UNIQUE LOVE (G X G) Completed

CHAPTER: 6

By lunch, Zeenia had reorganized her office in a style more conducive to her thinking. Charlotte popped in to inform her that there was a guest at the front desk wanting to speak to 'the manager.' Zeenia decided as soon as she dealt with that, she would be off for lunch.

It turned out the guest wanted to compliment her on the establishment she ran. "I always stay at your hotels," he said, puffing out his chest. "They are of the highest quality in the US." Zeenia thanked him and offered him 15% off his stay the next time he was in town. Charlotte input's it into the man's profile without Zeenia's bidding. She was happy seeing that.

Just as the guest left, however, a commotion erupted in the common area.

"f**k you and your indecent behavior!" That voice shrieked through the lower levels, summoning the attention of everyone working behind or around the desk, especially Zeenia, who turned in the direction of the voice. She caught sight of a woman worker from the kitchen, storming from the direction of the restaurant. The head chef and two of his subordinates chased after her.

"Get back here, or we will tell your agency!"

The woman swung around and nearly hit the nearest man, who was centimeters away from grabbing her arm. Zeenia dashed forward and flung herself into the situation.

"What's going on?" Zeenia asked, sticking her arms between the woman and the three men. The men backed off at her presence, but the women continued to move her arms in a windmill motion. Her rude gestures made Zeenia's eyebrows raise.

"That disgusting pile of dog s**t molested me!" She said that while pointing a finger at one of the subordinates. All three chefs began to vehemently deny the accusation, each one vouching for the man's credibility.

"Don't listen to her, Manager! She's the type to try to get a lawsuit!"

The young woman lunged towards the subordinate in question, spit flying and nails slashing at him. Zeenia had to act quickly before a brawl was on her hands. She looped an arm around the woman's chest and held her back, ignoring her pleas to, "Let me rip this fucker a new asshole!" She was shorter than Zeenia, but she had so much energy she almost knocked them both over. The chefs began to advance quickly, following which someone from the staff appeared and attempted to hold them off. But they tossed him aside like a tissue.

"Wait a minute!" Zeenia's authoritative voice boomed in the hotel lobby. The clerks, who were trying to be polite and not stare, now gawked at the source of that echoing voice. Everyone except the young woman in Zeenia's arms froze. 

'The moment I let her go she will give everyone a black eye,' Zeenia thought. 

"Now hold on! What is this about molestation?" Zeenia asked her.

The woman stopped squirming long enough to clarify. "For the second time in as many days that molester grabbed my ass! I won't have it! Do something about it, if you are the manager!"

Zeenia glared at the chefs. "Is that true?" she asked the subordinate on the right. "Did you touch this woman inappropriately?"

The man went as pale as milk. "I would never, Manager! I must have accidentally brushed up against her. She's delirious! Looking for a fight!"

Zeenia still had to tread lightly. Her inclination was to trust any woman who claimed foul, but her position made it impossible for her to indulge her whims. Especially in public like this, she had to handle it as tactfully as possible, and she had to handle the small woman, who continued to move about like an excited dog. 

Zeenia knew that someone this upset really believed they have been wronged. Zeenia furrowed her brows at the chefs. "  

"I swear it on my family's grave that he touched me!" The poor woman looked very angry, "Don't let him get away with it! I won't stand it. You are a woman, you know what I mean!" she said to Zeenia.

Do I? Zeenia thought to herself. She had never been molested before. In kitchens, on trains, or otherwise. But, she knew what being a female meant. "Please apologize to this young woman," she told the chefs.

"What! I didn't do anything. I won't apologize for something I didn't do!"

"Even if you didn't do it, this woman believes that you have done something," she said. "You should apologize to her."

The man foamed at the mouth, but neither of his coworkers backed him up. "I am sorry! Now get this crazy b***h out of here!"

Like a bird breaking free from her cage, the woman burst out of Zeenia's grasp with a frustrated wail. She spat on the floor, to Zeenia's disgust. "I am outta here." 

She ripped off her apron and threw it on the floor. With a huff, she stormed toward the staff room, probably to collect her personal belongings. Zeenia stared at the scene with contempt.

"Manager," Henry said, bending down to pick up the apron. "You should file a report with her agency. She is violent."

"Yeah! She could have killed us," the chef who was pointed out by the woman, added."

"I highly doubt that," Zeenia said with a level voice. The more this one talked, the more she wanted to punch him on the young woman's behalf. "I want you in my office. Now."

