an 'unintentional encounter'

‘Act surprised, act surprised, act surprised’ Aldo thought to himself

as he walked to the hotel lobby. He had spent hours researching how to

create a meet cute ‘unintentionally’. Now that he was marching into

the lobby on one of the hotels he owns he suddenly felt nervous, like a

teenager meeting his crush. He planned this out himself why was his

mind acting like this? The plan was simple and everything was ready.

He called Julia earlier and found out where Sarah was staying, drove

there before Sarah returned, got rid of his guards so he could appear

more approach able and stood in an inconspicuous position. He was

constantly monitoring the revolving doors. As soon as she walks in all

he would have to do is call out to her like he wasn’t expecting to see

her , make small talk and then invite her to dinner –all while acting like

he had work to do here.it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with

something, I mean, it is his hotel after all.

As he sat, eyes fixed to the front door, repeating the plan to

himself, he failed to notice the person he was waiting for walk through

the door. Sarah walked into the hotel lobby and made her way to the

elevators. She got in and took out her phone to check the message she

had just received. As soon as she read it, she rushed out the elevator

and back to the lobby. She walked to the receptionist and talked to her

for a bit. She was about to leave when she spotted from the corner of

her eye a figure that was quite familiar. Taking two steps back, she

tilted her head and caught his gaze. “Mr. Accardi?”

His stern face seemed to relax when he saw her, realizing that he

had messed up the first step. She gave him a sweet smile, which he

took as an invitation and walked towards her. “Fancy to run into you

here, Miss Etoundi.” He knew what he was doing because as soon asthe last two words fell off his tongue she responded. Waving her hands

frantically she said,

“Oh no. Sarah, just call me Sarah.”

To which he nodded and said, “Well then you should call me Aldo.”

“Noted. Are you meting someone here? “She asked, glancing at the

spot where he was sited, it seemed that he was indeed alone.

“Not anymore it seems. Is this where you are staying? Mr. and Mrs.

Canossa couldn’t come up with better accommodation for their

wedding planner?”

“Oh no, not them, me. I love Julia and justino but I’d rather not

know their families think of me.” She responded quickly. Then, as if she

had been hurt by his remark she continued, “Besides this is place is

really nice. The room is comfortable, it’s easy to find, safe and the

customer service is great. Although I feel like I might as well loose an

arm paying for this, it’s worth every penny.” She was spending

thousands of dollars every night and this man sounded like this, wasn’t

he making he look cheap?

He seemed to have understood her reasoning but he dint intend to

clear up the misunderstanding. Instead he smiled and asked “you sound

aggrieved is this your hotel?”

“Uh, what. I’m I not allowed to admit that it’s good if it not mine?

And why do you sound like it couldn’t possibly be mine? You don’t

know me like that?” she said sounding even more unsettled than

before.

“I do actually” he thought to himself. He gave a low chuckle, an

intoxicated little laugh. For a second Sarah forgot that she was trying to

fight this man. He then bent forward like he did this morning only, thistime, she could see his face and she did not try to break eye contact

with him. “So, is it yours? “He asked again staring deep into her eyes.

God knows how much he wanted her to say yes. If she did he would

immediately transfer it to her name and give her as a wedding gift. But

he may have failed to realize how powerful his aura was, it kept her in

place. She wasn’t breaking eye contact, not because she is so tough but

because she couldn’t bear to move before his eyes commanded her to.

She couldn’t even move her eyes talk less of mustering up the guts to

lie to his face.

“no.” she managed to squeeze out.

“Had a long day?” he switched the topic without moving. She just

nodded.

“Me too. Want to grab a drink?” he asked moving back to a straight

pose.

Sarah finally got space to breathe. “Nope, no alcohol, not even a

drop. My head is still pounding from last night. Mmph my poor liver”

She sighed holding her head with one hand and rubbing her stomach

with the other. “I haven’t had dinner though, want to grab something

to eat?”

“My place? Tell me what you want to eat it’ll be ready by the time

we get there.” This was even better now he could get her to go home

with him, again.

“I don’t know, it is kind of late and I really want to go to bed.”

“You can sleep over. I’ll have the help prepare a change of clothes

and pajamas. And I’ll bring you back tomorrow” he assured her.

She smiled, “ok I’ll just let reception know.”

As she made her way towards reception an evil smile crossed his lips, if

he wanted to hurt her, the reception of his own hotel couldn’t possible

help her. He couldn’t help feeling that her ignorance was adorable.

The two left the hotel together after opening the door for her he

looked around, he had an eerie feeling that they were being watched.

He shook it off and went in.

As soon as the car drove off, a figure emerged from the shadows in

the rear end of the parking lot.