42 Teacher? You?

Alice smiled. Even when Lily asked her, she acted mysteriously, which made Lily pound her head: "What's wrong with you? Are you treating me as a rival?"

She leaned close: "Why not try for the housekeeping department? I think you have a good chance."

Alice replied: "I'm not qualified." She seemed disinterested, which startled Lily, who had to remind her loudly: "Wake up! This is about your future!"

"Teacher? You?" Lily covered her mouth in surprise and asked, "But the competition is tomorrow, isn't it?"

"That's why, if it wasn't this competition, I really couldn't leave." Alice smiled to hide her attachment and packed up her office. After a long silence, Lily shouted: "You're resigning?"

"If so, would I have a better chance at getting your position?" She muttered to herself.

"Yeah, that's a good idea! Just have a try!" Alice encouraged her. In the same time, she was both angry and amused, and threw a discarded document at her.

Lily sat on a chair, her calmness making Alice feel sad, "Actually, it's better that you're leaving. I also feel this industry makes people too tired, and you're not very fond of this job."

The casual words suddenly made Alice's eyes fill with tears. She had been looking down, hiding it well. Suddenly, she remembered a saying:

"Love grows with time."

The day she called Mr. Thompson, as soon as she mentioned resigning, Mr. Thompson refused without thinking. Then she said she was going to be a Harvard University teacher, and Mr. Thompson paused: "Teaching is a good career for women. Well, it's good that the competition is coming up. You don't need to do any special handover for the work. I'll call the HR department and say you told me about it three months ago." According to tradition, resignation needs to be announced three months in advance to the HR department. Otherwise, a penalty will be deducted.

"Alice, take good care of yourself when you're there."

It was such normal words, but Alice paused for a long time and replied in a low voice, "Thank you, Mr. Thompson."

She walked into the garden and headed towards Building Two. Passing by the lake view room, she paused slightly and opened it with her room card. She went straight to the balcony, where the wooden floor was covered with a layer of winter mist. Because the window was open for ventilation, it was very cold.

Alice started to regret: "She has never been in this room for a single night." If she wanted to stay again in the future, she would have to pay herself. Even with a discount, it would be over three thousand dollars, which is not affordable for an ordinary teacher.

Walking to the third floor, she saw Nancy dazedly leaning against the staircase, and the 316 suite had already been vacated by John, with cleaners tidying it up. Approaching from behind, Alice played a trick, wanting to surprise the girl, "Daydreaming on the job?"

Nancy jumped in surprise and quickly regained her composure, blushing: "Miss Smith."

"Being spacey is one thing, but why are you intentionally staring at the surveillance camera in the hall like you want to get written up? " She pointed to the distant surveillance camera and led her to the side, asking, "What's wrong? You look so pale."

But Alice actually knew what was bothering her. The eyes of young girls always had difficulty in hiding their thoughts, they would twinkle when they saw someone they were interested in and followed their back when they walked away. Their eyes were still too clear and bright, allowing people to see the deepest part at a glance. She remembered when she was at her age, just three years ago, often gazing at Mike's eyes on the podium. Being able to look at each other like this is always better than leaving no trace at all.

She looked at Nancy's face, as tender and youthful as if it could drip water.

Can't help but feel sorry for her, so she took her hand and led her downstairs: "What time do you get off work?"

Both of them were not on the afternoon shift, so they walked out together when time to clock out." Dressed in casual clothes, she was only three years older than Nancy, looking like two lovely college girls. Nancy had something on her mind and remained silent. Alice deliberately told jokes, but Nancy only managed a smile. Alice insisted on pulling her to sit on the wooden bench by the lake, "Nancy, actually, I envy you." She stopped Nancy from speaking, smiling as she continued, "One must always have the courage to express their feelings boldly. Maybe you won't have the courage later. Whether it's accepted or not doesn't matter anymore. Even if it's not accepted, you'll slowly forget."

Nancy's face was pale and almost burst into tears and remained silent for a while and said, "Miss Smith, you already knew."

Alice placed her hand on her shoulder, and the lake shimmered with a faint golden light under the setting sun: "Who doesn't go through this?"

It's always like this. Only in disappointment after disappointment do we grow up.

Most of the hotel's colleagues didn't know about Alice's intention to resign, so they greeted her with smiles when they met, just like any other day. There was a basic business exam tomorrow, as busy as usual. Alice took off her work uniform, carefully folding it and taking it to the laundry room.

Alice walked to the back door, and Lily unusually got up earlier. She looked around with a strange expression— "What's wrong? You want me to stay here so much?" Alice joked with her.

"No, that's not it." Lily said frankly, "I show you my boyfriend."

It really did take Alice by surprise.

Across the street, a new and shiny Cadillac, and the man inside was also looking this way. Alice felt familiar, and couldn't help but exclaim, "James?"

"Hello." Seemingly shy, James extended his hand.

Having met twice, Alice remembered him clearly, because he somewhat looked like Mike.

Alice intentionally paused for a second to sneak a look at Lily. Sure enough, Lily firmly pushed her boyfriend's hand away, "Hey, don't be so normal."

"Is that how you behave?" Alice sighed with a smile, "Hello."

"I know, we've met before." He really didn't understand why every time he, Mr. Williams, Jack, and several other colleagues got together, they always mentioned Alice.