Chapter 36
Serene and Justin had lunch at the Japanese restaurant at Hotel Le Grande. It surprised her when
Justin ordered the same dishes she ordered thest time they had lunch there. It was already a few
weeks back since theyst dined here, and she ordered quite several dishes then. She cannot help but
marvel at Justin’s attention to detail and memory.
They ate in silence. Serene did not know what to say to him. The conversation they had in the car kept
ying in her mind. She looked at the man opposite her in between bites. At first nce, he looked
stoic, but she knew that deep down, he’s warm hearted.
She also studied how she was feeling. If she were topare how she felt during the early stages of
her rtionship with Bryan and with what she’s feeling with Justin now, she would doubt that she’s
attracted to him. Although her heart throbbed when she saw Justin, she was not giddy like when she
first knew Bryan. Bryan elicited the feeling of excitement in her. She had long sleepless nights thinking
about him then.
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Justin was different. In the short time that she knew him, Serene felt secured around him. She felt the
calmness she never felt with anyone before. With Justin, she felt she could empty herself and be true
to her emotions. Justin made her feel that the rest of the world did not matter for as long as they are
together. When she’s with him, she can temporarily forget how tricky their situation is.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Justin asked as he brought his teacup to his lips.
“Justin, do you honestly believe that we can be together?” Serene searched his eyes for an assurance.
Justin reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Yes, because I cannot think of spending
another day of my life without you in it.” His gaze touched her soul. “Serene, I do not care about
people’s judgement or gossip. They do not matter to me at all. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because pleasing them will not give me the happiness I get from being with you.”
His words were simple, yet they took away Serene’s apprehensions. He’s correct. Serene’s so wrapped
up in thinking of theplexity of their situation simply because she did not want others to judge her.
She’s so caught up with other people’s opinions when they do not really matter.
She used to think that she cannot live without Bryan. But having survived their painful breakup, she
knew how wrong she was then. Now here she is, looking at the face of love once again. It might be true
that her life will carry on without Justin, but she also knew that her life would be very different without
him in it.
She squeezed Justin’s hand back and gave him a curt smile.
At that moment, Serene knew that she already arrived at a decision. She’s willing to give Justin a
chance and look beyond their crazy situation and focus on their happiness. She’s taking a leap of faith
and staking her all once again.
After their meal, Justin brought Serene back to her hotel. She declined Justin’s invitation for dinner
because she intended to work on their project’s integration. It’s quiteplex. It needed a lot of time
and effort from her. Justin reluctantly agreed after she promised to spend her weekend with him.
Soon as she got changed into a morefortable outfit, she started working on Rain International’s
integration. Because they are such a huge corporation, she had to write a lot of codes. She also had to
run multiple tests in order to make sure that they do not encounter any hups in the actual integration.
She was so engrossed with her work, she hardly noticed the time. It was already dark when she looked
out of the window.
She ced herptop aside and crawled into her bed. She did not wait long to sumb to sleep. As
soon as her back hit the bed, she felt the exhaustion she had from all the coding and testing she did.
Serene fell into a deep slumber and had a dreamless sleep. The dryness of her throat woke her up.
She coughed to clear up her throat, but it did not ease the dryness at all. She stood to get a ss of
water from the minibar.
Serere’s eyes felt irritated soon as she opened them. She rubbed them with her hands. Her vision
continued to be hazy, no matter how much she rubbed her eyes. Sleep has still muddled her brain. She
sat at the corner of the bed with a nk look on her face.
There seemed to be something wrong; but she cannot put a finger on it. As her body was slowly
waking up, her chest felt constricted, as if there’s a heavy weight ced on it. She cannot help but
cough as she felt the tightening of her air passage.
Wanting to ease up her coughing, she stood up and walked towards the minibar to get herself a bottle
of water . She had just taken a few steps when she had another bout of cough. The air in the room felt
very thin and suffocating. She walked towards the minibar again. As she was walking, she saw white
smoke around her feet.
What’s going on? She looked outside her window, but it was so dark to see anything.
The ring sound of a siren close by jolted her awake. Her senses were on high alert as she listened
to her surroundings.
She heard amotion in the corridor outside her room. She smelled the pungent smell of smoke. The
hotel is on fire!
Her first thought was to get out of the room. She rushed towards her door. However, the more she
moved, the weaker her body felt. She kept coughing for each step she made. Her eyes were also
clouded and her chest felt very painful.
She kept on taking small steps towards the door. She covered her nose with the back of her elbow and
clutched her chest as shebored steps towards the door.
Just a few steps more, Serene encouraged herself. She felt the heaviness of her body in each step.
Her breathing became more difficult as the oxygen in her room became less.
As she was about to take another step, she saw her door burst open and a hazy outline of a person
rushing towards her. She wanted to walk towards the person, but her vision dimmed and her strength
left her body.