Chapter 1236 Unspoken Heat
Overjoyed by his agreement, Stella bounced up and threw her arms around Randy's neck, jumping up and down with unbridled excitement.
"Yes! I knew you wouldn't abandon me! Randy, I love you so much!"
Her enthusiastic celebration sent the elevator swaying violently. Alarmed, Randy quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, steadying her against him.
"Easy there—we're in an elevator! Keep that up and you'll break the damn thing."
As if summoned by his words, the elevator lurched to a halt and plunged into darkness.
Talk about perfect timing.
Randy fell silent, while Stella pressed herself against his chest, whispering fearfully, "Please tell me I didn't actually break it with my jumping."
"No way—just a coincidence," Randy assured her, though he moved to reach for the emergency button.
Feeling him pull away, Stella's grip tightened desperately around him. The cramped space, pitch-black and suffocating, triggered memories of the horror movie she'd watched that afternoon—the scene where the protagonist was trapped in a malfunctioning elevator before a bloodied head appeared, hanging upside down in front of her.
The memory sent chills down her spine. What if something was lurking above them right now, dripping blood onto her head?
"Ah!" The thought terrified her so much that she screamed, clinging to Randy's waist like a lifeline.
"Randy, I'm scared! What if there's something in here with us?"
Randy sighed, pulling out his phone and activating the flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness, illuminating their confined space.
"Stella, ghosts don't exist—movies are fiction. Let me go so I can hit the alarm. The hotel staff need to know we're stuck."
"No!" She shook her head frantically, burrowing deeper into his embrace.
Despite his logical words, terror consumed her. Enclosed spaces amplified fear, especially after a day filled with near-death experiences and horror films.
Randy exhaled in defeat, carefully maneuvering them both toward the control panel while keeping her in his arms, then pressed the emergency button.
A staff member's voice crackled through the intercom: "We've received your alert and are working on the problem."
"How long will this take?" Randy demanded a specific timeframe, not vague reassurances.
"Our maintenance team is on-site. We'll have you out within thirty minutes."
"Thank you."
The communication ended, and Stella nearly burst into tears. "Thirty minutes? We're trapped here for half an hour?"
Suddenly, a horrifying thought struck her. "What floor are we on?"
"Thirty-six."
Her eyes widened in terror. "What if—just what if—the elevator suddenly plummets? We'd be smashed to pieces! Thirty-six floors at nine feet each—that's over three hundred feet! We'd never survive that fall."
Tears welled in her eyes as panic overtook her. "I should never have left the house today! I should've stayed at Sunshine Manor with Hannah! I've been rock climbing since I was a teenager without a single accident, and today my grip failed. Then my safety rope malfunctioned—if you hadn't been there, I'd be dead. I barely escaped with my life, and now this! I've never been stuck in an elevator before. Why is everything going wrong today?"
Watching tears cling to her lashes as she worked herself into a frenzy, Randy couldn't suppress his laughter.
Stella stopped crying instantly, pouting at him with wounded indignation. "I'm terrified, and you're laughing at me?"
Randy tried to stifle his amusement, pressing his fist to his lips, but his shoulders shook with barely contained mirth.
Feeling mocked, Stella's face flushed with anger as she spun away from him. "I'm not talking to you anymore! How could you laugh at me?"
His laughter only grew louder, which made her want to disappear into the floor.
"I'm scared out of my mind, and you think it's funny! I'm never speaking to you again!"
Seeing her genuine distress, Randy fought to control his amusement and placed gentle hands on her shoulders. "I'm not mocking you—I just think your worries are unnecessary. The climbing accident was a freak occurrence, and so is this elevator malfunction. Don't let your imagination run wild. This is Sunset Bay's premier hotel—they maintain their equipment religiously with the latest technology. Elevator cables don't just snap. We're simply stuck for a little while, nothing more."
But Stella remained stubbornly silent, her anger palpable.
This was uncharted territory for Randy, and he found it oddly endearing.
"Are you really that upset?"
She lifted her chin defiantly, turning her head away with an exaggerated huff that clearly communicated her displeasure.
Randy shook his head with fond exasperation, moving to face her. His long fingers gently grasped her chin, turning her face toward him, but she immediately looked away again. He guided her back, and she turned away once more.
She was seriously angry.
Randy's eyes softened with a tenderness that could melt steel, filled with patience, indulgence, and something deeper that neither of them had yet acknowledged.
"Come on, don't be mad."
His infinite patience extended to everyone, but especially to Stella. His temper seemed to evaporate entirely in her presence.
She puffed out her cheeks, glaring at him without a word.
"I truly wasn't laughing at you," he said gently. "I just found you... charming when you were scared. I couldn't help myself. If I upset you, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
Stella tilted her head back, still huffing. "What's charming about being terrified? I was crying!"
"That's exactly what was adorable—the way you cry," he said without thinking.
The words hung in the air, and suddenly the elevator fell silent.
At six-foot-five, Randy towered over Stella's five-foot-six frame. Though she was tall for a woman, she seemed delicate beside him.
He looked down; she looked up.
Their eyes met and held.
Unspoken emotions flickered in the depths of their gazes as the temperature in the confined space seemed to rise. The air between them grew thick with an intimacy that neither dared to name.
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