Chapter 1

“I heard he’s visiting today.” “I just hope he’s as nice as his father.” Claire Sparks turned to the two workers speaking and saw how secretive they were trying to be. “Hey.” she said with a stern, strict tone, making them stand at attention. She couldn’t help but smile in amusement. “What are you two talking about?” One of the woman sighed. “Geez Claire. Every time you use that tone, we can’t help but react.” The other immediately agreed, but Claire simply chuckled. “Just make sure you don’t chat while there’re guests around asking for help. Now, are you going to answer my question?” It took them a few seconds to remember what she asked before they immediately answered. Apparently the rumor that they were getting a new boss was true. And he was visiting today. Luckily, he wasn’t someone completely new to the hotel. He was supposed to be the current owner’s, Logan Bishop, son who had been overseas. Like one of the employees said, Claire hoped he was considerate of everyone in the hotel. Since they dealt with those who were rich and part of the elite class, Claire has met with just as many civil people as spoilt brats, who should be too old to even be called brats. And they were lucky they were guests or Claire would’ve done something to them the moment they insulted any of her workers. After doing her daily check-ups, Claire left the two chatting workers, reminding them to watch out for guests. Being the manager of Bishop Lodgings was at times easy and at times irritating. On the easy days, Claire just did some check-ups around the hotel, making sure the employees were behaving, the guests were satisfied, and everything else was in working order. Of course there was the occasional paper work, but that was a simple task Claire was used to. As for the irritating days, it was when she had to deal with spoilt brats who said their steak wasn’t rare enough, but then the next time they brought out another steak, it was too raw. In situations like those, Claire had no choice but to grit her teeth and do her best to satisfy them, even if it meant sending out another ten steaks just to get the right one. Oh, if only she could do what she normally would do in situations like those—which was knock out the ass’s teeth. But unfortunately, she had to behave as a grown woman should during her working hours. “I wonder how old he is.” “Considering Logan’s in his late fifties, it must mean the guy’s pretty young.” Claire blinked at the conversation. It seemed like everyone was talking about their soon-to-be new boss. Really, Claire didn’t give a crap as long as he allowed her to keep her job and let her work. But she wouldn’t know what she would do if he thought about changing his employees around. Claire heard about that happening before with other hotels… Instead of worrying over it though, she just took a deep breath and exhaled. When the time came, she would think of something then. As for now, she had to focus on her work. A loud click sounded, signaling the intercoms being turned on. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Baby AA is crying for his aunt. Baby AA is crying for his aunt. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you.” Claire swore as she looked down at the tag hanging from her skirt. She was the aunt of baby AA. It was her nephew, Clay. He was three years old and though his parents named him after Claire, the two of them looked nothing alike and behaved nothing alike. Clay had more Asian characteristics like his mother, and he was a crybaby. Must’ve gotten that from his mother too. Claire still loved her like a real sister regardless. Clay and Claire didn’t even spend much time together. First of all, because she didn’t know how to take care of kids, and second, there was a day-care in the hotel, which took care of the guests’ children, along with those outside of the hotel who had the money. Luckily, Claire was given special permission to have her nephew and niece in the day-care since their parents worked during the day and Claire was the manager of the hotel. Even though they didn’t spend most of the day together, Clay still liked Claire more than anybody else, excluding his parents. Even the nice baby-sitter, Eleanor Brooks, wasn’t enough for him. The two of them were close since Elli babysat Claire’s niece and nephew five days of the week. In fact, it was Elli who spoke through the intercom. And she knew exactly who the aunt of baby AA was, but it was best not to use names in the hotel. As Claire was passing by the front desk, towards the day-care room, she saw that there was a guest at the entrance desk. It looked like he was checking in, but he didn’t have any luggage with him. She just gave him a glance, not caring too much for details since she had to get to Clay at the moment. His cries could pop eardrums and leave people having a headache for days. Claire had experienced it