I freaking work here.

"Beep," "Beep," the sound of an alarm rang out continuously in a startlingly large room, ruining the gentle atmosphere of a Saturday morning.

"Is it morning already?" Aiden groaned as he slowly sat up.

He was shirtless, exposing his disappointingly flat chest, while a white bed sheet draped his lower body.

He ran a hand through his messy dark hair letting out a lazy sigh but his dark eyes were narrowed to slits as he grunted in discomfort.

Aiden felt his head buzz, as the fragments of his past haunted him to no end, "I had that dream again," he thought as he rubbed his temples, trying to organize his disoriented thoughts.

He faintly recalled that it had already been six to seven years since the incident. Anytime he remembered it, he felt down. "BUZZZ," he felt his head buzz again.

Aiden gazed at the three empty bottles of red wine at the side of the bed. "I shouldn't have drank so much," Aiden thought as he caressed his brows.

Getting up, he opened the huge curtains, looking down at the tiny cars that drove by. From his surroundings, he could faintly discern that he was in a hotel. The sun hadn't risen yet, so he went back to bed, "I'll get a cup of coffee tomorrow," he reasoned as he got comfortable.

Suddenly, Aiden realized something as he thought, "Wait a minute, I'm flat broke. How the hell did I get in such a large bed, and where did I get three bottles of dessert rose wine from?"

Suddenly, all the haziness in his eyes cleared up, and reality dawned on him "Shit!" Aiden cursed as he jumped off the bed, quickly scanning the neat floors. His eyes stopped at a pair of black jeans and a T-shirt.

Like the wind, Aiden moved quickly getting himself dressed. He finally understood what he was doing in this room, "I freaking work here."

(Earlier) Aiden was cleaning a room and discovered that four bottles of red wine had been left behind.

The guest had already checked out and left the hotel. "Desert rose wine," Aiden read out. He hadn't heard of such a wine before, but he figured that since it was left behind by rich people, it was rich people's wine.

Aiden wasn't a saint, so he didn't have any problem putting these four bottles at the bottom of his trolley.

The rest could easily be figured out. Aiden was just about done with cleaning the rooms, and he only had three rooms left to clean. Feeling that he could take a break, he took out his hidden stash of wine and jumped on the bed. Feeling relaxed, Aiden turned on the TV. The results?

-----

"Shit," "Shit," I'm so dead, looking at the time it was already 5:08 am, his supervisor would check all the rooms by six and Aiden had no intention of getting another sub charge.

Aiden suddenly had a new mission; he had less than an hour to clean three extremely large rooms. Easy right?

And so he got to work, even with his sickly frame Aiden moved quite nimbly, and in the blink of an eye, he was done with the bed.

He had already cleaned this room before so there was no problem all he did was tidy things up a bit, spray some air freshener and he was done.

As he left the room Aiden looked back to admire his work, the king sized bed was neatly done, and the expensive furniture was sparkling, looking at the floor he realized it was sparkling as well, until his eyes trailed off to the three exquisite bottles on the floor, "to think I almost left these behind," Aiden said as he quickly left the room he had two more rooms to clean.

____________

"Hahaha," Bruce laughed so hard he found it difficult to breathe "I can't believe you did something like that, and you even got away with it, but bro you have to stop drinking so much."

"Yeah yeah I know, but it's not my fault, I got carried away," Aiden said as he sheepishly scratched his head, even he couldn't believe he got away with something like that.

Luckily he found Bruce who had already finished cleaning his rooms, after a series of intense negotiations Bruce finally agreed to help him.

Hearing Aiden's reply Bruce smiled, he was Aiden's closest friend and because of that he knew the man was hurting, drinking seemed to be a way for him to get away from everything, shaking his head he said, "I can't believe a drunk like you managed to get a girlfriend."

"It's because of my obvious charm," Aiden said with a chuckle as he stroked his face, watching Aiden's shameless behavior Bruce felt his eyes twitch, "what's charming about a bag of bones?" he pondered.

As they walked out of the massive hotel Bruce who was going through his phone suddenly exclaimed, "Wow bro check it out, the Mantis main team killed another demon.

Aiden paid attention, looking at Bruce's phone, you could see the picture of a team of strangely dressed people standing atop what seemed to be a gigantic rat-like creature with wings. Anyone who saw something like this for the first time would think it was edited, but that was far from it. "Shit, it's an infected beast.

"How high do you think its threat level is?" Aiden asked.

"Well, considering the beasts the Mantis team normally fight I'd say five to six," just as Bruce finished speaking, "Ting," the sound of a notification sounded out.

"I was right," Bruce exclaimed happily, as he said to Aiden, "The Mantis team just uploaded detailed information about the demon, including its Threat level, and it was indeed at Treath level five."

