The moment the four men split up at the intersection, their real work began.
With their helmets on and their motorbikes’ engines roaring, they scattered in different directions, following the route on their phones.
For once, the four weren’t running away from trouble, from debt, or from bad choices. Instead, they were running toward something that was actually helpful.
Back at the store, the change was immediately noticeable.
With the addition of 4 delivery drivers, the mountain of pending online orders started to lessen bit by bit. The people who were cancelling goods had also decreased.
The staff became motivated again, too. Without thinking about that problem, their sole attention was now focused on packing orders, double-checking, and distributing them out.
With the complaint from Gray, a few more riders arrived on their system, too. It seemed like Jet2 personally took action to help resolve their complaints. Gray and Joel just wished that it would continue on.
Joel hardly had to refresh the system before a few more riders came through the door to get the goods and deliver them to the buyers.
Now, every customer who ordered groceries received them on time, sometimes even earlier than expected. It was strange how quickly the atmosphere changed.
And the four men... they were efficient in a way nobody had expected.
They wasted no time. They rode their motorbikes with expertise, and every time they returned, it was with the same wide grins as if they were just playing.
The store became lively and loud because of them.
"Ha! You’re last again, slowpoke!" one of them barked out loud before playfully smacking his buddy on the helmet as he pulled it off.
"Shut your mouth! My route was longer than yours!"
"Tsk. Excuses, excuses. Just admit it, I’m the fastest here."
"Fastest? You nearly flipped the bag earlier when you turned that corner, dumbass!"
"Shut up!"
Their laughter was loud and unrestrained. They don’t care if they were getting some stares from their fellow delivery drivers or a few customers. They were in their whole world.
They teased each other relentlessly, but never slacked when Rome called them out for another round of orders. The moment their names were called, the joking stopped, and they grabbed the next bag like they were used to it.
Then off they go again. They put on their helmets and drove away.
After a few more hours, the difference in their system’s performance was undeniably better.
Joel sat behind a chair at one of the counters. He was looking at their computer, counting their orders throughout the day. It was just 4 in the afternoon, and their online store operates until 7 in the evening.
"Woah..." His eyes widened as the number appeared on the screen.
"Eighty-six orders," he read out slowly. His voice cracked a little. "That’s... that’s the highest we’ve had in four days!"
"Eighty-six orders?" Gray’s brows furrowed. He quickly stood beside Joel and looked at the screen.
"We really got 86 orders!" He muttered out loud, amused.
Gray’s lips slowly curved into a smile as he stared at the numbers on the screen.
But he quickly reminded himself that it wasn’t done yet.
They still had three hours left before closing the online store. And for him... there were still three hundred and forty more orders to reach his own mission.
’We need to work harder...’ Gray clapped his hands together, loud enough for his nearby staff to hear.
"Alright, guys!" His voice was loud and was full of energy, drawing everyone’s attention. "Let’s keep this going. Let’s aim for more orders!"
Joel, who had been slumped in his chair from exhaustion, suddenly straightened up and saluted with a grin.
"Yes, sir!"
Rome, who was standing on the side with a piece of paper in hand, agreed immediately too.
"Yes, sir!"
The staff, who was busy on their own work, stopped momentarily just to raise their hand in a fist. Some even nodded in determination.
"Let’s get more orders!" they muttered in loud silence.
And just like that, the atmosphere in the store picked up again.
Away from the shoppers, in the corner, the sound of tape ripping, plastic bags rustling, and shoes thumping across the floor filled the air as the staff moved faster.
Each time the 4 thugs returned, they would laugh, mutter a few teasing remarks about one another, and then grab the next batch of orders.
And they never slowed down.
Order after order, bag after bag, the four of them delivered like machines. Sweat dripped down their forehead, their shirts clung to their backs because of sweat, but the smiles on their face never faded.
Every time they arrived, Gray would tell them to sit down and rest for a while, but they just waved him off.
