The sun shone through the window and landed in Apollo's eyes, waking him up. It's already noon and, people came and left because the restaurant is still closed.
Apollo got up from his bed and did his daily routine, wake up, shower, toothbrush, and change clothes.
He got down from the second floor and saw a person sitting on the ground; her arms hugged her knees as she laid her head on her arms. Same with the two people beside her, while another guy is smoking far away from them, looking at the restaurant from time to time to see if it's open.
Apollo removed the thick ply wood that's covering his kitchen; he knocked on the ply wood he is carrying to wake up the people sleeping in front of his restaurant.
Kate and co woke up from the knock and rubbed their eyes while looking at Apollo, they are still processing what happened but after they were done processing, their eyes shined and their mouths curved into a smile. They stood up and got themselves a chair from the stack of chairs Apollo carried out.
Apollo was about to get ingredients in the fridge before he thought of something to repay his loyal customers, "I'm feeling good today, so you guys pick what you wanna eat." a barely visible smile grew on his face.
They were still half asleep, but when they heard what Apollo said, they woke up completely, beaming with smiles. They looked at Apollo with a gaze that could pierce the skies but one proposed to huddle up so they could discuss what they were eating, Levi didn't join and just watched them.
Noah looked at Abigail and at Kate with a serious expression, "What do you guys think? What should we eat today?"
Abbie being an expert with these kinds of stuff, replied, "Maybe the boss is planning something... I want to eat fried chicken, though..."
Kate sighed, "C'mon guys, maybe the boss is generous today, so he made us pick what we eat."
Noah nodded, still with a serious expression on his face, "I support my love Abbie, I'm also voting for fried chicken. What about you Kate?" Abbie just stood there, wanting to punch Noah but stopped because he helped her vote for the fried chicken she had always wanted to eat.
Although there are fried chicken sold everywhere, they all tasted bland now thanks to Apollo's fried rice, she wanted to curse him for changing her view about food, but whenever she remembers the egg fried rice, she just wants to eat it. She had thoughts about marrying Apollo for his fried rice, but she's afraid to be called a "Fried rice digger" by Kate and Noah, so she kept it to herself.
Kate agreed with them, "Let's eat fried chicken then. What about Drinks?" she asked.
They didn't ask Levi's opinion because fried chicken already has three votes, so one vote doesn't matter anymore.
After they heard Kate's question, their eyes glowed, Noah replied in a stuttering manner, feeling excited at the thought of a drink that would taste like it came from heaven. He has thoughts like Apollo dressed in a toga, revealing his muscles while he fed Noah with a fried chicken. Kate waved her hands in front of Noah, who is day dreaming, "Noah, Noah!"
He got back to his senses and stopped daydreaming, although he is BI, he won't replace Abigail with Apollo, his face turned manly all of a sudden as he turned to Abbie's direction, "What drink do you want, my love?"
Abbie is fuming, but she stopped herself from punching Noah, she gave a small smile and replied, "Orange juice is fine."
"I want orange juice too." Noah quickly replied as he heard what Abbie said.
Kate stared at them in disgust, "Ugh,"
They walked towards the counter and said what they want to Apollo, who was staring at them, trying not to laugh at their conversation. "Okay, got it. By the way, do you guys want rice paired with the fried chicken?" he asked.
Levi was also trying not to laugh at their conversation as it seems to be rude, so he stopped eavesdropping and finished his cigarette. 'I wonder how delicious this fried chicken is.'
Their mouths are already salivating, "'Yes!" they shouted in unison.
...
Apollo cooked it quickly and efficiently, although he doesn't have chicken or orange juice in hand, he just bought it from Atlas with a 10% discount because he is a restaurant owner.
The rice he used is the same as the rice used for cooking egg fried rice, so it's the same quality, the fried chicken is a downgrade from the chicken he used to cook fried chicken for the Miller family. It isn't as good as what the Miller family ate but to people who have only tasted ordinary fried chicken, this would be like a godlike food to them.
The fragrance from the rice and fried chicken permitted the air as Apollo opened the rice cooker and drained the fried chicken from oil. He got a bowl less than half of the plate's size and scooped the rice with it. He placed one chicken in each plate and placed the left over fried chicken in a large plate.
Apollo also bought a carton of orange juice that is the same size as the apple juice he bought for Anne and poured it in a cup until the cup is 80% full.
He placed the food in front of them one by one and then dusted off the non-existent dust in his hand to act as if he had done a tough job and did it easily.
They stared at the food in front of them, not even removing their gaze from it for one second, even Levi went wide-eyed as he stared at it, 'H-h-how c-could this plain meal smell so f*cking delicious?! Just how?!'
They stared for a full thirty seconds at the meal before they heard Apollo coughing to disturb them, they looked at him with horror, curiosity, and surprise written all over their faces.
"Boss! J-just how?!" Noah exclaimed, his brain went blank thinking for a solution.
The rest of them wanted to say something but are speechless.
They had high expectations for the meal but it wasn't this high, at most, they would think it would be a 5-star meal from a highly rated restaurant but this is a bit too much. They all had their fair share of food expertise but this is beyond their thinking capacity, the trio had visited restaurants that normal people could only dream to eat at but the fried chicken with rice broke their view on food. This isn't just food, this is food that is made by the hands of god!
Noah slapped himself, thinking he was still sleeping outside of the restaurant, Abbie did the same on her hand and Kate pinched her cheeks to prove this is reality.
Meanwhile, Levi has already started eating, he tore off a piece of chicken skin and tasted it, once it got on his tongue, he felt like he was in heaven, with angels playing the harp on each of his sides. The taste started disappearing and he came back to the restaurant, he looked at his arms and body, 'Wh-what?! D-did he put drugs in these?!' he stared at Apollo who is standing with one his leg on the wall, looking so smug as if he had just won a gun duel in the west.
Levi took a piece of meat from the chicken and ate it, as he chewed on the meat, he felt like he's in cloud nine, he shook his head to get rid of the feeling and took a spoonful of rice with a piece of chicken on top of it. 'J-just how does he make it so fragrant?!', as a piece of rice touch his taste buds, a noticeable moan came suddenly came out from him, but Kate and co didn't bother to look at him because they too were also busy eating, when Levi was in cloud nine, they also moaned while they ate.
Levi looked at his empty plate, he became sober again. He remembered the orange juice he ordered, the cup stood there silently, waiting for Levi to drink it. He took the cup and took a sip from the juice, the bitter sweet taste of the juice filled his mouth as his vision turned black for a millisecond and turned into a world full of orange juice and a dedicated juice river flowing down a millisecond later. As he blinked again, his vision turned normal as the taste of the orange juice started to fade in his tongue.
He placed the cup down, stared at his surroundings and rubbed his head to relieve the headache he is feeling by overthinking things, 'D-don't tell me he did put drugs on this juice?! If not, then how?! By how delicious it taste? That's just fucking ridiculous!'
Levi took a sip from the orange juice again but the hallucination didn't happen. Actually, the hallucinations Levi experiences are the cause of the stress that isn't released for a long time. (A/N: It's not the kind of stress that you guys are thinking -,-) The taste of food released his built-up stress and gave him ecstasy in return.
Levi didn't think much of it, he slowly savoured the orange juice and drink it until the last drop.