Chapter 1: That’s Just The Way It Is

"Waiter!" A woman with horrendous make-up bellowed.

Her action caused the other diners to frown deeply but they chose not to say anything, as they continued eating their meal.

"Here it comes again," one of them muttered, taking the spoonful of food into his mouth and watching the woman from the corner of his eyes with familiarity.

The next moment, a young man dressed in the establishment's uniform rushed to the woman's table.

"Ma'am, you called for me. How may I help?" He asked politely, making sure to spot the best customer-friendly smile he could muster.

"Yeah," the woman nodded and glared daggers at the boy, "You can help me by calling for your manager!"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but the manager isn't available. If you have any complaint, please tell me and we will take note of it," the boy said, with a short and respectful bow.

"Your manager isn't around, huh?" The woman asked.

The young man gave a polite nod.

He was watching the woman and he noticed a faint smirk flash her face immediately after he nodded.

"I see that's the reason why staffs like you can just make something so terrible and dangerous to the body, and serve it to your precious customers? Do you not care for the lives of other humans? The people that come here to spend their hard earned money? You really don't care about them, huh?" The woman asked with raised voice.

Even a fool could understand what she was trying to do.

The young man, who had just been barraged with questions, gave another polite nod.

"I'm sorry if our services weren't to your liking, Ma'am. If you won't mind, can you tell me exactly what the problem is so that we can work on it. Our outmost desire at Royal Gray ia to give our customers a very enjoyable experience through our menu," he said.

"Enjoyable experience, my ass," the woman bellowed and slammed her hands on the table, "I'm telling you that food you guys cook here are dangerous to the human health. And you're talking to me about enjoyable experience. What's enjoyable about it? Is paying hospital bills enjoyable?"

The young man's eyes twitched when he heard this. He clenched his fist tightly and unclenched it the next moment.

It was evident that he was about to lose and was doing his best to control himself.

"Ma'am, what exactly is the problem?" He asked with a firm voice.

"The problem, you ask. The problem is that your food contains poisonous ingredients. That's the problem," the woman said.

The young man bit his lower lip in frustration when he heard this. He scoffed inwardly as he looked at the multiple empty plates on the table.

It's poisonous and you are everything that you were served? Not one plate or two. But 8! What load of nonsense.

The young man didn't hold back on his curiosity as he asked, "Ma'am, you said the food are harmful but you ate everything. Why!"

The woman stiffened for a few seconds, clearly caught off guard by the question. She had never expected the kid who like he could be blown away by her breath, to actually have the courage to ask such bold question.

But who was she? She was someone that has been terrorising businesses like this for sometime now. There was no way that she will allow herself to be bested by a kid.

Immediately, she flared up and sprang up from her seat. Due to her slightly huge body, the table was overturned as she stood up and the plates on it fell to the floor, breaking and shattering into pieces.

"What do you mean by what you said, boy? I dare you to repeat it!" She growled into the young man's face.

Clearly, her action was an act of intimidation but contrary to her expectations, the young man didn't lower his head.

But instead, he raised it and looked at her with a sharp, cold look on his eyes.

This caused the woman to be flustered for a moment and she flared up even more. She raised her hand and was about to slap the young man across the face, when suddenly another hand stopped her hand on place.

"That's enough, Ma'am. I'm the manager of the place. Come to my office and let us talk," the owner of the second hand, middle-aged man, said.

The woman seeing the manager of the establishment, knew that she has to put an end to her show. But she wasn't willing to let things go just like that.

"Fine. But before that, I want you to sack this disrespectful runt immediately. If not, I won't come with you but leave immediately. And when I do, I will get my friends and we will bombard you with negative reviews," she said, with a cold and threatening voice.

The middle-aged man seeing that the woman has no intention to back down, decided to do as she wants.

He turned to the young man and said with a firm voice, "You're fired. Remember the leave behind the uniform before you leave. Every necessary payments would be made to you. You don't need to worry about that."

The young man didn't say anything when he heard this. He simply nodded and walked back to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, a sinister smile could be seen on the woman's face.

"Excellent decision," she said with satisfaction clearly written on her face.

The middle-aged man nodded.

"Please follow me," he said and started leading the woman to his office.

***

The young man, who had just been fired, walked out through the back door of the restaurant.

He looked at the time on his phone and sighed. He turned and started slowly walking down the street, looking out of it as he trudged his way home.

The young man's thought was filled with a lot of philosophical questions about life and it's meaning.

He didn't bother to think about the job he had just been fired from, as he had already seen it coming.

His boss, now former boss, has been looking for a good excuse to fire him. And the incident with that woman gave him the excuse he needed.

The young man wouldn't surprised if his former boss planned everything together. And he wouldn't care.

As for his philosophical questions? At the end, just like everyone else, he got no answer to any of them.

What's the use of asking all those questions? Even if I get the answers to them, what would it change? All my life, I've always been at the bottom, experiencing one bad thing after another and never truly experiencing anything worthwhile.

But it's not anyone's fault, neither is it that of the indifferent world I'm living in. Rather, it's because I'm without any talent whatsoever. Which means I can only live life as it flows.

That's just the way it is, Liam.

Letting out a lengthy sigh, he cut off the unnecessary thoughts and focused on the street ahead.

As he walked down the street, he turned and walked into an old residential units building.

Few minutes later, Liam unlocked the door, opened it and walked into his apartment. He threw a bunch of envelopes he has picked at the door, on the old table and collapsed onto his bed.

The bedframe creaked furiously and the worn-out bed was pressed flat, almost becoming one with the bedframe.

Liam winced slightly at the pain but he didn't focus too much on it. Instead, he focused his thoughts on something else.

He has just been sacked and with just taking a look at his current living conditions, it's a no brainer that he needs to get another job immediately.

The envelopes he had picked up are eviction letters and notice for some of his unpaid bills.

Excluding the contents of the envelopes, there was nothing edible at all to eat in the one room apartment.

As for Liam's bank account? He barely has $20 in it. Though his boss said that he will be sending his severance pay and whatnots, Liam wasn't banking on it.

Besides, even if he does get it, it would only be a drop in the vast ocean of debts he's currently in.

But what exactly do I do?

The next moment, a sound echoed in Liam's head.

[Ding!]