Premium Suite

Hazel paced frantically around the staff room, biting her nails nervously while Ivy slept on the couch behind her after a long cry for Daddy.

‘Why now? What does he want by showing up now?’ She pondered, getting angrier by the second.

Seeing how finely dressed he was, it was obvious his life had been all rose but hers had only been filled with thorns.

‘Why did I have to suffer alone?’ She wondered. “Because I initiated the affair?” She thought, this time more loudly as she halted and quickly checked on her daughter hoping not to wake her up.

Even though she was fast asleep, she still had her ‘Contract’ within her grip.

Hazel wiped the tears from her eyes as she sat down on the floor beside the couch Ivy was lying on. She tucked behind her ear strands of her hair that were covering her face as she gently removed the contract from her hand which made the little one toss around.

She decided to leave her for a while to be sure she was deep into her sleep before touching her again to avoid waking her up.

As she set aside the paper, her eyes skipped over the words scribbled on them, and knowing who had written it, they now carried more meaning than earlier.

“You’d be her Daddy?” She scoffed in disbelief. “Where were you when she had to be in NICU for 3 months, barely breathing or eating?” She asked as more tears poured down her eyes.

Her alarm rang, signifying that it was time for her last shift of the day.

She quickly dried out her face with her apron and sniffled hard before turning back to face her child.

“Love, you know– I’ve never regretted having you. It's just– that man…you're right. He seems quite loaded– yet you went through so much…” As she tried to sniffle, she felt a sharp pain around her pelvis…one that she had become used to.

She turned away, relaxing her back on the couch as she placed her hands in between her lower abdomen and lower limb, trying to press down the excruciating pain.

Beads of precipitation broke all over her neck and face as she breathed heavily in pain.

She reached out to her bag which was fortunately beside her and quickly took out some antibiotics which she swallowed with a glass of water she had kept for Ivy.

In a matter of minutes, the pain slowly subsided and then she sat up nervously in her fetal form twirling a strand of her hair with her finger. ‘F*ck you!’ She cursed under her breath.

On a day like this, she would have taken a leave from work had she not used it up last week to meet up with her part-time school work. So she had no other choice than to keep working even when she had so much on her mind.

"Excuse me, Hazel? Are you okay?" a familiar voice brought her out of her reverie. It was her colleague, Mabel, peering at her with concern in her eyes as she walked into the room.

Hazel quickly composed herself, pushing aside her turbulent emotions and pain. "Oh, hi Mabel. I'll be back to work in a minute," she said, offering a small smile.

Mabel raised an eyebrow, noticing Hazel's distracted expression. "Is everything okay? You seem a bit... off."

Hazel hesitated for a moment before deciding to share a fragment of her thoughts. "It's just... someone unexpected showed up. I'm trying to figure out what he wants."

Mabel looked surprised. "Who? Do you want me to stay with you?"

Hazel shook her head, grateful for the offer but not ready to share more. "No, it's fine. I'll handle it. Thanks, Sarah."

Mabel attempted to leave when she stumbled upon the bottle of drugs.

“Hazel, you're still self-medicating?” She asked as she picked up the bottle of antibiotics. “When will you finally see a Gynecologist to have you checked? It might be something more serious. You never know.” She suggested.

“Mabel, I'm fine. Plus this drug soothes the pain effectively. I’ve been using it for years so there shouldn't be any complications…” As Hazel explained, Ivy tossed around again and she quickly kept quiet so as not to wake her.

"Let's go.” She said before pulling Mabel away.

There was a landline in the room that Ivy could always use to reach her mom in case she woke up before her night shift ended.

****

“I saw Chef Grey cooking tonight. What's the occasion?” Hazel asked in awe upon seeing the head chef of the Hotel in the kitchen.

Except on very special occasions, he was rarely seen.

“You already know it. We have a special guest tonight. Cade Westham of the Westham Corporations. I can't believe he is in Crestmont City. It's probably for the opening party of their new branch.” Mabel exclaimed in excitement.

Hazel sighed, her gaze falling to her chest as she vividly remembered the name well.

Beneath the white and black housekeeping uniform, there was a scar that ran between her breasts down her chest.

“All this fuss is for him? That rude brat.” Scoffing incredulously, she piled clean sheets into her laundry basket.

Curious, Mabel paused her job for a while to hear the whole story, “I’ve only heard he’s handsome and very pompous. His media presence is also very poor, but the way you say it, you sound so sure, have you met him?”

“Not really. We’ve only spoken over the phone and he wasn't very nice.” Hazel sighed. “By the way, that was ages ago, he might have changed who knows?” She sighed as she concluded her arrangement.

“Woah! Does he know you? Were you too close…”

“Mabel please stop! I only know his older brother briefly and I’ve never had anything to do with him. My life is already hard enough, can you not pester me about some stranger you’ve only heard about on TV?” Feeling extremely agitated, Hazel angrily glared at her.

The reprimand immediately infuriated Mabel, and instead of waiting for Hazel as she always did, she furiously hauled her laundry cart away.

"Argh..." As he began to push the cart, Hazel let out a sigh.

Their supervisor, Ms. Annette, hurried in just as she was ready to leave. "Hazel, where are you taking that?" she questioned, pointing to the trolley.

"Umm…Standard rooms– No 47…”

"They will be taken care of by someone who is there. I want you to go to the Premium Suite 3 with the premium cart. In addition to needing his dirty clothing taken, our special guest also needs some clean towels.” Annette ordered.

“But…”

“Now, please. He’s quite short tempered so be cautious.” Annette warned before hurrying out as she had hurried in.

With a sigh, Hazel answered tentatively, then sluggishly put down her previous cart and went into the inner chamber to retrieve a fresh set of linens that were specifically made for the most expensive and opulent room in the hotel.

As the door of the elevator opened up to the Premium suite, she finally remembered who the special guest was for and she gasped in awe, realizing how much she'd been trying to avoid people of her past.

She stood outside the suite, unsure of whether to enter or not, until she suddenly had an epiphany. “Thankfully, he has never seen me and doesn't recognize my face.”

Then she announced, "Housekeeping," over the intercom.

For over a minute, she waited for a response but after two more rings, she assumed the guest wasn't in his suite at the moment so she turned around in an attempt to get the room card from the front desk.

She was surprised when her cart banged against the door and it opened.

"Why was this left open?" She pondered.

With no one to answer her question, she shook off the thought and let herself into the suite.

Upon entering the bedroom, she noticed a familiar gray suit lying on the bed and was quickly reminded of her earlier encounter at the lounge.

She shook off the idea again, comforting herself with, “So many men have gray Westham branded suits.”

Before dumping the clothes in the laundry cart, she made sure to look through it and only came across a wallet and a pen.

After giving the pen a long, skeptical glance, she tried to place it on top of the drawer next to the bed, but it slipped out of her grasp and rolled under the mattress.

“Argh…my day!” she let out a sigh.

She heard a faint creak on the door as she leaned over to pick it up, and then she heard a very familiar, manly voice inquire, "And you are?"