Leo heard a loud knock on the door of the hotel room. Was it room service? He hadn't ordered anything and they usually came here to clean the rooms in the morning. What could they be doing here at this time?
Carly who laid beside him on the bed in the bed sheets looked up at him and asked, "who could be knocking at this time? Could it be room service?"
"No, I didn't order anything," Leo replied. "Maybe it's some random stranger and they will leave if we just don't answer."
Another knock came and it was louder than before. And a voice came along with it this time around.
"Leo! Open up! I know you're in there! Open up!"
Leo was surprised and even terrified for a moment. How did Eric know that he was here? He never told him his location or where he was going back at the house.
"Come on, Leo. I didn't want to ruin your little getaway, but something terrible is going to happen," said Eric.
Leo felt irritated as he got out of bed and used one of the bed sheets to cover his body. He soon went to the door and opened it slightly ajar so as to see Eric's face.
"What are you doing here?" Leo asked.
"I came to warn you about Kim," said Eric, clearly not beating around the bush.
"Kim? Kim is here?"
"She must be turning round the corner as we speak. You know she's a fast driver and she doesn't mind how many speeding tickets she gets just to find you here with someone else."
"You told her I was here?"
Eric raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that? And besides, I never knew where you were before....., I'll tell you later. Just get dressed quickly and get out of here. I don't want any news of deaths at this hotel appearing on the news. I've to run. Kim mustn't see me here."
Eric dashed down the corridor, heading for the stairs and not the elevator. Leo quickly closed the door behind him. He already saw Carly out of bed and dressing up quickly.
"I guess we know why they were calling," said Leo.
"You better get dressed too," said Carly. "I knew for Angel to call, it was urgent. She did say she wasn't going to meddle in our relationship anymore, so she didn't mean any harm."
"Yes, I know."
Leo quickly dressed up as well. Kim might as well be in the hotel and he didn't want to make things complicated, especially for Carly. He was grateful that Eric came here to warn him himself. The only thing he had to worry about if he were to get out of the hotel alive, was the person who had called Kim to come to the hotel. It was someone Kim and Eric knew, or else they both wouldn't be here. And he was afraid that he might know who it is.
***
Kim couldn't stop tapping her foot against the elevator floor. She quickly looked at the time on her diamond studded wrist watch and she felt like the elevator was taking forever just to get to the floor she hoped she would find Leo on. It had been difficult to get a word out of the receptionist downstairs. He had told her that Leo was having an important meeting with a client and wished that he wouldn't be disturbed. But Kim was more than sure that Leo's meeting was more personal than business and she really insisted to the receptionist to tell her where the meeting was being held and that she was part of it and was really late. The receptionist believed her lie and told her the floor and room number.
The elevator stopped on the third floor and Kim quickly got out. The hotel had had two passageways, one to the left and the other to the right. Each floor had 12 rooms and Room 41 was just five rooms down the left hand side.
She walked on the soft red carpeted floor to Room 41. She didn't know what she was going to do if she were to find Leo in the arms of another woman. She could already feel her blood boiling. And right now, she needed to release her anger on the person who had caused it in the first place.
Just as she was nearing the room, she slowed down a bit. With each step she took, she could hear her heart beat. She was anxious about all this and was afraid she could have a heart attack.
She found herself facing the door with the numbers 41 on it. This was it. Leo was in there with that woman Trina had seen him with. Could they be in each other's arms right now? Of course, they were. And it made her so mad that she would kick the door down if she had to.
She raised up her hand to knock on the door, but she stopped. Should she really knock or kick the door down like she intended to do? She could punch the door if it was necessary. The thought of it, made her hand clench into a fist.
She quickly knocked. It was a quick one. If she tried to open the door, she would just find it locked like she thought it was. She didn't hear any response from inside. Why was it so quiet? She knocked again, still no response. She put her ear to the door to try and hear if there was any movement. She heard slight movement coming in from the room. Bingo.
"Leo, it's me, Kim, can you please open the door?" she called out. "I know you're in there!"
When no one came to the door, she banged on it with her fist. "Leo! I know you're in there with someone else, get out here and face me like a man, this instant!"
