Mistakenly Eaten

3. A Strong But Poor Soul

The little hill top restaurant bustled and chimed with customers who moved in and out of the restaurant, keeping the kitchen staff on their toes, as they rushed against clock and prepared dishes, one after the other to meet the high customer demand.

It wasn’t very unusual for the restaurant to have a high influx of customers. They were actually always used to of it. The restaurant was infamous for being an old bee in the town and was also known to have an impeccable view from its place.

Even though it was just one in the noon and the sun was peaked at its place, shing bright and right above on the customers who sat and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze and feel the heat of the warm sun helping them keep a perfect temperature and atmosphere.

The owner of the restaurant had gotten the property handed down to him by his forefathers and given to the eatery renouncement of the town that was infamous for its food and peculiarly pasta making, the owner decided to open up a little eatery up on the hill top and people climbed and walked up a rocky pavement that was built up on bricks and was extremely narrow, just making way for two people to walk together at once, as the house built up on the rocky pavements left very little space for people to walk by.

Inside that restaurant, over on the small round tables, food and drinks kept on being served and the workers of the restaurants made sure that no one complained and everyone got their food on the said and promised time.

The manager of the restaurant, who was a black Italian woman, scratched the back of her head, getting confused by every passing second as more and more customers walked in asking for a table.

Her list was crumpled up in jumbles and she couldn’t place what customer came in first and what customer was already inside the restaurant.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and Althea passed her a small note, smiling softly at her.

“Here you go! Here is a list of all the customers in order to who needed to be seated first and also I have written their waiting time, until the next table according to the capacity would get free.”

With that she rushed back towards the kitchen to grab another order and the manager, who wore her name tag, “Liana!” smiled at the woman.

She was newly hired for the job and was extremely grateful for the young girl who had been an extremely support to her, she only wondered why the girl was not promoted to the job of the restaurant manager, especially since she had been working there for the past four years and was aware of the restaurant from the tables to the inventory to the kitchen. She was also an amazing chef and an excellent and responsible person.

In fact, no manager stayed for longer than six months at the restaurant. In fact, not a single staff member stayed at that restaurant for longer than six months, because of the miser and cheap owner, who always ended up having disagreement with the workers at the restaurant and ended up firing them.

Liana had also heard such same stories and that’s why she was also afraid that if she didn’t do her job well than she might also get fired within the third week of her job but Althea was much sweeter than she had thought.

She was a great sport and an excellent helping hand.

And whoever came at that restaurant always appreciated that about her and said that the only good thing about that place was Althea alone.

Wearing a lose sun dress, with a black apron tied around her waist, Althea swirled around the restaurant, holding a notepad and a pencil in her hands, taking orders one after the other. She rushed in between the dining area and the kitchen, collecting orders and even helping the chefs in preparation of the food. She was a cook her own self, a self proclaimed amateur chef as well but her work in the kitchen was always kept hidden.

One of the reasons why she was always nice to the staff and helped them around the owner by hiding their short comings and mistakes was because she was not allowed to cook in the kitchen and did so in hidden and because of that the staff also helped her keep her secret safe.

Althea took out the pizza out of the brick oven and placed it on the pan, carrying it dragging it out of the kitchen and over on the designated table.

Because of her little tips, everyone around the restaurant was able to carry their work out efficiently. From the chefs, who were guided and helped by Althea in taste to the waiters who were told and guided about the hall maps and how to make their job more efficient, everyone was grateful in that place for Althea.

As she continued serving the tables and also made a dish in the kitchen every now and then, the male chubby chef of the restaurant noticed that she wasn’t doing much cooking in the kitchen as per usual and was actually keeping a very strict eye on the clock.

“Why are you looking at the clock? Are you supposed to be somewhere?” he asked her and she nodded, as she brought a bunch of empty and half eaten plates back inside the kitchen and the cleaners threw them inside the dishwashers.

“Yeah! It’s my sister’s engagement today and I am catering for her party. So, I have to get off early and be at the venue that is a thirty minutes ride from here.”

“Damn! When are you supposed to leave?” asked Liana, who heard her talk with the chef.

“In the next hour!”

“What? Why don’t you leave now?” she asked.

“I can’t, I couldn’t get off before three. I asked for an earlier leave but…”

“Ah! So now you are backbiting and complaining about me?”

A rough voice cooed in the background, making the entire staff run away and back to their respective stations, with poor Althea left behind.

But she didn’t mind the staff squirming away. She understood that all of them worked on a very risky wage system and they couldn’t risk their jobs, unlike her, who knew that no matter what blunder happened from her, she would never be fired from the job.

She sighed turning around and coming face to face with one of her many tormentors.

The old man, with a short height and a bald head that had hair covering the sides, with the top of his swept clean. His thick moustache grown to cover his upper lip entirely. He wore small rimmed glasses over his eyes, with the left side of the frames covering up the thick mole underneath his eye. Brown freckles rested over his wrinkled skin and his mouth bulged and pushed down, showing the frown which was his permanent expression. His round belly bulged out and rested barely over his pants before taking down a slight curve, only gently pushed up by his poor pants that he held with the help of suspenders.

He walked up towards Althea and began giving her an earful, which was his usual activity to do so.

“Of course, you will tell my staff that I am a bad boss and a horrible uncle on top of that right?” he yelled at Althea who didn’t utter a single word and by that point and through her experience of four years was quite well aware of the fact that there was no point in arguing with her boss, the owner of the restaurant and also her uncle – Gustav Romano.

He was her mother’s brother and the only extended family that she had ever known of. And that’s why she also never actually knew that family members were supposed to treat each other with respect and love and hence, they took advantage of her lack of knowledge and treated her like a servant at their restaurant.

“I didn’t let you get off earlier because I know that you will have to take some days off for your sister’s wedding now that she is engaged. So, if I have to pay you full time, you have to work full time or else, you are free to go now if you wish to be paid for half the labor.”

Gustav mumbled and complained, pushing past Althea who kept her head bowed down in respect to her.

Right behind Gustav was his son Romano Gustav, named after their grandfather.

He was about his father’s height, hair thinned and hairlines receded back over his forehead, showcasing the fact that till his father’s age he would also lose his hair. He was quite lean, unlike his father and also didn’t carry any facial hair.

He walked past his father and immediately went towards the cashier.

He definitely had his father’s miser’s genes.

He opened up the cashier and counted the day’s earning and calculated the profit that they had made in a day. The two father and son were always counting the money they spent on the restaurant and then compared it with how much they had made. Of course their profits were always higher than their spending given the perfect location of the restaurant which brought in many tourists from all over the world to gather around that place and click pictures. Their food wasn’t that bad either. They knew how to run a good restaurant and always hired chefs with good hands in preparation. Even though the chefs won’t tolerate their stale behavior but the father and son duo made sure to put up a healthy work environment image whilst hiring anyone for the restaurant.

One of the reasons why Althea was always guilty and more helpful towards the staff was because she couldn’t let them know the truth when they would get hired and hence, be there to help them all the time.

“What are you guys doing?” Romano yelled, slamming the cashier loudly, making everyone jump up in surprise, “Why do I just see this much earnings? Can’t you guys work faster and serve more and more customer? What are you even doing here? All gathered around and gossiping about me and my father? Get your asses to work now.”

Everyone scattered away and Althea also turned to leave, disappointed and hurt at Romano and his father’s atrocious behavior whereby they treated everyone as a slave and their personal hierodule.

“You!” Romano called her out, snapping his fingers at her which was enough for Althea to know that his cousin was calling for her. there were rare occasions where he would ever actually say her name and only called her out through such demeaning gestures.

Liana, who stood by the door of the kitchen watched as Romano humiliated his own cousin and this only made her feel disgusted by her bosses and nothing more.

“Were you cooking in the kitchen again?” Romano asked, suddenly triggered by the thought.

Almost four years ago, they had caught Althea secretly cooking in the kitchen and in punishment for that, they had not just given her an earful and made her do the dishes for an entire month but also cut her payment for that month as well. And they did all of that just to teach her a lesson.

Althea said nothing, knowing that there was no point in arguing with Romano and simply shook her head at him.

He hummed back in response and nodded, “Try not to talk crap about my father to other workers, got it?” he nudged his head closer to her, threatening her physically and verbally.

Althea remained frozen to her spot, not moving back as a gesture to show that Romano’s words carried weight only in terms of the fact that she would listen to him but was not afraid of him physically.

Romano had also never hurt her physically except for occasional shoves that he would make her way, when his friends would be around only to bully Althea and make fun of her, in front of his rich friends.

“Remember, you still owe us money. Okay? My dad just paid off your sister’s college’s last fee and now that she will be getting married right after graduation, I am pretty sure you would be needing more money. So, remember my father and I own you.”

With that he tapped Althea’s head, reminding her about her misfortune.

She didn’t say a word and instead kept her head bowed and lowered, actually scathed and hurt by the thought that her cousin as right.

They did own her.

Every inch of her existence was drowned in debt to the two, which was also the reason why she had to work at their restaurant to pay off her debt. It was Romano’s condition that kept in front of Althea four years ago, when she had gone to her uncle to ask for debt for her sister’s college fee.

Romano asked her that he would allow her to have the money and to repay she would have to work at his restaurant as a waitress and never even think about cooking at their place.

Althea agreed to their condition and said everything that they asked her to do. She quit her job as a manager at a local mart and did everything to keep her sister in college.

But her cousin’s condescending behavior towards her never stopped. It was like he never wanted her to succeed and gained some sort of sadistic satisfaction by watching her fail and fall short in her life.

“You will be preparing the food at the engagement today?” Romano asked her and she nodded back at him.

She seldom spoke any words when she was with her uncle and cousin. She knew how venomous and over the top they reacted anytime she would try to defend herself and hence, she had reached the point where she had stopped defending herself as well. And realized that the mature thing was to keep her silence to herself and her sister in college.

“Hmm, well at least this time you would not be catering in those gay weddings.” Gustav spat bitterly, showcasing his hate towards homosexuals and something that Althea found extremely distasteful about her extended family.

They were all a bunch of snooty homophobes, who had problem with every loving and polite thing on earth.

“Anyways, act decently today for your sister! Her fiancé and his family are a nice family, something that you wouldn’t know of.”

Althea’s expressions turned stale as she was reminded of the fact that her sister is marrying in to a rich family and that family had also only agreed and accepted her sister because they met Gustav and Romano and associated them with her sister, Irene, who was just grateful that her fiancé’s family was just willing to accept her in some way.

“Now go and do your job! There are customers waiting and also be at the party on time. We have to leave for the salon and get ready for the function.”

Gustav told Althea and left the restaurant and Althea also went back to working.

As she cleaned up a table with her rag, a light tap on her shoulder made her turn around and find Liana, looking at her with a soft smile.

Along with Liana some other staff members were present and they also held a symptahtiec look at Althea, who rolled her eyes with affection, understanding it way too well what that staff was doing.

That usual empathy thing that happened with her, with every batch of staff that ever existed.

They all understood the hate that Althea’s uncle and cousin spat at her and they also realized that they abused her unjustly and treated her inhumanely, only by manipulating her weaknesses and taking advantage of her situation and her love and dedication for her family.

“You need to go and get ready for your sister’s engagement.” Liana spoke up.

Althea shrugged at them.

“It’s fine! I will leave at three and still make it and…”

“You have a lot to do. Food is not the only thing that you should be concerned about for your sister’s engagement. There are a lot of other things and I know that you will be overlooking all of that. So, instead of staying here, you need to go. They aren’t coming back anyways, so we will cover for you.”

Althea’s eyes filled with tears, as her kindness always paid her off and her helping others always helped her one way or the other.

That’s why, she had not given up on her hopes on life just yet. She knew that good people and good chances existed.

She took her apron off and rushed out of the restaurant, thanking everyone who promised to cover up for her.

She rushed down the steep of the hill and made a run towards her house that was located in a small farming land, only a mile away from the restaurant.

Her house was a small cottage, that a hooved structured roof and just a small living room with an attached and open kitchen on the ground floor with two small bedrooms upstairs, with one occupied by her sister, who always complained and demanded to have her own separate room, whilst another one occupied by her and her mother.

She loved her mother more than anything and was extremely attached to her. for her mother, she would give up her life, given on how much her mother had sacrificed for them and she also always respected her mother’s choices and valued her sacrifices as well. Her mother worked on the garden and the fields, that she had leased from her uncle Gustav and ever since Althea was ten, she had helped her mother in all sorts of labor, be it physical or mental and when her mother had to work hard and overtime in the field, she would not have enough time to cook a proper meal for her daughters and that’s when Althea stepped in and learned cooking so that she could help her lessen her mother’s burden one way or the other.

Her passion for cooking deepened, as she tried, invented and elevated different and colorful dishes, amazing people with her creations and she dreamed of going to a chef school. But after high school, her dreams died down when the flood hit the field and ruined the produce for that year, which made her put a hold on her plans and she took a job in a local mart as a cashier.

But to help her mother recover from the financial burden, she had to continue working in that mart for the next two years and before she knew, she got promoted to the managerial level and the good pay that she brought home, that helped lessen her mother’s burden became an easy way out for the family.

Soon her mother Monique was diagnosed with diabetes and arthritis, that didn’t allow her to do extensive labor in the fields. This made Althea realize that she needed to forget about her dreams and focus on her mother’s health and family.

She continued working in the mart until her sister got in to college but they couldn’t afford to pay the tuition fee, which was until Romano made an offer to Althea.

She had never let her mother or herself bow down entirely in front of her mother’s rich yet snooty family that never helped them but only tried to shove them down under a pile of burden.

Althea could either refuse Romano and let Irene and her dreams suffer but then she was reminded about her own self.

She was reminded about how she couldn’t achieve her own dreams and never got to go to a chef school and a pastry school, due to the lack of money.

She couldn’t put Irene through that same heart break.

She had never let her sister suffer from any sort of financial and fiscal heartbreak. Hence, she did what she deemed fit in that moment and what she considered was the best option for her entire family.

She sold her soul to her uncle and her cousin and began working as a waitress at their restaurant.

But Althea also never gave up on her hopes.

As she rushed to her home and finally reached the small mailbox present right outside her house, she opened up it, just like every single day she did from her way back from work, in the hope of receiving that letter that could change her life forever.

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Yay! I am so excited about this story! It will definitely be a fun packed one!

Thoughts on Althea so far?

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3