Some Like It Sweet! (*Wattpad Featured Story*) #Wattys2015

Chapter 2-The Perils of Being a Journalist

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to RoseQueen22997 for her lovely words of encouragement throughout the writing of this story :)

Meera Sachdev rarely came to the office of 'The Chronicler', the newspaper she worked for. Her job generally took her to different restaurants all over the country, and she would visit the office perhaps once in two weeks. She received all her instructions and made most of her submissions through email.

Today, however, was an 'office' day. It was almost noon and she was just about to enter the office building, when her phone rang. On the other end of the line was her boss' assistant, sounding a little frantic.

"Hi, Nelly. How are you?"

"I am good. I just wanted to let you know that the office phone has been ringing non-stop since morning. It's the head chef-slash-owner of Vanya. He sounds really upset about the review you gave the restaurant."

"Oh, does he? I wonder why, though... I gave them an unusually good review, did I not?"

"Uh, he seemed unhappy about the bit about the desserts."

"You mean the part about their desserts being too sweet and excessively chocolatey?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"I am just entering office. Let's meet and discuss this?"

"Sure."

Meera rode the elevator up to the 18th floor of the building and almost collided with Nelly. Without preamble, she asked, "So what is the deal with this man?"

Nelly replied, "Well, you know the basics-his name is Dev Malhotra, he is 28 years old. He started in the business ten years back and has never looked back since. He opened Vanya 11 months ago and it is doing superbly well. That is, until your review came out."

Meera looked puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Well, he thinks your 'outrageous' review is going to cost him a lot of business."Meera rolled her eyes at that-of course it was going to cost him some business, if not a lot. But that was true for each and every review that she did. He was not the only chef being subjected to a food critic's wrath, nor would he be the last.

Nelly continued, "No, wait, there is more. He claims that since he, the head chef, was not around when you ate at Vanya, it was unethical of you to go ahead with the review. He wants a re-do session, atleast on the dessert."

"Of course not!" Meera cried. "We are journalists; we are in the truth business. And anyway, what's so new about a chef threatening us and sputtering about how unfair a review is? What makes him so special?"

Nelly hesitated. "Well, Vanya is one of the biggest places in town, and arguably, one of the best."

Meera was about to interrupt, but Nelly quickly added, "Look, can you just consider going there once? You do not have to do a review if you don't want to. But let's not ruffle his feathers. Just go, eat and come back?"

Meera looked unconvinced.

Nelly continued, "Just think about it. Just promise me you will consider it seriously. I will owe you one."

Grudgingly, she nodded.

P.S. The photograph on the side is how I imagine Meera. Tell me what you think :)