Kim kept banging on the door like a mad woman that she caught a few neighbours' attention as a door opposite from the one she was facing, opened and so did two more other doors down the hall.
"Excuse me, dear," said a woman in her middle age, coming from the room opposite the one Kim was knocking on. "Who are you looking for?"
"My cheating boyfriend," Kim answered a bit harshly without turning to look at the woman.
"Can you quiet down, please? You're making a lot of noise with your knocking."
"I'll stop until he answers me. Leo, open up right now!"
There was soon a click on the other side of the door. Someone was unlocking the it, finally.
When the door flew open, Kim was standing face to face with a blonde haired woman with deep blue eyes. She was slim and really pretty and she wore a white hotel bath robe with white bed slippers. Her prettiness made Kim even more angry.
"Hello? May I help you?" the woman asked, looking at Kim with concern.
"Where is he?" Kim asked instead.
"Where's who? Who are you talking about?"
"I know he's in here. Where's he?"
"I don't know who you're talking about."
"Move aside," said Kim as she forced her way into the room, pushing the lady aside. When she got in the room, she was in for a surprise.
Sitting on the bed, also in a white bathrobe was a man, probably in his late fifties, holding a wine glass filled with champagne. He looked up at Kim with a surprised look on his face. Kim paused upon seeing him.
"Hello," he said. "Were you the one knocking at the door?"
"Uh, uh, yes," Kim answered. "I'm so sorry, I thought someone I knew was in here. I'm so sorry."
"Sounds like you were looking for a cheating boyfriend," said the blonde lady as she folded her arms.
"Yes, I was. I... I'll be leaving now. I'm sorry to intrude."
Kim quickly walked out of the room, feeling really embarrassed. She had never been so embarrassed in her entire life. Could it be that the receptionist must have given her the wrong room? That couldn't be right. Maybe she hadn't listened and going back downstairs to check for which room Leo was in again would be a nuisance. She had that tendency of not getting the necessary details whenever she was in a rush. And at this moment, going around each room just to look for Leo and his lover seemed like a bad idea.
Kim quickly walked down the hall to the elevator, feeling really angry with herself for not listening to the receptionist. She promised herself that next time she would be a bit more careful.
***
Angel still couldn't stop looking at Trina sitting opposite her at every chance she had. She put a piece of cake in her mouth and quickly looked at her plate when Trina turned to look at her.
"So, Angel, how has it been living with the McDonells?"
Angel wondered why she asked such a question, but answered her anyway, "so far so good. Oliver really keeps me company around the house."
Oliver nodded as he smiled at Angel. Trina looked like she was about to roll her eyes but was careful enough not to.
"I hear that you were badly injured and that you were on a wheelchair," said Trina.
"Yes. I took it upon myself to do some walking today. The doctor says it's good for my legs."
"That's good to hear."
"Does Eric know you're here, Trina?" Oliver asked as he looked at her.
Angel looked at Trina with an eyebrow raised. Good question.
"Huh....," Trina hesitated. "No, he doesn't."
"Are you and Eric close?" Angel asked.
Trina smiled as she played with her cake with the fork. She had barely touched it. "Yes," she said. "We've been friends since childhood. Him, me, Leo and Kim were quiet a gang in our younger days."
"Oh. That's nice."
"Yes. Eric and I are super close."
"Not anymore," said Oliver.
Trina threw a look at Oliver and it wasn't pretty. Angel almost choked on her cake by the look on Trina's face. She almost burst out laughing.
"What do you mean, Oliver?" Trina asked. "You know Eric and I are very close."
"I mean, you two weren't as close as before when you told him you wanted to be his girlfriend."
Angel coughed. It was too much for her to bear but she was loving the gossip Oliver was bringing to the table. The boy could talk more than he should.
"It was just a misunderstanding," said Trina. "He wanted to be with me, but I rejected him."
"That's not what I heard."
Angel smiled at the two and she wished the little story telling could continue, but her phone rang in her pocket. She had just received a message. When she retrieved her phone from her pocket, she saw that it was from Eric.
"Eric will join us shortly," Angel announced.
