BullsEye

Chapter Twenty One

Alexa's P . O . V

I woke up this morning to the annoying loud ringing of my phone, it took all I had in me not to reach out for it on the bedside table and smash the device hard against the wall.

Grumbling, I pushed down the covers to just little below my stomach and squirmed over like an earthworm over to the edge of the bed and snatched the phone in my hand.

I peeled open my eyes and glared at the screen to see Jake's picture displaying on the screen.

Seething, I picked up his call.

"What?" I barked into the phone unable to curtail my displeased voice.

"Hello to you too" he replied dryly chuckling.

"Hello Good Morning"I responded yawning and stretching out my arms.

"Morning? Isn't it like 1pm over there? Because I just got back from the office and reasoned now will be a perfect time to call" Jake responded sounding quite amused.

"Wait what??" I asked realizing what he just said.

Peeling the phone off my ear I brought it close to my face and squinted my eyes to check the time.

"Damn! It really is 1pm" I said out loud confirming for not only Jake but for myself also.

"That's a whole lot of sleep" Jake remarked.

"Hey.... I was Jet lagged" I defended.

"I see" he replied dryly.

"So, any plans for the day?" He asked me as I dragged myself to a sitting position in bed still unable to believe I slept for about 15 hours.

"I wanted going on a tour, sight seeing or something" I replied recalling my last night's decision.

"Wanted? Don't wanna go anymore?" He asked.

"Well, it's already past One, perhaps I could stay indoors today and do something tomorrow" I reasoned.

"If I were you, I'll be in some museum right about now not sleeping away fun time on my bed" Jake advised.

"Okay Okay...... If the weather is favourable, I'll head out" I agreed now feeling my previously sleep hoarse voice return to normal.

"You know the vibe girl! Have fun, enjoy your youthful days while you can, You only live once"He replied encouraging me out.

"I'll give anything to be where you are right now, you know, away on a vacation, in a five star hotel, having dinner in bed, wake up by 1pm and just chill, but all I get is paper work upon paper work." Jake complained

"Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah"I repeated tired of his whining.

"Alright, I'll leave you to yourself now, I have this proposal I'm working on" Jake replied now being serious.

"Oh tell me cousin dear, what proposal? are you by any chance getting married?" I teased.

"It's a business related proposal, you weasel" Jake replied laughing at my question.

"Yeah Yeah whatever" I replied laughing and rolling my eyes at him.

"Alright have fun! Break a leg" he replied cheerfully

"Alright, Bye" I screamed into the phone.

"Bye" he replied before hanging up.

I returned the phone back to the top of the bedside table after I heard the beep sound that indicated the call's disconnection.

Sighing, I fully kicked off the covers and staggered towards the window, I dragged the silky black curtain to one side allowing the bright ray of light to seep into the cozy dim room revealing the a vast potion of the city from the fifth floor of my hotel room where I stood clad in the contrasting colours of my oversized pyjamas.

Great, it's quite sunny and this view looks promising. I still saw people chatting down the street in the distance and the weather wasn't too cold nor too hot either so it's a Yes for me, I'm so going out.

I yawned loudly and stretched my body fully on my tiptoes to my heart's content then I rolled up my scattered hair that was all over my face and decided I should have a nice bath.

I unpacked my suitcase and placed everything in their convenient places and picked out a bright yellow round neck top, a blue skinny jean and my pair of black combat boots from my suitcase and threw it on the bed.

I snatched a towel from one of the tall racks by the bathroom and covered myself in it as I headed into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth camly like I had all the time in the world then strolled to the large tub that was literally big enough for me to swim in.

I had a nice relaxing bath then I through my clothes on and casually brushed my hair letting it cascade down my back.

I looked like I was going on a hike or probably some sort of treasure hunt in the jungle but I loved it anyways.

I snatched the same black tote bag I had arrived with and looked in to confirm if my sunglasses were in there.

Smiling to myself when I found it in my bag, I picked up the large frame and hung it up front on the neck of my shirt then I closed shut my suitcase and left the room.

Walking towards the elevator, I admired the large flower pots that stood gloriously on either side of the hallway as I walked through.

I got to the ground floor after descending down the elevator and glanced over at the reception area for any sign of that Petolia lady from last night but someone else sat there instead.

I walked out through the large glass door and inhaled deeply as I took in the environment before someone ran up to me grinning widely.

"Hi" a feminine voice beamed in an overly friendly tone.

Turning, I found the lady from the reception smiling at me.

"Oh.... hello Uhhhh....." I replied trying not to spit out the first name that began with a letter P in reference to her.

"Penilva!" She reminded me understanding my plight.

