Not to mention, those bullies would not dare snitch on being beat up by a girl. Their ego would never let them admit their disgraceful defeat by the hands of Clare.
Ever since then, no one dared to bully him ever again. They would always look at him with fear, afraid that he would tell them to Clare. It degraded his pride as a man.
Seeing a woman more capable of defending other people, than he could ever defend himself. Considering that, he was even bigger than her.
But the feeling of gratefulness was greater than his feeling of inferiority. He was glad he met someone as fearless as her. Not to mention, he likes how she tries to motivate him even if it was through her lousy jokes.
Oftentimes, she would joke that if he ever met one of his bullies again, he should jump on them and wrestle them like a sumo wrestler. He could still recall the words she said while trying hard not to laugh.
"Surely, after you do that they would spend the rest of their lives in the hospital or worse end up being crippled. Then one less bully in the world, eh?" she said wittingly and finally laughed out loud, making him laugh in the process. Her choice of words was amusing.
June was truly grateful to Clare. If not for her, he would've eventually quit that job or worse endured that hell.
Now, one and a half a year later, he was in better shape with a better state of mind.
June snapped back to reality and continued with his picture-taking. It wasn't the right time to reminisce about how she became his friend.
Clare started to move towards the restaurant's door.
She thought that it was time to go inside and flip the placard to show the words 'OPEN' on the store's glass door.
Clare's Fried Chicken Resto was now open for business!
*************
Three hours had passed since Clare's Fried Chicken Resto opened. It was time for the arrival of the priest who was in charge of the blessing ceremony. It was rather quick and the priest and his companion left immediately after they finished what they were supposed to do.
Clare tried to make the priest stay but the former insisted on leaving because he still had to perform a baptismal ceremony. She just gave up and let the priest depart due to his busy schedule.
' As it seems, Mr. Bowe's priest friend and him are so alike .'
It suddenly occurred to her how weird it was for both of them to not want to celebrate with her. Were her fried chickens that hateful? Or was it because old people were being increasingly busy nowadays?
Clare just shrugged the thought off despite feeling something continuously bugging her. She didn't like the unpleasant feeling her gut was telling her. It was saying that something was very odd with all of this.
Everything seemed so fast...Every occurrence recently was going very smoothly...too smoothly... like it was planned or something.
Wait...Was she seriously trying to doubt what she achieved this far?
Her dream was already shifting into reality. It was basically happening in front of her! What more could she ask for?
So, she chose to ignore it because for her this was the most important day of her life. She shouldn't be negative and overanalyze things. Moreover, her life wasn't a novel, it was reality!
Claire pushed her doubts to the back of her mind.
After reassuring herself, she carried on with the celebration. They all shared a meal while waiting for the customers.
Joyous, they shared a bottle of champagne, something that each of them has tasted for the first time. Well, except for Clare's father, Stella and her younger sisters.
While enjoying the drink, the adults shared stories about their everyday lives. The two kids only listened attentively and laughed from time to time.
Their leisure time came to an end two hours later as lunchtime was approaching. they were expecting an influx of customers to barge in the resto.
One...
Two...
Ten..
Twenty...
Forty...
Sixty minutes.
And there were none...
By no one, not a single human being pulled the resto's glass door open.
The place was empty with only them in it! Nobody went inside!
Patiently, Clare and her companions waited for one more hour. To their disappointment, there were still no people entering the store.
Still, there was none.
Even just a trace of human existence...
No one went inside.
Restlessness was felt by everyone present inside the restaurant. Each one of them had the hunch that no one might ever enter the establishment.
Oh no...
Clare's face failed to hide her anxiety. If someone were to feel immense dissapointment from what was happening at the moment, it was without a doubt the business owner.
All of a sudden, someone from the group stood up from his seat. It was June. He walked towards one of the dining tables and picked one of the menus. He then stood in front of Clare, trying his best to appear energetic.
"Clare... I'll just call people outside, Maybe they weren't aware of this new store you opened. That's why they didn't come."
A weak smile was the only thing he managed to get from her.
"Thank you so much, June."she whispered.
Stella followed suit with what June did and tried to encourage Clare with her words.
The same response was given to Stella.
Clare felt grateful for their efforts in trying to lighten her mood but…
As the door closed, a loud sound was heard.
" Clare!" Her father.
A red mark appeared on the surface of her cheeks. The redness later formed into the shape of a hand.
'Pull yourself together, Clare! This is not the time to mope around!'
But...
How can this be?
What did she miss?
Was her instinct right all along?
She didn't even know anymore.
Her brain was malfunctioning and her emotions were akin to a fruit salad with veggies in it. The various emotions were trying to mix themselves that the feelings turned out disgusting.
This was supposed to be a local business district! Yet, there wasn't even a single person who entered the store.