"Oh, I better be going then," said Trina.
"You're leaving so soon? Why? Are you scared Eric might reject you again?"
Trina looked at Angel and realised that she wasn't one to mess around with. Angel smiled.
"No, I'm running late."
Trina soon stood up from her seat. Angel looked up at her.
"You didn't seem to be running late when you came over to join us for cake," said Angel.
"I have errands to run," said Trina as her phone also beeped in her purse but she ignored it. She had to get out of the cafe before Eric came here. "It was nice meeting you, Angel."
Angel raised her eyebrow. "Same here," she said.
"Bye, Oliver," said Trina as she ruffled the boy's hair. "Will see you later."
Trina made her way to the door, almost in a relaxed sort of way, like she wasn't in a hurry. Angel could still tell that she was nervous. If she wasn't afraid of Eric, she would have stayed till he arrived. Did she just come here to question Angel over Eric? Well, that didn't work out so well after Oliver dropped that massive bombshell of Eric rejecting her before.
When Trina had walked out of the cafe, Oliver turned to look at her plate that was still full of cake.
"She barely even touched her cake," he said as he looked up at Angel. "Should I eat it?"
"Sure," Angel replied. "If we give Eric this cake, he will be suspicious that we ordered a third one."
"Seems to me like you're saying that he shouldn't know that Trina was here. We could easily just lie to him saying that we left it for him."
Angel pointed at the cake. "Well, as much as Trina ate very little, you can tell that someone was trying to eat it but was playing around with it instead. And also, I don't mind if you tell Eric that Trina was here."
"Mmmm, I guess it's best he doesn't know. He irritates her sometimes and you wouldn't like to see him when he's irritated."
Angel smiled at the boy as he got the plate and ate the cake. She had managed to at least convince him indirectly about not telling Eric about Trina. Trina would probably have agreed to that if she hadn't left in a hurry.
Just a few minutes later, Eric came into the cafe. After spotting Angel and Oliver, he came over to the join them.
"Hey, you two," he said as he took a seat on which Trina had just sat minutes before. "Did I miss anything?"
Angel and Oliver looked at each other briefly, then looked back at Eric.
"No," they answered at the same time.
"Really?" Eric asked.
"You actually just missed out on the best chocolate cake ever," said Oliver. "I even had to order another piece."
"You two and chocolates, what am I going to do with you both?"
"You can buy us a whole chocolate cake some day," said Angel as she handed over Eric's wallet back to him.
"Good idea," said Oliver.
"If you say so," said Eric as he smiled.
"Did you manage to meet with Leo and Carly?"
"Yes, and they are okay. We can leave, I think it's best we go home."
"I think so too," said Angel. "It's getting kind of late. We've been out of the house for a really long time."
"Ya, I'm tired," said Oliver. "But at least I got to spend some time with Angel."
"I never got to spend time with her like you did. Next time, it will be just her and me, and not you."
Oliver stuck out a tongue at his older brother. "We will see about that."
"Okay, enough, I wouldn't like you two fighting over me," said Angel. "We better get going."
The three of them soon left the cafe, entered Eric's car and drove off. And just some seconds later, across the hotel, Kim had just walked out and was waiting for the valet to bring up her car. A minute later, she was gone. Leo and Carly had left the hotel long before and they were also heading back home too.
"That was a close one," said Leo as he looked at Carly beside him.
"I don't want to think about it," said Carly. "I'm just glad we got out through the back. But how are you going to check out the room? You know we also had to bribe the valet just to get the car without anyone noticing."
"I'll handle it tomorrow. I think we've had enough drama for one day, don't you think?"
"Yes, we did. But at least we got to spend some time with each other, didn't we?"
Leo smiled. "Yes, we really did."
"We have to thank Eric for saving our necks back there. Who knows what would have happened if he didn't show up."
"We would be goners, no doubt."
"How did he know that Kim was coming and where we were?"
"Someone must have informed him and the same person had informed Kim before him."
"Do you have any person in mind?"
Leo paused for a while, his eyes on the road before he answered, "yes, I might know who it is."
