An Invitation

Ren Ying furrowed her eyebrows, feeling the warmth of the bright morning sunlight touching her eyelids. Every small twitch felt like a massive effort, courtesy of the colossal headache pounding away inside her skull.

Reluctant to open her eyes just yet, she let out a low groan to clear her throat. Finally feeling like she was able to speak, she grumbled, 

"Yan Mei, did you leave already?"

The room answered with only a faint snore, flowing into Ren Ying's ear from her right.

'Snoring? Yan Mei doesn't snore...'

Finally, she pried open her stinging eyes and waited for her blurred vision to sharpen, only to realize that she wasn't in her friend's apartment.

"What the heck..."

As the gentle snoring reached her ears once more, the woman turned slowly to her right, still hoping to catch a glimpse of her friend sleeping next to her. Yet, to her dismay, the snoring body beside her belonged to a man. His naked shoulders peeked out from the soft white blanket, while his muscular arms lay tucked beneath the pillow, cradling his tousled black hair. Her eyes widened in absolute astonishment at the unexpected scene. She froze on the spot, her mind grappling with a single, overwhelming thought,

'No way...'

Initially frightened, Ren Ying clutched the blanket with trembling fingers, pondering whether she truly wanted to validate her wild assumptions. However, as the seconds ticked by, her anxiety only mounted, leaving her no alternative but to investigate further.

Finally, she mustered the courage to peel the blanket away from her body and arched her eyebrows in response to a fresh wave of astonishment.

'This cannot be true... Have I finally lost it?'

This reaction was triggered by the sight of her own completely naked body and a pair of familiar lace underwear, shamefully crumpled next to her feet.

Uncertain of her next move, Ren Ying clutched the blanket to her chest and cast another swift glance around the room, searching for any clue about the forgotten events of the previous night.

Unfortunately, she found nothing.

"Damn it, Ren Ying! You know alcohol can wipe off up to twelve hours of your day from your memory... Do I even want to remember what happened?"

Truth be told, she didn't. Finding herself naked in bed with a stranger was enough to piece together the events. Now, there was only one thing left to take care of – her escape.

With a sudden jolt, she pulled her body from the bed and hastily started putting her underwear back on, frantically searching for the rest of her clothes.

She spotted her black dress, meticulously draped over the towel dryer in the bathroom, still slightly damp for some unknown reason. Meanwhile, her purse and shoes were strewn in disarray right by the room entrance.

'Gosh, what a disaster! I just hope I didn't do anything that would make that guy remember or seek me out later. Who the hell is he anyway?'

Having finally finished dressing and sprucing up to look somewhat presentable, Ren Ying cast a final glance at the sleeping man, contemplating whether she wanted to at least steal a look at his face. However, just as she prepared to take a step towards the bed, her phone chimed loudly with a text notification, causing the man to shift and emit a subtle, irritated groan.

Fearing the possibility of being caught mid-escape, Ren Ying shook her head and grasped the cool handle of the tall door, prepared to leave that unsettling experience behind.

'My heart is pounding like crazy, as if I'm fleeing the scene of a crime. Way to go, Ren Ying, what a way to kick off a new decade of your life!'

As the elevator doors slid open, she strode into the familiar lobby of the LFT Hotel, instantly recognizing the place. It was the same spot her former boss frequented when he indulged in extramarital affairs.

It was a place Ren Ying often visited to pick him up or assist his mistresses in evading the ever-watchful gaze of Mrs. Yang.

And now, it was the place from which she was shamefully making her escape, under the piercing scrutiny of the disapproving hotel staff.

'Who would have thought that I could turn into one of those women... Seriously.'

Standing outside the towering hotel, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the ordered cab, it finally dawned on her – her swift escape had caused her to overlook the deluge of notifications that cluttered her phone screen. And now seemed like the perfect time to sift through them.

"Seems like all of these are from my job applications. Let's see... Rejected... Rejected... Rejected... Figures. Mrs. Yang doesn't waste any time, huh?"

Ren Ying released a long, weary sigh and massaged her throbbing forehead. The hangover-induced splitting headache seemed even more relentless as her body finally began to relax.

Anxious to discover why her cab was taking so long to arrive, she unlocked her phone once more, nearly dropping it as it emitted another loud email notification ping. Bracing herself for potential disappointment, she began to skim through the message, her eyebrows shooting up as she read,

"Dear Miss Ren Ying, we would like to invite you... I got an interview?"

She kept on reading the message repeatedly, not entirely convinced whether it was real or just a figment of her hungover imagination. However, the content remained the same – her resume had been accepted, and she was invited for an interview, scheduled for today.

"I've never come across this company before. Is it a new establishment? It would explain why Mrs. Yang couldn't get her grip on it then. Okay, I'll look it up when I'm back. This is still better than nothing."

After embracing that reassuring notion, she hopped into the cab that had finally pulled up, shut the door, and settled back in the plush backseat of the car. Letting out another, now somewhat relieved sigh, she closed her weary eyes, finding solace in the gentle hum of the vehicle as it whisked her away from the place she hoped she'd never have to visit again.