Chapter 4

The guests had arrived on time just as Ronald told us earlier. I knew this was going to be a very tedious day for me and I just wanted to get home after work and get enough rest. The good part is that tomorrow my class is in the afternoon so no need to panic. These guests who booked with Ronald earlier are not strangers to us at the restaurant that is why it was so easy for us to prepare the usual for them. We the chefs are the ones who do the job of waiters and waitresses. It's often easy unless that day we have a huge number of guests to attend to, then it gets really tiresome . The other chefs had gone out to serve the awaited guests while I remained behind.

Angela came in with her empty tray and asked me to take a mock tail to one of the guys who wasn't taking the alcoholic red wine that was served. I asked Angela where exactly he was sitted at the table so I shouldn't look confused when I got there. "He is wearing a purple long sleeved shirt, he is the only one in that color ." Angela told me. "Thank you Angela, I'm on it." Our restaurant was one of the most beautiful and recognized restaurants in town. It was quite large but still organized and always beautifully decorated. At night, the beautiful colored lights hanged on the walls would have you staring and lost in thought. They held this warm embrace that was unique and soothing. This place felt like home away from home especially on nights when I felt lonely. I started heading towards the 10th table which was the one our guests normally loved to reserve as it was away from the other tables and was near the wall. My eyes were already looking to see the man in a purple shirt as Angela had told me. Finally, I saw the purple shirt and as I drew closer, our eyes met. It's like he had been waiting for someone to serve him eargerly, no wonder the look in his eyes had relief written all over them and something else I couldn't place. He had grey eyes and seemed built as one could tell from his large biceps. He had an unreadable expression almost immediately I got closer. When I reached the table, I went straight to where he was sitted and put the mock tail bottle next to his glass. "Is there anything else you need Sir?" "No thank you" came his reply. His voice was deep and calm at the same time. Four waiters were attending to the other guests. I then started heading towards the kitchen but I could feel the sense of someone staring in my direction. I got to the kitchen and received some orders for other guests at a different table. I left with a tray that had plates of French fries with roasted chicken pieces on each plate. I reached the table and greeted the couple. I served them and asked if there was anything else they needed. "No m'aam thank you came the lady's reply while smiling at her husband who was holding her hand." I could still feel someone staring at me and this was quite strange. I looked up and saw the man in purple staring at me from where he was sitted. I quickly averted my eyes and left the table where I was and headed towards the kitchen. I kept wondering why he was staring at me. I decided to brush it off immediately I got to the kitchen. I was glad all the orders for the evening had been taken care of and I didn't have to go back to the dining room. The kitchen was already been cleaned by five of the cleaners so I didn't have to help. "Laila, you look really exhausted this evening, you need to rest." One of them told me. " oh yes I need some good sleep." I sent Ronald a text asking him if I could knock off as I had done everything I needed to to do at the restaurant for that evening and he allowed me. He understood how difficult it was to do work and school at the same time for me so he was always lenient with me. I went to my locker and changed into my clothes. I carried my back pack and left the restaurant using the employees exist door. Within a few minutes I was already home lying in bed. There was no need to prepare dinner as I had already eaten at the restaurant earlier. I decided to turn on my data as it had been off since morning. I didn't have time to be with my phone as I was very busy. I found a WhatsApp messages from my Bestfriend who was checking up on me. I found Phil's missed calls too on messenger. Also, he left a message that read "This is my WhatsApp number, I might be offline here so give me a call on WhatsApp as soon as you read this..I've really missed you and have something important I want to talk to you about. Take care Laila. I had missed him too a lot. I saved the number to my phone immediately and gave him a call. His phone began to ring and my heart was beating really fast as I didn't know what he was going to tell me. His message was a bit unsettling and I was nervous. Could he want to tell me we should stop talking as he didn't like me anymore or maybe that he's in love with someone else. If he tells me that I don't know how I'm gonna survive. I've come to love him so much already even if I haven't told him yet. I have to put myself together and be ready for anything. How did I fall in love like this I began to ask my self. "Laila" came his masculine voice on the other side of the call. It felt soothing