Jeremy sat down and prayed for the umpteenth time that Kevin would be at work. He really did not wish to see Lee-Anne, for he knew that once Lee-Anne served him, it was going to ruin his chances of meeting Kevin. Besides the name, he did not know much about the waiter. All that he knew was that Kevin was on duty on the night that the Pinkertons dined at the hotel, and he also knew that he, Kevin, was the one who answered Kiara's phone on that same night.
No part of his mind doubted Kiara in any way. Not even once did he think that something might have happened between Kevin and his girlfriend. But then again, his mind continued to tell him that something terrible had happened, because on the night that she worked at the Two-Sons Hotel, Kiara came back a totally changed person.
"Good evening sir, and welcome to Two-Sons Hotel." a middle-aged waiter disrupted Jeremy's thoughts.
He carefully placed a menu in front of Jeremy.
"Erm, it's my first time to eat here. Someone recommended a waiter named Kevin. Do you mind if I ask for him to serve me. I hope you're not offended…"
"Not at all, sir. I will inform Kevin right away." The waiter bowed and disappeared.
After less than a minute, he came back with a much younger man who was smartly dressed in black and white.
"Good evening sir, I am Kevin. I understand someone had recommended me to you?" the young man smiled.
Jeremy started to have bad feelings towards Kevin. Why, he looked way much younger than the Kevin in Jeremy's mind. He was handsome too. The thought of the waiter having a fling with Kiara started to grow; hazy at first, and quickly growing bold and taking roots. He hated to imagine what might have happened between his Kiara and Kevin.
"Indeed, someone said I can come to this hotel and they assured me that your service is out of this world," Jeremy smiled.
"Thank you, I am happy to hear that. If you don't mind, who could this person be; the one who referred you to me?" Kevin smiled happily.
Ignoring the question, Jeremy went on to say, "I understand Two-Sons has been doing very well of late. You guys hosted the Pinkertons? Is it true or it's just a lie?"
"Umm, sir, we aren't allowed to talk about other guests." Kevin felt uncomfortable, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.
Jeremy laughed and said casually, "well, I wasn't going to ask you to get into details about them. I just wanted to confirm if they did eat here."
"They did," Kevin said in a low voice.
"Oh, so when they came, I bet you guys worked the entire night, didn't you? I mean, the Pinkertons do seem like the kind of people who would spend the whole night partying."
"They are," Kevin nodded his head before changing the subject, "What will you have today, sir?" he smiled and pointed at the menu in front of Jeremy.
The young man scanned the menu and picked a few items.
Kevin left in a hurry, and came back quickly holding plates of food.
"That was fast," Jeremy complimented.
"Thank you sir," the waiter smiled.
"So tell me, if I want to book an event for the entire night, how do I go about it?" he asked.
"I can give you the events manager's name card. Here, she will get a quotation for you and inform you of everything. What is the event?" He handed over a card.
"It's for my birthday. Since I heard that the Pinkertons ate here, I started to view this hotel in a different light, and I would love to do business with you. It's a pity that you won't say much. I need information so that I may be able to plan my event."
"Oh, it's just that, we should not talk about other guests, sir. What exactly did you want to know?"
"Nothing personal about them. What I'm asking is, did their event go on for the entire night? What were you serving…and the staff? Waiters and waitresses…I mean, if the event went on for the entire night, did you all take the morning off or…you were on shift or what….something like that."
"Oh ok, I thought you wanted to ask personal questions." Kevin smiled.
"I wouldn't do that," Jeremy smiled back.
"Ok, we did not spend the whole night. We worked until around 1AM, we left just after midnight." The waiter smiled.
"Oh, my friend must have got it wrong, then. He said the Pinkertons were here for the entire night." Jeremy pulled the plate closer to him.
"No they were not. They left in the early hours of the morning. And the hotel provided us all with transport to go back to our homes."
"Oh, I thought the hotel gave the staff some rooms to sleep in," Jeremy said in a relaxed manner, since he was doing his best to remain calm.
"No, on that day, the whole team which served the Pinkertons was told to go back home; and we did not work on the following day. We only came back for the evening shift."
"Oh," Jeremy said. They spoke about a few more things before Kevin excused himself since he had work to attend to.
Feeling dejected, Jeremy did not managed to eat his food. He left the hotel and went back home after he had asked to meet with Kiara somewhere outside of their home.
Sensing that something was terribly amiss, Kiara looked at Jeremy and blinked many times before her eyes suddenly became tearful.
"Are you ok? Let me switch on the air con," Jeremy said, but Kiara stopped him with,
"No no no I am ok. Just keep the car windows down," Kiara held her boyfriend's hand, stopping him from turning on the air conditioner.
