*Ding*
With that sound, the door of the elevator opened on the 69th floor of the luxurious apartment building, and Alex Lenner stepped inside. He pressed the button for the underground floor, a classy pair of gold-framed sunglasses on his nose reflecting the bright lights from the ceiling, and a smirk on his lips, like the final touch to his stylish casual outfit. Not long after, a sports car jumped out of the underground garage like an unleashed beast, catching up to the booming roar that had preceded it, its bright sheen gleaming in the sunlight as it screeched against the pavement to align with the road then zoomed away, swerving through the sparse morning traffic under the rocking BGM its engine was blasting.
After a while, the elevator pinged again, this time, on the ground floor. Out came a woman in black, her head covered by the hood of her jacket as she walked with her head down and her hands in her side pockets. She passed by the reception desk, the corner of a beautiful masked face framed by short dark hair appearing as her dark eyes swept over the male and the female receptionists.
The receptionists who were not far from finishing their night shift only managed to control their facial expressions until she walked through the door, before their features collapsed with gloom.
"She didn't leave last night!"
The male receptionist swallowed his saliva, his apprehension bleeding through not just his tone. The female receptionist, also nervous, looked at the monitors on the desk as she exclaimed:
"But we saw her leave after not finding Mr Lenner upstairs!"
"No, we didn't."
The curt retort broke the self-consolation short and silenced the area behind the reception desk. After a while, since nothing could be done, and no trouble seemed to be rearing its head, the conversation took a turn:
"Do you think she may be one of the celebrities Mr Lenner has played with?"
The female receptionist thought about her companion's question, then shook her head in disbelief:
"Impossible, right? He never brought any of them home."
"But she didn't leave last night as we thought. She might have gone inside the apartment to wait for him! Maybe she even has the key?"
"!"
While the two receptionists were battling through the flabbergast, the subject of their gossip didn't stay after leaving the lobby. Her dark boots didn't pause once outside. She turned to the side and hurried away, and soon, turned around a corner, disappearing from view. After walking some more and turning a few more corners, she walked into an alley. She checked the two entrances in front and behind, before she took her backpack off her back and put it down on the air-conditioning unit against the wall at the side.
She opened it, and put the gloves she had taken off onto the rappel equipment she had recovered from the rooftop of the apartment where she had spent the night. She unzipped her jacket and took it off, revealing the sleeveless dark crop top she was wearing underneath, then wore it back after turning inside out, changing it from dark to brown.
She left the front open, exactly as anyone would as the hot sun climbed up from the skyline. She sat beside her bag on the protective cover of the AC unit and took off her boots, then her pants, which she stuffed into her bag, leaving her in sports shorts of the same color as her crop top as she wore her shoes again. She passed a hand over her dark hair and pulled the wig off to reveal the deep blond hair coiled underneath. She took off her dark lenses to reveal the natural blue of her eyes, took off the dark mask, to wear a blue surgical mask in its place, then combed her golden hair down with her fingers and shook her head to complete the transformation.
Taking out her phone from the bag, she hesitated, then typed a message, which she sent to the nightmarish anonymous number that had turned her life upside down:
"I failed."
She let out a breath and put the phone away. She carried her backpack again, pushed the pair of sunglasses she had taken out of a side pocket of her bag against her nose, then calmly resumed walking out of the alley as if she never lingered inside to take off her disguise, had never gone from a short-haired brunette to a long-haired blonde. Arriving by the side of the road, she looked around, then flagged a taxi.
Moving through the city, they stopped at a red light. Attracted by a change from the big display screen across, she looked up and caught sight of the video clip that was starting, featuring a sports car in a dark and intense background into which was soon introduced a female in pilot gear. With a helmet under her arm, she walked with a steady gait, looking handsome even from the back, until she reached the car, opened its door, and turned to look back with a flip of her long blond hair, displaying the same face that was now hidden by a mask and sunglasses in the taxi at the red light.
On the screen, she sat in the car, donned the helmet, shifted gears, and took off with a screech, ending what looked like a movie trailer with a title that followed on a dark background, bold, and with flaming edges: "Men's Wind".
The light turned green, and the taxi resumed moving, passing by ads displays and signs of different kinds along the way, with many featuring the blonde with different looks, different styles, different products.
After a while, the car stopped in front of a serviced apartment building. The blonde nodded in thanks at the driver, then stepped into the lobby where there was also a reception desk like where she was coming back from.
"Good morning, Miss Kenner!"
"Morning."
The brunette-turned-blonde smilingly responded to the excited greeting and went to the elevator. A few floors above, she unlocked an apartment and stepped inside. She took off her shoes without bending down and pushed them to the side. She let her bag fall onto the floor, threw her sunglasses and her mask onto the coffee table, then let herself fall onto the sofa without any strength, finally letting go of the tension that had been gripping at her heart ever since waking up on the carpeted floor of Alex Lenner's bedroom.
She let her mind quiet down for a while, before she allowed her thoughts to move, to consider what it was useless to postpone. She reviewed what happened, and the evident conclusion that she had failed. Not to mention whether she could have left with the wooden box in the end, until the end, she never even knew if it was the genuine article or a fake used as a bait or a smokescreen.
And now, she had nothing to show for her night foray, but a sword still hanging above her head.
The apartment was decorated in a warm tone, furnished modestly but comfortably. Amidst the decorations on the wall, the most prominent was behind her, a large framed modeling picture of her with her deep golden hair tousled and fluffy, her blue eyes deep like a depth pulling at the soul as she hugged herself and looked over her bare shoulder with a gaze full of emotions. And below the picture, written at the side in a bold style full of artistry, were the words 'Sharon S.-L. Kenner'.
The silent apartment seemed isolated from the world outside, a protective cocoon against the battering winds and waves that relieved the woman for a moment. Only for a moment.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*