61. A Pushy Patron

61. A Pushy Patron

“Good evening, I have a reservation for the Branford Group for 7PM in one of your private rooms, but since I’m a bit early I was hoping I might be able to wait for my associate at the bar. Would that be alright?”

The woman with a slight look of surprise, apparently recognising the name of Aurora’s family conglomerate responded with a slightly brighter smile.

“Yes, of course, this way, please. I hope you have had a pleasant day so far?”

Appreciating the waitresses’ efforts to assuage an awkward atmosphere from walking in silence, Aurora responded to her small talk while consciously remembering her supposed background that the gods provided.

“I suppose it has been. I returned from Melbourne yesterday and had a chance to meet up with some friends I had not seen in person for a while. It has been a nice bit of a break from all of the work piling up around me.”

The waitress happily continued speaking as she led Aurora up a flight of stairs and to the bar that overlooked the main floor of the restaurant.

“Oh, that must have been quite the change in time zones for you? I hope the jet lag was not that bad?”

Aurora let a slight smile play on her lips as she answered, mentally calculating the difference in time zones.

“You could say that. Thankfully it has not hit me too hard, I was quite tired so managed to get some sleep on the flight back, so the eleven-hour time difference has not affected me that badly.”

The waitress gave a smile in response as she pulled out one of the bar stools for her, wishing her a pleasant night before returning downstairs to deal with the evening rush clearly in full swing.

The bartender who had just finished serving another customer and wiping down the counter behind the bar swung his towel over his shoulder as he walked over.

“Good evening, Miss, what can I get for you?”

Picking up the menu next to her, Aurora swiftly looked through with practised eyes, thankful for the bonuses her now available status provided her allowing her to read through the drinks menu faster than she would have been able to a few days prior.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

Seemingly quite pleased with himself that he had managed to get the attention of the Beautiful woman, even if in a limited way, he continued to speak, not moving his head while displaying a confident smile from where it rested in his palm.

“Well, I just wanted to get to know such a gorgeous beauty who is sat at a bar all by herself.”

Letting out a sigh in unconcealed exasperation, Aurora started to annotate some of the runes around the outside section of the magical circle as she answered, still not looking at the man. If nothing else, the annoying interaction did highlight her apparently new ability to multi task between talking and writing at the same time.

“Well, I hate to be rude, but I am currently waiting for one of my employees and I’m making the most of my free time to get some work done, so I apologise for not having the time for casual conversation.”

Aurora realised her mistake in using the words ‘free time’ as soon as the man started speaking in his overly confident tone.

“Well, if you have free time, you can at least look at me, after all, I can’t appreciate your beautiful face if you spend all your time looking at your drawing.”

The man reached out to touch her, something Aurora noticed from the corner of her eye, so she circulated a tiny amount of magic around her hand that formed an electric charge that as soon as his skin made contact with hers caused him to experience a small shock.

With a slight smirk seeing the man suddenly recoil in surprise, Aurora spoke a slight hint of derision in her voice.

“I would appreciate it if you kept your hands to yourself. I am not interested in your advances, especially since my brother passed away not two days ago. I am neither in the mood nor mental state for such frivolities, so please respect that.”

Finally looking at the man with a scowl on his face, she had hoped with a little expectation her words would discourage him, and seemingly contrary to that, he now sported a deep frown on his face.

“Darling, you don’t need to lie to me, we both know you are lying-“

Much to Aurora’s relief, the man’s impromptu spewing of nonsense was interpreted by a familiar sounding man clearing his throat as he interjected into their conversation, a waitress just behind him.