Chapter 4 THREE

The last time Daniella visited Hong Kong, she had been with her parents, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. They'd come to celebrate her birthday at Disneyland, but the day had been marred by constant quarreling, leaving her isolated in her room, crying and disappointed. Now, she was determined to replace that painful memory with something better, perhaps even amusing.

Who knew what awaited her this time?

After landing at the airport, she hailed a taxi to her hotel. She checked in and paid the room's security deposit, then made her way to the elevator that would transport her to the nineteenth floor where her room was situated.

Daniella had always felt uneasy about elevators, probably due to watching too many Asian horror movies where ghosts and supernatural beings often made appearances inside them.

She tried to calm herself as more guests entered the elevator, and she overheard conversations in Filipino, which comforted her. But when they reached the fifteenth floor, everyone else exited except for her and a man wearing a face mask.

Nervousness and fear began to creep over her. She hurriedly stepped out when the doors opened and briskly walked to her room. Glancing back, she noticed the man following her, which alarmed her. Clutching her card key tightly, she sprinted toward her room and only felt safe once she was inside.

Later, Daniella found herself laughing at her paranoia. The man who had followed her was likely just another guest with a room on the nineteenth floor. If he'd meant to harm her, he could have done so already, right?

Feeling courageous and ready to explore Hong Kong, she changed into more comfortable winter attire. She dropped by the restaurant adjacent to the front desk for an early dinner and then set out for her adventure.

After two hours of walking and sightseeing, Daniella returned to her hotel, ready to call it a night. She was exhausted and was beginning to drift off to sleep when she heard indistinct noises coming from the adjacent room.

The hotel's soundproofing didn't seem to be sufficient, but she thought she could endure it. However, the noises from her neighbor seemed excessively loud, making it impossible to ignore.

She called the front desk and requested that her call be connected to her neighbor. After ten attempts, someone finally picked up the phone. It was a man with a pleasant, well-modulated voice, though Daniella wasn't calling to offer compliments.

"Could you keep your noise down while having sex?" She was blunt, without any preamble, and warned him that she could report him to the front desk for causing a public disturbance.

"Mind your own business, dear," the man replied, further infuriating Daniella.

"What did you say?" She raised her voice.

"If you're bored, why don't you join us?" he suggested.

Frustrated, Daniella hung up the phone before her tongue lashed out further. Could she have heard him correctly? Did he just invite her to join him? The audacity of that man! Daniella was seething with anger as she returned to bed, attempting to get some sleep.

The next morning, Daniella woke up late, feeling irritable and not in the mood to explore any of the tourist attractions in the city. She headed to the bathroom, took a quick shower, and went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. She was famished!

The breakfast was a buffet, offering a variety of options. Daniella served herself some rice and chicken curry and requested an omelet. She then searched for a table that was somewhat isolated from the other guests.

Before digging into her food, she scanned the room for familiar faces, but most of the diners appeared to be Chinese and Indian. Only a few patrons were harder to classify by nationality, just like the man eating alone at a table one over from her.

She couldn't help but glance at the man from head to toe. In all fairness, he looked incredibly attractive. He was tall, lean, and his long hair was tied up in a messy bun. She typically disliked men with long hair, finding them unkempt, but in his case, she could forgive it. His blue eyes were an added bonus. Tanned skin and blue eyes equaled super-hot. She couldn't help but wonder about his nationality.

As she took another peek at him, she was caught staring. Embarrassed, she quickly shifted her focus to her hot coffee, which turned out to be scalding hot, and she accidentally burned her tongue. Daniella cursed loudly, and the man seemed to hear her, laughing in response-or at least, that's what she assumed.

From that moment, she lowered her gaze and concentrated on her meal. After breakfast, Daniella decided to return to her room for some additional rest. While waiting for the elevator, the man with the blue eyes came over and greeted her.

"Hello," he said.

His smile nearly made Daniella weak in the knees. How had she stumbled upon such an angel? "Hi. I'm sorry if you caught me staring earlier," she apologized, and he nodded.

However, on the fifth floor, a seductive woman joined them and unabashedly expressed her interest in the man. Using her flirtatious charm, she inched closer to the blue-eyed man, who seemed to enjoy the attention. Both of them exited the elevator on the eighteenth floor.

Daniella was disappointed by the audacious flirtation happening in broad daylight. It was her first time taking an interest in the opposite sex, and it was already proving to be a disaster.

Once inside her hotel room, she stood in front of the mirror and took a hard look at herself. It was painful to accept, but her appearance didn't seem to exude sexiness and seduction. With a heavy sigh, she climbed back into bed, covering herself from head to toe.

However, a few minutes later, Daniella had a change of heart. She decided to shop for some new clothing at the department store on the second floor. She needed something nice to wear!

Who knew, she might encounter the perfect man in Hong Kong? Mr. Blue Eyes might have been a contender, but she disapproved of someone who openly flirted with anyone.

****

Marcus needed to disembark on the eighteenth floor to avoid arousing Daniella's suspicions. He used the stairs to climb one floor up. He had initially followed her to the elevator after breakfast, a mistake he now regretted. He couldn't risk being recognized.

The other woman's advances came in handy to rectify his error. What if he introduced her as a potential girlfriend? It might make him more visible to Daniella, and his job would become easier. But fate had different plans for Marcus.

"Hey, going somewhere?" Marcus waited for the right moment before he approached the woman waiting for the lift on the third floor.

He hoped that the woman wouldn't recognize his voice. It had been a while since he'd been with a woman, and when an acquaintance from his younger days had flirted with him, he hadn't objected and brought her to his room. Little did he know that his neighbor would have the audacity to call him and complain about the noise!

Marcus was genuinely interested in getting to know Daniella better, not just as a detective, but as a man. Yes, he was taken aback when he answered her call, and he found Daniella's rudeness and audacity beyond his expectations.

Despite considering her an educated woman, her behavior was far from courteous. What was the harm if she overheard them enjoying their intimate moment? Shouldn't she have kept quiet and ignored it?

"Hello, where's your girlfriend?" she asked, noticing that he was alone and seemingly flirting with her.

"Oh, I'm still single... and available! Can I get your name, Miss Beautiful?" He knew it wasn't part of his job to flirt with his subject, but he couldn't help it when Daniella looked so fresh and pretty in the morning.

"Daniella Reyes, and yours if you don't mind?" She observed that the man was a skilled conversationalist, and she doubted that women could resist his charm.

"Marcus Madrigal," he replied, instantly regretting sharing his real name.

Daniella smiled and extended her hand to Marcus. "Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Madrigal," she said.

"Ah, just call me Marcus, Dani." There he was again, addressing her by her first name when they weren't close. When he glanced at her, he found her with a raised eyebrow.