Chapter 1

Amelia;

Amelia wiped the excess sweat that dripped from her face, at the same time, tucking her Brunette, frizzy hair beneath her ear. Her hands moved all over the place as fast as possible, washing dishes, rinsing, drying, and handing them over to Stephanie, all at the same time.

Her thin lips curved into a smile as she grabbed the last dish on the sink, washing it with her heart filled with ecstasy. That was the feeling she got whenever she was dealing with the last dish. She would have time to sit for a while to rest her aching legs, waiting patiently for the next set of dirty dishes to be dropped.

As she was about to wipe the dish dry, another set of dishes were dumped on the sink. Her euphoria instantly turned into fury and irritation. Nevertheless, she exhaled rapidly, picked up the first dish with a massive lump in her throat, and began scrubbing off the stains from it.

“Hurry!” Amelia heard from behind, causing her to jolt in fear, which resulted in her splashing a bit of soapy water on her face. She squinted her eyes, luckily it didn't affect her so badly. “Amelia, there are countless customers out there, and you are just here, playing around”

“No ma'am, ” Amelia replied sharply. She knew how cranky and furious Mrs. Davies could get, and wasn't willing to get on her bad side. Amelia's pay was already too little. If it got reduced even by a dollar, that would make it amount to nothing. Her day was already bad, she couldn't worsen it for herself.

“Then hurry would you?” Although Amelia was already washing at a fast pace, she still had to wash faster to make Mrs. Davies satisfied. Plus she hated the grimace on the middle-aged woman's face as stared at her. Her downturned lips was one that never curved up to a smile, even around customers. “Now when you're done, take over from Gary, take the orders, and deliver the food,” Mrs. Davies said with her brown slightly wrinkled eyes not leaving her.

“What's wrong with Gary?” Amelia asked in confusion, turning to look at her boss.

“That ungrateful bastard had been fired! You mind your own business now!" Mrs. Davies snapped at her and she flinched, instantly regretting why she asked that question in the first place.

Gary was one of the most hard-working colleague and hell knows why Mrs. Davies fired him. In fact, Amelia would have quit if she could, but no, she had to save money for her college and that was the only job she could find. Did she hate it, yes. Could she afford to loose it? That was a big no!

When Amelia was done, she cleaned her hands dry on her little red apron. One look at herself from top to button made her sigh. She didn't look the part. Her hair was messed up, having ignored it for years. The shoes on her legs were coated in faded fake leather that was slowly falling apart. Her skin looked pale and her body looked skinny. Not in a model-like way, but in a malnourished way.

How on earth could she explain to Mrs. Davies that the reason she preferred not to take orders was that she looked like a kindergarten child who just lost a fight? She would kiss her job goodbye the moment those words escaped from her lips.

Amelia removed her toque Blanche which barely covered any of her hair. She didn't need the hat, judging from the fact that she wasn't the one preparing the orders. Mrs. Davies just made sure all the employees working in the kitchen wore it. She was indeed particular about a customer not finding a strand of hair lying on their food. If a customer happens to complain about something in their food, and you were the one in charge of the food delivery, It was a goodbye to your complete payment. That was the reason Amelia despised taking and serving orders.

Nevertheless, she braced herself, exhaled sharply, and Brought alongside a notepad as she made her way out of the kitchen. Her social anxiety wasn't making it easy for her as beads of sweat gathered on her forehead. She gulped the moment she caught sight of the large number of people situated at the restaurant. She didn't even want to get started with the ones that sat outside as a result of the scarcity of seats.

Yes, Davies restaurant was that popular. Being one of the biggest, most affordable, and most efficient restaurants in California, every average living person who stayed around, went there regularly.

At the corner of the restaurant hung a television which had Xavier Garcia on it. She didn't know what he was saying and she didn't care to know. Being the 7th richest man in the world, he always had a way of pissing her off. As a matter of fact, Amelia had a thing against all rich people. She despised how they carried themselves and how they occasionally threw money around when there were poor people on the street who could barely afford to eat.

Xavier Garcia was like the american sweetheart. He had the looks and the wealth any woman would die for, but not her . She saw him as an arrogant prideful man. She even resisted the urge to go over to the television and switch off, but she didn't want to attract Mrs Davies's wrath. Amelia walked to the first table that was closest to the kitchen. She brought out a pen from her apron pocket, looking up to take the order of the customer. The moment she saw who it was, she almost erupted into laughter. There he was grinning intently at her, at the same time, throwing eyebrow flashes. She mentally facepalmed herself as she looked at him tiredly.

“Are you planning on getting me fired?”

“Now why would I?” peter, her friend smirked, faking a British accent

“Then what are you doing here?” Amelia whispered, looking around stealthily to see if Mrs. Davies was lurking around, looking for whom to devour.

“I came to have coffee,” he said, leaning back in his seat.

“Are you being serious, peter? You hardly visit restaurants and you hate coffee”

“People change” he shrugged

“What would you like to have?” she sighed in exasperation.“Just know I would be killing you later on”

“How polite,” he remarked, sarcastically, and Amelia rolled her eyes at him. “I already told you, coffee,” he said.

Amelia shook her head as she walked past him, making her way to the next table. She settled in front of a table that was occupied by a man she had never seen at Davies before. If Amelia wasn't misjudging, then this man was definitely a well-to-do man. He looked too fancy to be at a restaurant like that. Ranging from his perfectly groomed black hair, down to his expensive tuxedo. She also caught a slight peak at his shoe and just as she had expected, it looked priceless.

He seemed busy with his phone, which resulted in her clearing her throat to get his attention. “What would you like to have sir?” she asked, holding her notebook firmly and looking at him with a slight smile on her face. She needed to be polite if she wanted the customers to return. That was what Mrs. Davies always said. It was her restaurant, after all.

He looked at her for a while without saying anything. It went from just a glance to an extreme stare. Awkwardness stirred inside her as she tried her best not to peel her eyes off his awkward stare.

“What would you like to order? sir," she asked again, this time louder to ensure that he heard her.

“Have a seat” he said instead. Amelia looked at him in disbelief.

“I can't sit, I have to attend to other customers” wrong excuse. The main problem was if Mrs. Davies walked in on her sitting with a customer, she didn't even want to think about what might happen.

“Then you can stand then” he stated, and she nodded awkwardly. “My name is Lucas and I want to let you on a deal”

“Pardon?”

"Turn around and look at the television" he instructed. Even though he sounded so authoritative, that didn't stop her from turning around.

Her eyebrows knitted into a scolw as she stared at Xavier still on the news. "What does he have to do with this" She asked the man who watched her closely. He parted his lips to speak after some time.

“On behalf of my brother, Xavier Garcia, I’d like to propose to you.”