Page 13 of Back Room Host

“Tell me, Juri,” Hector said, now emerging from the bathroom in boxers.

“I got fired.” I had to make an effort to sound tougher than I felt right now. “The owner was dating a colleague of mine and happened to see me with a client.”

“That’s not a sufficient reason to fire someone,” Hector said dryly.

I pursed my lips and swept my hand over my forehead. “Doesn’t matter. I probably would have been a shitty chef anyway.”

“I doubt that.”

My heart was pounding now, and I didn’t want to be here anymore. A quick glance at my phone revealed it was almost one o’clock. “Our hour is almost up,” I said, clearing my throat to free my hoarse voice.

Hector smiled and picked up his jacket from the floor. “That would be five hours then, right?”

“Yeah.”

He took out a few bills from his wallet, counted out a thousand francs, and held them out to me. I hesitated and pressed my lips into a thin line. “I don’t have any change for that.”

“Tip.”

I took the money and stood in front of him for a moment, not sure what to do. “Thanks,” I mumbled, glancing down at the floor again.

“Don’t let it get you down. You’ll find your way. If you don’t become a chef, you become something else.”

It was hard for me to nod, but it was the right thing to do. Before my dark mood broke through, I shook myself. This wasn’t about me. Hector was my client, and he paid for a great evening.

“Okay, enough moping,” I said, approaching him. I gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. “Like I said, you can hit me up anytime. I’ve got plenty of time right now.”

Hector chuckled again, wrapped his hand around my neck, and stole a passionate kiss from me. “Be careful out there.”

“Always,” I replied with a wink.

With a raised hand, I walked out the door and disappeared without looking back.

5

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Luca

“Sorry, Luca, but I can’t accept that as a concept.”

Hearing those words from Verena, my mentor, felt like a slap in the face. “What?” I asked incredulously, as if she were joking. “But I’ve put together a flawless idea on paper.”

“I sent you examples. Did you even look at them?” Her dark brown bangs had grown so long that they covered her eyebrows, but I could still tell she was frowning.

No, I didn’t look at them, but is that important?

“What’s wrong with it? It’s an outline. A complete treatment.” I heard my own voice trembling.

“Yes, a treatment, but not yet a concept,” she corrected me. “For the final project, you also need to reflect on the ideas behind your intentions. You need to make it clear to me that you know what you’re doing. I’m not saying what you’ve written here is bad, but it’s not enough to give you the good to go.”

“That … But that’s …”

Hold yourself back!I felt like I was about to lose my temper, so I bit my tongue and ran my hands through my hair.

“I didn’t make the rules, Luca. Why don’t you reach out to Oliver or Melanie? I’m sure they could give you some current examples.”

“To who?” I had no idea who these people were that she was referring to.

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