CHAPTER TWO

Aurora sat on the chair with a thump in anger. Her friends glanced her way, both stopped their chatting or whatever they were doing on their phones.

"What got into your pants? Why this red face? Did you just have a quickie into the corner with some hot man?" Emily asked, whistling.

Aurora glared at her in anger. "No, A man just called me a fool."

She gasped, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Wait what? Right! Did I hear you, right girl?" Emily mocked Aurora in her thick voice and then let out a sharp laugh that screeched her ears. 

"If you don't stop laughing I promise I will kill you with this...this," Aurora tried searching for something to scare her off and found nothing but a plastic fork and knife. 

Aurora picked the knife in her hand and pointed it at Emily, "With this knife."

Emily roared in laughter. "You… and kill someone, Aurora," she shook her head laughing. "Give me a break! You can't even kill a fly let alone me. So cut the crap and put this deadly weapon down." She mocked, raising her hands in a surrendering gesture still laughing like a maniac. 

"It's a plastic Knife, no one can be killed with it," Susan pinpointed.

Aurora put that plastic knife on the table.  Her hunger died meeting that arrogant, abhorrent man.  "I don't want to eat here anymore. Let's go somewhere else."

"No way. I am hungry and I want to try whatever this dish is called. I told the manager to send a waiter here. He would be here anytime so chill," Emily said. 

Aurora huffed. "Alright let's wait for the server."

"What would you like to order, Madam?"

Aurora heard the same voice again, her head jerked up from the phone and stared at the man in front of her with wide eyes.

 The same arrogant,  abhorrent man who called her a fool was standing in front of her. He was the server, she thought. 

"Yes, two Mushroom Risotto, Focaccia Bread and two Pasta Carbonara with a glass of sparkling water and two glasses of red wine," Susan ordered. 

"Anything else madams?" He asked as if Aurora was not sitting there and he had not insulted her five minutes ago. 

"No. It's just enough and we would be happy if you could make it on time. Your service here is ridiculous and you guys need to learn hospitality manners," Aurora snapped before Susan could speak.

He merely nodded as if he understood what Aurora said and left. This irritated Aurora, even more, she wanted him to argue with her but he just left.

"Girls! Listen to me." She whispered, bending on the table. 

"What?" They whispered.

"That man, he was the one who called me a fool," Aurora told her.

Susan's  brows pulled together, she glanced towards the kitchen, "the waiter?" She questioned.

But Emily started laughing again. "This is truly an interesting day today, Aurora. You got insulted by a waiter. I mean just imagine, A server of some local restaurant called Aurora King, daughter of Canada's top businessman, A fool!" She said in between laughing.

Aurora hit her under the table. "Ow!" 

"Yes, Ow! You are horrible Emily."

"I am sorry but this is unbelievable…" she started but stopped when that idiot Gabriel came with their food.

He placed the plates of food on the table. The aroma of the spices was amazing. Emily moaned sniffing the food. Aurora, who was angry at the server, couldn't stop drooling over the food.

Gabriel smiled at them and placed the wine in front of Emily and Susan but when he was placing the glass of lemonade in front of Aurora the glass fell splashing the water all over her dress. 

"Ha!" Aurora gasped and stood up as soon as possible. Her friends stood to help her clean the dress as well.

"I apologize madam. It was unintentional…"

" Unintentional!" Aurora snapped at him, picking the tissues from the table and cleaning her dress but of course, the ship had already sailed the sea. Her dress was already ruined by that man.

"You did it intentionally. It was one of my favourite dresses. You are useless as a server. Who took you in for the job when you don't even know how to talk with your customers? You walk around this place as if you own it. You insulted me five minutes ago when it was you who bumped into me but that was not enough for you. Right? So you intentionally splashed lemonade on me." 

"It's not what you are thinking madam." He tried to say but Aurora didn't let him finish this time. 

"It is exactly what I am thinking. You know what, call your manager here. I want you out of this place. You are not fit to be a server Mr." She yelled at him. 

