"You missed your flight?" asked a young woman in a soft but disappointed voice. Her brown eyes were already wet with tears as she realized she would not be able to see her lover that night.
"Yes, but I already bought another ticket. I will be there tomorrow. Please wait for me," the man answered gently from the other end of the line. He tried to calm her down and give her hope so she would not feel more upset.
The call ended quickly, leaving the woman frozen in silence. The pen she had been using to draw on her tablet stopped in mid stroke.
Her name was Marie Maren Lawson. She was twenty one, in her final semester of college, and known for her beauty and cheerful nature. Tonight was supposed to be special. For the first time, she had gathered her courage to give her lover, Ramon, the most precious part of herself. She had planned everything carefully, choosing the Palais Javerna Hotel as the place where their night together would be unforgettable.
But the plan collapsed as soon as Ramon called to say he had missed his flight. Marie felt her dream crumble. She had been preparing herself for this moment because she feared her relationship was becoming dull. They had been together for five years and had never shared the kind of intimacy most couples had.
Tears filled her eyes as she looked at her phone wallpaper, which showed Ramon's smiling face. "No one would believe I am still a virgin after five years with him," she whispered to herself with a weak smile.
To escape her sadness, Marie decided to go to a bar near the hotel. She bought a bottle of liquor and drank deeply. The first sip gave her warmth, the second made her chest feel heavy, and by the time she had nearly emptied the bottle, her head was spinning. Half an hour later, she stumbled back toward the hotel, bottle still in hand.
At the lobby, she roughly tossed the bottle into a trash bin. "I finally found the courage today, but it was wasted," she thought bitterly as she dragged her feet toward the elevator.
A hotel staff member noticed her drunken state and quickly stepped forward to help. Seeing that she could no longer stand properly, he supported her and guided her along the hallway.
Marie mumbled nonsense as they walked, her words slurring, until they reached the door she believed was her room.
"Miss, please give me your key. Let me open the door," the staff said politely.
"No. I can do it myself. You can leave," Marie answered with a weak tone of anger.
The staff stepped back but stayed close, watching her struggle. Her hands shook as she tried to push the key into the lock, but it did not fit. She had chosen the wrong door.
However, the woman did not heed the words of the hotel staff to give her the key to her room.
The man rushed to pick up the fallen key and tried to help Marie open the door, but Marie got angry and shouted at him.
"I told you I'd be the one to open the door myself! I don't need anyone else's help! I want to be alone, go away!" Marie chirped angrily but her sad face at this moment couldn't be covered because tears started to roll down her already red face.
"What is this?" The typical adult male sound was heard from behind Marie and the hotel staff.
"Sorry, Sir, this lady is drunk. Sorry if we made a fuss."
With his face down while apologizing, the worker quickly explained what was going on right now to the man in charge of the hotel where he worked.
The handsome and dashing man in front of him right now is Adrian Javenra, the youngest of the three children of the Javerna family who is the owner of the Palais Javerna Hotel.
Adrian is a young entrepreneur who has just officially become the successor to the Javenra family business. Lately, Adrian has been so busy at the company that he doesn't have time to go home to his family's mansion and chooses to sleep in a hotel because it's closer to the office.
But arriving in front of the room, Adrian instead had to be faced with a commotion that he didn't want to hear.
"Just leave this woman to me. Just carry on with your work!" said Adrian, a little frustrated.
The staff immediately left after getting orders from one of the owners of the Palais Javeran hotel.
Adrian approached Marie and started talking.
"Miss, what can I do for you? Looks like you're in the wrong room. This is my room, Miss. And your room is right behind you right now!" Adrian said politely to Marie.
Marie turned to Adrian with a sharp piercing gaze. Her heart fluttered when she saw Adrian's good looks. A glimpse of Vano's face flashed and visualized the face of the man in front of her.
"Hi, handsome man! I know that you are not my lover! But, why is your face disguised like him? You're making fun of me, aren't you?" chirped Marie whose vision was almost blurry.
Adrian looked at the woman in front of him in confusion. It was the first time a drunken woman had dared to come into his room uninvited. And Adrian even thought that Marie was pretending to be drunk and wanted to tease him.
'Gosh, I told you not to send me women as your bribe! But even though I'm tired tonight, you guys actually sent a pretty smart woman. You sycophants!'
