Olivia slid the last dish from a large pile into the sanitizer and breathed a sigh of relief. She wiped her sweaty forehead with the sleeve of her robe. She had been working at the fancy restaurant, The King’s Crown, for the past two months. The work was non-stop: cleaning the kitchen, taking out the garbage, and endless dishwashing. Despite all her responsibilities, Olivia was only paid a modest salary. It was just enough to support her two children and pay for their rented housing. By the time she came home, she was too exhausted to cook or help her kids with their homework, but she had no choice but to push herself.
This difficult situation was a result of her being a single mother. Growing up in an orphanage, Olivia had always dreamed of a big, loving family. She was fortunate to meet her soulmate, Wyatt, a kind and caring taxi driver. They married and had twin boys, Noah and Liam, who became her most precious treasure. Despite working tirelessly, Wyatt struggled to provide. Then, one day, he fell asleep at the wheel from exhaustion and got into a fatal accident.
The death of her husband was a devastating blow. Olivia was left alone to raise her two young children, who were just starting first grade. Overcoming her shyness and fear, she began to earn money in low-paying jobs—distributing flyers, putting up ads. Three years passed. Getting a job in the restaurant was a stroke of luck; though the pay was low, it was more than she had been earning.
The only thing that constantly worried Olivia was the way her sons were treated at school. They were often bullied because of their family’s poverty. They dressed as simply as possible. If something got torn, she would try to fix it. Unfortunately, Olivia herself couldn’t afford even the simplest new blouse and had to make do with worn-out clothes.
“Your last name should have been ‘Broken,’ not ‘Richie’,” Noah and Liam were teased by their wealthier classmates. “Look at them, they can’t even afford a donut,” their classmates laughed.
It was very painful for Olivia to hear such accusations, but the school administration was indifferent. She often wished she could enroll her sons in a school far away, but she knew she didn’t have the means.
One day, while cleaning the restaurant, Olivia noticed several plates of leftover food in a corner of the kitchen, next to the garbage can. Many of the dishes were still untouched. Customers had paid for them and then, for some reason, left them uneaten. Now, they were about to be thrown away. Among the leftovers were not only cold appetizers and cheese plates but also side dishes, pasta, and even broccoli mashed potatoes.
As Olivia looked at the edible treasure, her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten since the previous night. After a moment of thought, she quickly took out a couple of empty plastic containers and began to transfer the leftover food into them. Today, my children will not go hungry, she thought. Today, they will eat until they’re full.
That evening, the Richie twins got to taste cheese and real meat sausage. They devoured the containers of treats their mother had brought. Olivia, on the other hand, wept with happiness, seeing the healthy color slowly appearing on the pale, thin faces of her children.
From then on, every evening, Olivia would discreetly take away the dishes that the restaurant guests had barely touched. She only took what the guests had clearly refused, knowing the restaurant wouldn’t suffer any financial loss. The main patrons of The King’s Crown were wealthy people for whom the cost of a refused dish was insignificant.
One day, Olivia took in a stray dog, Cooper, that she had found in a garbage yard. Chef Fred and the waitresses at the restaurant laughed at Olivia. They didn’t know she had children and thought she was taking the food home for her dog. “God, she’s like a skeleton herself,” Fred would sometimes joke. “It would be better if Olivia herself ate something.”
For several months, everything went well, until The King’s Crown changed hands. A man named Stephen Brooks became the new owner. He was young and ambitious but had an obsessive desire to control everything. As a businessman, he was afraid his restaurant would be constantly robbed by his own employees. He installed several video cameras and personally monitored them.
One evening, while staying late, he saw on the monitor how Olivia was taking leftovers. Outraged, Steve immediately summoned the chef. “What the hell is this, Fred?” the owner asked, clearly upset. “I gave you the raise you asked for, and this is how you repay me? Hiring a thief in a dishwasher’s robe? Why is this woman taking food out of the kitchen so easily?”
The chef turned pale. “Well, Mr. Brooks,” Fred began hesitantly, “I mean, we got paid for that food. These leftovers were just going to be thrown away. At least now she’ll be able to feed her dog.” Then, Fred seemed to have an epiphany. “You know what? I don’t know. Olivia’s almost always the last one to leave, so I don’t know. We should check on her.”
Mr. Brooks let Fred go and began to ponder. He decided he would personally confront the dishwasher and shame her. Determined, the businessman located Olivia’s home address and headed straight there. On the way, he rehearsed his speech. What were you doing there, young lady? How can you so easily steal food from the kitchen? These ingredients are expensive. The economy is in crisis. What you’re doing is equivalent to stealing money from the company!
Mr. Brooks was approaching the house. He didn’t realize that he had driven to the outskirts of the city, to one of the poorest and most run-down neighborhoods. As he climbed the worn-out stairs, he hesitantly rang the doorbell. A second later, Olivia herself answered.
