Chapter 2: To slay a demon
His eyes where blue, like the light sea water, and his gaze upon me made me dream for a second, his hair was curly and chestnut brown, and a well defined jaw line I dare not to touch, but I wanted to. for some unknown reason I couldn't utter a word, my processing system crashed completely. I could only hand him the watch, he looked at the watch and smiled with out bother, but with great relief, I could interpret his emotion, he didn't realize he had left such fortune behind, and his change in gesture made me realize that the watch was very important to him, 'damn, of course is important rose, who loses a million dollar artifact and not be relieved to see it again' my subconscious slapped me. he fixed his gaze on me again and uttered one word of gratitude as he wore his sun shades and departed with his car , all the while I just stood there like fool, but it was worth it, because I might just never get to see that again.
I changed quickly into my normal clothes pacing and thinking of what would have been, there was this regretful feeling left at the corner of my thoughts but the fact that I did the right thing was what made me trust completely in my self that I was a better person.
Time was running out and I was late again to the restaurant where I worked every night, the restaurant was my place of peace and comfort because we all worked like a family, we cooked delicious traditional and international meals that made all the customers feel at home, the chef was so talented, and I did admired him a lot, he was full of dreams and ambitions, and he never gave up no matter the setbacks the restaurant encountered, he was always joyed and the atmosphere he created eradicated every hurt I had hidden as if it was never really there. I rushed to the locker room and changed quickly into my apron, there I met Nancy my one and only childhood friend, her mom was my mom's friend in college, and that's how we met, we did had similar dreams of being famous and self-made millionaires in the future, but our destination was quite distinct, similarly we were stucked at that point where life seemed to be kind of cruel because nothing was working out, her family was a big part of our lives, they assisted us with every penny they had, all in the name of love, but now mother and I kept our problems to ourselves so we wouldn't be a burden.
I stared at Nancy and smiled as I noticed some changes in her hair "you curled your hair?... Wait a minute is that make up in your face?" I asked almost laughing my heart out knowing that the day was just about to get even better "didn't you hear chef's big announcement?" She asked, as she hit me hard with her apron. "You know I only work here every evening, how am I supposed to know, it won't kill you to text me Nan" I said trying to swallow up my laugher each time I glanced at her face. " Oh jeez, is the make up that bad? I want to look perfect on tv..." Nancy said taking a mirror out of her bag making as much effort to look flawless, Nancy was what I termed a fashion intellect but she sucked at make up and since we where kids her dream was to be a fashion designer, even after so many fail attempt to get her designs out to the world she never gave up, her diligent attitude taught me a lot."Wait what do you mean by TV?" I asked as my heart beat raced for no reason " well the chef got a contract with a famous international cooking show, and he will be appearing live tonight" Nancy said whipping the make up off her face realizing that she was completely bad at makeup, I was mute for a moment as joy began to manifest itself in me, I wanted to screem but that was rather foolish, " how... how did it happen?" I asked curiously "more reason why chef is looking for you" Nancy said with out making eye contact with me, I was mute due to my confusion until Nancy brought it all to light, "babe?... What is wrong with you" Nancy said staring at me in disappointment, I really hated it when she made that face "Are you leaving in the 1860s? That you can't venture into the internet for once?" She said making that face that said 'I can't believe I have such a lame friend'... "Just get into the point Nan, you know I don't really have a smart phone so don't rub it on my face" I said folding my hands in annoyance "Anyway, remember that Friday when you cooked and served that soup to that pretty popular celebrity that I can't still believe you can't still recognize?" Nancy said while combing her curls "yes you told me she was a popular actress and model... So what about it? It's no like I have time to venture into the entertainment social mess, and start memorising faces , names and their wealthy status. That ain't gonna put food on my table sweetheart" I said waiting for her to proceed as I folded my hands in waiting "ah... you're such a grandma" Nancy said with her mouth left wide open "well she loved the soup so much that she advertised the restaurant, and now it's trending all over the internet" Nancy continued "and because she is a public figure, this cooking program came running to see the wonders of our kitchen" Nancy added puting on her uniform as she created a silent atmosphere for me to say something "well am happy for him he will be living his dreams very soon" I said making my way to the the exit. "Rose" Nancy called before I could turn the door knob "you know chef Ramon likes you right?... That young handsome brat is just too shy to admit it" Nancy said smiling at me mischievously, I felt so embarrassed by her words that I could'nt help it but smile stupidly, I picked up a spatula from the open drawer and threw it at her with the intention of hitting her "ouch... That hurts" Nancy said and laughed, just like old times I ran off before she could retaliate.
