“Thanks for shopping here.” I smiled at the old woman who stood by the other side of the counter, then gave her her change. “If you don’t mind, leave a review on our website. The website’s name is attached to the bag.”
“Oh, sure.” She smiled. She twirled around, and slowly walked out of the store.
I glimpsed at my wrist watch, and sighed. It was six already, which meant I had an hour left to work here. Grabbing the paper in front of me, I sighed for a second time. Skimming through it, the thought of my argument with Ryan came racing in my head.
Just last night, I had realized something. Since a month ago, my attraction towards Ryan wasn’t normal. It felt so much like I was feeling something for him. Yes, I’d admit, I kind of liked him. But, the thing was, no matter what, I wouldn’t tell him about my feelings. I really didn’t know what he wanted. People liked him tended to be untrustworthy. What if he was planning to use me? I couldn’t let him win his game.
I ran my fingers into my hair, as I propped my elbow on the counter. Hearing a thump, I looked up, and saw Marsha groaning in pain. She had hit her hand against the counter.
I bit my laugh, and looked away.
“Hey!” She slammed her palm against the counter.
I rolled my eyes, clenched my jaw, then looked at her. “What now? You need something?”
“Uh-huh.” She played with her fingers, rolling her tongue in her cheek. Glancing at me, a smirk hovered on her lips. “You’ll have to deliver some groceries to a company.”
“What? But this is six already.” I frowned.
She scoffed. “So what? Well, it’s Mrs. Stanley’s order. I’ve got nothing to do with it.”
Not wasting time, I grabbed my purse from the counter, slung its handle over my shoulder, then turned to the other side of the counter.
“Have you packaged the items? I wanna deliver them immediately. Will be going home from there.”
She gasped. “Great! At least, you won’t go home with Kenneth, today.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “What’s the name of the company? Give me its address.”
She gave me a paper. “It’s Twinkle Stars. It’s only a few streets away from here. You don’t have to use the van, since you won’t return. Just take a cab.”
I gaped. Abruptly, fear ran through me. “T-Twinkle Stars? Wh-What? No. I can’t go there.”
“Excuse me?” She twitched a brow at me.
I pulled a worried look, shaking my head. “Please, can you ask someone else to go there? I’ll speak with Mrs. Stanley. I really can’t risk—”
“Hey, hey.” She cut me off. Her arms linked on her chest, the smirk on her lips widening. “No one ever refuses Mrs. Stanley’s order. You know what she can do to you, right?”
“But, I really can’t go there. Where’s she? I’ll speak to her myself.” Attempting to walk towards Mrs. Stanley’s office, Marsha held me back. She stood in front of me, a deep glare on her facial feature.
She huffed. “Why are you refusing to go there? Huh? Do you have some secret dinner plans with Kenneth?”
“Is Kenneth all you ever think of? I’ve got a reason, so shut up.” I pushed myself off her grip. Turning to Mrs. Stanley’s office, I saw her walking out of there.
“Um, Serene, you have to—”
“Mrs. Stanley,” I cut her off, stood in front of her, my brows knitted to express how disturbed I was. “Please, I need you to ask someone else to deliver the groceries to that company. For some personal reasons, I can’t ever go there.”
“Excuse me?” Her old, wrinkled face wrinkled even more. She seemed quite irritated. “You know you shouldn’t cancel an order for no good reason.”
“What’s the problem?” Kenneth appeared. He gazed at Mrs. Stanley, then turned to me. “Serene, why do you look worried?”
I let out a shaky sigh. “Kenneth, if you don’t mind, can you help me with my delivery? I-I really can’t go to the place.”
“No, he shouldn’t go! I disagree with this!” Marsha cried. She stomped over to us, shooting glowers at me as if I had murder her family members. She looked at Mrs. Stanley. “Ma’am, this isn’t allowed. I really don’t see any reason. she can’t do it herself.”
“But, I—”
“Alright, that’s enough.” Mrs. Stanley held her hand up, frowning at me. She cleared her throat. “Serene, by now, I expect you to know my rules. I’m sorry to say this, but for your information, I’m less concerned about your personal issues. You’ve been asked to deliver the items, and that’s what you’ll do.”
“I can go instead,” Kenneth offered. “I’ve been there a couple of times, so I don’t mind going there now.”
“No, Kenneth.” She grunted. “None of my workers disobey me. Her refusal proves that she’s got no respect for me. If she doesn’t acknowledge my order, I’ll have no choice but to ask her to leave this store.”
