Don't Cry Over Phở

Chapter 27: Impending Doom

My dad ushered Luca and I inside and I wondered what the news was. It had to be important if he came frantically looking for us and unfortunately interrupting Luca and I as a result. The cold breeze prickled my skin as the door closed behind us.

Luca and I probably had the same perplexed look on our face as we couldn't tell if my dad's jumpy behavior was a sign of good news or bad news. We mindlessly followed him into the employee break room where my mom was also waiting. A look of relief washed over her face when we came in. Was she also waiting for us?

"Finally they're here," she said in a miffed tone. She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair, looking at my dad expectantly.

My dad cleared his throat before turning to us with a grave look on his face. "Well, the Federal Agency for local businesses just called and they're sending an inspector soon to check up on our restaurant."

"Soon? Like how soon?" I blurted, my eyes widening at these news.

My mom answered from the table, "In a couple days."

"What?! But the restaurant barely had enough time to get more business. We just had the potluck! Is there a way to delay it?" Panic was seeping into my voice.

My dad shook his head. "No, they usually drop in randomly. If it's not doing well enough for them, they'll close us," he sighed. He looked tired as he stared down at his dirty apron.

I glanced over at Luca who had a serious, determined look on his face. "They won't close us," he said firmly. He had a sense of sureness in his voice that I myself was lacking.

I could only nod my head silently as my heart was doing flips in my chest. The restaurant couldn't close. It just couldn't. We were barely just getting started on our improvements. I could only hope that business would somehow pick up in the next few days. Maybe I could throw myself on the ground and sob so the inspector could take pity on us.

My dad mustered a small smile despite the worry he tried to hide on his face. "I hope so."

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We left for home after closing up the restaurant and bidding goodbye to all the coworkers, Luca included. For the first time since we've met, I felt like Luca and I settled into sort of a friendly partnership. We might have had our fair share of ups and downs, but we had one common goal and that was saving the restaurant.

Would I consider us friends? Maybe. We did have a mutual understanding of each other after all. I guess Luca Chen wasn't too bad after all. I grudgingly had to accept that he was crucial to this mission whether I liked it or not.

I fell asleep, dreaming of tasty phở bowls, the ambiance of a busy restaurant day, and the jingles of bells. What felt like a wholesome, peaceful dream suddenly faded away into a scenery of an empty restaurant. I thought I was alone until I had an uneasy feeling that someone or something was watching me. I slowly turned around, my heart hammering in my chest and I stopped breathing for a moment when I stared directly into three pairs of beady black eyes.

They came closer and closer to me as high-pitched, jarring cackling surrounded me. I woke up with a start, my body feeling warm and sweaty from that nightmare.

I sighed looking around my familiar room, the rapid racing of my heartbeat gradually dulling as I realized it was just a terrible nightmare. Looks like the stress of the inspector coming and learning Vietnamese was getting to me.

Today's morning was quiet compared to the loud, rowdy ones I was used to. I was expecting my mom to be playing her favorite Vietnamese musical show, Paris by Night on the TV like she usually did, but both my parents seemed lost in their own world as they shuffled around in the kitchen.

As I munched on my toasted bread in silence, I realized the restaurant's situation must be weighing especially heavy on them this week now that we knew the inspector was coming. I wish I could do more to help.

As I was dropped off at school, I trudged to my classes with my thoughts filled with worry over the restaurant. I was constantly planning our next move or what improvements we could make. I think my distraction was starting to show through my schoolwork because Mr. Porter wordlessly slapped my test paper facedown on my desk.

I gingerly lifted the test paper and groaned when I saw the fat red C on the top of the paper. By Asian standards, I failed my Physics test. After that whole cheating incident, it felt like everything kept going downhill after that. It was like some domino effect.

Maybe I was putting too much time into saving the restaurant. Was this really all worth it? I sighed, slouching a bit in my chair.

I tried my best to focus on school for the rest of the day, but my mind kept drifting back to the restaurant. What if the business wasn't doing good enough? What if the potluck actually didn't bring in any new customers? What if the inspector wants to close it? Too many questions and not enough solutions.

Even Zoey seemed concerned at my constant dazed look as she peered at me closely for like the third time during our lunch period. Today she managed to convince me to sit inside the cafeteria instead of outside. I unwrapped my bánh mì sandwich, chewing in thought.

"Allison, you alright? You seem so out of it," Zoey said with a rare serious expression on her face.

"Yeah, just worried about the restaurant," I sighed. I quickly gave her a run-down of the whole inspector news in which she frowned at.

"Well no wonder why you've been so stressed," she murmured thoughtfully.

Her eyes suddenly light up in childish delight. "You have Luca to help you though right?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yeah... I do. What about it?"

"Just that you guys seemed very close at that potluck," she smiled, raising an eyebrow.

My cheeks warmed and I stared at my lap, mumbling, "It's not like that."

"You should make a move on him. I think he likes you."

My heart thudded in my chest as I covered my face and groaned. Did he really like me? I guess I did sorta like him. Fine, I admit it. I like Luca Chen. It was the only reasonable explanation on why my heart always ran a marathon around him. Whether or not he felt the same way though was a mystery and I was not too keen on finding out. The answer terrified me.

"I have more important things to focus on. Like the restaurant," I said sternly, giving her a look.

"Oh Allison, you remind me of a 50-year old woman sometimes. Live a little!" Zoey laughed as she teasingly nudged me. She burst into laughter when I gave her a serious stare down.

All of a sudden, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out to see what it was. A text message notification popped up and I swiped the screen to see a text from an unknown number.

Hey, it's Luca. I got your number from your mom. Can you meet me outside the cafeteria rn?

Luca? I held back a smile as I thought about how we worked together for weeks, but didn't think about exchanging phone numbers until now. I wonder what he could possibly want.

My cheeks warmed again as I thought of the conversation Zoey and I just had. Now that I was aware that I liked him, talking to him normally might be a bit difficult this time.

"Hey, I gotta go outside for a few minutes," I said to Zoey who was watching her current favorite Kdrama, Crash Landing On You on her phone while mindlessly eating her chicken nuggets.

"Good luck with your lover boy."

What the?! How did she know?!