Runaway Chef [ON HOLD]

Chapter 6

"Yo, Derek. Someone's here wants to meet up." One of the restaurant's worker shouted.

"Let him in!" He replied. As soon as Derek's voice reached out, Paolo stepped inside Derek's office. He sat down in front of Derek. Derek looked up and stopped all his work when he realized it was Paolo Valasquez.

"Anything important matter for you to put all your work aside to meet me here, Mr. Valasquez?" He asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"Can I meet up with the chef who was incharged of my meal that night?"

"I'm sorry, she's not working here anymore and no, I don't fire her." He smiled politely.

"Do you know where is she working now?"

"I'm not sure. She always takes a few days of break before starting at a new restaurant."

"Can I at least have her name?"

Derek smiled looking at Paolo's rigid posture. They shook hands and soon Paolo left for his office. When he reached his office, he stared at the paper in his hand which Derek had wrote down the name of the chef. He crumpled it lightly in his hand, contemplating on what is his next move. His mind was a mess. He was a mess himself.

This morning when they were having breakfast together, his mother had asked him if everything was okay when he only appeared in his suit pants and dress shirt only without the complete three piece suit he always wear to work. He was brought out from his train of thoughts when Claire knocked on his door. "Sir, meeting in five." He quickly stuffed the paper into his pocket and got up from his seat to attend the meeting.

*****

"Mom. Dad. It's not what it looks like." Xander instantly pulled Zack's hand into another room. Dad just stood there awkwardly rubbing his hand at the back of his neck.

"Uh, we brought champagne and dessert!" Mom stepped in trying to make the conversation less awkward. I approached mom and dad, embraced them tightly before taking the bottle of Dom Pérignon Moët champagne from her hands while dad entered the kitchen and put down the bowl of fruit parfait on the kitchen counter.

"Dad..." I fiddled my fingers.

"Look, princess. I'm not going to say anything about it. You're a grown up woman, and I'm sure you can handle yourself. Let's just enjoy our dinner and have a toast on your new apartment." He playfully pinched both of my cheeks. I let out my breath which I didn't realize I was holding in. We walked into the living room where mom was busy going through my apartment checking out my furniture and stuffs. Dad joined her and soon they were exploring the whole apartment.

I searched the guests rooms looking for Xander and Zack. They were not in sight. I decided to go back to the kitchen to prepare for dinner when I heard voices coming out of the laundry room. I tip toed to the laundry room and stopped in front of the slightly ajar door. Their voices were muffled but loud enough to be heard.

"You were not suppose to do that! She's our best friend. I thought we agreed on that!" Xander yelled softly not wanting to catch any attention. "I can't help it! She looked so vulnerable and cute while she was sleeping. If you were in my place, you would've done the same thing! It's not that easy to let go of my feelings!" Zack replied, staring straight into his brother's hazel eyes. Xander huffed irritately, "It has been 6 years, Zack! We have agreed when we were 20 we would burried these feelings!"

I stood there curiously eavesdropping on their secret conversation. What feelings are they talking about? I wanted to continue what I was doing when my mom called for help in the kitchen. I walked away from the laundy room with curiousity clouding my mind.

"I don't know what got into you, but you better let this be a one time thing only!" Xander stormed out of the door. Zack pulled his hair roughly, groaning angrily. He had let his guard down. When he woke up from his nap, he was about to get up and left when he realized his position.

His arms were around Quinn's torso and his face was burried in her neck. He was caught off guard by her sweet-smelling scent and soon he was kissing her neck lightly, not wanting to wake the sleeping beauty up. Their intimate position had him wanting more. It made him became a greedy person.

When they were caught in action by her parents and his brother his focus was on his brother. He could see the cold and angry stare in his brother's eyes. He knew where it was going when his brother had pulled him into the laundry room. He groaned one last time before stepping out of the room and took his leave after apologizing to Quinn and her parents and bid his goodbyes.

*****

"Here's your report, sir. Anything else before I clock out?" Claire spoke, holding her tablet in her hands. Paolo shook his head. Claire was about to closed the door when he remembered the piece of paper he received from Derek Amaro. "Uh, Claire... Actually, I need your help on something. Can you gather any information about this person for me? You can get to it when you have free time, but it would be great if you have it as soon as possible." He handed the paper to Claire.

"Sure, boss. If that's all, I'll be heading home now and you should too. As a friend, Paolo, take a break. Find someone and have fun! You worked too much and too hard since you've taken over the company." Claire gave him a goofy smile. Paolo laughed heartily and muttered 'thanks' to her when she said goodbye. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter past nine. He stood up from his chair and packed his things before leaving the office.

He had worked overtime for the past few days to get everything back on the track after that fraudulent of an ex-ceo of the company's subsidiary hotel his father had hired to take in charge of all the small branch hotels had stirred a big problem. The big scandal involving the ceo of their subsidiary company had caused the stock price of Valasquez Worldwide Inc. to drop. He had to leave his office in Las Vegas to take charge of the headquearters in New York to work everything back to normal.

When he reached home, his mother and sister were still awake and hung out in the library. They were busy chatting and laughing while his father just sat quietly in front of the fireplace reading The Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli once in a while turning his head towards his wife and daughter's direction. He quickly went up to his room and cleaned himself up before joining his family in the library.

Vienna who noticed her brother's presence shot him a big smile. "So fratello, I was just talking with our dear madre here. My birthday is next week and she has agreed on having my birthday party here!" She squealed. Paolo sat down beside Ava listening to what his sister was saying.

"As usual, I need my big fratello to help me on a few things for the party to be succesful." Paolo just nodded. He could ask for Claire's help later on to hire an event planner. Ava then informed that she won't be cooking the food this time. However, she had already have someone in her mind that would fit the position.

Ava winked at her children's curious expression. She was so shocked at her finding yesterday when she saw the news. No wonder she was a great cook in the kitchen! She was a goddamn chef! She was helping Mathilda in the kitchen when the news about Quinn having dinner with the famous Amaro twins at one of the restaurant in town was flashed on the news.

It was no doubt that she had heard her name somewhere. She was the chef all her friends have been talking about. Heck, the whole New York was keeping tabs on her since she got back from her food adventure as they called it. Vienna and Paolo just shrugged it off when they realize Ava was not going to open her mouth soon.

*****
Thanks for reading my story. I really appreciate it and I love you guys so much. Most importantly, special thanks to MajesticallyWeird for your votes and support towards my story. You're awesome as always and love you to bits! So, I won't be updating the next week but I'll assure you I will soon.

Love,
DNA. 😘