in a city a thousand mile from my home, on a god damned Valentine’s Day. I must be mad to keep working for this company.
Sighing for a different reason now, L clicked on the familiar icon and typed in the zip code she’d memorized at the lobby. Her fingers scrolled over the list numbly, her eyes unfocused.
She chose something randomly and set the phone on the bedside table. Clutching the pillow to her breast, she decided she’d sleep, just for five minutes.896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzsQsMDJRv
Of course, when you tell yourself ‘just for five minutes’, another part of you will take it in as ‘five hours’. Fortunately, the hotel had installed quite a loud doorbell.896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdz07VEtAFI
L started awake with the high buzzing sound drumming at her ears. She moaned, stretched, and wrapped the blanket around her naked body.
“It’s dangerous outside my bed…”
Her stomach rumbled in disagreement. Tightening her grip, she dragged herself across the room and opened the door.
A young man about her age stood in an orange shirt, holding out a plastic bag for her. The nametag identified the man as ‘G’. She took the bag and nodded a small thank-you. The man, G, smiled radiantly at her.
“Here with your boyfriend, miss?” he asked, almost casual. Or perhaps too much so.
“Nope, broke up a while ago,” she said.
She tried to shut the door. G pushed at it with his shoulder.
“Nice hat,” she added, an impatient smirk on her face. “Panda?”
“Oh yes. Why not?” G grinned in return, not missing a bit. “I mean, if you’ve got a face as good as mine and you don’t do things…”
“Like taking part-time jobs?”
“Exactly. Let the world moon at my handsome-ness.”
Again the same tone, but his lips twisted sourly in a way she couldn’t help but notice. She wondered if she’d gone too far. But G brightened up.
“Wait a sec, miss, I’ve got something for you.”
L watched him dig around his pocket, to produce a small chocolate. Her eyebrows crinkled slightly. G pointed at the clock.
“It’s still Valentine’s Day,” he shrugged. “And it’s still chocolate.”
She picked up the dark square gingerly from his palm. Then he bent over and kissed her lightly on her forehead.
“Happy Valentine’s, kitty.”896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkOQ5xI8yG
The clock read 11:59.896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaUy1zbEpv
896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7U783BaT3
