Chapter 6: We Gotta Be Quick

• She knew she wanted to study further, and now she was well-prepared to do so both academically and financially. She decided she didn’t want to just let go of this opportunity.
• Twenty minutes later, she got off the bus and walked towards the hotel. She tried to relax her face. She took a deep breath and muttered to herself, “Oof… I’d better get going now and earn some money for myself. I must seize the day.”
• Scarlett saw, from a distance, that Sophie was waiting for her at the front door of the hotel. “We gotta be quick. Let’s go change our clothes first.” Sophie said and took her to a locked room.
• Scarlett wasn’t shy in front of Sophie– they had been friends for so long, and they had both seen each other naked anyway. They were more like sisters at this point.
• “God, I love this dress! It’s just so fitted, you know, I feel like it flatters my figure. By the way, the quality is not bad, huh?” Scarlett zipped the dress up carefully. She told Sophie that she cared about the quality of uniforms because she had had a terrible experience one time when she was part-timing as an usher. She had been wearing a silk dress, and it had suddenly split at a corner when she was struggling to free herself from a client who was gripping her wrist.
• “You said it. This is not an ordinary hotel, though. Look! Look who’s passing by.” Sophie said and fingered at a short, fatty but neatly-dressed man.
• “Mr. Crawford? The CEO of Y.G. Entertainment?”
• “Exactly. So you see what kinds of people are coming for tonight’s banquet. Be careful about what you say and what you do, understand?”
• “I got it. Don’t worry about me! You know me, I would never cause you trouble, would I?”
• Sophie sighed, “I know you won’t, sweetie. That’s why I brought you here in the first place. But if you get into any trouble, just call the manager or me, okay? I’ve sent you her number.” She said, with a smile, and then left for her own business.
• Scarlett’s only task was to stand at the door and greet guests coming in to attend the grand banquet. In truth, she was supposed to lead guests to the banquet hall. But the layout of the hotel was just too complex for her to figure out, especially all in one night, so the other two girls took charge of the guiding job instead. They were more experienced– they’d been working at the hotel for a while.
• So, Scarlett just stood there and greeted the guests with a smile on her face. She was probably one of the best candidates for the job because her sexy yet sweet smile pleased the guests and put them in good moods– especially the older male guests.
• After about five hours, all the guests who had been invited and had RSVPed their attendance had arrived. This meant that Scarlett’s job for the night was all done.
• Scarlett was satisfied with today’s job because this was one of those rare times that nobody had tried to flirt with her or touch her inappropriately while she was working.
• “It’s nice working at a top-tier hotel, I won’t lie.” She said and waved at Sophie as she walked towards her.
• “The banquet is in the Champs Elysees Hall. Let’s go and get ourselves a free meal!” Sophie took Scarlett’s hand and led her upstairs.
• “Is that okay? We’re not invited, and people there are…” Scarlett thought it would be embarrassing if the guests recognized her as the girl who had been greeting them at the door.
• “Hey, girl. You know what, my boyfriend launched this banquet and he’s in there now. Why should anybody have an issue with it if I went in there and dined with him? Hurry up now! I’m starving!” Sophie raised her eyebrows and gestured to Scarlett to follow her as she began walking upstairs.
• Sophie was just that type of girl– she didn’t care that her boyfriend, Jeff Richards, was some big businessman in the area and that Sophie herself was basically a nobody. Sophie didn’t let that sort of thing get to her– no matter what anyone around her said.
• At last, Scarlett and Sophie got to the banquet hall. Sophie was a social butterfly; she could talk and become friends with practically anybody. Scarlett watched her popping up here and there. She was entertaining the guests as though she were the hostess of the party herself!
• Scarlett, on the other hand, wished she could just be invisible. She sat quietly and stuffed her face with food, hoping nobody would notice her or make conversation.
• A voice shot in Scarlett’s direction and seemed to target her. “You’ve been working hard, haven’t you? You must have been starving all those hours!”
• Scarlett turned around and found herself directly facing none other than Jeff Richards.
• She put down her fork immediately and said, “Hey, Jeff!” All of a sudden, a loud burp escaped her mouth. Scarlett was absolutely mortified.
• She was overcome with embarrassment. Not only because of the burp but also because she realized she didn’t go to thank the host today for this wonderful dinner. Instead, she had allowed the host to approach her. It was supposed to be the other way around, and she knew that.
• “You know, this is such a great dinner, and I really enjoy it, as my disgusting burp just now suggested… Thank you so much for this. I feel like I haven’t eaten such wonderful food in ages because, well, you know how school canteens can be. Sometimes, there are even rat tails in the curries and cockroaches crawling about in the salads…”
• “Oof, alright, I didn’t need so many details…” Jeff wished he hadn’t heard Scarlett’s stories of the school canteen. He felt a little bit sick.
• “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to gross you out. I gotta go now, thank you again for the dinner.” Scarlett took her bag, gave Sophie a little wink to let her know she was leaving, and walked out of the banquet hall.