The Deucalion Restaurant

🍤Chapter 9🍤

Morrigan's body froze, her brain momentarily forgetting how to work.

"U-uh, yeah," she stuttered, looking up at the tall man.

He laughed.

"Brilliant. May I have a look?" Jupiter gestured at the envelope in Morrigan's hand.

She nodded, handing it to him and willing her hands to stop shaking. He smiled warmly at her as he took the packet, and Morrigan couldn't help but smile back. Jupiter North certainly had a contagious smile.

Watching nervously as he read the front of the envelope before he opened it, Morrigan briefly wondered if the hot-waiter-whose-name-she-does-not-know was working today and had half the mind to have a quick look around to see if she could spot him. But, of course, he wouldn't be that hard to recognise; not when he's been finding his way into most of Morrigan's thoughts.

"Morrigan Crow?" She looked back up at the ginger restaurant owner to find him grinning slightly, eyes sparkling. "Say, you don't happen to be Corvus' daughter, do you?"

"The one and only!" Morrigan nodded, smiling back but internally wincing at how cringey and overconfident she sounded.

Jupiter chuckled, "I thought you might – you have a strong resemblance of your father."

"So I've been told," she mumbled.

Jupiter laughed again, and Morrigan felt her face flush as she cursed internally; he wasn't supposed to hear that.

"I suppose it's in our best interest to look like at least one of our parents," Jupiter said, still smiling.

Morrigan hummed in agreement, suddenly feeling more at ease and confident with this man of whom she'd never met. She watched as he looked back to the resumé. Unfolding it, he began to read, making little noises of affirmation and nodding his head as he went, apparently impressed with what he was reading.

"What a well-written resumé! Your father should be proud, and I'd be shocked if he wasn't." Jupiter down at her grinned at her.

Morrigan opened her mouth to thank him when she saw a figure approaching them from the corner of her eye. The young man walked up to Jupiter and tapped him lightly on the shoulder with the back of his hand, looking over his shoulder with a weary expression.

"I hate to interrupt, but uhm... Frank's done it again."

"What?" Jupiter looked from the waiter to Morrigan before turning back to the waiter. "You've got to be kidding... the exact same thing?"

"Yup." The waiter sighed.

"Oh, for the love of-"

"Kedgeree's trying to sort things out. He's got things fairly under control, but I do think you should check in on them before too long."

"Ah, yep, right. Uh, Morrigan! I want to introduce you to someone! This is my nephew, Jack. He's a few years older than you and has probably been working here since he was about your age, maybe a bit younger." Jupiter placed his hands onto the waiter's shoulders, turning him to fully face Mog as he spoke.

Jack waved, smiling awkwardly, and Morrigan's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. He was the waiter – the hot one whose name she didn't know.

It made sense, she guessed – Corvus had said that he was pretty sure that the hot-waiter-whose-name-she-does-not-know was Jupiter's nephew.

"H-hi," she said, waving awkwardly back, and just knowing that she was turning pink again.

Too consumed in trying not to embarrass herself in front of this masterpiece of a man, Morrigan missed the expression on Jupiter's face as he looked between the two teenagers again.