Chef's Kiss

Chapter Eleven

Rody sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

His shift was over quicker than he had expected, since most of the time, one day at work felt like ten years he had to get through with Vincent around. Except- Vincent wasn't around. When Rody came to work that day, expecting to be greeted by the dark-haired emo Chef he was used to, he was greeted by nothing other than confusion. The redhead was slightly disappointed, since he'd wanted to thank Vince for the cake. At first, he thought Vincent was taking care of something in his office- Rody knew Vincent often hung around there. It seemed a bit off he would do that just before the bistro would open, since Rody didn't remember him doing that before, but he decided to ignore it for now.

 After a while, though, Rody noticed that something was definitely out of place. Vincent never stayed in his office too long, even if he had to do something really important. Vincent always made sure to check in on his workers once in a while. And even without Vincent in his sight, Rody's thoughts always seemed to wander off, leading straight to... well, the Chef. After a while, Rody couldn't stand it anymore, so when he wasn't too busy with the customers, he quickly walked over to take out the trash, hoping to find a hint of where Vincent was on the way. 

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Vincent was taking one last sweep around the freezer room, making sure there was nothing that could serve as evidence that he had something to do with the death of Manon. He held a garbage bag full of- well, rotting severed body parts of a human and clothes soaked with dried blood. Vincent was heading towards the back of the room, now triple-checking for remains of Rody's ex-girlfriend when he heard some voices outside the room. 

"-wasn't here..."

"...long time-"

"in the morning..."

"Arrived at-"

"-into the freezer room?"

The voices were faint and muffled, and most of the words were cut off, but Vincent could tell that someone was looking for him- and he couldn't have someone checking the freezer room, not when he wasn't finished checking the room for remains of his victim. Making a mental note to check the freezer room again another time, Vincent walked out of the room, hoping no one would notice him- to be greeted by his waiter and his cooks looking directly in his direction. '...Shit. I think they noticed me.' 

"Vince? What were you doing in the freezer room? I was worried- I didn't see you all day!" Rody asked, the concern and relief evident on his face. 

"Uhh- I was just cleaning something up- don't worry about it, Lamoree." Vincent said quickly. He wasn't lying, was he?

"What's taking you so long?" Rody was getting a bit suspicious, and Vincent could tell- and he had to act fast, before Rody asked a question that he possibly wouldn't be able to answer well- or, worst case scenario, say something that might blow his cover.

"I... I just decided to organize the room, it was a bit of a mess in there... you should get back to your shift, Rody, customers should be waiting." Vincent suggested while ushering Rody out of the room. Rody scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion and slight suspicion, but he decided not to push the question further.

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One thing to know about Rody is that once he has a question, he never lets it go. 

Rody couldn't stop wondering what Vincent was doing in the freezer and why he was there for so long. Was he preparing a new kind of meat? Was he cleaning and tidying the room up, like he said he was doing? But if that was true, why would he need a room where meat is cut and stored to be clean and organized? Was he just bored? Countless questions flooded in and out of Rody's mind, even after his shift was over. It started to wander elsewhere and explore other possibilities. Could Vincent have possibly... no, there was no way! Absolutely not! Vince may have a cold demeanor, but he was the only person who was... there for him... He was Rody's only purpose... the only thing keeping Rody from breaking apart after the incident... But could he have been the cause of that incident? 

"OW! PUTAIN DE MERDE-" Rody cursed out loud, rubbing his forehead and snapping out of his trance from the shock of slamming into the wall. Hard. 

Vincent walked by the redhead, chuckling. "Rody, you should consider watching where you're going instead of staring into nothingness- just so you don't bump into something again. What's on your mind?"

Rody groaned, trying to recover from the pain. He muttered another curse and sighed. "Ah, nothing much... just... I have something to ask you!" He blurted out. 'Great... how am I going to ask my boss, who is also the love of my life, if he killed my ex-girlfriend? This is ridiculous, Rody, just- drop it..."

But unfortunately, Rody couldn't be left alone with an unanswered question. "I was just wondering- uh- it's nothing personal, just a passing thought- it's stupid, actually! Forget it, just a random unreasonable idea that came into my mind! Forget I said anything, let's just move on and pretend this never happened, I was just wondering something but you don't have to answer it and it's really dumb and-" Rody took a breath. He hadn't realized he was increasing his speaking pace with every word. Vincent rolled his eyes, half-smiling.

"Calm down, Rody- it's fine, you can ask me the question- After all, I know you well enough to know that you're not going to leave this alone without an answer." Rody laughed at that. He took a deep breath. "Promise you won't take this personal? Or be mad at me? And you'll answer a thousand-percent honestly?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad!"

"No! It is! So promise!" Rody thrust out his pinky finger, and Vincent scoffed, laughing. He found Rody's childish behavior quite adorable. "Alright, I promise..." 

Rody smiled proudly, evidently feeling that he had accomplished something, which the Chef found incredibly stupid- and cute. Rody paused, and began, "So... uh... I was just wondering this, ever since Manon's parents came and all that..." He faked a laugh, trying to loosen up the air and soften the mood, but in reality making things more awkward. "Did you- uh- damn it, this sounds really wrong- this doesn't mean I don't trust you or anything, but, uhm..." Rody took a deep breath before continuing. "DidyouhaveanythingtodowithManon'sdeath?" 

When Rody saw the expression on Vincent's face, he slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh shit! I knew I shouldn't have asked that! I swear I didn't mean anything by it- actually forget I asked that, I already know you wouldn't have- I'm so sorry!"

However, what Rody had thankfully mistaken as an expression of shock, dismay, and betrayal was an expression of pure panic. Vincent didn't care if Manon's parents were suspicious of him- he could manipulate those two pigs so easily, and he hated them in the first place, anyways. But Rody? He was Vincent's everything- now that he suspected Vincent of the crime, Vincent was now risking everything- his friendship with Rody, his bistro- his relationship with the love of his life. Vincent had put on a good cover so far, but things were going to go downhill rapidly if he didn't do anything about this. Rody wasn't as easy to trick as Manon's parents, and Vincent knew that this question would linger in Rody's head until he got a satisfactory answer- and Vincent knew Rody wasn't the type of person that could be lied to easily. Even if he could, Vincent really didn't want to lie to Rody- it would be extremely difficult to, if he tried. Vincent had to act fast, and he was running out of ideas... 'Ah, fuck.'  He cursed silently to himself for letting this happen.

Rody was confused when Vincent stood idly. "Uh... Vince, you okay? Sorry, I shouldn't ha-" Rody was cut off mid-sentence. 

The suspicions, the nosiness, the questions, and the theories were immediately wiped clean out of Rody's thoughts. He forgot all about what he was thinking about a few minutes before. For the first time in his life, he forgot about what he was questioning.

Rody's mind turned to only focus on one thing in that moment. The world seemed to both run in slow-motion and speed past in time-lapse at the same time, and only one thing was important.

The Waiter could barely process what was happening. All he felt was the Chef's lips against against his.

-End of Chapter Eleven-