A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 6: BETRAYAL

Herb's Bistro was a small bistro with only ten tables, each table with four chairs, and a waiting list that could reach two weeks.

Herbert Wellgrove was a self-made chef who learned the rope from a very young age. He was born and raised in one of the poorest neighbourhood in this city, and worked his way as a dishwasher in various restaurants when he was a boy, the fifth child of a family with seven children.

He was a smart kid who learned the basics of cutting, vegetables and meat handling, and cooking techniques just by watching the chefs in the various restaurants he worked at. He learned everything he could from the various kitchens, and he used what he learned to start his own bistro.

Herbert married Lynn when they were both 19 years old. Lynn had been his neighbour since he was 12, when she immigrated to this country from her birthplace, a small town in Guangzhou, southern China. They were young and madly in love and the disapproval of Lynn's parents did not deter them.

What the young couple thought was love fizzled away when faced with the birth of Airin, and the dire financial situation when Herb started his bistro and there was not many customer at all. Herb became louder, angrier, and Lynn sunk deeper in self-doubt as she tried to raise Airin with no help from her parents and walk on eggshells with Herb around. Herb did not take part much in parenting Airin, his bistro was his life.

Herb's years of hard work paid off. His bistro was now successful with only-by-reservation tables frequented by the who's who of the city ...

Airin tumbled into the cool airconditioned bistro that afternoon. It had been a long afternoon for her. Sammy, her student, had a stomachache after class because of the anxiety caused by the delay in his dad picking him up, so she stayed with him, hugged him the whole time until his dad came and picked him up.

Then she rushed back home to change clothes into her bistro waitress uniform: white short-sleeved dress shirt, black pencil skirt, see-through nude stocking, and black ballerina shoes, and ran out again to catch the bus to get to the bistro, a few kilometres away at the centre of the city.

With her luck, the bus made screeching noises, let out plumes of smoke from its exhaust, and broke down three bus stops before the bus stop she was supposed to alight. She alighted, decided taxi was too expensive, and started running like mad to the bistro.

She was supposed to be at the bistro at 4PM to help with table preparation, napkin folding, and whatever else Dad wanted her to help with.

It was now 4:30PM. Airin sighed at the entrance as she caught her breath. The bistro was not huge, its interior deco was minimalistic with dark-lacquered wood table, 4 chairs in each table, and a tall vase with freshly-cut white rose on each of the tables. A medium crystal chandelier hung on the ceiling in the middle of the room.

The smell of garlic being stir fried wafted from the kitchen at the back of the room, mixed with smell of fresh shiitake mushroom and braised pork belly, loud clanging of metal spatula on hot wok added to the atmopshere. Warm and inviting.

"Want a glass of ice lemon tea?" a voice startled her, gravelly from years of smoking.

She turned and saw May, the restaurant's manager. A beautiful, petite brunette in her mid-forties with almond-shaped hazel eyes and lips that had been through some lip-filler procedure. The full lips was matte red, May's brunette curls were swept up in one bundle on top of her head, some curls dangled just perfect to frame her face. Her white shirt was one size smaller than what was comfortable, at least for what Airin thought was comfortable. Her shirt buttons were almost pulled apart as they tried to cover her voluptuous breasts. Her tiny waist, perfectly flat tummy, and long legs made Airin think that she should have been in some magazine cover.