Chapter 14: ...some thought.
...But for the first time ever it did nothing to calm her down at all.
The feelings welling up inside her seemed to choke her, so she called her father. He would always be her number one helpline.
"Papa?" She tried to hide how she felt keeping her voice low.
"Hi my love. How are you?"
"I'm good." She scratched her head thinking of how to break the news to him.
She settled for the truth as she heard it.
"What are you saying?" The panic rising in his voice as he spoke.
"I just want you to know." Her gaze focused on the wall in front of her.
"Come home. Please come back home," he pleaded with her.
"I can't. I'm not ready to give up just like that."
"Why not!" The sound of his hand hitting the table in frustration shook her.
"I just can't." She continued boldly. "I choose not to coward and run."
"This is your life we are talking about!"
"It is my life papa, I won't have rest if I come back without answers knowing I was this close," she explained.
"Close to what!" he yelled. "You will do as I say!"
"I can't," she replied rather calmly.
"Are we not family enough for you?" Her father asked.
She went silent for a moment processing what he just said. "Why would you ask me that?" She tried to hold back tears and failed. "Why would you ever say that?"
Realizing he may have made it worse he kept his voice low. "Hashiki-"
"No papa, I have to go. I have to figure out what to do now."
"No don't do this. Look I am sorry, you're right. I shouldn't have asked you that."
"Bye. I will call you later and I promise to be careful."
"Hashiki wait!"
"Bye." She dropped the call as a lone tear travelled down her face.
Standing up and walking to the balcony hoping the breeze would bring some semblance of comfort but it didn't.
"Think Hashiki think! How did they find you! Think!" She screamed only to realize she wasn't alone. The two guys from last night were on their balcony again and this time they looked at her with pity mixed with a little concern.
"Are you okay?" One asked.
"No. Yes. I will be." She replied, wiping her face dry.
"Sure?" The other asked.
"Yes. Thank you. And have a great day ahead." She replied before running back inside.
She collapsed into her bed and stayed there. Hong had told her to leave the hotel as soon as she could and find new places to stay at.
"That's it," she whispered to herself. "Hide and seek." If the man knew where she was he wouldn't have gone to Hong... He can only find her where he knows to look for her.
She picked up her phone and pulled up her Google search. Her plan was simple, she would check in a hotel for a week only to stay for no more than two days, for as long as she would be here and as long as she could.
If there was someone looking for her, she should turn it into a little classic Hide and Seek...until she was found. "I hope I never do," she murmured.
She needed to go shopping too. It was time to pull up a disguise.
Satisfied with her plans so far, she got up to shove things into her bag to leave for another hotel she had just found somewhere in Suzhou. She had cleared the table when her necklace dropped.
This was it. This has to be it. She thought. Her father had told her it was a family heirloom and one of a kind. Who knows maybe they had been looking for it all this time...until she showed up. She caressed the wooden piece and maybe it had been there all this while and she just failed to notice but on the back of the pendant was two stars with the end of one touching the other, enclosed in a square and further enclosed in a circle.
"They put some thought in making you didn't they?" She asked smiling at her silliness.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror a little more confident than before. She had tailored her look to be easily identifiable. Now she had to do the complete opposite.
A knock sounded on her door breaking the spell.
Who is it?
"Hotel staff, breakfast." A male voice answered.
"I didn't order room service," she replied not opening the door.
"Your... your neighbors did."
The guys in the next room? Wow. She thought. How helpless did she look this morning.
She checked to confirm through the peep hole before opening the door. Watching the staff closely for any thing out of normal.
"Thank you."
"I need to get out of here, before everyone becomes a prime suspect." She spoke to herself after the staff left her to her peace.
Two hours later she knocked on the door of the room next door and one of the men answered.
"Hello." She greeted wearing a smile.
"Come on in," he happily ushered her in but she automatically stayed close to the door.
"I don't mean to take your time. I just wanted to thank you both for this morning." She mentioned.
"Oh that's nothing. You looked like you could use a break."
"I did. Thanks again."
They were brothers from Egypt who just wanted to take a break from their busy life, she found out later when they indulged her in a little conversation.
She lied that she too was on a break from the normal but work seemed to follow her wherever she went.
They seemed nice and a part of her wished she had time to get to know them better but it was not to be.
Hashiki checked out at four pm that day after shopping for a good amount of wigs and makeup.
She had also put a call through to the Chen family she met in Beijing. She not only needed a disguise but also a transportation service that would lessen how much she moved on foot. It served as an added security layer for her.
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