"So, you wanted to talk to me? It sounded urgent, and you also sounded...angry?”
Melissa just stared at Tory as she sipped from her cup of lemonade. She wasn’t particularly mad, well she was but it had subsided compared to how much she was seething with rage yesterday. All she wanted was answers from her. She didn’t want to bombard Tory with a lot of questions on the phone and thought it’ll be better to talk it out in person.
“Mm, it’s not like I’m angry, well, not anymore.” Melissa finally said.
Tory winced and groaned.
“Let me guess, The date didn’t go well?”
“The date not going well is an understatement, a really huge one.”
Tory gaped at Melissa, her face full of curiosity and a slight hint of worry.
“What happened? Please tell me it wasn’t that bad.”
Melissa sighed and placed her cup of lemonade on the table as she tried not to relive the memories of last night’s date, but she had to, Tory needed to know what she had set her up with.
“First off, Who is that man... Gabriel Marshall?”
Tory pondered on her question for a while.
“Well...I’m not really sure. He was on the list of men I went through. I thought he was really hot, and he looked rich, so I picked him.”
Tory didn’t know who he was, so Melissa was sure he wasn’t some kind of celebrity.
“Did he do something to you?”
Melissa grimaced, not sure how to respond to her question.
“Gabriel Marshall, he is the most arrogant asshole I’ve ever met.”
Tory’s eyes lit up. Her curiosity had sky rocketed and she was looking at Melissa expectantly, waiting for her to continue. Melissa did, and told her everything that occurred during the date last night. She couldn’t help but cringe as she recounted every word he had said to her, without leaving out a single detail. Tory listened intently as she sipped on her latte.
“I cried all night Tory. It was frustrating, annoying. What annoyed me the most was that I cried because of him, that prideful man, but I couldn’t stop the water works.” Melissa said, rubbing her arm.
“I’m so sorry Mel, I didn’t know this was going to happen. I’m really, really sorry.”
Melissa felt a bit better seeing how sorry Tory was. She knew it wasn’t her fault. There was no way her best and only friend would intentionally set her up with a douchebag. But Melissa blamed her a bit, because she was the one that pushed and cajoled her into going for a blind date, something she clearly didn’t want to do.
“Hmm, I don’t think I’ll accept your apology so easily. After all I was humiliated last night because of you.” Melissa teased as she drummed her fingers on the round table.
“Aw, c’mon Mel, caught me some slack here.” Tory whined.
“I will accept your apology if you...”
“If I?”
“Buy me lunch. Good thing were at a restaurant.”
“Yes, your highness, I shall buy you lunch, anything you desire.” Tory said with a dramatic bow.
Melissa giggled at her friend’s ridiculousness and watched her walked up to the counter to order some burgers. Being alone left Melissa with a slight wistfulness. She gazed out the window, at the busy roads and the noisy people, chattering and hurrying down the street. Melissa let out an absent sigh, letting herself relax as she tried to forget the unfortunate events of last night. As she sat there, gazing at the streets, Melissa whispered a silent prayer.
“I hope I never see you again, Gabriel Marshall.”
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“Shhh, go to sleep now.” Melissa hushed the baby boy she cradled in her arms. His wailing got quieter as she gave him several pats on the back softly. The baby boy fell asleep within a few minutes and she dropped him carefully in his cot.
Melissa exhaled and looked around. Each child lay in their cot, sleeping peacefully, without a care in the world. This was one Melissa’s part time jobs, working as a baby sitter in a small nursery. The job was tedious, dealing with children took a lot of mental and physical power, but the pay was good, so Melissa couldn’t complain.
She found a chair and sank into it, trying to get as much rest she could get before a child pipes up and starts crying. Melissa laid her head back on the chair and blinked her eyes slowly. They were still very sore from crying all night and she barely got any sleep. Melissa blinked again, and found her eyes lids getting heavier. She tried to keep them open, but it was impossible.
