The Weird Couple

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When the couple walked in, I noticed something was seriously off about them. But I shrugged it off, seeing as they looked just like any other young couple that graced the hotel.

I have worked as the Receptionist in Hotel Royalé for over a year. The hotel belonged to one of the most influential families in town and had been in existence for over a hundred years. Passed down from generation to generation. The hotel, just like the family that ran it, were now an integral part of the town. Like the trees and the land.

Over the years, Hotel Royalé has grown, been renovated and expanded, changing with time and seasons. But it's theme and heart never changed. It's what kept customers happy.

We catered mostly to tourists and honeymooners. And due to it's homey feel, it was frequented by the matured. It was difficult to see a young person come to lodge here. Unless the person was only passing by and the other hotels in the area were fully booked.

That was the only reason this couple struck me as odd. They were young and full of life. The man looked to be in his early thirties while the lady looked to be in her late twenties. They were dressed in trending outfits; they both wore matching Gucci jeans and equally matching Louis Vutton jackets. Their identical Nike sneakers seemed to just blend in with their dressing.

The man dyed his hair silver and had a silver stud on his left earlobe while his partner had silver hoops on her ears and she let her blonde hair fall on both sides of her face.

This couple looked so out of place I just could not take my eyes off them. They looked like they belonged in the other fancy hotels where celebrities and billionaires liked to lodge. There they served Champagne and played music nonstop. The noise and disturbance could be so depressing. That was why our customers preferred Hotel Royalé, because we did none of that. It was the place to come to not just for peace and quiet, but for privacy as well.

So, I got up as they approached my counter, giving them my professional smile. No matter what I thought of them, I had to treat them as I would treat our other customers.

"Good evening and welcome to Hotel Royalé. How can I help you?" My voice was warm and welcoming, it had not been easy but I had perfected it during my on year on the job. Sometimes, it earned me more than half my salary on tips.

"Hi," the man replied, smiling back at me. He put his portmanteau on the floor beside him, "I'm Edward and this is my wife Lorraine. We booked a reservation some while back."

I studied the couple, unable to believe my ears. If they had booked reservations that meant they had been planning on coming here, this was not because other hotels were full. As I watched, I saw Lorraine hook her hand through his elbow and place her head on his shoulder, her big almond-shaped eyes staring at me.

They still looked very much out of place. I couldn't help but wonder why they had not booked in a flashy hotel instead. After all, this was one of the weakest seasons in the hotel business, even the most popular hotel would have a few rooms available.

But I did not voice my thoughts, I simply activated my computer, my smile still in place, "under what name, sir?" I asked.

"Edward and Lorraine." He replied.

"No last name?"

"No, just Edward and Lorraine." Then he listened to something his wife whispered into his ear and he burst into laughter.

Without saying anything else, I typed in the names. There was only one reservation under it. I opened and read through it.

Then I froze.
Is there a problem?" Lorraine asked, she must have noticed my shocked expression.

I turned to look at them, it couldn't be possible. I cleared my throat, I just had to ask, "uhm... When exactly did you book this reservation?"

The man and his wife exchanges a glance and then chuckled at me, "I told you, a while back."

I swallowed.

There had to be a mistake. Because the reservation, from the information before me, had been booked a long time ago. It had been booked forty years ago. In my books, that sounded a whole lot longer than a while back. And as if that was not enough, the reservation was still open. It had never been canceled or closed.

"Is there a problem?" Lorraine asked again, when I kept quiet she asked me, "is the reservation still up?"

"Uhm... Yes, it is. It's just that it is...forty years old and should have been closed by now."

"But it is not closed, so can we have the key?"

I looked at them, "you did this yourself? The booking?"

Edward nodded, "of course, my wife and I."

"And you were married when you booked it?"

"No. We were about to be married. We reserved it for our honeymoon, but things came up. We got busy. We have no idea when forty years went by."

These people had to be seriously kidding me. I could bet my year's pay that neither of them was up to forty years old. But then, if on the off chance I was wrong, there was no way they would have been married forty years ago. The man would have been a baby and the woman was probably not born yet.

"Can we have the key?" Lorraine said.

I had no choice, I had been unprofessional for too long. Since the reservation was still open, I had to let them have the room. I went to the hook on the wall behind me and pulled off the key to the Penthouse suite. I concluded transactions with them, they paid via mobile transfer and I handed the key over.

"Now," Edward muttered as he picked his portmanteau once more, "that was not so hard, was it?'

I could not say anything, I watched them walk into the elevator. And just before the doors slid shut, Lorraine blew me a kiss.

Shaking my head at the mystery of it all, I returned to the computer to register the new customers. But the reservation I had seen earlier had vanished.

"What?" I gasped as I typed in their name. My search came up empty. There was no customer or booking, past or present, under that title.

It was as if the last couple of minutes had never happened.

Was I losing my mind at last?

Because now I am beginning to doubt if I really met Edward and Lorraine.

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_{The End.
Image by Quaid Lagan
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