Here's a chapter I enjoyed writing! I may be a university student, but I continue to write this chapter because the economics in it makes it relevant to my studies, which gives me incentive (incentive, get it? It's economics again).
TheGhostShadow and werehogdog, you each get two slices of cheesecake with Custap Berry drizzle! Straight from Cynthia's restaurant! Enjoy!
This chapter is guaranteed to bring a smile to some.
Chapter five: Apples and Oranges
"Mr. Stone wants to see you in his office, Martine," one of Martine's fellow waitresses at the Stone Restaurant and Bistro said, during the morning hours of the restaurant. "He doesn't seem too pleased at all today."
"I'll be right there," Martine replied.
The day after Steven Stone and his youngest employee went for dinner at Vue sur la Lune, Martine Grenadine was in the middle of arranging a series of tables for a wedding reception to be held that night. She wasn't alone. There were numbers of other staff who were preparing for the event too.
Given the wedding reception, the entire third floor of the restaurant was rented out exclusively to the wedding couple, alongside payment for the food. According to James, who was spearheading this arrangement, the wedding couple and all the guests were due to arrive in the afternoon – which was an estimated seating of two-hundred guests. It was morning, so this meant James and the others had to prepare at least two-hundred servings of five-course meals. Fortunately, they had a week's notice before this happened, and a day to know when they arrived.
In effect, the whole third floor was empty, and the only sounds that could be heard were coming from the kitchens, even though the kitchens were far away.
Martine quickly went over to the door of Steven's office and knocked.
"Come in," she heard him say, so Martine went straight in.
Steven Stone sat behind his desk looking appalled. Martine, at first, looked as if she was concerned for him, but that almost immediately changed when she understood why he was so appalled. Indeed, she came close to laughing but kept her mouth shut.
There were magazines and the regional newspaper spread out on the desk.
"You…" Steven growled, his voice on the brink of fury. "You did this!"
"What?" Martine casually asked, as if to hide her innocence.
"You did this…" Steven's voice became threatening. He held up one of the magazines up for Martine to see. Lo and behold, it was a popular Kalos magazine. Key word: popular.
On the front cover showed – lo and behold again – Martine's boss having his arm grasped by Cynthia as he tried to leave Vue sur la Lune. But it wasn't just Kalos' popular magazine Steven was holding up. There were more magazines in his hands!
A suspicious smile curled at the edge of Martine's lips.
The popular magazine headline read, 'Apples and Oranges: Substitutes? Or Compliments?'
Was this bad press? The other magazines had similar headlines with regards to Steven and Cynthia, and Martine was extremely thankful that she didn't get into the picture – well, except for the one where Steven had first caused the commotion. (That magazine title read: 'Owner Trades Business In Favour of Love').
Martine snuck glances at the papers on Steven's table, but she could feel Steven's stare caving into her head. Steven. Cynthia. Steven. Cynthia. Yes, that was exactly all there was on each front cover, be it magazine or newspaper.
"I like how they compared you and Cynthia to apples and oranges," Martine lightly said. "It's like they're saying you and her aren't made for each other, and yet… there's a chance."
"This has gone far enough," Steven evenly, though with some effort to restrain his anger. "It ends here! You know perfectly well that what you've done has impacted the business! It looks as if I'm submitting to the competition…
"But don't you think you're being a little selfish, Mr. Stone?" Martine whispered. "It's not good to have a monopoly, you know. I thought you were a more classy man than that! People look to you as a classy gentleman and a respected former Champion, you know."
Martine raised her voice to a normal tone.
"Besides, you should be really, really, happy that they chose apples and oranges," she added. "It literally means you and Cynthia are incomparable. But you could be complimentary to each other too…"
Steven paused.
"No!" he denied. "It's not like that! It's just that… that… Argh! Never mind! Never mind! Let's get to what's important here. Martine Grenadine: if you do not stop with this behaviour of yours, I'm going to dock your pay. I mean it! 25% of your paycheque into the pockets of other staff should be enough to keep you quiet, eh?"
Martine stared back in response. "That's injustice and you know it!"
"But at least it's justified by the employee abusing the employer…" Now it was Steven's turn to smile. "Just behave and nothing bad will happen."
Martine looked as if she almost wanted to cry, but a thought struck her that this must be some pretext for Steven to eliminate her attitude. Well it was, wasn't it? Still, Martine agreed that her boss had suffered long enough with all the magazine gossip. She supposed she would have to strike again at a more convenient time.
