[The next day.]
Corey found himself standing right outside the same door once again. He was dreading what was about to come his way.
He had tried his best to talk to the manager, but it ended the same way he knew it would. The manager of the hotel had shook his head in a no without paying much attention to his pleas.
Not only that, it only took the poor guy to find out that a complaint had been made against him. The manager refused to disclose the name, or names as he had said, but he did quote the complainant's words.
"He was highly unprofessional in handling something important to me. Because of his carelessness not only did I have to see my beloved belongings getting damaged, but I also lost some as well."
Though instead of getting him fired right away, the manager had let him go with a fair warning, saying it was what they demanded since they owned such a bright heart. It didn't take him a second guess to tell who the complainants were. Who else it could be if not for the two evil sisters who had promised to themselves to make his life hell.
Now, here he was, knocking once again at the door. He was hoping that the third one was better than the two, or else he could kiss his new job goodbye, this time for real.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
His knuckles brushed against the polished surface as he finally found the courage to knock after drawing in a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." He mumbled to himself as he prepared himself to get scolded for being so useless.
"Coming."
He heard the same voice as last time, the only difference was that he didn't find it to be annoying. Instead, it was rather cheerful.
"Hello."
The door flew open and a smiling face popped into his view which left him speechless. He didn't have the heart to steal the smile away from her face.
"Hello, Miss Sundseth." He greeted her as politely as he could manage to, with a small bow of his head.
Noelle, on the other hand, found his refined manners to be a little comical. Not because he was abiding by the rules, but because he seemed more nervous than she was for some reason.
"Hello, Mister Corey." Instead of amusing herself at the young man's expense, she greeted him with all the seriousness she could muster up.
"It's just Corey." He found it weird that an esteemed guest was treating him in such a way, referring to him with honorifics.
"And it's just Noelle." Noelle corrected him with her bedazzling smile Instead of minding his intrusion.
"I don't think that I am allowed to call you by your first name." He stood his ground, firmly as he stared ahead instead of looking at her face.
"I don't think that I allowed you to call me by my family name either." Not being able to keep it in, Noelle let out a teasing remark, leaving the guy all flustered.
"I-I…" Corey trailed off, not knowing how to reply to that. The lady was right. She had not given him the permission to call her otherwise.
"Don't worry, Mister Corey, I won't bite your head for such a bizarre mistake. Just use my first name the next time you have to call me. Or I might have to bring it up before your superior that you are making a guest uncomfortable here." She tried to make him feel a little better, but didn't forget to add a warning.
She knew it was the only way to get him to use her first name. Or else, he would keep calling her Miss Sundseth. Though she had no plans of reporting him to the higher ups. She only added that part to give him a scare which seemed to be working quite well.
"Please, don't do that. Another complaint on my part is going to get me fired. Especially if it's from another Sundseth." Corey shook his head frantically as he tried to reason with her. "I don't mind calling you by your name as long as you promise that you won't bring it up before the manager." He added with a pleading look.
"Wait! What did you just say?" Noelle spoke up. She was left all confused after listening to what he had just shared with him.
Corey stared back at her with a frown tugging at his eyebrows as he slowly repeated his words. "I said that I will call you by your name as long as you don't complain to my manager."
"Not that part. The other thing you mentioned." Noelle shook her head as she reminded him of what she wanted to know precisely. "What do you mean by another Sundseth?"
"Oh, that! I didn't mean you. I was referring to you-" Corey brought his tongue to an abrupt halt as he bit down on it. He scolded himself internally as he realized what he was about to do. How could the girl, who was more or less following her sisters' footsteps, listen to him complaining about her sisters?
"Corey! Why don't you continue?" Noelle gave him a skeptical look, narrowing her eyes at his face. She could make out the regret shining in his eyes as beads of sweat glistened on his broad forehead.
"There is nothing much to say for me here, Miss Noelle." He refused to give in.
"Really?" She stared back at him with a frown nestled in between her eyebrows. "Were you, or were you not trying to say that it was my sisters who were the Sundseths you mentioned before?" She glared into his eyes, adding to his nervousness.
"N-no." One of the things which were wrong with Corey involved his incapability to lie. No matter who was standing before him, he could not utter one simple lie. He would either stutter too much, or avoid looking into the other person's eyes, giving himself away.
Because of the same reasons, it wasn't hard for Noelle to catch his lie. His blue eyes which were bouncing around in his orbits just so he could avoid looking into Noelle's inquiring eyes, made it too obvious.
"What did they say to the manager, Corey?" Without wasting much of her time, Noelle asked him about the complaint, leaving no room for him to escape.