In the morning.
Arthur woke up and quickly remembered his plan for today. It was like his brain had been waiting eagerly for the break of day.For some reason, he was keen on meeting up with the waiter from last night to check up on her.However, it may be as a result of the fact that he felt subconsciously guilty for what Amelia had done to her. He felt he could have done something to prevent Amelia from assaulting the innocent human being without reasonable cause.He hurriedly sprang out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and have his bath.He finished quickly and rushed to the closet to pick out an outfit for the day.This was supposed to be an apology mission, so he didn't need to put on something too formal, expensive or rather intimidating. So he thought.He grabbed a black jacket,a white t-shirt with a flowery pattern, and a pair of black jeans.So much for looking casual. Everything he wore were all expensive designer brands. Who exactly are you fooling Arthur?He finished dressing up and dashed out of the house. He got into the car and zoomed off, headed for the restaurant where they had dinner.He arrived at the restaurant in a flash, and walked in. He walked up to one of the waiters around. She was carrying a tray in her hand, so he called her attention and spoke to her."Good morning Miss. I'm looking for..." He stretched the last word for a few seconds before coming to his realization.He didn't know the name of the waiter that served them the previous day or who she was. The only flaw in his otherwise perfect plan.His face contorted in confusion, as he thought hard to remember details of last night so he could try and give a description instead."You're looking for who...? Sir?" The staff responded."Well you see, I was here last night with my girlfr– my EX-girlfriend.""And I'm trying to find the waiter that served us." He continued his explanations, gesticulating with his hands as he did so."We sat over there." He pointed."She had dark hair and brown eyes. About five foot six." He stared at her intensely, waiting for an immediate response."We have a lot of waiter's hair with that description, sir. As you can see, I'm also dark haired and brown eyed. So if you can be a little bit more specific by telling me her name, that'll be helpful." She said politely.Arthur stood there with a distressed look on his face. There was no other information he knew about her. That was all he had."Okay, do you have a picture book or something? You know with photos of all your staff." Arthur asked.You could hear the distress in his voice as he spoke.The lady sighed. "I'm sorry sir, but I really have to get back to work. I can't be seen standing here chatting with you. I may lose my job." She said trying to push her way through him, and turning her head from left to right, on the lookout for her boss."Okay wait."He pulled out his wallet and brought out a hundred dollar bill raised it at chest level so she could see it."Just help me out. It's really important."The waiter looked around again, shook her leg and grunted nervously before letting out a tired sigh."Fine, but just five minutes."She grabbed the hundred dollar bill, dropped the tray on the empty table nearest to them and said, "Just sit down and wait here."She walked towards the counter, and went through a door behind it.Still on the lookout, she went to the door of the manager's office. Beside the door was a framed notice board with little pictures of all the staff of the restaurant on it, along with their names.The picture of the manager was at the top with photographs of other higher staff members in order of hierarchy.The waiter grabbed her phone from her back pocket and took a picture of the board discreetly, and put it back into her pocket. Then she went back out to the dinning hall to meet Arthur.She brought out her phone and sat close to him."This is a picture of everyone that works here, so who are you looking for?" She said, unlocking her phone and placing it in his hands.Arthur pinched on the phone screen to zoom in and view the pictures more clearly. He scanned through the faces on the picture carefully."She's not here." Arthur said shrugging."Well, there's nothing I can do. That's every single soul who works here.""Why are you so interested in finding this person anyway?" She asked curiously, raising a brow.He sighed. With the disappointed look on his face he replied "I just needed to apologise to her.""She accidentally spilled some wine on my girlfrie– I mean my ex-girlfriend's laps yesterday, and she slapped her."The disappoinment in Arthur's face grew bigger as he spoke."She wasn't supposed to do that. It was an accident, and besides it was just a little wine. It wasn't a big deal as she made