Melissa slumped back on the couch and ran her hands through her messy hair. The weight she was carrying was weighing heavily not only on her mind, but she could feel it on her back, like a huge load resting on top of it and that load kept increasing as time went by.
As much as Melissa tried to push it to the farthest corner in her mind, she was in debt, a huge debt as a matter of fact. Borrowing money was the only way she and Brandon could survive. Melissa had borrowed a huge sum of money to pay off Brandon’s tuition fees and find a decent place for the both of them to live.
Melissa looked up at the white ceiling and her expression turned grim. She had no clue on how she was going to pay off her debt, but she had to because the loan sharks weren’t merciful. Melissa blinked, detaching herself from her thoughts. Overthinking wasn’t going to solve her problems.
A soft knock came from the door and Melissa turned her eyes to it. She paused for a second as deep fear ran through her mind. What if it was the loan sharks? She hadn’t paid off the quota for this month, so her guess wasn’t far off. The knocking got louder and more persistent, flaring up her anxiety even further.
Melissa exhaled, an attempt to calm herself, which didn’t work. She got up from the couch slowly and approached the door with great caution. Melissa’s breathing was ragged as she held the door knob with shaky hands.
She whispered a small prayer and opened the door slowly. Relief washed over her immediately when she saw Tory, her only friend standing outside her apartment. All the tension in her muscles had vanished in an instant and she felt weak in her knees.
“Jesus Christ Tory, you scared me.”
Tory gave her a puzzled look and folded her arms as she replied.
“What the hell are you going on about?”
Melissa waved her question off and trudged away from the door. Tory walked into the apartment and closed the door behind her.
“What do you want?” Melissa asked as she plopped back down on her small sofa.
“Aw, why are you being so mean to me this morning? I came here to check up on you.”
Melissa raised her eyebrow at tory, not buying what she said.
“We both know you only stop at my apartment when you need something.”
Tory opened her mouth to counter what Melissa said but quickly realised she was right. She plopped down beside Melissa and looked at her.
“You’re right, but I’m here today for a different reason.” Tory tried to sound as convincing as possible.
“Alright, I’ll believe. So what’s up?”
Tory smiled and cleared her throat.
“So, at work yesterday, I was having a little chat with a customer while I was fixing up her hair and she was telling me about her love life.”
Oh boy, not this subject again. Melissa absolutely detested talking about it, but she let Tory continue without letting her know how uninterested she was.
“The woman was telling me about how her love life was basically non-existent, like water in a desert.”
“Oasis exists.”
Tory rolled her eyes and Melissa couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Anyway, once she said that, it reminded me of a certain someone whose love life is practically similar to hers.”
“Really? And who might that be?” Melissa asked as a sarcastic smile played on her lips.
“You know who exactly I’m referring to. That being said, I made up my mind, I’m going to rejuvenate your love life!” Torysaid with so much passion, you’d think she was giving a speech at a presidential campaign.
Melissa let out a disgusted sigh and threw herself up from from the couch and walked to the kitchen.
“I told you not to bother me with such trivial things, and besides I’m a really busy person, I don’t have time for love.”
Tory scoffed and followed her into the kitchen.
“Busy? What exactly are you doing that makes you so busy for love Melissa?”
Melissa grabbed a mug and swung open her wooden cupboard in search of some instant coffee.
“I told you, I work part-time at a small mart.”
“U-mart? The same place that makes you work night shifts and because of that you keep getting sexually harassed?”
Melissa shrugged. “The pay’s good.”
“If you consider two dollars an hour good pay, then your idea of good pay is slightly off.”
Melissa grabbed the small pack of instant coffee and poured the powder into her mug. She sighed and looked up Tory, who was looking at her expectantly.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do Tory.”
“Go on a blind date!” She exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
“Now you’re just being ridiculous.” Melissa said, shaking her head in disagreement.
“Im being serious Melissa. Just try it out, this once.”
