Chapter 1: The Mysterious Egg
Ruby Harvest, 11:28 PM
"Chef! Are you really okay with cleaning up?" A middle aged man said with worry.
The chef, Zheng Mimi, nodded. "Yes, you go and visit your wife in labor. There's just a few dishes here and there and some minor sweeping."
The middle aged man was going to bow but she quickly stopped him. Shooing him away, Zheng Mimi stared around the kitchen with a sigh. Even though she was the head chef, she still did minor tasks like cleaning occasionally because the cleaner had emergencies, like so.
Luckily, the business for the day wasn't too excessive, meaning less cleaning for the day. The twenty-two year old woman rolled up her already rolled sleeves some more and straightened her posture. With a cheerful smile, she grabbed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. As she waited for the dishwasher to finish, she grabbed a broom and started to sweep.
While Zheng Mimi swept the kitchen, she started to hum joyously. Her humming developed into full-blown singing as she knew that she was alone. In fact, this was to make her not panic as she was alone at nearly midnight in the restaurant. The doors were locked, but she was still a scaredy-cat in every sense.
When she finished with everything, she sighed in relief and looked at the time: 11:46 PM.
Luckily it wasn't officially midnight yet! As she gathered her things to leave, her phone rang. Answering it, she immediately heard a scolding voice. "Zheng Mimi, where are you?"
Zheng Mimi choked. "M-Mother?" She hadn't spoken to her mother in so long! What was the reason for her sudden call?
"Where are you?" Mother Zheng ignored her stutter and questioned. Once again, Zheng Mimi was confused. Why did her mother ask her such a question? In fact, she lived alone, so her mother should assume that she was already there!
"I decided to give you a surprise visit, yet it's been nearly two hours and you're still not home!" It was as though Mother Zheng heard her question, so she answered. "Are you with a man?"
"No! Mother, why would I—"
"I'm not surprised." Mother Zheng huffed. "No chance for me to hold grandchildren anytime soon. Why, if I have to arrange a blind date, then that's exactly what I'll do."
"Mother..." Zheng Mimi's voice faltered when she saw something odd. Tuning out the rest of her mother's rant, Zheng Mimi started to slowly walk in the direction of the odd object. As she edged closer, she realized it was an egg. Not just any egg, but the whitest egg she had ever seen in her life. And as a chef, she had seen many eggs.
"What on earth..." Zheng Mimi mumbled as she picked up the egg.
"...What do you mean by 'what on earth'? Do you think that the son isn't good enough! Fine, fine, there is the son of—"
"Mom, I'll call you back." Despite knowing that she'll get scolded later, Zheng Mimi hung up and analyzed the egg.
"Hmm... this is weird. I guess we forgot to put you back in the fridge." She picked up the egg and opened the fridge door, but before she could put the egg back, her stomach growled loudly.
Damn her foodie habits! One of the main reasons that she chose the profession of a chef was because she loved food. Both to eat and to make. But if she were to cook this egg, then she'd have to clean the dishes again. But it was as though her stomach heard her thoughts and growled even louder.
"Fine, fine! Geez, I hear you." She grumbled as she closed the fridge door without putting the egg back inside. She pulled out a pan for the egg. Looking at the time, it was 11:59 PM. She sighed in exhaustion. Zheng Mimi lifted the egg to crack, but before the eggshell could be cracked open, she started to grow dizzy. Looking at the floor, Zheng Mimi saw that there was a giant spiral of some sort turning at a rapid speed.
"What the—" she didn't have the chance to complete her sentence as she was already sucked in...