VII

This car entered a very large building and stopped its speed.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen. We've arrived!" said the driver as he turned off the engine.

The driver turned off the air conditioner and opened the seat belt. Secretary Joe also followed the driver who unbuckled his seat belt and got ready to get off. Sinta and I finally grabbed hold of the car door and prepared to go out following them. The trip was short because I continued to admire the city of Los Angeles. Along the way, I hope to find artists like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez who are being chased by the paparazzi. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed because I only found traffic jams and a few people living on the streets.

"Let's walk to the entrance!" said Secretary Joe while guiding me and Sinta.

"By the way what building is this, sir?" asked Sinta representing my curiosity.

We arrived at the reception desk. The secretary did not answer Sinta's question as he was talking to the receptionist. Then, the receptionist handed Secretary Joe some light blue cards. I saw numbers on the cards.

"This is the Los Angeles branch of the CBL News building," said Secretary Joe.

"Oh, I thought this was a hotel, sir!" I said, pointing to the card in Secretary Joe's hand.

Secretary Joe turned his hand and looked at the card in his hand.

"That's our room key, right?" I asked.

"Hahaha. Right, this is the key to our room but our company could bankrupt if you are placed in a hotel during training here," said Secretary Joe.

"Wait a minute… The training here is two weeks, right?" asked Sinta.

Secretary Joe was silent for a moment as he took a deep breath. He looked like he wanted to sift through his words so we could understand.

"Formerly, training lasts for two weeks but sometimes it can be faster or longer depending on the situation."

Sinta and I were silent while glancing at each other. There's a big question mark here. But since we wanted this job, we didn't say a word and just followed in Secretary Joe's footsteps.

"Sinta. This is your room," the secretary gave a card to Sinta. Sinta immediately received the card and stuck it at the entrance. He glanced at Secretary Joe who was next to him.

"This is my room, sir? I don't have to be with Claretta?" asked Sinta.

"Yes. You have your room. Please rest first." Secretary Joe replied.

"Thank you, sir."

Sinta immediately opened the door to her room. I stole a glance into Sinta's room. At first glance, I saw a room with a special spring bed for one person and a large glass window. I also saw the orange blinds. I originally wanted to see more but Sinta immediately closed the door to her room.

"Claretta, your room is across from Sinta. Here's the key."

"Wow, thank you, sir!"

"You're welcome. I gotta go. If there's anything you can call me or the front desk receptionist."

"Yes, sir."

I looked at my room key carefully. The lock looks beautiful. It has a picture of the Hollywood and the Los Angeles Walk of Fame. Then, I immediately put the card in my room and immediately enter it.

***

I closed the bedroom door and looked around. I put my suitcase in the room's corner and wandered around. I sat on the bed and saw two pillows and a blanket on top.

"Comfortable, soft. Too bad there are no bolsters here."

I wanted to lie down right away but I couldn't. At least I have to change clothes and take a shower first. Then I went to the bathroom. There is a bathroom near the entrance. I opened the door and found a shower inside. There is a red symbol and a blue color. Just like in Indonesia. Then I looked at the potty and suddenly disappointment appeared on my face.

"Foreigners… Caucasians…. Their habit is that they don't have water spray for washing. How come they only use toilet paper? I am not sure it's clean enough," I said, shaking my head.

I know that Caucasians always use the shower room and sit potty. I have no problem with that but the problem is that they don't use water for urination and defecation other than the flush button. Not far from the potty, I saw there was a blind in this toilet. I'm curious. Then I approached and opened the blinds.

"Wow, there's a bathtub!" I said cheerfully.

I'm always happy with the bathtub. My mind is filled with advertisements on tv or on Instagram where we can soak in warm water with abundant foam. We put aromatherapy candles and rose petals in the bathtub. Finally, tempted by the bathtub, I decided to take a shower immediately. I opened the hot water tap and filled the bathtub with water. While waiting for the water to be full, I headed to the corner of the room and opened my suitcase. I took liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner, towels, and a change of clothes and returned to the bathtub. I poured the soap into the tub and stirred it while lying down. I close my eyes.

"Gosh, I overslept!" I panicked and immediately opened the bathtub lid. To save time, I immediately went to the shower room and washed. Then, I took a towel and immediately put on clothes.

"It feels so fresh but what time is it?" I said as I took the cell phone that was on the table. It was 17:00 and it was time for dinner. In addition, there are many miss-call notifications and messages from Secretary Joe.

"Eh, there's been a lot of notifications from Secretary Joe. What's wrong?" I muttered as I opened the message Secretary Joe had sent.

[Claretta, it's almost dinnertime. Let's meet at the desk meet at the reception desk together with Sinta at 5 pm.]

After reading Secretary Joe's message, I left immediately. I found my room key and headed for the door.

Cluck!

The door locked automatically after I slowly closed the bedroom door.