Then Unintended Bride

Chapter2

Reina’s POV

I stood outside the hotel, the receptionist’s shout still ringing in my ears. My cheeks burned, and the sting of humiliation clung to my skin like sweat.

I wiped my face with my sleeve, trying to make myself look even a little presentable, but it barely helped. My shirt was still damp, my hair still wild, and my nerves were shot.

Maybe I should walk away.

Maybe I should accept that today just wasn’t my day.

But walking away meant going back to three jobs, late rent notices, and the constant fear of everything collapsing. I couldn’t afford to give up. So I straightened my back, took a breath, and stepped toward the doors again.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay outside?” the receptionist snapped the moment I appeared. Her eyes flicked over me like I was something stuck on the bottom of her shoe.

“Are you deaf or...”

A sharp voice cut through the lobby.

“Reina Cortez?”

Everything froze. Heads turned. The receptionist’s mouth hung open for a second as a tall woman in a navy suit stepped out from a hallway, holding a clipboard.

“Reina Cortez?” the interviewer repeated, louder this time.

My heart lurched. That was me.

“Yes!” I called out, stepping forward. My voice cracked but I pushed through it. “Yes. I’m...I’m here.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened. “Her?” she sputtered under her breath, as if she couldn’t believe I belonged anywhere near a job, let alone an interview.

I didn’t look at her again.

For once, I didn’t shrink. I didn’t apologize. I didn’t try to disappear.

I walked straight past her, chin up, even though my insides were shaking like crazy.

The woman with the clipboard gave me a polite nod. “Good. You’re right on time. Follow me.”

I could feel the receptionist glaring holes into the back of my head as I walked away. A few guests whispered. Someone even snickered. But I kept moving, one step after another, refusing to let their looks swallow me.

Inside the hallway, away from prying eyes, the interviewer glanced at me.

“Long morning?” she asked.

I let out a weak, humorless laugh. “You have no idea.”

She nodded like she actually understood. “Well, don’t worry. We judge skills here, not appearances.”

My throat tightened.

Skills. Not appearances.

It felt like someone had just handed me a tiny piece of hope.

She led me into a small office with clean glass windows, a perfect desk, and a single chair waiting for me. My legs trembled as I sat down. I tried smoothing my hair again, but at this point it was like trying to fix a flood with a cup.

“Let’s begin,” she said, taking her seat across from me. “First, tell me a little about yourself.”

My stomach twisted. I had practiced this speech in front of my bathroom mirror for weeks, but nothing about today had gone how I imagined. Still, I swallowed the knot in my throat and forced myself to breathe.

This was my chance.

Maybe my only one.

“I…” I started softly, then steadied my voice. “I’m hardworking. And I don’t give up easily. Even when… even when everything feels like it’s falling apart.”

Her eyebrows lifted slightly.

I continued, slowly gaining my footing, “I’ve handled customer service, scheduling, cleaning—anything you can think of. I learn fast. I show up. And I really need this opportunity.”

There it was… the truth

The interviewer didn’t smile, but something in her expression softened.

“Alright, Reina,” she said. “Let’s see what you can do.”

I straightened my shoulders.

For the first time that day, I felt like maybe...just maybe...the humiliation I walked through might lead to somewhere better.

The interview started off fine. Not amazing but not a disaster either. I answered her questions the best I could, trying not to overthink every word coming out of my mouth. My nerves calmed a little. My heartbeat settled. I almost felt human again.

Until the door opened.

I didn’t even mean to look, but something pulled my attention like a magnet.

He walked in… the coffee-shop guy.

The man who saved me from total embarrassment earlier. My chest tightened instantly.

I stared like an i***t.

You would believe I was someone who hadn’t seen a man in a decade.

My interviewer kept talking, but her voice became fuzzy, drowned out by the pounding in my ears. I couldn’t stop watching him. He wasn’t alone this time. Someone walked in beside him, a taller man in a charcoal suit, wearing the kind of expression that made the room feel colder.

But I didn’t notice him.

The coffee-shop guy glanced my way with that same unreadable calm. My breath hitched, my tongue knotted, and my brain short-circuited.

“Reina?” my interviewer prompted sharply.

“I...sorry...I just…” I forced my eyes away, cheeks burning.

Focus. Focus. Focus.

But my gaze flicked back again and that was the moment everything went to hell.

The coffee-shop guy and his companion stopped near the table where refreshments were set up—glasses of water, a silver tray, a stack of important-looking documents laid neatly beside it.

I stood up. Don’t even ask me why. Instinct? Panic? Temporary stupidity? Whatever it was, I rose from my chair, trying to pretend I wasn’t falling apart inside.

“Are you alright?” my interviewer asked, confused.

“Yeah yeah, I just… I need water.”

I moved toward the table too quickly, my heel catching on the rug. I stumbled forward, tried to grab the edge of the table

And instead grabbed the stack of documents.

The entire tray slid. Water glasses tipped and the ice scattered.

One glass hit the edge and flipped.

Splash.

Right onto the man beside the coffee-shop guy.

Water soaked him from chest to waist, dripping down the front of his immaculate suit.

The room went silent.

My heart stopped.

Slowly… I lifted my eyes.

He wasn’t just any man.

He had an aura that pressed on the lungs. A stare that could cut a person in half. Authority radiated off him like heat.

He looked at me like I had just committed a federal offense.

The coffee-shop guy blinked, surprised, but the man I drenched?

His expression didn’t change.

Just one slow, lethal raise of his eyebrow.

And that was much, much worse.

“I...oh my god...sir...I am so sorry...I didn’t mean...I wasn't...the floor... I tripped...” I babbled, tripping over every word like they were obstacles in a race.

My interviewer stood frozen, mouth open.

The drenched man finally spoke, voice low, calm… dangerously calm.

“Is this normal for you, or is today a special occasion?”

My stomach dropped to the floor.

The coffee-shop guy stepped forward slightly. “Adrian she didn’t.”

“It’s fine,” Adrian said, though nothing about his tone suggested anything was fine. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands with deliberate precision before fixing me with a stare so sharp I felt it in my bones.

“I expect compensation for the damage,” he said flatly.

Compensation?? For his suit?? His probably-worth-more-than-my-life suit.

I swallowed. Hard.

“I… I can pay,” I whispered.

“No,” he replied. “You can’t.

Something in me snapped. Maybe humiliation. Maybe nerves. Maybe exhaustion. Maybe the fear that I had just destroyed the only chance I’d had in months.

But the next words tumbled out before my sanity could stop them.

“It was an accident, okay? I’m sorry, but you could have moved!”

The room didn’t just go silent.

It died.

My interviewer’s hand flew to her mouth. The coffee-shop guy’s eyes widened. Adrian, apparently that was his name slowly turned his head toward me, disbelief flickering in his gaze.

And that’s when the interviewer whispered the words that killed whatever hope I had left…

“Reina… that’s the CEO.”

My blood iced over, my knees weakened, and my vision blurred around the edges.

I had spilled water not just on anyone but on the CEO of the Hotel.

And yelled at him.

I felt faint and sick….. I really wanted the earth itself to open beneath me.

Adrian Casagrande stared at me like I was the stupidest human alive.

And honestly?

Maybe I was.