Abelle- A Chinese Romance

We Meet Again (Part 15)

I stumble out of the elevator with my suitcase and dragged the heavy thing through the lobby floor outside into the sunshine and cool air. Liu decided for us to have our trip on the first week of February. "How much did you pack in your luggage? It should be light enough for you to carry at least," Liu says to me in the parking lot. "Well you said we were staying there for a week, so I packed a week's worth of clothes. Also some extras in case I get dirty, wet, smelly...." Liu laughs and helps me put my suitcase into the back of the car. "Sweet ride, my parents offered to buy me a vehicle on my last birthday but I denied their offer. I get around well by walking, riding a taxi, or having my friends pick me up." Liu slams down the trunk lid of the car, an Infiniti G37 convertible...seems new too. Seeing the peculiar expression on my face Liu winks at me. "It's a rented vehicle, just for a week!" I get into the front passenger seat of the car and teased Liu. "You have enough yuan to buy yourself your very own fancy car!" Liu starts the engine and we soon roll out of the parking lot into high-classy fashion. "Put on sunglasses, we don't want the paparazzi to catch our faces for tabloids." Liu's idea of sunglasses seem to work in public. When we're stopped in traffic, no one really looks to our side to see who we really are beneath those shades. Though some do stare....it's still winter season.

I have only heard of Hengshan Moller Villa Hotel from reading travel magazines, but this place surely is stunning. The hotel is not very big and fancy compared to the Beijing Legendale Hotel, but it still has this nice fantasy charm to it. "I give this place a five star rating for wonderful botanical displays," I say to Liu glimpsing at some trimmed hedges with the forms of animals and people. The first thing I do when I step out of the convertible is take a deep breath and let it go. I feel so good here. "Let's hurry and go in, it's chilly today in Shanghai." We close the trunk of the car and make our way into the lobby of the hotel. Some tourists in the hotel immediately recognized our faces and started to take pictures of us. They see right through our shades, sadly. "What room should we stay in?" I asked Liu, ignoring the flashes of cameras and phones behind us. "Ooh! A suite!" "A suite? That's for couples--" Liu gives me a smirk and says, "Let's live expensively, shall we?" Liu turns her back on me before I could even get a word in. "One suite room please!"

"This place is a little too big, don't you think?" Liu heaves her luggage onto the carpet of the bedroom and smiles at me. "You worry too much, Abelle! Such a worrier you are....geez how do you become a top model with that kind of personality..." I shoot Liu a glare with her last comment and circled to the other side of the room where I began to organize my stuff out of my suitcase. "So what should we do?" "I heard they had a great wine bar here, let's drink some tonight." I give Liu a long stare and chuckled. "Let's not try to become wild, young ladies here....we're modern, superior and high-class women." Liu rolls her eyes at me. "Well not me. For you of course, since you are the daughter of wealthy family members." I finish folding my clothes and putting them into the drawers beside my bed. "We'll see I guess. But I'm really tired tonight....can't we do it tomorrow?" Liu opens her mouth to object but then we hear someone knock our front door. "I'll get it." Liu exits the bedroom and a few minutes she comes back with a flushed look on her face.

"What's up?" Liu laughs nervously and says, "One of my modeling friends saw us enter the hotel an hour ago. She wants to hang out with me and I agreed. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to leave you behind here..." I wave a little hand at Liu. "Go ahead and have fun with your friend. I'm exhausted...I want to take a nap now. Who is this friend of yours?" Liu takes a deep breath and mumbles out a name I recognize. "Zhang Zilin." Wow...when Liu talked to me about her model friends, I thought she was talking about the newbies, you know the young high school girls that are new to the industry. "I can't believe you're hanging out with a Ms. World pageant participant! I spoke to Zilin before during an interview one time, but that was five years ago." Liu frowns at me and crosses her arms. She seemed annoyed with the happy look on my face. "I met Zhang Zilin before too, at a fashion show. It just annoys me how some models can be recognized and others just can't." I give Liu a quick hug and reassured her that one day she would become a top model. "Go and have fun with Zhang Zilin, I'll be right here." Liu changes into a cute green dress and walks out of the room with black stiletto heels.