Chapter Three: Peace Hotel 1

Natasha flashed a shy grin at Foggy Nelson standing in front of her. She gracefully took his business card and said, "Thanks a bunch!"

"I had no clue those two big dogs were so vicious. Why'd they wanna go after me?"

Foggy was about to answer when the blind dude next to him jabbed him with his cane and said, "We gotta move. Alvin only makes 50 teppanyaki steaks a day. If we're late, we're outta luck."

Foggy quickly nodded, "Right, right, we gotta hustle.

"Sorry, miss, but we gotta catch our late dinner."

With that, Foggy opened the door and called out, "C'mon, Matt. I don't wanna miss Alvin's teppanyaki steak."

Feeling ignored by the two guys, Natasha found it all pretty weird. Nothing today was going as she expected.

But that just made her more curious about this place.

With two giant wolves blocking the entrance, barging in wasn't the best idea. But as a spy, she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

Natasha pulled out her phone and made a call, sounding all panicked, "Hello, 911?

I'm at 34th Street in Hell's Kitchen. There are two giant wolves here, and they look like they wanna attack me. Please come quick and save me~"

About 15 minutes later, a cop car rolled up, and two officers got out.

A middle-aged officer walked up to Natasha and asked, "Miss, did you call the cops? Where are these giant wolves you mentioned?"

Natasha was shocked that the middle-aged officer ignored the giant wolves right in front of him and came over to ask her. Didn't he see the young officer greeting the two giant wolves?

Frowning, Natasha said, "Aren't those giant wolves? They almost attacked me when I tried to get into this restaurant." She pointed to the two giant wolves, who were now shooing away the young officer.

The middle-aged officer smiled and said, "Those aren't giant wolves. They're the pet dogs of the Peace Hotel's owner. They're registered with us. They've never attacked anyone without a reason. Maybe you have some scent on you."

He looked at Natasha, sensing something off about her.

Natasha "oh"ed and said, "So if I wanna go in, you two won't just watch me get attacked by these, hmm~ pets, right?" She gave the middle-aged officer a knowing look.

The middle-aged officer, guessing a bit about Natasha's identity, smiled wryly and said, "Of course, you can go in. I guarantee Thor and Dom won't attack you. But I gotta remind you, the owner here, Alvin, is a good guy."

Natasha smiled, ignoring the warning in his words. She slightly raised her chin, signaling she wanted to go in.

Inside the restaurant, there were only six tables and two booths against the wall. They were already packed. Foggy and Matt found two seats at the bar.

"Matt, why'd we have to leave so fast? It's rare to meet a beautiful woman here! Oh~ I forgot you can't see." Just as Foggy finished talking, he noticed a petite, delicate girl at the bar holding two glasses of lemonade, about to place them in front of them. But hearing Foggy's words, she handed one of the glasses to a boy in a wheelchair reading a book at the bar.

The kid grinned, showing off his two missing front teeth, and said, "Thanks, Jessica!" She placed the other glass in front of Matt and tapped it, making a "ding~" sound. "Here's your lemonade. The teppanyaki steak's gonna be a bit late today. Hang tight!"

After that, she shot Foggy a glare and went off to settle the bill for a table of customers who were leaving.

Foggy whined, "Hey~ Jess, that's not fair. Why didn't I get a drink?" He then turned to the kid at the bar, "Hey, buddy, that lemonade should be mine. If you give it to me, Mr. Foggy Nelson will write you a commendation letter."

The kid made a face at Foggy, picked up the lemonade, and mimicked how people on TV drink wine, swirling, sniffing, and then taking a small, satisfied sip.

Foggy, being the good sport he was, made a funny face, pretending to be a monster, trying to scare the kid. The two of them played around, one big and one small.

Matt just smiled and shook his head, feeling both helpless and amused by Foggy's antics.

At the far end of the bar, against the wall, was a stove with ten small burners. Alvin, wearing an apron, was juggling ten teppanyaki steaks at once. Without turning around, he said, "Foggy, if you keep bugging our Mr. Nick Custer while he's reading, you can kiss tonight's dinner goodbye. Our Mr. Custer only got a D in math yesterday."

"Hey~ Alvin, we agreed not to tell anyone." Nick protested loudly, waving his arms.

Alvin didn't turn around and teased, "Yeah, we agreed you'd quietly finish your homework in your room today, but here you are in the restaurant again."

Nick said guiltily, "You went out just now, and Jess was alone. I wanted to help." He then remembered something and raised the book in his hand, shaking it. "And I was just reading." He finished with a look of earnest effort.

"Yeah, Mr. Bookworm, can Batman in your book teach you how to get an A?" Alvin said, using special tongs to pick up a finished teppanyaki steak and placing it on a pinewood tray. He picked up the tray with one hand and placed the steak on a rack on Nick's wheelchair. "Kid, take this to old Stan and chat with him about Batman. See if you can get a tip."

"Alvin, you can't do that. Nick's still a kid! He just doesn't have a knack for studying. You can't force him; it'll only make things worse." Foggy protested to Alvin, earning a big eye roll from Nick.

"Foggy, are you really gonna lecture a Chinese guy on how to raise kids? Are you sure about that?" A white guy also waiting for his meal at the bar, with his hand propping up his chin, causing the fat on his chin to spill out to the sides, making his cheeks look particularly bloated. The white guy looked at Alvin's busy back with reverence and continued to flatter, "You know, Chinese kids are super good at school. My old school teacher even said that Chinese people have some kind of magic that makes their kids really smart."

Foggy seemed to dislike this white guy and said sarcastically, "Sheriff, why do I only see you here on this day every month? What are you waiting for? What benefit makes the famous Sheriff, the car dealership owner, obediently sit here every month on this day? Is it for that steak?"

"Hey, Foggy, you need to show me some respect." Sheriff shouted angrily but didn't say anything more offensive. Everyone here knew that owner Alvin hated people swearing, especially in front of kids.