"Washroom?" a waiter repeated when Dania asked the place in question.
"You can walk to the left corridor over there." The man pointed to a passage near the stairs.
Dania thanked him, Dania's steps walked on the floor and hurried away in the direction mentioned by the waiter just now. Everyone looked indifferent, busy with their respective affairs, and ignored Dania who was almost crying because of Darren's rude attitude. Even the man can talk while laughing with his friends.
"Fuck!!" swears Dania.
The girl hurt her fingernail with her thumbnail. She used to do just that when angry and upset. It was not uncommon for her forefinger to bleed and Dania let the blood dry. In front of the sink mirror, she examined her face, the grip marks of Darren's hand still imprinted a contrast over her white skin tone. But it wasn't the physical injuries that Dania was afraid of. Every time Darren gave her a scar, Dania would freak herself out because they would balance it with the painful memory of the way in which Dania got the wound.
Dania doesn't understand why Darren wouldn't let go if indeed he didn't like Dania, or why he didn't try to kill Dania so that all this would be done. Dania was disgusted. Whenever Dania discussed it, Darren would answer with other questions to divert the conversation.
The sound of laughter and the pounding of shoe heels approached the washroom. There was over one person in number. Dania was confused because her messy face didn't want her to show it to others. The girl opened one of the restroom cubicles and locked it from the inside, then sat on the restroom.
"It's not that Sheila's dress showed was the same as when she did it to the event last week?"
"Really? I didn't pay attention. You are indeed observant, yeahh. " The two girls laughed at the same time because of their chatter.
"You see the woman who is with Darren?"
"A girl with a black gown? Yes, why? "
"No, I just feel sorry for her." We all know what kind of man Darren is, right? "
"Leave it alone, it was that stupid woman's fault." Ha ha ha ha. "
Dania was surprised when the person they were telling about her appeared. Dania's heart was beating fast, but her shoulders were weak. Her head rested against the wall behind her. Many questions swirled in the girl's head about what they meant and what was wrong with Darren, but when Dania's consciousness emerged and she opened the door, the two girls were gone, back into the crowd of people. It made Dania feel hopeless. She didn't know whose voice had been talking about Darren. Her body refused to return to the crowd. She leaned against the wall beside the restroom with a dreamy thought. It seemed she had to find out for herself what was wrong with Darren.
Dania wanted to spend more time in the restroom, but the term limit that Darren had given her had run out. The man would scold Dania again if she didn't obey. Although actually, when Dania returned in the middle of the event, Darren was still busy with his other friends. Dania was even ignored when she patted the shoulder of the guy wearing the black suit. But at least Dania can breathe better when away from Darren.
Dania took a glass from the waitress who was going back and forth; the glass was elegant and attracted Dania's attention. There was fruit in it with seductive colors. She smelled the sweet aroma of the drink before finishing it in one gulp. Dania only found out when her head was a little dizzy and she felt nauseous. The girl did not know that alcohol could be colorful and pretty. Dania just thought it was an ordinary drink.
The surroundings looked funny, so a waiter came back and Dania took the same drink.
"Cocktail, Miss," explained the waiter when Dania asked about the drink.
Dania looked at her alcohol glass, tasted the drink a little more, and was impressed that the alcohol tasted not too bad. She tasted a mixture of sweet, sour, and a little bitter. Dania has never before wondered why people who are having problems abstaining from alcohol or other substances need to do so, but as of right now, she is aware that alcohol causes her to lose her identity. However, he also wants to become a sedih at this point. Dania, however, is still capable of controlling her own body's internal organs, as she consistently observes.
Dania's eyes began to droop after she finished the third or maybe the last cocktail. It wasn't just a cocktail, because the glass was different and the aroma was stronger than before, but Dania still drank it. With the remaining strength Dania had in her body, she tried to stand up with her hands on the table. His eyes, which started to feel heavy, could still see Darren standing with his business friends within 10 meters.
"Hah! It's good that he's there." The girl smiled lopsidedly. She looked at Darren's back with disgust.
An event host who was standing on the stage started talking about the speech that Dania was too lazy to hear. Dania had to go home soon because tomorrow she had to work and because this place didn't feel right for her. She didn't want to go to Darren to ask permission because he would be ignoring her again. So Dania decided to just send a message.
Darren's face immediately changed when he received a message from Dania. The man immediately approached Rindu with firm steps that made the girl's guts shrink instantly. She felt that everyone was staring at her, who would soon be scolded by Darren.
"You want to go home?" Derren smiled sinisterly. Dania could see it out of the corner of her eye. "I still have a lot of work. You can go home first!" Darren rubbed Dania's shoulder and stunned the girl. He had no idea that Darren would soften like this.
