Shrouded Affections Winning Back My CEO Wife

Chapter 174 Chapter 174: The waitress's words indicated that even though there was a private room available, Eileen and Benjamin couldn't use it.

"We made a reservation; it's the restaurant's responsibility to uphold that reservation. You should be looking for a way to solve this," Eileen said. While Eileen argued with the waitress, Benjamin had been staring at a large black marble signage at the restaurant entrance, which detailed the origins of the restaurant. Next to it was a notice that read, “Due to high demand, please book in advance. Walk-in customers will not be served. If your reservation is confirmed and the restaurant is unable to accommodate you for any reason, you will receive tenfold compensation." Pointing at the notice, Benjamin said to the waitress, “If you cannot find us a table, then you're required to compensate us tenfold as per your policy." Eileen looked in the direction Benjamin was pointing and saw the big, bold text. Nodding in approval, she then turned to look at the waitress.

The waitress hesitated for a few seconds before looking at Eileen with newfound displeasure. "We're only required to compensate you if your booking was confirmed. Did you receive a confirmation text?" "Of course." Eileen took out her phone and showed the waitress the text. The waitress barely glanced at it before saying dismissively, "You've been scammed. That's not our restaurant's number!" At this point, Eileen's patience was running extremely thin. She had never encountered such a shameless waitress before. As the waitress turned to go back inside, Eileen grabbed her arm to stop her. Anger written all over her face, Eileen dialed the number from the confirmation text, and the call soon connected.

"Hello, Fireside Restaurant. How may I help you?" "Your waitress just hit a customer. I demand to see the manager!" Eileen said. Eileen hung up without waiting for a response. The pissed-off waitress struggled and tried to break free, but Eileen had an iron grip. Soon, a man in a white polo, jeans, and glasses emerged from the restaurant.

Fresh stories here galnovs"Emory, what the hell is going on?" Seeing that his staff had engaged in an altercation with a customer, the man shouted angrily at the waitress.

The waitress, flustered, stopped struggling and muttered a greeting to her manager. “I'm really sorry about this, Miss. Could you tellwhat happened?" the manager asked Eileen politely. Eileen finally let go of the waitress's arm, her voice ice-cold. "I made a reservation at your restaurant and received a confirmation text, but your staff member had the audacity to turnaway at the door. She even toldthat the number that sentthe text was fake. So, I called to verify." With a bone-chilling smile, she looked at the waitress. "You wouldn't say that this manager is also a fake, right?" The irony in Eileen's eyes made the waitress even more flustered. Hearing this, the manager's expression turned gloomy. He glanced at the waitress unhappily and scolded in a low voice, "What's going on?" "It's not my fault! Livia gave the spot to her relatives," the waitress whispered to the manager, but Eileen overheard everything clearly. Eileen looked at the manager with her arms crossed, waiting expectantly for a reasonable explanation. The manager knew that they were in the wrong, so after shooting a glance at the cold- faced Eileen, he said to the waitress, "Isn't there still a private room available? Give it to these two guests!" "We can't do that. That room has been booked by Miss Murray. She already paid the deposit," the waitress said, refusing straightforwardly. Compared to a customer who had booked a whole private room, Eileen and her reservation for two seemed insignificant in the waitress's eyes. Eileen knew exactly what the waitress was thinking, and the waitress's attitude infuriated her. But before she could protest, the waitress's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at someone behind Eileen. "Miss Murray's here!" Zola was dressed in a black jumpsuit, her curly hair cascading around her shoulders. With her delicate makeup and tall stature, she exuded a powerful presence, clearly a woman of high status. Bryan, standing beside her with one hand in his suit pants, leaned slightly closer to her as they conversed. Following them were Jacob, Phoebe, and Raymond.

"Eileen?" Phoebe was the first to see Eileen, surprise written all over her face. Instantly, everyone's attention shifted to Eileen. Bryan's sharp gaze lingered on Eileen's face for a few seconds before flitting over to Benjamin beside her. Benjamin walked over and greeted them politely.

"Benjamin?" Zola, who hadn't interacted much with Benjamin before, sounded both surprised and puzzled to see him here. “Miss Murray," Benjamin nodded slightly. “We met in the Warren Group last time.” “I recall. Well, what are you doing here?" Zola glanced at Eileen and asked Benjamin, "Are you friends with Ms. Curtis?" "Yes," Benjamin explained with a faint smile, "Eileen and I were university classmates, and she used to be Mr. Dawson's assistant, so we're quite familiar with each other." During Benjamin's brief exchange with Zola, Eileen composed herself. Although the last thing Eileen wanted was to run into Bryan and the others in such a setting, she approached and greeted them politely nonetheless.

Seeing that they were all acquainted, the manager hurried to suggest, "Since you all know each other, why not share the room?" "No!" Eileen refused immediately. According to company policy, the restaurant would have to compensate her tenfold for not honoring their reservation. Naturally, the manager didn't want to suffer any losses, so he was keen to group them together.

