“Yes, Ms. Chatterjee?” Adhyayan asked Anvesha in a pure business-like tone admiring the glistening studs she was wearing in her cute rabbit-like ears. Standing before her, Adhyayan had casually kept his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. He was praying for a simple, safe, light-hearted reaction from Anvesha.
Gesturing him to take a seat, Anvesha folded her arms and kept on the table as she said, “Sir, the food was good today.” A wide smile played on her face glistening her snow white teeth and Adhyayan was intimidated by her response. He was in no mood of having an unruly altercation with her. As he remembered the previous incident, he realized he needed to apologize but he lacked the courage to say a simple ‘sorry’. He was a popular celebrity chef with a bit of arrogance and a bit of pride, hence, apologizing was something he avoided. In fact, Anvesha did not even expect him to apologize anymore after all, arrogance dripped from the aura of Mr. Haughty Shoes.
“Thank you”, Adhyayan mumbled in a low voice trying to avoid her cold stare from her captivating icy blue eyes.
“Please call the chefs who prepared the food”, Anvesha said trying to hold back her laughter as she was thrilled to see a perplexed Adhyayan Joshi.
“Why?” Adhyayan questioned getting baffled at her unreasonable demand. Moreover, he had himself checked the meals today and everything was just according to the standards of his legacy.
Anvesha smiled as if she read things going inside his head. She said in the most polite tone, “I want to appreciate them and praise them for their hard work”.
“That’s unreasonable”, Adhyayan protested wondering where their conversation was heading to. He realized everyone goes to a restaurant, enjoys the meal, gives a feedback, plans to come again and make the restaurant popular by word-of-mouth amongst one’s circle but appreciating the teams of cooks for a delicious meal is indeed out of question. The players of hospitality business pay the chefs, cooks and others for giving their best, cooking mouthwatering meals and rendering an unforgettable experience to their customers.
“I see”, Anvesha said talking into riddles irritating Adhyayan to the core. Taking a deep breath, she said in a calmer tone, “Sir, if the meal is bad at times, don’t you think, you should face the wrath of your customer instead of the cook who prepared it”.
Adhyayan was indeed moved by her words. Analyzing the situation, he realized his cook Mihir made a salty cheesecake and he terminated him in anger while, whatever Anvesha said at the moment was indeed reasonable. He grasped that the restaurant was owned by him and he deserved the popularity for the amazing meals. He also comprehended that Anvesha was trying to imply over the fact that he was the right person to be blamed for the salty cheesecake episode after all, it is his duty to supervise everything prepared in his kitchen. He smiled at her logical and sensible mentality but he got curious how did Anvesha knew that the cook who prepared the salty cheesecake suffered his wrath. He knew if he wanted to probe the intelligent girl sitting in front of him, he must apologize for the unfortunate incident and enquire her directly.
Taking a deep breath, preparing himself to apologize, Adhyayan opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find words. He fumbled, fidgeting his fingers in anxiety as he said, “Umm… Ms. Chatterjee, I am sorry for that day”.
Anvesha smiled looking at him encouraging him to speak without stuttering. As if the small smile, gave him courage to speak further, Adhyayan said, “It was not an deliberate action. Apparently one of my employees did that perhaps, to ruin my reputation.” Adhyayan confessed with his head bowed down like a teenager boy who is caught by his father doing adult stuff alone at home.
Anvesha smiled realizing the chef was indeed feeing awkward to apologize. Being money-minded, the arrogant celebrity chef indeed paid no heed to his employee and his condition that led to his mistake. However, Anvesha was still angry with Mr. Haughty Shoes for threatening his frightened and worried staff about ruining his career.
“Who prepared the dessert that day?” Anvesha questioned squinting her icy blue eyes towards him earning a muffed chuckle from him. She wanted to know what the arrogant chef thinks about his employee before she could enquire about his threat of ruining Mihir’s career. However, before taking any side she wanted to know about the situation from both the parties. She wanted to be unbiased because she realized it could be a possibility that Adhyayan’s ex-employee actually wanted to ruin his reputation.
“He is not anymore”, Adhyayan said trying to avoid her intimidated eyes. He wondered what the cute angelic beauty meant to imply with this discourse. However, Adhyayan wondered why she asked about Mihir. He wondered something was either amiss or deep. He frowned at his limited knowledge about situation but he chose to continue answering whatever she asked trying to finish the conversation though he was delighted to have the discourse with a pretty lady in his restaurant.
“What?” Anvesha asked unbelievably. In her shrill tone, she mildly screamed gaining attention from the other customers and even the waiters present in the dining area. Adhyayan was embarrassed looking at her as she almost jumped from her chair and stood up. Anvesha, on the other hand, felt a pang of fear and disgust towards the monster who presented himself as a chef. She wondered how a man could be so heartless and insensitive that he did not care of anyone’s death. That’s when Adhyayan realized what he has just said. His inner conscience wanted to smack his head for speaking nonsensical things.
Trying to hold back his laughter at the amusing response of the angelic maiden, he said, “Whoa! Ms. Chatterjee, calm down. Sit down please.” However, Anvesha did not try to meet his intriguing dark blue eyes. Realizing that she was creating a scene again at the same place, she muttered a sorry and sat down on the chair regretting what she did few moments ago.