EARRING

As Eirene Queen was ready to go to the bar just a floor above, she received a call.

"Hello, this is Queen."

"Hey. It's Archer Collins. I heard that you can't make it tonight."

"Hello, Mr Collins. Yes, the storm is raging in the city and, we are not can't make it tonight or any day close." Archer Collins was the director of the movie Queen's Crown, where she played the villain queen of the heroine.

"We were having a party tonight and hoping you two could join but, I guess that can't happen. Anyway I hope you two are safe. Oh, and yeah, we have changed the schedule. Since the filming was planned to start from tomorrow starting with you, we decided to film Annabelle's parts first so when you arrive here, your shooting starts. I hope you can adjust to that."

"I've got no problem." She told the director. He was one of the people who didn't judge her by what people said. She was grateful for it.

"Good. Also... another one came." He spoke unwillingly.

"I see. I'm sorry for bothering you with it." Eirene knew what he was talking about. She usually received hate letters at least three per day and, some of them were sent to the directors or producers of the films or series that she was acting in. But it has escalated and, when it was released that she was going to act in his film, hate comments were directed to him and sent there.

"It's okay. But what I'm worried about is you. You don't deserve this. They don't know you yet, they say things as if they do. I know how it feels to be hated but not this much. At least those people who hated me knew me, so I can accept that. I don't know why your country exiled you but, I know you have your reasons and, I'm not going to force you to say it."

"Thank you."

"Yep. So that's about it. You can come about like next week then we good. Don't catch a cold. Good night." Archer nodded to himself.

"Good night to you too, sir. I hope to see you in St Kilda after the storm."

"Okay. Bye." He hung up the phone. Eirene checked her emails and messages and replied to all of them before wearing a different dress from yesterday and going to the bar.

Ares was working inside the bar, where they kept the bottles and sweets for the customer and didn't realise the person he had been waiting for showed up. The storage room was in between the bar and the floor in between and could only be accessed from the bar that led there with circling stairs.

"She's here." Quentin came down the stairs and informed his friend.

"Who? Eirene Queen?" Ares almost dropped the bottle he had in his hands. He was wiping the bottles.

"Yep. She is asking for you." His friend smirked and went upstairs.

Ares clumsily climbed the stairs and looked for her on the rich side of the bar where she was sitting at the counter table alone. She was wearing a UK-style long white maxi dress with her long black hair cascading over. Her outfit was the opposite of yesterday night but, it still brought the same impression only that her hair was down, and it was a little less intimidating. Her beauty was never affected by her clothing as the dress made her beauty stand out more. If an ordinary woman was wearing this, they wouldn't even know that it was the same dress.

"I didn't expect you to come this early." Ares approached her and told her.

"My schedule has changed. I am staying here until the storm goes. I want to order one mulled wine."

"Yes, ma'am." Ares nodded, and he immediately began making it. He was somehow not scared of her anymore. "Here."

"I also want one cheesecake." She spoke as she received the glass. Her black pearl earring jiggled at her ears.

"Got it." He went downstairs, and he encountered Clinton.

"Hey, I heard that you are friends with that actress. I didn't know you had such skills and intentions. How did you get close to her?" The bartender asked as soon as he saw Ares.

He was working on the factory side when she showed up and asked for the guy from yesterday. He didn't know who she was talking about and brought Quentin, but it turned out to be this boy.

"She liked my mulled wine. She wanted to drink it again." Ares blushed lightly when he heard him.

"Really? She couldn't just ask me? Damn, I wish I was here yesterday!" Clinton grumbled.

"What happened with your girlfriend?" Ares took out the perfect-sized cheesecake and placed it on a plate.

"I have to take her on a date tomorrow. So I wouldn't be here." He smiled and sighed. They have been dating for five years and, she was demanding a marriage proposal. He was thinking it was about time but, he just needed to earn a little more money for the rings.

"Got it." Ares went up the stairs and placed the chilled cake in front of the actress. She was blankly staring at the drink on the table.

"Thank you, Ares."

"Your welcome. Wait, how did you know my name? I don't think I introduced myself." Ares blinked a couple of times when he heard his name called out by her. It sounded... pleasing.

"I heard your friend calling your name, so I thought it was. If you do not wish to call you by your name, you can just tell me." She knew the public had bad opinions about her, and she would understand if he didn't want to have anything to do with her.

"No. You can call me whatever you like. Oh, my name is Ares." He immediately replied to her with his hands held up in the air in defence.

"I am Eirene but, I think you already know my name... Don't you wish to get away from me? You know who am I and what people say." She took a bite of the cake he brought and chewed on it. The way the natural light-coloured red lips were hypnotising.

"I do know your name, although I don't know much about you. To be honest, I don't really care about what people say. You can't judge a book by its cover. Or at least that is what I learnt from my grandmother." He looked down at his shoes. "I can't say anything because I don't know the whole story. It's not fair is my opinion... Sorry..."

"What are you apologising for?" Eirene looked up and frowned. When she frowned, she looked angry, and the boy in front of her shrank.

