A Journey from Bitterness to Truth

restaurant. Her gaze Up to Chlow, and upon recognizing her, she burst into laughter.

Well, look who we have here! If it isn’t our very own Chloe! Her tone shifted to one of mocking superiority. Oh wait, that’s right, Chloe’s been booted out by the company. A stray dog now, aren’t we?”

Chloe’s face drained of color, a sickly pale giving way to a deep flush of embarrassment.

Matilda, standing at her side, asked who the woman was.

“That’s Reese, Chloe said, her voice low. “An influencer. She’s the one who smashed Declan Yeager’s coffee machine last time”

Reese clearly hadn’t expected to run into Chloe here, and with the backup of Declan, her confidence was soaring. Snide and merciless, she taunted, “Oh, what’s this? Spot a good–looking chef and can’t help but try to catch his eye, Chloe? Haha, how pathetic. Without Mr. Yeager’s support, you actually think you matter?”

Chloe bit back a response, swallowing the humiliation as she steadied her friend. “Godfrey, are you okay?”

Reese mocked their interaction with an exaggerated smirk. “Oh, listen to that tone. It reeks of desperation from a mile away, Chloe, surely you’re not so starved for attention.*

Godfrey, his voice laced with anger, snapped back, “Miss, you can insult me all you want, and critique my cooking, but I won’t stand for you disrespecting my friend!”

“Friend? Since when are men and women just friends without something more?”

Two men approached from behind Reese. Chloe and Matilda tensed at the sight.

Declan and… Yvan.

Damn, it was like a convention of jerks.

Matilda softly urged, “Chloe, let’s get Godfrey out of here. Is your face still hurting?”

“I’m fine,” Godfrey said with a forced smile, though half his face was swollen from the confrontation. It was the first time his restaurant had dealt with such blatantly unreasonable customers.

“Tsk, tsk. What a scene. Like moths to a flame, each one of you,” Reese snickered, admiring her manicured nails, acting as if Chloe and her friends were beneath her notice.

Yvan was the first to break the silence, “What’s going on here?”

“The lobster here is not fresh at all,” Reese complained, sidling up to Declan and hooking her arm through his with an air of entitlement. “Just the right time to put these chefs in their place, and these two nobodies decided to jump in.” Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Matilda’s face paled, then she scoffed, “Clinging to Declan so eagerly, and you have the nerve to criticize others? Did you get those beauty injections into your brain or something?”

The sharp retort froze Reese’s smug expression. As she lunged at Matilda, the latter deftly avoided her and pinned Reese against a wall.

Matilda’s commanding presence made Reese feel as though she was staring down a furious Yvan.

“What…what are you going to do? Everyone’s watching, you want to start a fight in public?”

“If you continue with your slander, I won’t hesitate to shut that mouth of yours for good!”

Matilda released her with a shove and moved to stand by Chloe, who was visibly shaken. “Let’s go. Why

11.53

waste time on such people? They’ve never tested quality lobster and there they can tarnish the reputation of this place with their words. I heard fleese has her own new restaurand opening soon. Trying to sabotage The campet on so everyone fleeks to your place?”

The surrounding crowd, who had been enjoying the drams, now understood the situation. They looked at Rease with disdain, whispering among themselves

“Can’t believe she’d stoop so low

“What kind of person becomes an influencer these days?”

“She was my brother’s classmate’s girlfriend in high school. Talk about a scandalous past

“Are those guys blind or what?”

“Shh, keep it down. Maybe the rich like that kind of thing, two guys and a girl…