"Ahh, it must be because there are so many people here." Dania laughed mockingly at herself for being so impressed.
The girl then walks away from the crowd of people who focus on each other. She is not the center of the event and doesn't impress people, so everyone should pay attention to her. No one even cares if it's a girl who has no role in their world just disappeared.
The maid on guard opened a large door made of thick wood with a tall model of Dania. The air around him immediately felt different and allowed Dania to take a deep breath. He could smile happily and spend the rest of the night in peace.
Dania didn't realize that a pair of eyes couldn't take their eyes off Dania's figure, who looked different that night, a man who knew Dania at a glance just because the girl worked in his office. Danielo Chris, owner of the large Royal Shopping Center in Manhattan, is a rich, well-to-do, cold man and is not interested in an unfortunate relationship like falling in love. He has a Latin face because his father is from Italy, but Chris, who since childhood has lived in New York, is very fluent in English and started his own business.
The harsh life makes Chris a monotonous and rigid man. He can't be small or gentle except for his mother, and also his grandmother, who is gone.
The man had been watching Dania since the girl entered the party room with a man he knew named Darren, a man who treated Dania in an unusual way. Even though Chris is a tough person, he doesn't like to see a woman being treated like that for any reason. Experience makes Chris have strong principles.
Chris's eyes kept moving wherever Dania went, even though he unconsciously pulled the corners of his lips up when Dania suddenly got dizzy from a glass of cocktail, until Chris realized that he was overreacting. Chris started talking to some of his business colleagues whom he met at the party, Chris tried to distract from the girl named Dania whom Chris saw every morning in the lobby of his office, but nothing was of interest until when Dania decided to get out of the party first, Chris turned his head. He noticed Dania's movement as if the sound of the big door was calling him to look at the source of the sound.
The girl left and made Chris a little disappointed because he couldn't see Dania in that place any longer, the man became strange just because a girl who greeted him every morning in her blue uniform suddenly turned into Cinderella and amazed him with her innocent behavior.
Dania waits for a taxi in front of the hotel, but she realizes that everyone uses luxury cars and no taxis come in, or maybe Dania is just being unlucky. The girl decided to walk a little forward and ordered a taxi online through her cellphone. It didn't take long for Dania to board a black car with the same number plate as the one on the application.
Dania just nodded with a faint smile when the driver greeted Dania just to be friendly, he opened his car window and breathed the air of freedom that he had tonight. Even though it's only tonight but Rindu feels better than nothing. He took off his high heels and put the shiny object beside the chair then his attention focused again on the bustling streets of Manhattan. It's not quite late, the traffic is still busy and smooth even though the sky doesn't show anything other than its dark color. The cold Manhattan breeze feels more humid tonight, making Dania sleepy too.
The alarm on Dania's cell phone rang loudly. This was the second time the thin object rang and forced Dania to wake up. He has to go to work. Dania's awakened consciousness forced her to enjoy the hit of a headache from last night's alcohol, she held her head for a while and tried to recover. The girl got ready and ran down the stairs with a sandwich in her mouth like a cat stealing a bone.
"You're late again?" Dania's coworker who was already standing behind the reception desk asked her.
This is not the first time that Dania is late for work. She often has to accompany Darren to go out late just so he doesn't hurt her, so Dania often lacks her own hours of sleep.
"Just five minutes," Dania denied.
"TIME IS MONEY!" Dania and her friend laughed as they said the same sentence together because they had heard their supervisor nagging him with those words too many times.
"Okay, he's coming," said Dania's friend while giving a warning.
The girl took a breath and was ready to be scolded for the umpteenth time. She could still accept it as long as she wasn't called to the HRD room. Dania liked her job.
"Besides being late, what other mistakes did you make?" said the man named Matthew who is Dania's supervisor. The man had just finished blabbering in front of everyone with his hands crossed around his waist, and now suddenly asked a question that Dania didn't know the answer to.
The girl was confused. She felt that her mistake was only five minutes late apart from that, Dania's work always met the standards, her appearance was also neat and she didn't do anything wrong that was written in her work contract.
"No, nothing, sir!" Dania answered confidently.
"You sure?" The chubby man folded his arms across his chest even though he couldn't reach it because his stomach was protruding.
"You are called Mr. Chris!" he replied in a slightly emotional tone. How could Dania's repeated mistakes make Mr. Chris have to interfere with the affairs of his lowly employees.
"Yes?" Dania wasn't deaf, but she needed to make sure again.
"Mr. Chris, you know him right!!" replied Mr. Matt while exhaling loudly. "I don't know because it's obvious he's asking you to face his room now!"
"Mr. Chris?"