A Journey from Bitterness to Truth

restaurant. Her gaze Up to Chlow, and upon recognizing her, she burst into laughter.

Well, look who we have here! If it isn’t our very own Chloe! Her tone shifted to one of mocking superiority. Oh wait, that’s right, Chloe’s been booted out by the company. A stray dog now, aren’t we?”

Chloe’s face drained of color, a sickly pale giving way to a deep flush of embarrassment.

Matilda, standing at her side, asked who the woman was.

“That’s Reese, Chloe said, her voice low. “An influencer. She’s the one who smashed Declan Yeager’s coffee machine last time”

Reese clearly hadn’t expected to run into Chloe here, and with the backup of Declan, her confidence was soaring. Snide and merciless, she taunted, “Oh, what’s this? Spot a good–looking chef and can’t help but try to catch his eye, Chloe? Haha, how pathetic. Without Mr. Yeager’s support, you actually think you matter?”

Chloe bit back a response, swallowing the humiliation as she steadied her friend. “Godfrey, are you okay?”

Reese mocked their interaction with an exaggerated smirk. “Oh, listen to that tone. It reeks of desperation from a mile away, Chloe, surely you’re not so starved for attention.*

Godfrey, his voice laced with anger, snapped back, “Miss, you can insult me all you want, and critique my cooking, but I won’t stand for you disrespecting my friend!”

when are men and women just friends without something more?”

from behind Reese. Chloe and Matilda tensed at

Declan and… Yvan.

like a

“Chloe, let’s get Godfrey out of

fine,” Godfrey said with a forced smile, though half his face was swollen from the confrontation. It was the first time his restaurant had dealt with such blatantly unreasonable customers.

to a flame, each one of you,” Reese snickered, admiring her manicured nails, acting as if Chloe and her friends were beneath

was the first to break the

an air

Declan so eagerly, and you have the nerve to criticize others? Did you get those beauty injections into your brain or something?”

lunged at Matilda, the latter deftly avoided

commanding presence made Reese feel as though

Everyone’s watching, you want to start a

continue with your slander, I won’t hesitate

moved to stand by Chloe, who was