Location :- Addilyn's Home

Addilyn's POV :-

This day felt like it's never going to end. First I had so much work in my restaurant and second, Reese was hell bent on setting me with a date.

Thinking about my first problem, i.e. 'being a chef.' People think that it's all about cooking but, trust me, it's not. Being a chef, I can say there are various difficulties faced by chefs all over the world. Being a chef is very difficult , you need to be strong enough to tolerate the high demand of customers around.

Watching celebrity chefs on television, in their crisp white jackets and sparkling, immaculate kitchens, it's easy to gain a falsely positive impression of the business. In truth it takes many years of grinding toil to become a chef, and even the finest sometimes suffer significant setbacks. Building a culinary career takes persistence and stamina, and budding chefs face many hazards along the way. Just like I am facing. My problems are little easier as I started a very early career but, it's not the same for everyone.

The restaurant business is physically gruelling. Cooks and chefs spend most of the day on their feet, and it's often necessary to lift and carry heavy bags or boxes of ingredients. The commercial kitchen is filled with sharp blades and dangerously hot surfaces, so both cuts and burns are commonplace. During a busy shift the floors can become slippery from grease or moisture, creating a slipping hazard. Many of the powerful cleansers, grease cutters and sanitizers used in the industry are toxic and corrosive, presenting health risks of their own when used incorrectly. The long and erratic hours can interfere with normal sleep patterns, increasing fatigue and mental stress.

And this is not all. Cooks and chefs are under constant pressure to perform. Restaurants operate on thin profit margins, so time and cost constraints are a daily reality in the chef's life. Keeping up on the administrative side of the position includes meeting management's goals for performance, ensuring adequate staffing and coping with daily personality conflicts among the staff. Chefs are also responsible for training staff to maintain appropriate standards of cleanliness and sanitation, which can be an especially grave difficulty in establishments with high staff turnover.

Being a chef can make it difficult to enjoy a normal life outside of the kitchen. In most establishments dinner is the main meal of the day, and your service might end at any time from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. This means no dinner at home with your mom and dad, no late night talks with your friends, no movie nights as we have to wake up early, and no breakfasts together before work. The long hours and constant stress often mean you aren't much fun on your days off, either. The stresses of the job often lead to substance abuse, which thankfully didn't happen in my case.

Now, coming to the second problem. After my tragic encounter with Axel and Ashley, Reese started thinking that I should find someone and just settle down. So, she sent me to meet a guy at the garden. And it went... horrible.

When the lights turned down, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky

I turn to see my phone ringing with Reese's name.

"How could you do this to me Lynn !"

I had to put some distance between my phone and ear because Reese was quite loud.

"First calm down and then, tell me what happened."

I respond calmly even though I know what she is talking about.

"You know what I am talking about. Who told you to ruin your date by pretending to be someone you are not."

"I did none of that. I just told him that it's best to be single."

"You can't be serious... "

"I am."

"Mark told me that you went on talking and talking. Did I not tell you that this is off limits. A sure-fire way to ruin a date is to not let your date get a word in edgeways."

"I didn't do that. Mark is overstretching things here."

"Are you serious Lynn! A conversation, like a date, is a two way process; it's about getting to know each other to decide whether there's a basis for a potential relationship. Talking non-stop will make you seem boring and egotistical, and unless you really are trying to put off a date we're pretty sure you don't want to come across like that."

"Come on Reese. Stop talking about this setting up thing. I appreciate you for being open in introducing me to all the potentials you know. Don't get me wrong; I've also been guilty of playing cupid, myself. In fact, I've actually tried playing matchmaker many times. I love the idea of two people falling in love, and if I can be a part of two people finding their soul mates, I will take it. But, I don't want to fall in love. Neither am I interested in finding a soul mate. And I hope you will respect my wishes."

"But, you can't live single forever. ."

"NO, people don't die simply due to 'lack of love'."

"Researchers have found that loneliness is just as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Lonely people are 50 percent more likely to die prematurely than those with healthy social relationships. ... It also increases inflammation in the body, which can contribute to heart disease and other chronic health conditions. So, please try to understand."

"Stop narrating Google sites on 'why love is important'. Since when did you start learning psychology ?"

"But, Lynn..."

"Not now, Reese. I have had enough of this now. Please..."

"Sorry Lynn... But I just wanted to help."

"I know. Now, let me take some rest. It was quite hectic today."

"Yeah sure. Take care and good night."

"Bye."

I put my phone back on the stand and try to take a nap but, I couldn't sleep.

"Hectic day ?"

My mother comes to my room and put her hand on my forehead, stroking my hair lightly.

I just smile at her question, with my eyes closed.

"You are hardly home Lynn, nowadays. It seems like you are trying to make your work an escape route from the world."

"It's not like that mom. My third restaurant just opened and I have to work for establishing it."

"Can I tell you a story like old days ?"

When I was a kid, my parents used to tell me bedtime stories so that I can sleep faster. But, as I grew up, the custom changed. I just smile and shake my head at her.

"You don't need permission mom. Just no fairytale love story."

"Sure dear. Do you know about our Goddess Eos ?"

"Goddess of the dawn ?"