It was a busy day and every one but me looked better than normal, my reflection I saw on the glass wares wasn't encourageing, I looked so stressed out, and it made me wish I retouched my appearance while I was with Nancy. In a few hours we where finally done with serving for the day, we took a break while the tv station company came in to mount their equipments, I went outside from the back with a cake and lots of leftovers waiting for my little friend to arrive, and there she was running to me with a bright smile, Nancy joined me as she said "happy birthday" to her , we both sang quietly surprising her with the cake, her eyes widened in joy that the little girl couldn't help it but cry.
I didn't really know her, but I knew that she and her parents barely had enough to eat, she always strolled about the restaurant watching as people ate, her sad looking eyes could tell that she wasn't feeding at all, and chef always drove her away due to the fact that she was causing discomfort to customers, so I and Nancy made it our priority to snick in some leftovers for her after closing hours, her smile alone was some healing to me and I was glad we could help.
As a team, chef instructed that we should be well organized as always, the program was going to be recorded tonight and aired the next day, every one moved to their positions respectively as I heard the door unlock, it seemed I missed a lot from the announcement, I looked at everyone's eyes and traced it right to the entrance, Nancy's face was so fucused as if an angel was going to walk right through the door, but it wasn't so much to my expectations. A lady wearing a costly chef's attire majestically walked in, she was british, her mid length, brown and perfect cut hair, her full heart lips, her deep blue eyes, screamed so. Strangely my heart skipped at the sight of her, but I just didn't know why, and I had this deja vu feeling about her, like i had seen her before or she looked kind of familiar... Untill it downed on me "what is even wrong with me, of course why wouldn't she look familiar, she's a celebrity" I said interacting with my subconsciousness.
She walked in with three bodyguards, all on suits, dark glasses and never smiling, she raised her right hand indicating them to wait outside, her assistant ran to her with a bottle of water and her toque, which looked nothing like chef's, hers was lined with Gold and the upper was white, I didn't need a suit Sayer to tell me that she was one of the best chef's in the world. Everyone greeted her with a welcoming and warm gesture and I just tagged along. She walked briskly as her eyes travelled around every corner of the room, every worker made way for her to take a tour as if she was the queen of england, their eyes where so into her as if she was a goddess while our cheff was obviously melting, but as for me, I just sat somewhere waiting for them to get on with it, it was so obvious that she wanted to use her so called 'charity' to boost her career.
Cameras where set, cables where plugged, the kitchen was perfectly arranged and the show was ready to kick off.
Cheff Ramon began with explaining the receipt of the soup I made to the viewers, taking each spice at a time as the camera alighted each one of them, he was doing perfectly great until the so called 'Goddess' walked in on him just to make an appearance, they interacted for some minutes, talking about food and culture just to make the show lively, but our chef could not even maintain eye contact with her "jeez I can't watch this anymore" I said partially covering my eyes as I felt embarrassed for him, it was after a long thirty minutes of watching, that I learned that her name was Crystal Michaelson. "Wow lucky you, you share the same surname with a celebrity" Nancy said pushing me with her shoulder in a playful manner. "whatever" I said "she seems nice and pretty too" I added but I showed no interest at all "oh... Do I smell jealousy" Nancy smiled weirdly "Oh dear no, Nancy what are saying" I said, still processing what she said, but my sudden reaction made her laugh.
