Chapter 38: Chapter 38

After two days,

Isabella's pov;

I placed a bunch of pictures in front of Mr Martinez. He picked one up and examined it for the first time, then looked at me with confusion written on his face, "What am I supposed to be looking at here?" he asked.

I said, "These are the places that I hunted for my restaurant business. Some are located in crooked streets, some look haunted by deserted streets, some have busy streets since there are so many food stalls by the road, and some have many restaurants and cafes…"

"Did you just go around looking for a place for your restaurant?"

I gave a nod and sat beside him and took some pictures and said while showing them one by one to him, "Among many places, I have some favourites I liked. It wasn't deserted as others but not a bustling street though because it had a nice ambience. Take a look at this. What do you think about this place?"

"Were you going around and taking pictures in the streets?"

I gave a nod at him.

He continued, "And, no one asked you what it is?"

"Actually, some of them asked since I was taking many pictures." And chuckled.

"What did you say?"

"I told them that I was looking for a place for my restaurant."

He let out a sigh and said, "I know you're curious about the places but this is not the way you look for a place for your business."

"Oh, then what should I do? How should I find a perfect place then?"

"You should contact someone who is expertise in that field and ask them to find commercial places for the restaurant and you can choose one among them.

I let out a sigh and said, "What is he going to do after I informed him? The same thing I did, right? Forget about the person. We already have places so let's dig into them and pick out which is suitable for us."

"If you're going to decide on your own, then why are you asking me? Why are you showing me these pictures? I bet you would have chosen the place by yourself already. Am I right?"

I took every picture which I scattered on the bed and said, "I came here to ask for your opinion. It seems like you're upset about something. I'll talk to you later. Don't walk around and take a rest." And walked out of Mr Martinez's room.

While I was looking at the pictures of the places I took, Mr Johnson entered the house and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a place for my restaurant."

"Where is Mr Martinez? Is he upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

He climbed the stairs to go upstairs to meet him.

When I returned to looking at the pictures, there were two places I'm interested in. Okay. Let's have a talk with them.

I walked out of the house, seeing me Mateo asked, "Where to?"

"I don't remember the address so I don't want to trouble you. I'll take the bus. It's more convenient too."

"Okay. Take care."

I took a bus and came to the main Street. I remember taking Fourth Avenue but I don't remember what side I turned from there. Okay. Let's just have a walk and find the place. I should have written the address in the back of the photograph. Why did I forget to do it?

In the fourth Avenue, the way is divided into three sub streets, I forgot which way I took before. While I was figuring it out, a lady asked, "Did you come to take pictures again?"

I pointed to myself and asked her, "Do you remember me?"

She nodded.

"Where did you see me before?"

She gave a weird look and said, "Near YU shop."

"And, where is this shop?"

She pointed at the second way and said, "It's there."

"Thank you so much."

While I was leaving, she asked me, "Do you suffer from any memory disease?"

"No, I'm new to this place and forgot to remember the address. Anyways, thank you for helping me."

She gave a nod and left.

I walked into the direction she showed me and after a few minutes, I found the restaurant which I had taken a picture of before. I looked around the place to look for an owner since there was no contact number mentioned on the place. I saw a shop nearby which that lady mentioned. YU shop. It's a dessert shop. The sign outside was not as old as the rest of the buildings in that street but it was still in good shape so I guessed that this place is doing pretty well at it.

I walked to the shop and looked into the shop. There wasn't anyone. It's a walk-in so I took a seat and looked around the shop. It's good inside. I can smell the desert from being here. A guy came from inside and gave me a menu card asking, "What do you like to have, mam?"

Did he think I'm a customer? Okay, after seeing delicious sweets and desert on display, I want to try it too.

I looked at the menu and asked him, "Tiramisu. Do you have chocolate smoothie?" Chocolate smoothie was not on the menu but I wanted to give it a try.

