Eat or Be Eaten (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 6🌻

🌞🌻

Gulf heard an unfamiliar voice behind him and raised his head slightly to see who it was. A man had appeared from the kitchen, wearing the same chef's jacket as Mew's. He was of medium height and build and his hair was cut so short that it stood on end.

"Tong---"

"I could hear you talking all the way in the kitchen. I heard enough. I don't know the details, but look how desperate he is. Don't you think you ought to at least hear him out?"

"Thank you."

Gulf thanked this unexpected savior from the bottom of his heart.

"I'm Gulf Kanawut. If you don't mind my asking, you are...?"

"Tong, the restaurant's sous-chef."

Gulf offered his hand and the man took it with a grin. He had a kind smile that made him feel more comfortable just from looking at it.

"That means you're the second in command, right?"

"We only have two cooks, so there isn't anyone else to boss around. It might be more accurate to call me the baker."

"Tong!"

Mew looked upset at what Tong had said.

"Well, it's true, isn't it? I'm not looking for pity when I say that. I think the bread I make is pretty good. The costumers all like it. Even you recognize that."

"Yes, that's true, but---"

Gulf listened to their conversation, thinking back vaguely to the bread he'd had during his meals.

"The bread you serve here---do you bake it in the restaurant?"

"Yes. Although to be completely accurate, I bake it in another building near here. It's good, isn't it?" Tong said with a grin.

"Delicious, yes," Gulf assured him, smiling too.

"I like hard breads and soft breads. But I like thin whole-grain bread that's a little salty best."

Whether for lunch or dinner, there was always a basket filled with bread in the center of the table. It wasn't always the same variety. Sometimes it was bread with walnuts in it, classic Fresch bread, or regular dinner roll. But no matter what the type of bread, it was always delicious. It was easy to eat too much of it and have no room left for the meal.

"I thought there was an agreement with a famous bakery somewhere to ship the bread in, but I guess I was wrong"

"You bet you were," Tong answered with a friendly smile, "So what is it that you wanted to talk to our chef about?"

"Don't bother with it."

"Don't say that! I work here too, and I have a right to know what sort of business deals people are approaching my boss with. Or is it something you don't want me to hear?"

"Of course not," Mew grumbled.

Tong may have been the sous-chef, but Mew acted somehow reserved towards him. Judging from the way they spoke to each other. Tong may have been a few years older than Mew.

"In that case, would you tell me what it is?"

"Certainly, So---"

The two chefs seemed to have finished their conversation. Tong encouraged Gulf to explain, and so he summarized his discussions with Mew from two days previously and today.

He mentioned how someone else would own the new restaurant, but that Mew would be completely free to
operate however he wanted to.

Gulf was also honest enough to point out Mew would still face some risk. A few years worth of deficit could be ignored, but if the project was determined to be unprofitable, then the venture would be stopped. In the case of his own restaurant, where the red ink would hit him directly, Mew could decide when he wanted to call it quits. But with an owner, things would be different. Mew wouldn't be taking on any direct financial risk, so he wouldn't have any final authority, either.