Chapter 140: Three Days, One Room

Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Three Days, One Room

The next morning, Daisy arrived at the busy newsroom earlier than usual.

She walked over to her desk, dragging a small rolling suitcase behind her. She parked it securely against her chair, booted up her computer, and started organizing her camera lenses.

A few minutes later, Ben walked into the cubicle aisle. He was holding a fresh cup of coffee.

He saw the suitcase. He completely stopped walking.

"You’re actually going," Ben noted, sounding genuinely surprised.

Daisy looked up from her camera bag.

"The Chief said it’s a mandatory three-day trip," Daisy pointed out flatly. "What exactly did you think I was going to do?"

"Ignore him," Ben answered without missing a beat.

"You would," Daisy countered.

"Exactly," Ben said.

Daisy rolled her eyes, but a tiny, genuine smile slipped onto her lips.

Then, Ben narrowed his eyes. He looked at her empty desk.

"Where’s your coffee?" Ben asked.

Daisy casually looked at the steaming cup in his hand. Then, she looked right back up into his eyes.

"I assumed you’d bring one," Daisy said smoothly.

Ben paused.

He just stood there in the middle of the aisle for two full seconds. That tiny, incredibly simple exchange spoke volumes. It showed that the old, comfortable dynamic was definitely returning, but Daisy completely refused to do the chasing anymore.

She was simply stepping back and allowing him to come toward her.

Thirty minutes later, they were sitting in the Editor-in-Chief’s glass office.

The Chief dropped a thick manila folder onto the desk between them.

"You are investigating an old sports corruption case," the Chief explained quickly. "It involves a regional football club a few hours north. We have an anonymous tip about several missing financial records."

Ben opened the folder. He skimmed the first page, his journalistic instincts instantly kicking in.

"We need interviews, archived documents, on-site photographs, and a full investigation," the Chief continued. "You have three days."

"Fine," Ben nodded.

"One hotel," the Chief added.

"We can manage," Daisy agreed.

"And before either of you complains," the Chief said, holding up a warning hand, "you are sharing the exact same rental car."

Daisy immediately turned her head and looked at Ben.

Ben turned his head and looked at Daisy.

"Absolutely not," they both said at the exact same time.

The Chief didn’t care in the slightest. He waved them out of the office.

"Your flight leaves in two hours," the Chief dismissed them. "Don’t miss it."

The flight was quick, but the drive from the regional airport to the football club was a completely different story.

Ben drove the dark rental car. Daisy had entirely taken over the stereo system.

Ben absolutely hated her music. He had hated it in college, and he hated it now.

"Change the song," Ben complained, gripping the steering wheel.

"No," Daisy said simply, turning the volume up a notch.

"Daisy, I am going to drive us into a ditch."

"Keep your eyes on the road, Ben."

Ben let out a loud, frustrated sigh.

"You know," Ben muttered, "you are surprisingly controlling for someone who doesn’t even have a driver’s license."

Daisy didn’t even blink.

"And you’re surprisingly annoying for someone who absolutely needs me to get her there," Ben added.

"I could’ve easily taken a taxi," Daisy pointed out.

"A three-hour taxi ride?" Ben asked dryly.

"Yes."

"You’re impossible."

"You’ve known that for years," Daisy replied smoothly.

That last line hit entirely differently. The light, sarcastic banter immediately vanished. A heavy, quiet beat passed between them in the small car.

Neither of them commented on it. Ben just kept driving, and Daisy didn’t change the song.

They finally arrived at the hotel late in the afternoon.

They stood together at the front desk. The polite receptionist clicked on her computer, smiled, and handed Ben a single plastic room key.

Daisy looked at the small key card. Then, she looked at Ben. Then, she looked right back at the receptionist.

"One room?" Daisy asked carefully.

The receptionist checked the digital reservation screen again.

"Yes, ma’am," the receptionist smiled brightly. "One room. One king bed."

Total silence fell over the front desk.

Ben slowly turned his head toward Daisy. He didn’t even argue with the hotel staff.

"I’m sleeping in the bathtub," Ben stated blankly.

"Good," Daisy replied instantly.

Ben narrowed his eyes. "You didn’t even hesitate."

"Because I know you," Daisy shot back.

