A day? Try three

Sara immediately became conscious of her emotions. She felt even more awkward when she realised she had been lying down on a stranger's big white super king size bed comfortably since she woke up. A man's bed no less.

Embarrassed, she pushed the blanket away and placed her feet on the floor. She started to walk towards the window, trying her best to keep her emotions in check. She glanced through the room mindlessly, pretending to be interested in every little thing her eyes landed on.

The man remained seated in place but his eyes followed her every movement. He smirked and shook his head once he saw her walking aimlessly, trying to blend in with the atmosphere and let her be.

As she walked towards the floor-to-ceiling windows, she saw a view that never in her life would have been able to see. She was completely captivated by a beautiful panorama that laid out in front of her - she saw endless scenery of tall ancient looking yet full of life trees aligned beautifully with a forest canopy of light green leaves not touching each other, creating an aesthetic, bewitching and enchanting atmosphere. The amount of branches that stuck out from the trees was appropriately dispersed thinly, displaying surreal and dreamlike scenery.

She looked down below to guesstimate how far up they are with the ground level and was utterly astonished to see they were further up than she thought they would be. "How high up are we?" Sara asked, failed to hide her amazement.

"Somewhere between seventy to seventy-five meters," he answered kindly as his eyes twinkled.

Sara exclaimed in amazement, unable to contain her emotion. "How many stories is that?"

"Approximately fifteen stories or so."

She was dumbfounded. She never thought she would appreciate a forest view like this before. She had anticipated her exact reaction to be reserved for an ocean view – specifically the way ocean waves crashes on the beach. She always assumed that forest is synonym to scary, dark and dangerous. Clearly she should not judge a book by its cover.

She sat down with her knees folded and enjoys the aesthetic view. The way the sunrays peeping through the forest canopy made the scenery even more magical. She tried to find the owner of the chirping sounds as winged creatures were flying about in search of food.

Her concentration broke when the man brought her blankets and pillows and told her to rest more. He knew it would be pointless to ask her to return to the bed to rest so he did what he had done. Sara was not sure whether her saviour was too busy to entertain her or he was just being considerate, giving her space. Either way, she did not feel weirded out or awkward by the silence. In fact, she found it to be very comfortable and healing.

Time passes slowly as they enjoyed each other's company silently and before she knew it, Sara went back to sleep.

* * * * *

A figure of a girl can be seen moving slightly and stretches inside her room in Bonington hall. As her eyes opened, she rubbed it hard and saw the familiar ceiling she normally wakes up to. She rubbed it again and there were no changes.

She deduced that what she had been seeing must have been a dream.

She sauntered into the living room and saw several people sitting on the sofa, seeming as if they were in deep thoughts. She tiptoed to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water and opened the fridge to search for a simple meal ingredient.

The sound of the fridge's door opened instantly caused the people in the living room to look up. Their eyes widened and suddenly, people were crowding her and everyone was talking, overlapping each other's sentences.

Harith was looking quite furious, scolding her excessively where she had gone. Jia Yu who had a worried look all over her face, ran over to give Sara a hug. Adam and Bryce, were standing from afar, muttering something about missing. Sara was completely clueless of their overdramatised reactions.

She freed herself from Jia Yu's hug. She flinched at the noisy encounter as she was not accustomed to be the centre of attention. The sudden clamour caused Sara to feel prick of discomfort. Without her realising, she muttered under her breath about how nice it was when it was quiet.

However, Harith was within earshot when she said it and it made him boil with anger. He knew how she enjoyed being alone but at this moment, there were people worried about her, wondering where she had gone and yet, she had the nerve to dismiss them.

He might be fine with it and understand why she had said what she said but her other friends might not. At this rate, she might even lose her friends who were genuinely concerned about her. Who else would she turn to once he betrayed their friendship?

"That's not fair, Sara! You have gone too far this time. The least you could do was acknowledge their feelings. They have been worried about you," Harith voice was louder in the dead silence of the room.

"Worried?" Sara asked. She had completely forgotten about the Blood Red Party. When they brought it up, only then did she realise what a horrifying incident had happened to her. She was not willing to share her experience to anyone.

As per her understanding, since she did not share anything about the Blood Red Party and based on her colleagues' word, neither have ever been invited to the Party before, surely nobody knew what was going on so she could not understand why they were worried.

"You were missing…," said someone, answering the question she never asked.

"Missing?" Sara frowned, unsure whether she heard the person right. She looked at the time and it was still daylight. "But I was out for a day only…? Although I do want to know how I got home."

Harith slapped his forehead. He could not digest what lie Sara was planning to make to escape from explaining herself. "Really, Sara? A day? As in one day, you say..?"

Jia Yu was frightened to see the aura around Harith at the moment. Her instinct was telling her that things were about to get ugly. She quickly explained to Sara to diffuse the tension.

"Actually, you have been missing for three days already. That was why we were all so worried sick about you."

Looking at their facial expressions, Sara knew they were not lying but as far as she remembered, she had attended the Party just this morning. She was not sure whether her stay at that white room in the forest was a dream or not but if she were to take into account that it DID happen, she recalled it was still daytime and not dusk. Technically, it was still the same day.

If it did not happen and what they were saying was right, then she could only come up with one conclusion. "Have I been sleeping in my room for two nights straight then?"

The others exchanged anxious glances but a nudge from Adam made Jia Yu talk.

"Well, you see Sara… It's not that we actually checked your bedroom this whole time. Bryce was not aware that you weren't home as well, given the nature of his working hour. But because you did not show up at work, we decided to come for a visit after work."

"We opened your door to see if you were in your room but you weren't there. Literally few minutes ago and then you walked out of that door! So we're not quite sure if you have been sleeping for two nights straight but you definitely were not in your room before this."

"Since neither of us knew how to search for you, Bryce called Harith over to help."

Sara could not comprehend what Jia Yu had said. Basically from what she understood, she was not in her room before this. That means she really did go to that white room in the forest.

'Did I sleep for two days straight there? But who brought me back without any of them noticing?' thought Sara.

Harith expressed his dissatisfaction of her silence. "What actually happened? According to your colleagues, you went to the Blood Red Party and suddenly you were missing for three days. What happened at that Party that you went away for three days without informing anyone?"

Sara began to feel annoyed with the interrogation. What was three days to them was only a day for her. She had no idea three days had passed. She let them know that no matter how many times they asked, it would not change her answer because she honestly had no idea.

Harith stared at her and humoured her. "Okay, let's say you were right. Let's assume it's still the same day. Where did you go right after the Blood Red Party and how did you end up in your room? Were you hiding in the cupboards when we checked your room?"

Harith knew his last question was out of line. Why would she hide when she came out right after few minutes later as though nothing happens?