She needs to hurry...'
Talia thought.
Without hesitance, the lady yells for the 9 year old girl.
"Estelle! You need to move faster, let's not get your mother to be mad at you.
Goodness gracious dear~ what are you taking so long for?"
Estelle, struggling in her walking closet paces herself to move quicker,
'Geez, what type of dress is this? There are way too many buttons and weird misplaced holes. Where do I insert my head in? Should I ask Talia for help? No. I need to be able to do things myself.'
The girl struggles finally pushing her head in the right hole. With a tiny hint of exhaustion she fixes her dress skirt down.
'Okay, done.'
With a tired sigh, Estelle opens her closet door only to see Talia.
"Why didn't you get me to help you?"
Estelle looks away avoiding Talia's caring eyes. Waiting for an answer, Talia reaches for Estelle's hand. "Come now, let's get your hair done."
The nanny takes a quick glance at Estelle's hand.
'Her hand feels loose... she's not even grabbing onto me...'
Suddenly, Talia feels a tight grip coming from her hand.
"Stop.
Stop looking at me like that Talia."
With an uneasy aura lingering around Estelle, Talia starts to worry.
As they walk towards the vanity, Talia pulls the chair from beneath and has Estelle take her seat.
Feeling guilty, the little girl speaks with a quiet voice and head down.
"Talia... I'm sorry. I should have never said that. That was rude of me..."
Wearing a motherly smile and a soothing voice, Talia responds.
"Estelle, dear. Don't apologize for that, it's ok."
Talia, who is focusing on the girl's beautiful shiny black hair, does not notice. But Estelle had put on a soft smile.
'Thanks for forgiving me Talia... sorry again.'
"And... Done! Wahh~ So pretty, what do you think?"
Talia turns the chair to examine Estelle better. Making weird wondering expressions, Talia places her hands on Estelle's hair pushing it to the sides, tilting her head, as if she was taking a scientific look on a project.
"Looks good! Time to put some fancy jewelary now hehe~"
While Talia was on her way to find the perfect necklace, like she has always done. Estelle had always felt guilt and shame crawl through her skin, as if it was slowly taking over her, bit by bit.
It always reminded her of that day. That day when she snatched the necklace that was given to her by Natalie. The day she the main gem broke. The moment everything started.
Estelle shifts uncomfortably in her chair. She starts to fiddle with her hands digging in her nails leaving faint red marks.
'Guilt..
Go away...
Please just go away.'
Ever since Estelle threw Natalie's necklace, Talia has chosen to never recall a single moment of that day. Except, that specific one, the moment where Estelle smiled with excitement and happiness. The moment when Estelle's golden eyes shined brighter than ever before. The moment where she truly felt being a part of something.
Of course that moment did not last long. But with Talia, she plays the vivid memory on a loop.
She, one day, wishes for Estelle to smile like that again. Forever.
"Aha! I found one Estelle. This one is beautiful~"
As Talia picks up a golden necklace decorated in yellow garnets and citrine gems, she places it on Estelle's neck clipping it locked.
Smiling proudly, Talia lets out a light giggle. Estelle , too, was smiling herself.
"Thank you Talia." She says in a small voice.
"Oh, your welcome~ Get going now, your parents are probably in the car waiting for you."
Estelle nods and heads off to the car saying her goodbyes to Talia.
Keith, the butler, bows down to greet Estelle as he opens the the car door for the girl. "Ah, Thank you." Estelle says. Keith nods in response as he walks away from the car door, closing it carefully. Then, the car starts.
With an acted cheerful voice, Estelle faces her parents with a happy expression, the mother who is on her phone, and the father who seems to be reading documents out of a binder.
"Hey mom and dad. Thank you for the new dress, it looks amazing as always... How are both of you feeling today? "
Sylvia, the mother, does not look away from her phone. Nor does Emmerson, the father, look away from his documents. But with a cold voice, father answers,
"We're good Estelle."
"That's good to hear."
Just like that. The whole entire car ride to the meeting.
No one is talking.
Estelle, she is not bothered by any of this. Maybe a slight bit.
As she looks out the window she wonders in her own mind.
'Waiting for a right price huh? I know.
I know what you mean. Ever since that lady said that I've wondered what she meant so I went on the media, watched shows about bidding. I get the refrence. But I'm not scared. If this is going to make my parents proud. It's ok.
