Chapter 3

The young man she saw was not alone. He was accompanied by 5 other men; all dressed in black suit, with dark shades and wired communication devices attached to their ears. They were his personal body guards.

“Welcome Mr. Ethan, your room is available sir.” The receptionist said, and handed him the access card to his room. 

He wasn’t talking to Lena when he first spoke.

“Good, when my business associates arrives, you know what to do.”

“Yes sir, I do.” She responded, with a smile. 

“Alright.”

“Enjoy your stay with us sir.” She added, still maintaining a bright smile. 

Lena and the lady watched as Ethan and his men took the elevator to the floor where his room was.

“Wow, that was Mr. Ethan?” Lena asked, but wasn’t expecting an answer, as she was saying to herself. “He looks more handsome in person than the picture of him I saw” she quickly brought out her iPad, to confirm if he was really the same person she saw on Wikipedia. She had done a research to know about him.. 

“Oh, that isn’t Mr. Ethan. There was his twin brother.” The lady over the counter chipped in when she saw the black and white picture on her screen. “They were identical. You are not the first person to mistake him for his twin brother.” She concluded.

“Really, where is he?” Lena asked, curiously.

“He’s late. People said that he died trying to save his brother, Mr. Ethan.”

“From what exactly!*

“It’s a family conflict, no one knows what exactly”

“Thank you for this information, but how come it’s not on the internet?” she wondered.

The receptionist returned to doing her job, “What room are you taking ma’am?”

“ahm, I want a room close to his. I mean, Mr. Ethan” she requested.

The lady looked at her, like she didn’t understand what she had said,” Pardon!”

“I said I need a room close to his. I’m a journalist, look…” she brought out her ID card and placed it on the counter. “Is there any way I could reach him, please?” 

“Are you new in the city, ma’am?”

“Of course not, why?”

“Then you should know that you can’t meet with Mr. Ethan if you are not in his level or among his business partners. He’s very proud and arrogant rich man.” 

“It doesn’t seem like you like him. Well, it’s very important I talk to him.”

“Good luck with that, but we wouldn’t tolerate it if you bother him or any of our customers; company policy. Besides, his room is in the master’s floor. A night up there will cost 300 box.”

“What!!” Lena exclaimed. 

She thought about what she could do, to get to him,

“Fine, ahm, just give me one of your cheapest rooms.” She gave the lady her card, to pay for the room.

“I’m sorry ma’am, it says insufficient balance.

Lena took the card and saw that it was the wrong card. She had the company’s credit card for her expenses on her first task. But a limit was placed on the card.

“Oh I’m sorry, try this.”

The lady swapped the card on the machine in front of her and waited few seconds to get a successful transaction.

“Good. Here’s your key. “ 

“Thank you “ 

“Enjoy your stay with us ma’am.” 

“Sure I will.” She smiled and walked to the elevator.

Soon, she located her room, on the third floor. She sat on the bed, thinking of what she could do to get to Ethan. 

“I cannot disappoint Mr. Peter, I cannot disappoint the company and most importantly, myself.” She continued soliloquizing. 

Some minutes after, she left her room, and found her way to the Hotel kitchen.

“Hello, who is in charge here?” she asked, immediately she stepped inside. She speaks so confidently that the cooks all turned to look at her.

“Who’s asking?” One of the cooks responded.

Lena cleared her throat, and slowly moved forward to find whose voice she heard. “I’m here to take Mr. Ethan’s order.” She stated.

“Is he here already?” the owner of the voice revealed himself. He was the chief chef of the kitchen. A big chubby man appeared before her.

“And who are you again?” he asked.

“I am Mr. Ethan’s new secretary. Can I get his orders now?”

“Why did he have to send you down here? He could have just called the kitchen, as always and we will deliver it to him.”

“Well, I guess he didn’t want the usual way.” 

“Oh, is that so? I didn’t know he now has a secretary. Good for him….,”

Lena cleared her throat, hoping she doesn’t get caught for impersonation. Within seconds, the tray was filled with the different meal Ethan always order. She was happy that her plan worked, but didn’t allow it get to her. She kept a straight face, while they filled the meals on a long table with wheels, covered with a white cotton.

“Here you go, Miss Secretary.” 

“Thank you.”

She calmly pushed the table out of the kitchen and was heading to the elevator.

Immediately the door opened, someone called her from behind,

“Hey, hold on.”

She turned slowly and saw that it was the chief chef again. As he approached, she could hear her heart beats in her ears.  

“Yes?”

“You forgot to ask for this.” He brought out a small plastic bottle filled with red spicy. “Mr. Ethan always wants it.”

“Oh, my bad. Thank you.”

“What do you say your name is again?” he asked, with a suspicious look on his face.

“ahm, I’m Mag..mag… Margret. Yes, that’s my name.”

“I’m Jeffery. Big J for short. I need you to help me remind Mr. Ethan that he hasn’t replied to my mails.”

Her racing heart slowly returned to normal after hearing what he had to say. She thought she was busted.

“Sure.” She let out a smile. 

“Thank you, this means a lot to me.”

She entered the elevator quickly to avoid further delay, “Alright Big J, I will let him know.” The door closed, and she let out a big relief. She took the meal to the last floor; the rooms there are only for top rich people and for politicians. 

Ethan’s men were at the door of his room, watching out for any threat, while he was inside getting ready for the meeting. As she approached the room, the guards stopped her. 

“Where are you taking this to?” one of the guards queried, obstructing her to moving forward. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to deliver this to Mr. Ethan.”

The men looked at themselves and wondered when such order was made. They all seemed to be clueless. 

“You are not in the right place, turn back immediately.” The guard commanded.

“I hope you know he doesn’t like his food cold. You don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“Leave it there and go, it will be delivered to him.” Another of the guards said, as he approached them.

“I understand you’re doing your job. So am i. I was instructed to deliver it to him and help him out with some of the soups, I’m sure you can’t do that.”

They searched her to be sure she didn’t have any dangerous weapon on her, before leading her into the room. Ethan was just coming out of his bathroom when she was setting the meal on the dining table. He was surprised to see a lady in his room, setting his table with his favorite meal. The aroma also drew him out of the bathing room 

“What… Who ordered this?” he asked, looking at the guard that led Lena into the room. 

The guard figured he didn’t order the food, and was going to roughly handle her for lying, but Ethan stopped him from doing that. 

“I was going to call the kitchen but thank God you’re here already.” He said, walked to his wardrobe to drop his towel, before going to sit on the dining table.

 He signaled his body guard to the leave the room while Lena helped in dishing the food. “You’re not from the kitchen, are you?” he watched as she mixed his coffee. “You should know I measure my milk before having them in my coffee. 

Busted!

She thought of running but that would be a bad idea. 

“Who are you and what do you want?” Ethan inquired, and held on to her hand so tightly, but he tried not to raise his voice too high. That will attract his guards.

Fear gripped Lena as she stood on a spot, still holding a jug on her other hand. “I…I…I’m Lena.” She managed to get those words out of her mouth. 

“Guards” Ethan called out, and his men rushed in immediately.