The manager said, “I checked the private room; there's a ten-person table. Since Ms. Murray didn't bring that many people, you can join them. Besides, you all know each other, so it'd be good for you to catch up and share a meal, right?" "Exactly! Ms. Curtis, you only booked a single table, so getting a private room is an upgrade. Miss Murray hasn't even said she's okay with you two joining them, yet you're already acting so picky," the waitress grumbled. "First of all, the so-called 'single table' I booked was given to someone else, which is your fault. How dare you blme for that? Secondly, you decided to squeeze us into Miss Murray's reservation without even asking for her permission first. What kind of service is that?" Eileen questioned the manager and waitress coldly. Her words left them speechless. The waitress, who hadn't expected Eileen to be so difficult, was particularly tongue-tied. Bryan and the others quickly grasped what was going on, and Bryan's expression darkened. "So, this is how your restaurant operates," he remarked coldly. The manager's forehead broke into a cold sweat upon hearing that. "Of course not! You misunderstood us, sir. We treat our customers with respect, and we'll deal with this properly." Bryan responded casually, "Then I'd like to see how you decide to deal with this." The manager, thinking quickly, turned to the waitress and barked, "Compensate Ms. Curtis ten times her booking fee and offer her a small gift and an 80% off voucher. Solemnly promise her that such an incident will never happen again." Bryan's imposing aura left the waitress feeling a bit stifled.

The waitress didn't understand why someone from Miss Murray's party would help someone as insignificant as Eileen. Still, she followed the manager's instructions and went inside to make preparations. About three minutes later, she returned and handed the items the manager had mentioned to Eileen.

Eileen accepted the items, turned around, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Dawson. I'll..." But before she could finish, Bryan had already started walking towards the entrance. Noticing that the others hadn't followed, he turned his head to look at them and said, "Why are you just standing there? Cin, all of you!" "Coming!" Jacob responded to Bryan's urging. Then, he said to Eileen, "Bryan's right. Since you're already here, you should join us." Eileen paused for a few seconds before saying, "No, I don't want to bother you all." Upon hearing her refusal, Bryan's eyebrows immediately furrowed, and his jawline tensed. Noticing this, Zola said, "Ms. Curtis, Benjamin, if you don't have any pressing matters, why not join us? I'd also like to use this chance to discuss Milford's tutoring with Ms. Curtis." "I don't have anything else planned; I just don't want to intrude on your gathering," Benjamin replied, frowning slightly. Zola said, "No worries. I've just arrived in Wist Land, and Jacob and Bryan said they'd treatto a meal. Let's all go inside now." She strutted towards Bryan and whispered, “Let's go." Bryan responded with a nod, his gaze sweeping over towards Eileen. Jacob and the others quickly followed them in. Phoebe wanted to say something, but with so many people around, she had no choice but to keep it to herself for the tbeing. The manager and the waitress stepped aside to let them in, looking a bit awkward.

Seeing that Eileen was still hesitating, the waitress couldn't help but sneer, “You've already been compensated, and now you're getting a free meal. Why are you still acting so pretentious? Manager, I think she's a scammer!" "Watch your mouth!” the manager hissed at the waitress. Then, putting on an apologetic smile, he said, "Ms. Curtis, Mr. Nash, please cin." While walking past the manager and the waitress, Eileen glanced at the waitress's ntag and memorized her name.

"Sorry about that..." Once inside the restaurant, Eileen apologized to Benjamin. This meal was supposed to be her treat, but not only did they encounter a mishap with the reservation, but they also ended up joining someone else's table.

"Don't worry about it. I'll still be in town for a few more days, so we can always have a meal another time." Benjamin patted her on the shoulder and said with a reassuring smile, “Mr. Dawson was quite protective of you, securing the compensation first before letting us join the meal. Otherwise, you might not have gotten your money back." "He's protective of me?" Eileen said without hesitation, "Don't be ridiculous! He has always hated dirty tricks like that, which is the only reason why he stepped in to make sure we got compensated." "What's the difference?" Benjamin laughed, brushing the topic off nonchalantly. The two then fell into tacit silence as they entered the private room. Eileen was about to sit in the corner when Jacob pulled out the chair next to him. "Sit here, Mr. Nash. Let's drink to our heart's content tonight!"

"Eileen, you can sit next to me!" Phoebe pulled out the chair next to her and waved at Eileen. But next to that seat was Bryan. And the only! other available seat was the one between Zola and Raymond. Eileen glanced at the empty chair next to Raymond, and Raymond quickly shrugged off his coat and hung it up on the back of that chair. "Ms. Curtis, since you won't be sitting here, I hope you don't mind if I use it for my coat."

With no other choice, Eileen pretended nothing was wrong as she calmly walked over to sit beside Phoebe. As she turned her head to heng herbashe turned.

hang her bag on the backrest, her gaze met Bryan's. He leaned against the back of his chair, his foot resting casually on the cross stretcher of her chair. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing his hands and muscular forearms. Eileen couldn't help but recall those hands, often braced beside her, with veins prominently standing out...