That evening, being alone, Laoise prepared a simple dinner for herself. She didn't put even a tenth of the effort into feeding herself as she did for others. After a quick meal and a bit of tidying, she sat cross-legged on the living room rug and opened her phone to watch the latest episode of a Thai drama.
By the time the episode finished, it was already nine o'clock.
Checking the time, she assumed Percy would have reached his destination and settled in by now, so she tried to start a video call with him. The phone rang for a while before the call was declined.
Laoise stared at the screen, thinking he must be busy with something. Just then, her phone rang. Percy was calling her back.
"Why didn't you pick up the video call?" Laoise asked immediately.
"The Wi-Fi at this hotel isn't great," Percy replied from the other end. "The video would just lag. It's better to just talk over the phone."
"Then don't use the hotel Wi-Fi," Laoise blurted out. "Just use your mobile data."
Percy hesitated for a moment before answering. "The cell signal isn't very strong here either."
Laoise frowned. "Really. I can hear you just fine. The call isn't breaking up at all."
There was another pause. "Voice calls are okay, but browsing and video don't work well. I tried earlier. It took forever just to load the company's homepage."
Laoise wasn't entirely satisfied, but she dropped it. "Fine. I didn't have anything important anyway. I just wanted to see your face."
Percy's tone was somewhat indifferent. "Didn't you just see me a few hours ago?"
Laoise gave him a playful, affectionate pout. "How is that the same. A day apart feels like three years. We haven't seen each other for half a day, so by that logic, a year and a half has already passed."
Percy went silent on the other end. After a long pause, his voice sounded slightly hoarse as he said her name, his tone carrying a strange hint of guilt.
"Laoise, I have to go. I have work to do."
Then he hung up.
Laoise stared blankly at her phone for a while before taking a hot bath and heading to bed.
Early the next morning, just as the first light of dawn broke, Laoise opened her eyes to a message:
"Your husband was with another woman last night."
Laoise stared at the words, her mind short-circuiting. She recognized every character, but when they were strung together into that brief sentence, she couldn't comprehend it. She couldn't swallow it.
Immediately, another message flashed onto the screen, hitting her without warning:
"Vertex Hotel, Room 1314. Come now."
Laoise looked at the two messages, feeling as if someone had stuffed a bag of explosives into her head that could detonate at any second. An earth-shattering explosion was imminent; one wrong move and she would be blown to pieces.
She read the messages twice more, trying to digest them, forcing them into her brain. Only by understanding exactly what they meant could she stop the explosion brewing in her mind.
She called the number that had sent the texts, but it wouldn't go through. The phone had been turned off.
Laoise went into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find some water. She felt like she was dying of thirst because of those two messages, her throat so tight she could hardly breathe. She thought some water would help. She needed to calm down and prove that this was just a cruel prank.
She gulped down a large glass of cold water, the chill seeping into her brain.
Vertex Hotel, thirteenth floor.
She poured another glass. She gripped the glass through the mist of condensation. The cold, wet surface made her skin crawl with goosebumps.
Last night, when she had tried to video call Percy, he had hung up and claimed the signal was bad. Thinking back, there had been times before when the signal was poor during his trips, yet he had always stayed on the video call with her, no matter how much the image lagged.
Laoise felt a chill spread through her entire body from the glass in her hand, until her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.
She had to verify it. She had to see for herself if the message was merely a cruel prank.
She pulled herself together haphazardly, grabbed her car keys, and hurried out of the house.
Arthur had stayed at the Vertex Hotel again the previous night. After a brief morning jog, he returned to the hotel, ready for breakfast.
As he approached the ground-floor elevator bank, he spotted the back of a woman. Her hair was a mess. The cardigan she wore was misbuttoned, leaving the hem hanging unevenly, one side higher than the other. Even more ridiculous were her shoes; she was wearing a mismatched pair.
Dressed in such a disheveled state, she waited for the elevator with visible agitation, shifting her weight from foot to foot as if a single second's delay would result in a catastrophe.
Arthur cast a cold glance at her back and immediately looked away. He didn't care what sort of catastrophe other people were facing.
He used his key card to call the VIP elevator. It arrived with a soft chime.
Hearing the sound, the woman spun around instantly. Arthur glanced at her face, surprised to find it was the same woman who had hijacked the lift the day before.
When she saw him, her eyes latched onto him like hooks. "Sir, I'm so sorry to bother you," she pleaded. "It's peak hour for the elevators. Could you please help me get upstairs? I have a desperate emergency."
Arthur looked at her with indifference, prepared to refuse. But before he could utter a word, she slipped into the VIP elevator on her own.
Standing outside the lift, Arthur let out a derisive snort. She certainly knew her way around, didn't she?
He was about to ask her to leave when he saw her press her hands together in a desperate plea. "Please," she begged.
She looked truly pathetic.
The mockery at the corners of Arthur's mouth deepened. Women always loved using pity as a weapon to mask their audacity. It seemed that no matter how much contempt he showed, this woman was determined to hitch a ride.
Arthur was in no mood to deal with this bedraggled woman, nor did he care to speak to her. He decided she wasn't worth the emotional energy; it was better to just get rid of her as quickly as possible.
He stepped into the elevator and swiped his card. The woman reached out and pressed the button for the thirteenth floor.