AFTER THIS NIGHT

What happened?

Lying in the soft sheets, Sophia had no desire to leave them. An unfamiliar scent made her open her eyes. She almost screamed in surprise, seeing Akira's face next to hers. Instinctively, she stopped breathing, covering her mouth with her right hand. Gently, she extracted herself from the sheets, grabbed her clothes, and hurried to the bathroom to get dressed. After arranging her hair, she discreetly left the room, having gathered all her belongings. She took the elevators and descended to the room Sean had reserved for her. Once inside, she lay face down on the bed, wondering how they ended up in that bed. She only remembered that everything happened naturally between them. She felt a connection, complementarity, a magical something she couldn't explain. No words were strong enough to accurately describe what she felt. It was as if they had known each other forever.

After an hour of gathering her thoughts, she decided to get up and take a hot bath. She still had an hour and a half before she had to join the dressing rooms.

"Good morning, Sophia, you're up early today," said Carelle, her colleague and friend.

"Good morning, Carelle. I feel tired, but what can you do? I couldn't sleep anymore," she said, finishing tying the strings of her apron.

"Short night?" Carelle asked, glancing at her while putting her clothes in her locker.

"How did you guess?" Sophia asked, closing her locker.

"You seem... How to put it?... different," Carelle told her, finishing putting on her uniform.

"Ah, that! I thought that... never mind. We should get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. I think today's schedules are already posted," said Sophia.

"You're avoiding the subject. Interesting! I'll come back to that, count on it!" Carelle said, showing that she wouldn't let it go.

Akira slowly emerged from his sleep. The first rays of sun filtered through the curtains of the bay window. Smiling, he placed his hand on the empty pillow beside him and opened his eyes, surprised. The place next to him was vacant, and the sheets were cold. He thought for a moment that he had dreamed this magical night, but Sophia's scent still lingered in the sheets, proving otherwise. He didn't understand why she had left like a thief but consoled himself with the idea that it was better this way. He would have liked to meet her a few months earlier. He had made a decision and had to respect it, despite the special connection between them. He felt with her like with no other woman before. He never imagined that it was possible to experience such intense sensations as he did throughout the previous night, from the first second their eyes met until the end. But he had to let go of all that.

Determined not to let this adventure be more than a passing affair, Akira got up and went to the bathroom. He ran his hand through his hair, tousling it before opening the door that separated the bedroom from the bathroom. Nonchalantly, he walked to the sink, leaned over, and rinsed his face. He lifted his head and read on the mirror, "sorry," written with a cream. He found it original and smiled. However, just thinking that Sophia had run her fingers over this mirror brought back memories of the passionate night before. He felt transported, as if reliving the ecstasy of the moment. His resolutions, made a few minutes earlier, began to fly away one after the other. Still, the ringing of his phone brought him back abruptly to reality like a cold shower. He would have liked to meet her earlier, he thought again. Why did they have to meet only yesterday? Why did their encounter have to happen after he made that decision? As he began to curse the events, if they were only a passing passion? He thought it was certainly the case because nothing enduring is so intense. Determined to forget and move on, he casually wiped off the writing on the mirror and washed his hands. He took a shower to erase any physical traces of his night of passion. The warm water flowing over his skin carried away the memories of caresses and kisses his skin had known. The musky smell of men's shower gel replaced the sweet and enchanting fragrance of Sophia.

Out of the shower, he looked at himself in the mirror with a determined gaze. He had a life before Sophia, and he intended to resume it. He left the bathroom completely dry and got dressed. Throughout his bath, his phone had been ringing incessantly. Too eager to leave this room and draw a line over everything he had felt and experienced there, he didn't bother to check his call history. He gathered his belongings and left the room. After a final look, he closed the door and walked along the long corridor to reach the elevators.

Sophia had familiarized herself with the rooms assigned to her. To her surprise, the one she had shared the night with Akira was among them. Her heart raced at the thought of seeing Akira again, or worse, encountering him while he opened the door with the sheets from the bed or in a bathrobe. At this thought, she felt embarrassed and ashamed.

"Everything okay?" Carelle asked, seeing her friend's pale face.

"Yes... yes, don't worry," she replied, regaining her composure.

"Are you sure? It looked like you saw a ghost," Carelle asked, concerned.

"Yes, I am sure. Don't worry at all. It was really nothing," she said to reassure her. Seeing that her friend was not convinced, she continued, "I'm telling you the truth, Carelle. I just realized that the gold bracelet I had on my wrist last night, I didn't have it this morning. I had totally forgotten that I wore it yesterday. I'll look for it in the room I stayed in when I do the cleaning. With a bit of luck, it should be there."

"I hope you find it," Carelle replied sympathetically.

"I hope so too," Sophia replied, pleased that her friend believed her lie. She wasn't proud of lying to her friend because she hated dishonesty. But there was no way she or anyone else would learn what happened between her and the famous Akira. Thinking of him and the possibility of seeing him again in the room they had shared, she felt the stress rise within her. Looking at the time on her phone, she reassured herself that he might have already left before she entered the room for cleaning.

Having finished cleaning the rooms on the first floor assigned to her, Sophia took the elevator to go up to the next floor, where the room she had shared with Akira was located. Her heart was pounding at the thought of meeting him again. What did he think of her after that wild night? What judgment did he pass on her? What would happen if they crossed paths again? So many questions tormented her mind, but she didn't want answers for fear of falling from a great height. It was better that they didn't meet again, and that this night remained only a cherished memory for both of them. An exquisite memory to cherish.

As the elevator doors closed, Akira saw a woman who looked a lot like the one who had given him the most magical night of his life. He shook his head vigorously and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"And now I'm starting to see her everywhere," he said, thinking he was hallucinating because the young woman who had just passed by was dressed as a maid. Yet, this young woman was indeed the one he thought. He leaned against the elevator wall, thinking he was going crazy.