My Bully is the Mafia Boss

CHAPTER 2 – Entrance of the Devil

Avery’s POV

“I have good news for you all!” it was Mr. Collin, the restaurant manager, who gave the staff a piece of advice before the shift started. I entered his cabin at the last second before the shift started still huffing and gathering the air to catch my breath.

The door creaked and everyone's heads turned towards me, no matter how secretly I tried to enter without gaining the attention of others, this f*cking door was screaming alerting my presence.

“Avery, if you keep coming late to the shift, I will have to make a decision about you working here” he arched his forehead and narrowed his eyes with a bit serious tone.

“S…sorry, Mr. Collins, it….”

“Won’t happen again!” before I complete my phrase, he cut me in the middle and completed it.

“I know that Avery and I have heard enough times of your excuses and pardons. Now, listen everyone, Avery, I hope the news I will share with you all will trigger you to come early for the shift” Mr. Collin again highlighted me and I was dragged closer by Amelia behind a tall figure so that I was no more visible to Mr. Collin.

“All right everyone! the good news is, from next month onwards, the company will be picking the best employee of the month and you will be rewarded with many unexpectable things!” he announced the news he was holding impatiently to share with the staff and pressed his duck size lips with a wide smile making his eyes dance.

“Mr. Collin, we would be delighted to hear what are these unexpected things,” one brunette girl asked among the staff.

“Good question! You will get a bonus other than the salary for the particular month. The bonus will be triple your salary and you will get a voucher with 15,000$ face value where you can go to any restaurant belonging to our restaurant chain all over the world. At last, you can have a free meal, a lunch, or a dinner with your family in here” he pointed his index fingers downwards making his eyes dance again. The staff clapped and whispers started to be heard among them.

“Wow, isn’t it amazing Avie?” Amelia lowered to whisper at me.

“But, to grab the title, you have to be punctual, not get a complaint against you from the customers, and work hard. You have to do a few simple things and the company awaits to shower you with a bunch of gifts” Mr. Collin's words brought me only one interesting thing about the 15,000 $ voucher, whether I can sell it and get the cash or not.

“Now, chop chop, get back to your workstations, and good luck! Please don’t bring any customer complaints” he begged us and circled back to his chair.

With a sigh, I walked outside his cabin. Everyone walked back to their places and I was wrapping the knot of my apron while Amelia pulled me into a side and rotated her eyes to see whether someone was listening or looking at us.

“Avie, why are you late? You late every day for the shift?” she asked narrowing her hazel eyes.

Amelia was a single mom with a two-year-old baby girl. She is 22 years old and she came to Bryxton town about a year ago. She never shared her story with me, though we became good friends and neither I was not going to ask about her past. I know how hard to forget the bitter past and move on. She worked in the restaurant as a cashier while I was a waitress. She is going through a special shift starting from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Mr. Collin worked hard a lot to discuss with the management to arrange this special shift for her, so she can earn enough money for her and her daughter.

“I…I had school stuff” I ignored her eyes and showed a fake hurry to go back to the work floor.

“How many times you are gonna lie to me, Avie? Your bucket of excuses is all over now and you have only to say that because of the school stuff you got late” She lightly squeezed my left arm.

How can I tell her that I was covering the missed lessons of that jerk? the devil of my life!

“Amelia, I am already late for the shift and since we both now have the goal to become the employee of the month, I think we should more focus on the job!” I gave her a fake smile and adjusted my t-shirt beneath the apron. I tied my hair into a bun. I don’t want to hear a complaint from a customer saying that they found a root of hair in their food.

“Never mind, you will spill it one day!” she said and walked back to the cashier counter.

The afternoon and the evening times are the busiest day for the restaurant. Most of the school leavers and high school students are employed at this hour to find their pocket money. They pay a fair amount to us and provide one meal for the day. We can have it or can take it away to have it later. I grab it at night and take it home to share it with Mom.

Everything was good until we had to face a terrible accident about four years ago. I was fourteen and my sister, Sofia was seventeen. It was the darkest day of our lives. We were on the way to a beach hotel to spend the Summer vacation. Me and Sofia were in the back seat fighting for the iPad. We had only one and we both wanted to listen to different songs. I was so busy fighting with Sofia that I heard Mom and Dad scream and the vehicle rolled down from the hillside.

That’s all I remember and when I was waking up later, I was in the hospital. The authority said that Dad was dead on the spot and Sofia was paralyzed. Mom and I were the only healthy survivors, but the trauma never left us. I have seen Mom crying enough times secretly. She wiped her tears when she saw me.

According to the doctors, Sofia will never come back to her feet and neither we don’t have cash to throw for her treatment. She will spend her entire life in a wheelchair or a bed!

“Avery, where did you lose? Didn’t you hear I was calling your name?” a co-employee girl shook my shoulder to bring me back to reality.

“Go to table number five and take the order,” she said in a hurried tone.

“Oh, s….sorry” I quickly ran to the table she mentioned. A father and a daughter were sitting there. The girl should be around fourteen or fifteen and the father must be in his mid-fifties. They pulled me back to my past again with the beautiful time I spent with my dad.

“Good evening sir! Sorry for the delay. Can I get your order if you have gone through the menu?” I took my notepad and the pen from the pant pocket to get notes down their food order.

“Dad, I need fries today! You promised me that you would buy some for me when mom is not available!” the girl secretly whispered to her dad making me smile.

“All right, Your Highness, I will get some” he squeezed her pink cheeks and turned his head slightly toward me to give the order.

“We will go ahead with a hot chocolate, a mixed fruit juice, a large French fries dish, and two cheese and chicken burgers,” he said with a gentle smile. I felt a fatherly warmth through his smile. I quickly noted down the order and repeated it for them.

“Sir, for the fruit juice we are adding pineapple too, do you have any allergies consume pineapples?” I asked. It was our duty to ask about their allergies. We do not serve just food for their hungry stomachs, but it was also our responsibility to be concerned about their health too.

“Thank god, you remind me luckily. I completely forgot about it because of her French fries request, yes, please do not add any pineapple” he said with a breath of relief.

“Sure sir! Anything else?” I asked again before leaving the table.

“Nothing, appreciate it if you could bring the order quickly since we two are really hungry,” he said rubbing his stomach.

“I will try my best sir, but it will take around ten minutes. I hope you don’t mind. I will send the drinks as soon as possible!” serving them hope and a smile I left the table and reached for the order-taking counter.

I took the paper from the notebook and handed it to the counter.

“Please hurry up, at least with the drinks!” I said while giving the paper to the counter boy.

“Avery, you know how busy we are and I will try my best to do it” he raised his cap a little and went back to the kitchen with the order note.

I saw another old couple just sitting at a corner table. I gave them a few seconds to settle on the chair and I was about to walk towards them to take the order, suddenly, the entrance door opened with the bell ding on it.

I felt that the entire atmosphere had changed like the sunny day suddenly turned into a gloomy stormy one. As soon as the smell of the cologne hit my nostrils, my brain warned me that the devil entered to ruin my heavenly peaceful work hours!