REBIRTH : Chasing The Limelight-Chapter 31: I said no onions...

After practice session that day. Mr Kain had told Elara that he has some questions for her, so she should come to his office the next day.

Elara didn’t have any idea of the reason he wanted to see her. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had done anything wrong unknowingly.

Maybe she had sung off-key?

Or, was it about the argument with Perri?

But her impression of Mr Kain had changed since the day she helped him carry those stacks of books to his office. So she’s not very willing to go there again.

Still, refusing wasn’t an option. So she had simply nodded.

"Okay, sir."

As Elara stepped outside the room, she took a deep breath, refreshing her lungs. She then noticed Ziva standing few meters away staring at something on her tab. She seems to be lost in thought. Ziva had walked out of the rehearsal room after training started.

Elara waved at her, "Ziva."

When Ziva saw her, she stood upright and walked over to her calmly.

Elara noticed that she was unusually quiet. Though, Ziva was usually calm and kept quiet at times, this was very different.

Elara thought that Ziva might still be thinking about what Perri had said earlier. Or maybe, she was hiding something behind that calm face of hers.

As they both walked to the direction of Elara’s room. Elara turned sideways to take a glimpse of Ziva’s face, their eyes met instantly. She gave a brief smile preparing to look away, but Ziva is still staring at her, expressionless. Elara narrowed her eyes in confusion.

" Ziva."

No response.

"Ziva?"

Still nothing.

Elara coughed lightly and that was when Ziva seem to come back to her senses.

"Hm?" she blinked.

"You’ve been walking like you can’t see where you’re going for the past five minutes, What’s wrong?" Elara asked while Ziva straightened up, smoothing her expression into its usual composed shape.

"Very wrong?... I was just thinking." she said shrugging casually.

"About?" Elara asked, a bit curious about what could turn someone like Ziva into this.

Ziva’s lips curved faintly as she glared at Elara.

"What could I possibly be thinking about? How to rule the world? Or whether pigeons have secret meetings at night?"

Elara sighed at her reply. She was only being concerned after all.

Ziva held her calm face for exactly three seconds. Then she added after studying Elara’s facial expression. "Relax. My brain just wandered. It does that sometimes."

Elara studied her again.

"Are you sure?" She asked quietly. Though Ziva’s expression had returned to normal, there’s something wrong with the calmness of her eyes. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"I’m fine," she said. "You worry too much."...

–

When Elara got to work later that afternoon, it was just like the day before, her tasks were simple. Nothing overly exhausting. Just work.

Mia, the Grade Two singer, worked alongside her to attend to customers. She was more professional and quicker with smiles here and there. She handled customers easily.

Jeni, the Grade Three singer, stood at the counter with one of the middle-aged workers, receiving payments and printing receipts.

Everything went on smoothly and efficiently, not until the door opened.

Five men walked in, dressed in jerseys, training jackets and sneakers that very looked expensive. The first one stepped in and looked around slowly.

"Not bad." he muttered, nodding once. Then the rest followed him inside.

They chose a table near the wide glass window at the side of the restaurant. The window faced the street, letting in late afternoon sunlight that spread across the wooden floor and their table.

Mia was busy with another customer so Elara had no choice but to attend to them.

She walked over with a stiff smile on her lips. She had practiced smiling warmly in the mirror, but it never looked natural.

"Hi, are you ready to order drinks, or do you need a minute to go through the menu?"she asked.

One of the men looked up and stretched his hand forward. "Menu?"

Elara nodded and handed the menu to him, waiting patiently.

The man passed it around around the others. They took their time, debating, pondering and sighing.

Elara stood there quietly. She isn’t so patient, but she couldn’t rush the customers.

Finally, the menu was stretched toward the man who was on a call. Elara recognized him as the first one who entered.

He lowered his phone slightly and leaned toward the menu.

"Burger and fries," he muttered quickly and then went back to his call. The others held back laughter.

"Snugglebuns, listen... I told you, I can’t come," the man said into the phone, lowering his voice as if he was discussing something important.

"I’m in a serious team meeting right now. Coach is here... Yeah, strategy stuffs."

One of his friends coughed lightly. The man turned slightly away from them and continued, "Of course I miss you. Why would I lie?"

One of his friends whispered loudly, " Isn’t that the actress he met at the bar?"

"Bro, what happened to Pinklemonade?" another added while the man shot them a sharp glare.

"Shut up," he mouthed, then returned to his call. "Never mind, just some opposers."

Elara collected the menu and went to the kitchen to place the order. Mia had already finished her table so she offered to help carry the food when it was ready.

When the plates came out, Elara carefully placed three meals on her tray. Mia carried the other two meals. They walked back together. Elara placed the plates one by one in front of the correct people.

"Your order," she said simply. Mia also did the same on the other side of the table.

The man on the call grabbed the burger in front of him without even looking. He took a big bite and then immediately shouted across the table, forgetting that he was on a call.

"Wait—this is not what I ordered! I said no onions!"

His voice was loud enough to make two nearby tables glance over.

"You said burger with fries, that comes with onions."she replied calmly, wiping her hands lightly on her apron. She tried to keep her voice polite, even though his shouting annoyed her.

"If you prefer no onions next time, you can tell us." Mia added gently.

The man finally looked up at Elara and his face changed immediately from annoyance to a wide grin.

"Oh...Hi, pretty lady."

Elara’s lips twitched slightly at his change in expression. She didn’t know how to respond.

He laughed loudly, completely forgetting he was still on the phone. His friends sighed in unison.

"Tonio, your ’future wife of the week’ is still on the line." one of them said shaking his head.

"Mute the call before you flirt."

The man ignored them. He kept staring at Elara.

"Okay, okay, keep the onions. But you gotta sit for a second and tell me your name so I can apologize properly."

Elara’s eyes narrowed slightly. What kind of customer tries to flirt with the waitress like this?

Mia had already walked away, probably to stop herself from laughing.

"I’m working, please eat." Elara said while the man leaned back in his chair.

"Come on, I’m Tonio Adrelo. A footballer. You ever watch games?"he asked.

Elara glanced around for help from the other workers, but they suddenly looked very busy. One wiped a clean table again. Another rearranged spoons that were already straight.

No help. She turned back to him.

"No," she said after a short pause. She hated situations like this. It felt very embarrassing.

"No?" The man blinked.

"No," Elara repeated calmly.

"You should try to watch sometime, it’s fun."he said.

Elara nodded slightly. "If there’s nothing else?"

"Next time, no onions," he said quickly. "And you work here?"

Elara sighed inwardly, it was obvious she worked there. But she still answered nevertheless.

"Yes."

He then nodded.

Elara turned quickly and walked away before he could say anything more...