THE ART OF DECEPTION

CHAPTER 2

Third person's POV

Linda slowly flutters her eyes open from the sun rays coming from the window. She groans loudly at how blinding the sun is. Linda rolls to the other side of the bed and her eyes comes in contact with a wooden bedside desk. She scrunches her brows in confusion at the unfamiliar object, Linda knows fully well that the object standing besides her is not something she has seen before. Her eyes suddenly snap open in alert, her eyes roam the room, white walls, king-sized bed, LED lamp, white ceiling and a large standing mirror.

Linda jumps off the bed and yells in fear when her eyes comes in contact with her naked reflection in the mirror.

She places her hand over her mouth as she slowly begins to recover everything that happened last night, she remembers being tired from working and the extra work that Miss Ray put her through, she further remembers how she had gotten a text message from her best friend Katherine asking her to wait outside. Linda slowly recalls the good news Katherine had blurted out and then further remembers that Katherine had made mention of celebrating her win by going to a bar for drinks.

"Oh my goodness!" Linda exclaims at the rest of how the night had gone.

She hastily dashes towards the bed and grabs the white sheets, she wraps it around her body and walks around the room wondering if the stranger she had a one night stand with was still hanging around somewhere. She silently hopes for some reason that the man might still be hanging around somewhere because it would hurt her ego if he was nowhere to be found.

Linda eventually searches the whole area and figures out that she is the only one in the room. A pang of dissapointment hits her and she automatically feels cheap. Linda feels used at the fact that the Man she had a one night stand with most likely just used her to pass the night and then ran away before she woke up.

Linda's mind even wanders far away, she wonders if the man could have been a criminal who only wanted to use her to pass time and then run away, what if he did not bother paying the hotel bills? This hotel sure looks like an expensive one judging from the appearance of the room and how spacious it is. Linda's heart begins to race fast as she thinks of what to do if he has not cleared the bills but then she later realizes that you have to make payment before actually booking a room in an hotel.

Linda releases a heavy sigh and decides to accept things as it is. The reality of the matter is that she got dumped by a man she had a one night stand with.

Linda decides to freshen up, she steps into the bathroom and allows the cold water to drop from the shower down to her entire body, she shuts her eyes close as she starts to wonder what she was actually expecting. Would she have thought the man would have proposed to her after just a one night stand. She facepalms and mutters quietly to herself "Nobody does that Linda. This is reality and not a fairytale. Snap out of this!" She scolds herself with her last statement.

After showering, Linda steps out of the bathroom and dries her wet body with the towel she had seen on the bathroom sink. After she successfully dries her body, she changes back into her old clothes and attempts to walk out when her eyes catches a brown envelope lying carelessly on the top of the bedside desk.

At first Linda is reluctant to pick it up because she believes it is none of her business and anyone could have left a note there, it could have even been one of the old users of this room. Although Linda's curiousity eventually takes the best of her, she silently tip toes towards the brown envelope as if she is a criminal trying to steal someone's money. If anyone walked in on her immediately, the person would obviously assume that she is trying to steal someone's money.

She hastily opens the envelope and accidentally drops it at the sight of cash. In the envelope is a wad of cash that could set Linda's life straight forever, that amount could cover up all the debts her parents left behind and even help her take care of her siblings. Linda automatically feels pathetic at the sight of the cash. She notices that besides the cash is a business card of a man named Donald Clair, A popular CEO of a multi-billion company that produces and manufactures home appliances.

Linda feels disappointed in herself, she immediately understands that the man she had a one night stand with is a wealthy and influential man who probably has no interest in a poor girl like her but just wants to have a taste of her which he already did.

Linda packs up the cash into the brown envelope back and gently places the business card back into the brown envelope as well. She picks it up and walks out of the hotel with the brown envelope in her hand.

Linda leads herself out of the hotel and bids a cab home since luckily for her today happens to be her day off. The taxi drops Linda at her home, she pays the taxi man and watches the cab zoom off away from her sight. Linda sluggishly drags herself into the house, luckily for her, none of her siblings are home and the key is under the doormat of the house. She picks up the key and unlocks the door. Linda immediately rushes into the house and throws herself on the couch with her hands still clutched tight to the envelope. She shuts her eyes close and wallows in her own thoughts, she allows herself think things slowly so as to avoid making any other mistakes.

Weeks pass by quickly and Linda is back on her feet. Everything that happened the night at the bar has become a memory to her. She had locked up the cash and business card somewhere to avoid thinking too much about it and also so that no one finds out about what transpired that night.

Days ago Linda had been experiencing some weird symptoms. At first she had chosen to ignore it but then it only got worse and it affected her efficiency at work so she had gone to hospital to undergo some tests would be going for the results immediately after her shift at the restaurant.

After work, Linda hurriedly picks up her handbag and dashes out of the restaurant. She hastily boards a cab to the hospital with her heart racing in fear at what the results would be. Linda has one thought in mind but she silently prays and hopes in her mind that it is not what she actually thinks it is.

The cab arrives at the hospital, Linda gets off the cab and almost forgets to pay the cab man all because of her haste to get to the hospital. She apologizes to the cab man and even tips him off with a little change. Linda scurries into the hospital and thankfully for her, the doctor is having a word with the receptionist.

Linda is already familiar with the doctor because she happens to be a family friend.

"Dr McCall." Linda calls out acknowledging the doctor's presence.

"Oh hi Linda. You are right on time. Come with me." Dr McCall says with a small smile. She gestures Linda into her office and shuts the door behind them both as if she is actually about to share a very huge secret.

Linda's heart races fast as she braces herself for the worst.