Part One: Restrained and Recessed
Phoenix Zoiix
I don't know how I came up with this... But I just wanna see where it goes.
A tired, young Jade Sinclair idly stares at her boss, deep in thought and struggling to find words to say to him. She stares at him halfway across the restaurant, she meets his furrowed gaze and notices his peculiar attitude.
Jade's boss, Aleco Velez, owned the mid-tier restaurant, Cutting Edge. It was opened and praised for its modern atmosphere, the opening ceremony had almost been 4 years ago, and the particular emotion in his eyes seemed to be filled with regret.
But Jade knew better than that. She could understand the sacrifices made so Aleco could get his restaurant. She also realized that he wouldn't just turn his back on his hard work. But something about him gave off that he was depressed, and she had only suspected it a few days prior.
Jade desperately wanted to talk to Aleco. Her mind could not process the possible ways to lighten up her boss's mood. She kept her gaze, until she decided to get at it again later. She instead looked over through the window that saw into the street. This location was where she used to spend all of her breaks. She gently glided over to the Bay window and sat on the sleek, grey cushion.
She sighed to herself and squinted to look out the window. She saw many things, but one thing in particular caught her eye. She had noticed the old candy shop had closed down across the street. There was a sign being placed… it was a new restaurant!
Jade knew that having another restaurant near them was competition at its finest. There were a number of other restaurants in The Avenue, but Aleco was leading them. And it wasn't certain if the new restaurant would out-beat theirs.
In the corner of her eye, Jade saw that her younger brother, Zane, was approaching.
"See that place over there." He referred to the new establishment, "It's gonna be called Mangeons, it sounds retarded; giving such a classy name for a restaurant in these parts. It's supposed to be French for "let's eat," or something..." He scoffed, "Sounds dumb."
Jade looked him in the eyes, the restaurant sounded that it would be more upscale than the other competitors to Cutting Edge, and may actually be a problem to them. "Yeah," that was all she could say of the matter.
Zane nodded his head with a sympathetic look on his face. He could see through her sadness and looked over to her one last time before heading back to work.
Jade looked down, dejected. She wasn't planning for everything to be gone so soon, so she was willing to fight. She looked up, and with her newfound determination, she decided to finally talk to Aleco.
She walked behind the counter and slipped through the open kitchen, until one of her coworkers confronted her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He said looked deep into her eyes, he was genuinely worried for her. He noticed that she was sitting morosely by the bay window and knew something was wrong.
"Don't worry, Vlad, I'm not sad anymore. But now I need to talk to Aleco so if you could-"
His arms were crossed and he covered Jade from proceeding forward; which couldn't help but make her feel anxious. "No, I really need to say this. And trust me it's something you wanna hear." Vlad finished.