365 Days with the Celebrity

Chapter 1 - The Assistant Chef

The Orient Treasure restaurant was packed to the brim on a cold Friday night. Waiters and waitresses in their notable red uniforms were moving non-stop as they served the restaurant's signature dishes of seafood noodles, fried tempura and crispy onion pancakes. A mid-size restaurant famous for its oriental fusion dishes started by the stern and demanding Madam Mary Yong and her late husband, both of whom were immigrants from China.

Madam Yong's short, plump frame did little to mask her grumpiness. Her signature appearance of bright red long fingernails matched with bright red lipstick, the green jade bangle which was a gift from her late husband, colourful cheongsams and neatly styled hair bun earned her the nickname of "Bloody Mary" among her gossiping staff who feared and disliked her. Details of imperfections down to the untidy arrangement of the smallest speck of rice would trigger a cold, hard stare through her huge red tear-shaped glasses, and any mistake would twitch her protruding mole above her unsmiling lips. Her mysophobic taste for immaculate cleanliness spared no room for error.

As Madam Yong scanned the rows of plates of crispy fish noodles that were to be served to a group of cheery guests, their largest group for the night, her eyes narrowed at a particular plate.

"Han? HAN!" She cried. 

Han, the head chef of the Orient Treasure paused his cooking and turned his attention to the lady boss. His eyes widened when Madam Yong picked up a strand of hair with a pair of chopsticks from one of the plates.

"How could you be this careless?" she said through her firm, icy tone.

"Not my own hair obviously, Madam, but I'll be a lot more careful in my inspect-" before Han could finish, Madam Yong said loudly in the kitchen, "WHOSE HAIR? So long! Ariel, is this yours?"

Ariel, the only one long haired employee with her regular messy, top-knot bun, put down her knife and lifted up her head. She sucked in her breath tightly when she saw the offending strand.

"I...I'm sorry, Madam. It..It'll never happen again," she stuttered.

"So careless! One more time and you can forget about being promoted," Madam Yong said curtly. "Cook AGAIN." 

Ariel nodded nervously and took the plate from her hands. Han shook his head disapprovingly at Ariel, "Now I have to redo this plate. Go cut up the fish and vegetables again. The group can't keep waiting!"

"Sorry," said Ariel as she passed the offending plate to the dishwasher. She hurried to the fridge to gather the ingredients and began chopping vigorously at breakneck speed. After double-checking that no strand of hair or any alien object was inside, she passed the chopped ingredients to Han, who gave a second hard look before tossing them into the red hot wok that sat over towering flames. The noodles were carefully placed onto a clean plate and inspected by Madam Yong one last time before she nodded to the waiters to serve the dishes.

"Marvellous!" exclaimed a lady in the group as the dishes were served to their delight. Ariel breathed a sigh of relief after peeking at their reaction from the kitchen. She knew she would receive another go from Bloody Mary herself if the customers were to ever complain at the slightest delay of the food.

The night passed quickly until the last of the customers dumped their tips into a glass bowl on the cashier counter, stepping out with tummies full of satisfaction.

After helping with the cleaning chores, Ariel untied her apron and pulled off her chef hat. She sighed and threw her head up, gazing blankly at the ceiling as she recounted Madam Yong's last words - One more time and you can forget about being promoted.

A promotion was what she badly needed.

Ever since joining the Orient Treasure five years ago, she remembered Bloody Mary's interrogation at the naive and shaky young interviewee as she struggled to reason why she was qualified to be a chef. Ariel waited nervously through a long silence, staring at the lady boss's red fingernails tapping dangerously on the table while she looked at her CV.