Everything threatens to collapse
What happened so far:
Jonas Keller, host and co-owner of the restaurant “Frost & Flamme,” is under a lot of pressure as a Christmas dinner is being prepared and one mistake could ruin everything. After a dramatic incident during a charity dinner, the police investigate the restaurant, which makes Jonas nervous as he has to maintain the facade he has painstakingly built up. In the office, which looks like a stage after the premiere, he is confronted with questions and concerns from investors about the damage to his image caused by the death of his partner. While the technology in the dining room is being checked, Jonas reflects on the humiliations of the past and wonders whether he will keep the stage of his life or fall with it.
The article in the morning newspaper was worded objectively, but each paragraph cut a little deeper. "Internal tensions in the 'Frost & Flame' – investigations are directed at business partners." Next to it is a photo of him, taken at some award ceremony. Smiling, impeccable, immaculate.
The headline was not an accusation, not yet. But it showed a direction. And the city loved directions.
Jonas put the paper aside and leafed through the documents that his lawyer had prepared for him. Bank statements, contracts, e-mails. Anything that seemed harmless enough to give out. Everything that was dangerous was in a separate folder, physically in a closet to which only he had the key.
He thought of the man whose name was written next to his on the façade. Of the evenings when they had drunk their way up, younger, megalomaniac, convinced that the city would one day dance to their beat. Of the moment when "we" had slowly become "he" – the one who sang, posed, talked.
And last night. Of the narrow hallway, the shrill echo of the song in the background, the one second in which his hand had been too firm, his thrust too hard.
Outside the window, the fairy lights of the neighboring house flashed impatiently. Inside, Jonas counted the options. Silence, deny, direct. Or talk – and lose everything.
For the first time in a long time, he wasn't sure if he really knew how to survive on this stage.
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