Chapter 6 LONG TIME NO SEE, ROSALIA

Paris, France.

"I believe I am speaking to Alexander Ryan, one of the supervisors of Galway Hotels?" Louise said to the person she was speaking to on the phone. The person on the other side of the phone didn't reply immediately. There was a small pause before he replied.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Louise Ke—"

"Ah, madam Louise," Alexander cut in from the other side of the phone as he figured out the person speaking to him.

"Good day, ma'am." Louise hated being disrupted whenever she was speaking, but she let that slide. She could have scolded him and told him she would not take it lightly if it happened again, but she decided not to talk. This was only because she was on the call with him in the first place to apologize to him on behalf of her son, and persuade him to return to work.

"I believe you've been well."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I got the news about how my son disrespected you at the hotel yesterday. I would like to apologize on his behalf. Besides, he was not being serious when he said you were fired. He was only speaking out of anger. You know how we are when we are angry," she added the last sentence and gave a slight giggle. That was her own way of making jokes, even though they weren't funny.

"I am honoured to see your call, madam. But I want you to know that Chris didn't fire me. I wasn't fired. I left—"

"Yes. Yes, he told me. I made a mistake there. He did tell me that you resigned on your own."

"Yes. And I have made up my mind. I submitted my resignation letter yesterday also, as your son asked me to." Louise rolled her eyes at how confident he sounded when he said that. She was beginning to get impatient, but she tried to calm herself down. One thing she disliked doing was begging someone, no matter how important that person was. But she had to beg this particular person, because she knows what it means to her if he actually leaves the hotel.

"Why did you think I called, then? I said he is sorry, and so am I. I apologize on his behalf. Kindly return to your work tomorrow."

"It's a choice, ma'am. It isn't something I was forced to do in the first place. Therefore, nobody can also force me to return there when I have clearly stated my interest. Besides, if there would even be a cause to change my mind and return there, there's something Chris has to do first."

"Really? You should have said that earlier. What is it? I'll make sure Chris does everything to show he is sorry for what happened." Louise replied, a glint of happiness obvious in her eyes.

"I'd like to know," she added as she adjusted herself on her seat, as if doing that would let her hear him more clearly.

"He should apologize to Scarlet, and he also has to—"

"Sorry?" She cut in immediately.

"Who's Scarlet?" She asked, a look of instant confusion crossed her face.

"And why does he have to apologize to whoever that is for you to return back to work?" Acting like he didn't hear her questions, he continued what he was saying before he was interrupted.

"And he has to re-employ her." Louise scoffed.

"I asked who this Scarlet is?"

"The woman he fired unjustly." Alexander simply replied. He was in no mood to give her the full details of what happened that led to Scarlet being fired.

"Some bartender lady? Is it her?"

"Oh, you're aware of it. I love that." Alexander replied and chuckled from the other side of the phone, as if making jest of Louise over something.

"You resigned as the supervisor of a prestigious hotel because of some bartender lady?" Louise asked again, not sure she understood what he meant.

"Is that what you're implying?"

“Madam—"

"I'll get back to you." She didn't wait for his reply before she hung up immediately. With fury, she dumped her phone on the table and hit her other hand on her office table.

"He left his job because of some bartender lady? And who is she, if I may ask?" She scoffed as she thought about it over and over again, hard for her to believe what she heard was true.

"Wonders shall really never end." Immediately, she called out to her secretary, who entered her office about a minute later.

"Yes ma'am," the young lady answered as soon as she walked in. "What about what I told you to find for me?" "The information about the bartender.” “

I got all the information, ma'am, including her background information too." The lady replied. "If I hadn't asked you about it, you wouldn't have told me?" Louise said as she eyed her in some way. She gave the lady a deadly stare which made her lower head a little.

"I apologize, ma'am."

"Have you printed everything out?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll get the document for you right away." "You had better do so." The lady walked out of the room and returned some seconds later with a brown envelope in her hand.