"Oh, alright," Martine muttered, but at the same time tried to suppress a smirk. "Besides, you're getting off-topic here, boss. Don't steer away from apples and oranges! Didn't you just deny that you and Cynthia aren't substitutes, but compliments?"
Steven, ignoring her, got out a pen and chequebook and started to write on it. By then, Martine kept quiet when Steven, annoyed, handed her a paycheque with an explicit description of a deduction of 25% of money.
Afterwards, Martine left Steven in his office, and she had no idea whether he wanted to stay locked in there as a result of public embarrassment.
It went from bad to worse when Steven walked out of his office. Apparently and there was no need to explain it, it seemed every staff worker at the Stone Restaurant and Bistro had seen the article from the popular Kalos magazine. Apples and oranges, hmm…
"You handling okay there, boss?" a waitress asked. "Any love troubles?"
"No!" Steven harshly replied.
The waitress gave Steven a look as if he had seriously harmed her, but Steven wasn't deterred. Yet, the waitress could see Steven's ears, let alone his cheeks, had turned pink.
"I'll be sure to send you a nice fruit basket," she said before she went on doing her part for the upcoming wedding reception. "Oran berries, Custap berries, apples, and oranges. The lot."
It took a moment before Steven realised what she meant, and by then that waitress was busy working with the others setting up the tables.
"No! No!" Steven shouted. "I don't need one!"
Exasperated, and feeling very uncomfortable, Steven took a nearby seat and buried his head in his arms on the table. He felt like the world was watching him and trying to crush him wherever it saw fit. Did Steven really have any feelings for Cynthia? He didn't dare answer it.
The sound of the usual clink of a plate placed on a table shuddered in front of him. Steven tiredly looked up to see a mug of steaming tea in front of him, with James d'Arc taking the seat opposite Steven.
"Thank you," Steven muttered.
"It's that bad, huh?" James had a slice of Razz Berry cake in front of him and took small bites out of it. "Don't worry, Steven. I've read the magazine too."
Upon hearing this, Steven's cheeks turned pink again, and he buried his face into his arms once more, and refused to touch his tea. This prompted James to smirk, and pushed the tea a little closer towards Steven.
(Light warning: the following contains economics)
"Well, if you don't want to talk about your possible love life, then how about we talk business instead?" James offered, where he got a half-irritated, half-interested, face from Steven. "You'll be pleased to know we've got a contractor to build that bakery we talked about. A few expert carpenters from Lumiose City are making their way here."
James was relieved to see Steven finally getting his act together.
"Well, at least that's a start," Steven muttered, and picked up his tea. "Let's hope it'll have an impact. This action will add onto our costs too."
James said, right after biting another piece of Razz Berry cake, "Our performance output will likely increase too. We'll need to consider the prices, given demand and supply for the bakery, but we'll be adding a number of jobs to Kalos. At least that's something!"
Steven closed his eyes and imagined how this bakery initiative could impact the business. Yes… Cynthia had a café and pastries, but no bread. Perhaps this bakery idea was the best solution. But in order to live up to the restaurant's name, hence its regional fame, there had to be some stone element.
"Stone-baked bread?" Steven suggested. "How does that sound to you, James?"
"You're the boss," James said without looking up, but focused on eating his cake. "But if I were you, Steven, I'd focus on the reception. They'll be here this afternoon. Remember? Oh, and don't worry if anyone around here thinks you're betraying the business. They all know you're a great employer. In the short-run, labour will increase and so will the labour cost will rise."
Steven, scoffing, raised a hand for James' silence, and then asked, "What is the demand for a bakery around here, in Cyllage City?"
James nodded. "There is a high demand for a bakery here in a resort city such as Cyllage. As most of the bread supply comes from Lumiose City, it would only be logical to open a local bakery to satisfy the community's upkeep. There is no need to worry if this ends up being a sunk cost, because there will not be a sunk cost. So while labour and costs will rise in the short-run, the long-run effect will almost certainly be profitable."
"And besides," James continued, whilst eating the remainder of his cake. "In case you do somehow have to leave the restaurant for good, you can count on me or Martine. Right?"
Steven put down his cup of tea.
"Thanks, James," Steven said, feeling better.
About half an hour later, Steven and James got up to head to the kitchen to begin preparations. Under normal circumstances, to have a wedding reception prepared with this relatively little time would be a feat, but fortunately, Steven was considered to be the best chef around these parts and could easily prepare a reception with the time he had.
