The Royal Affair

Karina's POV I hear a fire drill alarm ringing and I woke up like a robot. I switched it off and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later I was done. I looked at the time and it was six am in the morning. I was late. This means that I had slept through four alarms. I was running late. I got myself together and knocked on my brother's door. "Martin wake up." I banged on the door. I went to my mother's room and I saw that she had already left. I had no time to waste. I took a quick shower and changed into my jeans and white t-shirt. I always work better wearing my converse sneakers. I know that my mother is probably waiting on me to open the restaurant and the fact that I'm an hour behind means that I won't be able to cater for everyone of breakfast customers. I went downstairs and found my mother making fresh coffee. We had to open by seven o'clock and I hadn't even started on the muffins. The muffins where the only thing that got sold out in the mornings, people waited for minutes in line just get our muffins. We ran a restaurant but no one ever ordered a full breakfast meal, they all want muffins and coffee so I couldn't be late. The muffins are the reason we still keep the lights on in this place and upstairs. When my parents started a restaurant, my father was the chef, he went to culinary school, he was the main and only chef in the restaurant. He did all the cooking by himself and he was good at it. Having experience as a restaurant chef, the business was running smoothly. My mother was the manager and she made sure that things ran smoothly with the customers. They took out a loan to buy this Resturant and the apartment upstairs. Then a thug came in one night and shot my father whilst he was locking the Resturant. My mother was then left with all these other debts to pay off. I had a college fund, money that my parents had saved for me to go to college. My father's insurance also paid out but it wasn't as much as we had expected. After the funeral my mother paid off some debts with my father's insurance money but still it wasn't enough. I had to a hard decision. I dropped out of college. I had no choice. With only a year left to graduate I quit college and I paid of the debt. Though the store is now my mother's, we are technically broke. Without my father's cooking, the restaurant ratings went down. We tried to get other chefs but they couldn't cut it. After a while people stopped ordering food and we lost customers rapidly and business went down. Until I introduced a few things to the menu. Even though we are not rich at the moment, we at least keep a roof over our heads. I have had to create a few dishes on the menu. In the morning we had muffins and coffee. Now this empty seat are always filled with people staying in for coffee and muffins. Then we have a lunch special, sometimes it's burgers, I make the beef patties myself. People love my burgers. Then we have lasagna which is also a hit with a lot of people and then we have mac and cheese which is also going very well. In the evenings we have steak and vegetables, We have smoked salmon and soup and then we have pasta and meatballs. We don't have a lot of things on the menu but I can guarantee that what we had was the best in the city. Everyone know that because I had spent years perfecting my recipe's. I went into the kitchen and put on my apron. I might have been late this morning but my mother sure was a big help. I see that she has already met up with the suppliers as well. Oh that was another thing with our restaurant, everything is fresh, even the blue berries and strawberries I used in the muffins. Having fresh produce meant spending a lot of money. Hopefully we can get more customers during the day seeing that I had now put our restaurant on social media. My little brother was going to manage the social media pages. "Karina where are you with those muffins customers are waiting outside..." August said. August is our one of our waitresses, we have two. She arrived whilst I was busy. She's always here on time unlike Lola who is always running late. I don't blame her though, working for minimum wage and no overtime was not child's play. We would pay them if we could. Between the three of us, we only have one car to use and not it's even that expensive. So life is pretty tough for everyone. " I have twenty trays out, ten strawberry and ten blue berries, I have six in the oven and I'm making a batch for twenty more." I said. "It's not going to cut it, you're gonna have to be quick." She said and went back to serve customers. I told my mother that we have to save up for another oven, it would make things so much easier for me seeing that just like my dad I'm the only one making food. We stop making breakfast at ten and after that I have to prepare for lunch rush. lunch orders don't usually come in until twelve in the afternoon and we serve those till four and after its dinner until nine in the evening, we usually close at ten and later on weekends. Even still we can't save enough for a new oven. The paint on the walls is old. The furniture is outdated. This place needs a lot of work. A lot of work that needs a lot of money. I managed to get through breakfast even though a lot of people had to leave without their muffins. My mother said that some people even asked if there was anything else they could have. This is something that has been going on for a while now, my mother suggested that I add on more to breakfast menu but I'm already doing so much, I literally can't do more. Lunch rush was just something else today, by the time it was time for dinner, I was beyond tired, even with my little brother helping me out in the kitchen. I would prefer if he would use his time to study but he'd rather be here and help out. I sometimes feel like my little brother has had to grow up too fast. At his age he should be out with his peers and having fun instead of slaving away in the kitchen with me. It's not fair and I don't like it. I just wish we could do better and hire more people. "Karina you know we could be doing more if you taught me how to make some of the dishes right?" Martin said. "Martin, I've told you that the restaurant is not your responsibility, you should focus on football so that you can get into a good college, that's the only help I need from you." I told him as he helped me wash the dishes at the end of the night. "Rina I've locked up in the restaurant, I'm calling it a night." my mother said and went upstairs to our place. "Good night mom." Martin and I said at the same time. "Sis can I ask you something?" Martin said. "Sure, you know you can talk to me about