HOT LOVE IN BALI

***Denichka***

The day rises on the beautiful Riviera.

My eyelids open slowly. The muffled sound of the waves and birds in the sky has been my alarm clock for several years now.

At the same time, my mother knocks on my bedroom door.

"Wake up, honey. You're going to be late," she says.

"Hmmm! You tell me that every morning, Mom. I'm already awake" I said between a few sighs.

I get up wearily half on my bed. I vigorously rub my eyes with my fingers and run my hands through my hair.

"That's it! The day has just dawned again," I stammer between yawns.

My name is Denichka and I am twenty-five years old. I have lived with my parents in Bali since I was a little girl. There are two of us children. I have a brother who is twenty years old. He is studying at a university several kilometers away from our home and only comes home during the vacations.

My parents work at EL DORADO, the largest and most popular hotel in Bali. My father, Fernando, is a short order cook and my mother is a housewife.

We are not especially rich but we manage to support ourselves. I am proud of my parents and all the sacrifices they make for my brother and me. Nevertheless, we are often teased. I won't deny that it hurts me but I manage to get over it.

So I am a waitress in the same hotel. My parents had a hard time accepting it but I did everything I could to convince them. We went through a very difficult period where we almost lost our house. This house is the only property we own. My parents bought it with their savings with great difficulty. I had no choice but to find a job quickly. And this is the one that came to me.

At the hotel, everything is going well, without counting the indecent proposals of some customers and the rich girls who do not miss a single opportunity to make fun of me. But I'm holding on. I have always remained straight in my boots and faithful to my principles.

I get up slowly from my bed to take a shower.

"Ow!" I exclaim.

I just stepped on a hair clip lying on the floor.

I reach down and pull it out.

Decidedly, my day is looking very good.

A few minutes are enough for me to get ready. I wear my change of clothes and go to breakfast with my parents.

"Good morning, sweetie!" says my dad.

"Good morning, Daddy," I replied.

I put my money where my mouth is and give him a peck on the cheek. He gives me a long hug. Mom joins in. Over time, this morning hug has become a sort of little ritual between us. In our family, we stay very close.

"Come on, let's have breakfast," my mom shouted.

Dad and I pretend to be offended. Mom is good at breaking up moments like this.

She serves us tea.

I have lunch while watching them bicker. They have been together for almost thirty years. Sometimes I want to live this kind of love but until now I haven't found the man who will make me want it. I haven't had many relationships but men who wanted to get serious didn't approach me. People come to Bali more for vacations. On top of that, working as a waitress in a hotel doesn't help me much. The boys I meet are mistaken about me. They only think about having fun.

I am not a saint but I have principles and values.

I finish my breakfast and say goodbye.

I get on my bike and start pedaling.

I usually ride my bike to the hotel. We live just five minutes from the hotel. A few pedals and I run into Diana, my best friend. She is also on her bike.

"Hi pretty girl!" she says

I smile at her teasing.

Diana and I work at EL DORADO. She works as a housekeeper so she interacts with my mom.

We check in with each other and continue chatting until we reach our destination.

In front of the hotel, we put our feet on the ground simultaneously.

"It's been several years since I've been here but it still gives me that feeling. The EL DORADO is just breathtaking," exclaims Diana.

Yes, Diana is right. No matter what anyone says, this hotel is worth all its prestige. In a word, it's beautiful.

"Come on, let's go to our posts before Madame Vera catches us" I said.

At the mention of her name, Diana frowns.

Madame Vera is a lady in her fifties who oversees the stations at the hotel. She is a sort of controller who is always calling the employees to order. She is particularly annoying and does not fail to put us down in front of the customers.

We enter from the back of the hotel and go up the steps of the service staircase. As soon as we parked our bikes, Mrs. Vera calls us.

"Young ladies! Have you seen what time it is?" she questions with a frown.

Diana tries to answer her:

"Madame Vera, it is only..."

She cuts him off:

"I don't care what time it is. You all need to be at your posts." she argued.

Diana was still about to answer her but I managed to beat her to it.

"Understood, ma'am," I whispered.

She stands for a moment and stares at us without saying anything. She approaches Diana, who grunts through her teeth.

"Have I made myself clear, Miss Diana!"

She pronounces his name with a certain disgust.

"Yes, very clear," Diana pronounced despite herself.

I take Diana by the arm and lead her away.

Unlike me, who manages to keep my cool, Diana has no tongue in cheek. She says everything she thinks without restraint. Of course, this character of hers often gets her into trouble, but I'm often around to catch up.