it look." Arthur said."Oh! Do you mean Aria?"The waiter exclaimed with her eyes wide open."Was it at your table all that commotion happened yesterday?" She asked."Yes, you know her?" Arthur replied, as a glimpse of hope reappeared on his face."Yes. She was fired last night by the manager after everything."The little hope that was already resurfacing in Arthur was shattered to the ground.It turned out that Amelia was a frequent customer at the restaurant, so the manager would rather fire Aria than to lose one of his best and richest customers.Also, the scene Amelia created couldn't be overlooked by the management, so they had to let her go."What?" Arthur exclaimed in shock.The guilt he was feeling before was now doubled.The innocent girl was fired because of him."Please how can I reach her?"The waiter collected her phone from Arthur's hand and unlocked it. She swiped on the screen a few times and placed the phone on the table.She tore out a piece of paper from the small jotter that she tucked in her pant's waist band, placed it on the table, and scribbled some things on it that she copied from the phone."That's her phone number, and that's her address." she said, pointing at the scribblings on the piece of paper."Thank you very much." Arthur smiled at her and took the piece of paper.He folded it into his jacket's front pocket and stood up to leave.He was determined to apologise to the waiter for everything and probably make things right no matter the cost."She received a slap and also lost her job and it was my fault," he pondered."But I must find her first."Arthur stepped out of the restaurant and went into his car. He brought out the piece of paper that was just given to him.He took out his phone and dialed the phone number, but it didn’t go through.“The number you dialed is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.” A feminine voice permeating from the phone’s speakers announced.Arthur bit his lips softly and rolled his eyes slowly, thinking of his next course of action.There was no other way he could contact her. He would have to go to the address written on the piece of paper.She definitely would not be coming back to the restaurant anymore, because it was clear that they fired her. So locating her address would be the last resort.There was only one problem. The address on the piece of paper was located in the other part of town.To be specific, the ‘rural’ part of town.To be more specific, the ‘ghetto’ part of town.Arthur had not been around there before. He has always lived in the metropolitan area.He turned on hi
Aria went to the bathroom, ruminating vehemently about the man she left in her living room. She questioned her choices of letting the man stay. On the other hand, he seemed like a responsible person who wouldn’t hurt her.Besides, he just took care of her and promised to help her. Although part of her instincts didn’t trust him and wanted to dismiss him, after all, he was still the reason she didn’t have a job anymore. But she desperately needed the help, so she couldn’t afford to reject his offer to help her by being rude or disrespectful to him.She had her bath and went to the bedroom to change out of the bath towel that had been hanging millimeters above her chest all the while.She wore an oversized, baggy, pink t-shirt and cute, black girl shorts.Her depressed demeanor had changed to a happier one after her bath, and then she returned to the living room.“So tell me something...” she said, taking a seat on the couch next to Arthur, and folding her legs on it.“How come you’re t
At the Johnsons Villa, things were gradually becoming different than as it used to be before.Most of the servents and staff working at the mansion had been laid off. Nearly all of Mr Clark Johnson's vintage luxury cars had been impounded.Just as Mrs Ann Johnson had said, they were slowly losing everything.Meanwhile, Amelia was still miserable and depressed from her breakup— sorry, I mean, being dumped.Coupled with the news of her family's current situation, she felt her whole world was crumbling over on itself.She did not leave her room throughout yesterday.The next morning, she woke up thinking. Her pillows were stained with tears.. She tried so hard to convince herself it was all a dream.So she decided to go and see Arthur. Perhaps it was all in her head. Maybe he didn't mean it.She never expected Arthur to break up with her. She always thought they were the perfect couple.The only time she had doubts about their relationship, was during college when he used excuses of study
