Collision With The Heartless

Part 19

Third one pov:

"Stella, I'm hungry," Riana frowned and impatiently tapped on the bathroom door, urging Stella to hurry up.

"Riana, I'll be there in just a minute. Go ahead and order the food, and I'll join you," Stella replied loudly from inside the bathroom to Riana.

Sure, that sounds good! What should I order for you?" Riana asked before making her way to the dining hall where the food was being served.

"Ummmm... anything," Stella replied while still in the bathroom.

"Yeah, don't mind! I know what to order," Riana said and then left for dinner.

After a warm bath, every ounce of tiredness melted away from Stella's body, leaving her feeling relaxed and refreshed. She quickly got dressed in her usual outfit, thinking of Riana waiting for her downstairs.

As Stella stepped out of the room, she paused for a moment to recall the location of the dining area.

Stella scratched her head as she tried to recollect the precise location of the dining area, which was somewhere on the ground floor. However, her memory seemed to fail her at that moment.

With no immediate solution to her memory lapse, Stella decided that once she reached the ground floor, she would seek assistance to locate the dining area. She made her way to the elevator since they were staying on the 9th floor.

Inside the elevator, there was another guy who politely shifted to make space for Stella. She returned the gesture with a smile and, noticing they were alone, decided to ask him for directions to the dining area.

"Hi, I'm Stella," she began, "If you don't mind, could you please tell me where the dining area is?" Stella asked politely, hoping to get directions from the guy.

"Yeah, it's straight down the hallway, to the right, towards the main lagoon," he replied with a friendly smile.

"Yeah, now I remember. Thank you so much," she politely thanked him and smiled admiringly. As the lift nearly reached the ground floor and the doors began to open, Stella found herself face to face with Mike, who was glaring at both of them in disbelief.

She ignored Mike and asked the boy about his name. In response, he said, "Joseph."

"Yeah, I am Stella. Nice to meet you, Joseph," Stella smiled at him and bid him goodbye. She then got out of the lift and headed to the right, ignoring Mike.

Mike frowned and grabbed her hand from behind. Stella spun around in shock and found Mike looking at her furiously, his grip on her wrist tight.

"What are you doing, Mike? Let go of my hand," she hissed.

"Where have you been?" he demanded.

"What do you mean?" she replied, her confusion evident.

"You know exactly what I'm asking," he retorted.

"No, I'm not, Mike. Leave my hand and let me go. Riana must be waiting there," she insisted, trying to free herself from his grasp.

"I'm your partner, remember? Who's he?" Mike questioned, still holding her wrist firmly.

Stella retorted, "You heard, right? You were there when he said his name." She tried to free her hand from Mike's grip once again.

"But why did you need to ask his name?" Mike inquired.

"What do you mean? I was confused about the direction to the dining area. So I thought to ask him, as he sounded genuine," she shouted.

Suddenly, his anger subsided, and he released her hand, saying, "You need to be careful about who you're talking to. Not everyone is as genuine as you think they are."