The Hotelier

Pt. 5 - Like I Was Nobody

I was just sitting there, looking into his dead-serious eyes. Eyes, which were still so beautiful, that you fall into a trance if you stare for too long

"Listen. I don't know you. I don't even know your name. But you look like a nice person. And trust me, I know bad things happen to good people. I just want to get to know you and help you, because I see you're having a hard time" then he got my hands in his "And please don't do stupid things like this one from earlier. Because if it wasn't for the dog, tomorrow you may have not been here with us..." then he pointed at the thermometer.

Sweet lord... 

I know we are in the mountains but didn't expect to get SO dang cold here

-22 degrees Celsius. That was a lot. And I was only in my T-shirt, for fuck's sake!

"Okay," I started "I want to get to know you as well, so... Let's get started?" I half stated and half asked, but he just gave me a tiny, tired smile and leaned back in his seat 

"My name is Cestria Hansley, and I suppose you're-"

"Michael, yeah." he cut me off "Michael Jackson" he reached for my hand and we shook

"Okay, Michael... Um- I don't really know where to get started, sorry. It's just problems with my boyf- I guess ex-boyfriend now" I said nervously, but I didn't think I was ready to tell him everything

"Okay" was all he said. I saw the tiredness in his eyes. He really worked a lot. 

"You know," he started and turned more in my direction "I understand this is hard for you and you don't have to open up if you don't want to. At the end of the day, I'm nobody to you. I'm just that man from the hotel who cooked a bit in the morning and took you to hikes. That's it. But there's one thing I don't understand. Why don't you open up to your friends or at least come to the places where I invite you? We really had fun here tonight. And I'm sure you would've had fun if you came" he said and looked me in the eyes

"I guess... Today was just a lot for me. I'm sorry. I wanted to come, I really did, but after what happened at the hike... I just didn't feel like it." I told him the truth and he nodded

"Okay." was all he said before he yawned

"It's late. Let's just go to bed, I'm sure I'm going to be better in the morning" I smiled and he gave me a tired look and then... Hugged me?!

"I've gotten through a lot. Like... a LOT" he said without pulling away "And I've seen way too many people like you. Please don't let anything drag you down" he said as he finally pulled away and stood up. "Good night. See you at breakfast" Then he walked away before I could even say something

But his words made me feel warmer than the campfire did... And he is right. I am not going to give up. Never

🌺🌺🌺

When I woke up none of my friends were in the room. I just went to the bathroom, quickly did my job there, got dressed and walked out for the breakfast. 

I saw all of them sitting on the table already, so I quickly grabbed some bruschettas with avocado and some with salmon, a glass of orange juice and sat next to them on the table

"Good morning" I greeted

"Morning. Did you have a good time with your boyfriend last night?" Isaac just flushed out of the blue

"Huh?" 

"Don't huh us." Olivia started "Where were you, for Christ's sake?! We couldn't find you the whole night! In the end we just decided to go back in our room and sleep because obviously, you were in some dark corner with that Michael guy"

"Excuse me?" I heard behind me and blushed immediately. Please don't be...

"Morning, Mike," Isaac said and he smiled

"Morning. What are you talking about, guys?" Michael asked and I begged for somebody to change the subject

"Nothing. Just inside jokes, it's complicated" Isaac stated and I let out a sigh of relief

"Hey, what are we going to do today?" Hannah asked him to avoid the awkward situation

"Well, around 10:30 we're going on a hike for around 2-3 hours, depends on how fast you walk. It's gonna be longer since it's still morning. We are going to go to the monastery, then walk around the whole ridge, the look there is insane, I promise it's worth it. And then we go back through the village. All of this is around 25 kilometres" 

"Wait, what?!" we all said at once. There was no way it was that long

"Come on, you have to come, it will be fun! When are you going to take such a long walk in the big city, huh? Also, you'll find it quite refreshing after, when the lunch is already served when we get back here, and when you can jump in the pool right after"

"Okay you convinced me," I said and the others gave me a knowing look

"Anyways, what are we doing after the lunch and the pool?" Hannah asked

"Same as yesterday. Pizza, hike, dinner, and if you want you can make self-made something after the kids. They are going to decide on whether it's going to be strawberries with chocolate, sushi or ice cream. Then after that we are going to the tent again" he gave us the whole program and we nodded

"Thank you," Hannah said, Michael smiled and walked away, into the kitchen

"Sooo," Izzie started "We all know Cess is going to that so-called 'hike'. But are we? 25km is a lot, guys" 

"We are going," Hannah said and everybody stared at her in disbelieve "What? We are in need of walking. No matter how long it is. We are living a pretty static life, you know. And also we need to set them up"

"What?!" I whisper-shouted while everybody laughed

"But wait, what about Dennis?" Isabella started "You are still a thing, right?"

And that was the moment I had to tell them. Everybody was looking at me and I hated when all of the attention fell on me

"Well... No. I dumped him"

"YOU WHAT?!" They shouted in unison and had these goofy smiles all over their faces

"Congrats, sis! You finally broke free!" Hannah said and hugged me, but that didn't get the lump of shame and guilt in my throat away.

"Hey, what's up? I thought you are happy about that?" She asked when she saw my expression, but I just shook my head

"I'm with mixed feelings about that, okay? I don't wanna talk about it" I said

"Oh. Okay" She pulled away and everybody continued eating silently

When everybody was done eating we headed to our room to get prepared for later. They started chatting about different things, but I just couldn't focus. I heard them, but couldn't listen. I couldn't process what happened around me. Like my body was there, but my soul wasn't. I felt like a part of me was taken away. Like I was nobody.