The Insurmountable Rise Of Ethan Watson

CHAPTER 13

They followed the guards down the stairs and their seats were shown to them.

Claire and Melissa had to go to the restroom to adjust their outfits, touch up their makeup, and come out like the queens they believed themselves to be.

Eric looked around from his table for Ethan, hoping to vent his anger on Ethan and put Ethan in his place but Ethan was out of sight.

Eric pondered on how Ethan managed to get into a place like this.

“Could he be a waiter here?”

“But he wasn't dressed like the other waiters”

Eric kept thinking and slipping into confusion, unaware of when Claire and Melissa joined them back at the table. David slammed his fists on the table and said, "They're all going to regret this after an official statement that I've gotten the spot has been made."

The loud bang from David startled Eric and brought his attention back as he took a look into the crowd and noticed that the guests were still laughing and sharing giggles targeted at the Grahams for the embarrassment they just faced.

"Oh my days, this just made my day”.

"They've been put in their place after causing a nuisance at this party. Priceless."

"It's already trending as number one on social media."

The guests were breathless from laughing too much and the Grahams tried to hide their faces as they had just become the laughingstock of Beryl City.

Though ashamed, they had confidence in the assurance that the spot up for grabs tonight would go to David, and when that happens, they'll see who the real joke is. They'll watch them beg to get in their good graces and will utterly discard them. 

Whilst they were daydreaming and the other guests were mingling, the announcer took to the stage, "It's the time we've all been waiting for. It's time to reveal the restaurant that got the spot and has secured the contract with Emerald Estate for a year."

All guests returned to their seats for the big announcement and gave a clapping ovation as they waited patiently in anticipation of the results.  

“Can I have your attention please” the announcer echoed into the mic

"When the opening for this spot was announced, numerous food chains were eager to apply and even more applied but from our vetting process, the majority of them didn't have the capacity and manpower to handle large orders that they would be getting from Emerald Estate's events."

"Out of the 100 restaurants whose submission was accepted and went through the process, only 3 restaurants got to the last stage of the vetting process where customers were required to give us reviews of these 3 restaurants. The 3 restaurants are, David's Diner, Tristan's Treats, and Tasty Ben's food truck." The announcer paused as the guests clapped for the three restaurants, as it wasn't an easy feat getting to that stage.

"With that said, I would like to invite the CEOs of David's Diner, Tristan's Treats, and Tasty Ben's food truck to join me on this stage"

Before David stood up to join the others on stage, he said to his family, "Get ready. This is the moment we've been waiting for."

David joined the others on stage and waited for the announcement.

"After the rigorous screening process, the owner of Emerald Estate decided to award this contract to…" the announcer paused, filling the room with suspense as he was about to decide the fate of the restaurants of these CEOs. The atmosphere was dense and the tension that filled the room was palpable.

David stood tall and confident and even moved away from the other competitors to the front as though he was called upon and was about to receive the contract when the announcer continued,

"Tristan's treats, congratulations!!! You just won the contract with Emerald Estate. Please come over here to my side to receive the contract, so we can proceed to signing it." Tristan shouted for joy, as Mr Ben of Tasty Ben's food truck gave him a handshake congratulating him before Tristan joined the announcer.

"What?" That can't be possible." The Grahams stood up from their seats in bewilderment whilst exclaiming bitterly.

David was frozen to the spot where he was standing. He was dumbfounded. He wished the ground could open up and swallow him after he just embarrassed himself by moving forward as if to receive the award, right before Tristan was announced the winner.

After the guests applauded Tristan, they began to laugh at David's arrogance and tomfoolery for thinking he could secure the contract.

"No, no, no. They must've made a mistake as they made a mistake with the special guests list. They need to check again to confirm." David spoke suddenly, as he was in denial that he just missed out on an opportunity he had been waiting for, for the longest period.

David lunged forward to throw a punch at Tristan, but he was held back by the bouncers that were on stage. David yelled in a desperate attempt to redeem himself, “There's no way Tristan would win this contract over me! No way. He must've bribed his way in, to even get to this level. There's no way he stands a chance against me!!!”

“Okay! Okay!! Can we remain seated please?” The announcer tried to maintain decorum as the guests were now standing, trying to get the best shot of David's melodrama on their phones.

“Mr. David Graham here seems to be living in some imaginary world in his head and so, for his clarity from his delusional state, I'll read some of his customer reviews and we will all be aware of why he has the worst result amongst the three competitors, despite reaching this stage of the vetting process.” He agreed to read out the reviews from David's diner only, as David had disputed the results.

“My experience at David's diner was a complete disaster! I found a roach antenna in my salad! Ewwww.”

“David's diner should be a place for vultures to meet, it's so filthy and the customer service is terrible”

“I took my family to David's diner and almost got beat up by the staff and when the owner, David Graham found out, he did nothing to salvage the situation. Worst experience of my life!”

"For food that costs almost a fortune, it sure tastes worse than garbage!"

The announcer read many more reviews like this and murmurs came from the crowd with some of the guests gagging out of reflex from the disgusting reviews they had heard.

Whilst this was going on, it was being live-streamed and David tried his best to hide his face from the numerous cameras but the bouncers that were holding him, held him in place.

The Graham family slid down their chairs in an attempt to hide their shame after gloating but it was too late and there was no way for them to run.

“Sir, you have had your fun, I think it's time you left the premises.” the announcer said and with a hand gesture, the bouncers were about to drag David out but he struggled out of their grip and exclaimed,

“Never! I'm not leaving here until I get what's rightfully mine! Call your manager, I insist!