6

The Hernandez's House

That morning, the Hernandez family sat for breakfast at the dining table. Chazz and his mother, Rita couldn't help but notice the annoying presence of Phoebe, who didn't bother to acknowledge the obvious fact that her stepbrother and stepmother were feeling uncomfortable. 

Despite the fact that she spent three years with them before going to the states, they were not fond of each other. They only acted all nice and close in front of Chairman Gabriel - their father, but once alone, they acted cold and distant.

“Wow!” Phoebe exclaimed. “It's really nice to be eating homemade meal after a very long time.” She turned to Rita and smiled. “Mum, I missed your cooking. It tastes nice just the way I remember it.”

Rita gave her an approving nod knowing she was being sarcastic as she never really liked her cooking and complained a lot before she left.

“No wonder Brother Chazz is looking fresh.” She commented, looking at Chazz, still smiling.

Chazz tensed at the name she called him as he was not used to her referring to him like that.

“I think I'll start taking cooking lessons from you, Mum. What do you think?” She asked. Getting no reply, she sighed as she was starting to get frustrated. “Is this how you all eat in silence? This is really boring. Talking while eating, they say, is not good, but keeping quiet throughout an entire meal is not really nice either. It kills mood.” She explained before turning to face her father. “Dad, after seeing me and welcoming me back, you haven't said anything. Mum, Dad, why aren't you saying anything? If this is how you guys are, I'll be forced to run back and never come back!”

Rita gave her an 'only if you could do that' look.

“What of your brother?” Her father asked.

Hitting her cutlery repeatedly on the plate, she sighed. “I don't know.”

“You didn't come together?” He asked again.

“If we did, would I tell you I don't know where he is? We didn't come together.”

“Have you tried calling him?” Rita asked her.

Finally frustrated, she slammed the cutlery on the table. “What exactly is this?! Ever since I came back, you've all been asking of Brother Alexander when it's so obvious that we didn't come together. Would I be the only one here if we came together?! If you're worried that much, why don't you try calling him yourself. Dad, you've changed a lot. . .” She paused looking at Rita and Chazz too. “. . .just within how many years of living together.”

Standing up, she shot Rita a very hot gaze. “You've not improved any bit! The meal is too soggy!” She blurted out before walking away angrily.

Rita kept quiet while Chairman Gabriel gave Chazz a sign to go talk to Phoebe. 

Sighing, he stood up and went after Phoebe who was already at the balcony. Folding his arms, he stood beside her without facing her.

“I know you've been angry ever since you returned, but you didn't have to take your anger on father.”

“Then should I have taken it on you?” She asked, not looking at him either.

“That would have been better. If you still have more left, you can take it on me now.” He replied as he turned to look at her. “You might not get the chance to do so later.”

Phoebe gave him a brief look before turning her face away. “Whenever I thought of coming home when I was still over there, the thought that everything and everyone I know changing makes me change my mind about coming back. But now that I finally decided to come back, it's actually true."

Sighing, he released his folded arms as he held the iron rails. “No. Nothing changed. We didn't change and neither did you. It's just your fears that are overcoming you. Stop living in your thoughts and fears and face reality.”

She sneered. “Reality? You're uncomfortable with me here, aren't you?”

“Obviously, I am, but that doesn't mean there's anything I can do about it. The truth is your presence here poses as a threat to me but I can't let that overcome me. That's me facing reality. Try to do the same too.”

Phoebe scoffed. “You really didn't change at all. Blunt as always.” She commented, folding her arms. “I planned to get an apartment of my own.”

“I can help you with that if you want.”

“I changed my mind already.” She replied, turning to face him as he also turned to face her. “Living here would be fun than I imagined, don't you think? For me, I don't think I'm interested in missing out anything. What do you think about that?”

“What are you going to do staying at home? I could help you with a post at the company.”

“That should be dad's line and not yours, besides, I'll be a resident starting from tomorrow.”

“A doctor?”

“How can a brother not know what his sister studied in school? Don't worry, things like running a company or holding official positions do not interest me. You can set your mind at rest with me on that. However, be careful. They say a close friend might be one's enemy and they also say one's enemy can be among one's family. Don't focus on just one person thinking that person is your enemy is all I'm saying. You might get attacked from the back if you don't check others too.” She advised.

Before turning to leave, she paused briefly. “If you still think my presence here is a threat, you can go on to start thinking of how to get rid of me, but in that case, I'll prefer you go with a better option.” She paused as she met his curious gaze. “Let's get along well, you might need me later. . . brother.” She added before finally walking away.

Roosevelt Kitchen.

With everyone preparing the ingredients for the night course, Josie had a difficult time trying to work with her junior who turned out to be Asher. Since he came in with Mason, she had voiced out her opinion that she didn't want Asher to be her junior judging from the times she had met with him, but Mason told her she didn't have a choice since she was the one that requested for a junior to work with. Asher had also asked for someone else to work under but everyone told him they had a partner, even Rose who would have loved to drop Mason as her partner and Isabella who would have done the same. 

However, the stern look on Josie's face gave them a message. Whatever reasons Josie must be rejecting Asher for, they weren't ready to interfere. Out of curiosity, they both asked them if they knew each other but the two of them denied flatly. Josie had later decided to work with him stating that it was because she had no choice. Others had encouraged Asher to learn from her since she was the best chef in their section. Asher sighed as he was left with no other option. 

Walking up to Josie, he asked her to treat him well. Josie had taken offence when he didn't bow telling him she was his senior. She warned him not to act up in front of her and that she would let it slide since it was his first time in the kitchen. She had then proceeded in outlining what he would do for her, but then she realized she had a lot of work to do when it turned out to be that he couldn't get one thing right. 

The whole chefs continued their work in silence as Josie struggled with Asher, who kept on disorganizing her work.

