Juliet had become the unwilling spectator in the love story, and she saw Janet toss Francis into the friend zone without even giving him a chance! It wasn’t as though Janet didn’t like Francis, but Juliet could tell that Janet just wasn’t interested in romance at all. Many men tried to get close to Janet since she was beautiful, but Janet didn’t give anyone the time of day, and Juliet figured that Janet’s coldness was probably because of a past relationship or something, so she never bothered to talk about it.
But Francis was a tenacious young man, and he continued trying to get even closer to Janet! Many people in the guild began to tease Francis about what he was doing, and there were some who were placing bets on whether or not Jason would kill Francis for trying to date his sister. But Juliet made sure Francis didn’t find out about any of this, and she just continued to watch the love story between the two youngsters. And now, more than two months after they first met, Juliet could finally see some progress in the relationship! Francis and Janet weren’t dating yet, but they were close friends, and Juliet knew they liked each other. It was just a matter of time before they started dating! Well, that was if Jason didn’t kill Francis for trying to date his sister.
"The restaurant should have that new Brazilian barbecue sauce today, so I’m going to give it a try and see how Mira’s doing. I heard there’s been some reporters going over to the restaurant recently, so I need to make sure they’re not trying anything stupid. Come on."
"Hey, Madam Juliet, you’re taking Francis to the restaurant!? Come on, you took him two weeks ago! I haven’t been there in like a month!"
Juliet was about to enter the helicopter, but she stopped when one of the other members of the Alpha Squad suddenly spoke up from behind Francis! The man who spoke had short brown hair and a strong build. He was an SS-rank brawler who had three Diamond Bear subordinates, and in terms of sheer physical strength, he was seen as the strongest member of the guild! This man was named George Bulstrud, and Juliet clicked her tongue in annoyance once she saw him! Juliet pointed an accusing finger at George and spoke in an annoyed tone!
"I’m never taking you back there. The last time you went, you almost emptied out Mira’s inventory, and we had to stock up on everything again! If you’re hungry, then go order some food or something! Come on, Francis."
George pouted sadly as Juliet turned and entered the helicopter! As superhumans, all members of the Monarch Guild were very heavy eaters, and anytime they went to Mira’s restaurant, they would eat tons of food! But George had been the worst that Juliet had ever seen, and the last time she took him to the restaurant, he nearly emptied out Mira’s entire inventory! The Monarch Guild was in charge of financing the Marc restaurant for anything it needed, so Mira didn’t really suffer any losses from the food! But it was a matter of principle! Juliet had been so embarrassed in front of her benefactor’s mother! There was no way she was taking George anywhere ever again!
Francis pat George on the shoulder with a small laugh, and the rest of the Alpha Squad could only watch as the helicopter took off towards the Marc restaurant!
Over the past few months, the Marc restaurant has also changed a lot. Mira Marc had refused to leave the building where she and her husband started the restaurant all those years ago, but when the news that Jason’s mother was running a restaurant reached the larger media, the entire area around the restaurant went through a transformation unlike anything ever seen before. There were now high-class hotels and five-star restaurants located close by, and the SMD had even created a small branch only a few blocks away from the restaurant to protect the area! The property value of the entire block had gone up by more than ten times in the past two months alone, but Mira didn’t need to bother about things like rent since Jason already bought the building for her. The Marc restaurant now took up the entire building, with the bottom floor being used for simple fast food and the top floor being used for events and fine dining.
Ratatatatata!
The sound of the Monarch helicopter approaching from a distance echoed through the area, and the helicopter swerved gently to the side before landing on the helipad on top of a large hotel a few blocks away from Mira’s restaurant! Juliet and Francis came down from the helicopter before the helicopter quickly took off to make space for another helicopter to land! This hotel was named the Red Lotus, and it was known to host many top members of society, so there were always helicopters coming from different parts of the world! Juliet looked down at Mira’s restaurant, and she smiled when she saw that the restaurant was filled up as usual. Nowadays, rather than having regular people visiting the restaurant, the restaurant hosted more celebrities, politicians, and mega-rich individuals!
’All those luxury cars parked outside, it’s more than last time. That one belongs to Catty Vine, the actress, and that one’s from one of the members of the Senate House. There are also more guards than before. Is that the Secret Service in the black suits? That means a relative of the president should be inside as well. I think that limo belongs to the Fantano family. We’ve been doing Mana stone business with them for a while. The daughter of the family head likes the food here, so it’s probably hers.’
Juliet quickly tried to figure out how many important people were inside the restaurant, and she let out a small sigh as she realised it was another full house. Juliet gestured to Francis, and Francis carried Juliet up bridal style and jumped off the roof before landing softly on the ground! The two of them should have taken the stairs since it was illegal to use their superhuman powers outside of a gate, but the fine for using powers to jump off a building was just about two thousand dollars, and Juliet made more money than that every second! So Juliet would happily pay the two thousand dollars to save herself the few minutes it would take to walk downstairs! As they approached the restaurant, Juliet noticed the guards standing around all glancing at them with suspicion, but the moment the guards saw that it was just Juliet and Francis, they turned away while speaking into their comms to announce that there was no threat.
Juliet headed towards the door, and she stopped as she saw someone coming out.
"Ah, Madam Juliet. It’s a pleasure!"
The person who spoke was a round man with an excited smile on his face. The man had a head of brown hair, and he was slightly shorter than Juliet, but his smile was extremely infectious, and Juliet couldn’t help but smile back at him! This man was the president of one of the A-rank guilds that had come into Riverdale recently, and Juliet had met him many times during the Gate Auctions at the SMD, where guilds placed bids to secure gates for their members. Juliet bowed her head slightly in greeting.
"It’s a pleasure to see you again, President Falco."
"Bah, I already told you just to call me Falco. It would be my honor to hear my name from a woman as beautiful as you! Haha! Oh, and look here! It’s young Francis! I hear your group just finished off an Orange Gate a few minutes ago, and you’re already on the move again! The youngins these days are so energetic! Hoho!"