Chapitre 47: Chapter 10: Part 2 - That Girl
= Chris POV =
Hana worked at Jun's Café, which was just a few blocks away from the florist. I was quite familiar with the place so it was a brisk walk to make my way over there. Around this time there were barely any customers as it was just after the lunch rush, and the café closed its doors from 3 pm to 4 pm to give some time for the afternoon kitchen staff to do a handover and to take stock of their food while the morning shift took their leave for the day.
The café officially reopened their doors at about 5 pm for early dinner customers and so regulars usually started packing up at around 2:50 pm when they were informed that the kitchen was closed for the day and the café would soon be closed as well.
I checked my watch and saw it was 2:45 pm, which was great because the morning kitchen staff would already be packing up and making a move, so it would be quick to catch Hana at her station and surprise her for a bit.
However, what I saw as I pushed open the door to the café, made all of my happiness wash away immediately.
Sarah was at the counter, innocently talking to a cute blond who I recognised as Amber, and just as I walked in, a very familiar slender arm grabbed Sarah by the forearm, and she disappeared into the corridor on the other side of the counter.
I took in a deep breath and put down the bouquet. I was fine. I was in control of myself.
I strode down that café dining space as calmly as I could, and I turned down the corner to find just what I expected to see, a familiar tall, lanky black-haired foe, leaning over Sarah, blocking her ability to escape, bearing down on her.
"I know you have been avoiding me, where have you been, I have a new cake recipe I want you to try" Ruby said as she held Sarah's chin in her hand while leaning in close.
I reached out and yanked Ruby back by the collar.
"Hey! What th-" she yelped as I released her by shoving her in the opposite direction, letting her stumble back into the dining area.
I placed myself firmly between Sarah and Ruby and crossed my arms.
Ruby rubbed her neck, looked up and froze. She immediately straightened up and tried to act all innocent, laughing sheepishly and scratching her hair as if she had just been caught stealing a cookie from a cookie jar.
"Sorry, you caught me being inappropriate at work with the staff again" she laughed nervously " Are you going to write another police report and report me to the police... again?"
"Why? So you can use your lawyers to bail yourself out of jail, again? So much for our justice system" I snapped back.
"Hey, you're one to talk, I hear you are still sleeping around with anything with boobs that smiles at you" Ruby retorted, pouting as she crossed her arms, mirroring me.
"And I heard that you still haven't learnt that no one wants to eat your crummy alcohol-laced cakes! You always put too much alcohol, and not enough thought behind the flavour combinations" I retorted smugly.
Ruby clutched her heart as if I had just stabbed her " You can come after my looks, you can come after my love life, but not my precious cakes, you take that back! Baking is my passion, my life's work" Ruby exclaimed, with a horrified look on her face.
I narrowed my eyes and took a step forward " Well then, this makes it a lot easier to explain to you. That woman you were just manhandling, she is my passion, maybe even at this point, my life's work. Do not put your hands on her again" I growled, seething and doing everything in my power to not throw a punch there and then.
Ruby cocked her head to the side. " Oh? Are you two dating? I thought Sarah was single"
I froze. Right. We were not dating. Technically, Ruby could do whatever they wanted, why was I getting myself involved like this? I also didn't even know why Sarah was so close to Ruby that Ruby felt emboldened to do this.
A sly look passed across Ruby's face and she smirked: " Ah, so it's ok for you to rob me of my first prize at the National Baking Competition, but it's not ok for me to pursue a love interest of mine, who you have no ties to?"
"Hey, I won Nationals fair and square," I said, unfolding my arms and balling up my fists " Why are you always bringing that up every time I do something stupid and I call your out on it?".
Ruby sauntered forward, her smile widening as she saw she had managed to strike a nerve.
"Yes but we both made alcohol-based cakes. What was it about yours that the judges said was better than mine? Was it the chemistry between the ingredients? Well, let's see who has better chemistry with our little cupcake over here, hmm? Best chef wins" Ruby grinned and patted me on the shoulder.
