As Ron guided Alexis to Mr. Kim, she found him chatting with a man. She couldn't see who they were as their back was faced towards her, one hand in pocket and the other holding a glass of whiskey.
A bit of a familiar feeling hit her as she observed the way that man was standing. It looked like he really belonged in the party, wearing a pale blue shirt and white slacks.
Kim saw Alexis approaching as his attention from the conversation with that man shifted.
"Hey, Alex. Enjoying the party?"
Alex rolled her eyes a bit. She was hella tired and wanted to hit the bed already. Who even recovers from jetlag with a party?
"You wish, Kim. Next time you come to work after a long flight and I'll throw a welcome party for you too," Alexis almost snapped in tiredness.
"Ah, calm down. I just wanted you to relax a bit. It's not like you're going to get some rest if you get a little free time. You will be ready to fix the loopholes for the next script. We all know what a workaholic you are!"
Alexis shook her head in disbelief with Kim's remark. She couldn't refute as Kim brought his attention to the man in front of her.
"Okay, I called you here because I wanted you to meet my friend. He came all the way to catch up with me, you know? And he just ended up bragging about how well I do the filmography on my movies. And then I told him that the whole credit goes to you, doesn't it?"
"Don't exaggerate, Dan. I came here for some business matters and thought about accepting your offer. You were the one who told me you are throwing a party."
Alexis saw the man turn his head and lift his right hand in a gesture to shake them with hers.
"Stefan Ashford."
Alexis looked at the extended hand for a second and decided to accept them while smiling a little.
"Nice to meet you again."
Kim was expecting Alexis to introduce herself but he was taken aback with her reply. Even the man in front of her felt a bit puzzled by her reaction.
"You guys know each other?" Kim threw a surprised expression to each of them.
Alexis saw Stefan look at her with the same amount of surprise as she replied, "Yeah, kind of. We used to go to the same university. He was a senior of mine."
"Oh? Damn, I didn't know you were acquainted. The world is indeed round," Kim replied in amusement, stealing glances at both of them again as Stefan looked a bit in stupor as he heard Alexis reply. "You must have a lot to catch up then?"
Before Stefan could reply, Alexis interrupted.
"Well, actually we don't. We never talked to each other that much anyway. I bet Senior doesn't want that too. Those days only remind me of tons of assignments and deadlines. I wanna forget those if you ask me," Alexis chuckled as if remembering and then again forgetting about the past was a cup of tea for her.
But to her surprise, she was replied to by Stefan instantly.
"Well, I don't think anyone can forget any encounter with Miss Lockwood that easily, don't you agree Dan?"
Alexis's eyes immediately flew towards Stefan whose eyes never left her. What was he trying to do here?
"I do agree. She is a wonderful lady and I am past the age to entertain amazing young ladies like her. So you can do the job my friend," Kim replied while patting Stefan's shoulder slightly.
Alexis rolled her eyes for the second time in front of them as she took a few steps and side hugged Kim and he returned the hug back. "Guys your age are onto their third marriage, Kim. Don't say you got no game. How many girls on the set are crazy about you," she smiled teasingly.
She wasn't exaggerating. While Kim is almost 20 years older than her, he had his own charm with his perfection of work and personality.
Alexis caught Stefan's eyes lingering on both of their hands connecting to their back in dismissal. Why is it so easy to read his expressions? She wished someone else also put his emotions on his sleeves like this man so that reading him could be a little bit easier.
"Okay, okay. Now I'm blushing," Kim chuckled.
"Yeah, must be great to get compliments from a young woman," Alexis teased back.
"Correction, young beauty," he corrected.
"Okay, okay, but you really have to excuse me tonight. I think I'll just retire for the night," she insisted as her eyes returned back to Stefan from Kim.
"How about we talk tomorrow? Are you staying, Senior?" she asked Stefan in a simple tone.
"Of course he is. I think his business will take some time. Why don't you stay with our team for that time being, Stefan?"
Stefan looked at both of them for a second before answering their questions, and looked at Alexis while finishing, "So be it. Let's talk tomorrow."
"Great," Alexis chimed. "The night is young, so I'll leave you guys to enjoy it," she winked before retreating herself.
She stormed out of the conversation as soon as she finished what she wanted to say. As if she wasn't tired enough to deal with all of these altogether anyway.
Alexis quickly found herself inside her hotel room and hopped into the shower for the second time of the day. Her mind felt a little less burdened after a nice hot shower.
As she wrapped herself nicely in a loose bathrobe, a door bell was heard. It was already past 11. Who must be at a time like this?
Was it Mathew?
Alexis picked up her phone to find if he texted or called her in the middle of her shower but there was none. Tightening her Rob ribbon a bit, Alexis finally opened the door.
What was waiting for her wasn't someone she was expecting at a time like this at all.
"Wait a minute."
Alexis closed the door instantly after running towards the hotel landline and called the room service.
"Hello? Can you send someone to the 3rd floor for assistance? Yes, yes, thank you."
She put down the receiver after the call was done and slowly opened the door again.
"How can I help you?"
"I can't seem to find my room."
"Thought so. I called the hotel service. Someone will be here soon, don't worry."
The odds of the universe mistaking her room as theirs were almost zero but she didn't want to argue about it in the middle of the night in a hotel corridor. She offered her classic business smile before closing the door but the door didn't seem to meet the door frame until the end.
A hand stopped it.
"Let's talk, Alex."
Alexis finally looked at the eyes which pleaded with request. She tapped a little on the watch dial from the hand that stopped the door from locking.
"I don't think it's the right time."
"But we never seem to get the right time, you need to make it become one for ourselves, right?"
Alexis almost couldn't believe the man before her just dared to say something like that.
Who is he to lecture her about right and wrong time?
"I don't know what kind of right time you are talking about but I'm really very tired, okay? I already told Kim I'll be there for breakfast, didn't I?" Alexis tried as much as possible to be calm although her nerves were starting to kick off.
But there was no sign of him taking his hand off from the door at all. Instead he started to make space with force which was logically possible for her to stop.
"What are you doing?"
Alexis saw Stefan lean on a little bit too close from her face and left a breath of exhale on her face.
Too close.
What if the hotel service shows up and sees them like that? She doesn't want to be associated with him on another showbiz news.
"Don't act like we're strangers," Stefan said while looking at her eyes with a little bit intensity, making Alexis feel goosebumps on her body.
"What's going on?"
A familiar voice was heard from the corridor as Alexis felt a chill run down her back.