“Take a guess,” the man says.
He shakes his head at Claire. With a blush, the woman closes her mouth and allows Leilani to guess.
Leilani reaches to pull his hands off her eyes. She feels that the fingers are long and calloused from years of hard work or exercise.
“Bryan Flynn?” she asks with disbelief.
Bryan pouts and brushes his hand through his shaggy hair, “That was too easy.”
Leilani takes him in. He has long bangs that almost cover his eyes, a pointy nose, and eyes as pure as crystal. He’s wearing a white shirt with a skull pendant necklace.
“Well you’ve finally shown up,” she says, “But how did you get into the hotel?”
Bryan shoves his hands into the pockets of his torn jeans. He looks casual and masculine, like a rebel.
“I get in when I want to get in,” he says, flexing his biceps.
Bryan is fit and muscular, and Leilani isn’t surprised by his looks. She knows he’s always been dedicated to his weights. Claire seems to be smitten with him and takes a deep breath to steady herself.
“Still trying to prove you’re all muscles and no brains?” Leilani teases him.
“Sis,” Bryan says, taking Leilani’s shoulder, “Isn’t this a nice surprise?”
Before Leilani can answer, the director shouts at Bryan:
“Get over here, Bryan. It’s time to start.”
“Are you starring in this shoot?” Leilani asks with disbelief.
Bryan smiles mysteriously at her. Leilani hasn’t heard from Bryan for a long time. She had no idea he’d become successful as an actor.
“That’s my cue. How about you buy me dinner afterward?” Bryan says, walking away before Leilani can reply.
“You know Bryan?” Claire says moony-eyed, “Oh no, I forget to take a selfie with him.”
“Is the actress here?” the director shouts again.
A crowd appears at the entrance to the spa. The actress is surrounded by security, make-up artists, and stylists. Though Leilani can’t see the actress she recognizes the entourage from the morning. It’s Leonie.
Leilani supposes it makes sense that Leonie was scheduled to appear in the promotional footage. After all, her family still owned the hotel when the commercial was planned.
Leonie sees Leilani watching her through the steam of the hot springs, and Leilani can feel the daggers hidden beneath Leonie’s professional expression. Wearing a bathrobe, Leonie approaches Leilani.
“Hmm so this is your first day,” Leonie says, “I look like you have to deal with a lot and Waylen doesn’t seem eager to give you a hand. Zuri Hotel is about to become a shell and you find time to gawk at me at my shoot? Are you afraid that I won’t do this job properly?”
“Waylen trusts me so he gave me this hotel,” Leilani says calmly, “If he’s not worried, why should you be?”
Leonie sneers, “Your calm pretense might work with the staff, but we’ll see how long you can keep this hotel running.”
“Even if I can’t, my husband will support me,” Leilani says.
“I’ll wait for the day when Waylen isn’t your husband then.”
Leonie stalks away to the hot spring where the lighting and camera crews are waiting. Leonie takes off her bathrobe and slowly enters the hot spring.
The first footage shows Leonie relaxing during the hot spring with Bryan holding her from behind. Steam rises from the water, and Leonie closes her eyes in comfort. She takes a deep breath and gets into the role quickly; she looks as if she’s in paradise.
She cups the water with both hands and slowly pours it over her face and arms while Bryan hugged her from behind. The young couple looks sweet and natural. Soon the filming ends.
It has gone unexpectedly well. Leonie buried the hatchet and did her best on the shoot. Somehow that knowledge doesn’t make Leilani feel any better.
Leonie gets out of the hot spring and an assistant wraps her in a towel. Another one holds a parasol for her. They all walk together to the dressing room but suddenly Leonie stops and glares wordlessly at Leilani.
“They are so much alike, Diana and Leonie. Both are so pretty,” Claire observes, “They were so close, too. I remember Leonie used to come to visit Diana all the time. They talked about everything and seemed inseparable. But something happened three years ago that changed their relationship.”
“What happened?” Leilani asks as she watches Leonie and her assistants retreat to the dressing room.
Claire is a bit hesitant. She looks around to make sure there’s no one near before saying, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I came to discuss some business with Diana but Leonie was there too. It was right before you and Mr. Bamford were going to be married. Well, I heard them mention the Hamilton name and something about drugs.”
“Really?” Leilani asks with amazement.
She tries to remember her wedding to Waylen, but her memory is hazy from the poison. She vaguely recalls pouring the two of them red wine on their wedding night. She remembers hearing a crash. Did Waylen throw the glass onto the floor?
She closes her eyes with concentration and she can hear Waylen’s angry voice: Leilani Meyer, you’re a bitch. You only know how to use such a despicable means to seduce me. Or do you simply want any man to touch you? How about I call some in for you?
She remembers feeling dizzy then.
“Was I drugged too?” she wonders.
Though trying to remember makes her head in pain, she forces herself to think back on the night. She remembers the security guards rushing in and grabbing her. She fought like hell and used her remaining sanity to throw herself off the balcony. She remembers landing on the green lawn and hitting her head.
“Is that why Waylen hates me—because he thinks I drugged him on our wedding night?” Leilani wonders, “I’d naturally assume Leonie was behind that, but if Leonie and Diana were discussing it, it might be more complicated than that. I wonder what Diana is really like.”
“Mrs. Bamford, your table is ready,” a waiter interrupts Leilani and Claire’s conversation.
Leilani nods then turns to look at Claire.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely.
She knows that she never would have remembered her wedding night if Claire hadn’t prompted her. She never would have understood why Waylen had treated her so coldly for the last three and a half years. The knowledge gives her confidence.
“Maybe it’s better if you forget what I said,” Claire says nervously, she’s not sure if she should have revealed so much information to her new boss, “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to take my lunch break now.”
Leilani walks to the restaurant and ponders the new information. She made a lunch reservation and planned for Bryan and Charles to meet her. Charles is prompt, but Bryan still hasn’t arrived by the time the waiter brings them their drinks.
Charles considerately pours some red wine for Leilani. A bouquet of red roses sits at the center of the table—a gift from Charles in honor of Leilani’s first day managing the Zuri Hotel.
“I’ll call Bryan,” Leilani says, picking up her mobile phone.
“There’s no need,” Charles says sheepishly, “He sent me a text saying he had some unexpected plans come up.”
Charles pours himself a glass of wine and avoids Leilani’s gaze. Bryan did send him a message, but Charles was responsible for arranging the ‘unexpected plans.’
“Hmm, unexpected indeed,” Leilani says doubtfully.
She looks across the table at Charles. Charles is dressed formally in a crisp suit, and Leilani thinks he looks nice without his white lab coat.
“Do you feel uncomfortable having lunch with me alone?” Charles asks with sudden concern.
“I didn’t think about that,” Leilani says, swirling the wine in her glass.
Charles raises his glass and toasts her, “Well, to your first day managing Zuri Hotel!”
“It might also be my last day,” Leilani says frowning.
Charles seems unsurprised by her pessimism. Carefully he pulls a business card from his pocket and slides it across the table to her.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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