Aleyah, despite only working at The Royal Crest for a few months, had witnessed many celebrity outbursts, secret dates, cheating scandals, and much more that would have made her thousands if she had published them. The girl wouldn't dream of it, though. The number of NDAs and contracts she had signed upon getting the job was more than enough to detour her from even the thought of publishing them. Not to mention the unwanted publicity and backlash she would receive.
"You're obviously a very attractive young girl," Stef continued, his eyes wandering over her sitted figure. Aleyah automatically shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable with the attention being given by the older male. "Very beautiful indeed." He added as his eyes slightly glazed over.
It was no secret that Stef had an eye for the younger female population under his employment. According to him, he didn't act on it due to professionalism. However, his wandering eyes and lingering touches in inappropriate places begged to differ. Aleyah herself had never fallen victim to those touches of his, but she had witnessed them on a few of her other coworkers.
Although the girl wished she could do more to help, all she could do was offer small smiles in apology. She couldn't report it because she knew how it would translate to the higher-ups. Aleyah would be labeled as a liar and hard to work with, resulting in the loss of her job. A job she very much needed to support her brother.
"It's no wonder you're able to catch the eye of some of our customers." Stef gave her another once over and nodded as though he was assessing some kind of dish.
Aleyah swallowed hard, trying to keep herself relaxed. "I'm not sure I understand, sir."
The man looked at her for another unnecessary amount of time before elaborating, "There's a customer who's requested your presence specifically. " He gestured towards the door. "Now, normally we don't usually agree to such requests, but he's a very generous guy and so I couldn't refuse such a wonderful person."
"So, I'm just supposed to serve him?" Aleyah asked. Her body looked visibly less tense as she realized the visit wasn't heading in the direction she thought it was going.
"Yes, but he wants you by his side throughout his entire stay. So you are to wait at his hand and foot until he leaves. If you succeed to do such a simple task, your recent indisciplines shall be forgotten." Stef gave a pointed look, hinting at her abandonment from work the week prior.
"Yes, sir. Is that all?" Aleyah nodded for what felt like the millionth time.
Stef hummed in agreement. "Table 12. Don't keep him waiting." The man then waved her off.
Aleyah wasted no time to evacuate the uncomfortable atmosphere that was his office. And as she stepped out, she could've sworn the air in the restaurant was much less stuffy than in the room, despite the well-functioning air conditioning unit in it.
Once the girl was completely out of the room, her gaze landed on the 12th table located by the glass wall of the aquarium. And to her expectation, there sat Jude Bellingham, staring right at her, awaiting her presence with a shit-eating grin adorning his face.
Immediately, Stef mentioned his task for her. The girl knew that it would be him sitting at the table. Only he would be idiotic enough to throw thousands at her boss for a few hours of her time.
With an exasperated sigh and a murmur of self-encouragement, Aleyah headed towards Jude. Letting her face form a facade of irritation while she was inwardly trying to smother the feelings of endearment that kept growing at every interaction with the boy.
"Hello, and welcome to The Royal Crest. How may I assist you today?" Aleyah asked with an overly polite smile on her face. On the tread towards the table, she decided to make it challenging for Jude to achieve whatever he wanted. He could pay for her presence in the physical sense, but that didn't mean she had to be there mentally as well.
C H A P T E R : T E N
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