The Man Who Made Me Feel Again

Chapter2

GABRIEL…

My body trembled violently as I dropped the last box of shipment, and rested my head for a moment on it to calm my aching muscles.

Not now please. I willed my body to remain strong a bit longer until the day was over.

“You need to take a break, we can take it from here, boss” one of the other chefs offered, but I got up immediately and smiled back my disapproval.

“I am good, that box was just a bit too heavy” I avoided his eyes and went ahead to get a knife from the kitchen and tore open the tape on the box.

I can’t slow down now when I am just starting.

I can’t give in to the weakness when I am so close to proving everyone wrong about what they thought about me.

You can’t survive alone out there Gab, you have to let us help you… I gnashed my teeth so hard until the pain in my gums made me forget those words that had trapped me all those years.

And now I want to give in to my weakness?

I set the new china plates and the set of cutlery on the pantry counter to be cleaned later.

I missed the old sets I had left behind in Paris - the more expensive and beautiful sets.

But I couldn’t stand the memories it will carry if I brought them with me, not to talk of the shame of having to still depend on the things my ex's family had done for me.

I had to start afresh, and to do that, I have to do it all by myself.

No matter what it cost me.

“The cold foods just arrived, and the power has still not been restored” Another chef informed me as she walked past towards the empty restaurant.

“The electrician will be here any minute, but I will call him again” I replied, and snatched my phone from my apron to call him, just at the same time I got a notification;

WESTLAND FINANCE: Urgent: Please review the revised settlement terms.

7:15am

I swiped it to the right just at the same time another popped up - an unknown number;

A: You know you can’t run away for too long…let’s talk…

7:23am

I grimaced and cleared the notifications and proceeded to call the electrician.

The last thing I needed at that moment was any sort of distraction at all, especially not from my ex-wife.

A loud noise came from inside the pantry and I moved away quickly to talk to the electrician who had answered the call.

It was just seven in the morning, and unlike Paris, the streets were already bubbling with life and activities.

“Hey, I want to know if you are anywhere around the block, I have some cold food I don’t want to loose” I said into the phone and I let my eyes roam the street as if expecting him to jump out from a corner with his tools.

“Alright, I sent you the address earlier, I look forward to seeing you soon” My eyes caught a movement in front of a shop across the road.

A woman who had just gotten out of a taxi and before she could gain her balance on the sidewalk, the driver zoomed off and left her standing there and hailing him.

Her shoulders sagged in frustration, and just before she turned around to walk away, her eyes caught mine and I looked away immediately.

I walked back into the restaurant, and couldn’t help but look back in her direction when I made to close the door.

She was opening the door to a shop at the far end of the opposite block, and everything about her calm and poised stance made me stare a little while longer than I would have dared to, until she disappeared inside.

You don’t need this distraction right now Gab… I reminded myself and walked back to the pantry where the box now laid empty in the midst of all the chaos.

I can’t dream of starting something new when I am still tied in the webs of my past - one of the terrible mistakes I dared to make with the freedom I got.

As I stood, hands akimbo, in the pantry and monitored the disarray of boxes - both opened and opened, and the flutter of movements, I couldn’t help but dream about the future, and how much could change if I could just focus.

If I hadn’t let myself get distracted that fateful night—by the pretty girl who complimented my dish on her very first visit to my boss’s restaurant, who stayed laughing at my silly kitchen jokes long after closing, and who said goodnight with an offer no young chef would have refused—maybe my life would have turned out far different.

Maybe even better.

The same offer that had me slipping the chain around my neck and sealing my fate without even realizing it.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I took it out to see a message from a friend of mine who was helping me move my things into the new apartment I just leased.

J: I just got to your house, dude. The place is awesome, way to go chap.

7:49am.

I smiled at the text, forcing my mind not to ponder on the money I had put down on the house.

I was so sure I was going to make it all back in due time.

Just as long as I did not spend my time admiring really pretty women on the street.