Chapter 1

Sienna Chae-Soo walked into work that day an hour earlier as always to start her night shift. She worked as a waitress at the Baegaebong Hotel located in the Central Tourist Area, Samjiyon, North Korea.

“Chae-Soo! Come here, please.” The manager of the hotel and her boss yelled as he saw her walk in. Sienna headed in his direction and walked over the marble floor in the front of the hotel. The floor shined and reflected her appearance, which meant it was recently polished. She adjusted the simple grey pencil dress she had on and tried to hide the holes with her arms.

“Yes, sir?” Sienna softly asked and stepped into his office.

“Close the door behind you.” He firmly ordered, and Sienna obeyed. “Sit.” He stated as she closed the door and turned around to face him. “Tonight, a respected billionaire from South Africa will be eating in our restaurant. He arrived earlier today and has been in a conference since. I want you to serve his table.”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded while sitting on the soft chair in front of the manager’s desk. After all 3 years of working for him, she still didn’t know his name and referred to him as Mr Manager. She didn’t dare ask and kept mostly to herself while at work.

Sienna had just been to the public hospital where her brother, Hanuel, went to get medicine to treat his lung cancer. He was gravely ill and refused to eat or leave the bedroom. Afterwards, she took the public train to Samjiyon and walked about 1.2 kilometres to the hotel. Her family lived in poverty, and all depended on her low salary from the hotel. Therefore she walked most of the time and took the train if she had a few extra won to spare.

“He will be dining with a business partner from here in North Korea.” Her boss’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “I expect the best of everything for this important guest, which is why I want you to serve him. Oh, and Chae-Soo, you smell of … filth. Take this key and go shower. I’ve laid out a clean uniform for you to wear in the room; I need you to look your best tonight.”

“Thank you, sir.” She politely smiled and took the key from him before walking out of his office and towards the room.

Mr Manager was a fair boss. He allowed her to shower before she started work; she just had to fetch the key from him every day beforehand. He even went out of his way to place aside nice smelling toiletries that guests left behind so that Sienna could feel like a confident woman. All of the guests loved her and tipped well when she was working, so the effort he put in made it worth it in the end.

Sienna found the room with ease and walked in. The hotel was one of the best in the ryanggang province and provided popular tourist accommodation. It was designed to please the eye with its modern look and creative artistic touch. It was the best place she had ever stepped foot inside and loved every second she was at work. She locked the door of the room and walked into the bathroom. Sienna stepped out of her old grey dress and switched on the shower. They didn’t have any electricity at home, which meant no hot water. Coming to work was like stepping into paradise.

She quickly scrubbed her body with a rose-scented body wash a guest left behind and washed her hair with a coconut-scented shampoo. Sienna was always self-conscious about using too much hot water and quickly finished up. She then dried her body with the towel the hotel provided and moisturised her skin with a similar rose body lotion.

Her uniform was a tight black skirt and white long-sleeved shirt with buttons and a collar. It was simple but elegant. To her surprise, Mr Manager also left her a pair of round-toe black heels, which were the perfect fit and super comfortable. She tugged on the skirt that hung just above her knees and wished it was longer. Sienna always felt that her legs looked too skinny for the skirt, which she believed was unpleasing. She looked in the mirror and sighed at her flat chest and ass. She could pull off looking like a young man if she had to cut her hair, but luckily she had long black hair that hung against her ass. It had beautiful waves that she loved and looked healthy.

She stopped staring at herself and walked out of the room to start her shift. Mr Manager gave her a slight nod to show he approved of her appearance, which made her feel a bit more confident about herself. Sienna started off by preparing the table for the special guest and lay out their best table cloth, cutlery and glasses. She even folded the serviettes into origami flowers which she thought were cute.

The other waitresses gave her small smiles as they walked past. They were unhappy that Sienna would serve the billionaire but also felt sympathetic as they knew she needed the money. Sienna started serving other tables as regular guests of the hotel arrived and noticed Mr Manager put a table reservation card on her table with the name Declan Foster under it. She started to gain butterflies as the night went on, and Mr Billionaire still hadn’t arrived. She tried to calm her nerves and scratched the inner skin of her arm.

She grabbed 2 menu’s as Mr Manager shook the hand of the man who had just walked in. The man was well built with a blonde curly preppy hairstyle and dark blue eyes. His attractiveness threw Sienna slightly off guard as Mr Manger led Declan over to his table. The billionaire wore a dark blue suit with an open-collar white shirt. Sienna noticed he didn’t have a tie on and walked over to the table like he owned the hotel. His arrogance showed instantly, but Sienna didn’t allow it to bother her.

Mr Manger allowed Declan to sit down and then gave her a look that said, “Don’t fuck this up”, as he walked away.

Sienna exhaled and walked over to the table with a smile. Declan didn’t look up from his phone as she approached, but his shoulders stiffened, and the hairs on his arms stood up. Sienna wondered if there was a cold breeze blowing through the restaurant.

