Chapter 343 Kept It Locked up for Twenty Years
The man found a seat by the window and sat down, then placed his backpack with the DSLR on the table. As he assessed the interior of the entire inn with interest, there was a complicated gleam in his eyes.
“Have some water to warm up first. I’ll be done in ten minutes.”
Mia gave the man a cup of tea. “By the way, may I know what your last name is?”
“Foster.”
“All right. Please wait a moment, Mr. Foster.”
With that, Mia went upstairs to tidy up the empty room.
After taking a sip of tea, the man took the DSLR out of the bag, then pointed it around the lobby of the inn before extending the lens and pointing it in the direction of the second floor.
He slowly moved his camera around until it was pointed at the end of the corridor on the second floor. A wooden sign embellished with dried flowers hung on the door, and after zooming in, he could clearly see the words on the wooden sign—’Boss’ room. Please knock before entering.’
The man’s lips suddenly curled up into a smile.
Inside, the room was dimly lit.
Fiona sat by the bay window reading a book. She was wrapped in a brown blanket, and her long hair draped over it, cascading like a dark waterfall. Despite being in her fifties, she still had the aura of a young maiden.
Oliver stood straight with a dinner tray, and he had already been standing for about ten minutes.
“Mom, if you blame me, then hit me and scold me. Don’t just stay mad. You still have to eat proper meals.”
“Just leave it,” Fiona responded faintly, her eyes not leaving the book.
Oliver was a little anxious. “Ever since you came back from Melrose City, you’ve been eating only a little bit every day. Even Mia can see that you’re not in a good mood. What do you want me to do?”
At that, Fiona frowned, then she closed the book and looked up before saying, “When you went behind my back and investigated the Duncans, why didn’t you think about what would happen to me?”
Dumbfounded, Oliver was rendered speechless.
Fiona stared at him for a long time. He bore such a resemblance to him, and he had a slight bookishness about him as well. Oliver was basically the same as him. She lamented why she enrolled him into the Public Security University, thinking that he wouldn’t bump into the Duncans because Melrose City was huge enough.
Now, Alexander just didn’t sense anything after seeing him. But if Scott saw Oliver, she wouldn’t be able to hide what happened years ago.
After a long while of studying him, Fiona sighed and reopened the book.
“Just leave it there. I’ll eat it later.”
Oliver studied his mother as well. Despite how gentle and kind she looked, she was firm. There was no point in trying to persuade her, so he placed the dinner tray on the side of the coffee table before saying, “Then, you must make sure you’ll eat. If the food gets cold, call me and I’ll heat it up for you.”
Fiona murmured assent, but no longer looked at him.
In fact, Oliver wasn’t deliberately trying to hide the fact that he was attempting to approach the Duncans in Melrose City. Several times when he called her, he even asked if she wanted to try meeting Alexander, but at that time, she probably thought he was just spewing childish nonsense.
With mixed feelings, Oliver turned and walked out of the room, not staying any longer.
Once he stepped out of the room, he heard the clicking sound of a camera shutter, so he subconsciously covered his face and exclaimed displeasedly, “What are you doing?”
He dropped his hand and stood behind the wooden railing on the second floor, then saw the man in the lobby on the first floor.
“Who are you?” Oliver was in a bad mood, so although he knew that most of the people in the inn were guests, he couldn’t suppress his anger at this moment and reprimanded the man. “Who said that you can take pictures as you like?”
The man downstairs was in his fifties, and he was quite tall, seemingly around six feet. Wearing a black sweater and holding a DSLR, he looked up at Oliver with some confusion.
“Am I not allowed to take pictures here? No one told me that.”
Having been reprimanded by Oliver, the man wasn’t angry, but said nicely, “If it’s not allowed, then I’ll delete the pictures.”
Mia happened to finish tidying up the room, so when she saw Oliver, she glanced at the room door behind him. “The madam still wouldn’t eat?”
Oliver frowned. “Yeah.”
Mia knew not to pursue it. Catching sight of the man in the lobby out of the corner of her eye, she introduced him.
“By the way, Mr. Oliver, that’s Mr. Foster, our new guest. Mr. Foster, this is our sub-boss.”
The man gave a slight nod, then cast a probing glance at Oliver. “Why is he called the sub-boss?”
“Oh, the inn is owned by our main boss, and Oliver is her son. He can’t be considered the main boss, so we call him the sub-boss.”
Mia had always had a loose tongue, and Hostel D’Amour didn’t have many restrictions about what could be said, so she was allowed to just talk.
“You entertain him. I’m going to my room. There’s something I need to deal with,” Oliver interjected, looking displeased, then turned around and went back to his room.
The man stared thoughtfully at his retreating back, his gaze lingering on him for a long time.
“Mr. Foster, you can check in now. Please give me your ID card.”
“Okay.”
As Mia entered the check-in information on the computer based on his ID card, she murmured the guest’s name—Felipe Foster.
“Mr. Foster, your room is the second room to the left on the second floor. If you need anything, just tell the front desk. There’ll be someone here twenty-four hours a day.”
“All right.”
When it was approaching midnight, the guests who had gone out to play with the lotus lanterns began to return amidst the gathering dusk. For a while, the inn was bustling with activity before the guests went back to their rooms.
On the right side of the end of the second-floor corridor was Fiona’s room. The old record player was still squeaking and playing a folk tune; the light voice of the female singer gave off a sense of melancholy.
Under the glow of the table lamp, Fiona took out the dusty photo album that had been kept in the safe for many years.
Even Oliver had never seen it before. In order to bid farewell to the past so that she could draw a clear line with the Duncans, she destroyed everything twenty years ago. This photo album was the only thing she couldn’t give up, so she kept it locked up for twenty years.
The first page was an old-fashioned black-and-white photo of a boy who was almost at the knees of the young man beside him, while a woman was carrying a swaddling cloth. The woman was smiling and appeared kind, but the young man had little to no expression.
That year, the Duncan Family’s only son, Jeffrey, had just turned a week old, while she had just been born and was abandoned at the entrance of the church. If the lady of the Duncan Family hadn’t found her, she might’ve frozen to death in the winter cold.
The Duncans’ had saved her life and nurtured her, and everyone treated her as if she were a proper young lady, so she grew up with the best life she could possibly have.
The Duncans even gave her a husband like Jeffrey, who loved her even till death.
Fiona’s eyes watered. She flipped to a random page of the photo album. A boy and girl who had already turned eighteen years old stood side by side, smiling with the same natural intimacy as before.
A caption was written at the bottom of the photo—‘Fify’s coming-of-age ceremony’.
The ink-blue fountain pen handwriting was clear and firm; it was his handwriting.
The name ‘Fify’ completely awakened a memory that had long been kept in the dust, and thousands of memories rushed back to her like a tidal wave.
All of a sudden, knocks sounded on her door.
