Chapter 3

Annelyn Martin

"Where the hell were your heads? How could you do such a thing? Have you lost your minds?" my mother exclaimed incredulously, her voice raised, as she looked at me and Amelie, both drenched. "You've always been responsible, never gotten into trouble. And all of a sudden, you decide to get wasted to the point where you need to be escorted by the police?"

"The police weren't exactly because of the drinks, Aunt... It was because of the rain," Amelie tried to justify. However, this only increased my mother's anger.

"If you two had stayed in the hotel like I told you, none of this would have happened!" she said, even more upset, running her hands through her face. "Do you even think about what will happen if Mrs. Callaghan finds out that the police brought you home drunk? Huh?" She looked at us. "Did it not occur to you that this could get you kicked out of the hotel? Without a job and without a place to live!"

The downside of living in your workplace was that if you got fired, you'd also lose your home.

"Sorry, Aunt Agatha," Amelie lowered her head, clearly regretting what she had done.

On the other hand, I remained silent, looking at my fingers, which drew my mother's attention back to me.

"And you, Annelyn, not going to say anything?" she looked at me with raised eyebrows, but shame prevented me from looking at her for too long.

I glanced back at my fingers, shrugged, and replied, "What should I say? Nothing will change the past..." I almost whispered, fearing harsh words.

"Nothing will change the past?" she repeated what I said with a questioning tone and approached me. "That's why when you decide to do something, Annelyn, you must carefully consider the consequences beforehand, because the impact can be devastating."

The tone of her voice wasn't as agitated as before, but I still felt my entire body shiver. Knowing that she was disappointed in me was like feeling a dagger plunged into my chest.

My mother moved away from me and looked at Amelie again. "I don't think apologizing will fix anything, Amelie, but hope that no one finds out what happened tonight. Go to your room."

The girl nodded and promptly left the room. After Amelie's departure, the tension that had already been hanging in the air expanded.

My mother walked to her bed, sitting with her back to me. And just when I thought she would continue with her lecture, I was surprised to hear her words.

"It's late. You should go to sleep."

I blinked a few times, surprised. She never spoke so briefly when she was angry, but today... Today was different. She fell silent, and I respected her decision, even though something didn't seem right.

***

When the day dawned, I felt like my head was going to explode. It was undoubtedly the worst idea I had ever had, that night of drinking. The sunlight streaming through the glass window hurt my eyes, and the sound of the alarm clock on the bedside table made my head throb.

I groaned disapprovingly and turned off the alarm. It was a few minutes before six in the morning. I sat up in bed and mentally scolded myself for spending the whole night drinking. In addition to the damn hangover headache, I was still exhausted from lack of sleep. The four hours I had slept were insufficient for me to rest.

I got up and noticed that my mother had already left; her bed was empty and neatly made. Now, with a clear conscience and free of alcohol, I wished she wouldn't have any problems because of me. Amelie and I were her responsibilities, and if anything happened to her, I wouldn't forgive myself.

I opened the door to the room and walked straight down the hallway to the women's locker room. As usual, the area was already bustling with activity. The employees who lived in the hotel were finishing getting dressed, while those who had just arrived were starting.

I greeted my colleagues and made my way to my locker, number 305, at the end of the room. I used my key to open the gray steel door, taking out my uniform and my ballet shoes and placing them on the wooden bench behind me so I could put them on after my shower.

Before closing the locker door, I grabbed my personal hygiene items along with a towel, and then headed for the adjacent bathroom, which was still quite busy. I entered and walked to the empty shower stall at the far end, closing the frosted glass door and starting to undress. I hung my clothes and towel on the door and placed my toiletries on the wall-mounted holder, finally turning on the shower.

While the warm water cascaded over my body on that cold morning, I could hear some murmurs and laughter. A few of my colleagues were chatting about something. Due to the noise of the shower, I couldn't quite make out what they were talking about, but I had a slight sense of unease.

After finishing my shower, I dried myself off and wrapped a towel around me. I gathered my things and stepped out of the shower, heading to the row of four sinks to brush my teeth. This time, I could hear the conversation going on in the bathroom.

"Imagine Mrs. Callaghan's face when she finds out that two employees arrived at the hotel drunk," the redhead next to me commented to two other girls, and immediately my heart froze, making me almost swallow the toothpaste foam in my mouth.

