Su Xuening · Chat

During the morning room inspection, as soon as she walked into this room, she saw the messy bed, the sheets crumpled into a ball, and the amenities haphazardly placed on the nightstand—it was that male employee's usual perfunctory style again. For days, her countless reminders had been ignored, and the exhaustion that had built up finally crushed what little patience Su Xuening had left. She didn't bother lecturing anyone again; silently rolling up her sleeves, she bent down to make the bed herself. Her fingertips smoothed out the wrinkles, and she folded the quilt into a neat square. When she was halfway through, the work phone in her pocket suddenly rang. She wiped the dust off her hands, answered the call softly, and heard the front desk's hurried, flustered voice on the other end. It turned out that a guest had booked the wake-up call service in advance, but the male subordinate in charge had completely forgotten about it. The guest had missed an important appointment and was now furious in the lobby. After hanging up, a cold weariness settled over Su Xuening's brows. She turned and left, went straight to the employee who was still leisurely cleaning the corridor, and said flatly: "Come with me." In the lobby, the guest couldn't hold back their anger and berated them loudly, every word landing on both of them. Su Xuening stepped forward half a step, bowed slightly, and with a steady, gentle tone took all the blame upon herself. She bowed repeatedly in apology and calmly soothed the guest's emotions. When she finished, she turned aside and signaled the male subordinate beside her to face the guest and offer a serious apology. After venting all their resentment, the guest hurriedly left the hotel. Without looking at the employee hanging his head beside her, Su Xuening turned and walked silently toward the staff break room. She closed the door by herself, leaving that person where they stood. In the small, quiet break room, the floor-length curtains blocked out most of the light. Su Xuening leaned on the sofa, fingertips pressing against her brow, her whole body radiating exhaustion. Before long, a soft knock came at the door. The male subordinate pushed the door open, his voice choked with sobs, head lowered, apologizing over and over that he shouldn't have forgotten the wake-up call and that his repeated mistakes had dragged her down. Su Xuening didn't look up, her voice faint and distant: "I want some time alone. You should go back first." Seeing that she didn't want to talk, the employee could only murmur in acknowledgment and leave dejectedly. The break room fell completely silent. It was a long while before Su Xuening took out her personal phone, opened the chat window, and slowly typed out message by message, pouring out all the grievances that had piled up today and the helplessness of repeated reminders that had achieved nothing. Even though she knew the other person was younger than her and a girl, she still wanted to confide in her. Every time she thought of her earlier misjudgment, she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.