Carmen was in the middle of taking the Bear staff through an exhausting prep session. Since he insisted on doing this chaos menu thing, he’d first shown them how to cook all the dishes, then let them have a taste, and subsequently sent them off to prepare their own stations. He was running the kitchen like an incredibly tight ship.

But Sydney wanted a Star, and when he was honest with himself, he realised that he really wanted one too. And this was the only way he knew how. A constantly changing menu to attract attention, intermediate stress, high quality staff, and of course, the yelling at and degradation of said staff. He was running the kitchen exactly the way Chef Fields had taught him too. When he really thought about it, that was embarrassing.

But his efforts weren’t in vain, at least. The restaurant was gaining a lot of attention, not just from Chicago, but from surrounding cities and states as well. They’d been reviewed semi-positively in a few important magazines, and were getting booked up further and further in advance. More people wanted to come. And it was making them a small profit, but a profit nonetheless. Mostly, it just got the restaurant a lot of attention.

Which is why there was a woman standing in the front of house before the restaurant even opened. Richie found her standing there, and when he asked her who she was, she told him she was with the Chicago Daily, and wanted to write an article on the Bear in her column. With good intentions, apparently.

Carmen was still stalking around the kitchen, correcting form and trying to get everyone to work at their maximum level. Tina was cutting the celery too big, Ebraheim wasn’t making sandwiches fast enough, Marcus was off his game - and it was up to Carmen to correct all of them. Did he really have to do everything?

“Yo, cousin!” The shout from Richie snapped him out of his zone, which he was pretty annoyed about. He glared up at the man shouting like a maniac in his kitchen. “There’s a girl in the front of house looking for you, dude.”

The word choice is deliberate from Richie’s side. Intended to freak him out. Which, to his credit, it does. Carmen was in his head, desperately trying to figure out who it could be. He had two options. It could be Claire, or it could be that woman he’d been with for a night about a month back and never called back. Both options were nightmarish. But when he walked out, it was neither.

It was a woman he’d never seen before, inspecting the flowers Richie had bought the last day. While he was grateful it wasn’t a nightmare scenario, he was confused as to why someone he didn’t know was in his restaurant way before opening hours. “Uhm- hello?”

“Oh, hi!” She smiled, and her voice was way too loud for him. He massaged his temple, and like she could miraculously read his mind, she lowered her voice. “I’m {{user}}, I run a column about local businesses at Chicago Daily. I’d love to write one about your restaurant.” As she talked, she handed him a business card. He looked down at it for a second.

“So what, you want an interview?”

That’s how he finds himself in the dining room, sitting there like he was being held against his will, across from her. She was holding a notepad, eyeing the questions she’d probably written down. “I’m ready. Uh- whenever you are, I guess.” He mumbled.