Besides, I think I'll be happy too.'
"Mister and Misses Alleyne, we have arrived to your destination."
Kamal, our chauffeur, says as he climbs out of his seat on his way to open the doors for the family.
As the three members of the Alleyne family step out, they are automatically greeted by the owner of the 5 star buffet.
"Hello Alleyne's, we finally meet eh? Welcome to my restaurant, Dahlem's Buffet, I hope you enjoy our foods. If you have any problems, please tell me immediately!"
With a rare friendly presence, Mr. Alleyne responds, "Certainly Dahlem. We would gladly thank you for hosting the meeting."
"I am very honored myself. And what do we have here? Oh! This must be your second daughter Estelle."
Dahlem takes a brief stare at the young beauty.
'Haa~ Oh Emmerson... Sylvia, you both really know how to use your daughters to the next level eh?
Perfect then,
It's all going according to plan.'
Snapping back to reality Johan Dahlem, the owner of the succesful buffet, continues to talk.
"Your daughter is beautiful Sylvia. She must take after both her parents haha! Come I will show you to the table."
As the family walks in the enormous buffet, heads turn to see the eye catching guests.
"Oh, look at the little girl she has golden looking eyes, how pretty."
"What a lucky kid."
"Wait isnt that the family who owns a designer clothing company called 'Alleynne'?"
"Oh yeah! It is them, I heard they also own 17 different luxurious hotels!"
"Goodness gracious, their living the dream life, 2 perfect daughters, a beautiful talented wife, and a handsome smart husband. Geez, I would love to see the stock porfoitlio."
"Man, they've got everything!"
While Dahlem walked the family to the table, 3 guards followed from behind, 3 surrounding their left and another 3 watching out to the right.
Estelle was fascinated by this, 'What is this? we usually meet more then one company owner. Why are there so many body guards? Usually, it's only mom and dad who are guarded.. Are these men protecting Mr. Dahlem?
...This is weird. But amazing at the same time. Everyone seems to be paying attention to us. That's so cool.
With pride the little girl was feeling, she smiled at the guests.
"And here we are Alleynes, Oh! I would like both of you to meet my wife and sons. They will be joining us!
Well...? Why don't you guys introduce yoursleves?"
With an uncomfortable shift in her chair the wife flinches in suprise, she seemed to be whispering something to her sons,
"Ah- ah, yes. My name is Rosalinda K. Dahlem. It is such a pleasure to be able to meet the famous Alleyne's."
She gives a light nudge to her oldest son that was fiddling with a napkin, he places it down while facing Emmerson and Sylvia, he smiles
"Hello, my name is Eirik Dahlem. I'm 14 years old. Nice to meet you."
Then it was the it was youngest sons turn, "M-my name is Mikkel Dahlem... a-and I'm 11 years old."
The boys also had great looks causing people around them to mix their appearances in with the murmurs filled with discussion of the Alleyne's.
"Their the sons of Johan Dahlem, I heard that boy Eirik, is taking boxing classes. A few rich kids who take private classes with him say his got skills."
"Ah really? What about the younger one?"
"Oh, Mikkel? They say his on top of his class, his the one gifted with the smarts I guess."
Continuing with the greeting, Estelle introduces herself with a well mannered tone, "Hello, I'm Estelle Kalina Alleyne and I'm 9 years old."
The two brothers smile and nod.
"Honey, boys, you should all know Mr. and Mrs. Alleyne, considering how popular they are."
Before the official meeting started, Dahlem had decided it would be better if they had all eaten food first. With Sylvia agreeing, she and Emmerson got up from their chairs to get their meals. Although they had employees responsible for those tasks such as getting their needs, they did not want to be disrespectful.
You see, this buffet was new. After countless of customers trying it out, the reviews couldn't stop repeating the same thing...
"I don't know what it is, but it seems so delicious I keep eating there, It's like I'm addicted haha!"
So far there hadn't been any reviews rating less than a 4. So of course Emmerson and Sylvia wouldn't want to tell their men to get their foods. If they wanted to leave good impression behind and possibly make an alliance with Dahlem's buffet, they would need to seem intrested on what they have.
Realistically, the two don't really care about how the company looks, works, what they have. They just want money. They need a partner who has what it takes to rise. And sure enough Dahlem's buffet has proven it more than enough.
