So her grandfather decided that as long as they were alive, the Peace Hotel would never close, waiting for their annual visits.
However, as time passed, the number of veterans gathering there dwindled, and by this year, only one old veteran remained.
He came from Europe, was over ninety years old, and still had a urine bag. He traveled alone from Europe to the north American city for the gathering. The Peace Hotel had a special private room reserved for them, and Samantha prepared a large table of dishes for them as usual. But he waited in the room for a long time, and by the afternoon, no one else showed up.
He knew that the others would not come again.
Samantha and her sister, Thelma, still followed the old tradition, letting him stand at the door for a photo, which they then posted in that private room. The room had many photos arranged chronologically, with the first one showing many people, including her grandfather. As time went on, the number of people in the photos decreased.
After putting up the photo, Samantha sent the old veteran off. Just a few days after he left, she received a call from his family, saying that he had passed away.
The last veteran who celebrated the victory of World War II at the Peace Hotel would no longer come.
Naturally, the hotel lost its meaning of existence, and Samantha had initially given up her law exams to take over the hotel because it held this significance.
However, after pondering for a moment, she smiled and shook her head, saying, “I did want to be a lawyer before, but as I grew older, I realized my personality isn’t really suited for it. I’m too soft-hearted, while the law can sometimes be ruthless. After running the hotel for so many years, I’ve come to enjoy this life. Now, I just want to manage the hotel and my family well, and then have children with the one I love. I don’t want anything else.”
To have children with the one she loves… was she referring to him?
Leon’s lips curled into a slight smile, but at that moment, she was leaning in his embrace and didn’t see his smile.
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Samantha: “…”
Only then did Samantha realize what she had said, and her cheeks involuntarily flushed. But they were married now, so saying this wasn’t a big deal, right? With this thought, Samantha felt there was nothing to be shy about.
In the afternoon, Samantha returned to the home she shared with Leon. She had only moved there not long ago, and while her clothes were already organized, some books and materials she needed to look at were still not sorted. One of the three bedrooms was specifically made into a study. Leon didn’t usually like to read, so the shelves in the study were quite empty, only holding a few notebooks. Samantha placed the books she brought on the shelf but accidentally knocked one of the notebooks off. When she picked it up, she found a photo had fallen out. She looked closely and realized it was a photo of herself!
It seemed to have been cut from a group photo. After examining it carefully, she finally recognized it as a cutout from her high school graduation photo. She suddenly remembered Leon’s mother mentioning that Leon had put her photo in his diary. She hadn’t really believed it, thinking that with his personality, he wouldn’t do something so sentimental, but it turned out he really did.
Samantha slipped the photo back into the notebook. She didn’t have the habit of reading other people’s diaries and was about to put the notebook back when she inadvertently noticed her name on the first page. Unable to resist, she opened it and saw that the first page was written in bold black letters: “Leon likes Samantha,” with the word “likes” specially encircled with a red heart.
Samantha was extremely surprised. Could this really be written by Leon? And he even drew a red heart? She thought of that aloof boy who seemed indifferent to everything; could he really have such a delicate and sentimental side, writing down who he liked and drawing a heart in his diary?
Samantha couldn’t help but smile.
She closed the diary and, when she looked up, saw Leon standing at the door. Samantha was startled. “When did you come back?”
“Just got back.”
Leon walked over and took the diary from her hands, asking, “Were you reading my diary?”
“I wasn’t; I just accidentally opened the first page.”
Leon didn’t say anything and placed the notebook on the shelf. Samantha was afraid he would misunderstand, so she explained, “I really only looked at the first page, and it was purely by accident.”
“Mm.”
“…”
“Don’t be angry.”
“I’m not.”
