Mistakenly Eaten

124. The Organizers' Cook Off

Nick stood inside the closet of his room, looking down at his iPad.

He read the transfer papers that were open in front of him.

He took a sharp breath, as he had the papers opened that required his one and final signature before he would become the owner of the Secret Chef Hunters’ Society.

When he had told Salva about his plan to buy the organization, Salva was obviously flabbergasted at first and became quite interested in Nicholas’s plan.

“What do you mean you want to buy it?” Salva inquired, baffled by Nicholas’s preposition.

“I want to buy that organization. By the looks of it and how quickly they agreed for only two hundred thousand euros, to lie to someone at random about having a person, without even considering the risks. They look like quite a desperate organization. They are looking for financers and investors. So, if they are asked to sell that organization, they would do it right away.”

“I know you are not thinking from a business’s point of view. So, what is your game here? why are you aiming to buy an organization that does not have anything remotely related to your business?”

Salva retorted, still trying to fill in the holes in Nicholas’s story and he simply sighed as he perched down on his swivel chair and rubbed the temples on the side of his forehead.

“Because I want that when I tell Althea the truth, there could be at least some truth in my story. I want to actually be the director of the Chef Society, so that she wouldn’t hate me entirely.”

“Oh!” Salva circled his lips as he finally understood Nicholas’s perspective.

“So, you are kind of like throwing a gesture of love in her way to show her that you would do that much for her? that you would even buy an entire organization, just so she wouldn’t hate you?”

Nicholas nodded to Salva’s words.

“Huh! Well, slightly creepy but majorly satisfying to hear that you are willing to go to a lot for her.”

“How is that creepy?”

“Slightly creepy!” Salva corrected Nicholas, who only looked at his cousin with an agitated concern.

“Listen, whatever you do, I will surely help you with it. if you think that it could control things and somehow Althea’s reaction as well, when she will find out the truth.”

“I don’t think telling her the truth will control her reaction but if I change the truth a little…”

Salva only groaned, throwing his head back at his cousin’s words.

“Please tell me you plan on being at least slightly honest to Althea and…”

“Of course, I plan on being completely honest with her but if I buy out the Secret Chef Hunters’ Society, then technically, I will be the director, right? So, she would have one less thing to be mad about.”

“Oh, so one less lie? But didn’t you lie to her about being the director when you were not the director and then you fell in love with her and then decided to be the actual director?” Salva retorted back, reminding Nicholas about the technicality of his lie and Nicholas only groaned, throwing his head back and rubbing his palms over his face.

“Okay, fine! I became a little selfish when I saw her cooking. I became blinded by own convictions and prevarications took the best of me but not anymore. I am ready to be all truthful, honest and transparent with Althea.”

“After you lie about the whole Society thing and buy it out?” Salva added and Nicholas shrugged.

“If a lie is saving someone’s heart, it shall not be considered a lie.”

“Wow! I wonder where you learned such a horrific and useless datum.” Salva retorted and Nicholas only opened his mouth to speak but Salva rose his hand and prevented him from speaking.

“Never mind! It was rhetorical question.”

With that Salva simply walked out of the room and the next day he only sent Nicholas the transfer papers, for him to buy the society in its entirety.

Nichoals knew that buying the society might help him in somewhat manner and he needed to confess the truth to Althea sooner or later.

Thence, he punched in his virtual signatures and emailed the papers to Salva, who stood inside his room, holding the iPad in his hands.

The moment he saw the papers that he received from Nicholas, Salva only sighed in exhaustion. He couldn’t believe that Nicholas was willing to cross limits just so Althea would be tamed and understand him before reacting abruptly to the truth. He just wished that whatever Nichoals was on to would work out for him.

As he placed the iPad on his bed and walked towards his bathroom, hitting the showers, he felt slightly hazy, still his heart heavy with losing Althea and a part of him still wanted her but he had to make that part understand and realize that he was going to have to live with seeing her with Nicholas and learn to be happy for them.

