Chap 42
To lose is to win
This afternoon Jessica just finished washing the dishes. Like any new waitress, the first week of work she had to do was the toughest job in the kitchen.
“Not yet?” Febi, who is the head chef, asked. She tagged Jessica for her slow way of working. The second reason was because Jessica is prettier and younger than her.
“It is done, Ma’am!” Jessica ended her doing by drying her wet hands.
“Is this job too hard for you, Jessica?” the head chef asked, watching Jessica’s face with a sweat-soaked forehead.
“No, Ma’am,” she replied, looking down deeper.
“Don’t call me Ma’am! Just call me Ms. Febi,” she exclaimed. She got mad whenever Jessica called her Ma’am. She thought she was not so old that Jessica called her like that.
“Yes, Febi! Anything else I can do?”Jessica asked.
“Clean the bathroom! Ten minutes later you have to go back to the pantry, there’s a briefing before the VVIP guests arrive!” Febi added extra work for Jessica.
“Can I take a break?” Jessica asked as she rubbed her forehead with sweat.
“You can’t, if you are spoiled like this, a lot of work will be late and you can come home late!” Febi refused. “Don’t complain and do it, you are still training if you continue to argue, I will not renew your contract! Your fate is in my hands!” The head chef showed her power.
“Okay!” Jessica lowered her head and immediately went to the toilet, not forgetting to bring a bucket and a mop.
Jessica started cleaning the toilet next to the kitchen.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“Shhh … shhh … shhh … shhh … ” Tini whispered behind Jessie’s back.
“What?” Jessica whispered.
“I’ll help you,” Tini offered. Tini also went to work on the same day as Jessica, but the head chef treated her as normal. That was different to Jessica, almost eight hours of work she was not allowed to rest.
“Don’t!” Jessica rejected. “You just go back to the kitchen, Ms. Febi will be angry!” she was afraid. Tini looked younger and more timid. Jessica didn’t want Tini to be scolded by Febi.
Okay,” Tini said, then Jessica finished her work quickly, after that she would go back to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, all employees had gathered to await the presence of VVIP guests.
“Febi have all the employees gathered?” Mr. Darno, who is the branch manager, told Febi that this afternoon there were VIP guests who had booked ADC cafes for the next two hours.
“All, here” he said with a loud voice.
“Mr. Lexi, all employees have gathered according to your requests,” Mr. Darno said, bowing respectfully. The owner of the cafe, Mr. Darno, asked to serve VVIP guests today perfectly. If possible, it was effective and there were no shortcomings at all.
Lexi stood up and began to observe all the employees, in the first row there was no Jessica. So it was on the second line. Jessica wasn’t there.
“Jessica is not here,” he whispered to Arsene standing next to him.
“Yes, Sir!” he said.
“Is it true that all the employees have gathered here?”Arsene raised his voice, adding to the tension.
The sound of slow footsteps. Jessica walked slowly as she lowered her head, not knowing that Lexi was waiting for her. She stood at a distance of about 10 meters from him.
“Damn, Jessica!” Febi said slowly, but Arsene and Lexi listened. “Sorry sir, it’s a new employee whose name is Jessica, I deliberately gave her extra work to discipline her.”
Lexi snorted resentfully. He looked angry. He noticed Jessica, his wife looked very tired. Black and white shirt, her work uniform looked shabby. She was getting inflamed to see there was a wound on his female index finger.
“Jessica! Get over here!” Febi shouted. She really didn’t want her credibility to go down because of a new employee.
Her scream surprised Jessica, she immediately ran and approached Febi.
“Sorry, Miss!” she said softly.
“Where are you? Why are you so slow? You want me to punish you again?” she threatened.
Jessica went into the kitchen.
Arsene who saw them wanted to scold Febi, but Lexi prevented him. He grabbed Arsene’s hand. “Let me” Lexi said.
“Febi, I want you to apologize to Jessica immediately or you will lose your job!” Lexi was mad, he really didn’t like to see Jessica shouted by another person in front of him.
“But, Sir!” Febi protested, she can’t accept.
Mr. Darno, as Febi’s superior, told her to apologize.
