"9 in two days."
After hearing this sentence, I couldn't hold back my anger and walked over to the manager and punched him right in the jaw.
The man, in his forties, fell from his chair and lay on the ground for almost 5 seconds due to the power of the blow.
My anger having subsided slightly after I had landed that blow, I finally understood the gravity of my action.
I looked to my left and saw Alia looking at me, confused, not knowing what to do.
But strangely nothing happened, I was not lying on the ground inert and I could still move my body.
I turned to Alia and said:
"Am I dead?"
Mouth agape, it took her a while to answer me:
"No, I don't think so, but how is that possible? Just now the man who hit you died, while you are still alive.
"So that means that hitting someone is not considered an offence. When the other guy hit me, there must have been a variable that made him dead and not me.
"And what do you think it was?" she asked.
"I see three different solutions, but only two of the three can be plausible. So the first plausible possibility would be that, unlike him, I didn't break any of my own furniture when I just hit him. The second possibility is that the impact was not very powerful and therefore he did not need treatment or an operation. And finally the third solution, which seems to me much less plausible, because it would be too hard to apprehend, would be the intention of the innkeeper. Since he purposely set up this ploy so that the thieves would die, this would cancel my death sentence. But it is practically impossible to carry out, since I too, when I was hit, provoked him on purpose to hit me.
During my long monologue, the hotel manager stood up and looked at us angrily:
"Young man, I really appreciate your monologue, now I know I can hit you without me dying."
And suddenly he threw himself at me, pointing at me.
Expecting this reaction, I was prepared to counterattack at the slightest sign of rebellion on his part.
I managed to avoid his punch.
And when I turned around I saw that he had lost his balance, which meant that I had a window of opportunity, and I chose to strike him with my foot in his stomach, where no bone or muscle could be damaged.
Sprawling on the ground, I took the opportunity to say to Alia:
"Quick, let's go, it's the time to go."
"But where are we going to go?"
"We'll see about that later."
I took her by the hand and we ran out of the hotel.
After running for more than 50 meters, I turned around and saw the manager starting to get up, but he chose not to pursue us.
"It's okay, we can stop running." I said breathlessly to Alia.
"Are you... sure... he's not following us... anymore? She answers me completely out of breath too.
"Yes, don't worry, I saw him stop and go back to his hotel.
"Ah, fuck it. It was the only hotel that wasn't too expensive.
"I'm sorry I reacted badly, I wasn't thinking and my body moved by itself. I apologized.
"Nah, it's okay, you did the right thing, that'll teach him to trick people and let them die.
"Yes, but that won't stop him.
"That's true, but then it's not our problem if people die."
I didn't know what to say, so I preferred to remain silent, but she continued:
"Well, let's go to another hotel and this time let's not get carried away.
"Yes, I'll be careful, don't worry.
And how far is the next hotel?"
"Nah, it's about 300 metres, more or less. So 4-5 minutes walk."
With these words, we set off in the direction of the other hotel.
When we arrived in front of it, I noticed that this hotel was much bigger, more spacious and more beautiful than the previous one.
"But this is a real luxury hotel, it will cost a lot of money? I asked Alia.
"Yes, normally it's expensive, but I know one of the people who runs this hotel, so I get a discount on the rooms.
"Oh, that's so nice. But why didn't you bring us here in the first place?
"That's because of two reasons. Even though I have discounts, the price is still more expensive than in the first hotel we saw, and above all, I only have discounts on 1 room. And the price of a room without discounts is over 1000 euros a night."
"1000 euros? But that's too expensive!
"Yes, that's why I didn't want to bring us here.
"And with your discount, how much is the room?"
"It's 300 euros.
"700 euros less?
"I can offer you a solution, but I'm not sure you'll like it. She says to me with a smirk.
Seeing her smile, I had a slight suspicion of the solution she had in mind.
"And so what is the solution? I asked.
"It's that we take a single room for the two of us.
"I agree, but with two important conditions. That we each get a different bed and that you don't try anything weird with me.
"What? Do you see me as an easy girl?"
"I didn't say that, I just said you shouldn't try anything with me."
"You're such a stubborn guy. Well, get over here, I'm going to ask for a room.
"So does that mean you agree to my conditions?
"Yes, I have to. She replied, annoyed.
We entered this luxurious hotel, everything was lit up with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and in front of us were four counters with four people standing behind them.
Alia went in front of one of them. It was a man, not much older than me.
She took out a black card with writing on it, which I couldn't read, and showed it to the man.
In return, without saying a word, the man handed her a key and announced:
"300 euros.
"So no politeness, no 'Hello', 'Please'? Nah, is that too hard?" She said angrily
"300 euros." Said the man standing behind the counter again.
Seeing that she was getting seriously upset, I said:
"Calm down, there's no point in getting upset. We'll pay and then he'll be happy.
She nodded and handed him 300 euros and the man replied:
"Thank you, have a good night.
"Ah, there you go, finally a little politeness. You see, it wasn't that complicated. She said, still annoyed.
Then we took a staircase up to the second floor, where room 202 was, the one where we were going to spend the night.
When we arrived at the door, Alia took the key in her hand and put it in the slot of the lock, turned the key and opened the door.
In front of us was a luxurious room, much larger than I had imagined, with a large double bed, a sofa, a TV, an armchair, a coffee table, a toilet, a shower, a fridge, storage and cooking facilities.
But the first thing I said was:
"Well, you're going to sleep on the bed, and I'm going to go on the sofa. And don't try anything weird, okay?"