I took the public bus to Del Monte's, and when I entered the fairly luxurious restaurant, the cleaners were already on duty, wiping clean the chairs and tables that would soon be filled with customers in about fifteen minutes – once it hit 7 AM.
"Good morning, Charlotte!" I waved enthusiastically at the female cleaner, who I knew was in her late twenties, just a few years older than me.
She gave me a short glance before returning my greeting with a meek one. "Morning, Cosima," she merely said and returned to her task.
"I told you, Cosima, one minute past 6:30 AM isn't acceptable when it's your morning shift. You always seem to do everything to go against me words, don't ya?!" came Mrs. Del Monte's nagging voice.
I shifted my glasses nervously while a sheepish grin spread across my face. "Sorry, madam. I'll do better next time."
"So you say every damn time, jeune femme, so you say! You're hellbent on ruining me business, aren't ya?!" the older woman hollered.
Her gray hair, which had been packed up in an underhead ponytail, danced with her movements.
I knew giving any further statements would be a waste of time. Mrs. Del Monte would only go on and on nagging, so I rushed behind the counter.
After mouthing a "hi" to Susan, my colleague, I went into the staff storeroom.
I changed into the restaurant's uniform, and when I pulled off my jeans, I groaned once more. The skirt was skimpy, and… ahem– I had no panties on.
I was worried that if I bent over, my buttocks would be exposed for anyone who cared to pry.
Gosh, me!
"You've been through worse, Cosima. This is just a piece of cake," I consoled myself after hanging my clothes, which smelled like pasta, and my bag onto the hanger.
[Ten more minutes to beauty assignment!]
The system once again flashed across my eyes with a warning alert blaring. The shock of its sudden flash caused me to bump into Susan, who was holding a crate of eggs.
Guess what happened?
The eggs broke without mercy!
"Oh, dear!" I cried, my hands over my face while the liquid from the broken eggs, which had gotten smeared on my uniform, dripped down.
By Jones – that was the only neat uniform I had left!
I hadn't had time to do laundry and had resumed work without bothering about it because I knew I had a spare uniform in the store!
"Now Mrs. Del Monte will burn both of us alive!" Skinny Susan groaned as she bent to pick up the crate.
Even though Susan wasn't much of an attractive person, I had always envied her. She had a straight figure, and her overly skinny body sometimes made me doubt if she had any flesh in her body at all, except for bones.
The only attractive thing about her was her curly auburn hair, which would sometimes look like it glowed under the sunlight.
My own hair was just short, black, and bulbous with bangs.
"I'll clean it and tell her to remove it from my pay." I began to pick up the broken egg shells with my hands.
Susan bent to join me. "Yes, then you'll be left with peanuts after deducting your transportation bills. And you know what happens after that…" she tilted her head.
I knew.
The loan sharks would come threatening and breaking things in the house because I couldn't meet up with my monthly payment. I hadn't been able to do that last month, and now, it was already the second day of March. I was expecting the loan sharks anytime soon.
"I'll take the blame," I heard Susan say to me.
Susan was about the nicest person to me since the death of my parents. But sometimes, she was too withdrawn and barely spoke to me, so I couldn't categorize her as a friend.
I pouted in sheer gratitude. "Thanks, Susan. Now, I owe you one."
Susan stood up in a rush. "How about you pay me back by brushing your teeth tomorrow, Cosima? So your mouth won't reek like rotten eggs anymore." She scoffed and walked away with the crate and the shells of broken eggs on top of it.
But guess what?!
I didn't feel the least bit ashamed by that remark. I breathed into my palm and sniffed the smell. "Doesn't smell like rotten eggs to me. More like rotten pizza." I rubbed my palms together and proceeded to get the mop to wipe the mess before Mrs. Del Monte stumbled upon it.
As I turned to go get another floor mop – since Charlotte had the one that was always behind the counter – the entrance doorbell chimed.
I turned immediately to see who our first customer of the day was and found a young, tiny high school boy walking in.
If this system was real, I'd be glad if this was the target, but to my surprise...
[Two more minutes to beauty assignment!]
The system blared in my ears while the siren's fluctuating alarm lights flashed louder than before.
Of course, this couldn't be the target. The system said a man, and that was a boy.
I ran into the storage room, grabbed the mop, and rushed back to clean the mess. As I wiped the smelly liquid off the floor...
[Target approaching in... 100..90..80..70]
The system began a countdown.
On the tenth countdown, the front doorbell jingled again, then...
[Target within range!]
The system dinged.
But when I looked up, I saw two pairs of people. One pair was two men – one well-built, the other tall and also nice-looking. Both were in corporate suits. I guessed they were company staff on their way to work.
The other pair was a young man and a pretty girl who, by how much she clung to him, I knew must be his girlfriend.
I wished I could pour the stained water in the mop bucket on her white dress. She was showing off and oppressing the miserable ones like me who had no partner.
Justice for the singles!
Now, who among these three men was the target?
[Ding!]
[Identifying target at 100... 90... 80... 70]
The countdown resumed as the timer displayed in front of me, and I could see the numbers tick down.
[Ding!]
[Target identified!]
[Engage the target in a one-minute conversation and lose a pound!]
The system declared, then a moving sensor moved across the room until it landed on the face of the young man who had come in with the prettiest girl I'd seen around.
Who was the system kidding?
Definitely not me!
Talk to that fellow? He looked like a fucking idol – except idols wouldn't come to a local restaurant like Del Monte Burgers, of course.
But whoever he was, I knew for sure the last thing he'd ever do was talk to me for a minute.
"Why not serve me poison instead, system?" I scoffed and bent to resume cleaning.
I had finished mopping and was about to turn when I saw Mrs. Del Monte standing just a few feet away from me.
"Gosh!" I exclaimed, my heart jumping into my mouth in shock.
The woman, with strong hands that seemed too powerful for her age in my perspective, placed them on her hips. "You want to be served poison, right, Cosima? You broke me eggs, huh?" she yelled but kept her voice low because of the customers in the restaurant.
"I- I..." I began to stammer until...
"I broke the eggs when I clumsily bumped into Cosima, Mrs. Del Monte. Please, pardon me." Susan came to my rescue.
Oh, how grateful I was that she was my partner on the morning shift today. If I made any more mistakes, I'd be fired. Mrs. Del Monte had already warned me the last time I broke a mug.
"Argghh!" the older woman yelled. "You workers will be the end of me. Now, you," she pointed at Susan, "go get the orders. We will talk about this later!" she ordered, and on a whim, Susan was out of the counter.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Mrs. Del Monte clicked her tongue while glaring at me suspiciously. "Wipe the slimy nonsense off your uniform and don't you dare make any more mistakes before the end of the day, or—" she emphasized the 'or' – "you kiss my job goodbye!" she fumed and stormed away.
I couldn't lose this job either. If I did, I'd be left with two other part-time jobs, and the pay would barely help me get by, not to consider paying my monthly mortgage dues.
How could an educated girl like me end up being a part-time worker in restaurants and amusement parks?
Because I was fat and ugly?
A tear escaped my eyes, and I pulled off my glasses a bit to wipe them off, forgetting that the slimy liquid from the broken eggs was still on my palm. My eyes stung as the liquid entered them, and then, more tears fell.
[Complete beauty task to lose a pound!] came the reminder from the system.