“Good evening Mr Foster. My name is Sienna, and I will be serving you tonight.” She sweetly stated with a gorgeous smile and placed a menu in front of him. He growled like some sort of animal as she started speaking but ignored it. As she placed the other menu opposite him for when his business partner arrived, Declan grabbed her arm, which startled Sienna.

“Sorry.” He quickly said and let go of her arm as Sienna gasped. His voice was deep and husky. His grip was quite firm, and as he let go, she held her own arm to ease the slight pain. She could still feel his grip on her arm which made her uncomfortable. “I’m dining alone,” Declan added and looked towards her for the first time. He didn’t seem impressed with what he saw and slightly frowned. At the same time, a light flashed across his eyes which made them seem gold… but it quickly returned to its normal dark blue.

Sienna’s heart dropped, and she felt like apologising for not meeting his approval, but instead, she forced a smile onto her face and asked, “What would you like to drink?”

His eyes moved down her body, making Sienna feel even more uncomfortable. His cold blue eyes met hers again, and he replied, “Your most expensive bottle of red wine.” She nodded and took the extra menu off the table before walking away. Sienna felt her heart racing. She didn’t know if it was anger from how rude Declan was to her or because she felt attracted to him. Probably both.

Sienna walked over to the bar and asked the bartender for their top-shelf red wine before quickly slipping into the kitchen to run her arm underwater as if to wash his grip off her skin. The bartender handed her an ice bucket and corkscrew when she returned. Sienna thanked him then walked back to Declan Foster’s table. As she walked over to him, she watched him gently play with the origami flower in his hands and set it aside as she stopped by his table.

“Here you go, Mr Foster,” Sienna stated while placing the bucket on the table. Declan raised his eyebrow when she said his surname and smirked. He had never heard a waitress call him anything else besides ‘sir’ before, but this one seemed different. He watched as she shoved the corkscrew into the wine bottles lid and struggled to pull the cork out.

“Just let me do it.” Declan irritably snapped and jerked the bottle out of the waitresses hands. Sienna couldn’t stop shaking after he snapped at her. She held her hands together in front of her body and watched him easily pull out the cork. This rich bastard didn’t have to be so rude. Sienna was angry, and she held back tears as he poured himself a glass of wine. She hated that she cried when she was angry, which people mistook as her being weak. Wet anger is what her brother called it.

“Are you ready to order?” Sienna sternly asked. She luckily got her emotions together and remained professional in front of the guest. She would never let him see her cry that was certain.

“The rump steak, rare with sweet mashed potatoes. You can leave the broccoli off my plate.” He replied, and Sienna nodded, then walked away to place his order. She didn’t even bother to offer him their famous starters. She despised the man and wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible.

Sienna helped her other tables and noticed Declan staring daggers at her while she smiled at the guest’s compliments. She tried to stay away from him but made sure he still had wine to keep him happy. She checked if his food was ready every 5 minutes so that he could eat and leave as soon as possible. Eventually, the chef handed her his plate, and she perfectly placed it in front of him. He didn’t even look up or thank her but focused his attention on his phone. As Sienna walked away, she rolled her eyes and continued to serve the other tables.

Every time she glanced over at the billionaire to check if he was finished eating, she caught him staring at her. Her heart started racing, and he didn’t look away until Sienna broke eye contact. It went on like that for a while until he placed his fork on top of the knife on the plate, indicating he was finished. Sienna walked back to his table with a polite smile.

“Would you like anything else, Mr Foster?” She inquired and picked up his plate.

“Sleep with me.” He responded, and Sienna froze. Her gaze meant his, and she wondered if she heard him correctly. His emotionless blue eyes stared back at her, and he seemed to be serious.

“I’ll pay you. Whatever amount you want. Just spend the night in my bed.” The billionaire added.

“I’m working….” Sienna muttered and took a step back.

“I’ll wait till your shift is over.” Declan interrupted and waited for her response. Sienna broke eye contact with him and walked away without uttering another word.

Her brother filled her thoughts. The hospital refused to help him without a deposit which her family couldn’t afford. He only had a quarter of the medicine he needed and grew worse as the days went by. She needed the money to help her brother and considered taking his offer. Yet, on the other hand, Declan Foster was nothing more than a selfish, rude bastard. She cringed at the thought of his hands on her body. That man was a pig and used his money to take advantage of people. She wondered how she found him attracted yet also thought of him as vile. Was that even possible?

She closed her eyes and rested against the cold wall of the meat freezer in the kitchen. Hanuel needed the money. She could save her brother. Private health care was expensive in North Korea, and the public hospitals didn’t even have electricity or medicine to treat their patients. She took a deep breath and walked back over to Declan’s table. His eyes grew wide as he looked at her and seemed surprised to see her again.

“I’ll accept for 1000….” The waitress started to say as her heart pounded in her ears. 1000 won? That was all she wanted? “… dollars,” Sienna stated. She knew it was asking a lot, but she was going to make the billionaire pay.