It Started With A Cigarette|✓|

Chapter-4: COLLEAGUE

In the blink of an eye, Saturday and Sunday sped past to welcome Monday.
As usual, I woke up to the ringing of my annoying alarm clock.

I groaned and got up, partly from slight pain in my body and partly due to my annoyance towards my alarm clock.

I made my way to the washroom and stayed there for a good twenty five minutes before I went to the kitchen to grab an energy bar.

After I finished my so called breakfast, I left for school, eager to be done with the day and go to work for the first time in my life.

I quickly shut the door behind me and went to school.
---×---

As soon as school was over, I sped to the mall. The mall was crowded as usual with people walking here and there.

I went to the third floor and into the restaurant.

"Ah! You have come at the right time!Come, my dear!", the old lady hugged me.

I looked around. There were more people today. I smiled at her.

"I didn't get your name...", the lady started.

"Dina."

The lady smiled.

"And what about yours?", I asked.
"Martha.", she replied.

I smiled at her.
"So where should I start?", I asked.

"You can start by washing the dishes. They're in the kitchen."

I nodded and headed towards the kitchen.

There weren't many dishes in the sink. I put on the rubber gloves which were beside the sink and started washing the plates.

After something like ten minutes, I I completed washing all of them and placed them aside.

I took off the rubber gloves and made my way to the restaurant.

Many people had left already.

I saw Martha sitting on a chair and looking at nothing in particular, a distant look on her face.

"What's wrong?", I asked, sitting on a chair beside her.

She quickly brought a smile to her face.

"Oh um nothing..", she replied.

"Tell me.", I persisted.

She sighed.

"Frankly, I don't think this restaurant is doing well. I hardly have ten to twenty customers everyday. It's hard to manage."

I nodded. I looked at the pamphlet in her hand. Suddenly, an idea struck me.

"Do you have more of these pamphlets?", I asked.

She nodded.
"Where are they?", I asked.

She pointed towards the kitchen. I grabbed the piece of paper from her hand and ran to the kitchen.

Well enough, I saw a bunch of pamphlets on the counter.

I grabbed them and went out of the kitchen.

"What are you doing?", Martha asked.

"Just wait and watch.", I said, winking at her.

I rushed out of the restaurant with the pamphlets in my hand.

I snuck into a nearby shop and "borrowed" some rollerskates from there.

I quickly fastened them to my feet. It was a crazy idea but it was worth a shot.

I went to the ground floor and started gliding from one place to another, throwing the pamphlets here and there. They flew around me and some of them practically landed on people's faces.

I grinned at them and motioned towards the third floor.

Seeing the pamphlet, I finally understood the name of the restaurant. It was called 'The Italian Diner'.

I quickly "distributed" the pamphlets in all the other floors and made my way to the third floor. People had started coming.

Martha had a confused look on her face when she saw many people coming to her restaurant. She started taking the orders nonetheless.

I gave her a quick smile and grabbed a wet cloth from the kitchen and a chair from one of the empty tables.

I went near the signboard and cleaned it how much ever I could. It looked pretty decent after I was done.

I jumped off the chair and made my way to the kitchen.

"Need any help?", I asked Martha.
She smiled at me.

"Let's see how well you can make a pizza."

---×---

By the time I was done, my apron had turned white from black because of all the flour. My hair had specks of flour and my face had pizza sauce on it. Lots of it.

Martha laughed seeing my condition.
Ultimately, my pizza turned out to be a flat piece of dough with cheese and pizza sauce splattered on it unevenly. It was not even round. The shape was very similar to that of an amoeba.

I laughed at my own creation.

Martha picked up some dough and expertly turned it into a perfect circle. She quickly prepared the pizza and put it in the oven.

After a while, when she took the pizza out, it was perfect. I silently pushed my pizza into the dustbin and grabbed her plate.

I quickly went out to serve the people.

I went back in and came out carrying a plate of pasta for another table.

As soon as I stepped out, my face came into contact with a hard surface. Namely, someone's chest.

The plate fell from my hand and landed right on my hair. Sauce spread all over my clothes and it even seeped into my hair.

"Watch where you're going!", I hissed.

I removed the the sauce from my hair and eyes.

As I got up, one sentence escaped mouth,
"What the hell are you doing here?"
---×---