Paper Rings (English)

Chapter 16

“Oh, you smiled. That’s 11 out of 10. Do it more often.”

Primrose couldn’t help but wince upon the recollection of what happened last night. Her memories were patchy, but based on what she could remember, it seemed like she was the one who attacked the Mortel Malls President.

She turned the faucet on and rubbed her face roughly with water to shake off the embarrassment lingering in her mind. As soon as she met her gaze through the mirror, a flush crept across her face. The red-haired lady still couldn’t piece the puzzle together, especially after she found herself naked underneath the sheets this morning.

Could it be that something happened between them? But why wasn’t she feeling anything strange in her body? Is that how it works? She had been cracking her head for any plausible answers after she got up from the bed.

“What the heck did you do, Primrose?” Her palms cupped her reddening cheeks as she heaved a long sigh. Those mixed-up thoughts were causing nothing but distress for her. “How do you expect to face him after what you did? So stupid.”

Despite those worries heavily weighing on her mind, she managed to fix herself and prepare to go out of the room. Some of her clothes were neatly prepared on the bedside, so she didn’t have to rummage her packed baggage for the flight later. She was guessing that it was Elisha who did that because she could recall vividly seeing her face last night.

Her silent deliberation was interrupted by the buzz coming from the door. For a moment, she thought that it might be Sander. The panic in her visage only disappeared upon seeing Elisha from the peephole.

“Good morning, Ma’am.” The assistant had a wide grin painted on her lips, and her eyes gleamed an obvious anthem of excitement. “Did you sleep well?”

She tilted her head and scratched her jaw. “Why do you look so energetic today? Did something good happen?”

“Oh. You know me. I’m always energetic,” Elisha managed to say amid biting down a smile. “Shall we go? The President is waiting in the hotel lobby. Everything’s ready for check out. I’ll just have someone bring your luggage to the car.”

“Elisha, wait,” she grabbed her wrist, making her glance back at her. Her lips pressed together amid obvious hesitation. “Were you here last night? In this room with Sander and me?”

Her query brought a twinkle of amusement in the squinted eyes of Sander’s assistant. She didn’t answer her right away. Instead, the woman turned her head away slightly and cleared her throat before facing her again.

“What does that mean?”

Elisha shrugged her shoulders to feign ignorance, “We should go, Ma’am. And oh, there seems to be a problem with your flight to New Caledonia. So you should hurry along.”

“What?” Her voice rang across the hotel hallways. She reached for her mouth upon realizing how loud her voice went. “I mean, why? What’s the problem?”

“I think you should hear it from your husband, Ma’am.”

With that, Primrose had no choice but to go down and brace herself into facing Messi Sander Mortel after the humiliating things she said and did last night. From afar, he saw the man adorned in his usual neat-looking suit and half-bunned hair. Luckily, he was busy talking to his security team to notice her approaching presence.

However, the relief in her chest didn't last long. Her lips parted when their eyes connected. The quickening of her heartbeat engulfed her ears as he beamed a smile toward her direction.

The dashing man’s radiant glow almost halted her steps. She only regained her composure when Elisha lightly nudged her arm and kept giving her a knowing look.

There was a silent urge deep inside her to turn around and hide from his mesmerizing presence. What the hell was going on with her? Why was she so embarrassed over something she couldn't fully remember?

“Good morning,” he greeted when she reached the spot where he was standing. “Did you sleep well?”

“I-I think so,” she tucked her hair behind an ear and averted her gaze away from him. Initiating eye contact could be a dangerous game for her, especially since her heart was about to burst out her rib cage with its needless rapid pumping. “How about you? Did you sleep well?”

“Me? I wasn’t able to sleep a wink,” from the corner of her eyes, she saw his eyebrows wiggling. “All thanks to a certain someone.”

She was about to mouth a question when a group of hotel employees walked up to them. Before she knew it, a bouquet was being handed to her. Each of them had a swooning smile traced on their lips, distracting her from the conversation she was having with her husband.

“Congratulations on your wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Mortel,” one of the hotel personnel uttered with glee. “We are incredibly honored that you chose our hotel to spend your wedding night. We hope you enjoyed your stay.”

Wedding night. All Primrose could do was rub the back of her neck as she swallowed hard. To hide the heat rising her ears, she accepted the bouquet of roses and pressed her lips into a small smile.

“T-thank you.”

Sander cleared his throat while pulling his collar. “Thank you. Please extend my gratitude to Orion. I’ll drop by to see him personally some other time.”

