The golden dusk was giving way to night, the light yielding to the reign of darkness. Zoe pedaled his bike to the bar, and as soon as he stepped inside, he saw Jill floating around, weaving in and out of the female servers as if playing a prank. Zoe paid it no mind and headed over to the other hostesses he worked with.
“Zoe, you're early today?” Bie asked with a bright smile as she noticed him.
“Sunny called me this afternoon. She said she has some things to take care of and asked me to ask you for the day off, so I came early to let you know,” Zoe replied while tucking his backpack into the locker.
Bie raised an eyebrow, her face cold. “Too scared to ask me for the day off herself, so she gets you to do it? That girl’s probably out on a date with some rich guy, isn’t she?”
Zoe was surprised. “A guy? You mean a man?”
Sunny was still a student, so Zoe was a bit taken aback by what Bie said. Of course, the men Bie referred to were all those who already had families.
“Yeah.” Myra stepped in from the doorway. “That girl’s always dreaming of a day when she’ll strike it rich, but not through hard work—she’s counting on her looks to charm some wealthy guy and instantly become a high-class, wealthy lady. Silly girl. With her current looks, she thinks she can snag a rich guy? Not a chance. Those old foxes are just using her, and when they’re done, they’ll kick her to the curb. You’ll see, she’ll come crying back here.”
“Doesn’t Sunny realize that?” Zoe asked, a bit worried.
Bie sighed. “Even if she does, what can she do about it? She’s been dumped a few times already, but she just keeps at it. Myra, May, and I have warned her plenty, but she says she hasn’t found someone who truly loves her yet, so she keeps meeting those rich guys introduced by matchmakers. But whether they’re really rich or not, only the heavens know.”
No one said anything more, and the atmosphere in the room became heavy because of this conversation. After a while, the silence was broken when Myra tossed an apron to Zoe.
“Enough talk. Zoe, go down to the wine cellar and grab a bottle of red wine from the second shelf. We have a reservation today, so we need to prepare.”
“Okay.” Zoe nodded, tied on the apron, and quickly ran down to the wine cellar, with Jill floating after him.
As soon as the cellar door was lifted, the fragrance of wood mixed with a faint scent of wine wafted up. Zoe turned on the light and slowly descended the simple wooden stairs. The staircase was small, with only five steps. When he reached the second step, a not-too-spacious room came into view, not only containing a cabinet for wine bottles maintained at an optimal temperature but also numerous bottles neatly arranged on separate wooden shelves, looking extremely attractive.
This was Zoe's first time in the wine cellar, even after working at the bar for over six months. Since he was new and unfamiliar with the different types of wine, he wasn’t allowed to enter the cellar before, but now that he had learned about the wines the bar served, Myra often sent him down to retrieve them.
Zoe looked around and then wandered through the cellar, feeling very comfortable and at ease, especially with the faint scent that was difficult to describe. He indulged himself by admiring the various bottles of wine of different sizes produced in different years. But he still couldn’t find the bottle Myra needed. Zoe frowned, moving from one cabinet to another, yet the bottle remained elusive.
“Is this the bottle you’re looking for?” A cold voice with a hint of teasing spoke up.
Zoe turned around, astonished to see Jill holding a bottle of red wine securely in its invisible hands, floating it in front of him. If it had been anyone else, they would have been terrified at the sight of a wine bottle suddenly hovering in midair.
“You can touch and move objects! But how are you doing that?” Zoe asked Jill, genuinely curious.
Jill’s voice was full of pride. “Surprised, aren’t you? It took me a lot of practice to get this far.”
Jill hugged the wine bottle, flying a circle around Zoe before stopping to speak to him:
“Amazing, right, Zoe? If I get strong enough, maybe I could lift you into the air too! Just thinking about it sounds awesome, doesn’t it?”
Zoe nodded reluctantly, “It’s possible, but you’d have to try really hard since I’m a lot heavier than that wine bottle.”
Zoe reached out to take the bottle from Jill, who smiled smugly, thinking, If you help me kill a few more people and absorb a few more warm souls, that day will come soon. Not only will I be able to lift you into the air, but I could also touch you, kiss those soft lips of yours, and... there are so many other fun things I want to do with you. But those thoughts stayed in Jill’s mind; there was no way it would dare say them out loud. It smiled, licking its lips, pleased with its perverse fantasies, and then happily floated along behind Zoe.
As Zoe left the wine cellar, a sense of unease settled in his heart. A few days ago, Zoe had overheard May talking about strange things happening at the bar, like how overnight, everything was thrown into disarray as if someone had deliberately caused havoc.
Her locker had also been opened, but nothing was missing. Zoe glanced back at Jill, who returned his gaze with a carefree smile. That smile sent a chill down Zoe’s spine, a flash of fear crossing his mind, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint what he was afraid of. He quickly hurried to the bar to avoid looking at Jill any longer.
Throughout the night, Zoe felt uneasy, frequently glancing at Jill, who was hovering around the customers, his worry growing. If Jill could touch objects, it could also use those objects to harm people. Jill was becoming more dangerous by the day. A spirit shouldn’t have such abilities—could it be that Jill had grown so strong by absorbing so many souls? Zoe lowered his eyes, troubled, hoping that Jill wouldn’t use that power to hurt anyone. If it ever did, Zoe doubted he’d be able to stop it.