"Aurora...people are watching us," Susan said, jerking her hand. Aurora snatched it away from her, "let people see for all I care," she said in anger.

"Look miss, I can pay you for your dress." He said calmly. 

Aurora was enraged seeing him calm and composed as if he had not just ruined her dress and instead of asking for an apology he was showing her money. 

"Really? Instead of apologizing to me, you are showing off your money!! Don't show off, you don't know me Mr."

With all the sound a man wearing a black suit came out. He frowned when he saw us and ran to us. "Is there any issue, Miss?" He asked.

"No, there is no issue…" Gabriel said but Aurora cut him off. 

"Yes, there is. You need to fire this man right now. He ruined my dress and insulted me. If you don't want me to sue your restaurant then fire him," she told the manager, crossing her hands to her chest.

"Madam…" the manager stuttered.

"Look Mr," she glanced at the batch on his coat. "Yes, Mr Cameron. If you don't want me to call the owner of this place and order him to fire you both then fire this man right now."

"Enough! Go and call the owner of this place, Miss…" Gabriel said without any hint of fear of losing his job.

"Aurora calm down!" Susan tried to speak but Aurora raised her hand to stop her. 

"I am handling it, Susie," then she turned to Gabriel once again. "Yes, I will do the same. And your boss will fire you both," she told him and asked the manager to call the owner there.

"Madam, he is the owner of this restaurant." The manager said, pointing at Gabriel. Aurora gasped, smacking her hands to her lips.

What the f**k!!! That server was the owner.

She looked at the server, flabbergasted. "I…I didn't know that you are the owner of this place…"

He arched his brows. "And what difference does it make, Miss? Would you have treated me differently if I had told you about my identity here? If yes, then I am glad I didn't tell you about myself at least I came to know what kind of person you are!" 

Her eyes widened at his words. "Excuse me but now you are being rude. How dare you talk to me in this manner!!" 

"Miss, that's how you have been talking to me all this time, do you see how rude you were to me? And why because I was just a mere server and now when you come to know about my real identity you changed your tone. This shows how low you think of people around you," He snapped. "You are nothing but a rich snob."

He scolded Aurora who stood there like a statue. Her throat felt heavy at his words. Never in her life had she felt this humiliated. 

When Susan saw Aurora's face she knew Aurora was about to cry. She couldn't tolerate his lecture anymore.

"Look Mr, it was you who called my friend a fool first, so stop preaching to us."

Gabriel sighed, "I think when that happened you were not present there to verdict my actions miss. But if I hurt you with my words, I apologize again, enjoy your food."

He turned to his manager who was standing there. "Serve them whatever else  they want but don't charge them anything." He looked at Aurora then, "I hope it will compensate for your dress and if it still doesn't do that then my manager is here, ask him whatever amount for this dress. He will pay you," Saying that he walked away to his office. 

"Madam, do you need anything else?" The manager asked Aurora. 

Tears pooled in Aurora's eyes. "No!" She whispered. 

"Your bill is around a hundred dollars. Is it enough for the compensation of your dress or do I need to pay you more?" He asked. 

Aurora didn't bother with a reply. Emily touched her back in a comforting manner.

  "We don't need any money from you." Susan snapped at the manager and took both their handbags from the table. 

Aurora gulped. Susan held her hand and started walking outside. She opened the door of their car and helped Aurora inside and started the engine.

Aurora couldn't get his words out of her mind. 

Was I rude to him? No one had ever talked to me in this 

manner let alone scolded me. 

"Aurora?"  She heard Susan calling her name, Aurora didn't say anything. Her mind was fixed on Gabriel's words. 

Do I really think so low of people around me? Was I one of those rich snobs who think so low of less rich people? 

"Aurora? Are you alright?" This time Emily asked worriedly.

Aurora wiped her tears. "Holy F**k! Aurora kings, are you crying?" Susan asked bewildered and stopped the car unexpectedly. People cursed her, horns sounded wildly around us. 

"Hey! Don't you know how to drive??" A man barked from his car window. 