“I’ll deliver the message, sir.”

After waving them goodbye and watching them walk back to their working stations, she turned her gaze to the hotel signage engraved at the back of the concierge before glancing back to the Mortel Malls President.

“Orion? Is it the same Orion I’m thinking of?”

“Ah, yes. It’s Lowell’s step-brother. He runs this hotel in place of Iyana.” Sander traced a finger to his thick-set eyebrows. “Anyway, I think we can’t fly today.”

“Oh yeah, Elisha told me about that. What happened?”

He held out his phone and clicked a video to play. “You should see this. Everyone's been talking about this announcement since last night.”

“Acknowledging the growing number of individuals infected by the virus, the government decided to declare a national emergency," the newscaster announced in a TV program that seemed to have aired last night. "Starting tomorrow, the whole nation will enforce strict restrictions on flights in and out the country. Domestic flights are also on-hold to contain the spread of the virus. The public is advised to stay home until further notice on lockdown guidelines."

"Oh my goodness," she held a hand to her chest.

The news about the virus has been the talk of town since last month. Just last week, she even heard the international health organization declaring a worldwide pandemic. However, nothing was definite in the local news yet, so she didn't give it much attention. Besides, both of them were quite busy for the wedding ceremony during that time.

"One of the guests in your wedding is now confined in a hospital and being tested for the virus," Elisha added, which made them shift in her direction. Unlike earlier, her expression seemed pensive. There was no hint of her earlier jolliness. "From what we've been hearing, everyone present in the reception will have to undergo self-quarantine until the results are out. If it's positive, we're informed that all guests should be tested."

"I see. Make sure that everyone's well-informed about this, including all our staff." Sander instructed and placed the phone back in his pocket. "How about the operations? I'm assuming everything is halted as per government's advice?"

"Yes, sir. We already took preliminary precautions and announced operations and office work suspension."

The quick-witted assistant took out a tablet PC and showed him a scheduled chart. Primrose could only gape in disbelief upon seeing how organized it was. Despite aiding her and Sander last night, she couldn't believe this woman was able to whip up such detailed report on a few hours notice.

"You'll be having a virtual meeting with the regional managers at 6 PM and a short discussion with the directors at 7 PM. The main agenda is determining remote work conditions for our employees. I already sent you the written report, meeting presentation, and other references from other countries and companies already implementing this kind of work setup."

"Great job, Elisha. I appreciate your hard work." After beaming proudly at his assistant, the man's eyes circled back to her. With his attention fully focusing on her again, the red-haired lady unconsciously straightened her back. "Looking at the situation, it looks like we have to postpone our plans a lot longer than we thought."

"No worries, it's alright." She pressed her lips into a thin line. "We can take our time. After all, we're already married. We can go anytime when it's safe to do so."

"Speaking of that, do you want to stay at my house for the meantime..." he paused for a bit. Elisha's confused expression made them both wary of where the conversation was heading. "I mean, we should stay at my residence in the meantime. It's safer that way."

"O-of course. Naturally."

In the car, Sander drove in silence. Although Elisha kept insisting earlier to let the driver take them home because of her boss' lack of sleep, the stubborn man argued his way behind the wheels.

Not a word has been spoken between them within the fifteen minutes they were on the road. The unnerving silence was making Primrose's throat dry.

"About last night," she managed to utter to break the ice. Her lowered gaze remained on the intertwined fingers neatly placed on her lap. "I think I caused trouble. Sorry about that."

"Trouble?" Although he didn't glance at her, the amusement in his tone was apparent. His fingertips tapped the steering wheel he was currently manning. "What kind of trouble did you think you caused?"

She shut her eyelids for a brief moment. It was no surprise that Sander took the chance to make fun of her. If she could resist the urge, she didn't want to mention it either. However, her curiosity was already killing her.

"I don't know," she courageously tilted her head up and met his quick gaping through the rearview mirror. "I passed out, so I don't think I'll be able to remember what I did or say."

"So you think you passed out?"

His query made her eyes widen. "I didn't?" She gulped, trying to contain her panic internally. "D-did something happen…"

"No," he clarified almost immediately, with eyes still on the road. For some reason, she could sense something grim in his expression. "I wouldn't do anything that's not agreed upon between us. You can trust me on that."

Primrose cleared her throat and reached a hand to her nape. "I see. Thank you for telling me."

Strange. She thought. Even though she should be relieved, it felt as if something heavy was placed on her chest after he mentioned their agreement.

"There's something you need to know."