Booby Trap 1

"Boss!" William shouted when he bumped into Esmee, who was on her way to the restaurant.

Esmee, walking while carrying the groceries she had just bought, immediately turned to William. "Oh, William."

William approached Esmee and helped her carry the shopping bag Esmee had. "You always shop alone, Boss?"

"Please don't call me Boss. I'm not used to being called that," Esmee said.

"Then what should I call you?" he asked.

"Call me my name. I don't mind," replied Esmee.

"Esmee," William said.

Esmee smiled as she glanced at William. "That's better than you calling me Boss."

William smiled too. "It feels weird to call your boss by her first name."

"I don't want to make a distance with my workers. I treat them as much as possible like my friends," said Esmee.

William nodded his head. "You haven't answered my question earlier."

"Which one?"

"Do you always buy your groceries?"

Esmee muttered under her breath. "Oh, that. Yes, I always buy my kitchen supplies by myself. I feel more satisfied if I can choose my ingredients."

"No one helped you?"

"Now you're helping me," Esmee replied.

Esmee then looked at William. "What a coincidence that we met. Is your house around here?"

"I rent an empty room around here. It's only ten minutes from your restaurant," William replied.

Along the way to the restaurant, William kept asking Esmee to talk to him. He deliberately distracts Esmee so that the woman does not realize that he is about to exchange the food he is carrying with Charles prepared.

William had looked at the list of ingredients Esmee would buy from the notes he had found in the restaurant kitchen. He then asked Charles to purchase ingredients that matched Esmee's list but with not very good quality.

He would distract Esmee. They would swap the groceries as William and Esmee rounded the corner before heading to D'Amelie's restaurant. William smiled when he saw the shopping bag he had carried. It was a shopping bag that contained Charles's groceries.

"We're here," Esmee said when she and William arrived at the restaurant.

Esmee immediately opened the restaurant's front door and let William in first. After that, she closed the restaurant door again. "Wait a minute. I'll get you some water."

William massaged his sore arm after bringing groceries to the restaurant. He hissed as he looked at the bag containing the food ingredients. "What did Charles buy to get this heavy?"

"Your arms must be sore from carrying those groceries," Esmee said as she emerged from the kitchen with a water tray for William.

"A little," said William. He then drank the water Esmee had brought for him.

While William drank the drink she had brought, Esmee returned to the kitchen carrying the shopping bag that William had brought. The corner of William's eye caught Esmee, who looked troubled while carrying the shopping bag.

William directly put down his glass and returned to Esmee. "Let me carry it. It is cumbersome, indeed. Do you carry this heavy load every day?"

Esmee chuckled. She then muttered in a low voice. "It's not as heavy as the burden I feel right now."

William was silent after he overheard Esmee's words. Even though Esmee spoke her sentence quietly, William could still hear her because the ambiance in the restaurant was still tranquil. There were only two of them in the restaurant.

"Do you need my help again?" William asked as he lifted the bag of groceries onto the kitchen table.

Esmee smiled as she shook her head. "Thank you. You can move on to other work."

"Next time, I'll accompany you shopping for groceries," William said.

Esmee nodded her head. "Merci, William."

"Then I'll clear the tables ahead," William said.

"You know the storeroom, don't you?" asked Esmee.

William nodded his head. "Call me if you need help."

Esmee smiled back at William. After that, William immediately came out of the kitchen to clean the tables in the restaurant. Meanwhile, Esmee started to tidy up the groceries she had just bought.

----

"WHAT IS THIS?!" exclaimed a customer at Esmee's restaurant when he noticed that his food portions were smaller than he used to eat.

The fat man then called out to Marie. "Marie! Come here!"

Taking orders from the other guests, Marie immediately finished her notes and approached the chubby man. "What's going on, Gustav?"

"Look! Why is the portion of my food less than usual? I've been a customer here for a long time, but why are you unfair to me?" grumbled Gustav.

Marie glanced briefly at Gustav's plate of food. "Wait a minute. I'll swap it."

"Hurry up. I'm starving," said Gustav in a very curt tone.

Marie then immediately took Gustav's plate of food to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Gustav crossed his arms while watching the other visitors. "Tch, if they cheat like this, they'll lose customers over time."

-----

"What's wrong, Marie?" Esmee asked as Marie came into the kitchen carrying a plate of food.

Marie took a deep breath. "Gustav complains that the food portions are smaller than usual. He asked you to give him the portions we usually give."

"I can't give him the portion we usually give. If I did that, the other guests probably wouldn't be able to enjoy the food I have prepared," said Esmee.

"What do you mean?" asked Marie.

Esmee sighed softly. She then grabbed Marie's hand and led her to the back of the restaurant. "Look at that!"

Marie frowned. "Why are you wasting so many groceries?"

"All these ingredients are not suitable as raw materials for making dishes. I also had to throw them away. Therefore, try to understand Gustav. Tell him I gave him a special discount. Next time, I will give him an extra portion," explained Esmee.

Marie sighed softly. "Hopefully, the fat man will listen to what I say."

"You can convince him. Besides, maybe we'll close early today," Esmee said.

"All right," said Marie. Then she went back into the restaurant.

William immediately hid behind the door when he saw Marie enter the restaurant. Earlier, he had been listening to the conversation between Esmee and Marie. They were discussing the matter of food ingredients that occurred in the restaurant.

After Marie stepped into the restaurant, William peeked at Esmee, standing looking at the restaurant dump. "You should have sold this place while I bid high."

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