Woman of Intelligence (Book 2 in the series)

Chapter 17 (Part 2)

Riya, Samantha, Ying and Zoe were standing in front of a tall wide building. The building was decorating beautifully for the festive season. The walls were painted with dark green as the background. There were lotus flowers painted on the walls. The flowers were in the dark blue water that had white shads on the tiny waves. The building looked beautiful right now because it was dark right now. And the Christmas lights were on. Riya, Ying and Zoe looked at the name of the building, The Lotus Flowers Hotel. Samantha had already been to this hotel before but she was still excited to be here again. Riya, Ying and Zoe were excited for this because it was their first time being in this hotel. Ying and Zoe were so excited that they ran towards the entrance. Riya and Samantha followed them but they were walking normally. 

The four of them entered the building together. Zoe felt like she was about to faint after falling in love with this hotel at the first sight. The building was decorated beautiful. There was some real lotus flowers but not too much that would make Riya sneeze. The building was well designed. Liang's love for green was strong because the walls were tiled with marbled emerald green and blue. The walls were painted with soft pink. Riya and Ying also fell in love at first sight with this hotel. Samantha went to the receptionist to collect the keys. Thank god, Riya asked Liang if she and her friends could stay in his hotel for the trip. Liang was absolutely fine with that. Riya and the team put money together to buy four rooms for the trip. Lucky, Liang already put up the Christmas specials so they took the specials. John wanted them to stay in his house which were his parents' house. They did not want that. They knew that his parents were going to treat them horribly. Plus, it was worse because Justine was around. 

Samantha came with four sets of keys in her hand. Samantha knew her way to the hotel. "All of us have our own set of keys.", she gave one key each to them.

They were taking it one at a time. "Do you know which floor we are in?", Zoe asked. 

"We are the eighth floor. Guys, take some rest and we will start tomorrow. We will feel much better after eight hours of rest. It seems like I have to be the Head Officer again.", Samantha explained. 

"Sammy, we would prefer you to lead this investigation than Mr Angry Eyes. At least, we will be done before Christmas.", Ying said.

"True.", Riya agreed with him.

"Thank you for those kind words.", Samantha really appreciated it. "Now let's go to our rooms because these two here are looking really excited.", she was referring to Ying and Zoe.  

Ying and Zoe were looking forward to this. Samantha shook her head while laughing. Riya was also looking forward to this. The four of them adjusted their bags on their shoulders and started walking to the elevator.

Riya opened her room door and entered the place. She gently dropped her bags in a corner and looked at the room. The sitting room was simple but elegant. The walls were painted cream and soft pink paint. The paints gave it the marble effect. The floors were made with light green cotton carpets. There was a yellow clear glass coffee table in front of three white sofas. Riya was amazed by the arranging of the furniture. She wished she could live here. Unfortunately, Liang's hotels did not have apartments. Riya's body was exhausted from all that travel and the unrealistic conversations from John. 

Riya slammed her body on the sofa and just closed her eyes. Her phone started ringing from her pocket. She slowly took her phone from pocket and looked at the caller with one eye open. It was Liang. She slammed her hand on her face because she meant to message him when she arrived at the airport. Because of John's conversations, she forgot to message Liang. Riya answered the call.

"Hello Wang.", she spoke and yawn at the same time. 

"Hello Moods, did you arrive in Los Angeles already?", he asked.

"I'm in the hotel room. I'm sorry that I didn't message you earlier. I was sitting next to John for the entire travel and he spoke a lot about his personal life. Most of the time I pretended to listen. After listening to his conversations, I completely forgot to message you.", she was being honest.

"It's okay. As long as you are fine then I'm feeling eased."

"Ay, I'm so tired and hungry.", she yawned softly. 

"Eat something and take some rest. Just spend the rest of the evening sleeping.", he said and he heard a yawn from her. "Moods, eat something and sleep. I heard you yawn even though it was a soft yawn."

Riya flinched. He actually heard her yawn. "There is no way I can shield that mind of yours."

"I don't think you will ever shield my mind."

"I will try to shield you. Whether I lost the bet, I will still find a way.", she was being ambitious. 

"Then I have to prepare for my next bet."

"Then I will move into this room."

Liang started laughing. "No matter where you are honey, I will still find you.", he laughed a bit. 

Riya slammed her head on the cushion. "My head hurts from all that conversation from John.", she was massaging her head.

"I'm also reading the news that Justine's car failed to move. Apparently, it's still in the airport in the middle of the road. Her car is causing a big traffic jam. You wouldn't have anything to do with it, right?", he asked.

Riya was speechless for a moment. "Well uhm...", she did not know what to tell him. 

"I'm sitting in front of your screens to do some research on Sebastian Lopez. I can see hacked into Justine's car to stop operating. Smart move Moods.", he was laughing with his mouth closed. 

"I had no choice. John and Justine insulted and left us at the airport. For god sake, billion dollar car only cost half a million dollars.", Riya told him the truth.

"Well, all we know that John didn't listen you when you were in hospital. At least, you got the opportunity to fight back."

"True. Enough about those two. Did you find anything about Sebastian?"

"Yes, he is a mafia gangster so please be careful. He lives three blocks away from the hotel. And you friend is right. He is a playboy. Looking at all his pictures, he is with different woman every night.", Liang explained.

"Wow. Is there anything that I need to be careful with?", she asked.

"I was going to say be careful of him because he is a mafia gangster but I know you can handle it. He does own guns so be prepared for that. I told you this before, kick him by his junk if he bothers you."

"I will definitely do that.", she yawned again but louder. 

"I heard that.", he meant the yawn. "Have something to eat and get rest. You will feel refreshed tomorrow.", he was being considerate.

"Okay Wang, I will speak to you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye Moods."

"Bye Wang."

Both of them hung up at the same time. Riya threw her phone on the coffee table. She threw it gently so she did not break it. She did not want to pay a thousand dollars or more for the table. The table looked quite expensive and nicely designed. Riya slammed her head on the cushion and slept for while.