As he continued with his activity, Nicholas on the other hand, knotted the tie around his neck and donned the blue formal shirt, looking quite precisely, as how a director of a cooking competition would dress up as.

Well, he wasn’t just playing the part anymore.

He felt slightly irritated by the tie, that didn’t seem to be in proportion, as one end seemed quite long.

He took it off and tied it around his neck again but the tie still seemed unproportioned which made him grunt and take it off.

He felt anxious and couldn’t place the exact reason for his anxiety.

The door to his closet opened up and he turned away from the floor mirror and found Althea standing by the door, smiling at him.

“You look quite nervous.”

She smiled, as she walked towards him and began fixing his tie for him.

“You know how to fix a tie?” he asked and she nodded.

“I used to do it for all the waiters at the restaurant that I worked at. They were all newbies having no idea, how to work a tie. I mean, low class people don’t have much liberty to such fancy things. So, I learned from an old manager and then helped the rest of the new staff.”

As she narrated her struggles, so casually sharing a part of her life with Nicholas, he on the contrary only felt sad for her. in his perspectiv, the struggles that Althea had gone through was only something that he could never imagine and there was no way he was ever going to let her go through that pain ever again.

“Here! Now, it’s perfect.” As she knotted the tie in perfect balance, she turned him around, making him glance at his reflection.

He looked behind him and felt his heart flattered. Because it wasn’t the tie or his reflection that was perfect but Althea’s presence with him that made everything look perfect.

He turned back towards her and pulled her in to his arms, bringing her closer to his body.

“You are perfect. Please don’t ever leave me.” He whispered slowly at her and she only smiled as she placed her arms around his neck and looked at him with a soft smile on his face.

“I would have to leave once the competition is over but then, you will come back and get me, won’t you?” she asked, gently pushing her concerns forward, wondering what were Nicholas’s plans regarding their future.

Nicholas nodded his head.

“I won’t let you go alone. I promise. Wherever you go, I go.”

A bright smile appeared on Althea’s face that illuminated her face entirely and that smile, soothed Nicholas’s heart as well.

“Well, are you ready for tonight’s ‘The Organizer’s Cook Off?”

Nicholas tried his best to show his enthusiasm.

“Yes! Very excited.” He lied through his teeth, while in actuality, he was scared to his bone, having no idea what and how he was going to carry out the whole façade of pretending to be an expert chef.

“Amazing then! Because I am extremely excited and I really wish and hope that I would get to be your tester. I haven’t tried anything that you ever cooked and I would die to taste whatever you would make today.” She chimed, walking out of the closet and Nicholas only sighed in relief. Because the thing that worried was going to be taken care of by Salva.

As the two reached the dining hall, Fiona, Andrew and Garry already awaited her, along with Anthony, Martha, Gigi and Salva.

The contestants went ahead and stood in a straight line, standing right in front of the organizers that were participating in the competition, who also formed an erect queue.

“Gigi will be acting as our moderator for the cook off and would also record the score. The one with the highest score would obviously win.”

Salva announced, breaking out of the line, as he brought out a fish bowl, that contained four folded chits inside of it and stood in the middle of the two rows of the contestants and the organizers, on each of his sides.

“Now! One by one, each of you would pick out the name of the organizer that you have gotten and you would be judging their dish that they will prepare.”

“So, now Garry would you step out first and pick one chit out?”

Garry nodded, who out a name for himself.

Next was Fiona and then Andrew and in the very final place was Althea, who chimed and smiled at Nicholas, as she picked the last piece of paper out of the bowl and prayed and hoped that she got her boyfriend.

“Now! Open up your slips and announce who you have gotten. Althea, let’s begin with you.”

Salva told her and she opened up her paper, all anxious and excited but all of her excited vanished in to thin air, as the name written on the chit was that of ‘Martha’, instead of ‘Nicholas’.

“Martha!” she stated in a low voice and then Salva asked the rest of the three to announce out their names.

