The Bond Between Us (Anastasia and Herman)

Anastasia stood at the doorway, gazing into the room. It had been quite some time since the landslide incident in Trinity Village, and folks had mostly moved on from talking about it. Still, hearing Herman's name from someone else stirred a fresh wave of sadness in her. With a raspy voice, she asked, "Ma'am, you mentioned seeing the gentleman who used to stay here with a woman. What do you mean by that? What woman?"

Anastasia wasn't suspicious; she just wanted to know more about Herman after hearing his name. She hadn't even considered that the housekeeper might have seen Herman leave after the incident. Instead, she assumed it was before, picturing Herman perhaps being spotted with a woman at the hotel before everything happened.

The housekeeper felt a bit uneasy seeing Anastasia. Working in a hotel for so long, she'd developed an intuition for these situations. Men and women staying in a hotel didn't always mean they were married.

Just earlier, while chatting with a colleague, the housekeeper learned that since Herman left, it was Anastasia who had been staying in the room. It seemed like they were a couple. Worried about stirring up unnecessary trouble, the housekeeper stammered, "Oh, I was talking about a guest before you two. A fellow from out of town, he left with quite a beauty. Probably had a little side fling. We were just gossiping, you know. Miss, did you forget something?"

Nowadays, everyone called women "Miss" and men "Sir" or "Buddy."

"Yeah, I left my headphones," Anastasia replied absentmindedly. Herman was on a business trip with male colleagues, and she knew he wasn't the kind to have a mistress.

Spotting the headphones on the table, the housekeeper handed them to Anastasia. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Anastasia took the headphones and gave the room one last wistful glance before leaving.

Once Anastasia was gone, the housekeeper let out a sigh of relief. "Wow, that was close. Almost caused a scene."

Her colleague asked, "What happened? You look spooked."

Keeping her voice down, the housekeeper gossiped, "I saw the guy who stayed in that room leave with another woman from downstairs. They were in the same hotel but on different floors. Super suspicious, right? Probably a secret fling, and that woman just now must be the wife. Imagine the drama if she found out!"

"No way," the colleague replied. "His wife is stunning. Why would he cheat?"

"Men," the housekeeper scoffed. "Get a little money, and they start acting up. That guy was handsome too, so no surprise there."

The colleague said, "I heard she came all the way from Riverdale looking for him. Didn't find him, and now she's been drinking in the room. to

ll the booze? Probably came

catch him in the act, but missed him and is drowning her sorrows."

"Life's tough for wives these days," the housekeeper remarked. "Husbands go on business trips, and who knows who they're with. They could have families all over."

"Enough of that," the colleague said. "Let's change the sheets. Lots of checkouts today, and I want to grab lunch early."

Neither of them even thought to link

Herman to the landslide incident. Working in a hotel, they'd seen so

many affairs that their minds just et

went straight to infidelity whenever anything seemed off. The word "hotel" itself had a reputation that often led people to assume the worst.