Or so he thought, until Vue sur la Lune opened. Now, Steven became less sure.
Directly across the three-storey high Stone Restaurant and Bistro, a road width away, the four-storey high (plus the fifth level, the roof) Vue sur la Lune was going about business as usual, although business seemed to have slowed.
That gave the staff ample time to look at the popular Kalos magazine that had been circulating and in the know for the past day. In almost any area in the restaurant where one of Vue sur la Lune's employees was, there was bound to be a copy of the magazine being read. This could potentially ruin the image of Cynthia's restaurant, unfortunately.
But as far as anyone was concerned, the customers were reading the same magazine too.
For Cynthia, former Sinnoh champion, she was sitting at one of the tables with fresh fruit and berries with a cup of hot water. On the table in front of her lay a copy of the Kalos magazine, with the bright red and orange letters reading "Apples and Oranges: Substitutes? Or Compliments?"
"And that, my friend, is a good question. Do apples and oranges belong together? Or do they not?" a voice said beside Cynthia.
Cynthia looked up. One of her waitresses had an ice cream cone in her hands.
"Your ice cream, boss," she said. "Say, everyone around here's been speculating…"
"Oh, that? It's nothing serious," Cynthia said, as she took her vanilla ice cream and began to consume it. "What bothers me is why the public takes it so seriously."
The waitress raised her eyebrows, and coughed. "Well… for a handsome guy like him, and for one who had so much fame back in his Champion days, it's no surprise some gossip would like to poke fun at him, especially now that you're around…"
Cynthia shrugged. It was no surprise, indeed. After all, she operated the restaurant as a means of maintaining luxury-class dining in a resort town such as this. What Cynthia hadn't counted on was that the rivalling business happened to be directly across from her. Well, food and dining services was a competitive market.
"Could you ever compare apples and oranges?" Cynthia asked her waitress. "You can't. The point is that no one can ever compare apples and oranges. They're too different to suit each other."
To Cynthia's surprise, the waitress said, "Hey. That's clearly wrong! You're wrong in saying you can't compare apples and oranges, because you just compared them and declared them different. Besides, it's the differences that make them suited to each other! An apple isn't an orange and vice versa, but they could be complementary to each other because of their differences."
Cynthia blinked. Was her waitress speculating a relationship between her and Steven?
"Speaking of apples and oranges, I have a craving for an apple," the waitress said, as Cynthia silently ate her ice cream. Out of nowhere, the waitress whipped out an apple and dug a large bite into the hard shell of the apple.
Cynthia brushed her platinum-locks behind her ear and finished her ice cream. She couldn't help, though, that the apple was something of an irritant.
Now she was standing inside the Vue sur la Lune subsidiary – that is, the café – as it was time for work. Truthfully speaking, the café was pretty popular among the citizens of Cyllage City. It provided coffee, tarts, cakes, and pastries for those people and Pokémon just starting out their day. The café hadn't opened yet, but it would soon. It was time for work.
Cynthia tossed out her Poké Ball holding her Garchomp. The Pokémon burst out and looked at Cynthia with anticipation.
"We better get things ready," Cynthia said. Garchomp nodded in agreement. Separately, the workers operating the café were also doing their part. Some were turning on lights and opening the blinds, some were beginning to bake fresh cakes and chilled desserts, some were wiping the tables inside and outside, and some were preparing to make freshly grinded coffee.
It didn't take long before Garchomp and Cynthia were working together on a broad range of Poké Puffs and Poffins. In the interest of keeping the café on the ground level running, a lot of fresh pastries had to be prepared. In Cynthia's opinion, never mind the public, her desserts were the best.
Still, as Cynthia worked, she couldn't help but think back to the article in the popular magazine. That photo of her and Steven on the magazine cover was… cute.
"Hey! Watch it, boss!" a staff worker warned.
Cynthia became instantly aware that she had almost spilled a tray of uncooked orange tarts onto the floor, if not for the fast-acting catch of Garchomp. Garchomp held the tray of orange tarts firmly, although appeared concerned for Cynthia.
"Gar…" Garchomp shook her head.
Cynthia sighed, but turned on the oven and set it to the temperature the way she liked it. Once the oven was piping hot, Garchomp opened the oven door and placed the tray of orange tarts in there. The smell of baking orange filled the air.
"I'm fine," Cynthia said. She started about making a number of cheesecakes and Berry cakes. It just so happened that she had a surplus of Custap Berry sauce, so she made use of it to glaze some of the cheesecakes.