I grabbed her by the wrist " Don't, touch her. Sexually assaulting customers is bad for business" I re-emphasised.
Ruby laughed and snatched her hand away "Oh, little Miss " Sarah-is-mine ", clearly I am in the lead as your supposed passion hasn't even told you that she is working for me." Ruby grinned as she dramatically placed her hand over she heart "She is an employee at my café" Ruby said and took a step closer to me, forcing me to step back " She works under my supervision" she said and took another step forward " And I get to see her every day she works here. Knowing you, I bet you haven't even said hi to her once in the last week, you lazy lout of a human friend" Ruby mocked, her grin growing wider and wider as she could tell I was fuming.
Ruby and I were toe to toe with each other at this point and neither of us were going to back off until one of us threw the first blow.
"There, see! Ms Jun is fighting with Ms Fairfield again!" I heard Amber suddenly pip up.
A pair of slender hands grabbed both Ruby and I by the collars and pushed us apart.
We stumbled back and I turned to find Heather standing akimbo, with Amber peeking out from behind her, eyes wide going back between Ruby and I.
"Firstly, Sarah is employed under my department, stop lying to our shareholder Ruby" Heather said, seething, you could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears " And Chris, the last time you stepped in here to check on your financial investment was a year ago, are you seriously telling me that you can't come by for five minutes just to say hi and let me give you a rundown of our business portfolio? The only correct thing Ruby said was that you are a lazy lout of a human friend, everything was rubbish" Heather snapped, glaring at Ruby, and then staring daggers at me.
I rubbed my throat and popped open a second button so that I could rub the area where Heather had grabbed and pushed.
"Heather, you trying to kill us or something? That really hurt?" Ruby whined as too she rubbed her throat area.
"I will kill you. I will kill you and bury you somewhere your corpse wouldn't be able to smell baked bread. Stop giving me so much trouble!" Heather exclaimed, exasperated. She then turned to where Sarah was staring at us wide-eyed, watching us like we were two out-of-control wild cats going at it.
"Sorry Sarah and Amber, these two idiots are always at each other's throats every time they see each other. Why don't you pack up and I'll drop you off at your homes as compensation for witnessing this shit show" Heather said apologetically.
"Actually I-" I started but stopped when Sarah nodded and went over to Heather.
"That would be great. I just want to pick up something for tea" Sarah said nervously.
"And I want to pick up something for tea AND dinner" Amber beamed, licking her lips.
"Alright I'll see you girls outside" Heather sighed and the two women disappeared into the kitchen.
Heather turned back to us and I don't know why, but now I felt kinda jealous, not of Ruby, but of Heather. What kind of relationship did Heather have with Sarah?
"Look, Chris, as a silent partner, I need you to turn up at least quarterly so that I have one level-headed person to talk to about the running of our business. Airhead over here just wants to flirt with everyone and bankrupt us, I'm struggling here! If not for Sarah helping out with the data analytics and finally compiling an actual list of what this Idiot genius is and isn't selling well from her barrage of new recipes every week, we would be in the red. Please, you are the only one here who can hold a candle to Ruby, just come in, once in a while, and help out. We need you" Heather explained, running a hand through her hair.
Ruby looked down guiltily at her feet and I sighed, scratching my arm. I had been neglecting my side of this business.
"I'm sorry, I got so busy at work. This whole thing started right after college, I didn't actually think we would succeed when I invested in the business…now that it has, I can see that I am half-assing about things over here, I'll, I'll email you about my availability and try to come by more often" I replied.
"Great, because Ruby has been such a handful. I don't know what your fixation is with our new hire, but you have to stop forcing yourself on her Ruby, she can't even safely come down to eat because you keep stalking her in the common areas, it's downright creeping even the rest of us out" Heather scolded Ruby.
I stared at Ruby "Forcing? How many times has this happened?"
