Chapter 101



Hayden’s face reddened, “You…”

“Tell me. what have I done to you?”. Joseph walked toward Hayden without any change in his expression. He stared at Hayden and said, “Maybe you should show what I’ve done. I wouldn’t mind.”

Hayden panicked and turned away from Joseph. His calf hit the couch and he fell backwards off balance, so he quickly grabbed whatever was closest to him at the time.

Hayden realized that what he was grabbing was Joseph’s neck. He prepared to push it away as soon as he hit the ground, but….

Thunder roared in the night sky. At the same time, the room went dark after a few buzzing sounds. Hayden screamed in surprise, ran to Joseph’s arm and flinched.

The noise of people asking questions around him came from outside the room.

“Why is it dark in here?”

“Was it a power outage?”

The service staff consoled the customers: “Gentlemen and ladies, please remain calm and return to your rooms. We are experiencing a temporary power outage. Our team is troubleshooting the problem, it will be fixed very soon.”

Hayden’s room was the only one that remained quiet amidst the chaos. It was like the room isolated from all the chaos outside. It was so quiet they could hear a needle dropping to the floor.

Hayden could feel Joseph’s breath on top of her.

Joseph could smell the perfume Hayden was wearing.

Their chests were so close they could feel each other’s heartbeat. The night was dark. Their distance was so short that the air separating them was thin.

Hayden suddenly remembered the moment they kissed. His head was in such a tangle that he forgot to push Joseph away.

“You still haven’t told me – what did I do to you that night?” Joseph’s voice rose next to Hayden’s ear.

She felt as if her soul had left her body and she had no control over her body. “What?”

“What I did to you the other night was much more restrained than what I’m about to do now.”

Joseph’s lips sealed Hayden’s and stopped him from speaking before he could react.

“Don’t…”

Joseph kissed Hayden repeatedly on his lips. He sucked his lips lightly and enjoying the taste of Hayden. His kisses were on his chin, his neck, and on his shoulder that was exposed since I-don’t-know-when.

Hayden’s shirt was ajar. The cold wind was blowing in the room, but no one felt cold. Hayden’s body was warm. I knew she was wide awake, but Hayden lost control over her own body as if she were under the influence of alcohol.

Just as Joseph was about to reach under her skirt, the buzzing sound returned and the room lit up the next second.

At the same time, Hayden pushed Joseph away, as if he had finally regained consciousness and control over his own body. She stared at him for a few seconds before deciding to run away. However, she was too scared to lock herself in the bathroom.

Joseph lay down on the couch after being pushed. He stared at the chandelier as if blaming her for interrupting.

Then he looked in the direction of the bathroom. He remembered what had just happened and became curious. He confirmed that Hayden’s body was not rejecting him; on the contrary, his body was a perfect fit.

After locking himself in the bathroom, Hayden turned on the faucet and washed his face with cold water. The warm feeling on his face only diminished after that.

What was wrong with her, was she crazy? She was about to go back to bed with him.

There was a knock at the door.

“Sir, we just had a power outage. As an apology, our boss has prepared some dumplings for you for dinner.”

“Okay.”

Hayden overheard Joseph talking to the wait staff.

He stood inside the bathroom staring at the door. After a while, Joseph knocked on the bathroom door. “The owner…”

“I heard.” Hayden stopped Joseph, “You go. I’ll come later.”

Joseph remained silent. Hayden thought he heard a chuckle from Joseph.

Hayden braced himself for almost ten minutes before opening the bathroom door, and exiting the bathroom. Joseph was not in the room. It looked like he had come down before her.

She tidied up her room a bit. Seeing the heavy rain outside, it seemed impossible to go out and find other lodging tonight. She would have to make do like this.

The lobby of the inn was buzzing with noise. Tourists staying there were playing games like poker and charades. There were even people playing guitars and singing.

Joseph was different from the others. He would sit in a corner of the lobby and read the business paper. He was even taking notes in the paper with a pen.

Hayden took a deep breath and sat down across from Joseph. He ignored what was going on in the room and said in a nonchalant tone, “Why are you so serious? You’re out having a good time. Why are you reading the business paper?”

Joseph raised his head and asked, “Do you think I’m a dull person who has no entertainment?”

“Do you have forms of entertainment?”

Joseph put the paper down on the table and held it up to Hayden. “I have entertainments, but they require more attention and intelligence than what you normally play.”

On the paper was a Sudoku game. All the blanks were filled in. Joseph was filling in the blank in this game just now.

Hayden’s lips twitched. She almost forgot what happened in the room after being insulted by Joseph.

“It’s still a puzzle game. Playing charades would also require the same intelligence.”

It was just a game. Why the need to draw the line as to which was the best and which wasn’t?

Joseph disagreed: “No. Take a three-player poker game, for example. Other than remembering the cards as you shuffle, you already know what card the other two players have when you received your deck. I don’t think these games require intelligence.”

“Remembering the cards?” Hayden hesitated, “I knew there were people capable of remembering the cards, but I’ve never heard of people capable of knowing what cards the other players have. It’s impossible.”

How could anyone know what card the other players have before anyone played a card?

“I won’t force you to believe me.” Joseph raised his eyebrow as if he were the victor of life.

Hayden grew frustrated. He looked around and found two girls sitting at the next table looking at Joseph. An idea occurred to him.

“Is it just you two, do you want to play cards?”.

The girls were surprised. They blushed and nodded repeatedly.

Hayden looked at Joseph and insulted, “Well, don’t limit yourself to talking for the sake of talking. Prove it, I’m dying to know if it’s true, Mr. Beckham.”

Joseph didn’t reject Hayden’s suggestion. They set two tables together and the girls grabbed a set of cards from the reception desk. They drew lots to decide which team they were on. Hayden and Joseph were on the opposite team.

When everyone received their tastings, Hayden almost burst out laughing when she saw that they were good cards that had been dealt to her. As long as she dealt the bad card she had in the deck, she would be the winner of this game.

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