"I wish I could be as strong as them one day," Bruce said with stars in his eyes. Aiden thought the same too, but both of them knew that the chances of them becoming Contractors were slim.

Both of them shared the same hate for the demons that ruined their families, but unlike Aiden, Bruce and his sister were sent to a much nicer family. After turning eighteen, Bruce chose to take his inheritance and leave with his sister.

The shelter had a system for orphans called the foster care system. An orphan would be randomly assigned to a family, and the family had to take care of that child as their own till the child turned eighteen.

An inheritance was simply the sum of money that was given to the child after he or she turned eighteen. The amount varies, as an inheritance was obtained by converting all your parents' assets and belongings into money, basically, anything your parents had that was of monetary value. So, if your parents were rich, your inheritance would be huge, but if they were poor, your inheritance could also be a small sum.

Bruce, who was older than Aiden, was in his late twenties. He had a robust figure and was about the same height as Aiden.

The both of them met by chance about a year after Aiden had just been kicked out of the Horatio family. Aiden, who was in college at that time, was drunk and depressed and had passed out in front of his apartment. Feeling pity, Bruce let Aiden, a total stranger, live with both him and his kid sister, and with his help, Aiden was able to find a job.

Aiden smiled bitterly as he remembered all the odd jobs he had done in that one year. "I have to pick my sister up from school. Do you want to come along?" Bruce asked as he flagged a blue cab.

"Na, I have to go visit my mom. It's been a while," hearing this, Bruce smiled as he said, "You went there the day before yesterday. What do you mean it's been a while?"

"Do you lovebirds intend to waste my time forever, just kiss already," the cab driver yelled with a heavy accent. He had an impatient frown on his face, and his chest heaved, bringing one's attention to his overgrown chest hair.

Hearing the cab driver's statement, Bruce frowned a bit, but he didn't say anything. Getting into the blue cab, he waved Aiden goodbye as the car drove off.

Shaking his head, Aiden knew that the cab driver wasn't getting paid at the end of the ride. "Buzz!" Aiden felt his head buzz again, caressing his head.

He regretted drinking so much wine, but that wasn't all. "Hehehehe," he heard the sound of a soft giggle, startling him.

Quickly, Aiden turned back, but he discovered that the nearest person behind him was an elderly man. Aiden didn't believe that an elderly man was capable of making such a sound. Besides, the sound was so vivid, almost like the person giggling did so right by his ear. "Am I hearing things?" Aiden thought to himself as he also flagged a cab.

Trying his best not to breathe in the cab driver's body odor, Aiden rolled down the window as he looked outside.

They passed by a huge billboard, and you could see a man in light armor holding a sword. In the billboard, his sword was trying to stab a phone but didn't seem to be able to.

Aiden chuckled, in response to such a bizarre image, "What a creative way to advertise a phone," he thought. They passed by many similar billboards, which were occupied by these same people in light armor or special clothing. "I wonder how much money all these Contractors make." Aiden mused.

A few minutes later, Aiden stood in front of a huge building. "South City General Hospital," he muttered.

He currently stood in front of a revolving door with a bunch of flowers in his left hand.

His eyes were narrowed to slits as he stared at those doors as though he was looking at his greatest enemy. Walking forward, Aiden gave a slight push, but the doors didn't budge. Frowning, Aiden applied some force, and finally, the doors started moving. But as it picked up momentum, it moved too fast, hitting Aiden from behind and pushing him into the building.

Hearing the noise the nurse at the reception looked up from her computer, and upon seeing the skinny youth with a backpack on his back, she smiled. "Hello, Aiden," the nurse greeted.

"Good afternoon, Sharon," Aiden replied as he breathed in the familiar smell of disinfectants. "I see you still haven't learned how to use the doors," the nurse said, trying to suppress a laugh. Aiden felt a bit embarrassed. "It's too tricky."

Handing Aiden a card, the nurse asked jokingly, "You come to see your mom almost every day. Don't you have anything else to do?"

In response to the nurse's attempt at starting a conversation, Aiden just forced a smile but didn't reply.

Taking the stairs, Aiden rushed up to the tenth floor of the building, walking past a series of random rooms, Aiden finally stopped at room nine hundred and five.

"Beep!" a robotic sound could be heard as Aiden swiped the card on the door handle.

As he opened the door a thick medicinal smell invaded his nostrils. The room was dark, making Aiden frown a little.

Walking towards the curtains, Aiden opened them up allowing the refreshing raws of sunlight to warm up the room.

A frail-looking woman could be seen on a standard hospital bed; her skin looked pale, and if not for the faint motions of her chest moving up and down, one would think she was dead.

