Chapter 5: If you leave, you're fired

"What did Sir Gideon tell you, why did he call you to his office?" Alice whispers in an interest after Isabel returns to the kitchen.

Isabel let out a sigh. “He already knows…he already knows that I'm the girl—”

“Oh my God..is it true? You confessed to him?”

“No–he made me confess. And…And when I said that it was me—” Isabel looked around them before completing her sentence.

"What? What happened?"

"H-He kissed me...this time it's passionate like it's full of excitement. Then I kissed him back—Geez, I don't know what was happening to me at that time, I couldn't stop him." Isabel gripped her forehead since she didn't expect it to happen.

Alice covered her mouth due to surprise. "Oh my God, Isabel...I'm at a loss for words."

"Please, Alice, don't judge me; I blame myself too much; please, I don't want to talk about it again; promise me you won't remind me of it again," Isabel begged.

"Are you insane, Isabel? Sir Gideon is our boss, he'll be here for three months, what you're saying is impossible."

"What?"

"Yes, they just had a meeting yesterday and fired Sir Lazaro at the same time."

"Is he really that quick to fire an employee?"

"Certainly he is that strict at work, so you must also be careful, especially since your personal and professional lives are connected with him," Alice warns her.

Isabel agreed with Alice. She needs to be careful and she must not let her close connection with her boss get worse because it is too personal in her work.

A few moments later, Isabel received a text message from her brother, Isaac.

"Sister, my classmate passed by here in the apartment, we participated in a painting contest. We are now at school."

Isabel gave a little smile as she read the text message. Because she was relieved that her brother's condition was returning to normal.

At the same moment, Freya was passing by the kitchen, and seeing Alice and Isabel chatting in the middle of their work, irritated her.

"You don't seem to be very busy at work, do you?"Freya said.

Isabel immediately put her phone back in her pocket. Alice quickly returned to work and Isabel was going to leave when Freya grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"It's not because the boss is talking to you that you have the courage to defy working hours." Freya remarked sternly.

Isabel nodded,  preferring not to speak despite the fact that what Freya was saying was wrong.

"Or maybe you're still enjoying Gideon talking to you?" Freya added. “Remember Isabel, Gideon never falls in love with his employees and especially the waitresses like you." Freya continued.

Isabel scowled, as if her secretary had given her too much stuff. "Out of respect, Ms. Freya, you are mistaken; if there is anything between Sir Gideon and me, it is dependent on him. I'm simply doing my job; I have no ambitions to attract or like him since my focus is my family, not on the man. I hope that's clear to you."  Isabel said boldly, then forcibly pulled her hand from Freya's grip.

Freya was dumbfounded; she didn't appreciate how Isabel was speaking to her.

That's why she reports it right away to Gideon's office.

"Did you come here to inform me of such a thing?" Gideon asked, with a scowl on his face.

“What? We're searching for grounds to fire them, and I just caught them chatting in the kitchen. Are we not taking steps to fire them? We don't deserve an employee like them," Freya explained, annoyed, while Gideon just looked at her with no emotion.

“I’ll just talk to them. Go back to your work.” Gideon ordered.

Freya was disappointed. “I can’t believe in you, Gideon. You fired Lazaro, who is working hard in this company,  while you spoiled the two waitresses who made no contribution to this business." 

“Freya! I just told you that I’ll talk to them. Can you just leave it to me?” Gideon said to her with a stern voice.

Freya took a big breath to calm herself, "Okay. I will look forward to your action, Gideon." She then exited the office, leaving Gideon alone in his thoughts.

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**Phone rings**

Isabel's phone rang in the middle of her work, and after cleaning one table, she dashed inside the restroom to see who was calling, she frowned when it was Isaac principal’s number.

“H-Hello?” She answered the call nervously.

She was ready to drop her phone when the principal delivered the news about her brother; a while ago, Isaac happily texted her about a contest he participated in, she couldn't understand why she suddenly got asthma.

Isabel quickly hung up the call after she talked with the principal,she needed to get to the hospital where Isaac was taken.

She rushed out of the restroom, looking for Alice, but a lot of customers were calling out to her. She didn't know what she should do first, but the most important thing now was to check her brother.

It was at that time that Gideon came out of the office and noticed that Isabel was not working while the customers were shouting their orders. His face became flushed, and he appeared to want to confront Isabel.

"What are you doing? Don't you hear the call from the customers?" irritated Gideon.

"S-Sir, I'm sorry but I have to leave first, my brother-"

"What? You're leaving in the middle of a crowd of customers, Isabel, and we'll be short of waiters now,"  Gideon cut her off.

"Please Sir...my brother just needs me right now," Isabel pleaded.

"Is he dying?!" Gideon asked quickly with his annoyance.

Isabel was surprised by Gideon's words to her. Alice looked up because of the scene that was happening.

"What.." almost nothing came out of Isabel's mouth due to disappointment.

"If you leave now, you're fired. I don't need employees who can't value their jobs!” Gideon continued.

Isabel's world nearly came crashing down when she heard the words from Gideon, who didn't even bother to listen to her explanation. But she didn't give herself another time to explain; instead, she quickly took off her apron and the name tag pinned to her uniform.  She locked her gaze on Gideon before she ran away.

Gideon comes to his senses after Isabel’s gone, but he still stood by his decision. Isabel changed her clothes and hurried home right away.

Although Alice wanted to chase Isabel, Freya stopped her, who seemed to be satisfied with the incident.

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