Chapter 2

Annelyn Martin

Fifteen years later...

The colorful lights of the nightclub illuminated my skin, while the music playing with a vibrant beat guided my body in an animated rhythm on the dance floor. I danced alongside my best friend, Amelie. The two of us had decided that tonight we would do something crazy. Something intense, stupid, or embarrassing, but something we had never done before. And the reason? It wasn't anything convenient; we were just tired of being responsible all the time. So, on my birthday, Amelie made me swear that for at least one night, we would stop being the responsible girls we are.

"Oh my, if they find out we're here... They'll skin us alive!" the green-eyed blonde commented with a joyful smile on her face, making it clear that despite knowing the scolding we would get if we were discovered, she didn't care one bit, thanks to the effect of alcohol.

"My mom will freak out!" I chuckled, feeling my body respond through the intoxication.

Amelie shared my laughter and wrapped her right arm around my shoulders, hanging onto my neck.

"It's time."

I swallowed hard upon hearing her words. Despite being so drunk that I could stumble over my own feet, I was still a bit uncertain about our agreement. I had never gone off the rails. And even though I had vehemently agreed to put the idea into practice, now I was chickening out.

"Amelie... don't you think we should just forget about it? We're too drunk..."

However, the blonde interrupted me immediately.

"Are you chickening out, Annelyn?" she arched her left eyebrow. "As you said, we're too drunk!" She raised her hands up in the air, laughing, clearly intoxicated. "Tomorrow we won't even remember anything! Just the hangover headache," she touched her forehead with her fingertips, closing her eyes for a few moments, already imagining the pain she would feel the next day. "But!" she turned to me, putting her hands on my shoulders and looking into my eyes, "we can't give up! We've never done anything scandalous or impactful in our lives! You yourself said you were tired of the monotonous and responsible routine we have working at the Callaghan hotel. So, it's our chance to do something outrageous!"

"Is getting arrested on the list?" I said sarcastically.

Amelie pointed at me and opened and closed her mouth a few times before answering:

"Not that outrageous, girl. No cops." She turned and hung onto my neck again, guiding me towards the bar. We were stumbling over each other. "Maybe... sleeping with a stranger."

I immediately look at her.

"You're not serious, are you?" I say indignantly. At that moment, I felt more sober than ever.

"It's crazy, isn't it?"

"Yes, but not that. I'd rather be arrested than sleep with a stranger." I crossed my arms as we stopped by the bar.

"I know you value your virginity, but there comes a time when..."

"You're still a virgin too." I rolled my eyes, dismissing the motivational speech she was about to give. "Instead of having our first time with a stranger, why don't we just get drunk? We're already drunk... We can stay a little longer!" I smiled.

"But that's not as crazy." Her lips formed a pout, and she leaned her hip against the bar, crossing her arms and looking frustrated at the dance floor.

"I know." I hung my right arm on her left shoulder, reaching her ear. "But... it's better than getting arrested and having our first time with a stranger."

"Miss." The bartender behind us interrupted my conversation with Amelie. I turned to look at him. He held a glass of tequila in his hands, which he placed on the counter and pushed toward me.

I furrowed my brow, a little confused.

"Sorry, but I didn't order anything to drink."

"It's from that guy."

I looked in the direction the bartender nodded toward and saw the man who supposedly had asked to deliver that drink to me. He was upstairs, leaning against the railing with a hunched body, looking straight at me. I couldn't see his face clearly due to the nightclub's lighting, only his black slim-fit shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing a bit of his chest.

"I wasn't expecting this," Amelie commented, astonished. "I think you've got an admirer." She looked at me with a mischievous smile.

"Don't talk nonsense. I don't know who he is."

"Well... that probably won't be a problem because I think he's coming this way."

I felt a chill run down my spine as I saw the stranger coming down the stairs. I followed him with my gaze, and just as Amelie had said, he was heading toward the bar.

Almost like a rocket, I turned my back to the stairs and pulled Amelie by the hair to sit with me on the last two swivel stools at the bar, where I took the one at the end. This way, I could prevent him from even thinking about sitting near me.

"Ouch!" she complained with a groan, running her hands through her golden curls.

"He's really coming over!"

"Why are you so nervous?" the blonde looked bewildered. "It's just a guy interested in you. And if you didn't notice..." She leaned in my direction, whispering, "he was in the VIP area. Meaning, he's rich!"

"And who guarantees that he really is? Anyone can spend money to buy a wristband and pretend to be rich!"

"But I don't think that's the case."

"So what?! It doesn't matter if he's rich; I'm not going to pay attention to a stranger! What if he's a bad guy? Or a criminal? Or worse? Don't you watch the news?" I said incredulously.

"Well... you're right." She agreed, reflecting on my words.

"Besides, just look at me, why would a rich guy be interested in me? I'm wearing the old dress my mom used to wear to funerals!" I pointed to the black midi dress I was wearing, which I had altered into a tight off-the-shoulder dress with a slit on the left leg. "And my sandal's heel is coming off. If we don't catch a taxi on the way back, I'll arrive home barefoot!"

"So, what do we do now? He's coming over."

"Well... there's no guarantee he's coming to the bar to talk to me. He might just be coming for a drink. Either way, we'll just ignore him and pretend nothing happened." I looked at the tequila glass in front of me.

"Right, ignore him." Amelie nodded. "What about this?" She looked at the drink.

"I didn't pay for it, so I don't mind wasting it. He'll see that I didn't want it and realize I'm not interested." I shrugged, as if what I had said was obvious. "I'm not going to let some wannabe Casanova think he has a chance with me!"

"You could have just refused the bartender."

