Chapter 210: Fitting In

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Fresh lasagna with extra cheese for table 3! The Gregories need it quickly!"

"Chocolate fondant and foie gras for the Rivers on table 12,"

*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*

"The stir fry is finally ready! I need it gone ASAP so I can get more space!"

"I got it," The voice of an arrogant, confident yet slightly nervous man sounded yet was drowned by the other sounds of the room as he rushed over to grab the stir fry, bumping into many servants in the process, making them look at him with hate-filled eyes charged with annoyance as he had almost made them drop their food. 

"What the fuck does this degenerate brat think he's doing… He's going completely opposite to traffic… We practiced this so many damn times that we could not even properly sleep, how is he getting this wrong?"

"Yeah… Really had the urge to slap him in the face, he almost made me drop my food. If I lost my job because of him I swear to god I wouldn't even know what to do anymore…"

The faint whispers around the room that should have been completely indistinguishable from the loud, bustling kitchen entered his ears as he inwardly cursed his stupidity.

Gritting his teeth before taking a deep breath, he decided to force his way through the rest of the seemingly never-ending wave of oncoming servants as he was already almost there, making sure to try his best to avoid everyone in his path as he heard the harsh whispers of his colleagues enter his ears once again.

"Thank you!" He said with a smile on his face, quickly grabbing the plate of food before coming back the way he arrived in order to go to the wide exit of the expansive kitchen. 

Yet, despite now going the right way, he was still bumping into people left and right, almost dropping his food on a few occasions as he struggled to go at the same pace and posture as everyone else's movements that seemed so perfect that they were almost robotic.

Then, as he reached the doorway where there was wider space, he inwardly patted himself on the back before taking a deep breath, focusing his gaze at the exit. 

"What the hell do you think you were doing newbie!? That was the sorriest display I have seen in a very long time! There is no room to make mistakes like those! Especially on the night of the master's anniversary! Next time you do something like this it will be your head on that plate! You got that!?" A loud, manly voice full of vigour resounded in the large, red, luxurious kitchen that was packed from head to toe with both servants and chefs, trying to go rush things out as fast as possible, his anger pointed towards the same tall, young, black-haired man with green eyes who seemed to be especially clumsy that day, not able to follow the proper protocol, almost like he was purposefully trying to make a mockery of everyone in the room.

"I'm really sorry sir! I-its just my first time under such pressure and the first time that the kitchen was this packed…" The man nervously responded, trying to catch his balance from the wave of other servants coming and going, an array of delicious foods all on both of their hands as they walked expertly as if there was no one in the room. 

"That was what your training was for! Did you forget all that!? You weren't that bad in orientation so what happened here!?" The rather skinny head chef yelled, rubbing and playing with his long, still black mustache despite his clear age that was displayed by his wrinkly skin and eyes that went into deep, deadly slits. 

"I-I'm sorry sir! It won't happen again! I just really crack under pressure… That was why it was so easy in practice," He mumbled back, trying to find confidence in himself as he tried his best to look the angry, demonic figure of the head chef in the eyes.

With a deep breath, the head chef rolled up the sleeves of his crimson red outfit, calmly planting it on the newbie's shoulder with an iron grip. 

"Listen closely kid, I know that you have your papa's support on all of this and I assume that you worked hard to get to the position you're at now, but if you don't get your shit together, I'm going to have to fire you… This is your very last chance okay? Oh, and if you end up embarrassing me and the rest of the kitchen staff I will not hesitate to go out of my way to absolutely ruin your and your family's life... How does that sound?" 

The whispers of the head chef sent shivers down his spine, sweat running down his face, his shaky right hand almost dropping the food that was on it. 

"Yes sir! I heard you loud and clear! This will never happen again!" The man yelled, standing up as straight as an arrow, trying to resteel his resolve.

"Good! Now get back to work and don't ever waste my time again!" He said in a soft gentle voice with a smile that quickly shifted into the mean, annoying, incessant hollering of a banshee. 

With a deep nod and a serious look on his young face, he immediately turned around and confidently walked through the exit with exceptional grace, the food safely still on his right hand. 

With a long, tired sigh, putting his hands on his wrinkly face, wiping away all of the built-up sweat on his forehead that was definitely not all from the high temperature of the burning stoves and fires of the kitchen. 

'My god, do they just hire anyone these days? With idiots like these working under me, I wonder how I still have hair on my head and how it's even still black… They are gonna kill me one of these days I swear," He thought to himself with his eyes closed, opening them only to see another major mistake. 

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" He bellowed, a visible vein popping out of his head, yelling at someone who had accidentally knocked a can of salt into one of the most expensive foods they had to cook for today, essentially ruining it.

The black-haired man walked into the wide, red, expansive hallway of the mansion carrying himself with confidence, completely ignoring the hateful, mocking expressions and words of many of his colleagues as he simply walked straight behind them, following their lead as he pretended to know what he was doing and where he was going. 

'Ahhh! That place was a living hell! How do people even survive in there longer than 5 minutes?' Jayden inwardly thought, thinking back at that awful experience she had in that kitchen. 

Despite knowing how to perfectly act her way out of almost any situation, she still struggled in that environment to the point that she almost ruined everything.

On the outside, everything looked like absolute mayhem, like everyone was moving randomly doing their own thing. However, when upon closer inspection, it would be clear that everything was in fact extremely organized, one person messing up could alter and ruin the flow of others as well, making it an extremely stressful and toxic work environment. 

If anything, as a complete outsider that had no idea what she was doing, she managed to carry herself and act her way out of the situation quite well. If anything, she was extremely lucky to be given a second chance and not fired on the spot for her lack of knowledge and sorry display, part of it, probably stemming from the person she had decided to disguise herself as he was of a higher status than most of the other newbie servants. 

It made her wonder if that was how her own kitchen and staff worked in her own mansion along with that of her parent's, as she had never bothered to check inside the kitchen or servants quarters even a single time as there was never really the need to. 

This was her first-ever time disguising herself as someone of the servant class and most likely her last as long as it was not necessary. She never knew that the servants had it so tough and their working environment was so toxic. 

It made her feel somewhat sympathetic to them as she thought back to all the times she had mistreated them and took her anger out on them since she had no one else in her life to talk to, which definitely demotivated and made their life much harder as they were forced to work for a childish, ungrateful, arrogant, bratty mistress who looked down on them and did not at all appreciate the hard work they put in to serve them.

Yet, Preston Hemmingwood, the servant she had disguised herself as was a person that she bore no such sympathy for.

Unlike most of the other servants, he was a man that had smugness and arrogance oozing out of every pore, a complete waste of space that was vulgar and messed around with the many, rather beautiful maids of the Reid family like they were his property, them staying quiet and taking his harassment without a word. He was a complete degenerate, someone that for some reason, made her blood boil with hatred as it almost reminded her of her old self. 

Even when Jayden had just arrived at the Reid mansion and scouted the outskirts from above, she managed to witness and listen to all of his heinous deeds despite the long distance between them, using her enhanced vision and hearing as he was carrying cargo from a truck into the back door of the mansion, along with a few girls who he would grope every now and then and men who would stay quiet, scoffing at his actions but not doing a single thing about it, making him the perfect target to disguise herself with as he was the exact type of person that she always had the most fun killing, sucking the life out of them and putting them in their place. 

And, that was the reason why she did not get mad or even bat an eye to all of the looks and aggressive whispers coming her way, because she knew that the owner of this body more than deserved it.

*****

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