The show was finally over, every one took a portion of the soup, as some sort of reward for our hard work, chef then instructed me to serve some for Miss Crystal with some fruit salad as the desert while Nancy was instructed to serve the tv crew members.
I walked to the storage room to pick our best kitchen wares, I served the soup and the fruit salad as instructed, I walked to her quietly but I tripped carelessly due to the numerous unplugged wires on the floor, the soup which was served on a ceramic, shattered into pieces and the soup was all over Miss Crystal's shoes, at this point I wished the ground could swallow me whole and hide me, because what ever was going to happen in the next few seconds wasn't going to be any good, everyone reacted quickly as their attention was fixed on Miss Crystal in a flash, I stood up quickly trying to fix everything as I apologised countless times, her assistant ran to her together with other tv crew members holding a med box as if she had broken a bone from me tripping, I mean I was the one who needed a medic, my knees was bruised because of the broken glass,but I observed no injury on her feet, the only thing that circled through my mind was 'why is this even happening to me'.
She was quiet for a second untill the real Devil came out, her assistant that was trying to clean her up received a kick due to the anger I could observe building in her and everyone had to back off, all this time I was still apologizing, but she cut me off as she raised her voice on me."did you have any idea, how much this shoes cost? And of course the dress?" She said digging her demon eyes on me, and the only possible and polite answer I could think of was promising to replace her shoes as soon as possible, just what any lame person would say at that situation knowing fully well that I couldn't afford them, but it seemed my words increased her rage to the maximum level, that face was too scary to look at, the angel was now a demon.
No one could even help me out, not even our cheff of all people, and Nancy was there frozen and shoked by Miss Crystal's sudden reaction, my knees hurt and there where bleeding 'is any one not seeing that?' I said in my subconsciousness. "There are only three of this shoes in this world, you stupid, good for nothing dish washer" she screamed at me, her words alone where like bullets to my chest, I was dying already, didn't realize that I was so soft that only mare words could cut me deep. "Who the hell do you think you are, to tell me that you can afford my shoes, my coat alone can afford your accommodation five times, people like you can never amount to anything" she said, but I couldn't raise my head up I was just too hurt to do so, I was so close to crying already but I held back as much as I could "I went through everyone's file, and I found out that you are a dish washer, more reason why you need to be fired" she said turning her gaze to our chef, "she has to be fired, she's a hindrance to your future career, what if celebrities walk in here and this happens again, what will happen then? If you don't fire her this contract is terminated" She said, her words where beginning to sound stupid and lacking a lot of sense which made my sadness turn into anger, I looked at chef with the eyes that said 'don't tell me you're actually going to fire me because of a common mistake'. But chef was mute and that already gave me the idea that he was such a douchebag, I mean me and Ramon have been friends for a long time even before his father died and willed the restaurant to him.
"I Quit" I said raising my head up high staring at Miss Crystal with daring eyes, "just so you know, do you know that a cook and a dishwasher are similar?" I asked as I drew close to her making her feel uncomfortable "they are similar, because they both serve people, they are like servants, and that's what you are, you're just a cook and nothing more, and one day you're gonna serve me" I said laughing at her like a psycho. "I Quit too" I heard Nancy shouting, she walked to the cheff and she threw her apron at his face "you're really something Ramon... Rose is the reason why you had this contract, the soup she made is what went viral and not any of your everyday dishes, and you couldn't even stand up for her" Nancy said being disgusted by his presence "you're such a fool, you just lost your light" she said then turned to Miss Crystal and then gave her a long stare "am a pro at fashion sweetheart, so I know that does shoes you're wearing are fake, and there is only one as such in the world, and you don't have them... And one more thing, your fashion sense sucks" Nancy said as she dragged me with her to the exit in a savage manner.
"What was that?" I asked staring at her in shock "I call it... No one messes up with my best friend" Nancy said smiling at me.