“Jessica, I’m sorry!” she said. Jessica nodded and glanced at Arsene, refraining from looking at Lexi.
“Mr. Darno, I just want to be served by Jessica!” Lexi requested.
Jessica shook her head quickly.
“Sorry, sir, but Jessica is still a newbie, she is still learning, let the other employees who are senior,” Mr. Darno suggested.
“Not only have I booked this cafe, but I have bought it! The cafe has since changed owners!” Lexi said obviously, he didn’t think about how much money he had spent just to make Jessica back.
“What?” Febi softly gawked.
“Besides Jessica, please go back to the kitchen!” Mr. Darno said to all. He turned to Jessica. “He’s the new owner of the cafe, don’t make a mistake!” he whispered to a new employee he had only seen a few times.
“Yes, Sir!”
Jessica closed her lips, and still reluctantly looked at Lexi. While Arsene was still wondering what the boss had done wrong, Jessica didn’t want to see it that way.
“Mr. Lexi, here is the food and drink menu, what should we serve for you?”Jessica offered. she was still staring into Lexi’s eyes.
Other employees, including Mr. Darno watched from the kitchen. They hoped Jessica didn’t make a mistake.
“I don’t want to eat anything!” Lexi answered. Arsene chose to leave to give Lexi privacy to talk alone with his wife.
“What about the drink, Sir, we have a new variant for coffee drinks, there are robusta and arabica coffee from Temanggung, there are…, ” Jessica stopped.
“I don’t want to drink, I just want you to sit here Jessica!” Lexi said.
Jessica obeyed and sat down in front of Lexi.
“Why did you come back first? Why did you run away? Why are you avoiding me Jessica?” Lexi asked.
“There is nothing to explain, you are cured and as soon as possible this marriage contract must be terminated immediately!” Jessica said. She was looking in the other direction, sometimes lowering her head because she did not want to return the gaze of her husband. Yes, Lexi was still legally her husband.
“How dare you, Jessica! Come home with me and we still have a lot to talk about!” Lexi ordered. He didn’t want to be refuted.
“No Sir! I’ve worked here, I’d rather work here than go home to you!” she answered without fear. By keeping busy with work, Jessica would soon forget about Lexi and all the wounds that the man had already incised to her.
“How dare you!” Lexi, who intended to tame Jessica at first, was back in a rage. How could she had the courage to refuse.
“If you have nothing to say, I’ll be right back in the kitchen! I still have a lot of work to do!”Jessica said. She thought ‘Get out of the way of Lexi.’
Lexi grabbed Jessica’s chin, to be straight and parallel so that their eyes meet. “I won’t hear that! This cafe is already mine. I can fire you at any time! But you still dare to ignore me!” Lexi protested. He glanced at Jessica’s index finger, there was an incision wound that might have been hit by a knife. Lexi gulped saliva. The woman he cared about most wanted to avoid him.
“Sir, I can’t go home at this time!” Jessica said she had no intention of going back to Lexi’s house. In the near future or in a long period of time. “Give me a day off, sir,” he said.
“I am still your husband Jessica! And this is an order!” he was grunting with anger.
“I’m sorry I can’t go home now! I still want to work! If you still force me to go home, I really don’t want to go home anymore!” Jessica said.
“So when do you want to go home? You didn’t forget the marriage contract and all your obligations right?” Lexi tried to be patient, following Jessica’s scenario.
“One month! Give me a month off!” she asked.
“No! One more week!”
“Well, I’ll be home in a week, Sir!”Jessica firmly.
“All right! I agree!”
“But, during this one week I hope you don’t come here to see me!”Jessica put forward.
“Well, then,” Lexi tried to obey Jessica. He was tired of looking, so he only needed to persuade Jessica to go home.
“That’s all, Sir!”
“Well, Deal, if you break it, you know what the consequences will be!” Lexi stared at her. He missed Jessica, but he refrained from telling her.
“Yes sir, I know, I will not break it! I promise” she answered.
Lexi reluctantly agreed. He looked at Jessica again. ” Here, ” Lexi gave a plaster to close the wound on Jessica’s index finger.
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