What If?

Chapter 31 - The Drunk and the Nocturnal

After dropping Launa off at home, Glenn didn't head straight back. Instead, his feet carried him to a high-end bar, where he ended up stranded. Glenn sat all by himself at the bar counter, his gaze vacant and half-drunk. One of his hands was busy swirling a shot glass, forcing the burning alcohol back down his already parched throat. Even though he was heavily intoxicated, he stubbornly kept pouring himself another drink.

His dress shirt was already a mess. The top three buttons were undone, revealing a broad chest that rose and fell unevenly from the effects of the alcohol.

On the counter, Glenn’s phone vibrated brutally without pause. The screen lit up with Jerry’s name calling for the umpteenth time, but Glenn merely spared it a lazy glance with absolutely no intention of picking up.

Suddenly, a woman wearing a tight satin dress that showcased her flawless bare back approached him. Her hair was a light brown hue, resembling the shade of a creamy iced coffee that shimmered under the dim, moody lights of the bar.

Glenn struggled to lift his head, which felt as heavy as a boulder. The woman was now standing there, leaning against the bar counter right in front of him.

Without any hesitation, the woman immediately wrapped both of her arms around Glenn’s neck, pressing her body slickly against his. "All by yourself, handsome? Your shirt is already undone like this, did you leave your chest bare on purpose just to tease me into putting my hands all over it?" she purred frontally, her voice a sultry, breathless whisper right against his ear.

Glenn merely let out a low, dopey chuckle, what little remained of his consciousness on the very verge of evaporating completely.

Glenn’s phone rang loudly once again. With a slow, flirtatious gesture, the woman snatched the phone, sliding it down her chest before waving it playfully right in front of Glenn’s face. "Hey gorgeous, someone keeps ruining our mood. It’s a total turn-off. Should I take it, or should we just get a room and forget the world?"

"Turn it off," Glenn muttered, his voice raspy and indifferent. "It’s just a pest."

"Okay, bye-bye pest," the girl chuckled sexily, instantly powering off Glenn’s phone and tossing it carelessly onto the counter.

Glenn blinked his rapidly blurring eyes. However, the moment his gaze locked onto the face of the woman in front of him, his heart suddenly beat in a strange rhythm. This damn alcohol effect was making the image in his eyes suddenly distort.

That brown hair... those clear almond eyes, the small shape of her nose, right down to the plumpness of her lips. Everything suddenly looked incredibly familiar in Glenn’s mind. It was the exact figure that had recently started messing with his nightly dreams.

The woman leaned in even closer, pressing her body tightly against his. "Like what you see? Want a taste? The bed at my apartment is way softer than this bar stool. Want to take this back to my place right now?" she challenged, completely shameless and frontal.

Seeing the "figure" in his hallucination acting so daringly, Glenn let out a low, mocking laugh. "Since when does a girl as innocent as you... know anything about this, hm?" Glenn whispered raspily, his fingers trailing up to cup her chin.

"Innocent?" The woman let out a flirty giggle, feeling like she completely had the upper hand. "I can ride you wilder than you could ever imagine, babe."

Without warning, Glenn gripped her waist with a powerful yank, pulling her straight onto his lap. The woman let out a soft gasp before a satisfied smirk spread across her lips, staring intently into Glenn's darkened, heavy-lidded eyes.

In the next split second, she leaned down and crashed her lips against Glenn’s. The kiss instantly turned intense and feral. Her hands ran wildly through his hair, tugging at the strands to deepen the kiss as they lost themselves in each other beneath the dim, moody lights of the bar.

Completely wasted and utterly convinced that the illusion in his head was real, Glenn instantly matched her demanding kiss with a feral ferocity of his own, while his hands began to wander wildly, roaming over the rest of her body.

*****

"Ugh... I am so exhausted..." Launa muttered, stretching her stiff neck muscles. Her very first day working as Glenn Ellsworth’s personal assistant had completely drained both her energy and her emotions.

Launa collapsed her weary body onto the bed. Before locking herself in her room, she had made a quick detour to the hospital to drop off the high-end food Glenn had bought for her younger sister, Laura, and her grandmother.

Instantly, a soft smile played on Launa’s lips as she stared up at the bedroom ceiling. Remembering how thoughtful Glenn had been when ordering that herbal

soup earlier, a wave of warmth washed over her heart.

As it turned out, Glenn wasn’t as bad as his outward appearance suggested. Maybe people had only ever judged him by his arrogant and cold cover all this time. But to Launa, just because someone looked rough around the edges didn't mean their heart was a mess too.

Launa’s eyes slowly fluttered shut, ready to drift off to sleep. But then...

Buzz... buzz...

Launa’s eyes snapped wide open again. Lazily, she reached for her phone, which was lying on the nightstand.

Launa’s brow furrowed the moment she saw the name flashing on the screen. "Mr. Jerry? Why is he calling this late?" Launa muttered in bewilderment.

Without thinking twice, Launa answered it.

"Hello? Mr. Jerry? Is everything okay?" Launa asked hesitantly.

"Lau, I’m so sorry to call you this late..." Jerry’s voice on the other end sounded incredibly panicked and deeply apologetic.

"It’s no problem, sir. Is there an urgent office task?" Launa asked, instinctively sitting up straight.

"Uh, no, Lau. It's like this you were out with Glenn all day. Are you with him right now? Because I’ve been calling him repeatedly, and he hasn't picked up a single one," Jerry blurted out anxiously.

Launa was completely baffled. Glenn had dropped her off at home over two hours ago.

"N-no, sir. It’s already been two hours since Mr. Glenn dropped me off at home," Launa explained honestly. "B-but have you checked Mr. Glenn’s house? Maybe he’s already there."

"I already did, Launa. I checked his house, but he’s not there. I’ve also checked every single place he usually goes to when he’s stressed out," Jerry hissed in frustration. "Actually... there is one more place I haven't checked. But I really, truly hope he wasn't reckless enough to go there in his current state."

"What kind of place, sir?" Launa asked curiously.

However, Jerry seemed reluctant to dwell on the matter any further. "Ah, never mind. Anyway, Lau, thanks. I’m really sorry for disturbing your rest."

"Of course, sir. Don't worry about it."

Beep. The call was disconnected from his end.

For some reason, an uneasy feeling suddenly washed over Launa. A wave of anxiety crept in, filling her chest.

Right now, her mind was consumed by nothing but Glenn. Was he okay? Or what if something had happened to him on the road? Considering Glenn’s current status of investigating a highly sensitive case, her mind began to run wild with worst-case scenarios.

Launa stared deeply at her phone screen. She weighed her options for a brief moment before her heart ultimately won the battle against her ego. She decided to try calling her boss.

The first call... it rang for a long time, but went unanswered.

A mix of anxiety and curiosity gnawing at her, Launa pressed the call button for the second time. And this time, on the third ring, the call was finally picked up.

"Hello, Mr. Glenn? Where are you—"

"Ahhh... emhh... aaahh..."

Launa’s words instantly cut off in mid-air. Every drop of blood in her body suddenly ran ice-cold, freezing her in place the exact moment her ears caught the heavy, feral moans of a woman on the other end of the line, followed by the highly intense sounds of wet, sloppy kissing.

Launa instinctively clamped a hand over her mouth, her palm trembling violently. Her brain short-circuited, leaving her utterly bewildered and shocked out of her mind by what she had just heard. Without waiting another second, she slammed the end-call button in a flash.

The bedroom, which had felt so warm moments ago, suddenly turned as cold as ice. Launa sat frozen on her bed, staring blankly at her phone screen as her breath came in short, ragged gasps.

"W-what... what was that sound?"

*****