Chef Fola lived for soup. Alright, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but she did love soup! She never understood why people, even chefs like her considered soup a bland meal, or a dish to be taken only when ill. She always felt she needed to change this misconception about soup; hence her opening her soup restaurant, 'Warm Up with Fola.'
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It was a huge hit! What made it even better was that her best friend Joke tagged along with her as the sous chef. Everything was simmeringly superb, well that is until Joshua, the notorious food blogger stirred things up after finding a dead cockroach in her soup!
Joshua glared at his phone and couldn't understand for the life of him why an unknown caller was calling him at what? He checked the time on his phone, 3 am. If this call doesn't bring out hundreds of thousands of naira, someone would be pureed!
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"WHAT!" He barked into the phone after answering the call. "Am I onto Mr Joshua, the food blogger?" A distorted voice asked? Joshua cackled. "You have 7 seconds left," he whispered threateningly. "Y-yes. Come review 'Warm up with Fola on Thursday. I guarantee your review will earn you more views than you can ever imagine!" With that said, the person hung up the phone. Joshua's interest was certainly peaked with this tidbit of information.
He stared at the inside of the restaurant with a disguise (spy glasses and a cap). It was a small, cozy restaurant with wooden tables that were covered with dark blue and white tablecloths. Flower vases and napkin folds were placed beautifully on each table. The dark grey plush armchairs looked so soft and he couldn't wait to give his bottom that little luxury. The white marbled floors and walls glistened with the soft golden light casting a warm glow over them.
He couldn't help but feel ravenous at the aroma of vegetables, spices and tender meat wafting through the air. He sat down with a sigh. He still couldn't place the mysterious call the night before. Was someone playing a prank? Was this a strategy by the restaurant to get a good review from him? Or was there something more sinister going on? Only one way to tell.
That went downhill quicker than expected. He thought, staring at the dead cockroach swimming in the soup he scooped in the ladle. Was this a joke? A grin almost broke out, remembering everything was recorded with his glasses. He could make a huge sum of money from this. But there was a niggling feeling at the back of his mind.
He stood up with such a race that toppled his chair backward. All eyes were turned towards him. "WHO MADE THIS?? Where is the chef?" Joshua yelled out. His waitstaff started towards him with hurried footsteps and wide eyes, but was interrupted by a low and strong voice, "Is there a problem sir?"
Joshua turned towards the voice. He smirked. This was most definitely the head chef and owner of the restaurant, Chef Fola. It wasn't just her name tag that gave her away, but her confidence, stance and uniform. "There certainly is a problem. I don't remember ordering dead cockroaches as part of my meal." He challenged.
Audible gasps were heard all around the restaurant, with the clattering of spoons on the table. Phones were swiped out with the speed of light, recording the encounter. Chef Fola visibly paled, her eyes dilated in shock. "W-what?" She whispered. The niggling feeling at the back of Joshua's head became stronger and he just couldn't ignore it any longer.
"I suspect foul play! I received an ominous call in the middle of the night. I was specifically told to come here on Thursday like the person wanted me to encounter this. The voice was distorted, so I'm not sure of the gender." He hoped he was doing the right thing. He felt this was the only way to catch the culprit.
He hated feeling used and that's what it would have felt like if he went along with what the person wanted; the downfall of Chef Fola. Louder gasps were heard. "It's a conspiracy!" Someone yelled from the slowly forming crowd of chefs, waitstaff and customers.
"Let's look at the security footage to know what exactly happened." The head waitstaff suggested. "That's a great idea. But have you forgotten the CCTV is no longer working?" Joke, the sous chef and Fola's best friend questioned. "It was fixed on your off day. I forgot to tell you " Chef Fola softly responded.
"Oh! The security team just sent the footage to me." The head wait staff said and a shocked gasp could be heard from beside Chef Fola. He played it for all to see forwarding to where Joshua's meal was being prepared. There was a tense silence in the restaurant; everyone wanting to see the culprit. It was clear as day as Joke, the sous chef sneaked her hand into her apron to bring out a dead cockroach.
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The loudest of gasps and shocked murmurs were heard from all around. "Why?" Fola asked her best friend of ten years. There was a lot of hate raging from Joke's eyes, "You are always first in everything, better than me in everything. It's so annoying! The first guy I liked became your husband, you turned my passion into your career and had the guts to make me your sous chef. No one here respects me!!"
"I hate you Fola. You're always taking things from me. Always making yourself look better than me. I hate you and this silly restaurant!" Joke whispered tearfully. " Fola always knew Joke had self-esteem issues, but this was deep. And she didn't know if their friendship could survive this.
Joshua looked around with a satisfied smile and walked out of the restaurant. Joke was right. Even though this wasn't the end she expected, this would most definitely earn him a lot more views than he could ever imagine.
Source Meta AI and Pixabay
@owent1 one of your images claims to be from Pixabay but you have not provided correct image sourcing. Your piece cannot be curated until you have corrected this.