The door swung open, startling Melissa, causing her a temporary relief to her drowsiness. A slim, light skinned twentyish lady popped out from the door. She greeted Melissa with a warm smile and walked into the room.
“There’s someone here to see you.” She said.
Melissa furrowed her eyebrows. Who could possibly want to see her? It couldn’t be Tory, it was 2pm and she was definitely in the saloon, working. Loan sharks? Melissa felt her face go cold. There was no way it could be the loan sharks, they couldn’t have known where she worked.
“Is it a man? With long black hair?”
The woman shook her head.
“No, it’s a man, but he doesn’t have long black hair.” She replied, her face showing that she was a bit confused by Melissa’s accurate description.
Melissa sighed and dragged herself out of the chair. She walked out of the room and to the small reception at the beginning of the daycare.
“Mark?” Melissa asked as soon as she saw him sitting in one of the chairs.
Mark quickly shot up from the chair and walked over to her sheepishly.
“Whats up? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to ask you something and we’re having different shifts today, so I wouldn’t be able to see you.”
“Oh...Sure. what is it?”
Mark rubbed his neck nervously and exhaled.
“You said you’d treat me to a meal, as thanks for helping. Why don’t we make that a date then?”
Melissa looked at herself in the mirror again. A date. She had replayed the words over in her head a thousand times, so much that she lost count. Was she really going on a date again? After her last fail? She couldn’t believe she was doing this.Sighing, Melissa looked at the clothes she had on. It was nothing as extravagant as the dress she had worn for her first blind date. She wore a simple pastel blue shirt with a scoop neck and wore a cargo pants. Her hair was tight up in a tight, neat bun, with a few stands hanging out.Melissa hadn’t put to much effort into this date, because it was just Mark, her co-worker. It was strange to her that he’d come all the way to her work place and ask her out on a date. Melissa was about to refuse his request, but quickly remembered that she had promised to treat him to a meal.She grimaced, cursing herself for making promises she has no plans of fulfilling. ‘its just a casual outing with a coworker. It can’t be that bad. It’s going to be fine.’ M
Melissa moved back a little as the men approached her. The man with black long hair stood in front of three men. He was smirking at her, a smirk that felt like mockery to Melissa. He moved closer to her, while the other men stood in the same spot.“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Mel.”Melissa grimaced and moved back again until she felt her back, touching the door.“What do you want?” Melissa asked, trying as much as possible not to let her anxiety slip through her voice.“What a very stupid question to ask me don’t you think? The man said in a harsh tone.The small fox shaped pendant dangled from his chain as he bent over to look at her in the eye.“Your payment for this month is due, isn’t Mel?”Melissa felt her body tremble and small beads of sweat form at the top of her head as he stared at her dead in the eye. The man from a company she had burrowed money from, the loan shark that demanded money from her each month.Jack Torez, a tall attractive man in his thirties and the owner o
Melissa wiped her eyes, which were now red and puffy as she picked herself up from the ground. She walked into the kitchen tiredly and saw that her sticky note was still in place, untouched.She opened the pot and the meatloaf stew was still intact. Melissa sighed and looked up at the wall clock ticking away. A couple of minutes after 9pm and Brandon wasn’t home. Melissa was drained mentally and she didn’t want to worry about Brandon. He usually got back home 5pm, well that was what he told her since she wasn’t at home all the time.Was he having extra lessons? Melissa shook her head. There was no way extra lessons would close this late. Maybe he was the Library? Yeah, that was plausible enough since he preparing for his final exams. Or he was at a friend’s house? Melissa didn’t know if Brandon had friends or not, he never talks to her or tells her anything.Melissa was getting anxious as the seconds passed. She contemplated going out to look for him, but she didn’t even know where to