Adrian cursed inwardly referring to the investors who tried to cooperate with his company and used any means to persuade him, including sending women to his hotel room.
Adrian's habit of having multiple partners makes naughty investors try to take their profits. They didn't know that Adrian's habit of playing with women had greatly reduced recently.
The man then snorted in annoyance at the behavior of the woman in front of him. What's more, when she was about to speak, Marie was already unsteady and fell into Adrian's arms with her eyes closed.
"You stupid man! I've gotten to this point, but you've thwarted my courage!" Marie chirped in Adrian's arms, "Don't you know, I want to give my virginity to you tonight?!" she continued while hitting Adrian's back.
"Hey, Miss, wake up! Let me help you to your room!" said Adrian who was getting irritated with Marie's reckless attitude.
Marie let go of her arms and looked at Adrian.
"Mr. Handsome, since I'm upset tonight, can you come with me?" said Marie who sounded seduced by Adrian, but he realized that Marie was drunk and didn't realize what she was saying.
Adrian could no longer contain his annoyance. He ignored Marie's murmurs and attitude and immediately reached into his coat pocket to take out his room key.
Adrian brought Marie into his room, then put Marie's limp body on the bed where he usually rested.
"Hey, careless lady! I don't know how to hurt you if you're so drunk like this! But you've pissed me off. I will ask for your explanation tomorrow morning once you wake up!" Adrian scolded Marie and immediately rushed into the bathroom.
After bathing, Adrian's body was indeed fresher, but sleepiness from exhaustion made him choose to remain silent and ignore the beautiful woman lying on his bed.
'Then where do I sleep? There's no way I'm sleeping on the couch while that woman is so sound asleep on my bed. You'll see, I'll give you the calculations tomorrow!'
Adrian grumbled again in his heart, but still, he didn't want to give up on Marie who had now taken over his bed.
Just a moment when Adrian lay on the bed where Marie slept, Marie unconsciously changed her sleeping position from facing the stranger to facing her, even hugging the handsome man without feeling guilty.
'Naughty women! This is how you tease me, huh? By pretending to be heartbroken and then falling asleep and then seducing me?' Adrian thought with a sly smile.
Marie continued to hug Adrian unconsciously as if the man's body was a very comfortable bolster to hug.
"Don't cross your line any more than this!" Adrian muttered again, but he didn't show the slightest bit of anger.
Marie, who slept like a stuffed buffalo, was so reckless that she provoked the man to do what he had been holding back for so long.
"Don't blame me if your body hurts in the morning. You asked for it!" said Adrian with a grin and immediately traced every inch of Marie's body.
And sadly, Marie enjoyed every touch the stranger gave her. When the limit of her chastity was taken away and caused extreme pain, Marie couldn't resist the effects of the alcohol that weighed on her body.
I do not know how long they enjoyed the pleasure until finally, both fell asleep exhausted.
The next day, Adrian wakes up with a fresh body. He glanced over with a smile when he saw the body of the woman who had satisfied his desire last night.
'I feel sorry for you, Miss. But I hope you don't regret giving me your first night. Go to sleep, I'll be back after my work is done!' Adrian said to himself with a smile before leaving Marie who was still falling asleep.
***
Marie began to open her eyes slowly when the sun illuminated her room. She frowned when she saw the curtains that had been opened. The woman then thought, maybe when she came back to the room drunk, she forgot to close the curtains.
When she was about to get out of bed, Marie held her head which was still a little dizzy. Besides, her body felt limp as if she had been working hard all night.
When Marie wanted to get out of bed, the pain in her crotch area and around her sensitive area made her open her eyes wide.
"Oh, it hurts so bad!" she screamed in pain, "But why does my sensitive area hurt so much?" She began to wonder.
Marie's face started to panic as her still blurry eyes glanced at the white sheets that were red like blood.
"Impossible!" Marie muttered, trying to get rid of her negative thoughts.
'Did Vano come last night? Ah, no way because Vano said the plane was delayed,' her mind was still dodging.
"Then what did I do last night? Why does my sensitive area hurt and there is blood on this sheet? Who was with me last night?" she mumbled softly.
Marie again wondered what had happened. She thought hard, trying to remember what happened last night.
Marie's face immediately paled as she vaguely remembered the sequence of scenes starting when she received a call from her boyfriend until she bought liquor at a bar and returned to the hotel drunk.
And the last memory was when she drank pleasure with a man whose face was obscured by the influence of alcohol in his eyes.
