Whisper of the Silencee

12

"I never thought that they would have a luxury spa in here," Danise said, sitting on the bench placed outside the facility. "Maybe not this 'luxury'."

'Heal the Spirit', printed esoterically and displayed artistically along the tinctured glass walls. Located at the corner, which only increased the dark and mysterious feel coming from the inside. The one thing that could be seen inside of the spa was the small pond with a mini fountain stuck in the middle. -Thanks to the lights along the hallway on the outside. Though it wasn't fully clear to be seen from the outside, the sounds of fishes bubbling and water dripping into the pond was enough to tell the existence of it. String lights hung at the entrance, welcoming the customers in a seductive way. Fragrance vapours were escaping through the spaces between the strings, diffusing the smell of lavender throughout the entire level. Petals of flowers were scattered on the ground. Two huge wooden dolls in traditional Chinese clothing were placed one at each side of the main entrance, crafted with their hands pushed together, bodies bent down 30 degrees. They represented the sign of politeness, welcoming, to whoever that had the desire to enter.

"You have never been here before, have you?" Kenny asked, throwing coins into the vending machine. He had his eyes fixed on the isotonic drink.

"Nope. But it's really a pleasure to be here, " he said, offering his coins when he saw Kenny was struggling to find more in his pocket. "Even if it's just for a couple of minutes."

"Thanks," he took, pushed them into the hole and pressed the number 3 and 8.

Suddenly, there came two young-looking girls looping out of the spa, dressed in white robes. Danise froze for a moment before shifting his seating position to face the gigantic windows. The muscles of his legs were tensing. Lactic acid building up. He twitched to walk away. But to walk away, passing in front of the girls was a must.

He couldn't do it.

His face was exposed, completely disguise-less.

Next to him, Kenny was chilling with his drink carefreely, shaking his leg, waiting for Danise to nudge him to leave. He need not to worry about anything. He wasn't a celebrity. He could just pace off right now without drawing their eyes.

However, it wasn't going to be the same for Danise.

They must not find out about him, or else the vacation would be ruined.

"Stepnie, wait! Let me get something to drink." The thinner girl said, reaching towards their direction. "The spa had seriously drained away the 'liquid' in me."

"Sure, get one for me too," the other girl said, taking the seat on the bench right behind the one both of them were sitting.

"What' ya want?" she asked, finger pointing to the available beverages being put on. "They have cokes... coffees..herbal teas.."

"Something not gasyy. Ahh. I saw green tea, Ying Wei. Green tea please." Stephie requested, tightening the robe on her.

"Alright. I'll get two."

She squatted and reached inside the hole to take their orders after hearing the drumming sound of the tins falling."By the way, do you know who's Kyle Lee?" she asked, icing Stephie's cheeks with the green tea.

Stephie flinched, erasing the chilly sensation with her hand. "Kyle Lee? The Chinese singer..? Omg. How can I not know?!" She exclaimed, pulling open the tab. "I'm his fannn!!"

"Woww.. you know him? I thought Western people aren't into him."

She laughed,"I'm into anyone that's hot!" Sitting closer with her blue eagle's eyes looking around, "Do you think he would be staying in this hotel at this moment???" she whispered excitedly.

"Then let him stay on the same floor as us," Ying Wei laid her drink on the bench and crossed her fingers. "Oh.. Aladdin and his magic lamp...and what not... please appear and make our wish come true."

"But you know, the whole 15th floor has been booked by our school, International School of Elite Aces." Stephnie said disappointedly.

"Aww.. what a pity.. Nah. Seemed like too good to be real," the Asian girl claimed, gulping the remaining green tea down her throat. "Let's go, I wanna hit the bed already." She squashed the can and dunked it into the bin.

"Wokiee."

Danise let out a long sigh of relief as he saw their shadows slowly disappearing out of his view. It was funny to see how the girls reacted at the name of Kyle but not knowing that he was really in this hotel with them. Well, if they were lucky enough, encountering their idol wouldn't be much of a problem.

"You done?" Danise asked Kenny, who was pouring the final drops of his drink onto his held out tongue.

"Yah," he said, "let's get back."

Kyle filled the pad with warm water and placed it on Stella's abdomen. Her beige hair was sticky, drenched in her sweats, staining almost half of the pillow. Her lips were trembling, brows were twitching. The pain was digging deeper and deeper. It felt like millions of screws drilling into her stomach, forcing her to deal with the ache. Her fingers were numbing. The pad that Kyle put on her wasn't helping out at all.

Pulling a stool next to the bed, "Why did you drink it?" Kyle mumbled monotonously under his breath, drawing her focus to him.

For the very first time ever, Kyle scared her. His question sounded like a blame, blaming her for drinking when she knew the consequences. Blaming her for making Clover thought that he blamed her. There weren't any hints of concerns in his voice like she thought there would be. She just wanted to find out if he still cares about her when he had a new girl by his side. But the warmth in him was gone for an instance.

Stella stared blankly at the artistic scenic painting on the wall, swallowing her tears, hands clenching the thick blanket. She hated this scenario. It was not turning out the way she wanted it to be.

Stella, what exactly are you doing?!

Damaging your body just because of a mere girl that appeared out of nowhere? She screamed inside her mind, realizing the mess that she created.

"STELLLA??!!!" Danise gasped by the door, flapping his feet to remove the shoes. "Oh god.. Stella.. Don't scare me.." he dashed in, kneeling next to the double sized bed. "What happened??!"

"Help.. me.. Da...Danise... i..it's..killing...me.." she hissed.

"...You were perfectly fine just now!" Danise exclaimed, reaching for her energyless hand.

"I..I..- "she trailed off, and her vision went black.

"Stella??!!" Danise shook her aggressively. "Call the ambulance Kenny!! She passed outt!"

"Yes!" Kenny responded to his call, dialing 120 on his screen right away.

"Don't." Kyle parted his legs and hopped from the stool. "Don't make it a big deal."

"Kyle! I thought your weakness is caring for weak girls?! She's practically dying over here." Danise argued. "How can it not be a big deal?!"

"I gave her painkillers. She would be fine."

"But still...-"

"It's not the first time, Danise." He shot him a sharp look. "You know it."

Kyle continued, "Let her rest. Tomorrow she would feel better." Reaching for the switches, "Sleep," he said.

And darkness hit the room.

The next morning, loud bangings on their door, hurried footsteps sending the vibrations through the floor, and all those overwhelming noises from the outside barged into their dreamlands, disturbing their peaceful sleep. Danise was the first who got pushed out of his dream.Taking off his sleep mask and kicking away his blanket annoyingly, he stomped angrily towards the door. Though his hair was messy like a bush, though his face was filled with sleep marks, swear words were ready at the back of his throat, waiting to shoot. His hand was extended halfway, about to throw his tantrum at whoever that was being such a jerk.

But there was something that caught his eyes.

The pamphlets that slipped into their room.

"Hmm?" he wondered lazily, picking up the paper to read the scribbles on it.

Stella Kim, Kyle Lee, Danise Zhang are here in 1803!

Quick! Quick! Grab this golden opportunity to meet your idols!

"F***," he cursed, paper crumbling thanks to his quivering fingers.

Picking up another, his brows crept in deeper, exposing the wrinkles on his forehead.

Stella Kim is in pain!

All because of Kyle's new personal assistant. Clover Hon!

Everyone! Go get her! She's in 1804!!!!

"Darn it." Danise banged the papers onto the wall with a blatant thump. "We are so doomed."

Immediately, he grabbed the luggage and began chunking all their belongings inside. They need to flee. "Kyle! Kenny! Stella!! Wake up! Wake up!!" he shouted, strong enough to overtake the ones coming from the outside.

"W-what's wrong?" Kyle muttered, scratching his head, pushing his body up the coach where he spent his night. "What's with the noise?" he looked around.

"They found out about us. Kyle. Quick help me!" he said, tossing him the other baggage that he found on the floor. " Sh*t. Clover...Kyle! Find a way to help Clover!"

"...Clover?"

"Someone knew what happened to Stella and blamed everything on Clover. Hurry, Kyle!" He climbed onto the beds to wake the remaining two. "I'm afraid anything bad happens to her.."

"Stella! You alright?" Danise focused on her as she showed sign of consciousness.

She nodded slightly, with her eyes looking intensely at Kyle. But Kyle didn't return her look. He fixed his eyes on the luring window.

"Great, Kenny. We need to leave right now." He pointed his finger to the back, gesturing the ongoing bangings on the door. "Get the security!"

In a flash without them realizing, Kyle jumped out, disappearing out of their sights. Their room was not on the ground floor nor anywhere at the bottom. But 18th. Stella's heart sank. She got up from her bed at a stroke, running to the spot and was ready to jump right after him.

Only to be stopped by Danise and Kenny.

"KYLEE!!" she cried.

Extending his head from the outside, "I'm alive, my friends," he said breathlessly. "Let me go get Clover and I'll be back."

Hanging onto the metal bars that were supporting him from falling off, he slowly elongated his leg to the next group metal bars (the one that was outside Clover's room). They failed to reach even after a few trials. His grips were getting slippery. Gravity was dragging him down. The fright in him stroke up as he accidentally looked down and saw the smaller version of everything-the worst thing to do right at the moment. He was shaking, legs trembling. Heights were never a good friend of his. Other than taking the lifts and planes, he had never left the ground. But this time was different, he needed to reach Clover. Sucking in a deep breath, he gathered every bit of his strength and courage. Once more, he stretched out his leg the longest that he could.

And fortunately this time, they were enough.

"Clover!! Clover!!" He screamed on top of his lungs, loud enough for Clover to hear.

Good one. She heard him.

"...Kyle??!" She almost stumbled the moment she saw Kyle climbing into the metal bars.

Opening the window immediately, she pulled him into the room. Another second of seeing him 'hanging' in the middle of the air was something that her eyes couldn't bear to watch. "Did..did you just climb from that room?"

"We n-eed... " he said, letting his voice coming out in quick gasps. "to.. lea..ve..."

"They are your fans, aren't they? It seemed.. that.. yesterday....- " A piercing, thundering sound banged onto the door interrupted her, followed by the angry voices.

Clover Hon! Stop Hiding! You b****!

How dare you hurt our STELLA KIM?!

I'll curse you to death, CLOVER HON!

Open the door! UGLY!

You're gonna be so dead once we spread this in our school, Clover Hon. The whole world would know your 'sins'.

School? The elite school?! Clover stumbled back, bumping into Kyle who was still panting."... They.. are the girls from yesterday...." Her voice cracked, and tears were emerging at the corner of her eyes.

"Whatever that you heard, ignore them all, Clover," Kyle whispered, gently closing her ears with his palms. "They are just.. elite for nothing." he continued, disgusted by the choice of words that they made.

She was terrified. She was scared. She didn't know that fans could go to this extent for their idols. Biting her lips, she looked away from the door and let the sound waves be blocked off by Kyle's hands.

I'm sorry.. my personal assistant. Kyle thought, pulling her into his embrace.

With him in the room, everything suddenly felt so safe and secure despite the ongoing voices and thumps on the door. She could actually hear his heartbeats, throbbing so fast against his chest. They were definitely more pleasant to hear. In fact, his presence was slowly blinding away the sounds that she was afraid of.

The lacy curtains were blowing in the breeze, the pages of the unattended magazine on the bed were flipping. Those on the outside were finally chased away by the security guards after a while. And there they were, remaining in the hug though it was no longer needed.

"KYLE! Let's go!" Danise's voice pierced through the door. "They are gone! Let's leave now. Kyle!! You hear me?"

"Yes! Wait me at the basement! Be right there," he said, breaking the cuddle.

Brandon was on his way to reach Starry Land when he got a call from Kyle saying that their vacation was ruined and needed to come back to Guangzhou right away.

"Damn you, Kyle, " he swore, making a U-turn to get back to his starting point. "Five hours man!"

Suddenly, a continuous ringing of his notification's tone took his focus. As he clicked on his QQ, there were 20 messages sent by an anonymous number. He expected them to be text messages. But they weren't. They were images. His curiosity level spiked up as he waited for them to load. He stopped his car by the roadside, feeling very uneasy. Something bad was bound to happen. He sensed it.

Bingo.

He was right.

A new message appeared as he finished scrolling the last image.

"Bring her to me. And these images will never be revealed."