"Yeah.. This is one of the saddest love story in Greek mythology. The dawn goddess Eos is almost always described with rosy fingers or rosy forearms as she opens the gates of heaven for the Sun to rise.

Long ago the goddess Eos fell in love with Ares, the god of war, and like so many others, he could not resist the beauty of this goddess of the dawn. Rosy-fingered Eos dressed in long robes of saffron, and sitting upon her throne she glimmered and cast a look upon Ares he could not resist."

"Humans are just like that. What can you expect from normal people nowadays when God himself is like this."

"No bad mouthing about God Lynn."

"Is it not the truth that he was involved with Aphrodite, who was already wedded to Hephaestus."

"You won't understand dear. But, I don't want to argue here, so let me continue the story."

"Sorry Mom, if my views are disturbing here."

"It's okay Lynn. Now, back to story...

Finally, Aphrodite heard news of Ares' love, and bursting with jealousy, she cast a curse upon Eos that the goddess of the dawn would never stop falling in love.'"

"As expected." I murmured but mom heard it and she slapped me on forehead playfully.

"And so it was that time after time, Eos fell in love with mortal men. This was a sad fate for a goddess, for mortal men do not live forever as goddesses do. But of all the tales of heartbreak, she experienced the most in the case of Tithonus.

Tithonus was a proud young man, a prince of Troy, handsome and brave, and the moment Eos saw him, she fell deeply in love. That was her way, but this time she decided she must carry him away with her, and so she brought him to her palace, away from his homeland.

Naturally Tithonus loved Eos. Who could resist the love of such a beautiful goddess? Just as she does today, in those years long ago, Eos woke the world each morning with curling rings of light, and every morning she mystically brought the world out of darkness. Whenever Tithonus looked at her, he felt a glow, the way so many people feel at dawn -- as buoyant as an April morning on those days when the first buds begin to bloom.

Tithonus and Eos lived together happily, and they had two sons, Memnon and Emathion, who also became famous among men and gods. All seemed well, but as time passed, Eos remembered something she had forgotten: Mortals do not live forever.

Eos began to mourn the future. How would she survive without her love? She could not imagine such a life, and so she asked the greatest god of all, Zeus, to grant Tithonus immortality.

"Please," Eos pleaded, "let my beloved Tithonus live forever." Her eyes filled with tears, her skin flushed, and even Zeus was moved, and so he granted her request.

Now Tithonus was immortal.

Never was there a happier man. Loved by a beautiful goddess, he was a proud father and ruler of a bountiful land, and Eos too was joyful, but they hadn't realized one thing.

Tithonus would live forever, but even Zeus did not have the power to make him a god. And so, as time passed, Tithonus, like all mortals, began to age. First Eos noticed the wrinkles upon his brow, and as the years passed, his muscles began to grow weak, his arms and legs grew slender, his hair grew gray and thin. Even the light of his beloved Eos no longer gave him the strength it once had.

When Eos understood Tithonus's fate, the sight of him filled her with such sadness that she could not bear to look at him. So she left him alone and traveled, falling in love with others.

Eos fell in love with other mortal men and other gods, and when she returned to Tithonus she would see her once-handsome beloved withering away. Day after day, he grew older. Like a shadow he roamed silent palaces of the gods of the east, thinking of long-ago days, remembering Eos' wish for his immortality, and ashamed of his desire for it.

How arrogant he had been. He hadn't thought of the future. In his youth he had never even imagined waste, and now here he was wasting away. Even love and beauty and power could not save him. Soon he wanted to be like other mortal men. He wished for the return of the natural order of life.

Some mornings when a soft breeze parted the clouds, he looked down at the dark world where he had once lived, and again he looked at Eos. Seeing her mysterious glimmering face and her exquisite light, he remembered the way she had once loved him. He watched with longing as the gloomy darkness below parted, and the rosy light of his beloved Eos warmed the world. This made him still sadder, for her warmth and glow were now lost to him, and he began to sing, "Give me back my mortality." But even the gods could not grant this request.

And now the rosy shadows of Eos bathed him in coldness as he looked down at his wrinkled feet, and cried out to Eos: "Every morning you renew your beauty, but I am a fool, a fool who desired to be different from his fellow men, and now I cry to you, forever. I will never stop singing this song. I sit here remembering what I cannot be."

Eos could bear this no longer, and so she used her powers to transform this shell of a man into a cicada. She watched as he emerged from the ground, his body pale but fresh as he shed his old skin, wings spreading where once there were arms, and that voice, singing on, and on, and on."

"How bad it is for Tithonus... Eos continues to live like she used to but, he suffered."

"Listen Addilyn, there's a lot of empathy in relationships where couples are deeply bonded together. When they hurt, you hurt. True love includes respect, admiration, care, and never subjecting your partner to hurt, humiliation or any form of abuse.

And their's was true love. That feeling is ethereal. So, suffering and suffocation don't come on one partner only. You will understand this when time comes. Now, close your eyes and try to sleep. It's getting late."

While sleeping, I just murmur one thing, "As if I would ever understand that."

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Number of words : 2251

Greek Goddess Eos

Eos taking leave from Tithonus.