𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐕𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐋 (javier peña AU)

chapter two: him

The alarm clock rang at 5am in the morning. Getting up so early was clearly unusual for Natalia, but she was still looking forward to her first day. Luckily her roommate Mary was very kind and helpful.

After changing into her new uniform and getting ready, she met up with her new supervisor, Mrs. Jackson.

"You must be the new girl, right?" the woman asked her.

"Yes Ma'am" she replied.

"Okay, here's your name tag, don't lose it," the woman said, handing it to Natalia, which nodded.

"How old are you? And who hired you?" Mrs. Jackson then asked.

"I'm 25. And Mrs. Murphy did" she replied politely.

"You have to work on your accent, you can't talk to the guests like that"

Surprised Natalia looked at the woman. She wanted to talk back, but then decided to let it go, after all she doesn't want to be fired on the first day.

She just rolled her eyes and looked at her name tag. And it said 'Nathalie'

"Uh Ma'am, I'm sorry but my name is Natalia, not Nathalie"

"Ah yeah don't worry about it, that's just the english version of your name"

"I'm sorry do bother you Miss, but that's not my name"

"Excuse me?" asked Mrs. Jackson with a surprised face.

"Nothing, I'm sorry" she murmured and put on the name tag.

"Good, so you will work with Mary, you two will take care of the 9th floor. In the morning you clean the hallways, windows and the elevator. You start at 6 am., don't be late. Housekeeping starts at 10am. You've worked in hotels before, so you probably know how it works. When that's done, you take care of the dirty laundry. If there are special events, you help out too. Did you understand everything?"

"Yes Ma'am"

"Okay, now meet Mary on the 9th floor. She'll explain the rest. It's already five minutes past 6."

"Yes, thank you"

Arriving on the 9th floor, Natalia immediately went to Mary and helped her wipe the floor.

"I see you met the charming Mrs. Jackson?" Mary asked with a hint of sarcasm when she saw Natalia's name tag.

"Yeah, she's a bit special"

"You mean she's a racist bitch?" Mary whispered back.

"Yes" Natalia replied with a grin.

An hour later the two had wiped the entire 9th floor, cleaned the elevator and had dusted the decoration and walls.

"We can take a short break now. Come on, I'll show you our lounge. Well, it's more of a larger broom closet, but the staff can always go there. There we get our food, can spend our breaks and you can also smoke by the window, if you want" Mary explained.

Just before the two opened the door to the stairwell, Mary stopped abruptly, "Wait, I forgot we still have to clean the elevator"

Natalia looked confused at Mary, "Uh Mary, we've already cleaned the elevator?"

"Yes, the normal one, but not that one"

„Oh, okay?" she asked confused and followed her.

Across the hall the two stopped and Mary pointed to the elevator, "We really have to clean it as well as if our life depended on it"

„Sure. But why?"

"This is the elevator to the 10th floor. No one uses it except the hotel owner and sometimes some other employees"

„Okay yeah I understand. Mrs. Murphy is the hotel owner, right?"

„No" Mary replied with a chuckle. "But she's one of his closest friends. So don't mess with her"

„I won't, don't worry"

Mary handed her a scrap to clean, "Here, you do the walls, I'll do the floor"

After they finished cleaning the elevator, the two made their way to the lounge to take their break.

"Is the hotel owner really that strict?" Natalia asked curiously.

"Mostly yes, it always depends on his mood. But he hasn't been here for five weeks now. So everything has to be sparkling clean today. Because he's coming back today" she explained.

In the break room they sat down on the table with Peter.

"Hi darling" he said with a grin and kissed Mary on the cheek. Surprised Natalia looked at them, they're a couple?

„Hi Natalia, This is Tony and Ruben, they work with me in the lobby" Peter told her and pointed at the two men next to him.

„Hi, nice to meet you" Natalie replied politely.

And as the group ate their breakfast, Natalia noticed a picture in the newspaper in Tony's hand out of the corner of her eye.

Shocked, she looked closer and recognized the man. Either he looked a hell of a lot like him, or that really was the man she had fucked in a hotel room in Philadelphia a month ago. But why would he be in the newspaper?

„Uhm, sorry Tony, but what's that?" she asked him pointing to the front page.

Tony only rolled his eyes, "Well, Mr. Peña likes to be the center of attention"

„Mr. Peña?" Natalia asked confused, which is why the rest of the group stared at her in shock.

„He owns this hotel" Mary replied flabbergasted.

„What?" Natalia mumbled shocked.

That can't be true, can it? She fucked her new boss? Shit.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Oh I'm not, sorry" she murmured softly and continued eating her breakfast.

But while the others were engaged in conversation, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Will he fire her when he sees her? Or does she not have to meet him at all? Her supervisor is Mrs. Jackson anyway, maybe it's not even necessary for a simple maid to have to meet the hotel owner.

And as she continued to worry, she didn't realize there was a knock on the door. A few seconds later it opened and Mrs. Murphy walked in.

"Hello, I'm really sorry to interrupt your break, but is Natalia Volkov here?" she asked.

But since Natalia was still deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice. And so Mary nudged her softly.

"Oh sorry, yeah?" she asked her.

"Uhm, Mrs. Murphy is looking for you" Mary explained and Natalia felt her heart start beating faster.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss, how can I help?" she asked while she got up and walked over to the door. In her mind she just prayed that Mrs. Murphy hadn't found out about the one-night- stand and would now fire her.

"As you may have noticed, he came back today. Since I hired you while he was away, I have to introduce you to him"
she explained.

Shit, now she'll probably lose her job, which she only had for a day. Nevertheless, it was a damn important job to her, because without a job, her visa is invalid and she has to leave the States.

"Yes sure" she replied and tried to hide her nervousness.

Arrived on the 10th floor, Mrs. Murphy knocked on his office door, "Are you in here? It's me"

A few seconds later, his answer came, "Come in"

Mrs. Murphy opened the door and Natalia nervously followed her. Inside, she was immediately amazed by the luxurious furnishings. And when she saw the man, she felt herself blush. It really was him. The man that fucked her in that fancy hotel in Philadelphia.

"That's Natalia Volkov. You wanted to meet her. I hired her yesterday"

The man put the newspaper down on the table and when he saw who was standing in front of him, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Connie, please leave us alone for a moment"