Gemotions

The review hit Chef Renata like a physical blow. The words, splashed across the food section, mocked her ambition. She felt the blood drain from her face. “A culinary wasteland,” the critic had written of her restaurant.

Her lips thinned as she read it again, each word a condemnation. She grabbed the review and crumpled it into a ball, then threw it in the trash. The simple act of discarding the paper was not enough.

She looked at her reflection in the stainless steel of the oven. Her eyes were hard and narrow. She took a deep breath. She would not be broken. She would prove them wrong. She would work until her hands bled if that's what it took.