Chapter 89: Chapter 89

(Avery’s Thoughts) (Street Night)

After Audrey left with her boyfriend, I am now, all alone in this street. I suddenly feel the melancholic vibes of it, and eventually, everything feels and seems big.

The smallness of my sole existence is intensified when I look around, the alcohol got the best of me. I try standing up, despite my wobbling knees, and I manage to retain my balance, or so I thought.

I look like more of a hunchback cause I get my balance from leaning forward and stepping my foot one at a time.

I build a rhythm of

“1, 2, Left…”

“1, 2, Right…”

“Come one, Avery, you have to get to the hotel fast, go girl,” I cheer myself up aloud. Audrey’s right, they won’t care about you, cause they don’t know how to speak English, so far I am doing fine.

Maybe, by sunrise, I can reach the hotel. I scoff, “So much for my first free night here, huh?”

I continue to walk, well almost crawling until I bump into something solid but bouncy. It isn’t hard but comforting.

So I try it once again, and again. I widen my eyes and see a pair of crocodile leather shoes directly below my eyes.

I scratch my eyes and even try to poke them.

“Don’t make drinking alone your habit! Especially in a foreign land like this!” this cold but handsome voice is very familiar. The authoritative tone that sounds like a music to me is damn so familiar.

So I try to look at him, but I almost lose my balance, so I hold onto his waist and lifts my head.

And there, although vague, finally gets to see the face that I’ve been wanting to see.

“Dmitri?” I whisper. But to tell you the truth I want to scream. But I know he isn’t here. Because of the drunkenness, I am feeling right now, I can see his ghosts everywhere.

“Is this how much I miss him?”

Then I look at the face of this man, and there I see Dmitri again, “Is this how much I am missing you? After everything? After two years, with just single news, I come back running to you?”

The image doesn’t say anything more, he just looks at me.

I try to stand up straight, but the thing is, I could barely move my legs and I can’t control my body any longer. My body feels so numb, but, hey, wait.

I can feel my body is lifted from the ground. Someone just carries me. I try to struggle but my poundings don’t give any effect on this man’s back. I try to scream but no voice is heard. My throat is dry and stricken.

“God! What the hell is happening? Where is this guy taking me? Please help!” I cry for help, but it is just all in my mind.

Everything goes black, and I don’t even know what happened anymore.

***

(Dmitri’s Thoughts)

I flew to Germany to close some deals. We are about to buy a three-star hotel which is on a brink of bankruptcy. We offer them a lump amount of money, so I am positive that we will get it now.

It is located near Ludwigstrasse street. Just thinking of the street name puts a sad smile on my lips. Even if it was two years ago, the promise I made to her that night is still vivid in my mind. I promised her we would go there together, but I guess I’ll be going alone.

This past two years, I’ve been reflecting on my actions, “What have I done to us, Avery?” I am still full of regrets.

“I wish I could show you the beauty of my home country, Avery. How I wish you were here with me, I would have given you everything, if only you were here by my side, if only you chose to stay,” I sigh.

It takes almost an hour from France to Germany, it is way faster since I always take a private jet when I travel for business purposes, it is more convenient and quieter.

As soon as it lands, I didn’t waste any second and got off immediately.

A car carrying the secretary of the hotel greets me at the airport. They lead the way, while my driver and I will follow them.

They take the fastest route, so it only takes a few minutes before we arrive at the entrance of a hotel.

The owner’s car has been honking, but there seems to be a distraction at the drop-off area of the hotel entrance. A minibus, probably from a tour agency is blocking the entrance and has been unloading other guests.

So they decided to go around to the basement parking instead. Once our car does a maneuver and passes by the minibus, her image blesses my eyes. I lean forward out of surprise and try to blink in case I’m just imagining things.

But the image is still there. I see Avery carrying her luggage while talking to other people with their luggage, too. Is it for vacation? But I don’t see Jeff around. Did she travel alone?

Unknowingly, I blurt out her name. “Avery,” I exclaim. My driver looks at me, “Sir, what is it?”

“Nothing,” I answer him with a smile on my face, and I continue to watch her image from a distance until she clearly disappears from the car window frame.

I rest my back on the car and can’t help but smile.

“I guess it is destiny. For the first time in my life, I finally believed in fate. It was the first time that I didn’t chase you around, that I didn’t plan everything, and yet, here you are, appearing before me. It seems the universe gives us another chance.”

I take my phone out and dial the hotel owner’s number, “Mr. Ford, I would like to stay for a couple of days in your hotel, give me the best suite you have so I can experience it first-hand,” I didn’t hesitate with my proposal.

Although it is an abrupt request, “Y-yes, sir. Of course, it would be an honor, Sir Sullivan,” he sounds happy.

I try to make it less awkward between us, so I say, “Dmitri, call me, Dmitri. And as a favor, may I see your customer log for the night? I want to familiarize myself with your system,” to hell with an excuse like this. I won’t let this opportunity pass.

“Of course, once we get to the lobby, I will show you,” he responds.

And then I end the call. There’s an extreme excitement inside my body that makes my whole body shiver, the shivers of being near her again.

After some time, we succeed in parking, and once again they lead the way using an elevator to the hotel’s lobby.

When the elevator door opens, my eyes automatically wander to find Avery, and there, I see some people around her. She seems very tired, though.

She goes straight to the biggest couch then hugs her luggage with her long legs and lays back on the couch.

I smile as I see her relaxing, “Avery, even if you've changed, I will always love you. I love the sophisticated you, and I love this version of you, too, relaxed and comfortable,” I tell myself not knowing that I am the only one standing inside the elevator.

Everyone has already gone out.

