His Secretary (SPG)

Chapter Two: No Room, No Plan, One Call

Chapter Two: No Room, No Plan, One Call

Two days had passed since Rachel Montemayor walked out of Nathaniel Kingsley's office, and the silence had grown deafening. She had replayed the interview a hundred times in her head, dissecting every word, every pause, every raised brow. She had left that meeting feeling something unfamiliar: hope. But now, as the hours stretched into days, that hope turned brittle, ready to shatter.

Her temporary hotel room had grown colder in spirit and temperature. She stared at her phone every ten minutes, willing it to light up with a call or an email. Nothing. She’d checked her inbox obsessively, refreshed her spam folder, even Googled “average waiting time for job offer after interview in NYC” more times than she wanted to admit.

And now, she had another problem.

“I'm sorry, Miss Montemayor,” the receptionist at the front desk said politely, not quite meeting her eyes. “All of our rooms are fully booked starting tomorrow. There’s a convention in town. We’re completely over capacity.”

Rachel’s heart dropped.

She forced a smile. “No chance of just one more night?”

The receptionist shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

Rachel walked back to her room in a daze. She had no family in New York, no friends to call, no backup plan. She'd taken this leap on impulse, and now she was floating mid-air, without a net. She sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her suitcases. The reality was beginning to set in. If she doesn't find a place to stay soon, she might have to go back to the Philippines with nothing but a failed interview and a broken engagement.

She pulled up a list of budget hostels on her phone, already feeling the anxiety bubbling in her chest. The options were bleak. Expensive, unsafe, or both. She began tapping through listings when her phone suddenly lit up.

Incoming call: Kingsley Enterprises.

Her breath caught.

She answered with a trembling hand. “Hello?”

“Miss Montemayor?” said a crisp voice on the other end. “This is Linda from Human Resources at Kingsley Enterprises. I’m calling to inform you that you’ve been selected for the executive secretary position under Mr. Kingsley. Congratulations.”

Rachel shot to her feet, the words barely registering. “I—what? I got the job?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Linda said, a small chuckle in her tone. “Mr. Kingsley was quite impressed. We’d like you to report to the office tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. sharp. It's an urgent placement, so we’d appreciate your promptness.”

Rachel's scream of joy was so loud she startled herself. She dropped the phone onto the bed and jumped up and down, laughing, crying, and shouting all at once. “I got the job! I got the job!”

The people in the next room knocked on the wall, but she didn’t care. She clutched her phone and thanked Linda profusely, promising she’d be there. Early, even.

She packed her bags with new energy, booking one last night at a small bed-and-breakfast a few blocks from the office—the only place with a vacancy she could afford on such short notice. She didn’t care if the room was tiny or the bed was hard. She had a job. She had a reason to stay.

The next morning, she woke before dawn, nerves dancing in her stomach. She dressed in her best outfit, reapplied her makeup twice, and arrived at Kingsley Enterprises by 7:30 a.m. The lobby was quieter than usual, the usual flood of employees yet to arrive.

She arrived at the front desk and told them, "Why is she there?"

The receptionist looked up in surprise. “Miss Montemayor? You're very early.”

“I was told it was urgent,” Rachel said with a smile. “I didn’t want to risk being late.”

A few minutes later, she was escorted up to the executive floor. The doors opened onto the sleek expanse she remembered, and she was led directly to the same office that had changed everything two days ago.

Nathaniel Kingsley was already inside, sleeves rolled up, coffee in hand, reviewing documents. He looked up as she entered.

“You’re early.” This is a first, a professional, punctuality?. Because his past experience with his secretaries was unprofessional, they're always trying to flirt with him, get his attention by wearing revealing clothes. But Rachel was different. He could say that because who the hell on earth will wear a coat in the middle of summer? What an Asian? (No discrimination I'm Asian my self)

Rachel straightened. “I figured it’s better to be too early than too late.”

He nodded, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Efficient. I like that.”

He gestured to a desk just outside his office. “You’ll be stationed there. Let’s get you settled in. HR will send you the onboarding forms later today.”

As she took her place, the whirlwind of the past two weeks finally began to settle into something solid. She didn’t know what the future held, or how long this job would last, but for now, she had landed. And maybe, just maybe, this was the start of something she never expected to find: a new beginning.

And it all started with a yes, just when she was about to run out of places to go.