Sorry this took such a long time! I apologize in advance.

Steph, hope you're happy -evil laugh-

Loves, Aina.

Jesse

It's such a shame that on a bright Saturday morning like today, I had to be stuck in the hospital treating patients. It appeared to be a nice day to be outside, maybe taking a walk around the park. The good thing was, my morning shift ends at noon, so I have about half a day to spend, and I have someone in mind to spend it with.

I didn't have time to call Susannah last night, as my shift only ended at around midnight, so I'm hoping that today we could have lunch or just spend some time alone. It didn't feel right, the way our last meeting ended yesterday morning, and I felt like I had to make it up to her somewhat.

I just wish I could have the guts to stand up to my parents and tell them about Susannah. But at the same time, I felt like the longer I kept our relationship a secret, the safer it will be. I didn't feel that it was time to talk with them about it yet.

"Ouch!"

The young lady I was treating looked angry as she glanced at her bloodied arm, before looking back at me. "Watch what you're doing, doctor!"

Now look what you've done, de Silva. "I'm sorry, I –"

She suddenly broke into a smile. "Nah, I was just kidding."

I gave her a look, and continued to clean her wound. But this time, I made sure I was concentrating instead of thinking about some other things.

"What's wrong? You look upset," she spoke again. What was her name? Oh yes. Stephanie Mellot. 22 years of age, university student. Sustained deep injuries on her left arm due to a biking incident.

"I'm fine," I replied shortly. I wasn't in the mood to talk.

She sighed, adjusting her brunette ponytail with her free hand. "No, you're not. And I'm guessing it must be…girl problem?"

I didn't even bother replying. I just threw the bloodied cotton cloth onto the metal pan and picked up the scissors and threads.

"Or…guy problem?"

"It's not a guy, okay?" I looked at her, making sure that she understood my meaning to drop the subject. Funny, she didn't look as harmless as she did when she first came into the hospital, now that I've seen – or rather, heard – what can come out of her mouth.

"Hah, I knew it! Must be a girl. Although, you can't blame me for thinking it could be a guy, God knows that every hot, smart guy in this city is either married, unavailable or gay. Girls like me are having a tough enough time to look for guys and the times when we do find one – oww!" She glared at me, trying to shield her injured arm.

"Stop moving," I cautioned her, then continued stitching the cut. Dios, this patient can talk.

"Anyway, yeah, you can't blame me for trying my luck on any potential good guy I see. In fact, you should be flattered that I was interested in you. Everyone knows that my standard is very, very high," she said, looking a little smug.

Well, no wonder you cannot find any men, I wanted to say. But that would be over the line, so I finished the stitching and snipped off the thread.

"You can get the medication at the pharmacy," I said, handing her the prescription. "Keep the arm dry, and you can come back next week to take out the stitches."

"Okay." She hopped off the bed, looking nonchalant about the fact that she just received 8 stitches on her arm. Happens all the time during biking, she had said earlier. "By the way, do you know the other doctor, the tall, handsome one, with really black hair? Just wondering if he's available…?"

I hesitated, not sure if I should let Dylan go through the torture of being followed around by a lovestruck patient. Then again, I didn't want to lie either.

"I'm…not sure," I answered, taking off my surgical gloves and putting them onto the metal pan as well.

"Not sure which doctor I'm talking about or whether he's available?" She smiled mischievously at me.

"Both," I said, and swept the curtains open, waiting for her to pass first.

She shrugged, still smiling. "I'll take my chances." Then she walked down the hall to the pharmacy.

It never ceased to amaze me how many different kinds of people I could meet in a day's work. And all in one city.

I walked to the nurses' station and filled the report for Stephanie Mellot. Then, seeing as I didn't have any urgent cases, I walked over to the phone and started to dial Susannah's number. It was around 10.30 am, and I wasn't sure if she's at work or if she's off today, so I called her cell phone. It rang and rang and rang, until it reached her voice mail. I left a message, asking if she's free to have lunch today, and I hoped that she could call me back. Then I hung up.

Maybe she's at court today…although I was pretty sure that on Thursday she said that she has the weekend off. What could she be doing that she couldn't pick up her phone?

Probably something important, Jesse. Don't think too much about it.

"Man, what did you do?" Dylan was walking towards me, looking amused.

"What?" I asked, not sure what he was talking about.

"You told that Stephanie girl about me and now she's all over me, trying to get me to ask her to dinner," he continued, not looking particularly unhappy about it.

