Chapter 1 Night Bar

“THANK YOU, Dad.” I kissed his cheek before waving as I got off his jeep.

“Be careful daughter,” he ordered me.

“Yes! You too, Dad. Don’t forget to take your medicine.” I waved my hands before turning around to enter the backdoor of a resto-bar.

I went straight to the locker room and quickly got dressed, slightly applying lipstick and powder before going out.

“Hi, Cherry!” Fernan, the janitor at the bar I work for, greeted me.

“Good evening, Fer.” I smiled at him and then continued walking.

I went inside while tying my apron, and I slightly adjusted my name pin.

“Cherry, one bucket in room five!” Jacky immediately shouted at me when she saw me.

“Okay,” I said, turning to Calix, who’s wiping the table.

“One bucket, please.” I leaned over the table and simply tucked the hair to my ear as he turned away.

He looked at me and dropped the bucket at the counter table while chewing bubble gum in his mouth.

“Thank you.” I smiled at him, and he just shrugged his shoulders at me.

I walked along with the tables. The bar was full tonight because it was Friday. On this day, our typical customers were students. However, the customers were different today, and the bar was crowded, so I was stuck in the middle.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!” I shouted loudly. It was good that some parted when they noticed my waitress uniform.

I just breathed a sigh of relief as I entered the hallway and walked down to the private room for the performers tonight.

“Room service,” I said as I knocked on the door.

But they seem busy because I can only hear laughs inside the room.

“Hello, room service!” I raised my voice again.

I blew out a breath. I gently blew my bangs while leaning against the side of the wall. While I waited, I dropped the bucket on the floor and grabbed my cellphone from my pocket to update my F******k status. But I had not yet finished when the door opened.

I flinched, and my eyes turned to him.

He transparently looking at me with his two narrow eyes, then looked down at the bucket on the floor.

“Is this what we ordered?” His voice was so cold like a deep ocean, while I seemed embarrassed by his deep voice.

He took the bucket off the floor.

“Ah, yes, Sir. I’m just waiting for someone to open the—”

I flipped my fingers in the air when he just turned his back on me without warning and shut the door close.

“Argh!” I smirked as I tried to leave when I heard the door opened again.

Another face peeked from the inside, so I stopped.

“Sir?” I had a big smile on my face when I turned to him.

“Ah, Miss, can you please add more ice?” He smiled broadly at me.

“Alright. Do you want anything else, Sir?” I asked again.

“That’s all. Thank you.” Then he closed the door.

I jumped back to the counter and bowed to Calix, who was busy mixing beverages.

He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow slightly.

“What is that?” I asked impatiently.

“Blue Hawaii, sweet and sour mix with blue coraçao.” He poured the cocktail juice into a long glass and applied some pineapple chunks and cherries along with the mini umbrella.

He laid it down in front of me with a slight smile on his face. My back immediately straightened because of the kind of smile he gave me.

“Thank you.” I was about to sip on the juice when he spoke again.

“Please, bring this to table six,” he ordered.

My broad smile immediately faded from what he said, and I stood up. The redness on my two cheeks also immediately increased due to embarrassment.

“One ice bucket,” I said before smirking. I even heard him laugh a little.

I bit my lips and brought the order to the table, where a group of women chatting happily.

I hesitated to approach but then placed the juice on the table gently. I stood up straight and was about to leave when I heard the shattered glass on the floor.

“Oh, shit!” the woman behind me shouted loudly.

“Oow!” I covered my mouth when I saw the woman’s clothes has a stain of cocktail juice.

“What the hell?!” Her eyes seemed to want to come out because of anger.

I bowed down and tried to wipe off her dress using my hand towel. “I’m so sorry, Ma’am. I’ll just change it.”

“Stupid! Can’t you see we’re talking? Then you suddenly put it on the table without even saying anything?!” she growled at me.

“I’m sorry again,” I said patiently.

“Stupid! Look at my dress, do you know how expensive is this, huh?!” she shouted at me. We gain attention even though the music was loud.

I swallowed hard because of what she said.

“Candice, enough.” I heard someone whispered.

“You will pay for this!” she shouted and stood up, so I slightly backed away.

“I’m so sorry . . .” I bit my lip hard again.

“That’s enough, Candice.” I heard someone stopped her.

“This stupid girl doesn’t know how to do her job properly!”

“I’ll just pay for your damaged clothes,” I said lowly.

“Huh? You must be kidding me!” She folded her arms in front of me and looked at me with disgust.

That’s the moment when I felt a warm palm rested on my shoulders and helped me to get up.

“Miss, maybe we can talk about it properly. Many orders have been delayed because of this.” Calix’s voice was authoritative when he spoke behind me.

“Who are you? I want to talk to your manager!” She darted her gaze at me with so much hatred.

My eyes widened as I glanced at Calix. He grabbed my hand and then faced the customer.

“I am the manager,” he said directly. “No matter how much it costs, I will pay for any damage to your clothes,” he added.

I looked up at him because of what he said before bowing down shamefully.

“Huh!” I saw her sarcastic smirk on me. “Next time, before you hire an employee, make sure she knows how to do her job properly!” She continued to talk.

“If you’d still insist on her apology, I’ll have no choice but to release you at this bar, and you have to talk to my lawyer.” His voice has authority.

Their faces look like they run out of color.

“Candice, enough. You will not see the performance of Logistic if you insist,” said the girl beside her.

She eyed me from head to toe before turning and walking away.

Calix motioned for Fernan to clean the broken glass.

“Are you alright?” he asked me to sit in a high chair near the bar.

“I’m fine. Sorry for what happened. I’ll just pay for the customer’s damaged clothes,” I promised.

“No, that’s not a problem.” He locked his gaze on me for a few moments before turning away and returning to the bar to deal with the approaching customer.

I couldn’t help but blush at the way he defended me earlier. I didn’t expect him to do that to me and took the damage that should have been charged to me.

He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow prompting me to approach. A smile flashed on my lips as I faced him. He immediately put down the ice bucket in front of me.

“You ordered an ice bucket,” he said, staring into my eyes.