I frown when someone taps my shoulder and disturbs my view at Avery, “Uh, sir, we are here at the lobby now, let me show you the customer’s log for this week,” he says.

I compose myself, clear my throat and confidently walk out of the elevator as if nothing happened, “Okay, after you.”

I take my one last glance at her before proceeding to the front desk.

The women giggle and give off a flirty aura at the sight of me, but I just ignore them.

The owner explains how their system works, their price, and a lot more, but frankly speaking, I don’t give a damn about those. I pretend to listen while occasionally nodding at him, but the truth is, I am earnestly looking for Avery’s name but I couldn’t find it in the log.

That’s when I begin to lose my patience and my mood changes.

I stop searching and try to figure out how to find her room number, but someone, the heavens grace us again with mercy.

Not far from us, a man is deliberately talking loud about some sort of tour, and because of it I hear him talking about their reservation.

What brightens my mood is when I hear Avery’s school of arts form his mouth. After I found Avery months ago, I searched everything about her and France, even the name of her school and where she worked.

So I try typing and searching the name of her school once again, and there, I find the room distribution. While the others are sharing rooms with their partners, and some are alone, Avery is going to share her room with a girl named Peach.

I memorize room number 707 found at the left wing of the hotel. Then I face Mr. Ford, “I think I got what I need. I mean, I’ve seen enough.”

“Oh, that’s great. Now, let me guide you to your room, Sir Sullivan.”

***

(Dmitri’s Thought)(Street Night)

“Room 707.”

“Room 707.”

“Room 707,” I’ve been repeating it to myself since I got into this room. I feel so excited. I want to go to her now, but… Will she talk to me, given the last argument we had?

I shake my head, and convince myself, “It doesn’t matter. I will talk to her no matter what. I will get her back.”

I already planned a dinner meeting with Mr. Ford tonight to talk about the future of this hotel, so I will probably go and see her after that.

I soak myself into a hot bath to ease my mind and to let the steam inside my body out. I stay there for thirty-good-damn-minutes.

After I feel renewed, I fix myself and head to the dinner rendezvous.

***

The dinner went well, so I head to Avery’s room. To my disappointment, no one was there. I couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the door, I couldn’t see any light under the door gap, and no one answered the doorbell.

“Did they go out?”

I walk out, feeling dismayed. I am a bit confused as to what fate really has in store for us. We are in Germany, both of us, for something called coincidence, but where is she?

I sigh, and a lump of air I just swallowed makes my throat dry, “I need a drink.”

I go outside, and since Ludwigstrasse street is just near here, I decided to walk my disappointment off.

I need a drink and that’s the best place to have it, where no one would care, no one would bow and even greet me, where I can be just Dmitri and not a Sullivan.

I begin my long strides as I being to think how to quench my thirst for the night. There’s a bar I always stop by during my visit here in Germany. So I walk on that direction.

Al fresco is everywhere, and to be honest, that’s what I like, too. I don’t like crampy loud bars and club like they have in the States. I guess, my German blood is a lot stronger than my American blood.

But as I walk alone, one woman with features I am very familiar with finally shows up. I didn’t find her at the hotel, but hey, this is better isn’t it.

But she isn’t alone, she’s with someone, an American, too, and boy, oh, boy, it seems they are much thirstier than I am right now.

Their conversation seems so deep, so I sit right from across the street, where I can see her clearly, where I can freely watch her.

A guy immediately comes to me saying that the table is already reserved, I can see his struggle with the English language, so I speak to him in German saying, “Easy, lad. I’m a local here. I’ll triple the bill, just let me stay on this table, and give me three of your best selling drinks,” then I hand him over the card.

The young waiter is perplexed, but he manages to talk it out with the other customers and his manager.

When everything’s set, I continue to gaze at my woman.

They are in the middle of a conversation when a tall man runs amok and yells at their direction. Everyone’s flustered but no one approaches the man.

I see the woman with her standing up and is leaving in a hurry. I begin to worry so I am about to cross over, but then the woman somehow calms the guy down, and Avery sits still on that spot.

I observe her as she drinks and drinks. I may not be really beside her, but somehow, we got to be together in this promised street, and that makes my heart flutters.

By the time she walks, her legs are already wobbly, she’s already drunk. She’s been mumbling around and keeps on talking to herself.

I scoff, seeing this wild version of her. I’ve never seen her this drunk, so I find it amusing. The way she talks to others, the way she bothers the shop vendors, and the way she handles herself.

She looks like a hunchback who can’t straighten up in order to find her balance. I follow her around, from a distance. She continues to mumble to herself, and then she stops at a shop, and I see her looking at a bracelet.

She stares at it for a long time, but then she lets go of it. So I immediately approach the lady vendor, buy the bracelet, and ash her to wrap it for me. Then I catch up with Avery who’s been circling round and round.

Then she turns around in my direction. It brings me to a halt and leaves me standing frozen in the middle of the street.

I don’t know if she has seen me, but the thought of her approaching me makes me nervous.

I gulp and wait for her to reach my place, and when she does, she does the impossible. I almost burst into laughter but I try to compose myself.

Since she’s literally crawling on the street, her head bumps to my stomach. But she seems confused, so she bumps it over and over, “Uh, it’s tough but smooth, oh god, I am so dead drunk,” I hear her exclaim.

So I couldn’t stop myself any longer, and say “Don’t make drinking alone your habit! Especially in a foreign land like this!”

Then she lifts her head and utters my name, “Dmitri! God how much I’ve missed you!”

Hearing her call my name, and saying with her own lips how much she misses me, I grab and carry her in my arms, and bring her back to the hotel.