"I never said anything about you to her. She just…wanted to get to know you better," I said, trying to keep the smile off my face. "Did you ask her out?"

He shook his head, dropping off his files on the counter. "Nah. I already have plans with that girl I met at the pet shop the other day. I told you about her, right?"

Girl at the pet shop? "No, Dylan, you did not. I thought you're with the lady you met at the nightclub?"

"Club V. And she's anything but a lady. I mean, she could be, but she's just too busy practicing her moves on other men, if you get what I mean," Dylan said, raising his eyebrow.

I didn't really, but I figured that she was cheating on him, so I nodded. I was actually thinking if I should head to the locker room and check my cell phone, in case Susannah was trying to call me.

"So who were you calling?" he asked casually, but I could hear the curiosity in his voice.

"No one, just –" I cut myself off, as I saw a familiar figure in the distance, just entering through the main doors.

"Who?"

When I realized who the figure was, I wanted to laugh out loud. Saved from the inquiry. "Dylan, is that your Club V lady?"

He started to turn around, then decided against it. "No! Is it? Is it her?"

"Yes, it's her. And I think she spotted you," I told him. Well, it wasn't exactly the truth, but I had to make him leave. I didn't think I could answer any Susannah-related questions right now, even if he was my best friend. He still didn't know about the incident at my house yesterday.

Dylan looked panicked as he picked up some files at random and started to walk away, before backtracking and saying to me in a low voice, "If she asks you where I am, tell her that I've stopped working here. That's what I told her when we broke it off – why the hell is she here, I don't know!"

Then he quickly walked away, before I get the chance to say that maybe she was sick and just needed a doctor. I watched as she walked towards the reception, before sitting down at the rows of chairs in the waiting area. From the way she walked, I could tell that she had either hurt a muscle in her leg, or sprained her ankle.

But I figured that she's not my business, and I went off to see my other patients.

About 2 hours later, my shift was over and I went to the locker room to shower and change. I checked my cell phone, and there was a missed call from Susannah. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that at least she wasn't angry enough to not return my call. After dialing her number, I sat down on the long bench and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" Susannah's lovely voice came through the line.

"Susannah," I said warmly, although I felt a little surprised that she answered as if she didn't know that I was the one who was calling her. "Are you busy?"

"Jesse, hi. No, I'm not busy, I just finished watching a movie with Cee Cee. Sorry I didn't pick up your call earlier," she said, sounding a little distracted.

"No, that's alright. I just called to see if you can make it to lunch today? My shift just ended, and we could go to that café that's near my house, the one we always go to," I said, feeling a little uncomfortable inviting her, for some unexplained reason.

"Oh, Jesse…I'm sorry, but I promised Cee Cee that I'm going to have lunch with her. It's been a while since we've spent some time together," Susannah said, sounding distressed.

I could feel the disappointment weighing me down, but I kept my composure. I was sure it was about time Susannah meets her other friends too, not just me.

"That's not a problem, querida. Only thing is…" I lowered my voice, even though there wasn't anyone else in the locker room. "I had planned to go to Hotel Twenty after lunch, to meet with the Robert guy. Remember him? I figured we need to find out more about their connections with the YLN Corporations, and since you wanted me to include you in the investigation –"

"Sure, Jesse, I'll come with you," Susannah cut me off, leaving me feeling surprised again. She was not sounding like herself today. "What time are we supposed to be there?"

"The appointment's at 3 o'clock," I said, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice. But she didn't seem to notice.

"Okay, I'll meet you in front of the Hotel at 3. Bye, Jesse," Then she hung up, even before I get to say goodbye in return.

I snapped my phone shut, feeling anxious. Maybe she was still angry about yesterday. She had never sounded so distracted before. It was as if she didn't want to talk to me.

You're just imagining things, I told myself. Maybe it's that time of the month…although I never used to think that has much effect on her.

I just hope she'll be like herself again when we meet later.

I ended up going back home, changing into more comfortable clothes and cooked some lunch. As I sat at the living room watching the news on the television, I decided to call Hotel Twenty again to confirm the appointment that I had made yesterday. It wasn't easy to get one, but luckily Robert Vishwartz – talk about a mouthful – would be free today and so I posed as a journalist looking to write an article on him in one of the business magazines. I would probably go to hell for lying so much, but like Susannah once said, if God didn't want us to lie, He shouldn't have made us mediators.

