Chereads / Let Him Love You First / Chapter 13 - Portrait of a sleeping woman

Chapter 13 - Portrait of a sleeping woman

After a long night of partying, drinking and searching, the group of girls retreated to their hotel suite. They went to their rooms while some slumped their bodies into the sofa in the living room.

The next day Zoey woke up around one in the afternoon. She felt a bit dizzy and had a foggy mind. She could not remember anything that happened last night.

Shane also opened her eyes when she felt Zoey's movements on the bed whereas the rest of them were still in their own dreamland.

Shane felt extremely exhausted. Her muscles were feeling like they had been tortured from an extreme workout, her thighs, as well as her shoulders, were stiff and her head hurt very badly. Similar to Zoey she could not remember anything from the night before.

When everyone woke up, they left the hotel and went to their respective homes. As for Zoey, she decided to visit her favorite fast-food chain before heading home.

While she was waiting for her order, Alfie whom she had not seen since her arrival called on her phone.

"I went to your house, and you weren't there. Where are you?" He asked right away after she answered the phone.

"You do know how to say hello or hi first, don't you? What are you? A barbarian?" She became irritated on how Alfie started their conversation.

"Hahahaha! Sorry. My bad. Hello Zoey! I went to your house, and you weren't there. Where are you?" He repeated himself jokingly.

Zoey dismissed him and plainly answered "Jollibee, Mabini Road". "Okay, see you then. Bye." She heard from the other side.

When the crew gave her order she took it and started looking for a seat. She put her tray on the farthest table in the chain. She wanted to eat peacefully. But unfortunately minutes later her peace bubble got distracted by someone's voice.

"There you are!" Alfie exclaimed.

"Why are you here?"

"Didn't I say see you then? So it means that I will go here."

Zoey did even think of that part. Oh well! He was already there what harm would he cause to her. Besides she now has someone to drive her home.

"Tita said that you went out with Shane last night and stayed with her. Where did you go?"

"Are you a detective? Why do you have a lot of questions?" She said while chewing her burger steak meal.

He chuckled then said, "Ow! I just asked one question. For you, it's already a lot?" He rubbed his chin and continued "I'm just curious you know."

Zoey narrated what happened last night to Alfie.

Alfie's face got drained with blood when he heard her said that there were two male strippers in Shane's bachelorette party.

"What?" he asked loudly, "Does Leo know about this? Who sent those guys? Who planned it?"

He exaggeratedly floods her with questions, afraid that those bastards did something wrong to Shane and her friends. He also feared that those two took advantage of them especially of Zoey who is so naïve at her age.

"I don't know whether Leo knows about it or not, Lisa and Sweet organized the party so probably it's them who sent them to our room. Just don't mention it to Leo."

Alfie hesitated at first because, with his loud and big mouth, he might accidentally mention it to his friend.

"After that what happened?" He continued to ask.

"I don't know, I can't even remember anything else," Zoey replied.

After finishing her meal, Alfie offered to drive her home. She didn't retort back. It was actually her plan anyway.

After reaching home, she bid Alfie goodbye and went inside the house. Her mom was still cross-stitching in the living room. She bent and kissed her cheeks and said, "Mom, I'm home."

"Did you eat? There is still food in the kitchen, help yourself out." said her mom without batting an eye to her.

Zoey said. "It's okay I ate already. I'll just wash up and sleep in my room."

After taking a bath and drying her hair she slumped her body on her bed and reached for her phone.

She scrolled down on all the social networking sites that she has an account on, checking her emails and reading her messages. After confirming that she had received nothing important, she plugged her phone to her charger then closed her eyes.

--

After driving Zoey home, Alfie parked his car to the nearest café, he ordered himself a venti-sized drink and seated on the farthest table of the café. He was scrolling his accounts when he saw a shared photo of an angelic face.

He examined it, at first sight; he thought that it looked familiar. The photo was a portrait of a sleeping woman whose eyes were closed while her lashes were curved up to her eyelids; her lips were slightly open with her reddish cheeks. Some hair strands loosened and fell on her face.

He kept on thinking but could not find where he saw this kind of face. He read the caption and thought that maybe the one who took it was her lover.