Barely five minutes after Mrs. Rosario sent the article to a certain reporter she struck a deal with, people's phones in attendance chimed and vibrated one after the other. Her brows slightly furrowed, suspicion flashing in her eyes as she observed the room.
"Oh my god. Have you seen this?"
"Did you receive it too?"
"What's going on?"
Hushed conversation bloomed within the room, people no longer paying attention to Enrique's speech. Mrs. Rosario felt her heart thump wildly and a bad feeling rising from the pit of her stomach. What was going on? She picked up on the curious conversation from those sat close to her. Did she accidentally airdrop the article?
"Of course it wasn't easy", an oblivious Enrique continued with his speech with much vigor and enthusiasm. "You can all agree with me, ladies and gentlemen, the beginning is never easy. But, we were determined...."
Mrs. Rosario checked and saw she had sent it to him only. She wore a relaxed demeanor when-
"How could such a reputable restaurant do something like this?" Someone whispered with disgust oozing from their tone.
"Is that what they have been feeding their customers all these years?"
"What genius chef? So the reason no one else can replicate their meals is because they've been cooking poison?"
"Trivedi is so greedy!"
"At the expense of people's lives!"
"They shouldn't even be allowed to run business! They need to be shut down!"
A hint of panic flashed on her face but she concealed it with a drop of her head, eyes on her phone. While her husband rambled on, she quickly texted the reporter.
Mrs. Rosario: Did you upload it already? I thought we agreed to an hour into our dinner.
Her panic was justified. Should the article be released before the agreed time, there was no telling whether it would affect their occasion negatively or positively. She feared for the former although they were not the ones with the 'poisonous' food.
Reporter: What the hell is this? I thought you said this exclusive was mine!
Mrs Rosario: It is. I just sent it to you.
Reporter: Then why did every other entertainment news media upload it while I'm still editing?
He had just transferred the article to his work computer to edit it before uploading when the very same news, sounding more malicious than he planned his, suddenly appeared on every news platform.
Her eyes grew saucers from shock. She scanned the room, realizing that the buzz was probably caused by the news spreading. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably and discreetly moved her fingers in response.
Mrs Rosario: But I sent it to you! Only you! I can send you a screenshot. Nobody knew about this except us.
Reporter: Then how do you explain this??? My boss is about to scold me about this 'exclusive'.
She broke into cold sweat. Would her pale appearance show on TV or the news later on? With the news spreading, would people be willing to even sit down for the meal? Wouldn't this cut short their celebration? People can be paranoid after all! She cannot let this sabotage their plans!! What to do? What to do??!!!