"Here it is, ma'am." Louise grabbed it from her and motioned for her to leave. The lady bowed a bit before walking out of the office, closing the door behind her. As soon as her secretary walked out, she opened the document and brought out the paper in it. Her eyes scanned through the page immediately, and when it got to a particular spot, she froze. Her eyes remained glued to that spot as she squints her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Immediately, she picked up her glasses on the table and put it on. Then she checked the paper once again.

"Of course, I saw it well." She said and scoffed again.

"It really is her. She's the one," she muttered to herself, a small smile appearing on her face. "So we meet again," she said and relaxed, her eyes still glued to the paper as her smile grew wider.

California, USA.

"Thank you," both Alexander and Scarlet chorused as a male waiter dropped their orders on their table in front of both of them and left. "Uhm, Scarlet."

"Mr Ryan." They spoke at the same time and paused again.

"Go first." Alexander said to her.

"No, you should speak first."

"No. Ladies first, they say. Go first." Alexander replied her. "Fine." Scarlet said and cleared her throat as if she had prepared a speech in her head to come and present.

"I am thankful that you wanted to get me back my job, but you shouldn't have told me I got my job back when I hadn't. I wouldn't have returned there and the whole thing would not have happened." Alexander knew she was going to point it out, so he has already made his mind up to apologize to her if she talked about it.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault, and I agree to that."

"Why did you do that though?" Scarlet asked him as she sipped a little from the coffee on the table.

"I just wanted you to get the job back. It was not your fault that you did that for self defense after all. I only wanted him to understand that." "No, I wasn't talking about why you told me to get back to work." She replied as she dropped the coffee cup on the table.

"So…?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"I heard you resigned." "Oh," he said and chuckled. "News sure spreads fast," he muttered to himself.

"Bad news especially. But that's on one side. Why did you do it?" She asked him again. He looked up at her and folded his arms.

"Well, I couldn't stand working in a place where the workers are treated unjustly." "Oh." She simply muttered. She had thought it was because of her he had resigned. Although, it still pointed to the fact that her issue caused his resignation, but him not saying it directly made her feel relaxed. If he had said he resigned because of how she was treated, she would have felt bad. She never wanted anyone to suffer or feel bad because of her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." She replied and gave a small smile.

"You zoned out for some seconds."

"Ah, no. It was nothing. Just thinking about this and that." She said and tried to change the topic immediately.

"Uhm, so, now that you've resigned, what are you going to do? Get a job in another company? That's like a square one thing."

“I can pull some strings. That's not an issue." He replied with a small, looking confident and sounding confident as he spoke. He was rich after all, she thought. She was the only one who found it hard at the moment. She did not have any connections or any money. All she could do was to go from company to company, looking for ones that have job vacancies. She needed money badly if she didn't want to starve. This is one of the many times I wished I was rich, she thought as she sighed.

“Are you sure you're fine? You've sighed thrice in the space of two minutes." Alexander asked her as he squinted his eyes a little, staring at her.

"I'm okay. I really am."

"If you say so." Alexander said and had a sip from his cup.

"What are you doing about getting yourself a new job though?"

"About that, I'll start my search tomorrow. I needed a lot of space after what happened yesterday, so…" her voice trailed off as she sighted someone walking into the coffee shop. Her seat was facing the door, while Alexander's was backing it. Anyone who comes in could see her, and she could see anyone who comes in. Immediately she caught sight of the person that just walked in, she shifted her head to the side, to avoid the person's gaze, but it was too late.

"Is… something wrong?" Alexander asked her, not sure of why she suddenly looked away and why she stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"Rosalia" The man who had walked in that made Scarlet turn her face sideways said, as soon as he got to their table.

"Young lady," he called again as he tapped Scarlet's hand. Her heart skipped a bit as her hands turned sweaty. She had tried to run from him and many others all her life, especially when she just changed her name from Rosalia to Scarlet. But then, one's past will always follow one wherever he or she goes.

"Excuse me? I think you're at the wrong table," Alexander said to the huge man who stood by their table.

"No one bares that name here." The man ignored Alexander as if he didn't hear him and kept on speaking to Scarlet in his heavily accented voice.

"Long time no see, Rosalia."