Marie shook her head while covering her mouth as if she couldn't believe her memory. Instantly feelings of sadness, anger, and disappointment mixed into one, and began to take over her.
With a difficult step, Marie went into the bathroom to clean her ugly body. Under the shower, she sat while hugging her legs. At that moment her heart rumbled. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore.
***
Even though the woman's body felt better after the bath, her heart didn't. All the regrets in herself became a burden at every step when she left the room which was a silent witness to the beginning of the destruction of her life.
When Marie closed the bedroom door, her eyes immediately widened when she saw the number of the room she was in and realized that last night she didn't sleep in her room.
"305? This isn't the room I ordered," she muttered. What she had just seen made her even more certain that something had happened to her last night.
"I entered the wrong room," Marie said while covering his mouth, "I have to ask the hotel staff," Marie continued as she walked carefully due to pain around her crotch area.
When Marie arrived at the hotel reception desk, she was immediately greeted warmly by one of the receptionists on duty.
"Good morning, Miss. Can I help you?" asked a woman in a red dress with her hair in a neat bun. She smiled kindly at the hotel guests where she worked.
"Sorry, do you know who booked room 305? I unconsciously slept in that room last night," Marie asked curiously.
The young woman was silent for a moment while biting her red lower lip. She looked confused in response to Marie's question. The reason is that all hotel employees know that room 305 is the room of the son of the hotel owner.
The young woman began to think about the answer she would give to Marie. She wanted to make it look as if Marie was the one at fault for her carelessness in entering someone else's room.
When the woman was thinking, she then remembered that one of the hotel staff who brought Marie had told her that last night Marie didn't want to be helped to open the door. After that, he left Marie with Adrian.
"Sorry, Miss, we can't tell you," she answered to hide Adrian's identity. "Maybe you entered the wrong room when you were drunk. One of the staff who escorted you said that you don't want to be helped to open the door," she continued.
Marie looked confused after hearing the receptionist's answer. Maybe it was true that she had entered the wrong room because of her stupidity. She did not want to be helped by the hotel staff to help open the door to her room.
In front of the reception desk, Marie stood still without a word coming out of her mouth. She couldn't blame anyone because it wouldn't have happened had she given her room key to the hotel staff.
Her legs trembled as she forced herself to walk away from the room that had already ruined her night. A hollow feeling spread through her chest, and she could barely breathe as she left the hotel behind.
What will happen to me now? she thought miserably. How am I supposed to tell Vano the truth? Should I admit that the one thing I had been saving for him was stolen by a stranger I cannot even name?
The thought made her cry quietly as she glanced back at the tall and dazzling building, its lights glowing against the night sky.
Her phone suddenly rang, startling her. She pulled it out from her black handbag with shaky fingers. The name on the screen made her heart squeeze painfully, and tears immediately filled her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Marie tried to steady her voice before answering. "Hello?"
"Marie, where are you, my love? I just landed!" Vano's excited tone filled the line.
Hearing him so full of joy only deepened Marie's sorrow. She wanted to tell him everything, yet shame weighed heavily on her heart. She felt unworthy of his love now.
"I am heading back to my mother's house. Do not come for me. Go to the hotel instead. We will meet there," Marie said quietly.
Vano paused, his voice shifting to worry. "Why do you sound so sad? We are finally about to see each other again, and soon we will never have to be apart."
Marie quickly wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I am not sad. I am just too happy. The tears came without me realizing," she lied, her sobs slipping through at times.
"You silly girl," Vano laughed softly. "I am home now and not going anywhere again. Stop crying or I will be upset if I find your eyes all swollen. I only want to see the face of my beautiful bride-to-be."
Marie forced a smile even though her heart was breaking. "Alright then, my handsome man. Your princess will dress up for you tonight. Wait for me at the hotel entrance. Do not let anyone's eyes wander toward me."
"What belongs to me will always stay mine," Vano said proudly. "I am not afraid of anyone else because I trust you. Marie, I miss you so much. Come soon, I cannot wait to hold you."
Before hanging up, he whispered words of love that made Marie's tears spill once again.
When the call ended, Marie clutched her phone tightly. Her voice broke as she whispered into the emptiness, "I am sorry, Vano. I failed you. I was careless, and the one gift I wanted to keep only for you was taken by another man. Forgive me. Forgive me."