Then again, why was Elena unable to recognize Mark Wang if she knew him?
Given how popular he was, it would have been easy to identify him at the first meeting. Unfortunately, that was not the case as there was no photo of him on the internet.
Sources gathered said that Mark Wang hated his photographs being taken by other people and posted on the internet. He had even once ordered his photos to be taken down from all social media sites.
Elena was already aware of this fact before coming down to City H. She had hoped to catch just anyone calling out to Mark or speaking to him at the party so that she could figure out what he looked like, but that didn't happen.
When next would she get this kind of opportunity?
Elena's mood was soiled, but she was quickly pulled back to the present by her mother's voice.
"Elena, I don't want you to be burdened because of me. You are still young. Live the rest of your life happily."
"Mum, I can only be happy if you are comfortable." Smiling, Elena added before her mother would start all over again with her lectures, "Don't worry, I will succeed and come pick you and Mia soon. Bye. I love you!"
Ending the conversation with her mother, Elena tossed her phone on the bed and covered her face with her palms.
"Oh, God! I totally missed it last night," her muffled voice uttered in regret as her back sank into the mattress.
The next second, she moved her hands away from her face. Looking at her messy room, she hurled herself up.
She had to get started with work otherwise her apartment would never look presentable.
***
7:46 AM…
Mark stepped into his room in black leather pants while adjusting his brown jacket. "I thought you would be gone by now," he said, sparing Eric a glance.
"I'm coming with you," Eric simply stated.
Mark gave him a side glance then without saying anything, he led the way out of the room.
"Where are we going?" Eric asked while following after him.
"Royal suites," Mark simply replied and shut his lips thereafter.
While taking the stairs down to the ground floor, Eric made a suggestion which he simply followed. "We have to go through the front door if we don't want to be forced to the breakfast table."
Taking his brother's suggestion, Mark took a quick turn to the left and led the way straight to an underground park where all kinds of exotic cars were parked.
Without doing so much as to look around, Mark pulled out his car key from his jacket and pressed the unlock button.
Beep.
A small sound went off from the black Bugatti Chiron positioned between a red Ferrari and a black G-wagon as its headlamps flashed.
Quickly, both brothers made their way to the car and got inside.
"Do you remember what any of those women looked like?" Eric probed as he fastened his seatbelt. He needed some facts to register in his head before they got to the hotel.
"That's the reason we are going to the hotel," Mark answered as he pulled the car out of the underground parking lot and into the vast driveway that was a two-minute drive from the armoured gates.
A few minutes into their journey, he revealed, "I remember what one of them looked like, but I don't know their names."
"Which one of them?" Eric probed. Learning that his brother remembered one of the women from last night, he got curious as he peered into his face.
Mark took a moment off before grinding his teeth. "The one that drugged me."
"Wow! You should have remembered the one that got you out of that hot mess instead," Eric said thoughtfully. "It seems like negativity has so much impact.
Hearing that, Mark shifted his attention from the road. "What are you talking about? I was already out of my mind when I met my saviour. Everything in my line of sight was blurred out."
"Makes sense." Eric agreed. "But what kind of saviour leaves you at the far end of the room and walks off? That woman is weird."
"I think she doesn't know who I am," Mark stated.
Most of his memories of last night's post-drug were fuzzy. However, he could still vividly recall that the woman he met in the elevator hadn't acted as if she hadn't known him at all, but he had been far too wasted to notice it.
But one thing he was sure of was the fact that no woman who knew him too well would handle him the way Elena Huang did.
On the other hand, Eric found his answer to be ridiculous. "Are you kidding me?" He scoffed. "Who in City H doesn't know who Mark Wang is and what he looks like?"
"A granny from a non-influential family that doesn't know what is happening around her," Mark answered.
Eric was stupefied.
He had wanted to ask how possible it was for an old lady to drag a full-grown man like him out of the elevator and help him to a seat in the hall but he simply couldn't, because that had been a joke.
"I don't even remember how I passed out…" Mark breathed, his teeth chattering thereafter.
If the material used in the construction of the car's steering wheel had been any weaker, his clenched fingers would have long yanked everything out before long.
"We are about to discover the mystery," Eric said and looked away as silence returned to the car.
Some minutes later, their car pulled over in front of the hotel.
Stepping out of the car, Mark threw his car key to the valet before he went inside the luxurious building with Eric.
"We want to see your manager," Eric said to the receptionist.
He was surprisingly being polite which didn't sit well with the impatient Mark who quickly intervened. With his face devoid of any emotion, he demanded authoritatively, "I want to see the CCTV footage from last night's event."
He was direct to the point.
---
A few minutes later, the manager of the hotel led Mark and Eric to the security room to watch the footage from last night's event as they had demanded.
"Sir, might I ask what time…"
Mark turned to Eric to ask, "What time did Mum leave?"
"Uhmm… 7:45. That's around the time I found out you were missing," Eric replied.
Hearing his answer, Mark raised a brow while staring at the hotel manager as if to tell him he could go ahead and pull up the video from around that time.
"Quickly pull it up," the hotel manager instructed the security men sitting behind different large monitoring screens.
A few seconds later, he quickly pointed at one of the screens. "There."