The Right One

Seven

For a split second, Hope felt like she'd been transported all the way back to secondary school; those times she'd done something wrong and ended up being chastised in the staff room in front of a number of teachers. The only difference now was that there was only one chastiser yet she felt the guilt twice as hard.

Hope watched keenly as Raymond paced back and forth in front of her, not daring to utter a word -- not that she even had any idea what to say. She could almost feel the steam coming off him and that in turn made her palms clammy. She rubbed them against her skirt nervously as she waited for him to speak. She somehow sensed whatever she said at the moment would most likely be to her own peril.

He turned to her briefly and she gulped, bracing herself for the outlash she was sure to receive but instead, he shook his head and resumed pacing.

It seemed like forever until he finally stopped pacing and turned to face her full on, considerably calmer. His head tilted slightly to the side, his facial expression now giving nothing away. His voice was level when he finally spoke, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

She knew she did, but he was scrutinizing her like he had all the time in the world to analyze and butcher whatever excuses she came up with and that made all the words die in her throat. It didn't help that they were alone in the manager's office. Mr Edward had sensed something was off and suggested they 'talk' in private. Apparently, whatever meeting he had with Raymond wasn't important enough.

"Are you going to tell mum?" She blurted out what was at the forefront of her mind. She held her breath as he took his time replying, hoping he wouldn't.

"Depends," he replied simply.

"I have no idea where to start from," Hope muttered, hoping a miracle would happen so she could erase the last hour off Raymond's memory and never had been caught. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she'd been caught on the very first day. What kind of luck was that?!

"You could start with telling me where your tutorial classes are holding in this hotel," he supplied casually, shrugging like it was no big deal.

Hope winced. She doubted a slap on the face could have hit harder. She saw right through his calm exterior; One wrong word and she was toast. "I-I can explain."

He nodded enthusiastically as if glad they finally agreed on something. "Exactly what I'm waiting for. Your explanation."

"So the thing is . . . " she started, wringing her fingers together nervously. "There's no tutorial."

"No shit," he deadpanned, unamused.

Hope sighed, knowing there was no easy way out of this. She tried again, "I only lied about the tutorial classes because I knew mum wouldn't have allowed me to work otherwise."

He didn't say anything, waiting for her to continue. He was too relaxed and that admittedly put her more on edge.

She'd had about ten minutes to come up with a believable story because there was no actual way she was going to tell him the truth. Still, she couldn't come up with anything believable so she tried to stall, "I suppose you want to know why I'm working in the first place?"

His eyebrow raised, communicating clearly that he wasn't impressed with her attempt at stalling.

Hope sighed, deciding to settle for the excuse she'd given Tayo. She could only hope he'd buy it like her friend had. "My mum and Sophie have really done a lot for me, especially these past few years and I just want to get them something special for Christmas." Hope was amazed at how easily the lie flowed out of her mouth despite how nervous she was. She was becoming a concurrent liar and she wasn't exactly proud of herself for it.