"Not many customers visit here so it's a thing for me to make something out of the menu. I'll bring Tiramisu and chocolate smoothie for you." He gave me candies and continued, "You were looking at them merrily. Take it. It's free."

I thanked him and took the candies from him.

After a while, I got my tiramisu and chocolate smoothies. I looked around the cafe to see if they were hiring any help, so I could get it for free. It was pretty slow; most of the tables were empty but there were still some passing by the shop.

"You're quick." And started eating the desert. Wow. It does taste good as it looks. Yummy. I tried the chocolate smoothie. I melted when I took the first sip.

I said, "You said people don't come here. Do you know the reason behind it?"

"There's a dessert shop in the main street so people find it hard to find the street and come to my shop."

"Is this your shop?"

He nodded.

"I don't know how the desert tastes in the main street since I haven't tasted it but I bet once they try this, they won't stop coming here. I never ate tiramisu like this ever in my life. And, I'm damn sure about that."

He smiled at me and said, "Thank you."

"Um… actually, I stepped into this shop to inquire about the place near this shop. I tried to contact the owner but there was no number. Do you know about the owner of that place?"

"That's my place."

"What?"

"Yeah, that was my desert place but it didn't go well so I closed it and opened a little in here, which was my storage room for storing the ingredients needed for the recipe."

"You gotta be kidding me! It tasted so good. I can walk all day to have a taste of this tiramisu."

He smiled and said, "You're exaggerating a lot."

"Because this desert deserves it."

"Okay, why do you want to contact me?"

"Ah! I forgot. Actually, I'm looking for a place to open a restaurant. I liked you so I wanted to talk with you about it."

"You're going to open a restaurant here?"

I nodded and said, "Yes."

"I'm glad you came to buy my place because I'm in the urge to sell it too since I need money but It's better to look at other places. You'll run out of business in days if you open a restaurant here."

"Can you show me around your place? I want to have a look."

"It seems like you're stubborn one. Okay, come with me."

He opened the place and said, "When you enter, you can see an open diner on your right side with family and children customers. If you take a walk further, there are places for couples. On your left, there is a kitchen and my shop is the storage room. And, what is your name?"

"I'm Isabella Garcia. Would you like to be a pastry chef in my restaurant?"

He smiled and said, "I didn't agree to sell this place to you but you're already offering me a position in a restaurant which doesn't even exist."

"I like to buy this place. Please give it to me. I'll change it into a place where people come pouring in soon and please accept my offer. I love your deserts so much. It's breathtaking."

He smiled and said, "You talk funny. Do you really have money to buy this place or am I getting pranked by you?"

"No, it's for real. I'm not pranking you. I like this place."

"That's what pranksters say."

"Okay, give me your hand."

"For what?"

"Just give me."

When he gave his hand, I placed my hand on top of his hand and said, "I promise. I'm not pranking you."

"You talk like a kid. How old are you?"

"22."

"I bet you had your graduation some days ago."

I nodded hurriedly at him and asked, "What's your good name, Sir?"

"It's Michael Halls. You can call me Mike."

"You can call me Bella."

He smiled and asked, "Ms tales said there was a girl taking pictures of my place. Was that you?"

"Yeah, I was hunting for the places so I took every place I liked. I finalised two places including this one. After I tasted your Tiramisu and chocolate smoothie, I decided to buy this place at least to taste your chocolate smoothie."

He let out a chuckle and said, "Do you like chocolate smoothies?"

"That's my favourite drink ever. I can drink chocolate smoothies all my life and I won't get tired of it." And laughed.

"I have never seen a boss like this."

"What do you mean by boss? Did you…"

"Yeah, I'm selling this place to you. I'm bored working alone so I'm accepting your offer too."

"Awww! Thank you Mike."

"You're not pranking, right?"

"I'll bring money and you keep all the documents ready to be signed. Are you free on weekends?"

He gave a nod and said, "Yeah."

"Okay, let's see this weekend, Mike."

I waved at him and took another look at the place and walked out.