Ariel furrowed her brows. Her thoughts were in a mess again. Sherned to Janice. “You were in my room? Are you sure you didn’t remember it wrongly?”
After all, Janice had drunk quite a bitst night.
Chad nced at them through the rearview mirror. “What’s this? You two got so wastedst night that your memories aren’t adding up now?”
Janice straightened her back. “That’s impossible! I might have gotten wastedst night, but I’m sober now. I even checked the room number before leaving this morning. There’s no way I’d still be seeing or thinking wrong after sobering up.”
Hands on her hips, Janice narrowed her eyes at Ariel. “Ari, you didn’te back to your roomst night. Where did you sleep?”
Ariel was speechless. Something felt wrong.
She was sure she hadn’t misread the numbers and that she had gone into her own room.
“Where else would I be?” Ariel leaned back against her seat. “Did you see anyone entering my room yesterday?”
Janice was puzzled. “How would I know? I was already asleep. But did youe back?”
Ariel fell silent. She was lost in thought yet again. 1
Chad could tell something was bothering her. “What’s wrong?”
Ariel pursed her lips together and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
After all, she wasn’t even sure what had happened, let alone how to exin it. But the questions gnawed at her.
If Janice had been in Room 6103, then what was the number of the room where Ariel woke up this morning? More importantly, Cecilia had said Samson went to Room 6103 to check on her. But Ariel hadn’t been in that room.
She couldn’t help but wonder about yesterday’s events. Did the people behind this whole thing forget to match their stories?
So, who had she actually spent the night with–Samson<b>, </b>or someone else?
The situation was bing increasingly strange andplicated
If it had been Jayson, that didn’t exin why Nancy had unted being with him all night.
If it had been Samson, why hadn’t she been in Room 6103? And why did Samson’s attitude toward her today feel different?
The more she thought about it, the less she could tell who it had been. What should have been a simple matter was now shrouded in mystery.
Could it be neither of them? 2
Ariel could feel a headacheing. She had never imagined she would be caught up in something like this. Even her own conditionst night had felt strange,
She had experienced difort and ckouts from alcohol before, butst night had been worse. Looking back, it felt as though she had been under the influence of something, doing things she normally never would. 1
Chad nned to drop Janice off first, but after some thought, Ariid, “Chad, let me get off up ahead. I have something urgent
to take care of.”
“Is it serious? Want <b>me </b>toe with you?” Chad asked.
“It’s fine. <b>I </b>can handle it myself.” Ariel shook her head.
Janice was stillining about her hangover when Chad pulled over to let Ariel out.
Ariel waited until their car drove off, then hailed a cab straight to the hospital.
She was cautious by nature. Though her memory ofst night was Blurred, she decided to get a full medical checkup to be safe, including screenings to rule out any sexually transmitted diseases. 12
After all the required screening tests came back with no major issues, Ariel felt much more reassured.
She also had her blood tested for any unusual drugs or chemicals. But the hospital reported nothing abnormal.
Afterward, Ariel returned home, still unable to make sense of it all.
She would much rather know who she had been withst night, so she could address the problem directly.
She found herself wishing it were Jayson, if only because it would be a manageable problem. It would make resolving the issue
far simpler. 1
Ultimately, the whole thing was an impossible mystery, so she decided it wasn’t worth the energy to worry about.
C