"So, it turns out that this is the guy you've complained to me about so often," Jake said to Myriam, pointing at Alex in surprise. He looked him up and down and snorted contemptuously. "Myriam gave you every opportunity to attend a good university. I see that you're dressed appallingly, so you don't look like you're doing too well at college. You're such a disappointment to Myriam. Don't you feel guilty?"
"What?" Alex didn't understand the meaning of "Myriam gave you every opportunity to attend a good university." He didn't want to be near Myriam anymore, so he went over to the front desk.
"I'd like to see how you pay," Myriam muttered, as she and Jake followed behind him.
"Hello, I'd like one of your better rooms, please," Alex said to the receptionist.
"Well, I can offer you a large, elegant room with a king-sized bed. Would that be all right?" Although the front desk lady also had her doubts about Alex, she was polite, and Alex nodded.
"Sir, the price of the room is two thousand three hundred dollars a night." The front desk lady motioned for Alex to pay upfront.
"If he can afford it, I'm seeing flying saucers!" Myriam said. She and Jake had walked up beside Alex. They looked at him with wicked smiles, and Myriam turned to the receptionist. "I would advise you to be more perceptive about the people who come up to you, so as not to waste everyone's time. Because otherwise, you can spend a lot of time talking to someone, and then it turns out they don't have the money to pay."
The front desk lady could only reply with a weak smile.
Alex was getting angrier and angrier. He stared at Myriam for several seconds.
"Look, are you taking the room or not? We're waiting to check in. Would you hurry up?" Myriam glared back at Alex.
Alex couldn't help sneering. Okay. Didn't you say I couldn't afford a room? I'll get the most expensive room for today, just because of you. After all, I have my Metro Sky Bankcard, and it has millions of dollars on it.
"Miss, please just give me the most expensive room you have here," Alex said to the lady at the desk.
The receptionist was stunned. She doubted that Alex could afford to pay for the elegant room with the king-sized bed, let alone the most expensive one. "Sir, in fact, the elegant room is also quite wonderful."
"Have you heard that, Alex? The front desk lady doesn't believe your lies, yet you're threatening to book the most expensive room here. You're going to make us die laughing," Myriam sneered. "You'd better see if you can afford the elegant room, first."
"This man is really out of his mind, miss. I think you'd better ask the security guard to come over and remove him from the premises," Jake said with a smile.
The front desk lady decided that if Alex was deliberately messing with her, she would call security.
Alex didn't say anything. He removed his backpack, took out a card wallet, pulled out his Metro Sky card, put it between his fingers, and extended it to the front desk lady. "Can you give me my key now?"
"Alex, don't be foolish. You've come to D.C. for work. Don't you realize that if you stay here for just one night, you'll spend half your earnings? Ah, you're so stupid. I really don't understand how you got into Preston University," Myriam said.
Seeing the card in Alex's hand, the front desk lady was shocked. She was familiar with the various bank cards and recognized the Metro Sky supreme card. The only people who got that card were those with thirty million dollars in their personal accounts. Which meant that the young man in front of her was worth at least that.
"Sir, I was being impolite. I'll handle it for you now. I'd like to tell you about the most luxurious presidential suite in our hotel. It has two king-sized beds..."
"Hello, miss, what are you doing?" Myriam didn't understand why the woman's attitude had changed so much. Jake held her back. He had also seen the Metro Sky card in Alex's hand, and he was flustered.
"What's the matter?" Myriam was still a college student and didn't know anything about that prestigious card.
"Um, the card in his hand is the Metro Sky supreme card. You only qualify for one of those when you have a minimum of thirty million dollars in your account. He's not a poor loser, but a multimillionaire. Who told you to scold him just now? Now what can you do?" Jake was rattled and suddenly quite shy.
"Oh!" Myriam was surprised, and her heart skipped a beat. How could she have guessed that Alex would have millions of dollars to his name? She was deeply worried when she thought about how rude she had been to him just now. When she saw Jake looking at her reproachfully, she said in a low voice, "Why are you looking at me like that? How could I have known that he had so much money?"
Jake stared at her. He stealthily glanced at Alex. Seeing that he wasn't looking, Jake quietly pulled on Myriam's sleeve and signalled to her to leave quietly with him.
