9. Regret

In the middle of Felix's conversation with the old man, the restaurant security guard approached them in a hurry.

The security guard, of course, recognized who Felix was talking to—the owner of the restaurant—making the security guard wonder what the owner of the restaurant had to do with Felix.

"Sir, what's wrong?" asked the security guard, who saw how frantically the restaurant owner tried to catch up with Felix.

The restaurant owner looked at the security guard with an unhappy expression. He had noticed from the beginning how the security guard treated Felix.

At first, the restaurant owner didn't budge. It wasn't until the restaurant owner recognized that the person who had just been kicked out by his security guard was Felix Garvin that he tried to catch up with him to apologize.

"Fool, how dare you kick Mr. Felix out of my restaurant?" snapped the restaurant owner.

"What do you mean, sir?" The security guard was full of questions.

"Are you still asking? You're so bold, and you don't feel guilty at all."

The security guard was speechless; he really didn't understand what was going on.

The security guard felt that he had done the right thing by sending Felix and his friends away. Thinking that Felix and his friends would only mess up if they let them in, who would have thought that now his boss would be furious with him for that?

"How long have you been working at my restaurant?" the owner asked.

"Two years, sir," said the security guard with a tremor in his voice, somehow having a premonition that something bad was going to happen to him.

"That's it for the two years you've been working here; from now on, you're fired!"

The security guard's head seemed to be struck by lightning upon hearing this; he was really confused about what to do in the midst of this unexpected situation.

In the midst of the security guard's confusion, his eyes were glued to Felix. He certainly knew that what happened to him must have something to do with what he had done to Felix, so he decided to apologize to Felix, hoping that his boss would not fire him.

"Sir, this is just a misunderstanding. Please forgive me and please persuade my boss not to fire me," said the security guard regretfully.

Felix, who remembered that the security guard had been very condescending to him and his friends a while ago, chose to remain silent.

Felix didn't feel any obligation to help someone who had dared to belittle him. If the security guard did have to lose his job, then that was the consequence he had to bear because of his presumptuous attitude.

"Mind your own business; don't think I've forgotten how much your words have hurt my pride and my friends," Felix said.

The security guard's body suddenly felt weak as he heard Felix's words. If it was like this, the security guard felt there was no hope for him and could only blame his own stupidity for this.

"This is your severance pay and your last paycheck; pack up your things and leave my restaurant quickly." The restaurant owner threw an envelope filled with money.

The security guard could only nod reluctantly. He might regret it, but it wouldn't change anything for him.

Seeing how bad the security guard's expression was, Felix could only shake his head slowly. Felix hoped that the security guard could take this as a lesson so that he would no longer carelessly judge people based on their appearance.

"Felix, what exactly is going on?"

"That's right, Felix. Why would the owner of a five-star restaurant suddenly take our side when we're nothing?"

Kody and Eric asked, confused by what was happening in front of them.

"Felix, is your relationship with the restaurant owner really that close that he wouldn't hesitate to fire his employees just because of you?" Levin asked with similar confusion.

Kody, Eric, and Levin all felt that there was something strange about this. From how a five-star restaurant owner who clearly must not be an ordinary person would bother to run after Felix to how the same person was willing to fire his employees as if he didn't want to make Felix angry and leave a bad impression regarding his restaurant, none of it was normal in their eyes.

This makes Felix seem like an important person that even the owner of a five-star restaurant wouldn't dare to offend, even though Kody, Eric, and Levin know that Felix is just an ordinary student like them.

"There's no need to think about it; after all, what the security guard did to us was so excessive that it makes sense that the restaurant owner wouldn't want to keep someone like him," Felix told his friends.

The thing that made Felix's friends curious was also felt by Elena, who had been paying attention to it all along.

"Why did you have to fire your security guard when he was just doing his job, sir?" Elena asked the restaurant owner.

"This is not an outsider's business, Miss. You should not interfere with my decision," said the restaurant owner.

Elena's face instantly turned red; she felt that the restaurant owner was belittling her by saying all that.

"I'm a loyal customer of your restaurant; how can you say something like that?"

"Just a customer, nothing more. From now on, you should be more careful and not carelessly interfere in matters that you should not interfere in," said the restaurant owner, trying to reprimand and advise Elena.

The restaurant owner's words made Elena even more inflamed: "Damn it, do you even know who I am? How dare a restaurant owner like you tell me what I can or cannot do?"

The restaurant owner let out a long sigh, after which he said, "Miss Elena, have you forgotten? I'm a close friend of your father; he would also be disappointed if he saw his daughter acting like this."

Elena, at a loss for words, finally chose to leave. She was both annoyed and curious as to why the restaurant owner favored Felix over her.

"If he's so close to my father, why not side with me and side with that loser instead? That old man stinks, just as much as the loser he's defending," Elena grumbled as she walked away.

After Elena's departure, the restaurant owner immediately invited Felix to enter the restaurant.

"Are we really finally going to eat at a five-star restaurant?" Kody could hardly believe it.

"The owner himself invited us; of course we will," Eric said with a big smile on his face.

"This will be the most rewarding experience of our lives," Levin added.

The owner, with a friendly smile, led them into his restaurant. But before the three had gone any further, Felix had stopped them.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Felix?" the owner asked.

"Nothing is wrong. It's just that our pride has been hurt, and it happened when we wanted to eat at your restaurant."

The restaurant owner, with a worried expression, asked, "Can you tell me what I need to do for you to forgive what my security guard did, Mr. Felix?"

"Nothing; my friends and I have already lost our appetites, so we'll be leaving soon," Felix said as he urged his friends to walk away.

Kody, Eric, and Levin simply went along with Felix's decision without daring to ask or object, leaving the restaurant owner, whose expression soured on the spot.

"What should I do if Mr. Felix holds a grudge?" The restaurant owner muttered, wishing time could be repeated so that he could immediately stop what his security guard had already done.