Whooo! I think this chapter has been way overdue for upload! I needed more time to write! To be fair, though, you can NOT imagine what happened in school the past two weeks (I'm a second-year university student at the moment). I THOUGHT I would have had enough time to write since my weekends are longer, but nope! This one class forced me (and is still forcing me) to work overtime. I had to pull an all-nighter to get one of my projects done, and this is just one course! Still, now this chapter can finally upload, and I have to get some more studying done for final exams next week!
I'd like to extend a slice of lotus cheesecake with sour Belue berry drizzle and coconut shavings to dawnleaf1234, The Legendary Falcon Fall, The Same honoured Guest (you really are excited for this one!), and Anime Review's for placing their orders. QUEENSPELLER67, though, you'll have to do with stale food, so bear with me. Stale macarons, a slice of Custap berry-drizzled cheesecake, and whatever leftovers there are at the wedding banquet.
Trust me, readers, THIS course is one chapter you'd want to savour slowly...
Chapter seventeen: Attraction via Apparel
Two hours later, both Steven and Metagross were well on their way to their restaurant. Although the actress' reservation was well away, there was still the matter of the financial statements regarding inventory. James, a little desperate on that, had to get Steven in to have that matter settled before they got to the more pressing matter in the actress' arrival.
"The first thing we're going to do is teach our new recipe to our staff," Steven said, "and then we'll move on to overseeing the financial statements James was talking about."
But the first knee-jerk reaction Steven got from his staff was – particularly from the females – overwhelming. Upon walking into the foyer, he would normally be greeted by the staff present there, and normally that would be Laurent and Sophie.
"Good evening, Mr. Stone," Laurent waved.
Steven nodded back, but he stopped still when he realised that Sophie was staring at him.
"Oh… my," she gasped, as if she didn't realise she was looking at her boss. "Ohhhh, my…"
"Um… Sophie, êtes-vous ça va?" Laurent asked. The response he got was a sigh, as Sophie kept staring at Steven, who was on his way to his office. When Steven disappeared from sight, Sophie remained staring in that direction until Laurent gently shook her arm. Sophie flinched.
"Ah! Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Sophie cried.
Laurent appeared suspicious, but after a moment let the details sink in and then he started to laugh. "Ah, Sophie. Really? Really?!"
Sophie blushed and turned away.
"He's just our boss, but… yeah, he's looking sharp," she said. In the next instance, her voice became quieter and she slowly slipped away from the front desk. "Um… Laurent, would you excuse me?"
Elsewhere in Steven's office, James d'Arc had been overviewing the restaurant financial statements for some time. As the restaurant's part-time accountant, James had a major role in keeping the reports up-to-date and accounted for. In this case, he had invited the barman to Steven's office for half an hour to make sure that the claim was true – that four bottles of wine were missing.
It helped a little that James had been in contact with the restaurant's primary accountant, but even so, the accountant was certain that the accounts were in check, so James – and in a way, Steven – was on his own.
"Come in," he said, as he heard knocking from the door. Steven walked in.
It was apparent that James had been busy.
"I'm told you need our shipping invoices, James?" Steven asked, but only to get James' attention. When James gave back a nod, Steven went over to pull up a file within one of his shelves. As James looked at the statements carefully alongside the barman, Steven flipped through the pages of this file and pulled out the invoice. "Alright, let's compare notes."
Steven took his office chair to join James in sitting. Only the desk now separated the two of them with the barman, who was certain his role was done, nodding to them both and quietly left the office. Steven checked the financial statement James had which showed the value of assets – in this case the total value of their wines ordered – and compared it with the shipping invoice which showed the price of the wines actually received. No doubt, the values on both documents matched.
"This is strange," Steven said to James. "We definitely have the right amount of wines, and yet the bar claims we're low on four bottles? Not possible. Unless… the bottles could have been stolen – James! I told you I wasn't hallucinating!"
James ignored Steven, but kept on rechecking the statements. The invoice was there, which was proof that the restaurant had received the right number of wines and spirits, and not to mention that the amount was the same amount showing on the financial statement. Plus, the statement showed that the restaurant had paid the supplier in full, so that was one less liability down.
James ended up rechecking the financial statement with the invoice once more. "Alright," he said. "Let's assume they were stolen, so we'll have to investigate who and how that happened. I'll go notify the barman, but for now, Steven, I think it's time for work."
