Chapter Forty-Six
Another day at work and I was loving it. Nelson and I had woken up early. Well, basically, I had woken him up with all the cleaning noises from my room. I had cleaned up the whole place after waking up.
Not much was said in the morning as I assumed we both liked quiet in the evening, however that did not mean that silence was uncomfortable. No. It simply felt like we were doing a group project and both of us were focused on our separate tasks.
All this, while as we cleaned together in different rooms, I thought about what was going on in school. Fear did creep into me when I thought about my brother however, it was not as intense as it was yesterday or the day before. Somehow things had calmed down for me. For a short time, at least.
My room would have been lit on fire for sure, especially my things. However, I did not want to think about what would have happened to Shirley's things. I hoped she was fine. I wondered right after I ran away and that too just in time, who reached the dorm room first. Shirley or my brother Ergor.
I could only guess. Both of them were heading my way when I escaped in time. If Shirley reached the dorm room first then I was pretty confident that she would have handled the situation well. She must have kept him out somehow. Working out a way to get out of there. Otherwise, I would not like to think.
However, if Ergor reached my room first then I only could hope the whole thing was not burning on fire. With the rage that he was in that day, I could only imagine that he would have destroyed my whole room along with Shirley's. He would have seen my books, he would have thrown it all out the window right there and then. If he would have found my phone then it would be shattered on the ground and anything that was mine and he could get his hands on it, it would all be destroyed.
But if they both reached the place together ... I didn't even have the guts to think about it all. Even though there is security in our dorm room, it did not mean he would not get through it. I did not think anyone could have been able to stop it. It was just impossible. The worst of all this, apart from Shirley getting stuck in a situation like this, was the very thought of not being able to complete my study year. If this whole grave situation continued then I would miss my school, and studies and probably will never get to complete school this year.
"What are you thinking?" I heard from behind me.
I turned and saw Nelson standing in the doorway of the main dining room. A broom was in his hand.
"Nothing important." I told him. Currently, I was cleaning the tables and was on the last one. I stood up. Nelson raised his brows.
"I was just wondering about some ideas of how we could make this place better and more visible to customers so that it could get back onto the right track," I told him.
"Okay ... so, what do you suggest?" Nelson asked me as he stepped into the room. I thought about giving it a try.
"See, this place is amazing. The food is amazing, as I have tasted it myself, the price is affordable and this is one of the places that have the most authentic Japanese food possible. Then why is it not making money?" I asked him.
Nelson stared at me for a few seconds before shrugging and nodding in my direction, "You tell me." He said.
"Because it is not visible enough." I told him. Like duh. It was so obvious.
"I mean look at this place, it is clean, the food is amazing, the service is good, the pricing is right then what could be wrong with this place? This place is hidden among all the residency houses." I said.
"Because this restaurant is a house restaurant, people might overlook this place. They perhaps did not even see it among all the houses nearby. I mean, I remember I only found this place because I got lost. If I were looking for a place to eat then I would simply walk past it without giving as much as a flying look. We have to make it more visible." I told him.
"Alright. Then what do you suggest? How do we make it more visible?" He asked.
I gave it a thought. "We have to make it brighter." I told him.
"This place?" He asked.
"No, not just this place but the board outside." I said. "The board outside is old and outdated. We have to make it big and more time appropriate. Not only that but we have to make it attractive. We could use a Red coloured board because it invokes hunger in people. It's one of the marketing strategies that company uses to sell their products." I told him.
Nelson leaned against the doorframe looking thoughtful. "Humm ... anything else?" He asked.
"Yes. We could hand out flyers and pamphlets to people and could also put this food for sale for a little while." I told him. "And we don't have to actually put the food for sale, we just have to print the price higher on the flyers and cut it to only state the real price of the food." I continued.
"They are good ideas. I'll ask the owner about it. Maybe we could work on your ideas." He said. He pushed himself off the door. Before he could move out the door, I stopped him.
"Wait, Nelson." He stopped. "If you don't mind, can you teach me some cooking? I really would like to learn." I requested. He smiled and nodded his head to me.
"Sure." He said.
Suddenly the bell rang as a customer stepped through the gates and into the restaurant. Nelson and I both gave each other a nod and went back to our work. When I went outside to see the customer, I was a little surprised to find my yesterday's customer. Although he was not alone this time, he had two other men with him. He smiled when he saw me.
"See, I told you I would bring my friends with me next time." He said, still smiling. I saw Nelson giving me a look from inside the kitchen while smiling. I tore my gaze away from him and returned the smile to the customer.
"Yes, Sir. You are true to your words." I said and led them inside.
And at that moment, I felt truly happy working. I realised I like working. Especially in this restaurant. It made me happy to work with people and helped run a restaurant. If the future ever allowed me then I would certainly work in this place.
For sure.