"The first incident was – ah. You know, I don't think I should disclose personal information about an employee. Just know that I stopped it before Ruby got out of hand, again. I really would love it if you would consider a full-time support position here, then Ruby can be demoted to entirely just R&D and can take her flirting elsewhere" Heather said solemnly.
"Hey, don't talk about me like I'm not even here!" Ruby exclaimed, angrily stamping a foot.
"Well if you didn't act like an impudent child, mommy and daddy over here wouldn't have to send you to juvie every time you made a bad decision" Heather said patronizingly.
"Which one of us is daddy?" I asked, laughing a little.
"Obviously me" Heather grinned and then crossed her arms again, dropping the smile " Anyway please consider it, our golden child needs supervision, and I majored in Economics not Culinary Skills" Heather said.
"Ok well firstly, Sarah, is my tenant" I said to Heather, trying not to make eye contact with Ruby who suddenly looked really eager and keen, as if the penny dropped for her about something "She rents a room from me, so… anyway, she is a huge concern of mine-" I began
"OMG. Omg it's her. Heather it's her" Ruby suddenly burst out, rushing over to Heather and grabbing her sleeve.
Heather rolled her eyes " What the hell are you going on about now?'
" It has to be her! Don't you remember how when we were in college, Chris used to whine about this fair-skinned beauty with curly brown hair that she was swooning over from the art department? She refused to let us meet her even once because she wanted to keep her all to herself" Ruby grinned, her eyes sparkling with delight as if she had just solved a million-dollar question.
"Hey wait, you might be on to something. Yes, Chris was always enamoured by a mysterious straight girl who was your best friend from the art school. Omg, small world" Heather grinned
Ruby released Heather and sauntered over to me, crossing her arms and looking me up and down to size me up "Can't believe she is so cute, no wonder you have the hots for her, if you had introduced her to us when we were still at school, I just might have gobbled her up!"
Ahhh... How was I supposed to explain this away? Despite how long it had been, these two seriously were the ones who knew me the most, having spent 5 years of school together. It was so annoying how easily they could read me, so lying to them was useless.
"Yes...Yes it is Sarah. Sarah was THE GIRL. I can't believe after all I did to keep my friend groups separate, they some how managed to merge like this" I said am leaned against a nearby table.
Heather raised an eyebrow " Seriously, Sarah is the girl you have been pining over for five years? Hmm..well she is a hard worker, and sweet, I can see why you like her…but she doesn't seem like your type at all"
"Oh now I have to have her" Ruby beamed, twirling a lock of her hair as she always did when she was really eager about something "To have Chris' ultimate love interest, fall for me? Well, that just seals the deal, I have to make her mine!" Ruby laughed and winked at me " One of us has to, and, where your chemistry lies in your cooking, mine is all in my hands. She's into me, I can tell"
I took a step towards Ruby and Heather stepped in between us immediately.
"Hey, no fighting in the café. And also no flirting in the café? At this rate I'm going to have to fire the girl if you both cannot control yourselves. Do you want that? To be the reason a perfectly capable girl loses her job?" Heather asked us both.
We hung our heads in shame.
"No, I said and sighed, crossing my arms " Sorry, I shouldn't behave like this, I'm getting more like Ruby every day"
"Hey, don't use me as an insult," Ruby snapped, " Well I'm not giving up, starting now, I will make Sarah mine, one way or another, just you wait Christina Fairfield, I'm gonna get your girl, and then we'll see who is number one" Ruby declared and stormed off, leaving Heather scratching her eyebrow in irritation and me crossing my arms, really vexed about the entire thing.
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Author's Note:
The Paperback & EBook Editions of "I'm broke, can I pay for the room with my body?" Book 1 is now available to read on Amazon! Book 1 covered Chapter 1 to Chapter 5, so if you would like to re-read this story offline, or if you would like to get the paperback version to your home library, get it now on Amazon!
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone