Bon Appetit

Confit Byaldi

 "Alright, here I am at one of the best restaurants in town." Angel begins her video and smiled at the camera. 

I have to admit, she is quite pretty. Her hair is dyed in maroon color with hazelnut colored eyes and perfect white skin.
Her lips are fulled and rose colored, gives her a beautiful profile.
Hmm, no wonder she has so many subscribers. She is practically an angel.
Physically.
I sighed, alright let's hear her review about my restaurant.
Hope Sam was just overeacting or something. It could totally ruin my reputation if she gives my restaurant a bad review since she is quite famous for now.
"Hmm, this food looks weird. I don't think I have seen this before," she said when her order arrived.
She basically ordered Confit Byaldi, which is a variation of the French dish Ratatouille. The dish is simple; thin slices of zucchini, squash, eggplant, and roma tomato baked over a piperade and served in a small mound with a balsamic vinaigrette. What could possibly go wrong with a fine French dish like that?
She said it looks weird, where did she come from? How come something as beautiful as a French dish could be called weird?
"This is not tasty at all. Bad cooking, I'll say," she continued talking after having her first bite.
While still chewing, she complained, "Even when I add some tomato sauce, it is still not tasty at all." She stopped munching and just stared at the camera for a second, as if she realized something. Her eyes were wide open; on alert.
"Ewww, it gets worse with tomato sauce. I think this is the end for me, at least for now." She spitted out her food and cleaned her mouth with a napkin.
After taking a few inhales, she groaned at the camera.
Her fingers adjusted the screen closer to her as she groaned again. "Before I end this video, if the owner of this damn restaurant see this, I want to say that you should watch out for your chef's cooking. This is NOT a meal. For me, this tastes like sh*t."
She took another inhale, as if she is in a lot of pain. "What I am saying is that the chef's cooking is awful."
My heart felt like it has stopped beating for a second. This can't be true.
"I have reviewed a lot of restaurants and I never found anything like this before. The owner really need to get rid of these chefs and find new ones if want to keep going in the culinary industry. Until then, good luck!"
She really didn't finish her meal and continued talking. "Oh yes, before it is over, I want to tell you guys that I am moving! Once I'm settled, I'll give you guys a grand tour!"
I can't watch even further of that stupid video so I just switched it off. That first few minutes was quite a shock to me.
Without thinking, I started checking for reviews and ratings of my restaurant in various websites and apps.
Like a nightmare, my rating has dropped down from 5 to 1 in just one day!
Thanks to that stupid video of Angel, my rating has dropped! All that hard work for the past few years is all gone in a blink of an eye just because of one video.
I started to scroll down to read the reviews and comments, and what I found was all haters.
"Angel was right, the food is weird."
"Such a crap restaurant."
"Wtf?! No normal food at this restaurant?"
"Sh*tty place."
"Worst restaurant ever!"
"OMG, YOU MADE ANGEL NEARLY VOMIT!"
"I don't know how to cook very well, but I can definitely make something way decent than that."
"Angel brought me here."
It seemed as though Angel has succesfully ruined my reputation, my restaurant and my dreams. All in one crappy video.
In just one day.
While I have worked hard for a long time, people immediately changed their minds in a few seconds just because some girl with millions of subscribers can't handle French cuisine.
This is my worst nightmare.
I startled. Wait, why can't she see that it is a French cuisine? Why she doesn't like it?
Hmm, let me think.
Is she Asian? Because Asian tongues are different than Western's, it is probably one of the reasons she doesn't like it.
My fingers started typing her name and scrolled down to find her biography.
In a few seconds, my eyes caught on her origins.
Yup, she is Asian alright.
Probably her taste is different, can't handle Western food seasonings or something.
Even so, she didn't have to be so mean by saying it is weird or awful or something like that.
That was way too mean.
She probably have no idea the damage she has made to my restaurant.
And she probably also doesn't know another thing; that my life is officially over.
It feels as if the world has fallen apart and I am stuck in a nightmare.
What am I going to do now? It is not easy to get that rating back to 5. People will listen to Angel more than me that is for sure.
I sighed. Maybe a walk will help.
My eyes eagled across the room and found my cat sitting on my bed.
A beautiful Angora cat with greyish colored fur. My little Princess.
Her sparkle green eyes stared at me for a moment, as if trying to tell me something.
I guess a walk in the park with my princess will calm me down.
As quick as a flash, I grabbed the leash, tied it on Princess' neck and off we go to the front door.
I don't know why, but my cat is always excited everytime we go out of the house.
This time is no exception.
She hopped around crazily like a mad bunny.
"Okay, calm down, Princess. Just let me lock the door first," I said while holding on tight to her leash.
I turned around and locked the door. My body felt weak for a moment, seemed like there is no more life left in me.
Just emptiness.
Sorrow.
Princess suddenly growled, so loudly that it distracts me.
I never hear her growled this loudly before. There must be something very disturbing.
My eyes followed to where Princess was looking at and to my surprise I saw a lot of boxes in front of the empty house next to mine.
What is this? Is there someone moving in next door?
I wonder who it is.
I guess I'll bump into them eventually. Just hope they are nice and quiet.
BUMP!
Something hard hit me at the back. It hit me real hard, big time. What was that?
Nearly gave me a heart attack, my back feels sore right now.
That hard surface hurt my back and nearly left a scar.
I took a deep breath and turned to face that "monster" who hit me.
For one second, I only saw a pile of boxes in front of me.
The next second, there is a familiar face peeping from the right side of the boxes.
Apparently that face is the one who is holding those boxes that hit me.
"Oh dear! I didn't see you there. Are you alright?" That face looked panicked for a moment.
Trust me, I think I know that voice. Ever heard of it before, sounds familiar.
But where did I ever meet this face?
I stared at that face for a little longer, now I can see it clearly.
It is a girl.
She took a step closer. "Sir? Are you okay?"
Believe it or not, just for a few seconds I admired her beauty.
Next, I nearly fainted when I realized who I was staring at.