Mistakenly Eaten

121. Only Twenty One Days Left...

“This week that contestant who would have to say goodbye, leaving us with our top four, would be…”

Martha stood by the very front of the kitchen, with all eyes of the five contestants, focused right on her.

“It would be… Geneveve.”

As Martha announced the name of the skinny and short girl, the girl only fretted and threw her hands up in the air.

Everyone went towards her, patting her back and giving her their condolences for getting eliminated after reaching such a far point in the game.

Even the girl herself was not happy being eliminated, since she was an assistant chef to Andrew and had started to enjoy the game. If anything, she had actually developed a knack for speed and pressure cooking and was actually considering in applying a fast service kitchen after her contract at the island was going to expire.

As the girl packed her bag and Gigi took her towards the safe house, he noticed that there was quite glum on the girl’s face.

“You know it’s been weeks of me bringing people to this spot now. But you are the first one who doesn’t seem to be happy about a paid vacation on the island.”

The girl gently pressed her lips, as she spoke back to Gigi, all the while following him towards the safe house.

“Well… if I am being honest, I was kind of enjoying staying back at the mansion and the whole fake cooking competition thing. If anything, I guess I have realized that I would like to work in a fast paced environment.”

“Wow! That’s a new one. Well, if anything there are just three weeks left and after that you are free to go wherever you want. Till then, stay underneath the ground.”

With that Gigi took her down in to the underground safe house and Geneveve only scrunched her nose, as she noticed the foul smell and the grotesquely grubby condition of the safe house that the previously eliminated so called contestants had made of the place.

“What the f**k is this? You don’t expect me to stay here for the next three weeks.” She complained to Gigi, while the contestants laid with ennui on the couches, while the rest were inside their rooms.

“Clean it then! Someone has to, anyways.”

With that Gigi simply left the safe house, leaving the poor girl to survive in those unhygienic conditions.

As Geneveve went inside her designated bedroom, she found her roommate, also an old worker on the island and then an pretend eliminated contestant, all dolled up in a skimpy bikini, applying oil on her quite freshly tanned and shiny skin.

“Where are you going?”

“OH! I am going with a bunch of girls to hit the beach. Nobody comes to the north west coast, so we spend most of our time there anyways.” The girl replied, continuing to rub oil all over her body.

“You guys don’t just stay here?” Geneveve asked with quite the muddle and the girl snorted back in absolute sarcasm.

“Yeah like we are prisoners or something?”

“Aren’t you afraid that someone from the mansion might see you?”

“And so? Like they don’t know as if who we really are.” The girl simply remained indifferent and unbothered.

“But what if that girl Althea sees us?”

“She never comes to the north coast. She mainly remains on the south side and…”

“But still, it is a huge risk and…”

“Girl! Do you want to come or what?”

Geneveve, only grunted and made up her mind that she would not be spending any of her time inside the safe house which was equivalent to a pigsty and instead she also threw on one of her swimming suits and went outside, hitting the beach with the rest of those who went out.

----------------------------

As Althea wrapped up thing on her station and cleaned it up, Nicholas walked up to her and noticed the gloomy expressions on her face.

“Already missing the Geneveve?” he asked, wondering if the elimination was what made her glum to begin with and Althea shook her head.

“I wasn’t that close to her.”

“Then why do you look so sad?”

“I just realized that there are only three weeks left and three weeks mean twenty one days or less and it means that I have less than a month to spend with you.” She told him and Nicholas only placed his hands over her waist and pulled her closer, gently pecking the tip of her nose.

“Twenty one days on this island, after that I am taking you with me.”

Althea laughed a little.

“That also only depends if I win this competition or survive till the last week. There are only four of us left and the ratio of me winning a week’s competition compared to the rest of the three had been quite low.”

She told Nick, who then remembered that Martha and Anthony deliberately did not place Althea on top more regularly compared to the others, so that she would remain in the delusion that she wasn’t the best in the competition and things were tough and real.

“Of course you would survive till the end. You have been doing great so far.”

He pecked her forehead and she turned back to clean her station but Nick was not willing to stay away from her, so he placed his arms around her waist and pulled himself closer to her, which only made Althea roll her eyes and shake her head at how Nick always kept himself attached to her, both physically and emotionally.

Salva entered the kitchen and seeing Nicholas all cozied up against Althea, spun a sharp blade against his heart and he could feel a heavy pain in his chest but he only swallowed his pride and his love.

He closed his eyes at once and reminded himself, that he should not let his love for Althea become an imposition. He was still learning to let go off her and seeing her in front of him all the time, tangled in Nicholas’s arm wasn’t helping him much but it should also be his daily and every instance reminder that she wasn’t his to lose.

He walked up towards Nicholas and called him out.

“Dude! Can you come to the office for a minute?”

Nicholas groaned, rolling his eyes in agitation.

“I don’t want to.” He whispered in to Althea’s ears, making her nudge her elbow in to his belly.

“Shh! Go now.”

She placed a soft peck on his cheeks and Nicholas only removed his hands from her waist and walked up to Salva.

“What is it? couldn’t it wait?” he asked, slightly concerned and majorly bothered.

Salva only turned his face away and gestured at Nick to follow him but Althea called him out suddenly.

“Oh! Wait! Salva, I almost forgot. I wanted to ask you something.”

Both of the two cousins, turned around and glanced at the girl, who asked with her hope filled eyes.

“When will be the organizers’ competition?”

“What?” Salva asked with nothing but complete puzzlement.

“The organizer’s cookoff that takes place somewhere in the last three weeks. It’s going to happen this year, right?”

Nicholas and Salva both shared a skeptical look and then Salva turned back towards Althea.

“Yeah! That was what I was going to discuss with Nicholas about.”

With that Salva pulled Nicholas’s hand and dragged him out of the kitchen and in to his office.

“Dude! What was that? what was Althea talking about and why did you drag me in to the office?” Nick complained to Salva, who ignored Nichoals’s censures and took his phone out of his pocket and began searching something on it.

“f**k!”

Salva grunted as he finally found the answer to his query.

“What happened?”

“The organizer’s cook off! I completely forgot about it.” Salva groaned, running a hand through his hair and tugged on to his strands.

“Why is her memory so sharp about this stupid contest.” Salva said, agitatedly.

“What happened? Will you just tell me?”

Nicholas pressed and Salva shook his head.

“By the end of the competition every year, one day is designated for the chefs, who are also the organizers of the stupid Chef Hunters’ Society. Because all the members on the organizing committee are supposed to be chefs as well. So, they commence a day where they cook and are judged by the contestants.”

“f**k this…” Nicholas threw his hands up in the air, feeling exhausted that his lie was going to cost him more than he had ever imagined.

“Another s**t, now?” he asked Salva, who shrugged.

“That was exactly what I came to talk to you.” Salva told Nicholas, perching down in front of him on the squarely placed sofa chairs in the office.

“About what?”

“When do you plan on telling Althea the truth.” Salva looked up at Nicholas as he rose the question.

-------------------------------------

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3