Chapter 5 Reunion

In the mid-year holiday season, hotels in Bali were flooded with tourists, as usual. Grace's HR assistant position that she got after years of working there demanded that she always be busy. Even though she wasn't directly involved in handling the guests, she still had a lot more work to do than usual. Especially along with the hotel growth where new and qualified employees were needed.

Grace's dexterity since her first year of work immediately caught the HRD manager's attention. Before getting the position as his assistant, she was always asked to join Mario in meetings with the General Manager.

According to the schedule, a brief meeting to replace the GM position with the new person was to be held this morning at ten. The aim was to introduce managers, as well as their assistants. So Grace came to fetch Mario at his office.

"You look different, seemingly more beautiful today," said Mario when he saw his assistant.

Wearing a light blue blouse and a black knee-length skirt was nothing new for Grace. She didn't find anything different from her usual appearance. But Nita's words about her boss having feelings for her clarified the reason behind his compliment.

"Oh, thank you." Grace slightly smiled. She tried to show respect even though she wasn't really fond of being praised.

Mario opened his arms as a sign to start walking. Then Grace elegantly walked by his side toward the meeting room. The two ran into several other managers and their assistants on the way and greeted each other.

Although the manager positions were not dominated by a certain gender, their assistants were all women. Each one of them always showed the best performance. They were affixed by branded items from head to toe as much as possible. Grace was the only one who cared the least about it. That's why they talked behind her back.

'Grace, can't you upgrade your look? You look completely out of Mario's league when walking side by side with him.'

'How could Mario choose a girl like her as an assistant?'

'Could it be she has put a spell on Mario?'

Nevertheless, such gossip had become like Grace's daily meal. Her ears had even become numb. After all, she knew exactly that their level of intelligence was way below her.

"Why isn't the AC here cold enough?" A short-haired woman who was a finance manager commented as she entered the room. "Has anyone reported it to the maintenance division? Where's the Chief Engineer?"

No one seemed to care, even their faces showed reluctance to do anything about this. It was something that made Grace sick of them.

Fortunately, Mario was different. He cared quite a bit about such little things, especially since it had to do with employees. Although eventually, there would be new tasks that were handed over to her as an assistant.

"Grace, can you please help me with this?" asked Mario.

Without complaining, Grace got up from her chair and walked out of the room. She stood not far from the door to make a phone call to Chief Engineering, a middle-aged man who behaved most normally on the managerial board. She informed him what happened and finally got a solution to this problem.

When Grace returned to the room, she told Mario the result of the brief call. As a mere assistant, she had no right to speak to the managers. More precisely because she was looked down upon.

"Sirs and Madams, let's move to the next room," said Mario, forwarding Grace's words.

They let out grunts of annoyance. But inevitably they had to move because of the discomfort there.

Mario exchanged glances with Grace with a small smile and a shrug. "We both know how they are," he said.

Grace nodded slowly. She then walked after Mario to the next room.

Everyone took a seat in a place that was convenient for them, which was not close to where the General Manager would sit. They preferred to focus on their own phones. That's why Grace and Mario were sitting right at the very end of the table, near the GM's chair.

"Good morning." The slightly chubby man in a black suit walked briskly into the room, followed by another man who looked younger.

Each of them stood in their place, putting aside their phones. The managers and their assistants were now trying to appear considerate and respectful, as a way to look good in front of the GM.

Grace couldn't look directly at the two men because her back was facing the entrance. But when all the eyes of the ladies turned to the other end of the table astonishingly, she immediately turned her gaze to the source of the astonishment.

Grace almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man looked so familiar that her mouth went out of control. "Evan?" she said softly but her voice was audible enough to be heard by several people nearby, including Mario who looked at her in surprise.

Flat. That was the right word to describe the look on Evan's face. He showed no surprise on his face as Grace did. Only a brief glance was shown to her before he finally turned his gaze to the direction in front of him.

'Huh? Why is he so aloof? Is he really Evan? Or perhaps he is just Evan's look-alike?' Grace was thinking so hard, but at the same time still hoped that he was her best friend.

"Please, have a seat." Roger, the old GM said. He sat next to his successor. "As you all already knew, I have to take over this hotel after the previous owner, my father, passed away two months ago. Therefore, the position of GM here will be replaced by my friend. Please welcome, this is Mr. Evan Williams."

'Like I said! It's really Evan.' Grace was glad to find what she guessed was true.

Evan got up from his seat to bow his head as a way to show respect to everyone. Without saying much, he sat back down.