Apart from the ringing of timers from the oven and the smell of fresh orange tarts, there was also the sound of grinding coffee beans. Elsewhere, the café staff were busy boiling hot water and prepared many, many, servings of fresh coffee. One staff worker even went outside to retrieve several copies of the daily newspaper.
It just so happened that each newspaper – five in all – had a copy of the popular Kalos magazine attached. Printed clearly, and boldly, was the title 'Apples and Oranges'.
Meanwhile, Garchomp determined the tarts were ready and removed the tray from the oven, so as to place each tart on display after washing her hands. Orange tarts…
To the people of Cyllage City who weren't aware of the 'Apples and Oranges' thing, they certainly had their fill-up of the news by the time they went inside Cynthia's café. People who frequented the newspaper got a taste of the news when they saw the magazine cover, and curiosity got the better of them when they read it.
Even for people who didn't frequent the newspaper had their curiosity provoked when they saw the magazine title, and asked for the people who did read the paper to pass them the magazine. It didn't take long for them to realise that the magazine subject happened to be standing just a few paces away from them.
"Hey! Hey! Is this true?!" one customer shouted to Cynthia, whilst holding up the magazine.
Cynthia diverted her attention from the cake she was making and looked at the customer. After analysing the magazine for a brief second, a tinge of nervousness shuddered in her voice, "I'm not – I'm not too sure myself. Do you think I look like an orange?"
The customer laughed. "Everyone knows you're a sweet lady, hence your classy desserts. One would think you'd either be the perfect match or the perfect rival of the Stone Bistro across the street. Speaking of which, I would like one of those orange tarts."
Another of the café staff served the orange tart to the customer. On the other hand, Cynthia felt somewhat awkward, and proceeded to continue her cake work in the back room. Garchomp was more or less indifferent, but focused on making more orange tarts.
"Hey, Cynthia! We've got a special order coming in!" an employee said while rushing past the café doors with a slip of paper. "It has to be ready in the next two hours! It's an express delivery!"
Cynthia immediately took the paper to take a careful look at the description and request. Cream, peaches, and apples were part of it. But it wasn't just because of the fruit described that made it difficult, but the sheer number of it that had to be made, let alone the design.
"Okay, assemble the cake-maker staff on the double!" Cynthia said to the worker who handed her the paper. "If I had more time, we could get this done pretty well, but two hours will not wait. We need time to gather and bake, and this order is… ridiculous."
"Yes, ma'am, I'll get them straight away," the worker took off.
That afternoon, at the Stone Restaurant and Bistro (or, as the locals liked to call it, the Stone Bistro), the wedding couple and associated family were first to arrive. Upon entering, they were personally greeted by James, who welcomed them in.
"I can see you've got it all worked out," the groom complimented. "I'm impressed. You'll sure to be expecting many guests tonight. Apart from dinner, have you got the photo shootings, flowers, and music prepared?"
James smiled warmly. "It's all been arranged. I've taken the liberty of asking Mr. Stone to set a dance floor for you and your bride, needless to say a miniature orchestra. On that note, congratulations."
The groom smiled at his bride, before returning the thanks to James. Upon walking in, the groom was welcomed by the chandelier hanging above in the lobby at first, followed by metal staircases and two receptionists – a handsome male and a pretty female – at the front desk.
"Shall I show you to your floor?" James offered.
The wedding couple were happy to oblige. They followed James up the elevator to the third and top floor, where they were met with a vast layout of arranged tables, each with a snow-white tablecloth and fresh flowers, set for two hundred guests.
To the wedding couple, they were astonished.
"This is amazing," the groom said.
By what the groom meant, there was both a bottle of champagne and a bottle of sparkling lime water at every table. Wine glasses were already set up and arranged, along with a candle box each emitting a different colour at each table. The candle boxes had yet to be lighted.
Not only that, but being the renowned first-class restaurant it was always known for, the staff at the Stone Bistro had taken the liberty of moving a grand piano near a window seat. The instrument blended with the scenic view from behind perfectly.
"Mr. Stone would say it's his pleasure," James smiled. "The musicians will have their seating near the dance floor, and we've set a special spot where you can have a photo shoot when it's sunset. Sunset will probably last for an hour tonight, so we've arranged that particular schedule to have a really tight timeframe."
"Much appreciated," the groom said. He proceeded to look around the area to familiarise with the surroundings.