Sometimes, I think Susannah has taught me things that I never knew. And I meant that in the philosophical way, of course. Although physically…

The secretary confirmed my appointment, and so I watched television at home until it was around 2.30pm before leaving to go to the hotel.

I managed to get a parking space about half a block away from the hotel, which I thought would be fine especially if Susannah had parked nearer. I didn't see any sign of her outside the main entrance, so I decided to wait for her inside.

As I entered the cooling air-conditioned hall of the hotel, I saw that there weren't many guests waiting or even walking around the place. The hotel was decorated in clean, modern designs with black and white as the main colours, all of which added to the cold sensation it gave away. I looked around the hall, and saw a sight that made my heart warm up, like it always do whenever I see her.

Susannah turned around from the brochures section, and gave me a heart-stopping smile. She was wearing a blouse and some slacks, but I wasn't paying any attention to that. My eyes were focused only on her beautiful ones. I walked over to where she was standing, but we didn't exchange hugs or kisses, although I badly wanted to do so. But we've promised each other that there would be no displays of affections in public, in case anyone sees us together. It was probably the worst promise I've ever made.

"Hey, Jesse," Susannah said, sounding quite normal now.

"Susannah. Have you been waiting for a long time?" I asked, making sure to sound quite impersonal, which was extremely hard to do.

"Not really, just about 5 minutes or so. Anyway, shall we…?" She gestured to the reception counter, and I had that unsettled feeling again, like she was trying to quickly go through this so that she could leave. I ignored that feeling though, and we walked towards the counter instead.

"Can I help you?" asked the man standing behind it, smiling towards Susannah instead of me. I felt a little annoyed at the way he was eyeing her, but kept it in, deciding to say, "Yes. We're from Business Today, and we have a 3 o'clock appointment with Mr. Vishwartz."

The man said, "Hold on, please," and picked up the phone, presumably calling the office of Robert Vishwartz. After a short conversation, he hung up and looked at us – well, actually, to Susannah.

"Your appointment is confirmed. We'll have someone to lead you to the office." He hit the bell on the counter and a bellboy promptly arrived beside us. The receptionist told him where to take us, and we followed him.

I was aware of Susannah walking besides me, but neither of us said anything. It seemed as if we have adopted the persona of two working professionals on a job. It felt a little strange, and I wondered if she felt the same way.

"This place doesn't even look like a hotel," whispered Susannah suddenly. I glanced at her, noting that the bellboy was ahead of us. She continued, "It looks like an art gallery or something. I wonder how their rooms look like."

"It's supposed to have modern and new designs," I said. I looked over at her again as she stared at the white elevators, and I felt a little relieved that she was at least attempting to talk to me. I had been a little worried that she was giving me the cold shoulder.

I have to still talk to her about yesterday though, however hard it would be.

We entered the elevators and ascended to the 9th floor, where the offices were. The bellboy led us to another reception hall, and with a nod, left us there. The office was warmer in here; there were colours of yellow and light orange around the room, as well as some paintings on the wall, which improved its appearance.

I walked up towards the counter and thankfully, it was a lady who was attending. I didn't think I could stand another man looking at Susannah the way the other man had done.

"We're here for the 3 o'clock appointment with Mr. Vishwartz," I said, and she looked up at both us blankly, before picking up the phone and asking us to sit down at the couches. We did, and I was just about to say something – anything – to Susannah, when a woman who looked to be in her 40s, in a red pantsuit walked out of one of the offices towards the office entrance. She paused as she saw us there.

"Are you waiting for someone?" she asked, a slight New Yorker drawl on her voice.

I glanced at Susannah, who didn't look like she wanted to talk to the woman, and I decided to answer. "We're waiting for Mr. Vishwartz, we have an appointment with him."

The woman's suspicious look disappeared, and she smiled. "Really? Is this about the booking of the ballroom for this weekend? For the reunion dinner?"

I shook my head. "No, actually we're here to do an interview for Business Today. We're profiling on Mr. Vishwartz for this month."

She seemed impressed. "Oh, I see. Well, good luck with that, I know that Robert is a very private person. No one seems to know much about him," she said, laughing a little. "By the way, I'm Clara Jones, the Vice President of Hotel Twenty." She held out her hand and we shook it, although Susannah still had the dislike look on her face. I introduced ourselves, and Clara Jones nodded.

"I should be going, I have an appointment too. Nice meeting both of you," she said, before turning to walk to the elevators.