The rest of that afternoon was a mess. Zeenia interrogated every chef in her office until her throat was dry and her patience was stretched to its limit. All three men denied anything inappropriate going on in the kitchens. After a while, Zeenia realized she had no evidence other than a temporary worker's accusation. She didn't know these men well enough yet to make character calls. However, she received a break when another woman from the kitchen asked for an audience with Zeenia. She claimed that many other women had been harassed by one of the men. That was enough for Zeenia. She summoned the man and told him to find work elsewhere. 

It was her third day on the job, and Zeenia had fired her first employee.

She summoned the head chef and gave him a piece of her mind. "I will not tolerate this. If this happens again and you do not bring it to me or handle it yourself, you will be the next one to go." The head chef, begged for her forgiveness. After he left, Zeenia asked Henry to arrange for interviews for a new assistant chef. "At least now I know why the temporaries run away." Zeenia decided she would be calling the agency, right away. Calling them to apologize.

The sun was setting outside, viewed from her window, by the time she cleaned up most of the clutter from that afternoon. She held the final meeting of the day with Henry and Charlotte before letting them go home. Catherine arrived to begin the night shift at the front desk. Zeenia locked up her office and announced she was done for the day.

Zeenia wished she had her own place. There was no escape in going up to her family suite, to be surrounded by everything that embodied 'work.' She was very hungry too. The past few nights she had food sent up to her room, but that night her room was the last place she wanted to be. She was too tired to eat out, however. Instead, she beat the evening rush to the hotel restaurant and settled in the corner, where she hoped the head chef wouldn't poison her food. 

It was the closest thing she had to privacy outside of her room. The server's hands shook as he presented dinner to her, fried rice topped with braised chicken and surrounded by fresh vegetables. She ordered wine to help calm her nerves. The view from her seat afforded her a ravishing gaze across the neighboring parking lot. Whoever decided to put the restaurant here was an i***t, she thought.

She was halfway through her meal when her phone rang. Her first fear was that it was somebody from work, Zeenia could not exactly tell them to f**k off when she was in the same damn building. But when she saw the name of the caller, her heart leaped in her throat. "Hello, speaking," she said, a piece of asparagus hanging from her teeth.

A long pause crackled over the phone before Yana's voice jumped in, weary and heavy. "Ms. Zeenia, I cannot find Imara."

Great drama. Zeenia supposed it was better than the work drama, molesters are damned. It was time for Dr. Zeenia, the amazing couples counselor, to make her grand appearance from Michigan, she thought to herself.

But she asked  Yana, "What do you mean? What has happened?" 

"Exactly what I said. I have no idea where Imara is and I cannot get a hold of her. Last time I saw her this morning she said she was going to meet a friend tonight. And I let her!" Yana said.

A sob broke out, forcing Zeenia to imagine her friend Yana sitting on the bed she shared with Imara, face red and eyes wet. Yana had a plain face usually, but when she was distressed she turned into a torrent of emotions. The first time Zeenia had s*x with her years ago was after one of the first breakups with Imara when Yana was her most impassioned self.

"I am sure she is fine. You will get hold of her soon," Zeenia assured her.

Yana sniffed. "She is cheating on me, isn't she?"

"Probably," Zeenia replied.

But her sobbing continued, and Zeenia knew what she should say, "Dump her ass for good this time. Tell her to f**k off." Yet she also knew that would never happen. The only way those two would ever permanently break up was if one of them was shipped out of Manhattan.

In the end, Yana said, "I wish you were here. The weekends won't be the same anymore."

"You will manage without me. Not like I was available every weekend," Zeenia said.

"But I need you now, Zeenia."

"What do you want me to do? Get you drunk?" Zeenia asked. 

"Yes," she replied.

Zeenia was happy then. Her friends, whose lives continued in their endless drama made her feel better that she never had a girlfriend. Only friends with benefits.

While hanging up, Yana swore to dump Imara for good. Zeenia knew that would never happen. They would fight, Imara swearing she had not cheated, and then they would make up by having s*x. Zeenia didn't begrudge either of them anymore. They had the strange dynamic that somehow worked for them.

Zeenia finished most of her meal and savored the wine. As she sipped it and stared at the parking lot outside the window, she set up a plan of attack, for her life in a new city. She needed to find the local lesbian hangout before she either dried up or had no friends she could confide to. Even better if she could find a girlfriend.