Garry spoke first, “Nicholas!”

“Anthony!” Fiona stated next, finally followed by Andrew.

“Salvadore!”

“Perfect, then, let’s begin?”

Everybody followed Salva in to the kitchen and Gigi collected the chits out of everyone’s hands and placed them back inside the bowl, slightly smiling to his own self, at the marvelous idea that Salva had given them.

All the papers had Martha’s name on them and the rest of the three contestants, other than Althea were already told which name they were going to say, irrespective of what might be written on their chits.

In that way, they wouldn’t have any worry about Althea picking up anybody else’s name and everything would go smoothly.

The cook off went on for about an hour and through the whole time, as Althea remained stationed, on Martha’s counter, every now and then, she would look at Nicholas and wonder what he was cooking.

Martha stood on the front most station while Nicholas was stationed on the very last counter.

Anthony, Andrew, Fiona and Salva’s presence only obstructed Althea’s view of Nicholas and she couldn’t help but feel saddened that she didn’t even get to see him cook properly, something she had been fantasizing for quite some time.

As the cook off ended, Nicholas finally prepared some fried rice, a recipe that he had watched at least ten times throughout the day and when Garry tasted it, he was forced to lift his hands up and give the man a thumbs up. He swallowed the bite down that he had taken and had wished that he had not taken the entire spoonful.

From his soured expressions, Nicholas could tell that Garry wanted to puke but maintained himself because of Althea’s presence in the room, who was quite busy herself, tasting the mediterranean steak that Martha had cooked, that was enticing to the eyes, as it was full of colors and the plating was sensationally keen and to Althea, as a food critique seemed peculiarly well crafted.

“Oh! This is sensational. You are a part of the organization for a reason.” Althea complimented the woman, as she finally tasted the dish.

Martha felt quite elated, at being praised for her cooking.

The door to the kitchen that led towards the dining hall opened up and Selena whistled, attaining Althea’s attention.

Althea nodded at her and immediately rushed out towards the girl and Martha silently followed her out, trailed down by Andrew and Salva as well.

Fiona looked confused, wondering why everybody was going and she turned to look at Anthony, who simply passed her the dish he prepared and asked her to taste it for her.

“Oh! I am not tasting that.” she scoffed, turning to look back at Garry, who was rinsing his mouth in a sink after Althea had left the kitchen. “I am not as stupid as him.” she told Anthony, who tasted his own dish and immediately spitted the food back on the plate, rushing to push Garry off the sink and began rinsing his own mouth.

“So, I guess we did Althea a favor by giving her Martha?” Nicholas suggested and Fiona only chuckled slightly.

“Where is everyone going? She asked Nicholas, who walked towards her and secured his arm around her shoulders and began walking her towards the door of the dining hall.

“You see Fiona, despite of being busy with handling the whole decorum around the island, with the whole fake cooking society and the whole farce competition thing, you know what we certainly kept in mind?”

Fiona looked at Nicholas and felt muddled by his question.

“What do you…?”

Before she could’ve completed her sentence, the door to the dining hall was flipped open by Salva and Andrew and Althea and Selena burst out two party poppers, blowing confetti everywhere.

Fiona felt startled at first but her shock soon turned in to joy, as the confetti cleared up and in front of her, on the glass windows of the dining hall hung a huge pink banner that read, ‘Happy Birthday!’

She was quite sorrowful with Serena being sent off from the island and having to celebrate her first after many years, a birthday, without Serena.

But she was never to be felt alone.

Andrew pulled her in a hug from behind and gently kissed her on the side of her head.

“Happiest birthday my love.”

“You guys…”

Fiona felt extremely delighted, the moment Althea and Selena brought out a cake that Althea had baked earlier and they lifted it in front of Fiona, lighting up the candles fixed in it and at the same time, Nicholas turned off the lights of the dining hall.

Everyone gathered around Fiona, as she almost blew her candles but Althea placed her hands over the candles, preventing Fiona from blowing them up.

