Jamais Vu

Chapter 15: Pan de Los Primos

Pan de Los Primos, also known as "Bread of the Cousins", was a family-owned bakery business. Things were looking great, all of the stores were reporting high numbers in their sales. All the stores but one.

Glorisa: Thank you for supporting your local Pan de Los Primos! Please come again!

Jessica: Thanks for agreeing to help out. My sales aren't as great as the other stores so if I don't improve then my bakery will be shut down.

Glorisa: No problem! We will do our best to sell as much bread as possible. Isn't that right, Het?

Het: Hmph.

With TNT (The National Tournament) being just around the corner, The Commander decided to put all of its members to work for the entire week. Everyone was split up into groups of two and tasked to work at different sites. The Commander also thought this was a perfect time for Onreifni to practice his Reverse Sirotama. TNTs are not cheap, so they would have to do their best and get as much money as possible in the following week. When The Commander asked for everyone to pair up, Glorisa ran straight for Het but was beaten by Briotami.

Briotami: Sorry. Het and I are going to be together this week, *under her breath* and hopefully, get some alone time.

Glorisa: Please Briotami. Just one week. After that, he is all yours.

Briotami hesitated before letting go of Het's arm. Glorisa wanted to keep training with Het, and this week was going to be the best shot she had at getting to learn from him. Once paired up, The Commander assigned everyone with their jobs. Het and Glorisa had to help out at a bakery that wasn't meeting their minimum sales.

Jessica: Your friend over there. He doesn't talk much huh?

Glorisa: Oh, Het? Don't mind him. He is a hard-working member of our team. He really is not the social type but I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about. Let's just do our thing and try not to get in his way.

Glorisa did her best to not sound rude about Het's true nature. Both Het and Glorisa were working at the cashier while Jessica was at the back making more bread. The business was slow. It was almost noon and they had only gotten a total of two customers. At this rate, Jessica's branch would be shut down.

Glorisa: Are things always this calm?

Jessica: Well yeah for the most part. I don't get it. My bread is pretty good so why aren't people buying it?

Glorisa: Have you tried advertising?

Jessica: Yeah and also promotional offers. But even then I would get no more than 10 customers a day. I don't know what the problem is.

Just as the girls were talking, Het picked up a piece of bread and took a bite from it. His expression did not change as he chewed the flour-based food. Just then a group of rivals walked in and started to create a ruckus.

Kevin: Hey Jessy. Still, hanging around this dump?

Jessica: This bakery is not a dump! I've been making bread here for as long as I can remember.

Kevin: We heard that your branch will be shut down soon, isn't that right boys?

Kevin was the owner of the bakery that was across the street. He started working there a few months ago and since then for some reason, Jessica's sales have dropped. Everyone had stopped going to Pan de Los Primos and instead they went to Kevin's bakery. It was like he was stealing all of her clients. Jessica asked Kevin and his buddies to kindly leave but it was no use. They instead decided to turn the place into a mess. They threw the bread into the floor and ripped open bags of flour.