Chapter 7: Escaping Again

—LIA —

My eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you get such chills?"

"It's just so weird that you two are look-alike. I almost approached, thinking she was you," she said while raising her eyebrows as if she was telling a horror story.

"Thank, God. I didn't approach her. She's such a bitch," she added that made me raise my eyebrows, too.

"How can you say that? Did she do something to you?"

I am very curious why Yvette told me that Dennise is a 'bitch'. My friend is not the type of person who will describe someone like that, unless they're a real bitch.

"Oh my goodness! I didn't even have a direct interaction with her but her actions towards other people say a lot about her real colors."

She started telling me about what happened on that day.

"My family and I were just walking inside the mall when I saw this woman who looks like you," she started. "My mom said 'oh, is that Lia?' And I looked on the woman she was pointing to, then I saw you!" she pointed her whole hand at me as if we were talking face to face.

"I took a picture, sent it to the group chat, and I was already walking towards you when this woman suddenly shouted 'Idiota!'. You can't imagine how shock I am when I heard that coming from you," Yvette moved her head sideways.

"I know what 'idiota' means, and from our years of friendship, I haven't heard you say that," she moves her pointing fingers sideways as if she was saying 'no'. "Not even a single time."

She continued moving her pointing fingers, this time, her head followed the movement of her hand. "So I said, nah-ah. This isn't Lia. And I backed off."

"I even saw her hit a child just because the child is running, and it bumped into her."

My eyes almost left their eyeballs when I heard that. She hit a child?

"You heard it right, girl! Not only that, when she left the store, she just 'woosh' like throw those paper bags to her bodyguards and get angry when they weren't able to catch it," her hands were doing certain actions.

She continued speaking. "I was like, girl? If you don't want your things fell on the floor, then hand it to your bodyguard properly!" she is clapping her hands loudly while saying those words.

My jaw is still dropped as I listened to her. "Oh, my god. I didn't expect to hear that." I was actually loss for words.

"The old man beside her is just as bitch as well!" She is still not finished telling the story.

Yvette made her eyes bigger. "He also treated their bodyguards like shit, and I mean, like a damn shit creature!"

"Did you hear the name of the man?" I asked her.

Maybe, I can get leads if I know the name of the man. I'm sure that there will be information about him and Dennise somewhere. I just need to find it.

"I'm not sure, but is it Sandro? Mando?" she said. She started flicking her fingers repeatedly, which signals that she is thinking of something.

"Aha!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Alejandro! The man's named Alejandro!"

I wrote the name Alejandro under the name of Dennise in my notebook. "Do you know his full name?" This sound like a dumb question.

"I just listened to them from afar. I didn't hear anyone call him by his full name," she answered.

I nodded at her and wrote series of blanks in the page.

"Why did you ask about it, by the way?" she asked me. Knowing Yvette, she will not end this call without knowing why I am curious about that after a year.

"Something happened today and I think that those two people are the reason why," I told her.

Yvette moved closer to her phone and squinted her eyes. I started telling her about what happened to me. Every word I said, her mouth opens wider than before.

"That's insane! You don't even have an ex-boyfriend!" she exclaimed.

"Right? That's what I told him, but he didn't believe me! He said I was just making things up so I can run away from the bad thing I did, which I never did!"

Yvette sighed. "I will try to ask my Abuelo and Abuela and if they know something about the old man. But I don't think I can get information about, what was her name again? Dennise?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"The fact that my grandparents knew about you and didn't tell me a thing about a woman who looks like you, means that they don't know that Dennise exists, " she explained to me.

"Yeah, yeah. It will still help me a lot if I can get information about the old man. I can find something about him that can lead me to Dennise."

"Don't worry. I will inform you as soon as I got answers from my grandparents. I will also try to ask some of my friends' parents in Spain," she assured me.

I smiled at her. "Thank you, Yvette."

"No problem."

The call ended after some minutes of catching up with each other. I stretched my back and was about to lay down again when I heard a knock on the door.

I stood up and walked towards it while scratching my nape. I was about to open the door when a small voice behind told me to check the peephole.

My blood turned cold when I saw unfamiliar men outside my hotel room, one of them is the taxi driver who kidnapped me!

How did they find me that fast? Did they follow me? Did someone tell them that I am staying here?

Lots of questions together with my confusion and panicking almost take over my whole body.

"Calm down. Calm down. I need to calm down," I told myself repeatedly.

The knocks on the door became louder. I put myself back together and started getting my things. I put my gadgets, money, cards, clothes, and other essential items in one backpack. If I want to escape, bringing a lot of things will make me slower.

The knocks on the door became loud banging, and then I heard that they were hitting the door with something. I climbed on the window and used the emergency exit behind the hotel.

My steps were making a loud noise as my feet touched the metal stairs. From the stairs, I heard a loud bang from my hotel room. I almost jumped from one set of stair to another just so I can reach the ground faster.

When I saw that I am already near the ground, I jumped down to it.

I got up and was about to run when I heard a cold voice from my back.

"Escaping again, Dennise?"