Meanwhile, back at Aria’s apartment.Arthur and Aria were cuddled up together on the bed, in each other’s arms. Their faces were only a few inches from each other, with their warm breaths fanning on each other's faces.For some reason, they woke up at exactly the same time.They slowly opened their eyes. Still sleepy and unaware of their surroundings, they remained still for some seconds.Aria became fully conscious first and let out a muffled gasp as her brain took some time to figure out why there was a strange man was on her bed and in her face.Arthur became conscious of his environment a few seconds later, and they both impulsively jerked away from each other to establish the boundaries that were initially present when they went to bed.There was some tension in the air.“Good morning!” Aria said as she sat up and placed her foot on the floor.She yawned with heavy eyes.“Good morning!” Arthur responded.Little sunlight from outside that made its way through the milk coloured cur
In the evening.Arthur and Liam went to a bar to get a drink.music was blasting loudly from the giant subwoofers at the corners of the club.Liam had initiated the idea of them going out because he thought Arthur must have been left depressed by the encounter with Amelia earlier.But he was terribly mistaken. His mood did not change at all. He was just as jovial as he would usually be.Liam was surprised. But actually, it turned out that his sleepover at Aria’s place cancelled out whatever despairing feelings that should have emanated from Amelia’s earlier ruckus.“I don’t believe it.”Liam lets out after a couple of minutes of staring at Arthur in a daze.His expectations had been subverted. Arthur was not moody at all.“What?” Arthur shrugged, taking a sip from his glass of Pina colada.“You’re not moody at all...”A hint of surprise and confusion spread across Liam’s face.Arthur smiled and responded. “Why would I be?”“Um, for starters, your girlfriend of over 5 years whom you ju
Meanwhile.Amelia had already planned to return to Arthur’s office to try and talk to him again.She came in at noon, and thankfully Liam wasn’t there to prevent her from coming in. Nobody else really cared if she was there or not.They didn’t understand the reason Arthur ordered her out the previous day. Although they had their speculations. Some of them did figure out that they might have broken up.She went straight to Arthur’s office, but he wasn’t there.He had gone to the cafeteria for lunch.She searched around the building, around places she believed she could find him, but she didn’t see him anywhere.Then she remembered it was lunchtime, and that he might be at the cafeteria, so she checked there too.After taking the elevator to the floor where the dining hall was, she finally arrived at the door.She stood at the door, trying to scan across the room to see if she could find him.After scanning, she noticed a familiar face. She squinted her eyes to get a better view of the
At the Johnson’s mansion.Feeling depressed, Amelia returned home looking so downcast. She walked into the living room and met her mum watching TV.Mrs Ann notices her daughter’s sad demeanor and put the TV on mute. She signals to her daughter to come closer.The house was basically empty, because they had laid off all the staff due to financial constraints.“What is the matter, dear?” she asked in a tender tone.Amelia, who was already sobbing, walked towards her. She gestured for Amelia to sit beside her. She wrapped her arms around Amelia’s waist and drew her closer for a tight hug.“What is wrong, darling?”“Why are you looking so sad?” Mrs. Ann asked.Amelia remained mute. She was still trying to process what was going on. There was no other viable option for her. She was at a dead end.“Talk to me please.”“What happened?”“It’s Arthur.” She finally managed to form words in a cracked voice.She whimpered as she spoke. Tears dripped down her eyes.“I went to his office to talk to
The next day.In the evening, Amelia was in the living room scrolling through her phone.The tv was turned on, and it was on the news channel.“The Multi-million dollar real estate firm, Crown Royal Corporations, has lost a lawsuit worth billions of dollars over illegal/criminal activities.”“It was discovered by government and security officials that the company was involved in several financial crimes that led to their lawsuit filed against them.”. A female news anchor’s calm voice resonated from the TV.Amelia overheard the familiar names being mentioned on tv and refocused her attention from her phone to the TV.She raised her head and saw her dad’s picture alongside the company’s name boldly displaying on the large, brightly lit LCD screen.“Dad!”“Mum!”“Dad! You’re on the news.” Amelia shouted with a reverberating voice, calling for her parents’ attention.“Clark Johnson, the CEO of Crown Royal Corporations, has currently declared bankruptcy, and all his assets and company asse