The challenge

"I saw you in my dreams…" I said and looked at him to see whether he was still disappointed or about to laugh at me, but his reaction was very different. He had a slight hope in his eyes, and it confused me. What is the origin of that hope?

"And you heard my name there?" He asked, looking into my eyes.

"Yeah. I heard my voice pronouncing your name… Don't laugh at me, please, I'm serious… I don't remember anything before my father's death and I really found this city just believing my dreams aren't just some mad dreams but pieces of my lost memory!"

{Actually, I never thought of this before I saw him here existing for real.}

"I'm not going to laugh, Letty. You made a wise decision coming here. This place will help your memories to be back…" He sighed, and I felt he wanted to say more, maybe even something different from what he said, but he didn't.

{Why? Did he know me before I lost my memory? Did it prove I was in this city before and that's why I found it so easily?}

"There are much more questions than answers," I said with the hope he'll give me some answers or the slightest hints.

"It'll be easier soon, believe me. You just arrived…" He said, breaking my dreams to find everything so easily, then took a badge out of his table, then took a piece of paper, and wrote my name there. He put the paper inside the badge and held it to me, "It's yours for now. All the girls have the same badges. It'll be easier for the visitors to call you."

"I think I need some guidance. I was never a waitress; I don't want to fall like this on my first working day…" I was about to ask something about those moon badges I saw, but when I opened my mouth, someone said way different words than I was about to say. It's at least strange. Who can say that instead of me using my mouth and voice? I'm getting mad, I swear…

"Don't be afraid, Catherine, the most qualified waitress will guide you on every point. Want to try to work out? I'll be watching over you from the balcony, so if you require my help, just turn your head in my direction, okay? It will be a silent hint for me to get down…"

"You're so sweet, thank you." I smiled and he smiled back.

"Anytime" he stood up and went closer to the wall, knocked it, so the magic worked again, and the wall moved aside. I followed him and froze on the stairs, seeing Bella waiting for me downstairs. Aiden was standing near me. I saw he nodded at her, and she called someone. While I was going down, a nice-looking girl joined Bella and they both waited for me.

"I'm Catherine. Nice to meet you finally! The whole city is talking about the newcomer!" Catherine smiled and hugged me. She was so energetic and beautiful that I felt my inner batteries charging from her with positive feelings. That's exactly what I need for my first day in the new city! Anyway, Catherine was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen before. She had long blonde curls and deep amber eyes, as well as a smoking hot body and a light green cocktail dress emphasizing it.

"Aiden told me you could guide me…" I said, and they both looked at me as if I said something wrong.

"If the boss said that, I'll do it!" She emphasized the word "boss" as if to point out I should call him like that too. However, my inner voice, probably the one who said I require guidance, was telling me I could call him Aiden no matter what they say.

Bella went upstairs to her office, while Catherine showed with her hand to the bar counter.

"This is your main checkpoint place. You stay near the barman until visitors call you, he calls you to help or do something, or the kitchen is calling you. Just stay there, and you'll never have a lack of work!" She giggled, then looked at me, "Don't be so serious. Smile! Smiling is the main rule, the more smiling, the easier the work! If you have troubles…"

"Aiden told me what to do…" I looked up at him and found out he was watching me from upstairs, his hands crossed on his chest, hiding the words on his T-shirt. His magnetic eyes were right on me and I felt calm immediately. I'm under his protection.

"Perfect, then go to the bar counter and take your stuff…"

I looked over at the nightclub again and went straight to the bar counter. The barman smiled when saw the badge hanging on my white transparent blouse in the clavicle area. He gave me white gloves, a white towel, and a notebook with a pen.

"I'm Rick and that's all you need for now. Say hi, smile, and ask if they are ready to make an order, or if they require extra time. The menus are on their tables."

I nodded and put a towel in my right hand, took the notebook and pen to the left one, turned around, and looked at the blue table near the door, where the visitors raised their hands. I understood they were calling me and went straight to them.

"Good evening, nice to meet you here. Are you ready to make an order?" I asked everything at once and heard a silent laugh.

"Good evening miss… Oh, I see. Letty, right?" Asked one of the visitors. He was a tall, handsome, and muscled brown-haired man, dressed in white jeans and a gray shirt.

"Letty," I said back, and all the guys smiled.

"So, you're the new waitress?" They asked, and I arched an eyebrow, then nodded in silence, waiting for their order. They giggled and looked over at me.

{Are they drunk?}

"Listen, little, we're not the commoners, so we don't know all the rules…" One man started, and the second one sitting near him in a pink T-shirt continued, "So we don't know who belongs to whom, so… If we did something bad, and you don't like it, you can tell your boyfriend for sure…"

They all grinned, showing me their white sharp teeth, and then laughed out so loud that even Aiden heard being on the balcony. I looked at them with wonder and shrunk my shoulders.

"If you're not ready to make an order, don't waste my time. Call me, when you are ready." I said still with a smile and tended to leave them and go serve the next table that was just taken by three tall and beautiful girls, but one of the guys took my wrist and made me stop.

"Oh, we are ready… Can we order… you?" All the guys at the table burst into a laugh, and I felt anger rising in me.

"Do you see me as a point on the menu?" My question made them laugh louder and this time I heard a noise behind my back, then a male hand ended at my waist and a bit of rude voice near my ear.

"Do you have problems, sweetheart?"

I jerked my head to see Aiden standing near me and hugging my waist. His other hand was clenched in a fist and pressed to the corner of the table. He came so fast I didn't even manage to catch him climbing downstairs as if he made a big jump from the up to cut the time. I narrowed my eyes.

"Yes," I said with a confident voice, and he looked at me, waiting for more details, "Did you put me as a point to order in the menu?"

I saw for the first time in my life how a man's face turn from good to evil in a few seconds: Aiden's look darkened, his eyes changed their color to bright amber, his teeth sharpened, and his voice became more hoarse and harsh.

"What?"

"Do I really need to repeat that? " I asked with full confidence and without any fear. For an unknown reason, I was neither scared of his eyes completely changing their color from blue to amber nor of his voice becoming more rude and hoarse. It felt like I'd faced those changes before, so they can't surprise or scare me now.

{Did I?}

His left hand moved from my waist to the table, and he clenched it into a fist, then leaned down and looked closely at the guys.

"Who the hell said that?" Aiden's voice was low, throwing goosebumps running all over my skin.

I could see fear in their eyes, overtaking their minds and fading away all the other emotions. On the contrary, I couldn't catch any fear from my side.

"Who said that?" He repeated, and we saw one of the guys raising his trembling hand. Aiden looked at him, squeezed his throat with his hand, and lift him up in one quick move, pressing his back to the wall. I rounded my eyes and hurried to stop him when I heard… "How dare you offend my woman?"

"Aiden, no!" I don't know how, but I found so much courage deep in my soul, so I could touch his hand near the throat of that man who offended me in order to prevent Aiden from doing something bad with him. Even if that guy called me a b*tch, I don't want Aiden to kill people because of me.