When she was out of our sight, Susannah spoke in a low voice. "I don't like her. She's too nice to a couple of journalists...she should be worried that we're going to talk bad stuff about the hotel."

I looked at Susannah, a little surprised that she was judging a person that she had just met. "I'm sure it was nothing…maybe she's like that to everyone," I tried to reassure her.

Before she could reply, the receptionist said we could go in Robert's office. So we made our way into the outer office, meeting Robert's secretary who led us to his office further inside.

The inner office, belonging to Robert, was clean and uncluttered, just like the man sitting behind the desk. He was supposed to be in his mid-fifties, but he looked much younger. His tanned skin looked healthy, his hair only had sprinkles of grey and the double-breasted suit rested nicely on his shoulders. It was his eyes though, that looked like they were carrying a heavy burden.

"Come in, come in. Thank you, Alice. Bring some coffee for the guests, please," he said, standing up and walking around the desk towards us. Susannah and I introduced ourselves, and the three of us sat down at the sofa set just beside the door.

"Well, I have to admit, I didn't think that you two would be so young! I guess nowadays you don't have to work for very long in a company, as long as you have the qualifications, you can move up," he said, grinning at us. "So, you're interviewing me on my success, is it?"

Susannah and I looked at each other, and we knew it was time to drop the act. She gestured for me to start though, so I did.

"Actually, Mr. Vishwartz –"

"Just call me Robert," he replied pleasantly.

"Okay, Robert," I said slowly, thinking of a way to tell him the reason why we were there without making him call security and have us thrown out of the building. "Actually, we're not here to do an interview. We're actually here on another matter."

Immediately, all the humour left Robert's face, and he looked confused, then angry. "What do you mean? Wait, are you from YLN Corporation? Are you spying for them?"

There was a knock on the door, and Alice the secretary entered, bringing a tray of coffee and biscuits. We watched as she set up everything, before walking out of the room.

Then Susannah spoke up. "No, we're not, although we are here because of YLN Corp. See, your friend and business partner, Darren Murphy, had actually hired us to look into the dealings between YLN and other hotels in this area. That's what we've been doing, until he passed away…and now your other partner, Steven Stanley is also in the hospital. We suspect that there is some foul play."

Wow. Susannah can sure tell a story when she wanted to. I was impressed.

Poor Robert looked confused again. "Hired you? But…are you with the police?"

"No, we're private investigators. We prefer to keep our company name confidential though, so that it's hard for our competitors to trace our clients," Susannah continued on, looking like she was a private investigator. She could even fool me.

Robert shook his head slowly, trying to digest what we – or rather, Susannah – were telling him. Then he stood up and walked towards the desk, before whirling around. "So what exactly do you want with me?"

I decided it was my turn to talk, so I said, "We just wanted to know if you noticed anything suspicious regarding Darren's death and Steven's hospitalization. We know that the YLN Corporation wanted you to sell Hotel Twenty to them, and the three of you didn't do it. So now, it is possible that they're doing whatever it takes to make sure that this hotel belongs to them. Even if it means getting rid of the obstacles in their path."

"You mean…" Robert's face paled. "No, they wouldn't do that. It's murder!"

Susannah laughed shortly. "You'll be surprised what people would do for the pettiest things. Although I wouldn't call owning the whole hotel industry in this area as petty. Murder may be the last resort, but it's not impossible. And from what we see, you're next in line."

He stared at each of us in turns, looking shocked. "No, that's impossible. No…Darren died of an accident, and Steven had a heart attack. There's nothing murderous about any of that!"

"I wouldn't call food poisoning as an accident, Robert," I voiced out.

"Well, it is if he's eating blowfish," he said defensively.

Blowfish? As in blowfish that are naturally poisonous? Susannah seemed to mentally ask me, and I felt a little lost. Damn it. I should have asked Darren what he actually died from.

"But in restaurants, they would have cleaned the fish, making sure that the poison wouldn't be there when they serve the dishes," I tried to argue. "Someone could have put it in instead."

Robert shook his head. "Didn't you read the news? The restaurant apologized for the mistake; apparently one of the employees didn't clean up the fish properly. He was fired, and the restaurant paid some settlements towards Darren's family."

This was all going horribly wrong. Even Susannah didn't seem to know what to say.

"What about Steven?" I asked, a little desperately. I didn't know why, but I actually wanted for Darren to be right about this whole thing. I didn't want to think that we went all this way and wasted our time. "He was very healthy, wasn't he? Suddenly he gets a heart attack, don't you think it's a little suspicious?"

