Locking In With My Life System

Aiden smoothed out his work attire as he walked into the dining area of the restaurant.

”Looking forward to your services on Thursday, Aiden,” Jermaine remarked upon seeing him, a rather triumphant grin on his features.

”The roulette landed on you?” Aiden humorously asked.

”That it did.” Jermaine laughed, his shoulders flexing in a subtle shrug.

Cody on the other hand was slumped in a corner, looking at the ground in mock defeat as he sat on a chair. Then he exploded;

”It’s not fucking fair! Why’d I have to get the short end of the stick, twice?!”

”Language,” Mrs. Bao placed her hands on her hips and reprimanded.

Raising his head, and levelling her an envious glare, Cody cursed again;

”Fuck!”

Mrs. Bao’s eyes twitched, as did her hands. Suddenly, she felt very tempted to remove her slip-ons and whack the shit out of the youth with it.

”Third time’s the charm, Cody. Don’t be sad.” Aiden on the other hand chuckled as he walked across the room and flipped the placard ’Open’.

”Third time’s never been the charm for me!” Cody buried his face into his palms, his whine muffled.

”Well, you’d better pick yourself up nonetheless,” Jermaine patted his back and gestured with his head.

”Our customers are coming.” he said.

Reluctantly, Cody sighed and rose to his feet.

By the time the first customer had walked in, Cody, much like his colleagues had seamlessly slipped into work mode, their gemütlichkeit on full display.

As for Aiden;

-

[Ding!]

[Exclusive quests updated!]

-

’Ha! I was expecting that!’ he inwardly exclaimed as he pulled up the quest.

-

⸢Exclusive Quests

› It’s Hauter in Here!!

└ Serve a total of 200 customers before the end of the week – [1 LP]

-

Seeing it, Aiden couldn’t help but mutter to himself, his eyes creasing into judging squints;

”I swear you’re sentient but I just can’t prove it...”

Still, he knew what he had to do to hit that quota.

He’d have to clock in a total of fifty customers every day he was on shift till the end of the week.

Was it going to be easy? Obviously not.

Was it actually doable? Absolutely.

To that effect, Aiden immediately locked in.

Now that he had improved his stats a bit, he could definitely see himself hitting that target on his first try.

Soon enough, regulars and customers filled up the restaurant, Aiden and his colleagues moving between tables with an almost rhythmic efficiency.

And as the hours ticked by, Aiden hit the fifty customers quota for the first day, just barely.

By the second day, he attended to over fifty-seven customers, landing him well above his intended mark.

The third day however, was rather slow and he was only able to respond to forty-four customers in total.

Currently on the fourth day, the total number of customers he’d attended to being forty-five and with an hour and a half left on the clock, Aiden was rather confident he’d hit the quota.

As he waited on the next customers, the door soon opened and in walked a family of four who soon occupied one of the tables he was waiting.

Seeing a familiar face amongst them though, the youth’s eyes widened, obviously surprised.

As for the lady whom had equally noticed him, she was much the same as she beamed at him with a small wave;

”Aiden! Hi!”

Taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart, Aiden remained professional as he walked over to the family.

”Hi, Lizzie. It’s nice to see you again,” he reciprocated her greeting with a warm smile and then acknowledged everyone around the table in kind;

”What would you and your lovely family like to have today?”

”Lovely’s hardly the word I’d use to describe us but sure... be my guest.” her younger brother who seemed to be in middle school sarcastically remarked to which Lizzie and her mother chastised;

”Luke!”

”What?! You know it’s true!” he defended, much to an even stronger chastisement from the mother-daughter duo.

Seemingly ignoring their shenanigans, their father simply picked up the menu, choosing to opt out on their bickering by turning to the young waiter instead;

”You know my daughter?”

”Yeah. We’re classmates.” Aiden replied honestly.

”Ah, I see. That’s good to know,” the man nodded and then ordered;

”Can I have the steak and eggs, medium rare, with a black coffee?”

”No problem, sir.” Aiden nodded and then turned to the quibbling trio.

”What about you guys? What would you like to have?” he politely inquired.

No sooner had they heard that, they promptly dropped their bickering and picked up their menus.

Lizzie especially was flushed, her face red with embarrassment.

”Chicken and waffles, extra syrup, and an orange juice!” Luke instantly called out a few seconds later.

