Chapter 9
I pulled all my investments from that Michelin–starred restaurant. The deputy CEO and the core team resigned together and
followed me to start something new.
In less than six months, my new restaurant quickly made a name for itself, setting a new standard in the industry with its
superior service and cuisine.
As for Dennis’s restaurant, after losing its core team and funding as well as suffering the adverse effects from the Jessica Thompson scandal, it quickly went downhill and closed for good.
I heard Dennis tried to use the twenty thousand dollars I gave him to start a few small businesses, but he lost it all.
He had grown up used to spending money without a care and had no idea how to live frugally or make ends meet.
It didn’t take long before he ran out of money and couldn’t even pay his rent.
Later, I heard from Mary about what became of him. She said he was working as a waiter in a bar, forced to smile and serve the
very people he had once looked down on.
One time, one of his old friends recognized him and humiliated him right there in public. Mary asked me if I ever regretted being
so ruthless.
I shook my head.
I never regretted it.
If anything, I only regretted not seeing his true colors sooner.
I had spent over a decade trying to raise him properly, but in the end, people never really changed. Now, my career was thriving,
and my friends were by my side.
I didn’t need to live for anyone else anymore or carry responsibilities that were never mine to begin with.
I was finally living for myself.
One sunny afternoon, I was sitting in my new restaurant’s garden while enjoying tea with Mary when a man in a delivery uniform
rode up on a scooter and stopped at the entrance. He took off his helmet, revealing a haggard, weathered face.
It was Dennis.
He saw me, and the emotions in his eyes were quite complicated. There was shame, resentment, but mostly just resignation and numb acceptance.
He didn’t come over. He just glanced at me from a distance, picked up his delivery box, and hurried into the next building.
The sunlight felt warm on my skin.
1/2
Chapter @
I looked away and smiled at Mary. “Don’t you think the weather is wonderful today, Mary?”
She smiled back. “It really is. Better than ever.”
We both knew that the cloud that had shadowed my life for over a decade had finally dissipated.
The way forward into the future was clear.
Continue Reading