“Uh, good afternoon,” Mr. Brooks began briskly. “Are you Olivia Richie, if I’m not mistaken?”
Olivia looked at him with a confused expression. “Yes, it’s me. But who are you?”
“Oh, I apologize for coming at this hour. I’m the new owner of The King’s Crown. I have a very serious conversation with you. May I come in?”
The dog, Cooper, continued to bark. Olivia struggled to calm the animal before she could let the businessman inside. Once he was inside, Mr. Brooks immediately noticed the difficult conditions. The hallway had sagging wallpaper and an old floor lamp instead of a chandelier. Without meaning to, he looked past Olivia and saw a small kitchen where, to his great surprise, two twin boys were sitting happily eating the very leftovers from the restaurant.
“Uh… uh…” Mr. Brooks was surprised. “You have children?”
“Uh, yes, as you can see,” Olivia answered calmly.
Mr. Brooks went pale. “Oh my god. Um, I’m really sorry. I… I came here to reprimand you. I thought you were stealing food from the kitchen and feeding it to your dog. I’m really sorry. I had no idea you had children.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, those were for my children,” Olivia said with a bitter smile. “Our guests hardly tried these dishes, and at the end of the shift, me or Fred still had to dispose of them. Please understand, I would never have done this if it were dishes intended for the customers.”
Mr. Brooks felt extremely embarrassed. “Oh no, no, no, don’t worry, it’s all good. Um, you know what, let’s do it this way. Let me just go, and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? And I’m really sorry again for bothering you this late. Um, yeah, take care, guys.” He apologized humbly and left.
The following day, Mr. Brooks decided to do something he had never done before. He woke up early, in a great mood. As he arrived at the restaurant, he headed straight for the kitchen. As Olivia was dealing with another pile of dishes, Mr. Brooks walked in and asked her to come to his office. Olivia’s heart dropped. She didn’t know what was going to happen. She made eye contact with Miranda, one of the older waitresses, who just smiled back at her. “Don’t worry, I don’t think he’s going to fire you. He kind of seems different today.”
Olivia knocked on Stephen’s office. He jumped up and ran to the door. “Hi, yes, Olivia, please come in. Take a seat. How are you today?”
“Can’t complain. Got a pile of dishes I gotta do.”
“Of course. Hey, uh, listen, I apologize for last night once again.”
“Don’t worry, it’s all right. Uh, thank you for letting me take the leftovers. It’s really helping me a lot.”
“Oh, man, I think you shouldn’t take the leftovers anymore, Olivia. In fact, you know what? I’ll take care of the food for your kids, all right?”
“Oh, Mr. Brooks, um, you don’t have to.”
“Olivia, call me Stephen, please. And please, take this.” He handed her an envelope with cash.
“Is this my salary? I think it’s too much, and it’s only the beginning of the month.”
“No, that’s your bonus for doing so many dishes.”
Olivia knew she really needed the money, but she felt embarrassed. She asked Stephen if there was more work she could do to pay back.
“There is something you can do for me,” Stephen said. “Do you think you and the twins can accompany me on a trip somewhere?”
Long story short, she came out of Stephen’s office beaming. From then on, Stephen tried to help her all the time. Eventually, the dishwasher and the restaurant owner developed more serious feelings for each other.
Meanwhile, Stephen was still trying to reduce the financial losses in his restaurant. The true culprit behind the theft of valuable goods was finally discovered. It was the chef, Fred. He was an excellent chef, but it turned out he had problems with local gangsters. He had accumulated a large debt with drug dealers and was unable to pay them back. As punishment, they obliged him to steal products and cook at the gang’s leader’s house until he repaid his debt. Fred was caught on camera taking expensive fish from the fridge.
Stephen called Fred to his office. Fred was expecting to be fired immediately.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Steve began.
“I’m sorry, Steve. I was just desperate. These guys… they were threatening to hurt my family.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police, man? These are serious matters.”
Fred was one of the best chefs in town. Before Steve became successful, he had started his journey with a food cart, and Fred was the first employee he had hired. They had been good friends.
“Fred, you’re one of the best chefs I’ve known,” Steve said. “I’ve known you since we were young. I want to trust you. I’m going to give you another chance. You’ve been really good to me and helped me a lot when I was starting out. I will never forget that. But please, be honest with me.”
“Sure, Steve. Thank you so much.”
“How much is your debt?”
“Oh, it’s 20 grand, man.”
“All right, consider it covered. I’m going to talk to them.”
Steve didn’t want to fire Fred. Also, because if Fred hadn’t been stealing, he wouldn’t have learned more about Olivia and her sons. Now, he was seriously considering proposing to Olivia and adopting Noah and Liam.
Stephen’s heart was completely healed. He had divorced his wife six months ago because she cheated on him with his business partner. Now, the businessman was ready for a serious, genuine relationship. He asked Olivia to move into his place with the boys. They all now lived together in a large, spacious apartment. He had decided not to go too far and chose the pure and honest love of Olivia.