For some unknown reason, my whole body shivered upon hearing that voice. It was ridiculously attractive, despite the frustrated tone it carried.

Amelie and I turned to look at the owner of that voice, who was standing right behind us. His strong and defined arms were crossed over his chest.

As soon as my gaze met his, the chill I felt down my spine intensified in that instant. My heart raced, and my body seemed to freeze.

It was him. The guy from the tequila.

This time, I could see him more clearly, unlike when I saw him upstairs. The chiseled jaw, the stubble, the full lips, and the intense brown eyes made him the most attractive man I had seen in that nightclub. I even felt like an idiot for getting lost in every detail of his face.

"So...?" he raised an eyebrow, waiting for my response.

I blinked my eyes several times, recovering from my brief trance and trying my best not to appear so intoxicated.

"Eh... the... tequila?... The tequila... is it from you?" I stumbled over my own words.

I looked at Amelie, my eyes pleading for help to ease the tension of the moment.

"I think I'm..." Amelie's words gave me a glimmer of hope. "I think I'm going to puke!" She said in a panic. "I'll be right back!" She quickly covered her mouth with her hands, got up from her seat, and rushed toward the bathroom.

"Amelie!" I groaned as I was abandoned.

But this could also be my chance to get rid of that guy.

I turned the stool to stand up and follow her, but a small, ironic laugh stopped me, which I couldn't ignore. I looked at the man again, now in front of me, and noticed a discreet smile on his lips, as if he found the situation amusing.

"It seems like you and your friend don't know how to drink," his voice sent a shiver down my spine, and I couldn't tell if it was because I felt intimidated by his attractive appearance or irritated that he was butting into our business. "Can I sit down?"

He looked at the empty stool next to me, and I couldn't be more childish in my response.

"It's occupied, can't you see?" I tried to be as arrogant as possible to avoid prolonging the conversation.

A second short laugh escaped his lips, followed by a response.

"Well, considering I have no vision problems, I'm pretty sure the stool next to you isn't occupied, unless you're a psychic and sense the presence of spirits. Because if it depends on your friend, I don't think she'll be back anytime soon." His sarcastic response left me somewhat irritated.

"She won't be back because we're leaving," I stood up from the stool.

"Leaving already? I thought you'd keep drinking. By the way, there's still a shot of tequila for you to take. Or do you think I'm too much of an arrogant ladies' man to offer a drink?" My mouth dropped open when I realized he had heard my cursing. "Don't think you're all that to have a chance with me. I was just being kind."

My mouth dropped open even wider at his insult. What an arrogant guy! And at that moment, I was no longer in control of myself.

"Listen here," I approached him, my face at the level of his chest, but that didn't stop me from confronting him. "You can take your tequila and shove it up your... " The chorus of the song inhibited my profanity, but despite that, I knew he understood perfectly well what I had said. "And even if you were kind to me a thousand times, I still wouldn't want a chance with you. Excuse me."

I pass by him, deliberately bumping into his arm.

I walk towards the bathroom and search for Amelie in each of the stalls, finding her kneeling in front of the toilet in the last one. I kneel down beside her and help her by holding her curls away from her face as she vomits.

When she's done, the blonde looks at me with pleading eyes, her smudged makeup running down her face.

"Never let me drink again," she whimpers.

I nod my head.

"Let's go home."

I help the girl, somewhat struggling, to get up from the floor. I slide her arm over my shoulders and provide support for her to walk.

"What happened to the guy outside?" she asked as we started walking towards the bathroom exit.

"Well... I asked him to kindly put the tequila in that place," Amelie's eyes widened immediately as she looked at me, "gentlemanly, of course," I tried to ease it.

I push the bathroom door and we're back in the vibrant atmosphere.

"Let's exit through the back," I say as I notice that to reach the main exit, we would have to cross a crowd of people.

Just as I planned, I went to the back door with Amelie, leaving the nightclub in a few minutes.

"I'll call a taxi for us. Give me your phone."

Opening the shiny little purse she carried diagonally across her body, with the strap going over one shoulder and down diagonally to the opposite hip, Amelie handed me her phone. However, to our misfortune, the phone was dead.

I let out a long sigh when I saw that the phone wouldn't turn on.

"I guess we'll have to walk back to the hotel."

"But what about your heels?" the blonde said, concerned.

"I won't ruin the only pair of heels I have, so..." I crouch down, unfastening my sandals. "I'll go barefoot." I stand back up, holding the straps of my heels between my fingers. "Let's go."

Amelie and I began walking out of the alley, entering the avenue and gradually moving away from the nightclub.

"Isn't it uncomfortable to walk barefoot?"

"It's fine. Worse things could happen."

However, as soon as I finished saying those words, I cursed myself mentally because as soon as I closed my mouth, a torrential rain began.

Amelie and I ran through the street in search of shelter, finding only a bus stop.

"And now? How are we going to get back home in this rain?" Amelie said in despair.

"We'll wait for it to pass," I sit on the bench behind us, praying to get out of that rain soon.

About fifteen minutes passed and it was still raining. But a glimmer of hope appeared. A police car pulled up in front of the bus stop.

A police officer rolled down the car window.

"What are you doing in this rain?" he said somewhat loudly due to the rain's noise.

"We're waiting for it to pass so we can go back home," I reply.

"This rain won't stop anytime soon. Where do you live? Can I take you home?"

"Callaghan Palace Hotel."

"Get in," he unlocks the doors.

Amelie and I didn't think twice and got into the police car with the two officers who were on patrol that rainy night.

"I can't believe we're going back home in a police car," I whispered to Amelie.

"Aunt Agatha is going to kill us."