Minutes later, Leo's car pulled over in front of his house. The two of them soon got out of the car. Carly was looking around the driveway before following Leo into the house when she noticed a black car pass by at the gate. For a moment, it seemed to have slowed down, but when she had turned to look at it, the car sped away.
Carly shrugged her shoulders as she continued to look at the gate and turned around to go back inside the house. As soon as she entered the foyer, she found Leo talking to his grandmother.
"So, you two went around New York without me?" Amanda asked as she looked at Carly.
"We didn't know you wanted to come along," said Carly as she joined Leo.
"These are my last days and it's good for me to go sight seeing."
"These are not your last days, grandma," said Leo. "You still have a long way to go. Besides, wouldn't you like to see me get married?"
"To Kim? No," said Amanda as she wagged her index finger side to side. "But to someone who is good for you, yes. Though she will have to go through me first for approval."
Carly smiled at Amanda and Leo did the same. Going through Amanda might turn out to be a piece of cake for Carly.
"Is mum still home?" Leo asked.
"She went to meet some of her friends," Amanda answered. "It's good that she's out of the house. It's always so peaceful when she isn't around."
"You and I both think the same. Let's go to the living room and chat."
The three of them went to the living room and ten minutes later, a car had drove into the driveway of the house. Eric's car. Seconds later, Oliver came running into the living room.
"Hi, grandma," said Oliver
as he went to hug Amanda first.
"How's my favourite grandson in the whole world?" Amanda asked.
"Hey, I thought I was your favourite grandson," Leo complained as he looked at his grandmother.
"I thought so myself," said Eric as he came in the living room with Angel.
"You're all my favourite," said Amanda. "Except that Oliver is much younger than you two."
"He's only eleven," said Leo.
"Angel, I see that you also went out," said Amanda ignoring Leo.
"Yes, I did," said Angel. "And we had a lot of fun, right, Oliver?"
"Totally," said Oliver. "I'll go to my room and freshen up."
Oliver soon left the room. Amanda patted the sofa next to her where Leo was sitting and looking up at Angel.
"Come and sit here, right beside me, Angel," said Amanda.
Angel smiled at her and wondered whether sitting on the same couch with Leo was a good idea. Leo looked up at Angel and hoped that she would also excuse herself like Oliver and go to her room.
"Um..., I really need to freshen up too," said Angel.
"You can do that later," said Amanda. "Come sit. I really missed you, you know?"
Angel had no choice since Amanda sounded so persistent. So, she went over to the couch to sit next to Leo. Eric went over to sit on the couch opposite Leo and Angel. Carly had taken up the other next to Eric.
"Mmm, so how did you your day go?" Amanda asked as she ran her hand through Angel's hair, gently.
"It went well," Angel replied feeling a little uncomfortable with Leo beside her.
"How come you three didn't go with Carly and Leo?"
"We had different agendas, didn't we, Leo?" Angel asked without giving him a glance.
"Yes," Leo replied.
"Oh? What did you do?"
"We went to the park," said Angel. "Then had pizza and went to a cafe for dessert."
"I wish I could have come to the park with you. Next time we will be going together just for some quality time."
"I can join you as well, grandma," said Leo.
"I meant with Angel alone," said Amanda as she threw Leo a look. "But you can come along too, dear."
"And me?" Eric asked.
"Three is too much of a crowd. But okay, you can come too. Now that I know what Angel and the rest were up to, what about you, Leo? What were you and Carly up to?"
Eric coughed like he had something stuck in his throat. Angel clenched her fist on her lap and turned to look at her sister. Carly looked back at her and she was blushing like hell. Leo on the other hand, didn't seem uncomfortable with the question.
"We went window shopping at the mall," said Leo.
"Really?" Amanda asked with a questioning look on his face.
"Yes, we did," said Carly, backing him up quickly.
"Mmmm, not very interesting. The park is much more fun."
"That's what we told them, grandma," said Eric.
Leo threw a look at Eric and Eric shrugged his shoulders.
"I remember when your grandfather and I used to take walks at the park," said Amanda as she looked elsewhere, lost in her thoughts. "It's where we got to know each other even more, through our talks and all that."
"Your eyes can tell that you loved him a lot," said Angel.
