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“This place is amazing!” I continued to look out the window like an excited child seeing Disney World.
Not long into the drive, the green scenery slowly turned into expanses of white snow, and before I knew it, we were scaling up the mountains, powder stacked on both sides of the road.
“Oh, we’re almost there,” Ben said as he sat up. He then pointed at the road ahead of us, revealing an absolutely stunning architectural feat built on the side of a white mountain. There was a triangle shaped section at the top of the hotel that pointed toward the setting sun, and the front of the building was almost purely made of glass with warm light shining through the coldness.
Finally, we arrived at the hotel.Isparadiswritten in bold serifs, illuminated the entrance as the hotel staff took away our luggage for us. I couldn’t even focus on my run-down purple suitcase anymore. I was simply overtaken by the coldness in the air. Good thing I wore a couple of layers before exiting the plane.
“I can’t believe this is my life right now,” I said to no one in particular as we entered the lobby of the hotel. I got to see a closer look at the lights, and it turned out to be a gigantic chandelier.
Ben simply chuckled, amused at my first-time experience.
“Don’t wanna ruin your moment here, but there’s somewhere we need to go first,” he said, already walking from me but beckoning me over. “Come on, you’ll love it,” he assured.
I felt like I’d love anything this place had to offer, so I quickly followed along.
We were being led by the general manager of the place. I couldn’t actually speak to him since he was speaking in Norwegian, but it surprised me a lot to hear Ben speak the language fluently. He sounded so different while he talked in a different language—almost like he was an entirely new person altogether.
And I would never say it out loud, but he kind of… made me feel a little heated despite the cool weather.
The hotel general manager finally stopped in front of an enormous door. He opened it for us, but there was nothing but darkness inside. Ben still went in, however, and since I didn’t want to be left alone outside, I followed a close distance behind him.
“Surprise!” Bright dancing lights suddenly filled the room, exposing the fact that it was filled with alotof people. They all bellowed together, and I swore it almost gave me a heart attack. Immediately, the room dissolved into laughter and jovial conversation, half-Norwegian and half-English.
The area had a cabin-like cottage core aesthetic to it, with an emphasis on forest-like decorations. In the middle were multiple fancy set-ups of tables made from wicker. On the side was an open bar and a lot of food that I didn’t recognize. It was probably local cuisine, which I was very excited to try. And at the very other side of the room, where most of the dancing lights were, was a DJ that immediately brought the place to life. On the screen behind the DJ, it said,“Welcome back to Norway, Ben Oviatt!”
But what caught my attention even more was the people that surprised us… Well, surprisedBen. I didn’t even think that they noticed I was there. They just immediately got the party started. Well, I never thought there were rave parties at a ski resort in Norway, but I guessed that there were always new things to learn.
“It’s been a while!” Ben responded, immediately mingling with a bunch of his friends. I think I recognized one of them as the owner of the resort, as I had an interview with him tomorrow. I knew I should really go up there and introduce myself, but I didn’t want to interrupt their reunion. Ben, however, noticed me hanging back and then beckoned me to come over.
“Olivia, come, let me introduce you!” I had never heard him more excited than ever, and I didn’t want to ruin his mood, so I walked over to them. I could feel all their eyes on me, but all I could notice was the way these people looked.
They didn’t look off. Matter of fact, I was the one who looked off. Everyone was fancy, with their guaranteed to be luxury designer brands. I was pretty sure it wasn’t even those types of affordable luxury brands, but those brands that I would literally never hear about because I wouldn’t be able to afford that in my life. It was off-putting, but I knew I had to persevere if I wanted to last long in this job. I was going to meet a lot of different kinds of people in this career, and that included people who weredefinitelyin the one percent club.
And I knew Ben was rich… though it was only then that it was becoming clearer onhow richhe really was.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Olivia Taylor, and I’m—” Before I could finish my introduction, however…
“Oh, I know you!” One of the women cut me off. “You’re that girl reporting on the roller coaster with a serious face!” I thought it would feel good to be recognized, but it just felt really weird that they recognized me forhowI reported it, notwhatI reported.
“Um… Y-Yeah. Hello, it’s very nice to meet you,” I responded, trying not to let myself overthink. I shook her hand and shook a few of the other people’s hands until I finally reached the owner, Mr. Guzman.
“Hello, Mr. Guzman, I look forward to our interview,” I said with a smile. After all, it was important to establish rapport.
“It’s Henrik, please. And you…” Mr. Guzman started, eyeing me from head to toe. “…are absolutely hilarious!” he bellowed, and then the entire group broke out in laughter.
I didn’t quite know how to take in Henrik’s words. I didn’t know what he meant by them. Did he mean I was entertaining? Or did he mean I was a laughing stock? I devoted myself to staying positive and thinking that it was the former, but the way the group laughed told me something else. They didn't seem to be laughing with me, more like laughingatme.
My eyes immediately darted around for something to say that it wasn’t true, but when I saw Ben’s worried expression, that just confirmed it for me.
I was the butt of the joke.
Chapter 12
Olivia
Iwasneverinconsistentwith the fact that I hated being the new girl, but I was also never inconsistent about the part where I knew that there was nothing I could do about that sometimes. Sometimes, I was simply going to stick out like a sore thumb, and there was nothing for me to do but roll with the punches. I rolled with it when I was newly hired at OVT, and I rolled with it every single time it happened to me in the past. But tonight, it was just different, and it was too much for me to bear. I had to politely excuse myself out of that welcoming party forBen. So, I dashed out to the balcony. Thankfully, it wasn’t freezing outside even though we were near the fjords. It was technically still summer in Norway. It gave me a good place to breathe some clean fresh air and collect my thoughts. With a deep inhale, I leaned against the railing and admired the orange tint the sunset graced upon the white snow.
This place truly was beautiful.
