---
✨ Dear Eva – Episode 3: "Whispers and Warnings"
> "Dear Stan,
I've never met someone whose silence says more than words. But maybe that's why you stay quiet… Maybe you know that love—real love—isn't loud."
I don't know why I wrote that last night, but I did. I folded the paper and hid it in my diary. My heart was too full to speak it out loud.
The next morning, I saw Kingsley waiting by the entrance—again.
> "Let me drop you off," he offered, opening the car door like it was some fairytale.
But it wasn't.
> "No, sir," I said, holding my breath. "I'm fine walking."
He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
When I got into the staff area, Stan was already working. He nodded at me politely, but something about him seemed distant.
Had he seen Kingsley outside?
Had he misunderstood?
Later that day, while taking inventory, my friend Amaka leaned over and whispered:
> "Eva, be careful. Kingsley doesn't like being rejected. He once had a girl transferred to their branch in Enugu just because she turned him down."
I blinked. "What?"
> "And that one didn't even have family debts hanging on her head like you do. Just be careful."
The words chilled me.
Kingsley was powerful. Respected. And I… I was replaceable.
But I wasn't the same girl who started here two months ago.
During lunch, I slipped away and found Stan in the hallway, restocking towels.
> "Can we talk?" I asked.
He looked at me, surprised but nodded. We stepped outside, to the little staff corridor where no one really passed.
> "I don't like Kingsley," I began. "Not the way people want me to. Not the way he wants me to."
Stan's expression didn't change.
> "But I'm afraid," I admitted. "Because when people like him don't get what they want, they find a way to take everything you love."
Stan finally spoke.
> "What do you love, Eva?"
I paused.
> "I don't know. Maybe… peace. Being seen. Feeling safe."
He nodded slowly. "Then protect those things, no matter who tries to take them."
For a second, I forgot we were standing in a hotel staff corridor. It felt like I was standing in the middle of a page in my diary—with the only person who had ever read between my lines.
But the moment didn't last.
Because as we turned the corner to head back inside, we ran straight into Kingsley.
> "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, voice sharp as glass.
I stepped back instinctively. Stan didn't move.
> "We were just talking about the towel inventory," I said.
Kingsley gave me a look that said he didn't believe a word.
> "Stan, you're new. Don't get too familiar with the staff—especially not the ones who don't belong to you."
That word again. Belong.
Like I was property. A thing.
Stan's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
And I realized something that moment—
Kingsley wasn't just persistent.
He was dangerous.
> To be continued...
---
Would you like me to move ahead to Episode 4? This is where secrets start to unfold and Stan's past begins to stir.