For James, it was all in a day's work. However, he knew that at this very moment Steven and the other chefs were creating hundreds and hundreds of dishes in preparation for the imminent dinner. At the ground floor behind the lobby, James could predict they were having their work cut out, because the dinner setting stipulated that each dinner guest had a full serving of the Stone Accolade. On their part, they had to prepare the food, but cook it when the guests had arrived. This way, the food could be served fresh.
"You hired a pianist as well?" James asked the groom.
"Yes," he said, "she'll probably be the first to arrive, never mind my family. She's been practising – ah, there she is now."
James looked to see a well-dressed woman unload her bag at the grand piano and placed a set of sheet music at the piano. She lifted the cover off the piano and James could hear the percussion of piano notes ringing about the floor.
"How much sooner are your guests arriving, anyway?" he asked the groom. It occurred to James, as they walked past many more seats all the way to the host's table, the guests could arrive at any given time.
"It's pretty early, I think," the groom said. "No. Besides, the wedding cake we ordered for tonight won't be arriving anytime soon. I think when that time comes, the guests will be here."
Hundreds of dishes, set inside the kitchens of the restaurant, remained prepared but not cooked. Steven Stone knew that it was only a matter of time before the dinner guests started to arrive at the restaurant.
He looked at Metagross, who was levitating dishes into their proper locations, and the culinary staff, who were washing their hands. Steven looked at his own clothes – a black chef jacket – and properly wiped off some sauce on the sleeves, and then looked at the clock.
"We will begin in exactly half an hour," Steven announced. "Take a drink of water or something, as we're going to have our hands full soon."
Some of the staff went to fill up glasses of water for themselves, while others looked at the uncooked dishes as if the cooking process happened already. Weren't they always this eager to cook? Steven knew them, and the time would come very soon. Speaking of which, Steven left the kitchen to see how things were going upstairs.
He took the private elevator to the third floor, which was empty except for the restaurant staff and the wedding couple. Steven approached the couple to greet them.
"And this," James d'Arc said, "is the man. Steven Stone! He's chef of this restaurant after all."
The groom was about to say something, but Steven beat him to it, holding up a hand. "Save your compliments for later," he said. "You should really be thanking James here. He is the one who spearheaded this arrangement. I'm only here to do my part."
The groom and Steven shook hands, anyway.
"Come to that, don't you have a wedding cake set up?" Steven asked, suddenly aware that there wasn't one in their midst. "Or is it because…?"
"Yeah, it hasn't arrived yet," the groom said, albeit sheepishly. "It was a last-minute order thing and I completely forgot to get one ordered before we came here. Luckily there was a dessert shop in town that was willing to make one for us, with so little time."
Something flickered in Steven's eyes. There could only be one dessert shop that existed in Cyllage City alone…
"Where did you order your cake?" Steven timidly asked. In spite of upholding his professional image, he had a gut feeling that the answer was expected, and his face darkened.
The dreaded answer came, and this time it was the bride who answered.
"At Vue sur la Lune," she answered happily. "They're known around here to have a fabulous reputation at making desserts, so we asked them if they could make a wedding croquembouche for us in a few hours. They were happy to oblige."
Steven stared at her as if his heart wrenched. It only got worse when she stared back.
"Hey… you're that handsome man on the magazine cover!" she said with tone of realisation and ignoring Steven's stunned reaction. "So… is it true you could be a match for that lovely woman at Vue sur la Lune? Now, now, I'm not saying you two are apples and oranges, but you do seem like a compliment to her. You make the meals and she makes the cake."
The restaurant owner, Steven, couldn't believe he had just suffered another loss to Cynthia again. Any cake maker, he could cope with, but with Cynthia being the one who made the cake just seemed to… be unsettling.
How could people actually compare him to Cynthia? Was it because he had feelings for her? Maybe not. Maybe, like apples and oranges, he and Cynthia were perfect substitutes. How could they ever be compliments? Steven didn't need to remind himself his business was in danger because of Cynthia entering the food market. However, he also didn't need to remind himself that he had other upcoming plans that may save his firm. Otherwise, he would have to start taking drastic measures.
"She is attractive, after all," the bride said. "Maybe one day you'll marry her someday like I am right now! Just wait for that wedding cake we've ordered: we've asked her to decorate it with apples!"
Apples and oranges… Steven didn't want to hear that for the rest of the day.
There you have it, a chapter I particularly enjoyed writing. Anyway, whoever reviews gets a seat at this wedding reception!