King of Hearts (gxg)

13. Truth Is ♔︎

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| King of Hearts |
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By: Janae Destiny

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Saturday-- Later That Night

"Big Frank!" Monie yelled over both the loudness of a busy kitchen and the heavy bass that could still be heard from the music playing in the main part of the club.

"Why yuh deh inna mi kitchen?" Frank, the club's head chef, yelled over to her from his position at the fryers, just having dropped some fresh wings into the hot oil.

Frank was an older gentleman who adds a sort of comforting fatherly presence to the club. And just like the dancer's house mom, Frank truly does care about the girls. If one of them is sick and texts him, he'd be on his way over with some homemade chicken soup, no questions asked. And the title of 'big' before his name, well, that comes from the dark skin man standing at about 6'5" with quite a hefty build. His size is a bit intimidating at first, but he's one of the softest most gentle people you'll ever meet, especially when he's around his husband and kids.

"Do you have any ginger in here?"

Monie kept her position by the kitchen's entrance, knowing she isn't allowed back there because of her six-inch platform heels and her outfit that only consisted of a bikini top, g-string, and a tiny mesh dress to go over it.

"Ginga?" Frank raised his eyebrows. "A wah yuh need ginga for?"

"My stomach feels a little upset. I wanna make tea or something."

"Yuh wasn't drinking on an empty stomach, were you? Mi always tell yuh girls bout that-"

"No," Monie quickly stopped him before he had the chance to go into one of his infamously long lectures. "I haven't had a single drink tonight. I just haven't been feeling well. I've barely eaten all day."

"Then yuh don't need ginga. Monie, yuh need fi eat. Come."

Frank instructed one of his chefs to look after his station before putting something in a styrofoam container, grabbed her a bottle of water, and then motioned for Monie to follow him to a door that led to the break room. Monie reluctantly sat down at one of the many empty tables and Frank sat across from her.

"Thank you," Monie accepted the plate of food that Frank sat down in front of her. She didn't really want it though, but she ate it anyway because turning down food from Frank was about as disrespectful as saying you wanted to slap his mother.

"Mi haffi get back in di kitchen, but you stay here and eat. Mi soon come check pon you."

"Okay," Monie nodded her head. "Thank you again."

Besides the sounds of appliances, cookware clanking around, and the men yelling across the kitchen that could still be heard even in the break room, it was much quieter in there than it was on the floor or in the locker room, which she could appreciate because her head felt like it wasn't fully there that night. She had half a mind to stay home again until she remembered that she did in fact have responsibilities. Ones in which she had to work to keep up with.

And sitting there alone in the break room, her mind kept wandering back to the conversation she had with Kiara in her bedroom that morning, and a large part of her felt bad for how defensive she had been. No matter how bad she's been trying to hide it, Monie is stressed out and has been for a little while now. Her mind has been heavy, and instead of being honest about it, she went off- that same exact self-sabotaging behavior Kiara had mentioned.

'That's not healthy you know. You're gonna eventually burn out doing that... Just cause you're used to it, doesn't make it normal. You deserve to relax too.'