"For meddling into your business. You didn't ask for my opinion." He answered, and he heard the queen laugh.

"Thank you for not judging me. It helps." She chuckled. When he raised his head again after some time, he saw that she was done with the drink. He immediately asked for another one and served her again.

"Your smile is beautiful. It is soothing." Ares spoke out when she saw a soft smile that lingered on her lips. She didn't have any lipstick on it but, it shined with alcohol.

"It's not good to lie, dear." She told him. Her hair shined beautifully in the reflection of the counter lights as well as her earring. The left side of her face was covered with her hair and didn't even allow the other earring to shine.

"I'm not. You look sweeter that way." Ares answered with honesty.

"You are the first one to tell me that. Thank you." She halted and handed out the card. She never laughed or smiled unless she was acting or was with close people.

"Your welcome." He smiled kindly and handed back the card. "Thank you. Good night."

"Good night." She stood up and left the bar.

Just as she left, two men approached Ares suspiciously and handed him their business cards.

"Hey, we are reporters of this news company and we were wondering if you would like to answer a few questions for us." One of them with a black coat asked him.

"I'm sorry but, we do not take interviews here. Please leave." Ares smiled at them.

"Depends on the information, we'll give you more." The other man brought out a bill written one hundred.

Ares took the bill just to return it. "As I said earlier, we do not take interviews. I advise you to leave before I call the guards." He was smiling, indicating he was not going to take no for an answer.

"If you change your mind, call us... Ares." The man put back the bill in his wallet and squinted his eyes to read the name tag on the assistant bartender.

Ares stared as they walked out of the bar. He knew they were here for the one and only Eirene Queen. He stared at the cards for a while before putting them in his hind pocket.

-----

Quentin asked from the other side of the bar, "You done collecting the plates?"

Ares answered as he once again checked for the leftover plates on the tables, "Yep." He then faced the front bar only to find something reflecting the light on the floor near the counter.

The boy walked over and carefully picked up the shining object. It was an earring consisting of several astonishing black pearls. He didn't need to search for his memories to know to whom that earring belonged. Eirene Queen.

"That must be expensive." Since Ares was so occupied with the earring, he didn't see Quentin sneaking up on him, hence, causing him to jolt in surprise.

"You almost made my heart stop, Quentin!" The boy complained before replying, "It must be."

The older laughed, "You know whose it is?"

"Yep. I'll take it to reception after I change."

"Okay." The two turned off the lights of the bar and walked to the men's changing room.

Ares carefully wrapped the surely expensive earring in his white handkerchief and made sure that there were going to be no scratches.

"Alright, I'll be leaving first. Good night." Quentin finished before Ares and walked out of the room with his bag over his shoulders.

"Good night." The door closed as soon as the other replied.

It didn't take long for Ares to ready himself and go down to the front desk to find no one there. There were supposed to be three or at least two receptionists at all times but there wasn't even a shadow of them there.

"Where are the ladies?" Ares asked the doorman at the entrance, who always chatted with them.

"They are in the bathroom. One of them puked her guts out and the other two are helping. You wanted to see them?" The doorman recognised Ares as the guy who worked in the bar and answered him nicely.

"Yeah, a customer forgot their thing in the bar."

"Ahh." The doorman nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe you can give it to one of them. They must be in one of the staff washrooms on this floor."

"Thanks, man."

"No problem." Ares went to the closest women's bathroom and heard someone loudly gagging and instantly knew that was the place.

He wanted to knock on the door, but he heard another round of throwing up and women encouraging the other, so he stopped. There was no way he could knock and interrupt their session just to give them an earring at that moment.

He also didn't have time to wait for them since his father's men were already waiting for him in the parking lot. In the end, he decided to call Quentin.

Quentin answered on the second ring, "Wassup."

"Hey." Ares couldn't hide the worries in his tone or his face. "The receptionists are occupied at the moment for I don't know how long. My dad's waiting, but I can't go home with this. What should I do?"

The man didn't need to be told to know what the boy was talking about. "Just take it with you. You can give it to the front desk in the morning or something. It's not that much of a deal."

"...Okay..." Ares reluctantly agreed and hung up the phone when he heard a train announcement from the other side.

He carefully put the handkerchief in his jacket pocket and walked back to the main lobby.

"Did you get a chance to talk to them?" The same doorman asked when he saw Ares.

"No."

The doorman placed one of his gloved hands on Ares's shoulder and spoke sympathetically. "Don't worry. I'll tell them about your case once they come back."

"I appreciate it," Ares was shorter than him. So naturally, he looked up to speak, making him look like a child with his baby face, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The doorman instantly had the urge to kiss the boy but restrained himself and just smiled.

Ares rushed to the black car in the parking lot in cold and got in.

"How was your day, young master?" The driver, Raanan, asked as he started the car.

"It went great. Thank you, Raanan." Ares answered and faced down to his bag. He removed his clean towel and placed the earring from his pocket. He then wrapped it again for additional safety, oblivious of Raanan watching every move of his with the rear view mirror silently.