Steven became aware of how little time there was before Diantha's dinner reservation.
As the two chefs stood up, Steven reached into his dinner jacket chest pocket to pull out the recipe he had written out at home. He held it in front of James.
"I'll admit, James, that you had a point of sending me home," he said. "While I was at home, I spent my time preparing a new recipe. I'm sure Diantha, and maybe the staff later, would love to see how it tastes."
For the first time since Steven had been locked up in the wine cellar, James smiled. "I'm glad to see you're acting like the chef you are, Steven. The kitchen would love to see what you have in store. I'll join you later, but in the meantime, bon chance."
Steven ended up straightening his alpine white tie before he went for the door, thus leaving James to settle the matter with some phone calls. As well, he went to grab his black cook jacket on the way out.
When he left his office, though, he was met with a crowd of females. Specifically, they were all made up of his restaurant staff. Martine Grenadine was there, so was Sophie, and many of the waitresses stood looking straight at him. At first, Steven wondered if there was anything urgent they had that required his attention, but after some thought – when he briefly looked at each of their faces, his face began to flush.
"Um… Is there something you need?" he asked slowly.
"Ooh… you're looking pretty sharp there, boss," Martine spoke first.
"Not sharp!" Sophie pitched in, with her voice in a slightly higher-pitch squeal. "You've never looked more handsome!"
As well, before Steven knew it, he was surrounded by all his female staff. Although he was administrator, he simply was in no position to keep off the number of eyes looking at him, as if they were charmed. Was it perhaps the cuffs on his sleeves? Or simply his suit? Steven had no idea, but he needed to move.
Or so he wished. It looked like everyone wanted to have a good look at him.
"I'll bet she would be impressed, wouldn't you say, boss?" Martine asked playfully, whilst batting her eyelashes at him. Steven was unmoved, but he knew exactly what Martine was trying to get at. However, he had to admit that his choice of suit seemed to influence everyone around him.
"Nonsense," he quickly answered. "Anyway, let's put our focus on our guest, who will be seated in an hour. I've been told that our guest tonight is a very popular actress, so that's why I'm in top form today. It's the only way to greet a guest."
Sophie grinned. "Of course you would, mon chéri."
"Elle a raison…" one of the waitresses muttered happily.
His face showed signs of trying to hold back a blush, and was done so only satisfactorily. This seemed to satisfy his workers even further.
Steven, hoping to avoid his female workers for perhaps the next hour, told all of them to go back to work. Martine and the waitresses went back up the stairs to return to preparing the tables, in preparation for the dinner hours. It was just their luck that Steven had to follow them to the lobby, as he had to go to the kitchens on the way there.
"Hey, boss, are those cuffs you're wearing on your sleeves?" Martine pointed out, giving one of the cuffs a tug (which made Steven shudder). "Really? Vous n'avez jamais regardé plus beau."
Being in the presence of this many people Steven could sense the excitement radiating off them. Sophie seemed to highly agree with what Martine said and she tugged on Steven's other cuff. Choosing to uncomfortably ignore them, he tossed out his Poké Ball holding Metagross, and then said, "Help them out where they're needed, alright?"
Metagross, who with its supercomputer brain could detect the redness in Steven's face, and echoed a very, very, low sound of laughter. Steven declined to comment, although he wished he could have said that it wasn't funny.
"Oh, and Mr. Stone," Sophie said, as if she had just remembered something important. "I forgot to tell you that our guest has made a reservation for one more seat. Surely that would be acceptable, I hope?"
Even before Steven could answer, Sophie was all smiles. Her boss' appearance was just too charming. Steven answered, "Of course, of course. After all, we haven't even started cooking yet, and there is a new recipe I'd like to try on the staff."
Just talking to him like this seemed to make Sophie especially happy. It didn't help Steven that Sophie was staring at him still.
"I… like your watch, Mr. Stone," she whispered.
Steven held his breath. He could recall experience of having fangirls chasing him around back in his championship days, no thanks to Wallace, but this was entirely different. Oh, if only his parents could see him now. Albeit, he did pick a nice watch to wear tonight.
"I think… you should head back to the lobby," he ordered, while Sophie could tell that he was only saying this to send her off.
