Chapter 18: I need to eat
Samuel looked a bit surprised, adjusting his glasses slightly. "Bulk food and industrial gear? May I ask what industry we are sourcing for, Miss? Is this a new project under Reed Industries?"
"No," April said, a cold smirk touching her lips as she stared out the window at the passing glass towers. "It’s a private project." I can’t blindly spend my money this early on, after all.
She planned to make at least fifty million dollars from his boss and any other high profile boss before she could start being truly blind about her purchases. And when that fifty million runs out... Well, who knows what would happen next.
"You shouldn’t be curious about everything I do, because I’m going to be doing a lot of weird things from now on. Let’s get along," she beamed a smile.
Samuel swallowed hard, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. He didn’t understand what this mysterious, elite woman was planning, but looking at her sharp eyes in the rearview mirror, and that smile that looked like a trap of innocence, he knew better than to ask.
"I’ll keep that in mind." He said.
Samuel shifted the luxury sedan into drive, the engine burning to life with barely a whisper as they drove away from the curb of the Central Reserve Bank.
"Since you requested the largest entities in the sector, Miss April," Samuel began, his voice returning to its practiced, professional cadence as he tapped a few commands onto his dashboard screen, "I recommend we start with the northern industrial district. Millennium Logistics and Sourcing handles bulk agricultural and shelf-stable food reserves for the entire state. Right next to them is Vanguard Medical Distribution. They supply the major hospitals, so everything from specialized trauma kits to basic pharmaceuticals is stored there by the metric ton."
April leaned her head back against the buttery leather headrest, her eyes tracking the tall corporate buildings as they began to thin out, replaced by massive concrete warehouses in the distance.
"Perfect," April murmured.
"Then, shall we start with Millennium, Miss?" he asked.
April paused to think. Yes, I would like to see their inventory right away, but...
She placed a hand gently over her belly. I’m starving.
The system’s initial profile of her didn’t hold back from pointing out that she was malnourished, and it wasn’t kidding.
She rarely ate in that house with a series of being starved and accused of stealing.
And even this morning, she had barely gotten a single scrap of bread into her mouth because of all the chaos surrounding the missing heirloom.
No one in the Morgan estate had been allowed to eat until the necklace was found. She was highly used to being starved in her past life from working in the Morgan’s estate to the hunger levels of the apocalypse, but she could never, ever like the feeling.
Her stomach felt completely hollow.
"Before that," she said, her voice dropping its business tone to something simple. "Take me to the best restaurant around. I need to eat."
Samuel looked over at her through the rearview mirror and then nodded. He assumed she might have been too busy with high-level work in the morning to have had breakfast. It was already noon, after all. His boss was the same.
"I’ll take you there right away," he said calmly.
Ten minutes later, the sedan pulled up to L’Étoile, a highly exclusive, Michelin-starred restaurant tucked away in the city’s upper crest.
The interior was stunning—quiet, dripping in soft gold accents, and filled with the gentle clinking of crystal.
April felt a deep sense of delight as she sat down at a pristine white-clothed table.
She had never even been to a regular diner before, not to talk of one so expensive. She couldn’t ease the excitement bubbling in her belly, but she didn’t let it out either.
When the waiter handed her the menu, she didn’t look at the prices at all. For the first time in her entire existence, she ordered whatever she wanted just by scanning through the images of the delicacies: seared wagyu beef, rich truffle pasta, fresh seafood, and a spread of delicate desserts.
She couldn’t help herself and nearly bought everything on the menu. She heard from some of the survivors in the past that rich people spend a ton of money on food that doesn’t even fill their belly.
’They pretend it’s fine just so they can keep to their class status and seem poised. But it’s all bullshit to me.’
’So if you’re going to one of those fancy diners, you ought to order a lot so you can get full.’
And that was what she planned to do.
When the food arrived, April felt a wave of profound satisfaction. Yes they did come in small portions but that didn’t matter because she ordered a lot.
The food looked just like it did in the menu and she didn’t even know where to start from.
She finally decided, after looking over which looked the best, and began with the pasta.
As soon as the pasta touched her lips, the flavor was explosive. It was to the point she almost teared up.
This was the best thing she had ever eaten in her life. This was what she had been missing as she rotted away in the attic of the Morgan Estate and watched from afar as the family ate only the best, leaving the scraps for the maids.
This taste fueled her resolve to live an even better life while the world burned.
Coupled with this being the most delicious meal she had ever had, this was also the first time she would eat so much, and feel so incredibly satisfied, in all her life.
She could not even remember how she had lived before she became a maid in the Morgans’ house; If she had a home, a family who loved her, if she ever had the chance to eat a warm hearty meal while the people who cared for her smiled at her.
Her memories were scrambled from the start and so all she could recall were her suffering in the Morgan house and the harsh, muddy years of the apocalypse.
Yet, despite her intense hunger, she didn’t eat like a starving feral animal.
Ten years of surviving in the ruins of the apocalypse—where every movement had to be perfectly controlled, silent, and precise to avoid drawing the attention of monsters and other hostile survivors—meant her actions were naturally fluid, deliberate, and calm.
She handled her utensils with a steady hand that had nothing to do with high society, but everything to do with absolute self-control.
To anyone looking from the outside, she simply looked like an elegant, eccentric young woman enjoying a casual lunch but she was barely containing her joy and excitement.
