11 Closeness

The receptionist rummaged around for a while before finding the key. He threw a judging stare to Ethan before finally presenting the key to me with a smile.

I took it without much thought and told Ethan, "Let's go."

I walked on ahead but I still managed to catch their conversation.

"Bro, you have to be more proactive," the receptionist rebuked.

Loud noises suddenly sounded out so I turned back and saw Ethan's arm was already halfway to the bottom hole in the panel clutching the shirt of the other guy.

He saw me looking back and flashed an easy-going smile, "Go ahead. We're fine here."

I shook my head at their shenanigans but soon enough he already caught up and was already walking behind me.

The motel was on a smaller scale and located in the suburbs. There were only 5 floors and our room was located on the 2nd floor. We took the stairs since there was no elevator.

I opened the room without any expectations but it's cleaner than I thought. As promised, there was only one bed which looked like it was queen-sized, a table with a chair and a sofa behind it.

I sat at the sofa and put my things on the table and gestured to Ethan, "You can put the documents here."

He put the piles of paper on the free space and I grabbed a few to start with.

I was already engrossed with the review when I heard him speak,"How are we going to sleep? You can have the b-"

He looked unnatural standing in the middle of the room and I realized I forgot to tell him.

I cut him off firmly with a stare, "You can have the bed. I don't have any plans for sleeping. I need to look at the documents that we got from the last factory."

"Then, why did we get a room?" He raised his eyebrows.

"It's for you. You need to sleep since you've been driving around all day and will have to do it all over again tomorrow so get some sleep," I explained.

He looked dumbfounded at the situation which I didn't understand though it only lasted for a few seconds. In the end, he shook his head with a chuckle which made me curious why.

"Is there anything wrong?" I frowned.

"Nothing," he said, waving his hands.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him walk towards the telephone and press some numbers but stopped after a while.

"I think this telephone is broken. I'll come down and ask the reception if there's some food we can order."

"Alright," I nodded, going back to working even though I felt the tiredness creeping in.

I was suddenly transported in my bedroom and I noticed someone's back next to me where I was lying on my side.

"Hmmm?" I made a sound and the back slowly turned.

That's when I knew that it was a dream.

My dad, who already died a few years ago, was smiling at me then patted my head.

"Sleep some more," he said, which made me even drowsier.

However, the voice didn't seem to match my father's though it was familiar.

I opened my eyes which were still blurry from sleep. I blinked a few times and stretched for a bit when I discovered my hands were still holding some paper and my body was sore.

Huh?

Where am I?

Oh right. The motel.

I was still on the sofa and unknowingly fell asleep while sitting. No wonder my back was complaining.

I looked to the side and saw Ethan half an arm away, sitting sideways with his head on the back of the sofa facing my direction, sleeping soundly.

I should be bothered by the closeness, seeing as it was a bit inappropriate between an employer and employee. But strangely, I couldn't summon any in the midst of this situation.

Was it because we met under peculiar circumstances?

Though, I noticed he treats me differently too like I'm not his superior. He treats me with respect but the boundary between us was unclear. I should be worried but since it was a temporary job, I felt kind of relieved somehow which made me glanced at him.

His hair was slightly mussed around his forehead and there was a hint of stubble in his chin. He was usually all smiles whenever I saw him but he gave a different sort of vibe when his eyes were closed and long eyelashes framed his eyelids. It made him look unapproachable and cold.

The urge to touch his face to see if he feels cold to the touch as well arose inside me. Curiosity won over me so I lifted my hand nearer to his face.

That's when my heart thudded randomly.

What's this?

I looked down on my chest in confusion for a second but there was a more important matter at hand so I ignored it. When my hand was almost on his face, I involuntarily shifted in my seat which jostled him as well. His eyelids fluttered open and my hand dropped to my lap in disappointment.

"You're awake?" His voice was a bit husky from sleep.

I nodded minutely in response, still unsatisfied.

He finally sat upright and did a little stretch. That's when I noticed that he was holding papers in his hands that he placed back on the table when he moved to stand after stretching.

He must've felt my pointed stare and explained, "I was just looking. I was waiting for you to wake up and got bored."

I gathered back the papers while he was puttering about something.

"You finished what I was doing," I commented in surprise while checking the rest.

The inconsistencies were all marked accurately. It didn't show in my face but I was impressed. I looked at him expectantly.

"Nope," he denied while taking the papers from my hands and shoving a sandwich in its place.

I pursed my lips in response, "I didn't black out and clearly remembered that I didn't do this and unless there's a ghost here then it's only you who could've done this."

"So you're finally admitting that you can't remember anything?" His mouth curved into a smirk.

I cleared my throat and ignored his jibe, "How did you know what I was looking for?"

He gestured to my untouched sandwich meaningfully so I took a bite.

"Eat that first then we'll get coffee on the way since the one I brought earlier was already cold. Anyways, it wasn't anything impressive. I took business classes before so I could understand a little bit," he finally explained.

"Then why bother with this kind of job?" I asked in confusion.

"I find them boring," he shrugged.

I considered his answers but didn't believe him fully. The papers I was working on weren't that complicated but it also wasn't anything that could be done easily by someone who just took a few classes. He needed to have done a similar job to be familiarized with it at least. However, I didn't want to pry more. He could've revealed his reasons if he really wanted to.

I changed the topic instead, "Why didn't you sleep on the bed?"

"I'm fine since I got a few hours. Did you forget that I used to work in a bar?" He reminded me.

"I'll change clothes then," I stood up from the sofa, my sandwich already finished.

"You have clothes?" He looked surprised.

"I have clothes in the car."

"You even have prepared clothes. Looks like you're one of those," he muttered quietly.

"What one of those?" I asked while he looked at me like I'm some hopeless case.

"Workaholic."

". . ."