Mistakenly Eaten

24. Stocking The Pantry

Nicholas sat inside his office, his hands adjoined and fingers resting underneath his chin, as he looked ahead of him in to a void and wondered what could be going around the house.

Things had been quite suspicious according to his analysis lately.

Martha and Anthony showing up and not telling him, made him wonder how long had they been at the house.

He then recollected running in to the girl, who had just slapped him the night before.

Every time, there is a new story with that girl and what amazed him was the fact that the girl finds new ways of insulting him.

He remembered the first time, she insulted him.

She called him a ghost and Serena said that she was a p********e.

Then called him irritable and Salva said that she was an educationist.

Nicholas found it absurd and also kind of his own fault that he didn’t care enough to ask Salva what kind of educationist she was.

He cursed himself for being too mad to not to realize that there was more to the girl than every one at the house was leading him on to believe.

And then, she finally slapped him suggesting that he was trying to take advantage of her and even talked about some competition.

He looked behind him and realized that the sun had set and he had his two meals of the day already. He looked at the watch in his hands and saw that it was six in the evening, which meant that everyone around the house knew that it was his nap time.

But that day, Nicholas was in no mood to sleep.

He had tried his best to notice any change in Serena’s tone or body language ever since last night, the two times she brought him his food. He didn’t say much and instead, simply accepted the food that she gave him.

Nicholas also tried to analyze the food that he was being fed.

It seemed odd, nothing like he had ever tasted before. It was mesmerizingly alluring to him. There was just something mystical about the dishes that were being cooked for him lately. No matter how much he ate, he never felt full. The food pumped him up with a different kind of energy. It released some sort of serotonin in him, that just made him want to eat more and more and then just either hit the gym or swim.

He got out of his office and gently tip toed his way towards the kitchen.

Entering inside the kitchen, he found it to be completely empty. He was amazed to see the rows of the working stations set up at the kitchen.

Exhaust vents were built up over each station and he could tell that a lot of work and money must had gone in to making the whole set up possible.

He went through each and every station, opening up the drawers to see if he would be able to find anything but couldn’t place anything at all.

He sighed in exhaustion and made his way towards the pantry.

He was about to enter the pantry when he heard the door of the kitchen, that led towards the dining room open up.

He immediately slid inside the pantry and stood closer to the door, just to hear who had come inside the kitchen.

It was Salva and Serena arguing over what to have cooked for dinner.

“I am telling you, let him have the pasta.” Salva argued.

“But I already set the menu for Chinese and we were supposed to get some rice and something cooked in soy. I had everything in the pantry set up as well. Now, I will have to tell the workers to set the pantry for different ingredients and you know how worked up everyone gets when asked to work double these days. First they have to pretend to be cooks and let me tell you, they are terrible at it and then they have to even set things around and with you asking us to change menus at the last minute, people are on my neck Salva. Last night, two girls came crying to me…”

Serena complained, pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

“… asking me to let them off. They were tired and…”

“Oh, please! People around this place are finally working for the first time and actually getting paid for truly working. They are just lazy and used to of not working. If somebody is saying that they want to go, you come and tell me and I will fire them.”

“Seriously? Fire them? And then how would you explain to Althea, where did they go.”

Althea – the name clicked to Nicholas, because he hadn’t heard that name ever on the island, which made him sense that it was the anonymous girl who had been roaming around at the mansion and running in to him over the last few days.

“Eliminated from the competition. We still haven’t started eliminations, yet, right?” Salva told Serena, making her eyes go wide.

The door to the kitchen that led towards the foyer opened up and Fiona, Garry and Gigi walked in. finding Salva and Serena inside the kitchen they groaned in irritation, sensing that something tense was going on between the two.

“What happened now?” Gigi inquired, in an extremely bored tone.

Nicholas’s eyes bulged, hearing Gigi’s voice, he gently opened up the door of the pantry and looked outside through the small slit, just to make sure that his eyes would get to see Gigi and his ears were not just deceiving him.

“He is asking to change the menu for tonight and make it that stupid pasta again.” Serena complained, making everyone sigh in exhaustion.

“No! last minute plans please.” Fiona told Salva, who c****d at her.

“Guys, listen to me! I have a very good reason to be doing do. Nicholas had been quiet since this morning. Serena told me that he didn’t say much when she gave him his breakfast and lunch and instead, looked at his food very strangely. I just think that giving him the pasta, that he loves, every now and then only so that his mood remains nice and so that there is no big problems like the one happened last night at the island.”

Serena sighed, having no other option but to agree with Salva.

“Well, it is not like he is asking us to move mountains.” Garry added in, making everyone nod.

“Fine! we are doing all of this for Nicholas anyways. So, should throw in a little bit more of an effort but I am not asking the workers who are already participants, to reorganize and restock the pantry.” Serene made herself stern clear.

“You do realize that you are their boss and they are supposed to do everything that you ask them to do.” Gigi reminded her and Serena shrugged.

“I don’t like to listen to people complain all the time. You know me.”

Fiona chuckled, leaning forward and pulling Serena in for a hug.

“Then, let me help you. You know, I don’t mind working at all.”

“But what will you tell Althea about the change in the menu, she had already thought of a recipe and had already decided what she will be cooking for the Chinese theme.” Garry told everyone, making the smile on Fiona’s face disappear.

She was quite enthusiastic after her little interaction with Garry last night but yet again listening to the man, talk about Althea and showing it obviously that he was truly transpired by her, made her heart drown in anxiety and glum.

“Just leave that on to me. I will take care of that.”

He told everyone, who nodded and left.

Fiona and Serena went to get the stocks from the storage room to fill the pantry and Salva took Gigi and Garry with them.

Nicholas was left alone, stranded inside the pantry, where he sat wondering what everyone was actually up to.

Things were still not clear to him and he could tell that whatever they were doing was to help cure his depression and it had to do with the food.

He sighed, walking further inside the pantry, where he began pacing back and forth, trying to understand the entire series and events. Suddenly his eyes went towards a tripod stand, placed underneath bags of flour.

He could tell that the tripod stands weren’t just left there but instead, were actually put there to be hidden away.

He picked out the stand and a professional camera came along with it.

Turning the camera on, he went through the pictures and was left stunned to find a series of videos on that camera, that gave him the answer to all of his queries and questions.

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Well, what do you think will happen now?

Now that Nicholas has found out everything? :P

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3