On the Ruins of His Regret I Soar novel Chapter 31

Back in the staff lounge, a colleague rushed up to Jessica, her eyes wide with excitement. “Is it true? You sold two 20,000-dollar bottles tonight?”

Jessica nodded.

The girl, who went by Olivia, was a round-faced young woman in her early twenties. She’d been working here since she graduated high school at eighteen, her sales always hovering around average. Hearing about Jessica’s massive sale, she was bursting with envy and had been waiting to get some tips.

“We have a history,” Jessica explained simply.

“My brain can’t keep up,” Olivia said, confused.

Jessica smiled faintly. “They were humiliating me.”

Olivia’s jaw dropped. “If that’s humiliation, I’d be happy to let them humiliate me to death.”

Jessica couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, I’ve got to get back out there,” Olivia said. “I still haven’t hit my monthly target.”

She hurried out, leaving Jessica alone in the lounge. The room reeked of cheap perfume, stale alcohol, and nicotine. The first time she’d walked in yesterday, the smell had almost made her gag. Today, she could sit there unfazed. It was terrifying how quickly one could adapt.

After a short break, Jessica grabbed her tray and went back to work, facing rejection after rejection from the other private rooms. She found a quiet corner in the hallway to catch her breath.

Suddenly, a group of drunk men staggered toward her, their shoulders slumped together, reeking of sweat and cheap liquor. It was nauseating. Jessica immediately turned to walk away. In a place like this, an encounter with men like them would end badly.

Then, she saw a colleague she knew as Deborah down the hall. A flicker of hope ignited within her.

“Deborah!” she cried out, her voice desperate.

Deborah, smoking a cigarette, glanced over impassively, then turned and walked away as if she’d seen nothing.

Jessica’s heart sank into a pit of despair.

The men closed in, shrinking the circle around her, cutting off her air, her hope, her escape.