Things Happen When You're Drunk
The man's eyes danced in confusion, and Ellise can see a controlled amount of anger on his imposing aura, but that doesn't deter Ellise for as she stares at the man's face, studying how his eyebrows knitted in annoyance but clearly trying not to offend her, a joyful feeling of possibly having him on the palm of her hand surge in Ellise drank heart and mind.
"Would you like to come into my room, join me with some drinks and hear what I want?" she definitely drunkenly said it at that time.
The man's face relaxed a bit, and clearly not understanding what's happening, why this young girl is inviting him for a drink, but before he could gather his thought he was suddenly pulled by a drunk Ellise inside her room.
"Hurry, hurry! Let's talk inside!" she said as she held the man's wrist tightly.
The man stands in the middle of Ellise's hotel room, unmoving and not talking. Ellise, on the other hand, joyful with her finds, opened the new bottle of wine, picked up a new clean wine glass, poured a drink, and handed it to the bewildered man standing still in the middle of the receiving area of her room.
"Don't worry, I don't mean any harm," she said assuring the man before she dropped herself to the couch. I'm just really sad tonight because it's my birthday and I don't know anyone here, so will you be kind enough to celebrate this special day with me?"
The tall guy tongue-tied and unarguably shocked in the given circumstances that he remains motionlessly standing, between the sitting room, and the foot of Ellise's bed. He couldn't help himself but just alternately watch the wine in his hands and the young girl sitting on the couch, clearly too young to be very drunk.
"Happy birthday.", he ended up greeting the girl, for he couldn't find appropriate words to say in the situation he is in. "How old are you now?" he asked as he walked slowly to the couch.
"Oh! You can speak English!" she delightedly said, clapping her hands like a small child after discovering something exciting. "I thought you didn't understand me, that's why you're not saying anything," she said with a pout.
"Are you traveling alone? Don't you have any adult companion with you?" he carefully asked as he stood in front of Ellise.
"Hey, mister, you must have difficulty understanding, I already said, I'm alone, right?" she answered back.
He carefully watches Ellise's face, and slowly sits down on a chair directly across from her.
"You're clearly too young to be drinking alone in a hotel room, in a country where you don't know anybody and on top of that you invited a stranger in your room," he said with concern.
"Why, you're also too young to be having an affair with a married woman, meet her in a hotel away from the city in the middle of the night. How old are you, anyway?" she sarcastically answered back, avoiding the issue of inviting a stranger.
"I'm twenty, and I'm not having an affair with a married woman," he answered with a straight face.
"If you're not having an affair why the two of you clearly look like you're hiding," she said not planning to lost an answer and question interrogation
The man looked at her and said nothing. Ellise feels like she won the argument and said "Does she love you? Because if she does, and you shared the same feelings, why hide it?" she said as she drank the almost full wine glass in one shot.
The man drops the wine glass he's holding on the coffee table and tries to reach out to Ellise to stop her from drinking but it's too late. She already drank the whole glass.
"Listen, little girl. You better stop drinking because you're already drunk with all of these expensive wines," he said in annoyance.
Ellise stared back at the face staring at her. " Do you have any problem with me, drinking expensive wine? Don't worry I have enough money to pay for all of these drinks and this room as well," she said in a small voice watching the boy's eyes glisten with concern, which Ellise finds strange.
"You see, I have a credit card that has no limit, paying for all of my expenses here. I've been here in Shanghai since the first week of January, and today is my birthday. It's almost two months already, but nobody has come or asked from my family if I'm okay." she said in a broken voice.
"Do you think my mother forgot my birthday? She should remember, right? I mean she was the one who gave birth to me on this day." she said in a quivering voice. "But I think it's also possible that she forgot my birthday since she doesn't even remember who my father is." are the last words she said before falling asleep on the couch.
The tall man stood up abruptly trying to catch the wine glass from her hands. As the wine glass rolls on the floor, a sigh escapes from his lips. Watch the small frame, sleeping on the couch, oblivious to the danger of having a stranger in her room while she sleeps drunk.