"Everyone is welcome to the opening of Fusia Restaurant!" Carmen Quartet stood beautifully under the signboard of her very own restaurant dressed in a navy-blue skirt suit paired with a pair of black, red-bottom heels and her hair tied up in a bun while giving her opening speech to mark a new chapter in her life.
"More than ten years ago, I was in an orphanage, but I had to leave at the age of sixteen as they could no longer support me. I lacked a high school diploma so I couldn't get any decent jobs. In the beginning, I used to roam these very streets, without a home. I had to rotate between shelters for food. But I decided that I didn't want to live and die like that, so for months after that I took on any job that would pay no matter how little it was, I would run around the city doing all kinds of errands and hard labor. Finally, I managed to save enough to build a cart, with what little experience I had from my time in the orphanage helping the matrons to prepare food I started selling street food. I would try to change up the menu depending on the season and on different events going on in the city to keep customers interested in what I had to sell. It was hard to make my little food cart business stand out from everyone else's, but I did it. From then on, I not only dreamed of opening my own restaurant, I worked hard because I had no one to support me but myself. Even in my darkest times, I could only hold onto myself and my dreams and be my loudest supporter. Now, after ten years of labor and pain, I have finally achieved this dream of mine. I thank all those who have supported my business over the years and made it possible for me to have this day," with her hand crossing her chest, she bowed her head and did a 90-degree bow to the crowd looking up at her.
She stepped back and took the huge pair of scissors from her assistant and posed for the shuttering cameras as she cut the ribbon at the entrance. She laughed and cheered with the crowd as they poured into the venue after shaking her hands. When all the guests had poured into the rustic styled restaurant, Carmen turned and called out to her assistant who was speaking with some guests.
"Layla!" she called out. Layla looked over to her and began walking towards her with a smile before her face quickly morphed into one of pure horror.
"Carmen!" she shouted with outstretched hands. "Move!"
As if guided by some invisible force, Carmen looked up to see the signboard of her own design falling towards her and soon her vision went dark.
*BOOM BOOM*
The loud ruckus woke me from my reverie, the memories of my last life that haunted me even in my next quickly turned to smoke as my eyes shot open.
"What are you doing? It's almost time for dinner." The frumpy lady who could easily pass for a man if not for her broad hips and large bosom, shouted gruffly. "Don't make me regret giving you a chance, girl!" she warned.
"Yes, madam Zanine!" I quickly got up from the corner I had dosed off in and went to work, preparing the dinner for the servants who were currently out serving every whim of the true masters of this palace.
Yes, palace.
After dying as Carmen Quartet, I had woken up in the body of a scrawny little girl no older than 5 years old who didn't even possess a name, at least not at that time. And it was apparent that the original owner of the body had been suffering from a high fever some hours before, leaving her body worse for wear. Before I could even catch my breath, it was knocked out of me from the force of all the information that drilled itself into my tiny brain. And just as I woke up, I passed out in a dingy, rundown room that smelled of mold and sweat. It was evident that the once glamourous life I had worked so hard for was long gone, like the ashes of a dead fire.