“What? She asked in confusion and Althea shook her head.

“Not so fast! Make a wish first.”

Fiona smiled, closing her eyes and made a wish and finally blew her candles away.

The small and cozy party was then enjoyed by everyone, as Selena played music and pulled many to dance to the center of the dining hall.

As everyone gathered around Fiona and danced to make her feel joyous, she couldn’t help but shed a tear, as she pulled Althea in for a hug, taking everyone by surprise.

Althea simply smiled, hugging her beck, sensing that the girl might be feeling a little homesick and the only person in the place that she viewed as a motherly figure, being Serena, had left the place due to some personal emergency, or at least that was what she was told by Salva and everyone else around the house.

“Thank you for being my sister.” Fiona showed her gratitude to Althea, who felt delighted that even if she couldn’t be that close or a loving figure to her own sister sister, at least she could be that for Fiona.

Selena noticed how her parents had slowly started having their own moment of romance, as the shyly held each other’s hand in a crowded room, so she immediately put on a romantic track and the couples began slow dancing to it.

Anthony held Martha close to him and Althea and Nicholas watched, while holding each other as well, how beautiful the couple looked.

“They’re also married right?” she asked Nicholas, taking him by surprise.

“How did you know?”

“I can tell when two people are in love.” She told him, laughing a little.

Fiona, excused herself from Andrew and walked up towards Nicholas, taking him from Althea, who was about to leave but Garry held her hand and brought her back to dance.

“You know what I wished for?” Fiona asked Nicholas, who shook his head in a negative answer.

“I wished that Althea would never leave you and even when you tell her the truth, I wished that she would understand and forgive you and we would never lose her. she is like a sister to me and you better keep her happy.”

Nicholas gently patted Fiona’s head as he remembered the way she looked at Althea and then at him, before making her wish.

As Fiona left with Garry to dance, Nicholas turned to find Althea and saw her approaching Salva, who stood at a corner, talking to Gigi.

“Let’s dance.” She held her hand out to Salva, who looked down at her palm for a second and then looked at her face.

Even in the low and slow flaying disco lights of the room, Althea’s face seemed radiant and enchanting to him.

He gulped hard, feeling a tinge inside his heart that he would get to hold her on momentarily, but wasn’t that what love was supposed to be. Even a moment with the desired one, made ones life a living paradise.

Without putting in much thought, Salva held Althea’s hand, who guided him to the dance floor and the two slowly began moving, as she placed her hands over his shoulders and he placed his over her hips.

She took a slight step closer to him and the whiff of sweet lavender and coconut hit his nostrils, making him feel intoxicated.

Of course, he wasn’t over her and he only wondered when will he ever be able to overcome his feelings towards her.

“You know, I see many couples around the place and then I see you. I wonder if you like someone. Do you?” Althea commenced the conversation, with a topic that was definitely a soft and sensitive spot for Salva.

Salva couldn’t help but snort out a little at the irony of the situation.

“Hmm, I guess I do.”

“Really?” Althea asked with sheer excitement.

“So, tell me who is she?”

“There’s no point.”

“Why?”

Disappointment was quite evident on Althea’s face.

“Because she already belongs to someone else.”

As Salva said those words, his vision darted in to Nicholas’s direction, who smiled and rose his hand up in the air, making Salva node back at him in respect.

“Ugh! Her loss. She lost a gem like you.”

“Yeah! But she found another. And I really hope that the guy that she loves, makes her happy and makes her feel loved for the rest of her life.”

Althea felt extremely happy and proud of Salva and the kind of the man that he was, still wishing the best for the girl that he once loved. The respect that he showed by a simple statement was enough to let Althea know the kind of the man Salva was.

The kind that every girl would wish to date and the kind that she wished her sister would choose for herself but unfortunately, according what she had last known of about Irene, she assumed that she was either already married or about to be married.