Robert walked around his huge desk and sat down heavily on the chair behind it. "I call it…life, Mr. de Silva. Sometimes, you could be as healthy as you think you are, and the next moment, boom! Your life is over. It happens. As much as I want to think that somebody did something terrible to Steven, I know that at our age, anything, any disease can strike."

I quickly rearranged my thoughts, deciding to take another approach. But Susannah spoke first. "But even so, shouldn't you be more careful? Better safe than sorry, and all that? Just because what happened to your friends look natural, doesn't mean that they are."

He leaned over his desk and fixed us both a hard look. "Are you implying that I should sell Hotel Twenty to YLN, as a way to be safe, Ms. Simon? Because if you are, then I'm sorry that you think that way. I am not going to sell this hotel, a hotel that Darren, Steven and I have built from scratch, that we've sacrificed our time and effort for, that is actually doing quite well, despite YLN's monopoly in the industry and I'm definitely not selling it to some corporation that is headed by a 19-year-old so-called genius who knows nothing about business!"

Silence resonated around the room. Susannah and I looked at each other, obviously knowing that we've reached a dead end.

Still, I decided to try one last time before we leave. "Robert, we don't mean any disrespect. We know the hard work you, Darren and Steven had put in for this hotel. But…is Hotel Twenty worth more than your life?"

He seemed to actually think about that, but he didn't look like he would change his mind. "I appreciate both of your concern, but I do think that all of this has nothing to do with YLN's conspiracy against us. It's business…sometimes they get some, sometimes they lose some. They should know that we're standing our grounds, no matter what. As for my life…well, I've lived long enough. If it's my time to go, then I'll go. But until then, Hotel Twenty belongs to us."

That was it, then. There was no point in staying and trying to change his mind, Robert was determined in his decision. So I left him my number, just in case of anything – even though Robert didn't seem to want it – and Susannah and I left the office.

In the elevator on the way down, Susannah worded the thoughts that have been circling my mind. "What if Robert is right? That none of this had anything to do with YLN? Maybe Darren had some other unfinished business, about his family or something. I mean, it did seem like there wasn't proof of any crime."

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. A habit stemmed from frustration. "Querida, I want to think that, but somehow…something still feels wrong. Darren was so convinced when he spoke to me the other day, I felt persuaded to believe him."

The elevator stopped at ground floor, and we walked out. Just before we reached the main hall though, I reached out and grasped Susannah's arm. She looked at me, surprisingly, not looking surprised at all. I let go of her arm.

"Do you have plans tonight? I really think we should talk about what happened yesterday morning, maybe over dinner?" I said quietly, hoping that she'll say yes.

She sighed and looked around us at the empty hallway. Then she rests her emerald eyes on mine, and said apologetically, "Actually Jesse, I'm planning to go back home today. To my mom's place, I mean. Just staying over for a night, and I'm coming back tomorrow."

I felt disappointment for the second time today, and struggled not to question her on her strange behaviour. Suddenly I felt that feeling again, the one where it seemed like she was trying to get away from me.

"Your mother's home in Carmel?" I asked, my voice calm, not betraying my emotions.

She nodded, her soft hair shining under the light. I longed to touch her, but I knew it was risky. That was when I suddenly hated having to keep this relationship a secret, having to conceal our feelings for each other. It wasn't fair to Susannah, and it wasn't fair to me.

"I just…needed to get away for a while. I haven't gone home in, I don't know, a few months? David's birthday's coming up, so I guess I should go home and wish him an early birthday wish," she said, smiling a little.

I nodded in agreement, even though I was thinking on the fact that she didn't even plan to go back yesterday, or she would have told me. I think. I wasn't even sure what she would tell me or what she wouldn't, anymore.

"Alright, querida. Just call me when you get back here tomorrow. And drive safely," I told her, acting like nothing unusual was happening.

Susannah smiled, glanced around the hallway to make sure it was still empty, planted a kiss on my lips, and turned to go. She waved a little, and I gestured with my hand, before she disappeared around the corner.

I stood there uncertainly, not really believing what just happened. We've been looking forward to this weekend to spend some time together, and now she had decided to go home? I didn't understand any of it. Not the part about going home, but the part where she suddenly made that decision, without even telling me.

Apparently Darren, Steven and Robert are not the only ones I should be worried about right now.