first-hand. “Clay again, Claire?” The employee at the desk chuckled. She threw him a strained smile. “Oh yeah. That brat’s going to get it again today too.” Then she continued to stomp off in her heels towards the day-care. When she reached it, she slammed the door open, catching all of the kids’ attention. They all recognized Claire. The older ones who could speak called her “the cry-baby’s auntie.” The cry-baby being Clay of course. “Oh!” the kids clamored to stand up and walk to Claire. “It’s the cry-baby’s auntie!” And there we go. “Alright.” She huffed, seeing Clay with teary eyes, staring straight at her. She stepped over kids as they peered up at her, some even looking under her skirt. But who gave a damn? Claire was wearing boxers under the skirt anyway. “Auntie Claire!” Clay wailed when she reached him. Claire stared down with a stern face, her hands on her hips. “Auntie Claire!” he wailed again, reaching his chubby hands out to her. Claire’s heart cracked. “Dammit,” she quietly groaned with defeat and bended down to pick him up. “I can never stay mad at this kid.” He immediately clutched onto her shirt and wiped his snot and tears on it. Claire stared down at the stain, but then released a sigh and held Clay close and shushed him. “What’s wrong, baby?” He pulled back and pointed an accusing finger at the girl standing next to Claire’s legs. “Belle! My cracker!” he wailed again. Claire glared down at Belle, her niece, Clay’s older sister by one year. Her mouth had cracker crumbs around it. She stared back up at Claire innocently. “Auntie. Why’s Clay crying?” “Ohh, no you don’t.” Claire wagged a finger at her. “Don’t give me that look, angel. You know exactly what you did.” She continued to act clueless. “My! Cracker!” Clay shouted into her ear, making her cringe before groaning. Claire turned to Elli and her assistant, Jenny, who were standing at the sidelines with looks of amusement. “Just give him another one.” she said to Elli. She shook her head and shrugged. “I tried. But he specifically wants that one.” She pointed, her finger lining towards Belle’s healthy round belly. Claire sighed. “No other choice then.” Claire looked at Belle and held her hand under her niece’s chin. “C’mon Belle.” She knew exactly what her aunt meant and pretended to throw up onto her hand by making little gagging noises. Claire copied her, pretending to gag and throw up as well, making Clay giggle and burst out laughing. His mood immediately lifted. Claire smiled and set him on his feet. Then he pretended to throw up as well before grinning up at her. She ruffled his hair before looking at up Elli. She was smiling at Claire. “Nice. Very mature.” She simply said, already spotting the handsome stranger at the doorway who was staring straight at her friend. Claire scoffed, oblivious to the guy and not knowing what her friend meant. “Who am I supposed to impress around here?” she said before pointing down at Belle. “And you. Don’t steal from your brother anymore. Do you want to go to jail when you get older?” “No, Auntie.” She obediently said, flashing her teeth. Claire flashed a grin back and ruffled her hair as well. Belle’s hair was in nice straight braids. Was. Until Claire completely ruined it. Her nice pouted up at her before crossing her arms over her chest, making Claire chuckle down at her. “Alright. I’m heading off again. Behave and stop crying.” Claire specifically gave a look with narrowed eyes at her niece and nephew. But they just ran past her and began to cheerfully play together once more with the other kids. “Bye-bye Auntie!” some other kids called to her from behind. She turned around and blew them all kisses like she usually did when she came here, but stopped midway when she saw who was standing at the doorway. He was a male in a personally tailored business suit, who was also more than just ‘handsome’. He looked familiar, and Claire recognized him as the guy who was just standing at the entrance desk. What was he doing here? Elli’s words echoed in her head and she slowly turned around to look at her friend. She was trying to hold back a grin. Claire turned back to the guy at the doorway, who was staring all around the room, and then finally his eyes landed on Claire. How long had he been standing there? Did he see her play-fake throwing up with her niece and nephew? To cover up her suspicion, Claire smiled at him with her manager smile. “May I help you?” Slowly, he nodded. “Are you the manager of this hotel?” Immediately, she became cautious. “Who’s asking?” He didn’t get offended from her look. “My name’s Heath Bishop.” Claire’s eyes widened. Bishop. It was obvious who the guy was. After all, this was Bishop Lodgings. Even Elli and Jenny were surprised. Claire heard their gasps from behind before Heath Bishop continued, as if they weren’t gawking at him with utter shock. “And starting from today, I’m the new owner of this hotel.”