Sighing in defeat, Josie turned to look at Asher with a look that clearly explained how fed up she was. “You! I've been wanting to ask you this. Why are you doing this to me?”

“What?” He asked, feigning ignorance.

“No matter how hard I think about it, I still don't understand. Why exactly are you doing this, uhn?”

“What are you talking about?” He asked folding his arms.

Josie slammed the knife she was holding on the table. “What do you mean by that? Do you really not know what I'm talking about? Hey! I've got a lot of things to do and I can't do them alone! I need someone that knows what to do, not someone like you!” Calming down, she moved closer to him. “Do you really not know how to do anything?”

Clearing his throat, he released his folded hands. “I can do a few stuffs.”

“Like what?”

“Grocery shopping.”

“Why didn't they place you at section A instead? The chefs there are in charge of grocery shopping. That's not our specialty here!” She snapped.

“Light a gas?”

“Is section C that full already?! That's not what we do here either!” She snapped again.

“Prepare the pots and utensils?”

“We don't do that too!” She snapped the third time, but this time with anger. “Just what exactly do you know how to do? Preparing ingredients! That's what we do! Washing, cutting, squeezing, slicing, dicing, mincing and mixing of ingredients! That's basically what we do here! The rest of the cooking is being taken care of by the other chefs in other sections! Do you really not know how to do anything related to that?”

“I told you what I can do.”

“Then you shouldn't be here! I'm really done for.” Rose and Isabella watched Josie pitifully while they worked.

“I almost agreed to work with him.” Isabella pointed out. “It's a huge relief. Working with Frederick is much better than that.”

“Same here.” Rose agreed. “I'll stick to Senior who doesn't work than spend another extra time trying to teach someone that doesn't even know how to slice cucumber.”

“My poor Josie. What has she done to deserve that? It's a pity she has no choice. If it's like this on his first day, how will it be as days pass?”

“Josie is a good chef. He'll learn in a short while.”

“I doubt she'll be able to keep up with him. That girl is my friend but she has no patience! Curiosity kills her!”

Overhearing them, Josie picked up her knife. “I can hear you!” She raised her voice.

Shaking his head, Frederick faced them. “Why don't you do your work and stop talking? Noah and Heidi are there minding their business, Josie and the new guy are minding their business too, why don't you also mind your business?"

“Are you talking to me?” Rose asked confused.

Isabella shot a hot and stern gaze at Frederick angrily. “Why don't you mind your business too!” She shouted as she dropped her knife and removed her hand gloves. "You can finish this while you're at it!” She added before storming out angrily.

“He was talking to her.” Rose muttered to herself.

"Hey! Isabella! Isabella Clark!” Frederick shouted after her. “You can't leave just like that! We agreed to do the work equally!” He turned back to face Rose who was immediately startled. “And I was talking to you! You're the only one with an absent partner! Go find something to do!”

“What? Me?” She asked taken aback.

Josie continued slicing the cucumber in front of her, irritated with the fact that Asher was just standing in front of her doing nothing. “I really don't know what to do with you!” she muttered.

“Keep working.” He told her as he grabbed a chair and sat down.

Standing upright, she stared at him, surprised at his action. “What are you doing?”

“Keep working,” He replied, folding his arms on the table. “I'm learning.”

Josie scoffed while Noah gave them a brief glance.

"Seriously! Which junior sits while his senior works?”

“Me.” He replied nonchalantly. 

“You? Hey! Asher! Is this how you act where you're coming from? I can guess you spent most of your younger days out of this country. But things are different here, so you had better drop your rude act!”

“Nice guess, but how did you know my name?”

“Does it matter? You don't look too surprised as to how I know your name.”

“The fact that you know it only explains one thing.”

Pausing, he stared at her closely while she paused, also staring back at him, curious to know what it was. “Are you by any chance Jodie Maran?”

“I guess you actually know how to do something well. So you now remember. You weren't even totally drunk."

"Brother told me. Is that a confirmation that you're Jodie?”

“It's not Jodie, its Josie.”

“Ah! I'm sorry, Jodie.”

“Hey! I said its Josie! Josie Maran!”

“Yes,” He nodded. "Jodie Maran.”

“Do you have a death wish?!”

“No.” He replied, glancing at the clock before standing up. “It's past eight. I was told we are to close by eight. If you don't mind, I'll leave first.”

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? Home of course.”

“You didn't even do anything and you're leaving first?”

“I'm leaving first because there's nothing for me to do.” He replied, walking away.

“Hey!” she shouted as she went after him while Noah gave a brief smile before packing up the boards. “Come back here! As your senior, you leave when I leave! Hey!”

When everyone left, Noah stayed back to help Josie make sure everything was set and Josie couldn't help but notice his presence. As happy as she was with the fact that he was with her, she was also uncomfortable. 

Noah was the closest guy she had apart from her brother, Richard and she had a crush on him.

“Why haven't you gone?” She asked, trying not to move close to him.

“I thought you might need help.” He replied, stuffing the remaining ingredients in the fridge as he went back and forth to get the rest.

Biting her lips, she tried to avoid moving closer to him as he walked from the table to the fridge repeatedly. “You don't have to help me.”

“Why?” He asked, stopping in front of her.

In a bid to avoid him, she collected what he was holding making them awfully close. They shared a brief moment of silence in the awkward position before Josie cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence.

“Do you want to go out for a drink later?” She asked.

Without giving it much thought, he picked up his bag and walked towards the door. “I have things to do. See you later.” Opening the door, he walked out.

Josie sighed dejectedly. “What am I not doing right? He has never agreed to drink with me.” She muttered to herself as she stuffed the last set of remaining ingredients in the fridge. “Neither has he given me a 'no' answer before.”