Chapter 9: Close In
1542 Words
The elevator doors slid shut as the assistant stepped inside.
The top floor of the hotel had only two suites. They stood in the quiet corridor. Benjamin didn't move, so Emma, who was supporting his arm, didn't dare to urge him either.
They hadn't spoken in days, and he was drunk. Emma really had no idea what to do now.
After a moment, Benjamin lifted his arm, pulling free from her hands that were supporting him. He stepped back half a step into the shadows and leaned against the wall.
He hadn't actually drunk that much, he just felt unwell, which made him look particularly listless.
Emma's hands fell empty. She looked at him.
Benjamin, tipsy and slow to react, slipped his right hand into the pocket of his suit pants, fumbling for his lighter and cigarettes. But as soon as he pulled them out, he remembered Emma was there. Letting out a soft scoff, he curled his lips and stuffed them back in.
Seeing he still seemed lucid, Emma lifted her hand. Her fingers brushed his sleeve, hesitated for a second, then dropped back down. “Shall we go to your room to rest?”
She pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. “It's over there.”
Benjamin turned his head slowly to look in that direction. Their eyes met. Just as Emma was about to speak again, her phone rang.
The screen lit up with a faint white glow, displaying David's name.
Benjamin was standing close enough to see it too. He tilted his head and let out a low chuckle.
Emma picked up her phone, stared at it for a moment, then walked to the side and answered.
“Hello?”
“Are you still busy? I just went to your place to drop something off, but you weren't home.”
Emma turned her back to Benjamin. Her left hand instinctively lifted to rest against her ear. “I'm not home. I'm still… at work.”
“That busy?” David laughed. “I heard you transferred to FSAN. Isn't Benjamin in charge there? Won't your brother give you a break?”
“No, the company's just busy.”
After replying briefly, Emma added, “Is there anything else?”
“Not really. I just called to check on you since you weren't home,” David asked again. “Do you have time this weekend? There's an exhibition I thought we could go see.”
Apart from the meetings arranged by their elders, this was the first time David had taken the initiative to ask her out.
Logically, she should agree, after all, they were going to get married soon.
She heard a soft scoff from the man behind her.
Her fingers, wrapped around the edge of the phone, tightened slightly. After a moment's hesitation, she made up her mind. “I have time. Saturday or Sunday?”
“Saturday? Saturday afternoon?” David suggested.
“Okay.”
The corridor was quiet. Every word David said reached Benjamin's ears clearly. He leaned against the wall, twisting his lighter in his hand as he listened to Emma confirm the meeting time with David.
After hanging up, Emma remained facing the wall. She took a slow breath, her fingertips tingling slightly.
Two seconds later, satisfied she had composed her expression, she put her phone away and turned around. “Can you walk there by yourself?”
She thought Benjamin was sober now.
Benjamin let out a breathy laugh. His right sleeve was casually rolled up to his elbow, giving him a lazy, unruly air.
He stopped twisting the lighter, his gaze sweeping over her slowly. “Where to?”
Emma pointed to the suite on one side of the hallway. “Over there.”
Benjamin looked away, closed his eyes, and rested his head against the wall. His voice, slightly hoarse, was slow and deliberate. “No.”
“You're just going to leave your drunk brother here?” His Adam's apple bobbed. “Don't be so heartless, Emma.”
He still wore that watch inlaid with blue diamonds on his right wrist, a watch he had worn for years without ever taking it off.
He lifted his hand and stuffed the lighter back into his pocket. Emma's eyes unconsciously lingered on the watch for a moment before she looked away.
She took two steps forward and supported his arm. “Then I'll take you there.”
Benjamin didn't say yes or no. He let her guide him, straightening up as she supported him. Then he draped his left arm over her shoulder, resting it lightly there.
He really had drunk too much. His steps were unsteady, and he leaned most of his weight on Emma. She half-carried him toward the room at the end of the hallway.
Just as they reached the door, she paused, unable to help but remind him. “Once I get you to the room, I have to leave. I can't stay out all night.”
Benjamin said nothing.
She supported him for two more steps, took out the room card to unlock the door, then pushed it open. As she tried to reach for the power card slot by the entrance to insert the card, she suddenly heard Benjamin speak.
“You're twenty-four, what's wrong with staying out overnight?” He glanced at her. “When you're dating David, won't you have to stay out sometimes anyway, in Sophia and Dad's eyes?”
Benjamin's arm was still draped over her shoulder. The power card slot was too far for her to reach, so she had to support him and bring him further inside.
She hesitated for a second, pursing her lips to explain. “I've only met him three times.”
“Won't this be the fourth soon?” He laughed softly, his tone unreadable. Then, in a lazy, teasing voice, he added, “The first time you came to London to see me… didn't we sleep together then…”
“Benjamin!” Emma snapped.
They had stepped fully into the hotel room now. The power card still hadn't been inserted into the slot; the only light came from the faint glow of the hallway seeping through the c***k under the door.
Benjamin was much taller than her. Cramped in the narrow entrance, she tilted her head to look up at him.
She saw the sharp lines of his jaw and face. His eyebrows and eyes were deep and cold, but the slight upward tilt of his brows added a hint of recklessness to his expression.
They stared at each other for a long time. Benjamin's shoulders sagged slightly. He turned his head, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “Afraid to admit what you did?”
He stepped forward, slamming the door shut behind him. Pinning her shoulders with one hand, he easily trapped her in the corner between the door and the wall.
He didn't even need to use his hands, just pressing his knee against her was enough to keep her from moving.
Emma grabbed his arm, trying to push him away, but instead he caught her wrist and pinned it above her head.
In the darkness, he found her eyes with uncanny accuracy, his tone sharp as if interrogating her. “What's wrong, Emma? Did I say something untrue?”
He was so close, close enough that their lips were almost touching. She couldn't breathe. “Brother.”
“Calling me that again?” Benjamin held her wrist tightly, she couldn't break free even if she tried. “Weren't you calling me Benjamin just now?”
His eyes were dark and deep. Staring into them for too long made Emma's eyes ache. She turned her head to avoid his gaze, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she panted heavily.
Trapped in that dark corner, surrounded by overwhelming ambiguity and repressed emotions that threatened to spill over, she felt suffocated.
Benjamin's thumb brushed over the back of her hand. His voice slowed, soft and light. “Why are you so cruel, Emma?”
“Brother…”
“Don't call me that! Am I really your brother?!”
Benjamin's laugh was bitter. “Do we share blood? Are we even in the same household registration?”
“Before you call me that, don't you stop to think, are you really my sister?”
As his words faded, the quiet, empty room seemed to echo with them. Then, there was a deathly silence, only their ragged breaths could be heard.
Emma's heart tightened. Benjamin's hand was still clamped tightly around her wrist, making it ache.
It felt as if her heart was being squeezed too, wrinkled and unable to unfold. Every breath she took pulled at it, sending a stabbing pain through her chest.
Her phone, which had fallen to the floor during their struggle, suddenly rang. A slow piano melody, Emma's ringtone, filled the air.
She looked down and saw it was Sophia calling.
Slipping out from under Benjamin's arm, she bent down to pick it up, only to be pulled back by her arm.
“Stay with me,” his voice was hoarse, cutting through the continuous piano melody. “I'm drunk. Stay with me.”
- Writer