”I’ll have the spinach and mushroom quiche with a side salad and a cappuccino, if you don’t mind.” their mother requested.

”I’ll um... I’ll have the eggs benedict with a side of hash browns. Ooh, and a vanilla milkshake!” Lizzie equally called out her order.

”Alright. I’ll get back to you all in a couple minutes.” Aiden calmly replied with a nod.

Previously, keeping that much information in his head would have had him sweating buckets.

However, with just the slightest upgrade to his Mind attribute, Aiden found it notably easier to recall them all.

True to his words, he arrived with their meals a couple minutes later, placing them onto the table carefully as he said;

”Enjoy your meals.”

No sooner had he done that, his system updated;

-

[Ding!]

[Quest Completed!]

⸢Exclusive Quests

› It’s Hauter in Here!!

└ Serve a total of 200 customers before the end of the week – [1 LP Awarded!]

-

Not the least bit surprised by it, Aiden simply retrieved the tray and was about to leave the family to it when Lizzie called out, her voice in a half-whisper;

”Hey, Aiden,”

”What was it you wanted to tell me on the day of the game?” she curiously asked.

Tilting his head slightly, especially since he clearly remembered telling her it was nothing, Aiden opted to be honest without giving it much thought;

”I wanted to ask you out to Prom, but I figured you wouldn’t have wanted that. You know, with you and Leeroy being a thing.”

”Oh,” Lizzie was a bit surprised to see him casually confess to it. There was also a hint of disappointment on her features... not that Aiden noticed.

Without giving her the avenue to follow up on a response though, he flashed her a light smile.

Then he walked towards the table of the new customers whom had just settled into their chair, a cordial smile on his lips as he welcomed them.

For as much as Aiden crushed on Lizzie, his priorities had now shifted. More than anyone, he knew he didn’t have the time, resources or energy to entertain those emotions like he previously used to... not now, or anytime soon for that matter.

As a result, most of the nerves he typically got around her, or ladies for that matter, were surprisingly under much better control.

Or maybe it was because he’d been frequently interacting with a lot of people this past month and a couple days, Aiden really couldn’t say.

Still, he was rather proud of himself for keeping things cool between himself and Lizzie.

Disinterestedly poking at her meal while taking the occasional bite though, Lizzie’s gaze followed Aiden intermittently, a rather pouty expression on her features.

And then, when they were done dining and about to leave, she walked up to him and whispered into his ears;

”I might have said yes, you know.”

Notably stunned by it, Aiden stared at the lady with widened eyes, his pupils dilating in evident surprise.

Then, with a rather coy smile, she made her way out with her family as she waved him goodbye, one that he subconsciously reciprocated.

Upon walking out the door though, Aiden’s stunned expression morphed into a genuine frown, his hand dropping slowly to his side.

’Might, huh...’ he pondered a bit.

Snapping himself out of it a couple seconds later though, he immediately resumed attending to the customers, his brain still processing what had happened on the side.

Then, when his shift had ended, he alongside his male co-workers soon found themselves in the changing room.

”Word of advice, Aiden,” Cody casually said while unbuttoning his shirt.

”Stay away from that lady.”

”Cody’s right. That’s the kind of woman that continuously leads a man on.” Jermaine casually chipped in as he hung up his shirt.

Considering both individuals had noticed the lady constantly stealing glances at Aiden--and not in the interested kind of way--they felt it necessary to warn him.

Given their individual experiences with a bunch of ladies over the years too, they knew the seeds of a coquette when they saw it.

And because they knew that, they didn’t want the young chap to fall into the same trap they had several years back.

However, even they couldn’t have expected Aiden’s response;

”You don’t have to tell me twice...”

”As much as I might like her, I’m never getting into anything with someone who has a boyfriend, or thinks it’s nice to play mind games,”

”Afterall, I have better things to do than chase skirts and be a spare tire.” he affirmed, then walked out the door while appreciating the duo with the warmest of smiles;

”Still, thank you for looking out for me. Both of you.”

Then he gently closed the door shut, prompting Cody and Jermaine to look over to each other, their heads bobbing in shared pride and acknowledgement of Aiden’s mindset.

As for the youth himself, his mood remained jovial, a light smile on his lips as he made his way over to his father’s construction site.