And it's the same on my side, I'm so quiet that people have a lot of fun stepping on my toes. Diana often pushes me to pound my fist on the table like with her rich girls who spend their time making fun of us and calling us poor girls.

Diana and I arrived in the spare cabin.

"I'm sick of it, Denichka, sick of being stepped on so much," she says breathlessly.

I try to comfort her.

"I am aware of it and I am going through the same thing as you but what do you want? You know more than anyone how much we need this job. And you know that we won't live this life forever," I say.

She can hardly calm down. What Mrs. Vera is doing to us is unfair. We notice how she treats the rich kids, but as far as we are concerned, she spends her time taking it out on us according to her moods.

Diana and I change our clothes for the service clothes.

A short dress for Diana and a top and skirt set for me. The color of the clothes is of night blue color for us all with inscriptions of our first names on the chest.

Diana picks up her laundry basket and gets ready to start her day.

"See you later, sweetie" she says to me as she gives me a peck on the cheek.

"See you later, honey," I replied.

I watch her walk away as I readjust my clothes.

Diana and I met four years ago. She was here a few months before me. New and naive as I was, I didn't really have a personality. She was the one who showed me how to stand up for myself and how to force people to respect me.

I still think back to the day we spoke for the first time.

"Are you Mrs. Florencia's daughter?" she asked me in amazement.

Mrs. Florencia is my mother. I answered yes to her question and she launched into a huge speech of endless praise about all the qualities my mother had.

"Honestly you are too lucky to be Mrs. Florencia's daughter. I envy you so much. She's the greatest lady I know." She said with a smile.

Then she gave me big hugs. Within minutes, we became best friends. I think the reason our friendship works so well is because of the mix of our differences. She's there to fill in my blanks and I'm there to fill in hers.

I smooth with my hands the pockets of my skirt when I see in the distance Mrs Vera. Very quickly, I leave the cabin. I especially do not want to have to undergo still its remonstrances. It is the kind of woman who ruins you your day just with her prickly words.

I walk through several floors before I get to the fifth floor. This is where the VIP box is located. As a waitress, I'm a multi-tasker but right now I'm assigned to the VIP box.

It's nine in the morning. I used to say that no one goes to the club in the morning, but since I've been in this business, I can say the opposite. People don't just drink at night. Certainly the affluence is much stronger the night but in the day, the club does not miss customers.

I head to the bar. Natalie, the one who runs the bar, is in a state. I quickly ask her what's wrong.

"Natalie, is there a problem?" I ask her.

"Oh, no honey. Everything is fine. You know how Nico puts me in a bad mood in the mornings....Here bring this to table six" she replied.

I take the tray in my hands and she hands it to me.

Nico is her husband. He makes her live hell but I don't know why she tries to stay with him. When I look at her, the saying: The heart has its reasons that reason ignores takes all its meaning.

Fortunately, not everyone in life is bad. Natalie is a lady with a heart of gold, altruistic and who means no harm to her fellow man. She welcomed me very well and for the past four years everything has been going very well. Good people exist, they are just rare. As rare as a needle in a haystack.

I sigh and hasten to hand over her order to the customer.

And so the day goes on like every other day of the week.

When I get a break, I sit in a chair at the bar in the corner thinking about my life. I don't want to spend my whole life doing this job. My dream is to become a designer, a fashion icon. I love everything that has to do with fashion. In fact, most of my clothes and Diana's clothes were made by me.

I do this job to help my parents, my brother but also to launch my projects. Even though the pay is good, it's still hard for me to really give life to my projects.

Despite all this monotony, I have faith in myself and in all that I can accomplish. I know that I will eventually achieve the goals I have set for myself. This hope that I have keeps me going.

Natalie calls out to me and I join her. She gives me some small instructions to finish the first part of the evening. I do so while Diana joins me. She too has just finished the first part of her job.

"Hey honey! Aren't you done yet?"

"Yes, just a moment!"

I drop my apron to join her. We go to take our break in the employee lounge area.

We order mojitos and sandwiches.

After several bites, Diana exhales deeply.

"How tiring is all this work!"

"You're totally right," I say between yawns.

"... And this routine, I can't stand it anymore but fortunately a new face will come to change our minds a little" she says

Surprised, I can't help but ask her who she is talking about.

"How come you don't know? Ah, Denishka! You don't have time for gossip. You only think about work."

She keeps the gossip suspense going. Between two mouthfuls, I end up asking her:

"Whose arrival are you talking about?"

"Chaz, the CEO's son!" she says in a suave voice.