The Royal Wilder Hotel Pt. 01

(This is going to be an extended series, based on the feedback I receive will dictate if I make more or not. Please stay tuned and give me feedback if you enjoy it!)

Nathan had been working at the Royal Wilder Hotel in Central London for almost 2 years. Being a member of Room Service, Nathan didn't have much reason to go to the Front Desk in reception, only if he was asked by the staff there for refreshments on the overnight duty. Nathan didn't mind that one bit, it broke up the monotony of cleaning silver and glassware at 3am. On particularly busy occassions, Nathan wouldn't ever be able to leave the "Cauldron", as he had grown to call it.

Nathan despised overnight service, he had grown accustomed to the unreal demands of guests at the stupidest of times, knowing that if they just read the overnight room service menu then they wouldn't be disappointed and annoyed when he had to refuse them, he would always be painted out as the 'useless, incompetent employee' he had been referred to before because he could not whip up a Carbonara al Dente for 6 Italians by himself 40 minutes before the breakfast service started.

The phone rang at 02:16am, Nathan still had under 6 hours to go. The dialing number didn't register from the 400 rooms listed at the Wilder, so it must have been the front desk. Nathan wondered what they wanted, some posh crisps? Or perhaps a coke?

"Room Service, Nathan speaking."

"Hello, could you come to front desk and help me with this receipt?"

Nathan had never heard this voice before. New meat? Supposedly. But what was this request that the female on the other end wanted help with? Room Service didn't pertain or lend itself to accounting discrepancies, but given how many times Front Desk had shit the bed on valid purchases it grew more common for Room Service to make unscheduled journeys to correct THEIR mistakes. Or at least, that's how Nathan saw it.

He responded that he would be down as soon as possible, but he didn't really mean this. Nathan was opinionated, as much as he was agnostic about his job. Why put in the extra effort to another department when they earn a better salary than he? It was just before 03:00am when Nathan finally snaked down to Reception. When he did, he found nobody there. Fortunately for reception, there were no impatient guests waiting either.

"Hello?" He announced, trying to rouse a reply.

"Room Service? Hello?" He called again. He perked around the staff door.

"Helloooooooooo?" He said again, starting to become impatient with not being responded to. He let out a long sigh, and turned on his heel to return to Room Service. It was then when he heard her voice again.

"Hey! Sorry! I was on toilet." She said, as she practically jogged from the ladies room on the other side of the foyer. She paced toward Nathan, who at the same time reared around to face her. He spied the name on her dress suit "Natalia". Russian? Ukrainian? Who knew. "Natalia" presented a bill from room #209 to him.

"I try to close on computer but-"

"It won't close on the automatic system? That's fine, do you know how to override the command?" Nathan interrupted. It wasn't uncommon for FD not to know how to do their jobs correctly, at least according to Nathan.

"Natalia" was surprised, but also pleased that Nathan had a typical English accent. She would not know it yet, but his accent was already awakening her senses deep inside. She was just about to respond when-

"NATALIA!"

Came a booming voice. The command made the pair flinch. A bigger, burlier man emerged from where Nathan had earlier inquired for a response. Nathan knew this man as Dimotyev, the Front Desk Manager though on occasion he preferred "Dimo".

The thing about Dimo, well two things; first he has been here for almost 20 years. He practically lives and breathes the Royal Wilder Code of Conduct. Second, he had this whole thing about respect unto him. If he liked you, he would let you refer to him as Dimo, but would demand his first name if he didn't.

"Where is keys for the safe?!" He demanded, poor Natalia was frozen. He strode up right into her face, the all-mighty, fearsome, towering Night FD Manager over poor little Natalia. By her complexion, she had obviously not had a great introduction with Dimo when she'd started.

"Th-the keys are b-behind the computer." She rattled, clearly still jumped by Dimo's approach. This was obviously not a great answer, Dimo was livid.

"HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TO SAY NO? NEVER EVER BEHIND COMPUTER!"

"Hey!" Nathan blurted out, shifting himself to Dimo. "That's enough Dimo! Stop shouting at her!"

Dimo looked at Nathan for longer than necessary, this was another "alpha tactic" he liked to work on the other men. This was his version of mind control, at least to him anyway.

"My NAME is DIMOTYEV." He ordered, before his work phone rang, facilitating him to leave the foyer. He left Nathan with Natalia, standing there shaking like a leaf in Autumn.

"Hey, I'm sorry about him. Are you okay?" Nathan asked, giving Natalia a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Poor Natalia's eyes glazed, she was very clearly trying not to cry.

"Oh no, let's not have that yeah? Here." Said Nathan, handing Natalia a tissue from his pocket. Nathan was raised by a single divorced mother. He learnt from a very early age the quality of a man is always defined by how he treats women. Nathan, at least to the observer was the picture of an English gentleman.

"He's been so rude to me all week." She admitted, drying her eyes with Nathan's tissue. It wasn't unlike Dimo, or Dimotyev as he now chose to bully the new workers. Again, he had learnt from 20 years of experience, so he of course felt justified in sweating the new employees as he once was. Three people had left solely because of his toxic nature, but management did nothing about it because of his experience.

"Don't mind him. He just hasn't been laid in so long!" Nathan joked, of course Natalia being not from the UK didn't understand what "laid" meant.

"Nathyan?" She asked, reading and translating Nathan's name badge on his suit in her eastern european accent.

"Nathan. Nay-thAN." He corrected, politely and calmly.

"Oh!" She chuckled, Nathan was glad he could ilicit a laugh out of her. "You are in Room Service? Please, a water for me?" Natalia asked.

Nathan walked with Natalia back to the Front Desk so she could compose herself in private, whilst Nathan went and fetched her a water. He debated and decided on giving her some lemon slices with some ice and a spare bottle if she got thirstier through the night. When he returned he set the tray down with expert precision as he usually did with service, before showing Natalia the way to override the computer command to close the bill she had shown him earlier. When the bill cleared, Natalia cheered!

"Yay! You are like my Superman!" She said, with a smile on her face. Nathan chuckled, trying hard not to blush.

"It's nothing, really!" He looked at her badge once again. "How do you pronounce your name again?"

"Natalia. Nat-aLEEya. It's Lithuanian." She responded, trailing off with a smile.

"Well NataLEEya." Joked Nathan, keeping her smiling. "It was lovely to meet you. Please give me a call if you need anything else." Natalia seemed ever so slightly disappointed, was Superman off to save another damsel in distress?

"Oh...kay, what time are you to finish?" She asked.

"I finish at 6am, then I'm going on vacation on Friday." It was Thursday morning, meaning Nathan was going to leave the following day. He didn't know why he was volunteering this information about his vacation.

"Oh...okay. So I will see you whenever you are working next, yes?"

"Yes! I come back on the Friday after this one. A week from now."

"Well, have a nice vacation!" Natalia willed, shooting another smile to Nathan.

Nathan nodded, as he turned to walk back towards Room Service. Along the way, many thoughts occupied his mind. Was he now on Dimo's, or Dimotyev's list? Will he get to see Natalia again? Did he give Natalia enough lemon slices?