"Talk to me, Kiara. You and I are about to have a child together, and we cannot be keeping secrets from each other."
"What secrets?" Kiara felt as if her heart was going to pop out of her body and run away from her. What was Jeremy talking about? Did he know? Did someone tell him?
Jeremy did not waste time. He told her that he already knew that she did not spend the night at the Two-Sons Hotel. He also did not keep it a secret that Kevin had told him everything.
"Kiara, since we were little children, we never kept secrets from each other. Feel free to talk to me. What do you have to tell me, my love?" he bent forward and lovingly took Kiara's hand in his.
"You do know that you can tell me anything, Kiara? Talk to me, babe."
"I…I slept at the Two-Sons Hotel," Kiara began to cry.
"Kevin said no-one spent the night at the Two-Sons." Jeremy said calmly.
"I know. It's just that, myself and two other waitresses spent the night there."
Kiara stopped. She did not know what else to say.
"Go on, my love. You can tell me everything."
"I was with the two waitresses. I'm so sorry but then, what happened is, when the Pinkertons left, they had paid for a lot of beers and wines, and most of the bottles were not finished. Since our manager was not there, one…one of the waitresses…said…she said we could just try the wine, because it was already….already paid for…" she sobbed.
Jeremy pulled her closer to him and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder. The car's centre console did disturb them, for they did not get as close to each other as they would have wanted.
"You can tell me everything," Jeremy said in a low assuring voice. "Why were you very sad on that day? You came home late on the following day, and you were a mess."
"I…I felt terrible because I took some beers and strong wines. When the other waitresses and I drank the wine, we became seriously drunk, and I fell asleep. I only woke up way after 2PM of the following day, and I had a headache. The only reason why I delayed to come home was because I wanted to get rid of the smell of alcohol, and to feel sober before I could come back," she cried.
Jeremy wiped off her tears and said, "did something happen? Besides the drinking, did anything else happen? Who were the girls with you?"
Kiara let out a small laugh and said, "I know it may sound ridiculous, but I actually do not know their names. We just met in the bathroom, they offered to do my make-up and I refused. We hardly ever spoke, since it was a busy night. When they invited me to drink, I gave in. I am sorry, Jeremy. I'm so sorry that I gave in to peer pressure…." She cried hysterically.
"It's ok, Kiara."
"No it's not ok. I made one silly mistake and I have been a slave to my own guilt for all these days!"
"Was that what was making you cry and be sad all this time? Where did the three of you spend the night, if the hotel management had no offered any place for you to sleep?" Jeremy asked her.
"I…we…one of the waitresses stays in an apartment just behind Two-Sons. We spent the night there. And yes, Jeremy. That's why I have been crying all this time. I felt bad. How could I not feel bad, after going to work and I ended up drunk and not knowing anything!'
"It's fine." Jeremy rubbed her shoulders. "If you had told me sooner, I would have told you back then that it's not a big deal. You drained yourself emotionally, Kiara, crying every day, over something that you and I could have spoken about."
"I know," Kiara sniffled.
Jeremy held her and kissed her gently before saying, "You and I have never kept secrets from each other. You can tell me anything, Kiara. Now that you've told me, let me ask you, is there anything else? It might be anything from that same night at Two-Sons Hotel, or any other thing that you feel I need to know? Please feel free to tell me now, my love."
Kiara pulled herself up. Sitting straight, she blew her nose and said, "that was all. That is what has been eating me up all this time."
Jeremy stared at her for a long time and did not say anything.
"You don't believe me?" she asked.
"I believe every word you say," he answered truthfully. "It just pains me that you kept this burden to yourself for such a long time. Kiara, you and I will soon have a child, and we cannot afford to start keeping secrets from each other now. I love you, Kiara, and I want you to feel free with me."
"I love you too Jeremy. I'm sorry that it took me this long to tell you. I was feeling bad at how easily I gave in to peer pressure and ended up drunk. It made me feel very bad, so I failed to talk about it."
"It's fine. So you're sure that there is nothing else? Anything else you want to tell me?" he raised his brows at her.
"Nothing at all. That has been my one and only secret," she smiled. "What about you? Do you have anything to tell me? Any secrets?" she asked him with a tease.
"Nothing at all. The only thing I can say is I love you. Everything I do, I do it with you in mind. I study hard, I work hard, I do everything for you and our baby on the way."
"Thank you. I love you too."
"To new beginnings," Jeremy smiled at her.
"To new beginnings," she smiled back.
"No more secrets," he smiled again.
"No more secrets," she leaned in for a kiss.