The Love Hotel

Chapter 7

Rochelle showered and dressed up as nicely as she could. The restaurant that she was going to was one of the best in the hotel, and that was saying something because the hotel had some truly fancy restaurants. She loved the fact that Bradley had invited her to dinner. It made her feel so special. It made her feel like he didn’t just want something from her. She wondered if this was going to be creepy. She felt safe with Bradley for some reason, but at the same time just being asked for dinner like this was rather unusual.

Her mind was a mish mash of several different feelings, and none of them were easy to grasp. She wondered how she would be able to feel what she was truly feeling with Bradley around. He was a very kind man, but he was also thoroughly odd, so odd that Rochelle had a difficult time knowing how to behave around him. She was constantly afraid that she might offend him. She didn’t know if he was easily offended, but at the end of the day she had to be sure. She didn’t know how she would live with herself if she ended up offending a man that was trying so earnestly to help her out in such a difficult situation.

She went down to the restaurant and was surprised to find Bradley there, waiting for her. She wondered what he was about. He looked very dapper in his suit as always, and he was wearing a different suit than he had been wearing an hour ago. She wondered how often he changed his suits. She wondered if this was just how he was, if this was just something he did. She quite liked that he cared about his appearance this much. She would probably change her clothes a lot too if she had the money to afford enough clothes to do something like that. She was glad that she was having dinner with him right now, but at the same time she couldn’t help but feel a tad impatient. She wanted to get this over with. She wanted him to tell her what was going on.

“Hello,” said Bradley, giving her a small smiled. Rochelle was surprised. She had never really seen him smile before, or if she had it had been so insignificant that she did not remember. The small, brief smile had been a true one, though. He seemed like he was truly happy to see her.

She was also surprised when he offered her his arm as they entered the restaurant. The waiter got them a nice table and Bradley began to talk.

“I have a job offer for you,” he said, getting straight to the point. “It is something very dear to me, or rather it involves something that I hold very dear. Are you sure you want to listen to the rest of this?”

Rochelle felt like she was going to go mad with curiosity. Bradley really knew how to make it seem like he was offering the world to somebody! She wondered if he was like this all the time. She wondered if the job that he was offering would end up truly being as exciting as he was making it seem.

“Tell me more,” said Rochelle. It was all she could say. Her interest was piqued, but at the same time she couldn’t help but feel like everything around her was starting to feel a little less important because of how utterly handsome Bradley looked in his suit. She felt like she was here more to be able to take a closer look at him rather than interest in anything he had to say. She cleared her throat and started to pay attention, feeling guilty for objectifying him in such a manner. She didn’t want to be that kind of person. She didn’t want to make him feel like his looks were all that she cared about because this truly wasn’t the case. She was not that kind of person. She truly liked him for a lot of other reasons, such as his personality. In all of this self analysis and her attempts to pay attention to what Bradley was saying, she forgot to actually listen to him and caught him mid sentence.

“Sorry,” said Rochelle quickly, “I couldn’t quite hear you. I was distracted. Long day at work you see. Could you start at the beginning?”

“Of course,” said Bradley, nodding his head. He did not seem annoyed at all that he would have to repeat himself. He seemed like he was perfectly content talking about what he had to talk about yet again. She was amazed that this was the man that had been so angry just an hour ago. He seemed entirely devoid of emotion!

“What I am saying,” said Bradley, “is that I need a housekeeper. I need someone that would do all of the duties of a housekeeper because my previous housekeeper quit. She had been with me and my family for ten whole years, so her loss is a profound one. I don’t think I will ever be able to find someone that is a perfect replacement for her, or rather I did not think I would ever find anyone like that until I met you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Rochelle.

“I mean that you have all of the qualities that I would require from a housekeeper,” said Bradley. “You are caring and compassionate, you are strong, you do not quail in the face of danger. I came today to just check up on my hotel and see if everything was going smoothly, and there you were. Standing up to someone staying at the hotel and fighting for your rights. This is a truly admirable quality, you know, it’s the type of thing that not a lot of people would be able to do. And yet, you did it. You were not afraid at all. You did not quail from the prospect of having to talk back to somebody that had more money than you. And that is a special thing, I hope you know that. It’s something a lot of people would not be able to do.”

“Wait,” said Rochelle, very confused. “Tell me something. You want a housekeeper right? What do all of those qualities have to do with a housekeeper? Why do you need a housekeeper that is brave? Are you planning on having the housekeeper do anything… else?”

“Ah,” said Bradley. “About that. I’m afraid that you will be doing a little more than cleaning, but I can’t tell you what it is. It will not put your life in danger in any way, it will not cause you any bodily harm, and it will not require you to compromise on your morals in any way whatsoever. However, it will require you to be able to keep a secret. That is all I ask. That you keep everything you see in my home a secret.”

Rochelle’s mind was racing. What was going on? What did Bradley have in his home that he would have to hide so much? Was he a part of some weird cult, would he have her keep that a secret? He assured her that her life would not be in danger, why would that have to be mentioned in the first place? Why would a housekeeper’s life ever be in danger? Was he, perhaps, involved in some criminal activity? Was he involved in something that would require her to keep her mouth shut? He assured her that she would be safe, but this assurance itself made her question the legitimacy of his claim. She was not sure if she was going to want this job. And he was not even telling her what it was that she was going to have to keep her mouth shut about. This seemed very suspicious indeed and she did not like it at all. She did not like it because it meant that she would be walking into something with absolutely no knowledge about what it could possibly be.

“I don’t know…” said Rochelle. She was just being honest. “I mean, you’re not exactly telling me what I’m going to be keeping a secret. And I… I just need to know, you know? I mean, I’d be leaving my job for this.”