anything." I said. "Why don't you ever go out with any guy? I mean I know you have to work but I'm sure working here can't be the only thing you want to do with your life?" My little brother said. This is true, back in highschool I was too focus on getting good grades that I ever had time for anything else outside school. I wasn't a hermit though.. I had friends and we went out, then I went to college and there I was too focused on getting my degree in business management that I didn't have time for anything else. I had always thought that I'd start dating when I completed my course, unfortunately all of that changed when my father was murdered. "I don't know, I guess I just don't have the time to think about anything else." I said and carried on with the dishes. "I told mom that we should get another cook to help out, that way you could get some time off to live your life." my little brother said. "Well that's nice of you both but we can't afford to hire anyone else at the moment, I don't even get a salary." I said. "Fine, it's Saturday and one of my classmates is having a party, I'm leaving and I'll see you in the morning." he said and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Martin is right about one thing though, this should be the best time of my life. I'm twenty three years old so I should be living my best life. I wish I could but I can't because I have responsibilities, I have to keep this Resturant at all costs. This is the only thing we have going for us. I also want to be whisked away by some handsome guy but I have bills to pay, I have to take care of my family. I have to make sure that Martin gets an education. I switched off the lights and went upstairs. I got there and I took a bath. I was tired but this is the life I have, I don't have any other choice. I changed into my pyjamas and went to make some popcorn. I was hoping to watch a movie but I dozed off on the couch. My mother woke me in the morning, my day had began again. "I'll talk to the suppliers, where's the list?" my mother asked as I stretched myself. "It's on the table." I said and I made my way to the bathroom. I was coming out when I saw Martín sneaking in through a window. "Really now little brother?" I said. "Don't tell mom." he said. "where were you?" I asked Martin. "I told you, out partying." he said. "Martin you're only eighteen, you're not supposed to be drinking."I warned. "I wasn't, I promise you." he said. "Fine, get yourself ready, I'm teaching you how to make muffins, it's Saturday so it's going to be a busy morning." I said. "Sis can't we do this tomorrow? I didn't get much sleep." Martin said . "No Martin, I need you in the kitchen with me today, the last three Saturday's have been very busy." I told him. "Yes, since I started to promote the restaurant on social media..." Martin said with pride. "Yes and since this is your doing, I think it would only be fair if we did this together right?" I said. "Fine, let me take a shower, I'll be down soon." He said. "Good" I said and left to get myself ready. A few minutes later I was done. I loved Saturday's, unlike weekdays, breakfast doesn't get busy until nine in the morning. We still open early for our early birds but it's usually calm. As promised my fresh fruits had arrived. I started on taking out the ingredients. I meant what I said, today I'm teaching Martin how to make muffins. That means that he has to be here for the whole thing. A few minutes later my mother came in with gloom look on her face. "What's the matter mama?" I asked her. "We're gonna have to sell or close down the Resturant in a few months if things don't change around here." My mother said. "But I thought that we were doing okay?" I said. "Baby you don't even get a salary, you're working like a dog breaking your back to keep me and your father's dream alive, I can't deal with watching you suffer like this anymore." She said. "Mom I know that business hasn't been great but we have been making some progress, I'm sure that in a few monthss we could be able to hire a new chef, that way we can take on more customers." I said hoping that she would let this crazy idea go. " Karina it's not your place to take care of me. If I sell the Resturant we can have enough money for your brother's college and you can go back and finish off where you left off." She said. "No mom, we can't sell this place." I said. "Baby I might not have a choice. They're breaking and building new places around us, this place is changing and soon the city will want us to sell for some new project." My mother said. This is true, I haven't told her yet but I received a letter the other day. This was a letter from a man who wanted to make an offer on the place, I didn't tell my mother, I just threw it in the bin. "What's that in your hand?" I said pointing at the envelope in her hand. "This is an offer. Someone is willing to pay me a million dollars for this place, can you imagine what we could do with that money?" my mother said. I didn't care that I was working for free, for its not even about the money. It's about the fact that this place was my father's dream. I still remember how happy he was the first night he opened this place. This is also the place that I grew up in, the only home I've ever had. All of my memories where here, my father was here. Selling this place wouldn't be right, I just can't do that. "No mom, dad wouldn't want us to sell..." I said and saw her bow her head. She hasn't really healed from losing my dad. This was a low blow but I had no choice. "You're right, he wouldn't. Forget I said anything." She said and threw the paper in the bin. "What was that?" my brother asked as he came into the kitchen. "It's nothing, let's get started, give me that knife, I'll chop the fruits and you swift the flour." I said. I want my brother to focus on getting a good education. He is very good with football but sports can only get you so far. What if he gets injured and can't play anymore? He said that he wanted to do sports management whilst playing. I support his dreams because I want him to do better than I did. I want him to make something of himself. I'm also planning on going back to school but first I need to make sure that both my little brother and my mother are okay first. Neither of us chose this life. This wasn't how I imagined my life would turn out. I had big dreams for myself, just like my little brother. The fact that I can make his dreams come true is more than enough for me. If he makes it I know that my father would be proud of him. I also hope to make him proud one day. I know that he didn't want this for me but I hope that he is proud of me wherever he is.