𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐕𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐋 (javier peña AU)

chapter five: the promotion

Another week passed and Natalia didn't see Mr. Peña once. But it didn't bother her. After their last conversation in that broom closet, she was glad not to have seen him since then.

But her happiness didn't last long. Because when Natalia and Mary were cleaning the halls of the 9th floor, they were suddenly interrupted.

Mary immediately greeted the man politely, "Mr. Peña"

Natalia didn't turn to him, because she didn't want to see him. But to be polite, she greeted him anyway while mopping the floor, "Good Morning, Mr. Peña"

"Come to my office, we need to talk" Mr. Peña said and then went to the elevator again.

Confused, Natalia looked up from the floor and saw Mary staring at her in surprise.

"Yes sir" she told him and leaned the mop against the wall.

She straightened her clothes and looked over at Mary, "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Yeah sure, good luck" Mary replied, with sympathy for Natalia.

She nervously followed him into his office and he closed the door behind them, "Sit down" he told her.

Without replying, she sat down and watched him as he also sat down in his chair across from her.

She wasn't sure what he would want to discuss with her now. But she assumed it'll be about their argument a week ago. And still, Natalia was sure that he would never apologize to her.

"You will be promoted" Mr. Peña said as he leaned back.

"What?" she asked back surprised. Did he really just say that?

"A promotion. If you want to"

"Oh, thank you. But why? And what would I have to do?"

"I want you to clean here"

"Here?"

"My office" he replied and Natalia felt her heart begin to beat faster.

"I thought there are employees who take care of your office?"

"There was a maid who cleaned here every day. But I fired her yesterday"

"Oh," she murmured, leaning back in the chair as well.

Natalia wasn't sure if that would be a good idea. She liked working with Mary. And here she would be alone. With him.
And she didn't want to be insulted by him any more.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I'm grateful for the offer, but I don't want to let my colleague Mary down"

"Don't worry about that, your position would be filled. I want you here. Just think about it, okay? Your salary would be doubled"

"Doubled?" she asked surprised.

"Yes" he replied and Natalia nodded. She would much rather clean the guests' rooms with Mary. But the offer would be hard for her to refuse. Because if she earns more, she can send more money to her family. And maybe her parents and siblings could move to the States as well.

"Okay. Then I would like to do that" she told him.

Mr. Peña nodded and leaned forward again. He stared at her name tag and then started to grin, "Nathalie?"

"Oh, uh yeah. I know"

"Give it to me, you don't need it anymore" he said and stretched out his hand.

She looked at him baffled for a moment, then took down the name tag and put it in his hand.

"Why Nathalie?"

"Oh that wasn't my decision. Mrs. Jackson wanted it that way. So that I have an English name for the guests"

He just nodded and threw the name tag in the trash. "I know your name, Natalia. If you work here then you don't need it anymore"

"Okay, thank you"

"Back to the topic. I'll be in Boston for the next five days on a business trip. When I come back, I want everything to be clean here, okay?"

"Yes sir" she replied and looked around. It was actually pretty clean anyway. So her new job shouldn't be that difficult or exhausting.

"I want you to take care of my office, bedroom and bathroom"

He has his own bedroom here? Natalia thought he was sleeping somewhere else. Because she knew that he owns some luxurious properties.

Apparently he recognized her surprised expression, "Here's a bedroom and a bathroom. Sometimes when I work late at night I sleep here" he explained, pointing to a door.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Five days later Natalia stood in his bedroom and cleaned the windows. The last few days have been very relaxing for Natalia. She didn't have much to do since no one was in the office. But right now she was a nervous wreck. Mr. Peña has been gone for five days and will be back today.

She cleaned the rooms every day. She wanted everything to be sparkling clean and for him to be happy with her work. And an hour later, when she was kneeling on the floor in the office to get a stain out of the carpet, the door opened in front of her.

Mr. Peña entered the room and Natalia immediately got up. His gaze lowered to her red knees for a moment and then he looked back into her face.

"Good morning Sir, I didn't expect you so early" she said nervously.

Without replying, he opened the window, sat down and lit a cigarette. Natalia knelt down on the carpet again and sighed softly. His office smelled like lemon thanks to the cleaning agent. And now, just a few seconds after he lit the cigarette, the smell of cigarettes hit her nostrils.

"It looks very nice. You did a good job" he said while looking down at her, kneeling on the carpet.

"Thank you Sir" she replied and looked up to him.

He studied her face for a moment. She hadn't put on makeup. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, but the rest of her face was very pale.

"Are you okay?" he asked her and Natalia wondered if he could tell how sick she felt the whole morning. And just thinking about it made her even more nauseous.

"Excuse me, Sir" she murmured, got up and quickly went to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and immediately sat down on the floor in front of the toilet.

A few minutes later she flushed the toilet and leaned against the cold tiled wall. She was disgusted with herself. She hated throwing up, but over the past few weeks it has been happening more and more frequently. Especially in the morning.

She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. She's been telling herself for weeks that she's just sick. But now she doubted it more and more.

It has been seven weeks since they spent the night at the hotel. And since then she hasn't had her period.

With tears in her eyes, she sat up and started to clean the toilet again. She had just cleaned it earlier, but she didn't want Mr. Peña to notice anything.

And while she was cleaning and wondering what to do now, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Natalia, I'll ask Mrs. Murphy to take you to the hospital, okay?"