Oh yeah... Penilva. Penilva. Penilva. I repeated to myself hoping I wouldn't forget it anytime soon.

"Nice to see you again Penilva" I replied trying out her name on my tongue.

"You did enjoy your night I hope?" She asked me as I took in her appearance, she wasn't wearing the shirt from last night and she was casually dressed holding up her hand bag.

She wasn't as tall as I perceived her to be last night, it was probably due to my fatigue that stretched her far more than her actual height or perhaps she was standing on a higher ground. Either ways, I was a clear foot taller.

"My night was wonderful thank you" I replied smiling.

"You heading somewhere?" I asked trying to keep up the conversation.

"Yeah.... I'm returning home, my shift ended this morning" she replied bubbling her head up and down like a toy on a driver's dashboard.

"Why are you just leaving when your shift ended hours ago?" I asked obviously confused.

"Well.... Being on night shift and working through the night isn't quite pleasant for me because I get home and my kids don't let me get any rest at all. So I stay back for a few extra hours after my shift for a nice rest before i return back home" she explained.

Kids? Did she say Kids? Whoa. She didn't look like she had any though.

"Oh... I see" I managed to say.

"So, are you also heading somewhere?" She asked looking up at me.

"Uhhhh Yeah.... I just intend to go on a little tour around the city" I answered.

"A tour? That sounds like fun. Do you need me to show you around?" She asked excitedly.

"That would be nice, but shouldn't you be home with your kids?" I asked plainly.

"Oh pfft, they'll be fine, my niece is back home with them" she said waving one hand down in the air.

"Okay?" I replied totally unsure of what to say.

"So tell me, where do you wanna go first? The Fluer Tower? The park? Or should we....." She began blabbing about a whole lot of places.

"Let's go to a restaurant, I'm starving!" I replied cutting her off.

"There's a nice restaurant over here at the hotel but since we're already outside, let's take this as part of the tour. C'mon I know a great place" She replied linking her arm with mine and led me towards the number of Taxis that were parked out by the other side of the hotel farther away from where we initially stood.

I haven't known this lady for up to a day, nor do I properly know how to pronounce her name if at all I still remember but I followed her eagerly waiting to see what miraculous eatery she would lead me to because as far as I was concerned, I totally trust her judgement when it comes to food.

It turned out time with Penilva the single mother of two as I later learnt due to her chatty nature, was indeed a great one, she kept on talking and telling me historical facts about everything and anything.

To be honest, I had fun hanging out with her in a weird way after having a wonderful lunch of goat shoulder Curry and she ordered another plate of pasta salad with heirloom tomatoes, basil oil and pecorino before I footed all the bills and we began our little tour.

It was way past 6pm and we decided we were both tired and should probably stop here for the day. We stopped over to grab some cheeseburgers and fries before boarding the taxi we now both sat chatting in.

"Wouldn't you drop off?" I asked as the taxi driver drove past the road she had pointed at earlier that led to her house.

"Nahhh. I'm too take over the night shift in two hours, so there's no point going home" she explained.

Oh poor kids I frowned craning my neck to cast my eyes on the tiny road of the more remote area feeling slightly upset I deprived those two little Five year olds from their mother for a whole day.

I turned over to face Penilva who looked totally unbothered as she pumped her mouth full with fries. Tsk.

And then a bright idea crossed my mind.

"Penny?" I called in the easiest way I realized I could call her.

"Huh?" She replied turning to face me.

I held a serious face and dug into my hand bag and brought out the book I have stared at more times than I even looked at my own reflection and pulled out the very reason I was here in Haples by the way.

"Do you know anything about this place?" I asked showing her the little card in my hand.

She took the card from my hand and studied it for a while, then a ray of hope showered on my mind as I saw a gleam of recognition on her face.

"Yeah.... This is one of the biggest top ranking companies in this country. Jovenci Corp Ltd." She informed nodding with certainty.

"Jovenci?" I asked repeating after her.

"Yes, my elder brother used to work with them at their mall that was in the same building with their smaller branch before he abandoned us all and left the country" she explained.

"I don't know the location of their main headquarters though but I could draw a map to their mall because I've been there on several occasions in search of my brother and also to gawk at the fine young men " she added giggling.

"Could you take me there please?" I asked with pleading eyes as I was pleased with the little information I got.

"I would love to but it's quite far away from here and I'm running double shifts for the next one week, so I won't be able to squeeze it in like we did today" she replied sending me an apologetic look.

"But I could text you the address" she added grinning and pulling out her phone from her handbag.

Thankfully enough she didn't ask me any questions about my reason for wanting to be there as I smiled wickedly when her message popped on my screen with the full address.

Plot 437 A, Aragon Crescent, Scritz Haples.