"Of course, mon chéri," she cooed.
Would he crack? He sure seemed like it, but she left him to his misery.
So Sophie ended up back behind the desk of the lobby, where she found Laurent attempting to manage a mob of customers which had occupied the lobby. As she could tell the sunlight outside was signalling the coming of twilight, it was no wonder there were guests amassing.
There was also the matter of preparing for the arrival of the actress, and that reminded Sophie that she still hadn't told Steven the actress' name. However, the time would have to come sooner or later. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to tell him when the honoured guests actually arrived.
After a long while, the guests were ushered by the servers up the stairs to the tables. Laurent checked the clock to make sure that the actress was arriving for sure.
"By the way, Sophie," he said abruptly, "how is everyone finding Mr. Stone?"
"Everyone thinks he's… dreamy," she said back, albeit with the same wide grin. "Don't tell me you're jealous, Laurent!"
"No, no, of course not," Laurent rolled his eyes. "Just imagine how Cynthia would react if she saw him? You'd think they were made for each other."
Sophie scoffed.
James d'Arc had arrived at the kitchens in time for Steven to begin demonstration of his new recipe. On one side, there was Steven in his black cook jacket, with him facing the fire grills, the ovens, and the lot. Separating Steven from the rest of the cook staff, who were all lined up on the other side, was the metal kitchen counter.
Laid out before the counter were the necessary ingredients Steven was going to use. Among them were baguette flour, LaBrie cheese from the freshest suppliers in the region, classic Tamato berries, and onions. Steven got to work by firing up the fire grill and the oven.
"Tonight, we are going to try something different," Steven asserted. "For our guest, who is an actress, she will be the first to sample this newly created recipe in which I promise will be the best dish of ours since the days of the Accolade. I hope that you are all paying close attention to what I have in store, and keep an eye on how I time things…"
The first thing Steven did was place the baguette on one of the trademark flat stone plates that was normally used for preparing the Accolade. Then he placed the stone plate into the oven for the bread to be baked.
The cooks sort of had an idea what Steven had in mind. James alone seemed content that Steven had the nerve to finally come up with a new recipe at all. It had seemed like an eternity since Steven had looked like this, when he simply enjoyed working as a chef preparing first-class meals. Of course, that had changed when Cynthia had taken up business across the street. Now, it appeared that Steven was back to his old self.
"That baguette smells good already," one of the chefs commented. "It's been a while since we baked bread."
"Hey, we have a bakery for that," James smiled a little. "And pay attention to the timing…"
Sophie had left for the bar to grab a glass of water for Laurent, while grabbing a glass of sirop de grenadine for herself. This of course meant that Laurent was left to do the paperwork and computer reservations himself for the time being.
"I'm off for a glass of sirop de grenadine," Sophie said earlier. "Want something while I'm at it?"
"No, I'm good," Laurent said back. "I can hold the fort for a little while."
He sat silently keeping an eye on the number of reservations on the list. For now, there was a great deal of journalists who had stopped by to eat and watch the glamourous sunset. Most of them came in parties of no less than twelve, so there was good reason for Laurent to have his hands full. Now, all that was left was for the actress to show up. It was certainly around this time.
"Um, excuse me," a cool voice said to him. "I'm here for Diantha's reservation."
Laurent looked up from the reservation list. His jaw dropped.
The completed recipe was left on its respective stone plate in the kitchen to serve as a model for the other cooks to follow. Now that Steven had hung his cook jacket and was back to wearing his handsome attire, he had opted to sit at the actress' table as a way to greet her when she arrived.
So while he waited, he had ordered two glasses of white wine from one of his waitresses who, apart from enthusiastically taking the order, seemed more edgy than ever when she saw her boss in charming form. Eventually, she came back with two glasses and the bottle.
"I'd be happy to enjoy that drink with you, Mr. Stone," she giggled.
Steven chuckled. "No, I think it'd be best to enjoy this with the guest I'm going to greet."
To the waitress it felt like she was talking to a person that wasn't her boss. More like a fan to some popular music star. It seemed like enough that Steven was a former Champion, but the way his appearance looked seemed to have had some sort of influence on her. He even noted her arm was a little shaky when she poured wine into his glass.