"Oh, dear," Amanda looked at Angel with a smile. "I still do."
"You should tell us more stories about your love story, grandma," said Eric. "It will help some of us in dire need of a life partner."
Amanda smiled at Eric. "You're such a charmer, Eric. Remind me one of these fine days when we get to go to the park."
"Sure."
"Remembering him, brings back so many memories. It also brings a smile to my face."
"We can tell how happy you're even when all you have are memories," said Leo.
"And that's why I wish the best in finding a life partner, especially for you, Leo. I know how hard it is, but she will show up when you least expect it."
Angel's phone started to ring in the pocket of her jeans. An unknown number was calling. She wondered who it was.
"Sorry, I have to take this," she said as she made an attempt to stand up from the couch. But she fell back down when she felt her right knee start to ache. This time she fell close to Leo, their shoulders touching each other. Angel hadn't noticed how close they were, but Leo did.
"Angel, are you okay?" Amanda asked, looking worried.
"No, I'm fine," said Angel as she winced and held her knee. "I just need my pain killers."
"You should take your call from here instead," said Eric. "Don't move, I'll go get your medicine."
For a moment, Angel almost forgot that her phone was still ringing in her hand. Eric had left the room and Angel picked up the call.
"Hello?" Angel asked.
"Ummmm," there was a woman at the other end of the line and she was hesitating to speak.
"May I know who this is?"
"Umm, are you Angel, Carly's sister?" the woman on the call asked.
Angel couldn't help but feel that she had heard the woman's voice from somewhere. But where?
Before Angel could reply, the line had cut. That was strange. Could it be bad service or something?
"Who was it?" Carly asked.
"I don't know," Angel replied. "Looks like she hang up or there is just bad service."
Eric came back in the living room with a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of Angel's painkillers in the other. Angel took her painkillers quickly.
"Thank you, Eric," she said as she handed the glass back to Eric.
"Are you alright, dear?" Amanda asked again.
"I'm okay. It's no big deal. The pain left as soon as it came."
"Maybe you should go get some rest," said Carly. "You've done enough exercise for one day, don't you think?"
"I agree with Carly," said Eric. "You have to rest. Don't forget, you're still recovering."
"Okay," said Angel. "I think I should."
"Leo, please help Angel up from the couch," Amanda insisted. "She must be very tired."
Leo looked at his grandma. "Me?" he asked, not believing what he had just heard.
"Yes, dear, you're closer to her and is it wrong of you to help out?"
"No, Amanda, I'm okay," said Angel. "I can do it on my own."
"No, Angel. Let Leo help. Besides, it's his responsibility."
Leo could have rolled his eyes if he wanted to, but he didn't. He couldn't argue with his grandmother on that one. He had no choice.
He stood up from the couch and looked down at Angel. He really didn't want to do this and he could tell Angel didn't want this either. She looked down and then up at him. Leo swallowed before he held out his hand to Angel.
Angel took it and Leo gently pulled her up as he placed his other hand on her back.
"Does your knee still hurt?" Leo asked.
"A little," Angel answered.
Leo led her out of the room, with Amanda, Carly and Eric looking on at the two. Amanda had a certain smile on her face as she looked at them.
When Angel and Leo had reached Angel's room, Leo quickly let go of her hand.
"I can't believe I had to help you," said Leo.
"I can't believe you went through with it," said Angel as she slowly walked over to her bed and sat down.
"My grandma was there and you think I would disobey her?"
"Well, what do you know? Looks like you can't disobey her even once, can you?"
Leo folded his arms. "With other issues, I can, but it seems with you, I just can't."
"Can't what?" Carly asked as she appeared behind Leo, entering the room. "Are two arguing again?"
"No," Angel quickly answered. "We were just surprised with what Amanda made Leo do. He didn't want to help out and I don't blame him."
"Oh, but I think it's good he helped. Who knows, you might help him out someday too."
Angel raised an eyebrow as she couldn't take much of Leo and Carly in her room. "May you two leave?" she asked. "I need to rest."
"Wait, before we do," said Carly, "I wanted to ask you something."
