The Game Until 18

Chapter 1- When In Hiding, Go Into A Complete Stranger's House

Chapter 1- When In Hiding, Go Into A Complete Stranger's House

The thing about my dad is that he’s pretty much the mayor of this town. Oh sure, he’s not really the mayor, and we really do have another mayor, but he’s considered as the mayor. Well, almost. He can’t make the most important decisions, but almost everyone is scared of him since he has the power to take away their jobs — even though he typically doesn’t do that — and to bankrupt companies. And so, as soon as I flashed a card stating that I was the daughter of him today, well, it just proved how much power he had.

It had been a week since the time when I had agreed to my father's game. Instead of staying at Rachel's like I had planned, I decided to instead stay at a motel, where I could leave easily at a moment's notice and no one would notice. I didn't want to be questioned by her parents if I were to be caught staying in her room secretly.

Since my dad was the owner of a long chain of hotels and pretty much owned every single hotel in the city, I had to try to find a hotel not owned by him. After quite a bit of searching, I found a nice inn a few miles away, and so I booked a room. There was an old lady at the counter who I was sure could’ve had an award for her talent on being able to scare customers away.

The moment I entered the room, the heels of my shoe clicking on the wooden floor, the head of the woman immediately snapped up and enveloped me in her gaze. I flinched slightly, wondering what I had done wrong, but I continued to walk steadily up to her. I tried to walk lightly to be  more inconspicuous since she seemed to be scrutinizing and judging me, but each thud of my shoe on the floor seemed to be getting louder and louder.

I averted my gaze at first, but as I came closer, I looked up to see her still glaring at me and tapping her chipped red nails on the table impatiently. When I finally reached her and placed my arms on the table, requesting for a room in my politest voice, she started shouting that they didn’t accept such — and I quote — ‘young, stupid teenagers’ like me. I tried to reason with her — oh yes, I did — but she wouldn’t listen. So after quite some time, I got tired of this and decided to showcase my dad’s power, just a little bit. And so I flashed the card.

Her reaction was almost comical. The moment she saw my card, her eyes widened and her mouth snapped shut, like there were steel springs inside. Within seconds, she had led me to the room and bowed before me before opening the door.

“So sorry for the inconvenience, Ms. Hyde. It’s just that youngsters nowadays… But don’t take me the wrong way, not at all! You’re one of the most sophisticated and beautiful young girls I have ever met! So humbled to see you at our inn, so humble. Please enjoy your stay. I shall make sure that you have one of the best room services here.”

I nodded and smiled, pretending to understand and agree with every word, while I was secretly thinking that she wouldn’t bother having any service at all since no one seemed to come here.

I was awoken the next morning with a knock on my door. At first, I ignored it, but then I heard a voice that I recognized: my father’s. He sounded so upset that I immediately wondered if something bad had happened. Had someone died? So the drowsy me promptly got out of bed and opened the door to my dad shaking his head in disappointment and signaled several people clad in black to grab hold of me.

Luckily, I regained full consciousness a few seconds beforehand, and realized what was going on. So in response, I grabbed my suitcase that was situated right next to my door and tore away from the men and my dad and ran through the lobby. I was saved from having to open the door since they had anticipated me going out that very door (which was the only door), and therefore left it wide open for me to jump straight into the welcoming arms of my dad.