Ares sighed when he was back in the worker's room. He had just finished his shift and was tired. The hotel held many parties today, and they had a lot of guests to take care of. Because he can speak multiple languages, he was called here and there.
It had been three days since he was saved by the villain queen. All the time, he thought about her and the rumours. He went online to look for good things about her to only find hate and mean comments. As he only knew about her figure in the entertaining world, he didn't know much about what she had done or what she accomplished. He lived in a remote area with cattle and farms where mostly elders lived. Hence, he was not active on social media or grew up watching Dora the Explorer.
"Sup. You look tired, man. You sure you're alright?" His workmate, Quentin, asked. He had broad shoulders and was dark-skinned. He was the one who taught him everything about the hotel and one of the few people who knew of Ares's identity.
"Yeah, I've been studying and staying up late but I'm okay. Just a little sleepy."
Ares learnt from the information online that Eirene Queen was multilingual and could speak many languages, including the one that Ares didn't have an interest in, Greek. Ever since he knew of that information, he had been learning the language for some reason he didn't know. He felt drawn to it, unlike the way he ran away when he was a child.
"Take care of yourself. Maybe you shouldn't do tonight's shift. We can cover you up."
"No, it's okay. I want to do tonight's shift. It is my job and, I don't want someone doing that for me just because of my selfish reasons." Ares stood up and smiled at his colleague.
"Okay. But you can rest until it's time." Quentin smiled back at him. He thought of Ares as a brother since he had been with him for more than three years. He knew what kind of person Ares was and would take care of him since the day he met.
"Thanks." Ares smiled, and with that, Quentin left the room. Ares went to the other room that was connected to the worker's room, where it had beds for the overnight shifters. He lay in one of the beds and closed his eyes before setting an alarm that would ring in two hours.
"... Did you see her?"
"Yeah. Damn well, I saw her. It's really her, right? I can't believe she's here. Was she alone?"
"Nah, man. She was with some dude..."
Voices from the next room woke Ares up before the alarm did its job. His head was dizzy, but he felt fresh. The nap was good.
"Hey." He walked into the room where two guys were talking.
"Sup."
"Hey." Ares didn't know their names but knew their faces. They were in charge of the bar, which was located on the top floor of the hotel. They must have finished their day shift and come in here to go home. "Did you hear about the queen?" One of them asked Ares with a smirk.
Ares startled before turning his face towards them. He thought they were talking about his father or, his identity was discovered. "Who?"
"Eirene Queen. The queen of Villains. Man, that name suits her."
"What's about her?" Ares asked. He needed to change his clothes for the bar.
"She's here."
"Yeah." The other nodded his head and began removing his clothes.
"That's... wow...?" Ares didn't know how to reply to that. To be honest, he was glad that she was here. Meaning he had a chance to thank her for the other day.
The men sighed when they heard Ares. They expected him to say more.
"Man, I wish I could stay. I couldn't see her face properly. That damn hat and sunglasses were covering her face." They grumbled.
"If her face was covered, how did you know that it was her?" Ares asked out of curiosity.
"You are seriously asking that? Anyone would know it's her from her aura. Plus, many reporters came with her and the bodyguards needed to stop them." They laughed remembering how the queen made the noisy lobby silent by just the sight of her. Everyone watched her as she gracefully walked to the reception with her male assistant carrying her suitcase and bags. She was much scarier than in movies and series. Even the female receptionist trembled slightly facing her. Her entire being screamed danger and cold.
"I didn't know she had reserved." If she did, it would be all over the hotel, and everyone would know.
"She hadn't. It was made by the assistant under his name, so no one knew. She and her assistant took two suite rooms. TWO! I can't even afford to have lunch here, and they are staying here for a week, like what? I don't think I would ever understand rich people." Ares nodded to the comment. He was new to being rich and was feeling uncomfortable being rich.
"I see. You guys going home?"
"Yep. Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye. Take care." Ares replied to them and changed his clothes in a haste. Quentin must be waiting in the bar for him. He still had to learn many brands of wine and champagne to memorise.
"Did you have great nap?" Quentin asked as he smoked in the smoking area. He extinguished it when he saw Ares. Ares didn't like tobacco.
"Yes. Thanks to you." Ares smiled brightly with his brushed teeth and washed face. He forgot to set his hair all back just like everyone else.
"Then let me take you to the cellar tonight. I hope you remember what you learnt yesterday." Quentin flipped Ares's hair all back and walked to the wine cellar.
"What is this?"
"1972 Barefoot Malbec."
"This?"
"White merlot Twin Valley 2000."
"That one?"
"2000 Yellow Tail Merlot."
This went on for about thirty minutes before they walked to the bar.
"I can't believe you mastered their names. It took me a month to remember all of this." Quentin laughed as they walked into the bar from the backside. They had different jobs and separated ways there.
Ares was an assistant to the bartenders and he was in charge of recharging alcohol, serving cakes and sweets and washing the utensils. Quentin was doing almost the same thing as his friend, but he was a professional bartender, so he had more work than Ares.
The bar had two sides, and the side where it faced the city had more customers in it, and that was where Ares worked. On the other side where it faced the industrial area packed with factories, had fewer people but more rich people than the ones on the opposite. It was for celebrities. It wasn't a rule for the customers to know which side they belong to, but it was an unspoken rule in the Queens' Hotel.
Ares did his work until it was time. He was really sleepy, but he wanted to find Eirene Queen to thank her.
"You can find her tomorrow. They said that she and the assistant are going to stay for a week, right? Then I think you haven't lost hope." Quentin patted Ares's shoulder. He was the only one Ares told the story of when he and his friends were saved by the actress.
"I know but, if I don't hurry, then she might forget that she saved us. I want to thank her before she forgets." Ares answered and changed into his shirt.
The reason why he was kind of obsessed with thanking someone was because of his grandmother. She taught him words have spirits and reality is affected by the spoken word. Speaking negatively makes life negative while speaking positively makes life positive and happy. And saying thank you was definitely a positive one. Thank you was one of the words that made people happy.
'I don't think she remembers she saved you, though.' Quentin replied in his mind because he knew those words would hurt the boy.
"Well, you still have six days."
"I know." Ares answered and sighed.
------
After five days of not being able to catch a glimpse of the villain queen, Ares began to doubt if she was really staying at the hotel but, when he checked who stayed in the two suite rooms in the reception, it showed that it was her and her assistant.
But he finally met her on the last day of their stay in the bar. She wore an elegant black cape formal dress with her black long hair in a bun. She had all the attention of the bar as she strode to the industrial side bar with her male assistant behind her. Her black carbonado earring was decorating her perfect ears made everyone breathless.
"One mulled wine." She sat directly in front of Ares and told him without breaking eye contact.