Love You Can’t Say

After all, a peaceful and joyful life was all about those simple little pleasures. I always imagined what life would be like for Dennis and me if we could have been fortunate enough to spend the rest of it together.

Probably I would be more family-oriented, guarding the kids every day, learning how to make delicious food, and mastering how to take care of the kids and Dennis’s health better.

However, life wasn’t just all about those pleasant moments – There were ups and downs along the way. In the past four years, I had slowly learned to let go. I always thought to myself that he must have had been in a difficult dilemma himself and that it hadn’t been his intention to lie to me and hurt me. There must be other reasons.

When you had been madly in love with someone for too long, and one day you might realize the love you had had would slide into the hatred and resentment you might have been growing against them. And then you would gradually start to let go as if the love and hatred had fused well together and had evened each other out – So then you were in peace. Anyhow, we parted and went our separate ways. Our lives seemed to never cross one another again.

Nathan had always been efficient and effective with his work. However, ever since he transferred me back to the office, I hadn’t gotten used to the less of a workload yet.

Probably because there was less work, the staff were idling together in the office. Someone had committed suicide in the hotel by jumping off the building because of the issues they had with their love life.

The staff started gossiping.

“I heard that the girl’s parents are high-ranking officials in City P. Although it is not our hotel’s responsibility. However, the accident did happen here. It’s possible our reputation is in jeopardy.”

“Right! The business is finally picking up, but now this happened. I am afraid we will have to start looking for new jobs again.”

“Exactly! I heard that the head office is rich and powerful, and they don’t care about how much a small hotel like ours would make. The senior staff might not even think about wasting time in handling this matter. The easiest way to fix this would just be to shut the hotel down.”

“Ugh! We are going to be unemployed. It’s terrible. I finally got a job – The salary and welfare are decent. With this accident happening, I would just be out of work again soon.”

Several receptionists in the hotel got together and gossiped before shift-changing. I couldn’t help but eavesdrop more. It was true that in a small town like the HL Area, there weren’t many big companies. There were basically just factories and some small shops.

This resort hotel was comparatively big, and the salary was much higher than others. If it got shut down now, I would have to find a new job soon.

I was afraid that I wouldn’t find a new job with over three thousand a month so easily. I couldn’t help but sigh. I was so close to finally being able to make a little more salary each month. When this happened, I was out of luck!Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Nathan walked in and saw the few receptionists sighing, he frowned, “You might as well think about how to do your current job well when you have time to worry about the unknown here.”

The receptionists got yelled at by him and scattered away.

Nathan walked up to me, saw me staring at the computer screen in a daze, and said, “What do you have in mind? We are getting off work soon. Shall we pick up Clarie and Joey together later?”

I nodded. But then I remembered I had to finish some spreadsheets for a while, I immediately shook my head, “Can you do me a favor and pick up Clarie Bear for me? I still have some work to do. Thanks!”

Seeing the unfinished spreadsheet on my computer screen, Nathan smiled and left without saying much.

As soon Nathan left, the few receptionists started gossiping again. But this time, they were talking about me.

Antonia Gilbert stared at me with a displeased look, “Clara, you were just a cleaning lady. How did you become the person in charge of the two most leisurely positions in our hotel? How did you pull it off?”

Her voice was sarcastic, and someone just joined her in mocking me, “You are right! Clara, can you share the secret to your success in getting an acceleration in your career? We are still young and would love to learn from your experience, you know. You are an experienced woman who still looks gorgeous. Is it your working experience or your flattering skills?”

Antonia sneered and said with disdain, “I don’t think it was her toadying skills. Maybe Ms. Clara is experienced in bed. You know, room service! I heard that women are like cougars in their thirties and forties. It seems that Mr. Nathan can’t escape the charm of a grown cougar mom, right? It’s indeed easier to climb all the way up to her career’s success by climbing into our boss’s bed, isn’t it?”

I looked at these receptionists and listened to their speaking ill of me in my face.

I couldn’t help but think that being young was amazing – They didn’t seem to care about if what they had said would sound rude, or even worse, would hurt the ones they had said these to.

My eyes fell on the boiled water that was poured into the cup on the table, I stood up and walked up to Antonia. I was not angry, but my tone was cold, “Indeed, I’m already thirty, but I’m only four or five years older than you. I was thinking about what I had been like when I was your age?”

I raised my eyebrows and continued, “At that time, I just got married and got my first job ever in my life. The workplace at that time was much more complicated than it is now. Of course, I have met amazing women that were more experienced and more senior than I was. They were all in higher-ranking positions. But all I could think about then was to work hard and hopefully one day soon I would be like one of them, instead of how to attack them with a mean and rude speech!”

“Looking at the way you are now, I suddenly feel so grateful for my family – They raised me to be respectful, classy, and well-educated. They’ve taught me to see the good in people, to work hard, and become one of those people that others would look up to, instead of being shallow and rude. And Ms. Gilbert, your manner is beyond acceptable!”

Antonia just needed to be taught a lesson.

After all, she was young and immature. Hearing my harsh words, she got mad and raised her hand immediately, trying to hit me.

I had matured out from the innocence in my twenties. I raised my hand to stop her from hitting me, then picked up the water cup on my table and splashed the water in it right at her delicate little face.

“Ms. Gilbert, next time when you try to make yourself look good by trash-talking others, think twice before you let those meaningless words out of your mouth. Or you would get nothing but trouble.” Saying so, I was no longer in the mood to finish the spreadsheet. I went straight out of the office.

“Aargh!” Antonia yelled with anger, “Clara Kennedy, you skank! This is not over.”

I ignored the noise of her freaking out in anger behind me, and went straight back to my yard.

Nathan picked up Clarie Bear back from the kindergarten. The little guy liked to follow me around lately. Probably because of me getting sick in the hospital last time, she had been worried about me. So she always followed behind me, for the fear that something bad would happen to me again.

During the dinner, Nathan suddenly looked at me and said, “Tomorrow, a developer in City P will come to the hotel and stay for a few days. You are his receptionist and you need to arrange his itinerary for the next few days in the HL Area. The hotel just had an accident, and according to what the senior staff has said, the developer should be taking over the hotel afterward.”

I was a bit stunned, and asked with confusion, “What would the developer take over the hotel for?”

Nathan smiled, “There is basically wasteland near the hotel. And honestly, the purpose of these developers is not to run the hotel better, but to plan the area near the hotel. The HL Area has developed well in the past two years, with natural scenery spots and a large foreign population. It’ll probably take only a year or two for it to turn into a small tourism city.”

That was true. The HL Area wasn’t big, but there was invaluable beautiful natural scenery. Especially every year in spring, rapeseed flowers would flourish all over this small town as if it was surrounded by a sea of flowers.

In addition, there were many natural waterfalls and ethnic minorities nearby this small town. Now more and more people in big cities were thinking of retirements in a small city with a beautiful environment, the HL Area would indeed be an excellent choice.