Disclaimer: I do not own VA and thank Richelle Mead for writing such an awesome series.
Note: So here is my first attempt at writing an AU piece (so I have exercised my creative licence). Being a Romitiri fan, naturally the story is based around them.
There will be various POVs (not just Dimitri and Rose).
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Two rival restaurants and chefs – what happens when love joins the menu?
Restaurant Wars
PROLOGUE
Olena POV
'Yeva is crazy! I can't believe I agreed to this…'
I couldn't help but admonish my eccentric, stubborn mother-in-law. Because of her I was spending my Saturday afternoon sitting in a small café by the harbour, trying my best to act civil with the matriarch of our rival family.
Yes, Janine Hathaway Mazur was sitting right in front of me, just as agitated and confused.
Yeva had called us early in the morning with orders to meet her at this café for 'coffee and cake' but I knew this was no social call. There has only been a handful of times when the Mazurs and Belikovs have 'fraternised' – usually under dire situations or when a mutual benefit was expected for both parties. Otherwise, most of the time, we kept our distance. The rivalry between our respective family restaurants (that has been in existence since our great, great, great grandfathers started the businesses) prevented us from moving into anything cordial like friendship.
Our animosity was worse than the Capulets and Montagues!
Janine and I avoided making eye contact – it was awkward enough as it was, and we had already run out of things to say after the 'obligatory' small talk.
I checked my watch for the hundredth time, and was getting very annoyed that my meddlesome mother-in-law was almost forty five minutes late. Sighing impatiently, I decided to give her another ten minutes before I'd leave.
Finally the old bat turned up!
Yeva Belikova, was nearing 70 years of age, but you wouldn't see that when you laid eyes on her. The only thing small about her was her stature. There was a reason that (to this day) she remains the matriarch of the Belikovs (even though that 'title' should technically belong to me). Everything about her exuded confidence, power and intelligence. She was born and bred in the Russian wilderness and though she had moved, met and married her husband in Australia, she had never forgotten her roots, and made sure we (her family) hadn't either.
She had worked alongside her husband (my now deceased father-in-law) in our family owned restaurant (Gordost Rossii – Pride of Russia) from the very first day of her married life and when her children were old enough, she had involved them too. Being part of the restaurant (in some form or another) was something that was expected by all who were Belikovs, regardless of whether you married one or were born as one. She loved her family and was fiercely protective and proud of us and the restaurant we ran.
One of the things about Yeva was that she had a gift of foresight – it was unpredictable and irregular in occurrence, but the possibilities that were shown to her would always come true, unless certain actions leading up to those 'futures' were done differently.
Her abilities had saved our family and the restaurant numerous times, which was why I had agreed to this foolish meeting.
Her gaze first pierced mine then Janine, almost challenging us to complain about her lateness or threaten to leave.
I looked at her incredulously, wondering what she was up to now.
I had known Yeva before I was her daughter-in-law – she was my mother's best friend in Russia. When I had graduated from culinary school in Moscow and was ready to take on the world, my mother had contacted Yeva to see if she would be keen to take me under her wing. Once I arrived in Australia, I met Victor, Yeva's eldest. It wasn't long before I'd fallen in love with the man, the restaurant and the country. That was almost 35 years ago, and now it was I who helped Victor run the successful restaurant, while Yeva became more of a 'prominent' (yet retired) consultant.
I could see Janine squirm in her seat. She had met Yeva numerous times over the years and I knew she respected and admired her (even if she was technically our 'enemy'). Which explained why she had indulged her in this unprecedented meeting. If Abe (her husband) or Victor found out about this little get-together, all hell would break lose.
We sat there, wrapped in more silence, waiting for our coffees to arrive. Janine and I looked nervously at one another. Meanwhile, Yeva kept her lips pursed, refusing to be rushed to reveal anything until she had her warm drink.
Once the drinks had arrived, with a slice of chocolate torte to be shared by the table (at Yeva's insistence), Janine and I looked anxiously at Yeva, hoping she would get on with the meeting. Yeva, as always, was sure and calm about her motives, so proceeded to drink her coffee agonisingly slow. After keeping us stewing for what felt like eternity, she finally decided to put us out of our misery.
"You must be wondering why I called you both here, especially considering both families avoid each other like the plague…"
Her strong, hard voice startled us out of our own thoughts, bringing us back to the current uncomfortable situation. Gulping in apprehension, all we could do was nod.
Sighing in exasperation, Yeva stared hard at us before continuing – she knew this was going to be a long and difficult conversation.
Two hours, six coffees and a whole torte later we exited the café. The tension that had been there since the start of the meeting had not lessened, however, a new sense of determination exuded from us. Janine and I surprised one another by quickly hugging, before departing towards our cars at the opposite ends of the parking lot, our minds busy processing everything that had been revealed to us.
It seemed that the time had finally come to end the Mazur and Belikov war!
Sooooooo what do you think? Should I continue? Are people keen to see where this goes?
As always, please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes and hopefully I haven't stuffed up the 'tenses'.