Chapter 147: I am a true believer in love at first sight

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“Welcome, do you have a reservation?”

Tina, was a woman-beast receptionist in her early twenties, as always, welcoming customers, acting professionally in her job. She loved it, as it didn’t involve too much effort; it just required a good memory and she was paid handsomely.

“Yes, Abram right, you have a perfect reservation, go ahead. Enjoy your evening.

For her, who was a beastly woman, finding a decent job in this realm had been difficult. Although discrimination was not explicit, it existed. If someone had to choose between a human and a beastman as an employee, they mostly opted for the humans.

Luckily, his boss was also a beastwoman, that was successful even under these conditions. Not that she spoke ill of her, but, to begin with, it was her own boss who shamelessly told her how she had married for convenience to a rich nobleman and managed to open this place, where all her employees are beastwomen.

Tina was deeply grateful and indebted to her boss for giving her a place in the kingdom, though….

“Oh, good morning, Tina!”

“Ma’am, it’s evening right now.”

“Oh, that’s right, little details. Don’t complicate your life, you’ll get wrinkles; you have to be happy like me.”her boss had a peculiar personality.

“But, madam, you are much older than me…”

“Shh, don’t talk nonsense; I’m only 20, eternally. Leaving that aside, how’s the evening going; has anyone interesting come, anyone I can have fun with?”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry if it sounds bad, but, as I told you before, you shouldn’t be doing that being a married woman.”

“Tina, I told you to forget those little details.”

’No, ma’am, that’s not a little detail,’ Tina thought, though in the end she kept it to herself. Arguing with her boss wasn’t productive and probably wouldn’t lead to anything, so she replied:

“Ma’am, nothing and no one ’interesting’ happened today. Only the frequent guests that you categorize as uninteresting have been here.”

“Oh, that’s right, too bad. You know, no man since my husband has made my heart beat lately; I’m thinking of giving up.”

“You should, you’re married,” Tina thought.

“What, what did you say? You’re wrong, little Tina. That’s never been a deterrent to having fun.”

Tina thought she had just thought it, but it slipped out. Her boss didn’t take such things seriously, so she didn’t worry about getting fired, the problem was what her words might provoke , and as she expected, the conversation dragged on.

“Besides, what does it matter? My husband was a burning flame when we started, but, after a month, it went out. Don’t you think it’s unfair to swear eternal love to me and then last only a month?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied dryly, hoping he would stop. To her bad luck, no more customers were coming in, so she couldn’t excuse herself, and her boss continued.

“I’ll tell you this, little Tina, you who are still in your twenties: a life advice, love doesn’t exist.”

“It’s as you say, ma’am.”

“Yeah, you know, even when I had my daughters, you know what the requirement was for the father? That he be handsome; I didn’t even look for him when I got pregnant.”

“That’s impressive, ma’am.” It would indeed be an interesting story if it weren’t for the fact that I’d heard it more than once.

“You have to be a strong woman. Even when I married my current husband, it was to have a better life; that’s why love is secondary. Look how his love faded after a month. Love is a made-up lie.”

Tina had no choice but to listen to the ramblings of her boss, who had targeted her today to vent her frustrations.

Everyone in the business knew she was frustrated, but oddly enough she was picky about men, and no one lately was managing to meet her high standards.

Her husband seemed busy lately and, apparently, the relationship was more about business than anything else.

They understood that this frustration had been building up for several years, to the point that lately they were making bets that the day she found someone who met her standards, that man would die. Rumor had it that their boss had succubus blood and had been a legend a few years ago.

But leaving that aside, her boss kept talking to her about things she had heard many times already, but at that moment, like an oasis in the desert, Tina saw customers approaching.

Finally, she thought her mistress would let her off the hook and go on her way, but no, she just stood there, as if waiting for her to attend to continue being her recipient of frustrations.

’Damn, why would I…haaaa…. Well, whatever.’ Ignoring her boss and faithfully continuing her work, Tina asked:

“Good morning, dear guests, do you have any reservations? If so, could I have your name?”

’I made a mistake because of my boss’ tina hoped her mistake would go unnoticed and looked at the client.

“…”

Tina looked at the man leading the group; they all appeared to be young adults, in their early twenties, like her. But the one who looked like the leader didn’t answer her. She thought they were just messing with her, but as a professional at her job she didn’t lose her patience so easily.

In fact, she followed the young man’s gaze and realized that the problem was that he was watching his boss gawking. Tina didn’t blame him. Putting aside her personality and the fact that she was married with children, her boss was a great beauty.

She was a rare mutation of the tiger clan; her hair was white with black streaks, her skin had a healthy tan, and her eyes were a beautiful golden with the vertical line characteristic of felines. Her beauty and charm could be fatal to inexperienced youngsters.

“Hey, Chris, why are you being quiet, did you forget to make a reservation? If so, we can still go somewhere else.”

“Uh… Huh? Oh! Sorry, I got lost for a moment. Yes, I have a reservation, in the name of Christian Lionheart.”

Finally, the man who called himself Chris answered, and Tina, with excellent memory, remembered seeing the name. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was the all-night reservation for the most expensive VIP room. Just in case, she checked her calendar, and she wasn’t wrong.

“Yes, reservation for Christian Lionheart.”

It was odd that someone so young could afford that place, even as the son of a nobleman, but she had to do her job before anything else. She touched a button under the counter and, a second later, a beautiful employee who was also a beast woman, of the bear clan, appeared and guided the group of young adults.

She noticed how the young man kept his eyes on his boss; she was sorry for the poor boy who would never be able to achieve what he was obviously thinking, as his boss was very demanding and she didn’t think she would be interested in someone so young. His boss might be like that, but even so, she was a decent person…..

As she was thinking this, she noticed that her boss was not moving and seemed lost in thought. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end decided to call out to her.

“Ma’am, ma’am!, ma’am!! Layla.”

“Huh!? Oh, what was that? Hmm, interesting, very interesting.”

“Ma’am, what happened, why did you stare blankly?”

“Hey, Tina, what room was that group going to?”

Without answering her question at all, her boss Layla asked back. It was a suspicious question for the situation, but, still, she was his boss and she had no choice but to answer him.

“Yes, they are in VIP room 5.”

“Oh, the most expensive one! They’re rich nobles or merchants. They’re young, so they’re probably heirs. Interesting.”

Tina didn’t like that word coming out of her boss. She had already repeated it more than twice, but she didn’t want to believe what those words implied.

“Mrs. Layla, just in case, wouldn’t you be…?”

“This, Tina, do you believe in love at first sight?”

“(ㆆ_ㆆ)”

Ignoring the interruption, listening to her, Tina decided to remain silent. She didn’t want to misunderstand her mistress, so she waited for the next words, the ones she believed would clear up the misunderstanding forming in her head.

“I am a faithful believer in love at first sight, and yes, my apologies, little Tina, I’m going to do it.”

“…”

Her hope was cruelly crushed, and it seemed to be exactly what she was thinking. Besides, Tina swore she had heard a few minutes ago from that very mouth that love didn’t exist, that it was just an invention, and that, if she wanted to succeed as she did, she shouldn’t attach herself to such non-existent concepts.

Watching her boss enter the bar and finally losing sight of her, Tina decided to pretend she hadn’t heard anything. Rather, she decided that nothing happened there. It was best for her mental health; she didn’t want to give up such a good job because of her boss’s nonsense.

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