The staff room was a small space with a few cabinets. It led into a break room that had a long rectangular table and a few chairs surrounding it. Melissa made her way past the staff room and the break room, until she was in front of an oak tree door. The word “boss” was written boldly on at the top of the door. Melissa knocked on the door lightly and listen for a response.“The door’s open.” A low voice said from behind the door.Melissa took that as a go ahead and swung the door open slowly. In the small cramped up office, filled with piles and piles of papers stacked up on each side of the large mahogany desk that was basically taking up all the space in the office, Melissa wriggled in. In the midst of the messy office, a fortyish looking man sat in a chair behind the desk, a cigarette in his mouth and his nose buried deep in some paperwork Melissa couldn’t understand.“You called for me boss?”The man finally looked up at her and scratched his short black hair that had a few grey s
Gabriel Marshall flipped through the pages of the document in front of him and let out a frustrated sigh. Ever since his little “dinner” with his mom, Gabriel had found it hard to focus at work. Her words kept resounding in his head, playing like a broken record, over and over again.It made him mad, infuriated that his mother was the one who was deciding his marriage for him. Gabriel had never been close to his mother, even his father, and the feeling was mutual for each of them. They were a family, who were only together for the sake of the company, no love and no bond attached them together.Gabriel didn’t have a choice but to accept the marriage his mother had arranged for him, without consulting him first. If it was for the company, Gabriel would do anything and marrying someone he barely knew and had no feelings for was a small sacrifice.Gabriel sighed and placed his pen down on the table. No matter how much he tried to read the words written on the document, it all came out ju
“You want me to increase your working hours?” The woman questioned Melissa, as she cocked her eyebrow at her, strangely.Melissa nodded slowly, her eyes pleading as she judged the woman’s expression. The woman that stood in front of her was Regina Martinez, her boss at the day care. A short plump woman in her fifties, but her face looked quite young. Her short, blonde hair was tied up in bun and she cradled a baby in her arms.Regina hushed the baby, while her face showed that she was deep in thought, pondering over Melissa’s proposal. She looked up at Melissa and let out a regretful sigh.“I’m sorry Melissa, but I can’t increase the amount of hours you work. More hours mean more pay and I can’t pay you more than I already am.”Melissa felt disappointed, but a part of her expected this type of reply. She knew that asking for more working hours was a huge risk and her request wouldn’t be accepted, but she did either way, having a small ray of hope that it’ll be granted.Regina looked d
Gabriel ran his hand through his wet hair as he stood under the cold shower. On every other day he would’ve taken a hot shower, but he needed a cold one to cool him down and it helped him clear his thoughts. He had a lot on his mind and Gabriel hated overthinking. He detested it with a great passion.He turned off the shower and got out of it, wrapping a towel around his face and another, he used it to dry his wet hair. Gabriel walked into his room and looked around. His long sized bed draped with a plain white bedsheet was positioned in the middle of the big room, beside a large glass window. The decor was quite simple, since Gabriel liked to keep things simple and minimalist.There was an L shaped black coloured sofa at the bottom of the king sized bed, with a glass table at the centre of it. The walls were painted white and a few abstract paintings were hung on wall. Sighing, Gabriel threw off his towel and wore a grey colour tone. He walked out of his room and went down to the spa
Gabriel adjusted his bath robe and walked over to the door reluctantly. He was irritated that someone would come knocking at him door as such a time in the night. He looked out the peer hole and let out a disgusted sigh.With a great hesitancy, Gabriel unlocked the door and swung it open. He stared at the woman standing out side he door and clicked his tongue.“What do you want mother?” He quizzed.Diana scoffed and brushed past him, into the house without answering his question.“I have something important to tell you.”“And that important thing couldn’t wait until tomorrow? Or you couldn’t send me a text?” Gabriel complain.Diana ignored her son’s nagging and walked past the long corridor and into the living room. Gabriel follow after her, cursing under his breath and hoping that Leslie was dressed, at least.To his surprise, Leslie was dressed and sitting on the couch, pressing away at her phone. Diana gave Leslie a short glance and brushed past the sofa, ignoring her completely. S