Chapter 26

"My mistake. I shouldn't talk about your personal life considering I don't know what you endured throughout those forty years. It isn't nice to repeat such bad things," Helen apologized to the pair.

It wasn't sincere but it was an apology.

"I will have a word with Mary about this. You can't just throw that back in someone's face, someone who has been in your life for so long. Have you no decency?" Edna questioned the trifling woman before her.

"This is why I told Mary not to adopt a child that was so old. Their personalities are so rotten," Grace muttered, her disgust for Helen evident on her features. She only put up with Helen because Mary was her friend. Now, look how the bad seed Mary took in was growing. Rotten to the core.

"Must have gotten it from her parents. We did you a favor coming here today."

Helen glanced around at her restaurant which was doing fine for being new. What favor did they give her? She didn't even want them here. The favor would've been if they didn't show up.

Helen bit her lip to refrain from speaking her mind. She believed it wasn't the time nor the place to really say what was on her mind right now about the two hags before her. They wouldn't ruin this moment for her. In fact, they just made themselves the first two people on her future no-entry list.

"Enjoy the meal and be careful on your way out. The rails can be a bit slippery sometimes," She forced the biggest smile she could fake and walked away before they could say anything more to her.

Helen will repay them tenfold the insults they always threw in her face soon enough. She normally never said anything out of respect for them being Mary's friends but because she allowed it to happen for too long, they had gotten too comfortable.

Their constant insults were allowed by the saying respect your elders. No matter what they say, the youth was expected to just sit there and take in all their words. But respect was a two-way street where both parties had to meet in the middle.

She approached her manager Marc who had busy watching over the staff and the customers.

"How is it going so far?" She questioned, standing beside him.

"The responses are good, and some people are taking pictures to post on their social media. For you to have no ties to anyone and to start this up from scratch, I would say this is a successful opening. We have time to improve and attract more customers," Marc started giving her a rundown of what he noticed so far. "Plus it's been less than an hour. We have an entire day to see if we can attract more curious customers."

"It wouldn't be ideal if we had a line wrapped around the building the first hour, so to have most of the seats filled already is great. Regarding people taking pictures, come up with a promotion for tagging us in the pictures they took for a chance to win a meal."

"Great idea," Marc agreed noting down everything she told him. "The food you ordered has been delivered to Eli King. You should take a break and I'll have Cody bring you something to eat."

"I could really use a moment away from certain people. Keep watch on table five with those two ladies. Alert me as soon as they leave. I don't want them here much longer or up to the point of closing. Who knows if they plan to jump me," Helen snorted at the thought. She imagined walking around the restaurant in circles in an attempt to escape two women with backaches.

She left a really confused Marc who didn't understand the beef Helen could have with the older women. The majority of the time he didn't understand what the woman was thinking. He could only keep an eye on her to figure Helen out.

Before going back to Eli, she made a detour to check up on her friends.

"How is the food so far? Is there something wrong with the food Julie?" She questioned noticing Julie still had a full plate while the two others were almost done.

"Something wrong? That is her second plate. She wanted to try what I had, and I believe she also wants the same as Isabelle. When we are moving unto dessert, she'll be on plate number three," Jennifer told Helen. She couldn't digest how Julie was going to fit all of it in her body.

"It's all too good so I have to try everything. Put down a special table in my name Helen. I'm going to be quite the regular customer. I'm proud of you baby girl," Gushed Julie as she talked to her friends.

Helen immediately hugged Julie's head in response, rocking side by side. "This is why I love you, Julie. Always spending money on your friends. My little honey bun."

"Let go of my hair, Helen!" Julie whined now concerned with how the hair she worked so hard now looked. In a blink of an eye, Helen would make an enemy out of Julie if her hair was ruined. You do not mess up her hair. It would be your one-way ticket for a fight.

Helen snickered rocking sideways two more times just to tease Julie before she finally released her. "To think the one thing which would break your zen mood would be your hair."

"You do not mess up a lady's hair. Especially hair which is expensive and took a lot of time to complete. I remember that one time that woman spilled a drink on my curls an hour after I just finished them. I knew she was jealous deep down. Her bob was crooked but she should've registered an appointment with me not be jealous," Julie stated, clenching her fist just from the memory of how her curls looked in the aftermath.

"Oh yes. The day we almost had to pick you up from jail. A nice reputation you're building street fighter Julie. I was almost tempted that day to have one less person in my friend circle but I couldn't ignore the fact you style my hair to perfection," Jennifer recalled the crazy day of Julie's big brawl.

"Why did you even call me that day? I can't fight," Isabelle said remembering the phone call which was right before Julie retaliated against the woman. "Your best bet would've been to call Jennifer or Helen. I would've only been able to pull someone's ponytail away."

"That was a mistake. You were my last phone call after Helen. I was calling Helen but mistook and called your number. I was too caught up in the moment to care who answered. I probably would've been trying to protect you if you showed up," Julie joked. Isabelle wasn't necessarily known to be confrontational but at the very least she would show up to defend a friend with all her might.

"I can't help I'm not a good fighter plus the defense class I had with Helen didn't work," Isabelle pouted not liking being the softest person in her group of friends. She was constantly relying on them to fight her battles and couldn't do the same in return. "I couldn't even intimidate Eli about possibly hurting Helen."

"Isabelle, I don't think there are many people on this earth who could intimidate the man. Don't beat yourself up over that. Everyone doesn't have to be a fighter. You ride or die either way."

"Can we not say that? I don't know if I would do the die part," Isabelle awkwardly smiled. She knew Julie didn't mean it literally but a lot of people took the ride or die saying it way too seriously.

Helen, Julie, and Jennifer all chuckled at her revelation.