I don't like you Neil D'Silva

*2*

NEIL walked around the kitchen, watching every other chef cook up the meals that have been ordered. "God Dave that's not how you're supposed to garnish butter chicken," he storms towards the guy, who visibly gulped and moved aside so that Neil could show him how it's done. Neil picked up the ladle with some cream and poured it on top of the butter kitchen, swirling it around gravy, finally finishing it placing a coriander right in the middle. "Dave", he places a hand on Dave's shoulder, which made him shudder, "I know this isn't the most complicated thing to do. In fact, it's pretty simple, but even the simplicity should make someone feel some type up of way," he talks about food as if it were his lover, the love of his life, and it truly is.

"I'm no Gordon Ramsay, but god how I want my food to look and make someone feel warm. Sorry for scaring you man," he chuckles, making Dave feel relaxed. His charm was one of the things that people loved about him the most, he seemed intimidating, yet he would go out of his way to make someone feel at ease. As head chef at his dad's five star restaurant in Downtown Dubai, it was his job to keep the restaurant's name at top. But this isn't what he wanted to do, he wanted to build his own restaurant, start from scratch, he didn't want to known as Dilip D'Silva's son, he wanted to make his own name and take his fusion restaurant to new heights, and he was really close to his dreams.

"alright chefs, I'll head out now, Alex" he calls out to the next in charge, "take care of the rest, and please make sure the food going out meets high above the standards, or else Dilip D'Silva will have my head hanging up on the wall of this kitchen," he jokes, yet he can't help but feel a pang in his heart. The one thing he does not wanna do is let his dad down. Neil makes his way out of the kitchen through the back door, walking towards his black BMW before driving away into the night. He plays Indian songs on his phone, Dil Diyaan Galla playing loud. He smiled as a memory flashes by, but the smile quickly fades away as he's reminded that this person is no more in his life. "God get out of my head!" He screams as her pictures flash by, messing with his emotions and feelings. He soon reaches his house, an apartment in a luxury building in Business Bay. He leaves the keys on the round marbled table standing by the side of the black couches in his living room. Neil, exhausted by his day, slumps down on his bed, leaving his chef's coat on. He tried to fall asleep, but Neil isn't the kind of person who'll just sleep in his jeans and work clothes no matter how tired he is. So he gets up and has a shower, later quickly slipping into grey sweats. He looks at himself in the mirror, a tired, worn out Neil staring back at him. Neil by all means was a very good looking guy, and he knew it, which made him also cocky. He shakes his head, the water droplets splattering everywhere. "how dare you! You have no rights to look this handsome!" He says to his reflection, a dialogue from Kabhi Khushi Kabie Gham, before chuckling to himself and going back to his bed for some sleep.

*****

"how much more work is left now?" Neil asks the builders as he watches them build his dream. His own restaurant. "sir everything's done, the workers will just make sure everything's in place before leaving." The head of the construction team says. Neil looks around, his restaurant is finally gonna come to life. He decided to make beach side restaurant in La Mer, Jumeira. A restaurant selling both Arab and Indian cuisine. He walks around the, taking in the concrete walls and exposed pipes adorning this place. It was a blank canvas. Neil could do whatever he wanted. It was, without a doubt a big restaurant, with an open bar and a patio so that beach goers could sit and enjoy the view of the sea. "This is amazing! Thank you so much for making this happen" he beams with joy as he shakes the workers hand, "now all I need to do is make this place feel like home," he says.

"sir, may I recommend an interior designer? She's the best at her work, very famous here actually, I'm sure she'd do a great job!" The worker chimes. He had just made Neil's work a thousand times easier, also saving his time to look for someone who could do the job.

"That would be great, thank you! Would you please just give her contact details to my assistant? He's right there by the bar," Neil points at the man wearing glasses and khaki shorts with a loose black t-shirt, talking to one of the workers. This is it. Neil closes his eyes, an image of waiters and people coming in to dine clouding his mind. This made him smile as wide as he could, his perfect white set of teeth showing. "Jared, call that interior designer as soon as possible. We better get started!"

A few moments later, Neil found himself sitting by the window in a cafe called Booba, a bubble tea cafe in La Mer. He sat there drinking his drink, a classic bubble tea, as he waited for the interior designer to show up. Neil started wondering what she would be like. Would she be old or young? Is she an Arab? Would she understand his vision of making his restaurant a lively and homely place? Neil chuckled at that thought. Of course she'd understand, she's an interior designer after all. He surfed through his apps on the phone as he waited for her. He didn't think she'd be late, but again, he can't be too quick to judge as she might've been stuck doing some work or stuck in traffic.

After what felt like an hour, he decided to order another drink. She can't be this late. How unprofessional, he thought. "better get someone else to do my work" he whispered to himself. As he stood up to get out of the cafe, he saw a lady enter. She was wearing a dress that suited her curves perfectly. Her wavy hair was left open to fall on her shoulders. She was talking to the man, who pointed his finger towards Neil. She visibly stiffened as she looked at him, but he couldn't really tell who she might be as she was wearing sunglasses. She walked towards him and perched the glasses on her head. "No fucking way!"

******
Sending love your way
HappyWatermelonKid•~•