"She'll definitely fire them," the second girl said, laughing.

"Well, they deserve it. That's not the kind of behavior we should have," the redhead concluded.

"I'd love to know who those two crazy girls are," the third girl added, leaving the bathroom with her friends.

I let out a relieved sigh knowing they didn't know who the two drunken girls in the police car were. On the other hand, I was worried because this meant that Amelie and I had been seen arriving at the hotel by other people, and it was only a matter of time before it reached Mrs. Callaghan's ears.

I rinsed my mouth and left the bathroom, heading back to the bench where I had left my uniform. I quickly put it on and slipped into my ballet shoes. Soon, I was ready.

I left the locker room and made my way to the cafeteria, where Amelie was already having her breakfast. I hurried to do the same, and after grabbing my tray with breakfast, I sat at the same table as Amelie, along with some colleagues who were our friends.

"Good morning," I greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning, sunshine. How was your drinking spree last night?" Thobias said playfully.

I widened my eyes, alarmed, and looked at Amelie. Had she told Thobias what had happened?

"Don't look at me like that," Amelie said indignantly, her visible dark circles on her face. "I didn't say anything."

With a mischievous smile on his lips, Thobias leaned in on the table, resting his elbows on the wood.

"You didn't need to tell me anything. I saw it all. In fact, all four of us did," he pointed to our friends sitting with us. "Honestly, what a shame," he said and burst into laughter.

"Lower your voice!" Amelie scolded him.

Embarrassed and frustrated at the same time, I closed my eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath.

"How did you see what happened?" I asked the three guys and the girl around us.

"We were celebrating Ella's birthday on the rooftop," Thobias replied. I mentally cursed myself for forgetting Ella's birthday.

"I'm sorry!" I turned to Ella, who was sitting to my right. "I forgot your birthday is on the same day as mine. I'm so sorry, so sorry!" I pulled her into a hug.

"It's... It's okay, Annelyn," she says, her voice muffled due to my hug, and I squeeze her even tighter. "You... You're suffocating me!"

"Sorry," I step back from her.

"It's okay that you forgot," she says, smoothing out the collar of her uniform that I had wrinkled with my hug. "I didn't even want to celebrate, but the guys insisted..."

"Of course!" Thobias interrupts her. "Every year is a gift. We need to celebrate life!"

"He's right! And I was so stupid to forget."

"You don't need to blame yourself, Annelyn..."

"Of course, she does!" Thobias looks frustrated with me. "She's our friend! We're a sextet. Besides, whose idea was it to go without us? Do you have a lover, Annelyn?" He narrows his eyes, looking at me suspiciously.

"What?! No! We just wanted to have fun. We wanted to do something different. That's all." I shrug.

"And that's why you went in secret?" He furrows his brow. "You weren't planning...," he looks at me and then at Amelie, and immediately his lips part in shock. "You weren't trying to sleep with a stranger, were you?"

"What?!" Amelie and I say in unison.

"Of course not!"

"We made an agreement that we would do something crazy on her twenty-first birthday. But... I ended up in the bathroom, puking almost my own stomach out, and she told a guy from the VIP area to shove a tequila up his ass.” Amelie revealed.

"You told a rich guy to shove a tequila up his ass? Why?" Thobias asked, surprised, revealing his materialistic side.

"He bought her a drink," Amelie answered for me.

"So that's why you cursed him?" Thobias raised his eyebrows, seeming not to believe what he had heard.

"He was a jerk! He thought I would beg for a chance with him just because he was 'kind' enough to buy a drink I didn't even want." I roll my eyes. "And he wasn't even that handsome."

"He was very handsome. He was a hottie!" Amelie says, not giving credence to what I had said.

"You were drunk. You didn't even see him properly," I retort.

"Drunk, but not blind," she crosses her arms.

"Well... I have one thing to say, pray that he never comes to this hotel, or... you'll be screwed," Thobias commented.

"We don't even know if he's really rich. He might have just spent all his savings to be in the VIP area. Besides, London is huge... what are the odds?" I asked.

"Well, coincidences happen," Thobias shrugged.

"Well then," I rest my arms on the table and smile at him. "That's not going to happen."