After a while of dancing and laughing, everyone retired to their rooms and Nicholas also grabbed Althea hand, pulling her towards the room with him but then her gaze darted on the cake still left out on the dining table.

“OH! The cake, it will go bad if not placed inside a fridge. We can’t leave a cake out for an entire night, especially in such a humid weather.” She stated, looking out of the window of the mansion.

Nicholas shrugged, “So? I don’t remember the last time, I cared about a cake.”

Althea couldn’t help but laugh at his insolent behavior.

“Yeah well, if you could, you would recommend people to eat cake if they can’t afford bread.” She mocked him but he barely understood the sarcasm.

“And, what’s wrong with that?”

Althea couldn’t help but shake her head at Nicholas’s ignorant bliss.

“You know what? Never mind! You go to your room, I will join you, after I place the rest of the cake in the fridge. Okay?”

“Okay, but what did I say wrong? Does eating cake instead of bread causes diabetes?” Nicholas called out after Althea, who kept shaking her head at how insolent Nicholas could be.

Althea placed a safe lid on top of the cake and placed it inside the refrigerator, that was placed right outside the pantry.

She smiled as her gaze darted towards the large inventory storage, used only for food and ingredients and she couldn’t help but feel slightly belittled at how her entire house was just about the size of the storage space.

She walked out of the pantry and paused when her eyes landed on the left over rice, placed on the station counter that Nicholas prepared his dish on.

She stretched her neck out, looked around and smiled to herself, realizing that no one else was around.

Feeling victorious that despite of the universe working against her and not letting her be Nicholas’s tester for the cook off, she was still going to have a taste of his cooked dish. She remembered having a very slight view of Nicholas’s plate in which he dished out, since she stood quite afar from him. it was orange and she had a blurry view of the white rice that he plated on top of it.

She went towards the station and grabbed a spoon, immediately taking a bite full of the rice but something extremely sour and repugnant hit her taste buds, which made her throw out the contents on the plate.

The acetic taste of the rice, recommended that the use of vinegar was extremely high and the spice levels were beyond any measure, that made Althea’s tongue burn.

She immediately went towards the sink and began rinsing her mouth.

Her eyes watered, with her mouth burning and her heart beating loudly, due to the unhealthy amount of spices that she had just engulfed.

The use of ingredients in the food seemed to be not only amateur but extremely ignorant. It seemed like someone, with zero sense of cooking had made that dish. To her it seemed like the creator of that dish had not even stepped inside the kitchen or had cooked something even once in their life.

But Nicholas is supposed to be the director… he is supposed to be the best of the best chefs in the society.

Is he not a chef?

She wondered to herself and pondered, whether the society had chosen a person with corporate background to run the society. She remembered Nick and Salva having a conversation regarding to business numbers and charts, one day when she was hiding in his office.

Maybe, he is not a chef.

She then turned to leave but her eyes landed on Anthony’s plate and something enticed her.

A part of her told her that she should not take the risk of eating anything after what she had tasted off Nick’s plate but she felt extremely pulled towards what Anthony had dished.

She immediately grabbed her spoon and took the bite of his shrimps, that were not only overcooked and hard and rubbery but also extremely salty. She couldn’t even bring herself to gulf the food, as she spit it out and then moved on to Salva’s dish, that was placed on the next counter.

Taking a bite of it she felt paralyzed. Not only because it tasted just like the last two that she had, bland, overly spiced and excessively tasteless but because even if Nicholas was not a chef and a regular corporate hire of the society, Anthony and Salva both were supposed to be chef and the food that they had prepared was extremely tasteless.

Anthony was supposed to be the judge and his dish was supposed to standout just like Martha’s but it didn’t and instead, it tasted just as bad as Nicholas and Salva.

She felt anxious, suddenly an urge of displease engulfed her as she remembered telling Nicholas about her wanting to taste his food and his silence.

There was something hidden behind it because the dishes that she had tasted, in her mind, simply did not make any sense.

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Well! What do you think will happen now?

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