Susan gave him a middle finger. 

"Susan…" Aurora jerked her hand inside the car and apologized to the man. 

"Stop it! Why the hell are you apologizing to him, he was the rat!!"  

The man drove away and Susan started her car well. "Got lucky we didn't get a ticket again, Susan!" Aurora chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. "I am up to a thousand tickets if it gets you out of this sad mood. Chill girl! And just forget about that Restaurant owner."

Her shoulders slumped again at the mention of Gabriel. "Susan, was I rude there?"

Susan sighed, her brows arched upwards. "Well! I won't say rude but you were kind of mean to him. I mean it was just a little water and you threw a big tantrum there. You created a scene in front of all his customers there, Aurora," she replied, parking the car in the garage and getting out of it with Emily and Aurora.

Aurora pinched her lips in a thin line. "What about him? Was there no mistake of his? He could have told me that he was not a server…"

"Well...what difference does it make? It was clear from the way you reacted that you were some rich snoot who was behaving irrationally. Now forget that I didn't even eat anything. Let's make some Ramen noodles. The rats in my stomach are fighting a wrestling match."

"No, I will cook something as punishment for laughing one you today. You both go get a show or something," Emily said walking to the kitchen.

"Ya! Well, I am calling dad, you go ahead and start cooking." Aurora told her who gave her a thumbs up. "Cool!" 

Aurora went to her room and dialled her father's number. It kept ringing but he didn't accept the call. Aurora was worried for her father, after her mother's death he was the only family she had left and he never took care of his health. 

She sighed and left a voice message. "Hey Dad, Umm! When will you be home? I was thinking about having dinner with you tonight. Do call me when you get free, bye! Love you." 

On the other hand, Ethan heard the voice message of his daughter and handed the phone back to his right-hand man cum friend, Thomas.

Ethan stared at the man sitting in front of him, tied to the chair, screaming in painful agony.

"Has he said anything yet?" Ethan asked Thomas. The man spits on Ethan's shoes and earns a painful punch on his face. 

"No, a loyal dog!"

Ethan nodded, punching again just to hear him cry and then without wasting a single second more he shot the man right between the eyes. "Send the body to Juan with a message that it will be him soon."

Thomas eyes the dead man and gives Ethan a curt nod. Once they were back in his office, Thomas handed Ethan a glass of his favourite whiskey. 

"Your friend from Vancouver called," Ethan frowned hearing him. 

"His son will be taking over the chair of Don soon. He had this strange proposition for you," Thomas searched Ethan's eyes before speaking the next words. 

"What proposition?" He asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"Ryan hinted about a new bond between the two of us. " 

Ethan raised his eyes and pinned them on Thomas. " What new bond?"

"It was clear from his talk that he was hinting at a marriage preposition between Aurora and Liam."

"His son and My Aurora?"

Thomas nodded. "I don't think it's a bad idea…"

Ethan raised a finger to stop him. "My daughter deserves the best in everything. Let the boy prove himself in our world-first then I will think…"

Thomas shook his head. "Ethan, we both know that Aurora has to marry a man from our world and I think Liam is a good choice."

"You don't have to remind me of that. But my daughter deserves a man who is worthy of her and this young boy, I want to make sure he can take care of my daughter. He asked for permission in my territory again, right?"

Thomas nodded. "Deny it, just like last two times. I want to see how he reacts? He might be my friend's son but I will judge him like I judge everyone else. Let's see if he could be a friend like his father or another addition to my list of foes?

Thomas sighed, he knew this won't end well. He heard about the man Ethan wanted to test. 

Ryan's son was not the man to be tested like that, Thomas just prayed that he didn't get angered by it because  Ryan's son's reputation preceded him everywhere he goes.

A monster who should not be poked! And Ethan just did that, now the question arises what would the monster do?

Hey My dear Readers, how're y'all. Hope you like the story. Please follow me on f******k (Elk Entertainment) and on i*******m elk_entertainment for more info about the characters