Chapter 24

“How could it break down? It's a new car isn't it?” I questioned not wanting to believe that we were stranded on this road with no possible help coming our way.

“Damn it! My battery died,” said Killian putting his phone inside his pocket and sitting on the hood of the car.

Killian has been struggling for the past hour or so trying to find out what the problem was but with no luck so far. After trying everything he knew to fix the car, he has given up hope and that made me restless. The cellular service here sucked and there was no car on the road to ask for help. We were completely stranded in a foreign place.

The dense trees that had offered calmness in the day now were a source of terror. I was scared that some animal would jump out and tear me into pieces. I got close to Killian to notice that he was peacefully looking at the stars.

Talk about an optimistic person.

“Killian, what are we going to do now?” I asked him if he had anything useful in mind other than mindlessly staring at the stars.

“I have no clue, Joyce. I run out of things to do,” he said unmoving, looking like a person who would gladly get eaten here.

But not me.

I looked around finding the same dense forest staring back at me. I closed my eyes pretending that none of this was real. I imagined myself sitting in my home watching TV and drinking hot chocolate. I opened my eyes determined to find a way to get us some kind of place to stay.

I looked around again, this time slower when I noticed a light. It was coming from a building that could be barely seen as it was a little taller than the trees. I was very happy to see a sign of civilization after staying in a stranded place.

“Killian, light!” I yelled excited that we could maybe sleep in actual beds.

“Where?” asked Killian standing up coming closer to where I was standing.

“Right there, and it's not that far. We should leave right away,” I answered grabbing his hand and going to the car.

“Or we can spend the night in the car and ask for help in the morning?” suggested Killian letting go of my hand and leaning on the driver's side of the car.

“I can't sleep in the car, I get too scared,” I replied getting my yellow luggage out of the car.

“and this dark road? It doesn't scare you?” he asked baffled at my choice of things to get scared of.

“It does, but I'd rather die trying than sit still and die,” I said taking my phone out of my handbag to turn the flashlight on.

“You're impossible, woman!” said Killian also taking out his luggage and following behind me.

Although I acted brave and went ahead of him, I was terrified of the creatures this dense forest held. I waited for Killian till he was beside me then went to the place I saw the light with him beside me.

•••

After forty minutes of walking, we reached the building. It was a very old building, one that had been serving for so many years. Carol hotel was written on the entrance and it was surrounded by a low metal fence. We got into the reception area, shocked that the outside look of the hotel did no justice to the beautiful interior of the hotel.

It was nothing grand but the inside had a comfy feeling and for a person who was stranded on a lifeless road for hours, this was more than enough. The middle-aged receptionist greeted us with a warm welcome.

I turned my phone flashlight off and put it into my blue jeans. The cold outside has turned my fingers purple and I rubbed them together to get some warmth. I couldn't wait till I could take a shower and sleep off this tiredness.

“Do you have a room?” asked Killian his tiredness showing on his face.

“You're in the luck! We usually have a lot of customers coming during this season—people just love spending their honeymoons here in Weslan—but we still have a nice room for you, young couple,” she responded, grabbing a key from the wall.

Couple? What?

“We're not—” both of us started telling the woman to get that idea out of her head.

“Oh really? My bad! Well, you don't know how many single people come here and leave as a couple,” she said adjusting her glasses and laughing at her own joke.

“You don't understand," I said getting more closer to her and lowering my voice," he is my boss and I am his secretary, so we need to have a strictly professional relationship, and sleeping in the same room is not going to help,” I explained my situation to her.

I couldn't believe my luck, this day turned out to be the worst. First the car and now this, I thought if I got a room here, I would be safe from spending the night in the car. But sharing a room with Killian? Sleeping in the car seemed like a better idea. This was something I've never thought would happen.

“It's the only room that's available, if you don't want it then I will have to ask you to leave.” said the receptionist taking back the key from the front desk.

“It's okay, we will take it. And don't worry, we will keep it down,” said Killian making me turn my head so fast It almost snapped.

He didn't even look at me as he took the key from her, paid, and went upstairs, taking his black luggage with him. I took a moment to understand what just happened in front of me. We, me and Killian are going to sleep in the same room, on the same bed.

How did it come to this?