Mistakenly Eaten

39. Nothing Can Break Althea

“Challenge accepted.” Althea presented her hand forward and accept Nicholas’s dare.

The smirk on Nicholas’s face immediately vanished and everyone in the kitchen, looked at Althea with sheer drear and horror, as they realized that what she might be doing could be considered as a straight suicide, by agreeing to prepare three dishes in the time span of just and mere twenty minutes.

“That’s not possible what is she doing?” Salva whispered to Serena, who shrugged back at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the kitchen.

“I don’t get it why Nicholas is doing that? Doesn’t he know that her food is curing him? why is he pushing her like that? What would he do, if which she will obviously fail to prepare the dishes in the next twenty minutes?”

“I don’t get it either! Both of these two are crazy whacks. Things were better off when Nicholas and Althea didn’t interact at all and now, everything is just a big mess and they are just creating more and more heat and pressure in this kitchen.” Salva complained, pacing around the main foyer, where Martha and Anthony showed up.

“What are you two doing here?” Martha asked, wondering why Serena and Salva weren’t present inside the kitchen.

Salva shook his head.

“Nicholas! He’s going to ruin things for his own self and waste our hard work.” He informed Anthony and Martha, both of whom, entered inside the kitchen and watched Nicholas squinted his eyes at Althea, shocked at her confidence but he knew for sure that there would never be a single way with which Althea would ever be able to prepare three dishes in the span of twenty minutes.

He knew that she was playing her bluff and reaching above her limits.

He also wanted to see her fall down, face first and finally repent for her mistakes and feel embarrassed in front of Nicholas.

He wanted to win the battle of wits that they had on going and that’s why, he took in her hand and shook it firmly.

A sly smirk rested on Althea’s face, as Nicholas let go off her hand and he realized that he might have actually done a mistake.

But how could she possibly do that? She’s just playing her bluff and wants me to back out from this challenge.

Nick thought and moved out of the kitchen, walking past Salva and Serena, who also followed him out and to his office.

Being left in charge, Gigi rose his shoulders in his defense.

“I guess you have to get to work?” he told Althea who nodded and proudly strutted towards the pantry.

Gigi kept his eyes stuck on the clock and watched as all Althea carried was a single basket with simple five to eight ingredients.

He slyly grinned to his own self, actually hoping for Althea’s down fall.

He knew that Nicholas was wrong but he also somehow wanted to see Althea getting put down for her cockiness and her over confident that she carried in her skills.

It was only because of her skills that the entire house was tolerating her.

Gigi knew that his job and other things would’ve become quite easier for them had Althea simply accepted their offer and not been a pain in the ass by being adamant about wanting to be a part of the Secret Chef Society only. If she had accepted their offer to be a private chef, things would’ve become easier for all of them and Gigi didn’t have to work double the load that he was currenly surfing through.

He was also making sure to keep a good check back on her family’s investigation about Althea going missing.

He watched as Althea worked with breads and bologna, something that made Gigi wonder what she could be up to.

In another bowl, he watched as she broke an egg and whisked it.

He c****d an eyebrow, confused by her actions.

He looked at his watch and noticed that Althea still had fifteen minutes left on the clock.

He sighed, watching her carefully.

Everyone in the kitchen also left their task and focused solely on Althea, everyone watching her in sheer awe and anxiety, doubting whether or not she would be able to complete her task.

Many cheered for her and many simply stood by, anticipating the results.

“Come on, Althea! You can do this.” Fiona cheered on her, looking anxiously at the clock. She didn’t know how but suddenly she had become a well wished for Althea. Maybe, the realization came to her that Althea was never her enemy and simply was there to win the competition and there was nothing that Fiona should do or think to make Althea her enemy.

“She will be able to do it.” Garry chanted slowly to Fiona, who nodded back at him.

“There is no way she would be able to do it in such a short amount of time.” Commented one.

“This is suicide. I only wonder what Nicholas would do to her, once she fails, which she definitely will.” Said another one.

Andrew stood listening to all those comments and keenly watched Althea work her way in to struggling to make the three course meal that she had challenged that she would be able to do so.

At first, even he was confused, when he saw bread in her ingredients basket but as he continued to watch her, a mysterious smile appeared on his face, as he finally realized what Althea was doing.

He was quite impressed with her brain and her skills.

She just wasn’t a skillful person but also a mindful one.

He had heard from Salva and Serena that she was working as a waitress in a restaurant and seeing the way that she was working so effortlessly, without breaking a single bead of sweat.

She looked very relaxed and very calm, which showed her confidence and her knowledge in her recipe and which exhibited quite clearly that she knew what she was doing.