A myriad of large and small machines, half of which Aiden didn't know what they were used for, could be seen all around the room, strictly monitoring her condition at all times. Multiple needles pierced her arms, administering fluids of unknown contents into her body, and loud but steady breathing sounds could be heard from the oxygen mask on her face.

Walking towards the table at the side, Aiden removed the dead flowers in the flower vase, trashing them and exchanging them for new ones.

He sighed and sat down silently, watching the pale woman with a sad look on his face. He didn't talk; he just sat there for hours watching this beautiful woman.

He felt like having a drink to forget all his sorrows, but he couldn't possibly show his bad habits in front of his mom.

Thinking about it now, he still had one more bottle of that desert rose wine that almost got him in trouble.

He would drink the last one at home. "Why?" a voice whispered in his ear, startling Aiden yet again.

"Buzz," he felt his head spin. It was the second time today he heard that voice, that vivid whisper. Looking around, the only person in his room apart from him was his unconscious mom.

Aiden felt as if he had overstayed his welcome so he stood up, "goodbye Mom," he said as he walked out of the room. He planned to go home and rest, caressing his forehead, he felt a slight headache as he walked forward paying little attention to his surroundings.

"Watch it," a female voice abruptly called out in an annoyed tone. "A faint British accent?" Aiden thought.

He wasn't paying attention and almost bumped into the woman in front of him. "Sorry, I—" Aiden stuttered as he gazed at the dark-haired woman in front of him.

She wore a black business suit, and her skin was pale, giving her a delicate look. Aiden's eyes trailed off to the hand glove on her left arm.

No, it wasn't a hand glove. Looking closer, Aiden discovered it was a bandage artistically wrapped around her left arm in a way that didn't obstruct the movement of her fingers.

This bandage extended further into her sleeve, tugging at Aiden's curious nature, he couldn't help but want to uncover the mysteries this bandage concealed.

Her eyes were strangely purple, but there was something about her that seemed familiar. "It can't be," Aiden thought.

"You what?" her cold voice sounded out, but even though her voice was cold, it couldn't be any more captivating. Aiden couldn't describe it, but everything about it just seemed too perfect—her manner of speech, her tone of voice, and that faint British accent that tugged at your heartstrings. This was a voice he had only heard on TV, his perfect symphony.

But that wasn't what got him feeling shocked. What got him shocked was who this person was. How could he not know who this woman was? He literally had magazine cutouts of her posted all over his wall.

She was an exact copy of the woman in the magazine—purple eyes, a black fitted business suit, and a white bandage wrapped around her left hand. In fact, how could anyone in the Seventh Shelter not know who this woman was?

Tap, tap, tap, the sound of her heels echoed in the ward, stunning Aiden out of his rapid thoughts, only now did he realize he had been standing like a fool this entire time.

The woman was walking away. "Miss Lotus, a moment please!" Aiden said as he chased after her.

Hearing Aiden's call, the woman stopped as she slowly turned back, her purple eyes looking straight at Aiden, and with surprise laced in her tone, she asked, "You can recognize me?" Aiden didn't seem to notice the evident look of surprise on Lotus's face as he said, "Of course, I recognize you, who wouldn't."

"Is that so?" Lotus asked as she stared at Aiden as if she was looking at a fascinating creature. "Are you a Contractor by any chance because I can't sense an atom of hell energy on your person."

Feeling surprised at her sudden question Aiden said awkwardly, "No, I failed the resistance test two times and didn't even have the chance to make the contract."

But unlike what he expected, Lotus remained indifferent. She didn't show a look of disdain or superiority like other Contractors Aiden met. Instead, her purple eyes seemed to relax a bit.

Having said most of the things he wanted to say and feeling too embarrassed to ask the myriad of childish questions that were constantly flashing through his mind, Aiden struggled to find a mature enough topic that would keep his role model interested.

Miss Lotus, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the awkward silence. Her calm purple eyes just stared at Aiden as though she was studying a lab rat.

"How is it possible that you recognize me?" she asked again. This was the second time Aiden was asked this question.

Aiden felt confused but answered anyway, "I've seen you on TV, and I've watched all your public raids," Aiden said enthusiastically before asking, "Have you really made contracts with up to six—"

Aiden was cut short because the person he was talking to was no longer there. It was as if she had vanished. As he looked around, Aiden thought to himself, "It seems I made her feel uncomfortable."

"What's your name?" a voice suddenly sounded out from behind him, making Aiden jump from shock. Turning back, Aiden was greeted by the sight of the familiar purple-eyed woman. "How did you do that?" Aiden asked, wondering how she had completely disappeared.

But Lotus didn't reply. She just asked her question again, "What's your name?"

"I'm Aiden," Aiden replied.

"Aiden," Lotus repeated the name. "Your thoughts are pure," she muttered before saying to Aiden, "You should leave now, or else you might die."