The receptionist quickly apologized, explaining that the hotel was completely booked solid because of a massive regional football tournament happening nearby. There were no other rooms available in a fifty-mile radius.

They had absolutely no choice.

One room. One bed.

Instead of awkwardly pacing around the hotel room for the rest of the evening, they actually went straight to work.

They drove to the regional football club. Daisy spent three hours in a dusty back office, expertly photographing hundreds of pages of old financial records. Ben tracked down a former club accountant and ran a ruthless, highly effective interview.

When they finally met back up by the rental car, Ben was holding a stack of copied ledgers.

They had discovered something genuinely suspicious hidden deep in the financial documents. Shell companies. Missing funds.

Daisy noticed Ben becoming unusually serious. His eyes were completely sharp, focused entirely on the truth hidden in the numbers.

Later, as they were driving back to the hotel, the sun finally set.

"You really care about this story," Daisy said quietly, watching his profile in the dark car.

Ben kept his eyes on the empty road.

"I care about getting it right," Ben answered honestly.

Daisy smiled. It was a soft, incredibly fond expression.

"You always did," Daisy murmured.

Ben looked over at her for a second. He looked for a second longer than was strictly necessary. The dashboard lights cast a warm glow over his face.

"Not always," Ben said quietly.

The heavy words landed perfectly in the quiet space between them.

He wasn’t talking about journalism anymore. He was talking about her.

They finally returned to the hotel room. They were both entirely exhausted.

Daisy sat cross-legged on the edge of the large king bed, scrolling through hundreds of digital photographs on her laptop. Ben sat at the small desk in the corner, furiously typing out his initial interview notes.

Neither of them mentioned the massive bed taking up most of the room.

An hour passed. The quiet tapping of Ben’s keyboard filled the space.

Eventually, the soft glow of the laptop screen illuminated Daisy’s face. She had completely fallen asleep sitting up, her head resting awkwardly against the headboard, the computer balanced precariously on her lap.

Ben stopped typing. He noticed the silence.

He stood up from his desk and walked over to the bed. He carefully reached out and gently slid the heavy laptop out of her hands, setting it safely on the bedside table.

Then, he grabbed the thick hotel blanket and gently pulled it up over her shoulders.

He didn’t climb into the other side of the bed. Instead, he walked back over to the small, uncomfortable desk chair and sat down.

Daisy shifted slightly. Her eyes fluttered open halfway.

"What are you doing?" Daisy mumbled sleepily.

"Working," Ben lied quietly in the dark.

"You’re sitting there because of me," Daisy whispered.

"Go back to sleep, Daisy," Ben instructed gently.

She watched his dark silhouette for a long moment.

"Ben?" Daisy murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

He didn’t answer her out loud.

But sitting alone in the dark, he smiled.

The next morning, the bright sunlight crept through the hotel curtains.

Daisy slowly woke up. She turned her head on the soft pillow.

Ben was completely asleep, slumped awkwardly in the small desk chair, his arms crossed over his chest.

She lay there for a minute, just looking at him.

She looked at him entirely differently now. He wasn’t the man she used to blindly chase around campus. He wasn’t the guy who had coldly rejected her.

He was just Ben. The man who had spent the night sleeping in a terrible chair because he didn’t want to take her side of the bed.

Suddenly, her cell phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand, violently breaking the quiet peace.

Daisy grabbed it. It was the Editor-in-Chief.

She quickly answered. "Hello?"

"Daisy," the Chief’s voice was tight and incredibly tense. "We have a problem."

Daisy immediately sat up in bed. All the sleep vanished from her brain.

"What happened?" Daisy asked sharply.

"Someone knows you’re actively investigating the club," the Chief warned.

Daisy’s expression completely changed. "How?"

The Chief hesitated on the line.

"Because someone broke into the newsroom last night," the Chief revealed heavily. "They went straight for Ben’s desk."

Daisy slowly lowered the phone. She looked across the room.

The loud ringing had woken Ben. He rubbed his eyes and sat up in the chair, immediately noticing the severe look on her face.

"What happened?" Ben demanded, his journalistic instincts instantly awake.

Daisy looked right at him.

"Our investigation," Daisy said quietly, "isn’t as secret as we thought."