On the other hand, inside Nicholas’s office, the conditions were entirely and completely different.

Salva was fuming in flames, screaming and yelling on top of his lungs, as he blared and yelled at Nicholas.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? We worked so hard to make her stay and we are still working so hard to keep her here. Do you know what Gigi and Anthony have to do, to make sure that her family is not tipped off hard on our tails? And yet you are being so careless? What if she decides to quit? You haven’t seen her stubbornness the way, Serena and I have. Because of that stern behavior of her, we have to orchestrate such a stupid and a big show. You know, who orchestrates and pretends to hold big shows and competitions? People on dark web and we are not even being paid. We are doing all of this for you. So, that you can get better. Don’t you see how her food is helping you? Why are you being so stern about ruining it?”

Nicholas laid back in his chair, watching Salva fume in anger and Serena also jumped in, watching how unbothered Nicholas was, something that was infuriating and irritating Salva even more.

“Nick! He is not wrong. You haven’t dealt with Althea the way Salva and I have. The woman is very gritty and once she has her mind set up on anything, there is nothing you can do to change her mind and Salva and I have suffered from her stubbornness first hand. That’s why, we are warning you. Do not waste your time or ours playing around games with her. she is not a toy. Okay”

Serena tried to scold Nicholas in a daunting manner but the boy only scoffed back at her.

“You guys think, I am making things tough for you? Wrong! I am making things easier for you.” Nicholas finally spoke in his defense.

“Easier how? To us, it looks like, you found out what was helping you get better and then you are deliberately trying to sabotage everything.”

“Oh! Please, if anything I am making things easier for us.”

Salva and Serena looked at each other in sheer bewilderment and then back at Nicholas, stunned that the guy was repeating the same narrative again.

“How?”

The two yelled at Nicholas simultaneously.

Nicholas rolled his eyes, standing up from his chair, in a striking pose and a cocky expression.

“Because Althea will never be able to complete her task in just twenty minutes and once she fails, she will realize that her talent is not something that sells her so high.”

Salva looked at Nicholas in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you think she is so stubborn and so stern? Why do you think she only wants to be a part of that lame competition and never accepted a job as a private chef? It’s her attitude and her over confidence in her cooking skills. No doubt, she is a great cook but her confidence is what makes her feel so mighty. Her cooking skills is what makes her think that she is too good for anything else and only deserves a place in a some high ranked society or whatsoever. Have you guys never dealt with anyone who comes from a small town and a small place? These people dream big but sometimes, they dream so big that they forget to not to fly so close to the sun and that is exactly what this girl’s problem is. She thinks, she can reach for the stars and doesn’t realize that the stars are all burning orbs, that burn you too when you try to touch them. So, when she will not be able to complete my challenge, she will realize that her talents are not even that great and then finally we will have her eliminated from that stupid society.”

“Why not just eliminate her from one the rounds?” serena offered, making Salva turn his attention towards her.

“That’s how she would believe that the society was wrong for doing so. You see, she thinks that her cooking is too good to be even true.” Nicholas explained, “If she gets eliminated, she would never assume that she wasn’t good enough. I know people like her, she would rather blame the society and think that it’s rules were lame or the judging criteria was not good enough. We don’t need that. We need her confidence and her back bone bended and broken. We need that. Something that would make her feel hopeless and that would only come on, when she would take on a challenge…”

“… in which she would try to fly too close to the sun.” Salva added, finally understanding Nicholas’s game plan.

“Exactly! Once she has her confidence broken, that’s when we make her the offer to be the private chef.” Nicholas smirked, happy that Salva finally understood his plan.

“But what if she doesn’t lose?” Salva counter argued.

“Oh! She will! There is no way that she will win. No one can win from me and…”

Before Nicholas could complete his sentence, a knock on the door made him halt and at the same time, the door was pushed open.

Standing in front of the door was Althea, holding a food service trolley in her hands, that she reeled inside the office, with three covered dishes placed on the tray.

She chimed with a ‘oh – so sweet’, smile as she looked at Nicholas and bowed in an obviously sarcastic curtsy.

“Here you go! With two minutes still left on the clock.” She told Nicholas, who looked at the watch in his hands and then looked at Althea’s smiling face, that made him fume in anger.

He couldn’t believe that he had lost a challenge to someone ever in his life.

Seeing her daunting confidence and her profound sense of girth, he realized that Serena was right, it was not going to be this easy to defeat Althea and break her confidence.

He wasn’t dealing with any regular person, she was an extremely annoyingly and irritatingly adamant woman, who required a lot, to break her down and to make her go down on her knees.

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Well! what do you think Althea would've made?

And what do you think Nicholas would do now?

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3