18 #2
“If we have a no-show, I can give you that room. We won't know until later tonight.”
“How late?”
“A few hours. We have a no-show policy. If they don’t show up until 6 pm tonight, there reservation gets cancelled and we’re free to book that room.”
That was almost a seven hour wait. “Okay.”
“Otherwise, I can help you find another property nearby.”
“And the third?”
She hesitated.
“You could speak to your squad, and see if anyone is willing to share space until tomorrow as we have one room opening tomorrow.”
I stared at her. “Okay, can you reserve that now? If there are no rooms available by 6pm tonight, I’ll still need a place for tomorrow.”
She gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid I can’t hold two possible rooms for you.”
Making a conscious attempt to not sound brittle, I spoke.
“While I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make an exception for this case.
This is caused by a mistake your organisation made, and while there might not be someone to be blamed directly, I’m sure reserving two spaces for an inconvenience caused by you will ensure I don’t take this further, report it to my team—who will ask your hotel to pay the fine, as well as potentially severe contracts for the future.
Her eyes widened, before she nodded.
Holding back my sigh, I gave her a quiet thanks, before walking back to where I’d sat earlier.
I pulled out my phone and opened a rental app.
Maybe I could find somewhere for one night.
Something small. Something close. Something with a bed and preferably walls thick enough that nobody would hear me complain about my skull trying to escape.
I refreshed the listings.
Nothing available for on the day booking.
I refreshed again.
The headache throbbed behind my eyes.
I could feel the nausea beginning to creep back.
I looked towards the entrance.
Rihaan still wasn’t there.
Of course he wasn’t.
I looked around the lobby again.
I could wait.
A few hours.
Maybe a room would open.
Maybe the painkillers would help kill this headache before my head exploded, and make the stay down here somewhat easy to digest.
Maybe, if I was lucky, the day would eventually stop finding new ways to make itself worse, and they’d have a no show after all.
I leaned my head against the back of the chair and closed my eyes.
Five minutes.
I just needed five minutes without moving.
My phone buzzed.
I opened one eye.
A message from Raina.
Raina Patel:
You okay?
Me:
Alive.
Her response came almost immediately.
Raina Patel:
That's not the same thing.
I smiled weakly, before typing out my response.
Me:
I'll survive. How are you holding up?
Then I looked towards the hotel entrance again.
When my impatience gave in, I swiped my phone again and this time, I started my search for nearby hotels.
I was on my fourth search, when a voice made me startle.
“Why are you looking at different hotels?” Rihaan’s voice had caught me so off guard, that my slipped from my hand, landing on the tilted floor with a loud thump, making me wince. When I met Rihaan’s gaze, the amusement faded away.
“That bad, huh?” He asked, although he wore a knowing look as he picked up my phone and handed it back to me.
“You already know.” My tone had been accusatory.
He gave me a sly grin. “Noah may have spilled. Told me you were the first one to out drink me.”
“How are you standing in one piece then?”
“Well, I wasn’t the one knocking back tequila shots.” His grin only widened.
I squinted. “Why are you being this nice? Did you dream about us calling another truce or something?”
He pressed his lips then. “I may know your secret.”
Something about his tone made me pause. “What do you mean?”
“Well, this morning, Raina was having a final read through on a statement at the airport…and I may have caught a sneak at what she was having a look at.”
My face dropped. “You read the whole thing?”
He shrugged. “When I read the words ‘Clarification Regarding Previous Research and Media Coverage: an update on Rihaan Patel’s journey’ it was kind of hard not to.”
I shook my head, even though I couldn’t exactly hold any argument over his head. Knowing me, I probably had done the same, and it was as though he knew that, because his eyes glowed softer than they had the whole time I’d been near him.
“Does that mean we can finally have a truce?”
“I can do one better,” He replied. “If you forgive me for lying and making you break your rules, we can have a fresh start altogether.”
I gave him the best smile I could offer at the time. “Deal.”
He nodded, offering me a small bag. “Here”
Opening it, I tried my hardest to mask the surprise as a worm of butterflies burst in my belly. He’d brought me a bag of crisps—cheese and jalapeno—along with a smoothie.
Calm down, heart.
“Good job remembering,” I spoke, when my mouth was finally able to put together the words.
When my eyes met his, a knowing grin sat on his lips. “Took a shot.”
I shook my head. “Nice shooting.”
He winked, before turning on his heels, and making his way to the reception.