"Merci," Steven thanked. He really hoped that his waitress didn't spill the wine, judging by the shakiness of the wine flowing into the glass. Was it his imagination playing with his mind when his waitress winked at him? Perhaps not, he hoped.
Trying to cool down his thoughts, Steven brought the glass of wine to his lips. He sipped it slowly to savour the sweetness of the finest wines with the blend of alcohol. The alcohol fumes weren't strong, but they were enough to make the wine tasty.
The idea of having a celebrity trying out this new dish of his creation… was all Steven could ask for. True, it wouldn't compare to a critic, but this dish would probably gain some degree of recognition of critics who would be willing to try it out. Perhaps he should make it clear to the actress that this dish was something especially new.
It had been seconds since Steven brought the glass to his lips that he ended up seeing something in the distance that should not have belonged here. It took his breath away – because the sight was that breathtaking.
The worst part was, because of the breathtaking sight, he ended up inhaling a lot of alcohol fumes from the wine. The fumes swept through his nose and down his throat, and he felt both his nose and throat burn with agony!
He choked and, as a result, looked away before a sudden spray of wine shot from his mouth. This was followed by a series of coughs. Steven covered his mouth with his sleeve, in an effort to minimise the commotion he was creating.
His head felt hot, while he felt the coughs and burning slow down. As this happened, Steven looked up to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
It. Was. Her.
But it wasn't the usual her. No. She was in flat-out formal dress apparel. A black, sleeveless maxi dress was her dress of choice. Her hair was beautifully curled to perfection, and much better than the last time he remembered, with her platinum blond hair flowing perfectly from her head to her shoulders to her knees. She was wearing heels and she was slowly, slowly, walking towards him. Her face turned to look at the oceanic horizon, where the sunset shined on her – glamorously. It looked as if the direction was east and she was –
Cynthia.
In a matter of moments, she took the seat across the table from Steven. Their eyes met. In Cynthia's eyes, Steven appeared well-dressed and his hair well kept. She noticed he had even opted to wear cuffs and a watch. Steven, though, saw a very, very, different person. She radiated a scent of perfume that refreshed his senses and… radiant earrings and a necklace.
What really stunned him, though, were her eyes. Eyeshadow and lashes, alongside other lightly added forms of makeup, made her face shine.
"Bonsoir," Cynthia greeted, albeit nervously.
Steven was still in shock of seeing her like never before. Truly, he was expecting an actress to show up as a guest, but why did it have to be her? He didn't know how to react. He was caught in the middle of shock and amazement.
"Just what are you looking at, Lisia?"
"Shhh! Uncle! Have you ever seen a man looking that handsome?" Lisia said to Wallace, which earned a smirk from the latter. "He looks like he's got one well-chosen date too."
"Oh, you mean you're talking about someone more handsome than me?" he placed a hand over his heart, as if his niece had mortally offended him. "Has Lisia finally found someone she loves? And she's really, really, jealous?! That's life, my dear."
Unfortunately for Wallace, he became well aware that Winona, who sat beside him, had the same expression on her face Lisia had. She was silent, graceful as she was, but this was different. Now feeling uneasy, Wallace slowly and shakily turned his head around to see what was behind him.
In the distance, no doubt, was Steven. But this Steven looked different, and… he had a date?! Not to mention that this date looked too familiar. Ah, of course, it was Cynthia. But, Wallace had to hand it to her, she looked beautiful. Not as beautiful as Winona, of course, but still – her appearance would catch any man's eyes.
In Winona's case, she felt the exact same emotions Wallace had, except her attention was directed at Steven. True, she had known Steven as a fellow Pokémon League colleague for so many years, but now she felt dumbstruck. She was looking at Steven as if she was seeing him for the very first time, and he looked extraordinarily handsome.
For Lisia, though, the effect lasted shorter. Maybe it was because of her youth. However, she caught wind of her uncle's expression and his girlfriend's which stayed fixed on their faces for some time. Lisia looked up, and noticed that their waitress was staring away at Steven with the same expression.
I could think of the next chapter of Steven's love life right now! Lisia thought. Oh… if only I had room to pose, I'd do it!
I would still be laughing at this point, in my case! Dinner has not been served yet, but feel free to enjoy a glass of sirop de grenadine by reviewing as you wait!
In the meantime, I have to get to studying...