“It’s fine.” I swallowed. I took a deep breath, ready to take this risk. “I’ll go there. If it costs my job, I see no reason I should refuse the delivery.”
“Thank you.” She eyed me, then just stormed away. She was definitely annoyed with me.
Marsha walked to me, the sinister look on her face quite intimidating. “Wish you luck, my dear.” She sniggered, and walked away as well.
I gritted my teeth, balled my hands in a fist, feeling so furious and scared. Turning to Kenneth, with a curt nod, I gestured to him, denoting I was fine. Swiftly, I walked to the selling counter.
Yes, I would do this. I would just ensure that I didn’t get to see Raymond of Ryan. They were the problem in my life.
***
I had felt queasy when Marsha had said that I would be delivering the groceries to Natasha. To be honest, I didn’t want Natasha to know anything about me. But, too bad for me, she knew where I was working.
She raised her eyebrows at me, as if she was surprised. “Gosh, you work at a grocery store? Men, that’s… awkward. How can you work there, only after working in a big company like Twinkle Stars?”
I shrugged. “That’s fate. I didn’t make it happen, did I?”
“Alright then.” She took a bunch of papers from her table, jogged towards the door of her boss’ office. Holding the door knob, she waved at me, a small smile on her lips. “See ya. Off to my boss’ office.”
“Bye.” I nodded at her.
Did I feel bad? Absolutely.
It wasn’t bad to work at a grocery store, but seriously, I hadn’t expected my life to turn out this way. Well, whatever. There was nothing I could do about it. This was fate.
Heading out of her office, I inhaled hard. I was so nervous. It had been hard to come in here, knowing that it was pretty risky. Ryan wasn’t the main problem. Raymond was. Raymond had been so willing to see me, and if that had to happen now, I didn’t know what he would do or say. What would he think? That I had finally agreed to hook up with him or what? What a mess.
As I walked in the hallway, I put my head down. If I had known I would come here, prior to the time Marsha had told me, I would have worn a fez cap to work, so no one would see my face.
Heading towards the elevator, I felt a bit glad. But, only a few feets away from the elevator, its door opened up. And, seeing it was the James guy from the business dinner Ryan and I had once attended, my eyes bulged open. Not thinking twice, I turned around. I really never wanted to encounter that filthy man.
Because I didn’t want him to see me, I began walking fast. But, this time around, my eyes caught Ryan. He was walking in my direction. Oh goodness, this was what I had been trying to prevent.
Alarmed and helpless, I turned sideways, only for me to see—oh goodness. Not him. It was Raymond. He and his men were ambling towards me.
Feeling my heart thumping hard against my chest, I let out a low, shaky breath. Okay, since Ryan was by my right, James by my left, and Raymond walking in my direction, I guessed it would be best if I turned around.
Petrified, confused, exhausted and pessimistic, I swirled around. At this moment, all I wanted was for the floor to swallow me. My heart raced even faster, and I suddenly felt so weak. What was going on? Why was my life in such a mess?
It was Ralph. He was walking in my direction as well.
Helpless, I just stood in my tracks, unaware of what to do. Was this a nightmare? Earlier, my instinct had signaled this to me. I had known something crazy would happen.
So, what or who would help me out now?
Ralph, Ryan, Raymond and James, were walking in my direction, and were about to reach me. And, as far as I knew, all four of them had tried to woo me in one way or another. And, of course, there was no way they all wouldn’t see me. I was at the center of the devil and the deep blue sea.
“Serene.” My brain snapped off its position when someone called my name. It was Ralph.
Not wanting to speak with him, I turned sideways. That was when Ryan’s eyes caught mine. “Serene?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
Alerted, I turned sideways again. And yes, Raymond spotted me. “Serene? You’re here?”
Completely weak, I turned back to Ryan. I didn’t want to hear my name for the fourth time. If I turned to James, he’d probably call out my name as well.
Quivering, I began thinking of what to do. They were all staring at me. I knew that.
Helpless, I froze in my tracks. Crazy thoughts were starting to run in my head, and it made me feel like a lunatic.
I bit my lower lip, clenched my fingers in a fist, tears running in my eyes.
Okay. It was time to end this craziness, I thought.
Gripped in a great thrust of fear and confusion, I dropped my knees to the floor. As if a hard rock had been knocked against my forehead, and had made me giddy, I rolled my eyes. Reluctant to any other thing that would happen after this, I just threw my body against the floor, pretending like I had fainted.
No matter what, I wouldn’t wake up. This was the only thing I could do to save myself.
This was stupid, but yeah, I needed help.
—