Chapter 97 Chapter 97

Chapter 97 Chapter 97
Celine's POV

I quickly looked away from Edwin and wanted to go into the entrance of my restaurant with my son.

However, Edwin turned to me and spoke, "Hi, good morning. You must be the owner of this Restaurant, right?"

I paused, thankfully, I wore sunglasses and he couldn't see my face properly. I knew that Jace and Clara announced the birth of my second son, Kevin Augustus, online. But they hardly posted his photo, and I didn't want to raise the topic or reopen an old wound by claiming that Kevin was my son and not Clara's.

"Yeah. I am the owner of this Restaurant. Is anything the matter?" I asked Edwin.

Just then, my assistant who governs the Restaurant in my absence and reports to me about the daily sales and bookings, came out to greet me.

She was a young woman in her late twenties, and she wore a white top and black trousers. Her name was Becky Williams.

"Good morning, Madam," Becky quickly greeted me, interrupting my conversation with Edwin. And Kaleb rushed to hug Becky.

"Good morning, Aunt Becky!"

"Morning, Kaleb. How was your night?" Becky asked as she hugged him warmly.

"It's fine. And yours?" Kaleb asked her like a gentleman as he took her left hand.

"It was cool, Kaleb. Come on, go into your Mom's office. We'll chat later, alright. We need to get busy," Becky said, gesturing for my son to go into the Restaurant and to my office.

"Alright," Kaleb went in, and I looked back at Edwin and asked him, "Did you come for any meal? Please come in and have a seat."

"Alright. Actually, I opened a new hotel here in Banana Island, and I was checking for the A-list Restaurant that I can partner with to cook for my hotel. So I came here to invite you to a partnership," Edwin said, but I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but my work schedule is tight, and I can't accept your offer, sir. Why not look for a professional chef with good culinary skills to cook for your hotel?" I asked Edwin as we stood at the entrance of my restaurant.

"I did, only that I got a recommendation that you are the best chef here. That's why I came with the proposal. Can we go into your office and have this conversation properly? Please, I promise to negotiate well with you," Edwin pleaded, but I shook my head.

Part of the reason I didn't want to reconsider and partner with Edwin Hugo was because of Jace.

What if they are still best friends? What if I accidentally run into Jace?

"No, sir. I'm sorry, but I have gotten this proposal from several other hotels and schools to bring my meals to them or cook for them, but my answer remains no. Please try to understand me," I said to Edwin in an apologetic manner.

"It's alright. I know that I just came with the proposal. You can give it a thought, and I will be back to hear your final response. For the meantime, I brought my son, Justin, for us to have a taste of your meal. Shall we go in?" Edwin gestured for us to enter as he smiled at me.

"Alright," I smiled back as I made my way into my Restaurant.

My hair was still dyed red as I couldn't risk exposing my old identity.

I turned down interviews about my Restaurant even when I got a lot of companies wanting to partner with me. The fear of running into Clara was overwhelming. So I decided to stay low and out of trouble.

"Wow! It's just 9 am, and your Restaurant is already this crowded. I must say that you have a good Restaurant, Mrs. Mason," Edwin said behind me as soon as we entered the first floor of my vast Restaurant, which was a one-story building.

"Thank you," I forced a tight smile at Edwin as my heart skipped a beat when he called me Mrs. Mason. Did he already know that I am Clara's twin?

"You can have your seat. I will get busy now," I gestured to Edwin and his son, Justin.

"Alright. I won't bother you now, but I will be back as I promised," Edwin said, as he smiled and walked away to find a table where he and his son could sit.

I went to my office, which was still on the first floor, and I found Kaleb sitting there and playing with his toy.

"Mom, what were you and that handsome man discussing? Does he want to marry you?" Kaleb asked, taking me by surprise as soon as I entered my office to keep my handbag.

"No! What do you know about marriage? He owns a hotel and wants to employ my service as a chef there. But you know that I cannot partner with him to avoid getting overworked," I told Kaleb as I smiled at him and moved to my desk to drop my handbag and to change out of my clothes. As I wanted to wear a casual dress and tie my apron around my chest.

"Is his hotel big? How much does he want to pay you, Mom? There are many big hotels here in Banana Island. Can we go and take a look at his hotel? If it's big, we can charge him big money and cook for him," Kaleb said, as he paused playing with his toy and looked at me.

"No, I don't want to partner with anyone. The more partnerships, the more enemies I might attract. I'm okay with just our Restaurant. If he likes our food, he can come over here to have a taste, alright?" I told Kaleb, and he nodded.

"Alright, Mom. I won't bother you again. As long as he's not disturbing you," Kaleb said, and I smiled, knowing that he doesn't want me discussing with any man who wasn't his father.

"Alright," I went to change out of my dress, and after that, I went to get busy and to continue with the rest of my work.