They walked away cautiously as if they were thieves to avoid attracting Alex's attention, but Alex wasn't blind. He didn't know what they were doing. He just didn't want to argue with them.
"There's no need to tell me anything more. I'll just take the room," Alex said to the receptionist.
"OK, I'll set it up for you right now." The lady took Alex's card and began to swipe it. She suddenly raised her head and said, "Sir, your card can't be used."
Alex was shocked, as were Myriam and Jake, who were still within hearing distance.
"Could you please try it again?" Alex remembered that he had used the card that very afternoon to pay one hundred dollars to the man who had been bothering the pancake girl. And it had worked just fine.
"Really, sir, I've tried it three times. Your card just can't be used. It shows that your account has been frozen." The front desk lady put the bank card on the counter. "Do you have any other cards I can run through?"
"Just a moment..." Alex had no other cards. He took out his cell phone to call the manager of Metro Sky to ask what was going on.
Seeing that Alex's card was useless, Myriam and Jake looked at each other and stopped walking away.
"Hello, manager. What's wrong with my card?"
"Oh, Mr. Ambrose, I'm really sorry. Two hours ago, I received a message from your family asking for all your funds to be frozen, so..." Robert Miller said in a conversational tone.
Alex was puzzled. He couldn't understand why his family had frozen his account again.
"Do you want a room, sir?" asked the receptionist.
"Please wait a moment," Alex replied politely. He was just about to call Ken Stokes to ask what was going on when he received a call from Ken.
"Mr. Ambrose, your family is not happy with the large-scale use of family resources to search for Miss Debbie Stonehill. The family called and said that I should suspend the search for Miss Debbie. They also said that you shouldn't waste your time on useless things. That you should go back to New York to manage your business. They said that if you don't listen, you will not be able to use a cent of the family's assets."
"That's ridiculous. Looking for Debbie is the most important thing in the world to me. If that's how the family feels, let them feel that way." Alex gave a cold smile.
"Mr. Ambrose, please think about it carefully. If you continue to search for Miss Debbie in person, none of the family members, including me, will give you any help. If you come back here, although I can no longer use the full resources of the East Coast Division to help you find her, I can use one-fifth of the resources and the family will not say anything. That's better and more effective than you looking for Miss Debbie alone," Ken said.
"Well, thank you for your kindness, Mr. Stokes, but I still want to continue searching for Debbie myself," Alex said calmly.
"In that case, I hope you find her as soon as possible. Maybe, in the future, when you call again, your subordinates might not answer the phone," Ken said with a sigh. Alex ended the call.
"Alex, how did your call go?" Myriam had already walked back with Jake triumphantly. Although she couldn't understand the references to "family" and "Debbie" or anything, she knew that Alex couldn't pay the room fee.
Alex rummaged through his backpack to see if there was any cash he could take out. But he went through it twice and found only about a couple of hundred dollars. He sighed and thought it would be better if he travelled with more cash on him.
"Well, Miss, I'll not be staying here. Excuse me..." Alex felt embarrassed as he put the card away in his bag.
"Didn't you just say that four or five thousand dollars meant nothing to you? That you had to stay in the most expensive presidential suite?" Myriam said with a sneer.
"I thought he really had a Metro Sky supreme card. It turned out to be a fake. He took out the card, even though he knew it couldn't be used. I was really surprised at his low IQ..." Jake said, no longer flustered.
"Why are you still here if you haven't got money? Don't you think you should leave? Or do you really want the hotel security to come over and chase you out?" Myriam said in a loud voice.
Alex didn't want to quarrel with Myriam in the hotel. He put on his backpack. With Myriam and Jake sneering at him, he walked out of the Crown Hotel.
"Oh, he's finally left. As I tried to say before, that loser should develop a bit of self-awareness. How dared he come rushing in here pretending that he belonged?" The receptionist by the entrance door muttered scornfully at Alex's departing figure.
Out on the street, Alex realized that he would have to rely on his strengths to find Debbie. However, when he thought about how much time they had been together, knew he had to keep his spirits up. God would guide them to meet. Alex didn't feel that sad.
"Handsome boy, do you want to stay in our hotel?" Out of nowhere, a woman came up to him holding a sign that said "Accommodations."