“Guinevere!”
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the daily kitchen service, running alongside the dinner’s preparation, she heard her name in a harsh whisper. It was a talent of hers to catch the mention of her name even in the noisiest environment. It meant few people could get away with gossiping behind her back.
“Guinevere!”
Turning to the door where the voice had come from, she saw Zach gesturing her over.
“What?” Guinevere asked, as she slipped past the preparation table. “What is it?”
Zach pulled her out of the kitchen into the corridor, and said, “Your parents are here. They’re dining with the Lees in the restaurant.”
“My parents? With the Lees?”
Suddenly, she had a crazy idea to spike their orders with laxatives. As childish as it was, it seemed like the best kind of revenge for the people who ruined her happy ending.
“Yes, they’re having a luncheon. I just thought you should know.”
Nodding her head, Guinevere thanked Zach before returning to the stoves and knives. No, she wasn’t going to spike the food, but she was going to serve them.
Heading to the expeditor on duty, she demanded the orders of the Lees’ table and insisted she would take the dishes to them. As she had expected, the kitchen staff put up quite a resistance. It was only after threatening to call her parents into the kitchen did they give in. But of course, she was never planning on doing so. It was the element of surprise that she wanted.
“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” Guinevere assured the headwaiter, before picking the plates and stalking to table nine.
Table nine was at the far corner of the restaurant. She had plenty of time to run through all the words she planned on saying upon her service. But ten feet before the table itself, she caught her mother’s eyes.
There was a brief moment where her mother hesitated to call her out. So helping her mother make the decision, she announced her presence instead.
“Mother? What are you… father?” Guinevere feigned ignorance.
“Guinevere?” her father asked with brows furrowed.
“I’m just helping the service staff. I’m also on duty for the shareholder’s dinner tonight,” Guinevere said with a wide smile.
Her mother responded with mutters under her breath. If it were a few decibels higher, Guinevere would’ve gotten an earful on having not dropped out of the clubhouse challenge yet.
Ignoring her parents’ obvious discomfort, she turned to the Lees and placed their dishes down. “Mr and Mrs Lee, I believe these are your orders,” Guinevere said.
“Thank you. Guinevere, is it?” Mrs Lee asked.
“Yes ma’am. The one and only.”
“We’re sorry to hear about your engagement,” Mrs Lee added.
“Oh, please don’t. I hear Wayne’s set to be in trouble. I wouldn’t want to be a part of the politics. Neither does my family.”
“Guinevere,” her mother snapped.
“Yes, mother?”
“The rest of our orders have yet to arrive.”
“Oh, right, let me go check on them.”
Guinevere gave another smile before stalking back to the kitchen. She still had three more chances to instigate some tension with four more dishes to serve. If that plan failed, she could always try to seat herself with them. Why were there only three couples having lunch? She really wanted to know.
Once in the kitchen, the headwaiter grudgingly handed over her parents’ dishes. But just before Guinevere could return for round two, the back kitchen door slammed open. There were a few ‘hey!’s and ‘what are you doing?’s before she saw the culprit storming toward her.
“Richard, wha-”
“I’ll do it,” Richard replied, as he snatched the plates from her hands.
The headwaiter gasps and attempted to take the plates back, but Richard swerved out of his grasp.
“Wait,” Guinevere said. “Wait!”
She managed to pull at Richard’s collar before he reached the door. And as he stumbled backwards at the sudden force, the headwaiter swooped it and took the plates from him.
“This isn’t how we run this restaurant,” the headwaiter scolded.
“Shut up and hand me the plates,” Richard replied, giving Guinevere a glare as he rubbed his throat.
“Hold on. You don’t want to go out there,” Guinevere said.
“Why not?”
“Because your parents are out there.”
“I know.”
“Are you trying to make a scene?”
“Weren’t you trying to make a scene?”
“No, I was just-”
“Oh please, stop with the act.”
“I have a good reason.”
“What makes your reason more important than mine?”
“OK, what’s your reason then? Do you think showing up would put your name back in the family registry?”
Guinevere never thought she would be fighting with Richard. Out of the five, they had the most in common. If she ever had a verbal war, it was more likely to be with Jodie. Yet there they were, brawling over who should send out the dishes.
“No. Then – then what’s yours? Don’t say you’re doing it for any of us. That would be a lie too.”
“It’s not a lie, I can find out-”
“Stop.”
“Stop what?”
Richard turned his head toward the other kitchen staff, and it was only then that Guinevere realised how quiet it was. The whole kitchen had their eyes and ears wide open, witnessing their rather bratty quarrel.
“What are you all looking at?” Guinevere asked.
“Let me serve the dishes,” Richard said calmly.
“I don’t think…”
Everyone was still listening.
Hating the sudden attention they were getting, Guinevere contemplated on letting Richard serve. At the end of the day, they all had issues to solve. Perhaps she should give Richard his chance. The only problem was, would his appearance affect her status? What would the Lees think if she’s associated with their disowned son? Guinevere had to choose.
Next Chapter >
(For the chapter list, visit here.)
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The Clubhouse © 2014 – 2016 by Jeyna Grace.
All rights reserved. No part of the series may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from Jeyna Grace.
Jeyna Grace 