"Nah, Boss. We don’t need rest."
"Yeah. This is nothing!"
"We want to keep moving!"
"This is like a workout for us!"
"Yes! Yes!" One of them even laughed so hard he slapped his thigh, nearly dropping the helmet he was holding.
"In the past, we used to spend the whole day running around the city just to pick fights with people. That was our workout back then!"
"Hell yeah. We’d fight until our fists went numb and our enemies’ faces were swollen."
"And now look at us. We have the same routine of running around the whole day. But this time, we’re actually helping people."
"Boss Gray, this is way better than picking fights. At least the groceries don’t punch back!"
The four of them burst into laughter as they shared life stories to Gray.
Gray, who had been listening to their chatter, pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head slowly.
Their life sounded unbelievable.
"I guess... you do you," he muttered in a low voice as the corners of his lips curved up to a small smile.
When the clock finally struck seven, the sound of the notification bell in their system went quiet.
Joel checked the system twice just to be sure, then raised his head with a grin.
"That’s it. That was the last one." He informed everyone after the last order had been packed, sealed, and sent off.
With a huge grin, he suddenly stood up straight and clapped his hands together.
"And guess what?" He raised his brows and looked at the team.
"We got one hundred and one orders today! We actually crossed the one-hundred mark!" he announced out loud.
The staff, who had been running around since morning, couldn’t help but cheer. Some raised their arms, some clapped, and a few even let out tired but triumphant laughs.
"Finally!"
"Damn, that was crazy..."
"But we did it!"
"We actually crossed 100 orders today?"
"Yes!!!!"
"Let’s pack more orders tomorrow!"
The four thugs, who came stomping back, also arrived just in time to hear the good news.
Their helmets loosely dangled from their hands, their faces were drenched in sweat, but their grins were wide and unstoppable.
"One hundred and one?" one of them repeated, his voice booming.
"HA! We killed it today!"
"Of course we did! We’re unstoppable!"
"Boss Gray, are you seeing this? Huh? We’re legends now!"
The laughter that followed was so loud.
Gray stood near the counter, watching all of them with his hands in his pockets. His chest felt warm. It had been a long time since the store had been this loud, this alive.
He let them have their own fun for a moment before finally speaking.
He was actually proud of his own employees.
"Alright, everyone," he said out loud. He raised his voice just enough to cut through the noise.
"Since everyone worked hard today... I ordered food for all of you."
The staff erupted.
"What?!"
"No way!"
"Boss, you’re the best!"
"We got free food again!"
"Sir Gray, you should visit the store every day!"
The four thugs were the loudest. They threw their helmets on the side and raised their fists in the air. Afterward, they yelled like kids.
"FOOD!"
"Yes! Let’s gooo!"
"I’m starving, Boss! You’re a lifesaver!"
"You hear that? Food’s on the house!"
Gray chuckled and made some arrangements on his phone as everyone cleaned up and moved to the staff room.
After a few more minutes, the delivery guy finally arrived.
The staff room was transformed into chaos. Boxes of food were spread out across the table.
There were fried chicken, noodles, rice meals, and even bottles of soda.
The staff squeezed into every corner of the room, laughing, eating, and talking all at once.
Among them, the four thugs were the noisiest.
"Oi, don’t hog all the chicken, bastard!"
"Shut up, I carried more orders than you today!"
"Lies! I was the fastest, admit it!"
"Fastest at eating, maybe!"
"Guys, who do you think is the worst among us?"
"Don’t mind us and just eat!"
They weren’t only talking to each other, but to every staff member in the room.
Rome and Joel couldn’t stop laughing at their antics, while the rest of the staff enjoyed their food with tired but happy faces.
Gray sat back on one of the chairs, watching quietly as everyone filled the room with warmth and noise. For once, the exhaustion didn’t feel heavy. It felt good.
They had crossed the one-hundred mark order, and he knew that it was only the beginning.