"Are you asking about how Eric and I knew you were at the hotel?"
"Ummm, yes," Carly answered. "How?"
Angel looked at her sister, then at Leo before she started to say, "Eric received a call from Trina."
"Trina?" Leo asked not believing what he was hearing.
"Yes. Apparently, she called Kim first about where you were. Turns out, she followed you guys to the hotel."
"That girl is going to hear from me," said Leo as he clenched his teeth.
"I would rather you don't. If it also wasn't for her again, you two would be dead by now. Besides, if you confront her, she will tell Kim and Kim will come for you like she did today."
Leo hated the fact that Angel was right. He didn't want more drama with Kim and it was best to keep away from the two best friends.
"Angel's right," said Carly as she wrapped her hand around Leo's arm.
Angel smiled up at the two, mockingly. "Just trying to help," she said.
"And you have done enough. Thank you, Angel. I should be saying thanks to Eric too."
"Let's go," said Leo, who didn't feel like being grateful. "We should also be resting too."
"Yes," said Carly, feeling the tension in Leo's voice. "Will see you later, Angel."
Angel nodded her head and was relieved to see them leave. As soon as the two left the room, Angel checked her phone at the phone number that had called earlier. She tried calling the number. It rang but there was no reply.
"This is strange," Angel said to herself. "Looks like she had called the wrong number."
Angel put her phone aside and decided to take a shower. After such a long day, she really needed to rest.
***
"I'm so sorry, Kim," said Trina. "This couldn't be a mistake. I swear I saw him going in there with another woman."
"I know, Trina," said Kim, staring up at the ceiling. "The receptionist confirmed that a Leo McDonell was in the hotel or else he would have told me that there was no one by that name."
Trina came to sit right next to Kim on the black comfortable sofa in Kim's luxurious apartment in Manhattan.
"Maybe you were in such a rush that you forgot his room number," said Trina. "Don't beat yourself up because of this."
Kim hit her head with her hand. "I feel so stupid right now. How can I let the room number slip out of my head like that?"
"Don't worry. But are you sure it was room 41?"
"Yes, am sure. I know that I tend to forget things easily when I rush a lot, but I'm certain he said that exact room number."
Trina couldn't help but put up a sorry face for Kim. In the inside, she was jumping with joy. Thanks to Eric, Kim didn't find Leo. She knew if Kim really did find him with another woman, she was going to go crazy. Trina continued to wonder how Eric pulled it off. Finding someone at a hotel wasn't that difficult if the hotel staff wasn't strict with confidentiality. How did Kim mix up the two room numbers so easily?
"I need to call Leo," said Kim. "To see if he really was with that woman."
"No," said Trina as she stopped Kim from standing up by holding her shoulder. "Do you really want him to have a hunch that you know about him and that other woman?"
Kim thought about it for a second. "No, you're right. He doesn't have to know."
Trina smiled. "You will get him another day. Maybe you will find him red handed this time around."
"But this was the day, Trina," Kim sounded frustrated. "If I hadn't forgotten the room number, he would have seen my wrath for sure."
"No doubt about that. Come on, let me fix you a drink," said Trina as she stood up from her seat and approached the small bar in the corner of Kim's living room. "Looks like you really need it."
***
Miranda couldn't stop pacing up and down after having called Angel earlier. She had been so nervous to talk to her that she ended up cutting the call. And when Angel tried to call her back, she didn't pick up. It was clear enough that Angel hadn't changed her number, so, she still had a chance to know where Carly was. But why was she afraid to ask earlier?
Miranda fell on her couch and she picked up her phone next to her and started to go through it. She had a message from Mr Walters reminding her about being at the club on time this evening. She rolled her eyes as she came out of the message app and went straight to her Instagram. She had been looking at Leo's pictures earlier and it was the first thing that popped on her screen when she entered the app.
She couldn't help but smile at his pictures. It was pretty obvious that he looked handsome in all of them. Though with his pictures of him and his ex fiancee, she rejected looking at them. Now she understood why many women had a crush on him. If Leo really was hers, she would feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
But the sudden thought of Carly wrapping her arms around Leo, angered Miranda to the core.