It's almost impossible to own a restaurant titled with 5 stars. There are many enemies you would make. Such as others paying people who are filled with greed. Making those type of people leaving nasty reviews, and doing whatever it takes to destroy your success.
So why?
Why hasn't there been any sort of attack targeting Dahlem's Buffet?
And why isn't anyone curious about this phenomenon?
As Emmerson gathers his food, Sylvia calls Estelle who is still sitting with the Dahlems.
With a warm bubbly presence, the girl gets off her chair and walks toward the plate stand where her mother stood.
"Yes mother? What do you need?"
The smile Sylvia was wearing had suddenly faded.
With a strict voice, the mother speaks quietly, "Grab a plate and don't eat much."
"Yes mother."
After the Alleyne's and Dahlem's had gotten their food and sat at their seats, a family of 3 having a conversation two tables away from them had caught Sylvia's attention.
As the Dahlem's decide to eat up before starting the meeting, Syvlia examines this odd family.
'How could they afford something like this...
Their clothes, so cheap
No decent jewelary, how odd.
It seems that they have been here before us. They have a few empty plates,
maybe 3?
Wow, theyv'e eaten everything off their plate clean.'
Sylvia continues to glance at the family, then she sees the bill held by the man.
Returning her attention to the Dahlem's, Sylvia speaks,
"Excuse me Johan and Rosalinda, but I have to go take a quick bathroom break."
Facing up from his plate, Johan replies,
"Oh sure! Go on ahead, no problemo~ Take ya time eh?"
With a light chuckle and a sneer, Johan continues,
"Besides~ it's not like we need to rush... we got lots of time~"
This attitude made Sylvia disgusted and uneasy,
'This loud bastard is starting to get cocky...
whatever, I don't need to worry about it.'
In all honesty, Sylvia doesn't need to go use the toilet, nor the need to wash her hands, not even to make sure her hair is out of place. She wasn't heading to the bathroom to do any of that.
In fact, it was all an excuse. What for? You ask.
The bathroom is located on the same direction where the family Sylvia, was quite curios about.
As she got closer walking to the table, she moved slower.
'I hope I'm right about this.. I mean, my predictions are rarely ever wrong.'
Once Sylvia got close, she takes an attempt to eavesdrop at their quiet almost inaudible conversation.
"...expensive."
"It's ok, we... figure... out."
"...Sorry mom and dad, I didn't mean to eat much, I just... hungry"
'I knew it.
This is my chance.
Now I just need to attract a bit of attention, so that moron can witness me paying for their meal. Not only that but this act of 'kindness' can increase my reputation.
He needs to see that we are capable of being kind and favoring the poor. Besides, if this family causes trouble for not being able to pay off their meal...
Johan would probably be embarrased considering he would have to deal with customers who can't even afford 3 plates of food.
But... how?'
Sylvia notices a waiter heading this way with a tray of drinks.
She sneers, 'Perfect timing, just what I need.'
As the waiter carefully walks with his tray, he hears one of his customers shout.
"Oi! You new kid? What's takin' so long!"
The waiter grunts and thinks to himself, 'What is up with the people who come here often... They're so impatient. It's not like I'm late, I'm right on time. Geez what's the rush even...'
The waiter paces quicker trying to maintain a good customer service.
Suddenly, a woman appears before him. A woman who wore a white tight dress, the skirt ending above her knees, she wore thin black stockings, an amazing diamond necklace with matching bracelets and watch. Her black wavy hair tied into a low elegant bun pinned with a pearl clip. Heels white, brimming with tiny crystals.
Being distracted by all the show wear, the waiter does not watch where he is going.
( *CRASH* )
"OMG!"
"Wow! What happened?"
"Well this is the first for this Buffet!"
With overflowing panic, the waiter gets up quickly to reassure the woman was not hurt.
"I APOLOGIZE MA'AM! I AM SO VERY SORRY-"
But just in the nick of time, Sylvia, had dodged the messy situation leaving her spotless and clean.
This ruckus caused everyone to see what was happening.
"It's alright young man. Don't worry, it was my fault for being in the way. I'm sure I should be the one apologizing."
With a frantic expression the young waiter was in shock.
Not because he was impressed that Sylvia had managed to dodge the drinks, but because his boss, Johan Dahlem, stood within the crowd.