Hearing this, Yvonne suddenly remembered Cristofer’s promise. Seeing that Cristofer was about to leave, she pouted and said, “Dad, could you stay?”
Cristofer looked at Estelle.
Coincidentally, Estelle was staring blankly at his face.
When their eyes met, she looked away at once with a hint of embarrassment on her face.
Seeing her reaction, Cristofer couldn’t help smiling and said, “Education for children is very important. Parents should set an example for them.”
“What do you mean?” Estelle asked with a frown.
“I’m Yohan and Yvonne’s father. Since I have promised Yvonne that I will tell her a story tonight, I can’t break my promise. I lied to Yohan today and have set a bad example for them. I can’t set a bad example again.”
“Mom, please let Dad stay.” Yvonne and Yohan said in unison and swayed Estelle’s hands, and looked at her with pleading eyes.
Estelle was speechless and disheartened.
She thought, ‘If I don’t let Cristofer stay, I may be taken as a cold-hearted mother who doesn’t allow the children to stay with their father.’
‘But if I let Cristofer stay, I may have to stay in the same room with him again tonight.’
“How about another time?” Estelle coaxed Yvonne, “We will visit your Great Grandpa on Sunday. You can stay at your Dad’s house for a night and ask him to tell you whatever stories you like, okay?”
For fear that her words would make Yohan and Yvonne unhappy, she spoke in an extremely gentle tone. However, as soon as she finished her words, she saw disappointment on the children’s faces.
“All right,” Yvonne mumbled and pouted.
At this time, Cristofer, who had parked his car in the parking space, walked over and picked up Yvonne.
“I know what you are worried about. I’ll have a room in this hotel later. They’ll stay with me in my room tonight.”
“I’m not worried about anything…”
“Really? Aren’t you on guard against me?” Cristofer asked.
“I’m not.”
After taking a deep look at her, Cristofer didn’t say anything more, then strode into the hotel and walked straight to the reception.
“Good evening. Can I assist you?” With a standard smile, the receptionist asked gently.
“Hi, do you have any rooms available? I’d like a suite,” Cristofer said.
“Just a moment, please. I’ll check the room availability,” the receptionist said and checked the room availability on the computer. “There is only one suite available now. It’s located at the end of the corridor. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Okay.”
“How many nights will you be staying?”
“I’d like to have a long-term rental.”
“May I have your name, please?”
“It’s Cristofer. C-R-I-S-T-O-F-E-R.”
****
Soon, the check-in procedure was finished, and the receptionist handed the room key card to Cristofer. “Sir, this is your room card. Your room number is 1231.”
Standing nearby, Estelle heard the familiar room number and blurted out, “You can’t have that room.”
Hearing this, both the receptionist and Cristofer were surprised.
“Why?” Cristofer asked.
“You need to change rooms,” Estelle insisted without providing an immediate answer.
Cristofer frowned and asked again, “Why?”
“Because…” Estelle turned to the receptionist and inquired, “Doesn’t another guest already rent room 1231? Even if the guest isn’t here now, you can’t let other guests stay in their room.”
The receptionist explained with a smile, “According to the terms of the lease, long-term guests must renew their lease within seven days after it ends, or the property reverts to our hotel. The guest you mentioned just now didn’t renew the lease within the specified time, so now we can let other guests stay in Room 1231.”
“The lease has ended?” Estelle asked, “Could you help me check when it ended?”
The receptionist replied cautiously, “I’m sorry, Miss. We can’t disclose our guests’ privacy to others. May I ask who you are concerning the previous guest of Room 1231?”
“I’m his…”
After a pause, she answered, “I’m his good friend.”
“Friend?”
“Yes.”
The receptionist couldn’t help but doubt the authenticity of Estelle’s words.
“Oh, it’s you!” Suddenly, a cleaner in the hall recognized Estelle. Then she said to the receptionist, “I know this, Miss. She often came here before and would stay in Room 1231 every night.”
Hearing this, the receptionist nodded. She looked at Estelle and then at Cristofer, thinking, ‘This lady came here every night and left the next day? So, is she a … prostitute?’
Estelle knew that the receptionist had misunderstood her from the receptionist’s expression. Feeling embarrassed, she cleared her throat and said, “Well… Please help me check when my friend’s lease ended.”
Since the cleaner’s words indicated that Estelle could also be considered a guest of Room 1231, the receptionist didn’t refuse Estelle and checked the lease for her.
“Miss, the system shows that the lease ended last Thursday.”
Today was also Thursday. That meant that today was the eighth day after the lease ended.
Estelle immediately said, “Today is the first day that Room 1231 is available to other guests again, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to rent it,” Estelle said as she took out her credit card from her wallet and handed it to the receptionist. “I’d like a long-term rental.”
“Um…” The receptionist said with an embarrassed look, “Sorry, Miss. We can’t rent you the room because this gentleman has already reserved it.”
Estelle’s hand, holding the credit card, froze.
She turned to look at Cristofer and noticed that he was holding Yvonne in one arm, his head lowered in deep thought.
“Sir, do you still want to rent this suite? If you don’t, we can offer it to this lady.”
Cristofer returned his mind to the present and said, “Of course I do. I’ll take this room.”
“Cristofer!” Estelle frowned as she looked at him.
“It turns out that you and Mr. Mysterious stayed here every night before,” Cristofer smiled and continued, “I’d like to see what the room you used to stay in is like.”
Estelle then pleaded with her eyes, “This room means a lot to me. Can I switch my suite with you? I’ll cover the price difference…”
“Do you think I’m short of money?” Cristofer interrupted her and asked.
Estelle was lost for words.
With his face darkening again, Cristofer placed the room card into his pocket and walked toward the elevator with the two children.
It wasn’t until the elevator door was slowly closing that the cleaner, with one hand on her chest, exclaimed, “That young man looked so scary when he was unhappy. Oh, my God, I was frightened by him.”
Shuddering at the memory of Cristofer’s expression just moments ago, the receptionist nodded repeatedly and said, “He’s indeed a bit intimidating.”
“He looks familiar. I recall him staying in our hotel for an extended period before,” the cleaner mentioned.