𝐿𝐼𝑀𝐼𝑇𝐿𝐸𝑆𝑆 | 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐍

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

—𝐴𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖—

𝐈

𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆!

The elevator doors opened, and Aditi stepped in after Alphonso and Bobby, keeping a tight grip on the wine cart she had been tasked with.

The same Tina Turner song came on as the elevator doors closed. She had a feeling that the song would get annoying quickly.

This was her third time serving the restaurant. At this point, she was pretty sure she had a good understanding of Alphonso: a guy who compensated for his lack of swagger with overwhelming confidence and a little too much chatter. Still, she loved the guy—in this space of way too serious (and disgusting) people, his silly comments actually helped her get through the night.

Bobby was a completely different story. She still had no clue about the guy, other than his name and the fact that he was a boxer. She knew he had a reason for working here that went beyond money—or at least, that was her theory. He was rather quiet; most of the time, he replied with nods or one-word answers, and that was just to Alphonso. Whenever she tried to talk to him, she would usually just receive a glance and shrug. Obviously, they were the best of friends.

She didn't let that bother her too much. She was here with a purpose, and that wasn't to make friends.

The scene set before her as the doors opened was practically identical to the last time: rich sleazeballs stuffing their mouths with steak and eyeing the women, security guards lined along the walls, and the jazz band in the corner, in the middle of a song.

"You know what to do now," muttered Alphonso to both of them. "Go make people happy."

Aditi pushed the cart off the elevator, keeping a close eye on the wine glasses to make sure they wouldn't topple over. She had only a moment of peace before a few fingers were snapping her over.

It was pretty much the same routine with every table. She never got the chance to even open her mouth before one of the men told her which wine they wanted, and, carefully, she'd pour it before returning her eyes to the cart and pushing it to the next table. She tried her best to avoid eye contact—whenever she did meet anyone's gaze, she was either met with a repulsed look or eyed up and down.

She brushed it off every time. All she cared about was finding Riya—and she could only do that by following orders.

Slowly, she walked around the floor, limiting her glances to checking if wine glasses were empty or not. The man sitting at the edge of the booth only a few steps down snapped at her, and she pushed her cart toward them.

She recognized the man: Dhruv Khan. She knew his face not only from seeing him the past couple of times she had worked this position, but also the newspaper—he was the state's education minister.

He pointed to the red wine as soon as she stopped in front of him. She uncorked the bottle and began pouring it into the empty glasses. She tried to focus on the sound of the piano as she poured—if she tuned into the conversation, she knew she'd be hearing some pretty disgusting stuff.

There was one glass left, and that was the one that belonged to the minister. His attention was on her rather than the conversation, and she spared him a glance as he pushed his glass toward her.

"Nice job, huh?" he asked, and she gave a timid nod as she filled his glass. "It's a shame you aren't on the menu, though."

Aditi wasn't all too sure how to respond to that other than a forced chuckle, and she was glad that his glass was the last. She put the half-empty bottle of wine back on her cart and kept pushing it down the floor.