Sell the Hotel (5)

"…are you not going to ask him to leave first?" Rhodes sat on a chair before the manager's desk. He turned to find the old man polishing the small embossed pink rose on the wall.

"Ask who to leave?" Giles followed Rhodes's line of sight and found the bookcase. He frowned. "Are you seeing someone I can't? Don't scare me at this time, Rhodes."

Rhodes glanced at the manager. When he looked back at the cleaner, the old man faced him. This spirit looked and felt so human. If Rhodes were alone, he wouldn't even realize it was a ghost. However, the old man only smiled sweetly and held his cleaning cloth with both hands. He bowed a little and left the office. His image passed through the door just like that.

The doctor looked back at the manager, who was watching him intently. Rhodes cleared his throat. "I heard Faded Rose was haunted. I didn't realize I would see three spirits in my first hour. Anyway, let's talk about important things…"

"Aren't you a little too casual about this?" Giles frowned at the doctor. "You're an award-winning doctor, a man of science. Shouldn't you think ghosts are ridiculous?"

"I've seen…" Rhodes counted with his fingers. "I've seen at least five ghosts since I woke up. I also have a friend that can take me to an alternate dimension. We even tracked your car to the chop shop. I don't have memories, Giles. Might as well take everything in instead of thinking like a normal person who knows everything they know."

"God, why do I feel like I'm talking to the same middle schooler I met before?" Giles huffed and used a pen to point at Rhodes's face. "When you first came here, you're just as haughty! If your mother weren't an esteemed guest, I would have thrown you out myself."

Rhodes flinched at the sudden call back to a past he had forgotten. The ghosts in this hotel knew him by name. If his mother had come often, it only reinforced his theory. Rhodes lived in Menorosa until his mother died, Gardo said. Could he be spending a lot of time in this hotel when he was young? If this was an important place to him, why did he want to shut it down fifteen years ago?

Did he find out something he shouldn't have?

The doctor sighed and leaned against his seat. "The chop shop, Giles. Tell me what you know about that place. I want to make them pay back your loan."

"I doubt you can threaten Ring Garden that much." Giles waved his hand. "I'll find a way to pay back the loan. Don't jump into trouble. You don't even know who you are right now."

"…Sell the hotel to me, Giles." Rhodes caught the moment Giles froze and looked up at him. The doctor smiled. "I just sold five estates and three beach resorts given to me by Professor Wester. I can fund this hotel just fine."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because this hotel is tied to me and my mother." Rhodes grinned. "Deresita said so, didn't she? I want to recover my memories, and Faded Rose is a good place to start."

Giles looked at him with wide eyes. He leaned against his seat and turned to the bookcase. Beside it was the trophy case featuring Faded Rose's past awards and features. "…fighting Ring Garden head-on isn't a good step, Rhodes. Not only are the Wester and Coles families angry with you, but you're also picking a bone with another big family."

Rhodes tilted his head to the side. "Which big family are we talking about? The Iveren family? They seem to be on Ring Garden's side."

Giles shook his head. "No, the Iveren family owns other things. They just buy off some spots in the county and demolish whatever is on it. The land was also left to rot for years. Since their patriarch and heir are in Menorosa, the Gardner family catered to them instead. How rich can an old noble family be? They used to own Menorosa, even.

"That means you shouldn't clash with those people, Rhodes. Money isn't the only thing you'll need." Giles massaged his forehead. "Please, Rhodes, if you want to stay in the Flower House, don't drag my family into some kind of conflict."

"Then make me a list." Rhodes straightened his posture. "I'll allow you to forget about the robbery if you can pay the loan. Resurrect the hotel so you earn money."

The doctor took out a folded paper from his wallet. He placed it on the table, and Giles picked it up. It was a blank check that Rhodes already signed. The father looked up at him in disbelief.

Rhodes leaned against his seat again. "I already told Deresita I'm pledging funds for Faded Rose. You only have to put a number on it. I'm no longer an extraordinary surgeon or someone who could write extensive journals for various medical fields. If reviving this hotel is my new 'thing', I might as well use up every penny I have in stock."

Giles snorted and chuckled. He kept the check. "My old boss is right. You can only be more arrogant than Sir Coles. Rhodes, Rhodes, don't stop halfway through, okay? I will kill you."

"Heh, someone already dared, but I'm still alive."

…

Keyboards clicked softly in the well-lit library. Long and short groans accompanied the mechanical symphony, followed by chuckling. 

Rhodes brought Frieda back home after settling matters in the hotel. He didn't have anything to do in the building after meeting Giles. He'd rather leave the manager to rescind everyone's dismissal. The doctor was left to email Gardo about his ventures, hoping to find a good legal consultant for his future actions. As for the girl, she earned a short test from Rhodes.

Frieda sat at a long narrow table next to a wall. It was the designated computer nook in the library. Next to her was Rhodes. She leaned her chin on her palm and stared at her half-heart answers in an online questionnaire. She never liked tests.

"I thought amnesia wipes out everything. How can you remember how to do things?" Frieda pouted. Rhodes read a book last night, chose excerpts, and made a comprehension test out of it. It was typed down for her to take today. She couldn't even distinguish the wording between the homemade test and one prepared by the school.

"Everyone says that." Rhodes chuckled. "I'm beginning to think that my amnesia isn't caused by the accident. Should I look into debilitations caused by… drugs?"

"Did you think I would be excited by that word?" Frieda leaned against her seat and reviewed her answers. "One of my friends tried a pill once. She threw up on everyone she met at a party. Definitely not going to try it. I also don't want to play roulette with death. Do you know? Someone from school already got booted out of life."

Rhodes smiled for a second. He spied a look at her test. "I'm proud of you, Frieda. You chose not to respond to peer pressure. But I'd need you to look over the second excerpt again."