Bon Appetit

Cheese Tea

BIIIPP!
BIIIPP!

Ugh, is it morning already? Thought I was still in front of my neighbor's door.
Oh right, I did took a shower and went straight to bed.
Hmm, I wonder if Angel has already read my note?
I jumped off my bed and found Princess walked towards me with a happy face. A face that is waiting for food.
"Good morning, Princess! Ready for breakfast?" I greeted her with my croaky voice. Guess I still haven't got enough sleep even though last night was peaceful for the first time ever.
I slide my fingers through my hair, scratching my scalp before my eyes got glued to a letter on the floor. A letter that was shoved under my door.
Who would give me a letter last night?
I took it with my right hand and looked closely at the letter.
My heart nearly stopped when I read the whole sentence.
"Sorry about the noise. Soundproofing will arrive tomorrow. A," reads the letter.
I widen my eyes to read it once more and the next second, I freezed.
Then, I felt like I was about to scream when I realized who wrote this.
She figured out it was me who told her to be quiet???
How could she have figured that out? I mean, I didn't leave my name or initial in there. She must be very smart to know it was me.
I sighed. At least, she will no longer giving me a hard time to sleep at night.
That's a relief.
Without wasting another second, I just dropped that letter and went straight to the shower.
Need to go to Dimanche again today.
After taking a shower, I made pancakes for breakfast. Only took me five minutes to finish my breakfast and off I go to Dimanche.
Hmm, maybe I can check my mail first, in case there is something important.
I haven't checked in a while, so I probably have a lot of it.
With a huge step, I went out of my house and into my mailbox.
I opened my box and started to check my mails.
Junk, junk, junk, school loan bill, junk....What's the point of traditional mail these days? All anyone gets is junk mail.
"Hello, neighbor!" greeted someone with a croaky voice. A voice that sounded like a frog that hasn't slept the whole night.
Which made me cringed. And screamed and jumped farther away from mailbox.
That girl.
Just standing there smiling at me. Think this is funny?
"Sorry, to startle you , neighbor," she said while trying to smile again. Her eyes are half asleep and she looked so pale. She kept blinking to stay awake and her lips are all dry. She even got dark lines under her eyes, looked so horrible as if she hasn't slept for days.
"Are you ok?" I asked all of a sudden with empathy.
She grinned. "I'm feeling fantastic! I just got done with a 12 hour charity livestream! It was worth my voice getting trashed, hehe."
"Are you sure?" I asked once more.
"Well, at least I am glad to have met you today. I wanted to apologize for all the racket I've been making ever since I moved in. You know, I can be a real pain in the ass when I am recording and tend to get carried away. Don't worry, soundproofing panels will come soon."
My cheeks got all blushed. Why should I say to this girl about my stupid note?
"Uh, yeah well about that note..." I began.
"Oh, you're the one who left the note? I wasn't sure who left it, you know," said Angel with a frown face.
My body turned into stone when I heard her. There is no single life left in my body, game over. This is the end. What have I done?
"Y-you didn't know it was me?" I asked, started to shiver.
Angel giggled. "You didn't have to leave a note. Just knock my door and tell me to shut up, we are neighbors after all."
BAM! That hit right on me. I can't afford another conversation, would be best just leave and go to Dimanche.
I ran right pass her and shouted, "Gotta go to Dimanche. See ya!"
She jumped out of my way and groaned. "Geez, man. Chillax."

The number of customers coming in to Dimanche is getting less and less. Even the review and ratings are not getting any better.
What am I going to do now?
I sighed as I leaned against the kitchen wall.
Right now all my chefs are busy, even Sam is busy near the cashier making sure everything runs well.
But I am just standing still at the edge of the kitchen, motionless. Don't have the energy to move.
Felt like wanting to just give up. No longer having the spirit or the guts to keep moving.
This sadness and sorrow is running through my veins, even in my brains. Telling me to give up.
Should I just give up?
THUMP!
A glass of cheese tea landed on a counter next to me.
Wow, now that's a nice cup of sweet creamy cheese tea. My favorite.
Just a second later I found Heath was the one who put that cheese tea next to me.
He just stood there with his arms crossed, looking at me.
"Heath, you startled me," I complained.
"Now, bro, why don't you tell me what has made you standing here like an idiot for almost an hour?" Heath snapped.
I sighed. "I just saw the ratings and reviews of Dimanche. It is not getting any better. Even food bloggers that I know of don't want to collab with us anymore. I just...don't know what else to do to save Dimanche. If even food bloggers can't help me, I don't think there is much to do. I don't know what I'm going to do now."
My eyes nearly wanted to just close and let me sleep to pass this nightmare. Not sure if I ever want to wake up to face this. Rather just sleep and wake up to know that this is all just a dream.
Felt like there is a dagger to my heart, tearing me up and ruined my soul.
"Do you hear yourself, bro? It's your dream to have the best restaurant in town but it sounds like you've already given up because of some stupid girl's fans ruining your rating. You're an entrepreneur, you know that this sort of thing will come one day. But you have knowledge and skills that made Dimanche what it is today and that you still have loyal customers who love your work! But instead of being proud of your achievement, you are here in the edge of the kitchen and standing like a moron. We all agree that what happened to Dimanche sucks. But you need to decide whether or not you're going to start fighting this or continue being a victim."
I looked at him in astonishment. Never in my life to hear Heath speaking to me like this. Guess I really did look like a moron.
"So, what's it going to be? Come on, man up! If you want to save Dimanche, then you know who you need to talk to." Heath slapped me in the back, giving me spirit.
Yeah, he is right. I am acting all baby here while I was supposed to man up. Why am I so afraid of this little girl? I should fight for what is righ and I believe that Dimanche had done nothing wrong.
It was all her, and it is time for her to clean up all this mess.
I nodded at Heath. "You're right. It is time to teach that girl a lesson."