Melissa could hear how much Tory was pleading to her, but she really didn’t want to get involved with anything that had to do with love. She had never experienced it and wasn’t ready to delve into that world.
“I know that look, you’re not considering what I said at all.” Tory said as she observed her with squinted eyes.
“Looks like you caught me.” Melissa replied with a shrug.
“Come on Melissa.”
Melissa sighed and examined her friend. Her hazelnut eyes were pleading so much to her desperately. Tory slid her hands over Melissa’s and gave her a warm look.
“I’m only doing this because I care about you. Brandon’s leaving for college soon right? I don’t want you to be by yourself. It can get depressing.”
“But I have you.”
Tory chuckled. “I’m flattered, but I can’t be with you all the time, now can I?”
Tory had a point. Melissa had never looked at it from that point of view. She had never imagined that she would be alone for the rest of her life. Now that she thought about it carefully, Tory was right, it would be depressing.
Melissa sighed, defeated.
“I guess I’ll humour you then. Sign me up for this blind date you’re talking about.”
U-mart was located at the north side of town, where Melissa lived. It was a five minute walk from her apartment, so working there was very convenient for her. The mart was relatively small, with just a few merchandise on sale. The mart was quite popular in the area, so it was buzzing with customers during the day and night. This night was quite different however. The store only had a few customers today, walking up the asile, viewing products, not entirely sure on what to buy.Melissa was Manning the counter as she always did during every night shift. Her curly hair was tied up in a tight pony tail today and she let a few stands fall just above her eyes. She was clad in a red t-shirt with a black collar and tight blue jeans. Her name was written in small letters on a badge and was stuck to the left side of her shirt. Even though it was a small mart, the owner tried to make things as professional as possible, hence the name tag.Melissa peered at her phone for the time and she sighed n
CHAPTER FOUR“Is everything okay over here?” A voice called out from behind the counter.Mark appeared from the door that was a few feet away from Melissa. He was a tall dark skinned man with a fade. He was a bit bulky and gave off a very intimidating atmosphere. Mark approached the counter and stood close to Melissa. The weird man let go of Melissa’s arm and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.“Is there a problem sir?” Mark asked as he flashed the most polite smile Melissa had ever seen him muster.The man opened his mouth to say something, but closed it immediately when his eyes trailed over Mark’s taut muscles. The fear in his eyes were prominent. The man, without hesitation retreated away and dashed out of the store. The tension had finally lifted and Melissa let out a sigh of relief.“You okay Mel?”Melissa turned to Mark and have him in reassuring nod.“I’m fine thanks to you.” Melissa said.Mark gave her a warm smile. Despite his intimidating
Melissa’s eyes were on the menu, but her mind was anywhere but there. She noticed that the menu she held was jittering and looked at her hands. They were trembling like she was suffering from a stroke attack. Just how nervous was she?Curious, Melissa peered over the menu and got a view of the man sitting in front of her. Gabriel Marshall. He was focused on the menu in his hand and didn’t pay much attention to her. She had been so focused on his face that she didn’t notice the Rolex latched onto his wrist. It had diamonds on it and sparkled under the light. Just from looking at the watch on his wrist, Melissa could tell how expensive it was.Her anxiety was slowly intensifying. The reality began to dawn on her slowly. She wasn’t just sitting with a normal person. The man in front of her was wealthy, and her Instincts were screaming it. Melissa began to curse internally. Tory had given her little to no background information on Gabriel Marshall. Her grip on the menu tightened as she th
A slap. An ear piercing, pain throbbing slap. Yes, that was the perfect way to describe the words that Gabriel Marshall had been throwing at Melissa. His words felt like arrows and he kept shooting them at her without stopping, without remorse, yes, Melissa was convinced that the man, sitting in front of her, looking down on her, didn’t have a shred of remorse in his conscience.She clenched her hand into a fist, it was the only way Melissa could control her burning rage. Just who was this man? Why was he acting so sniffy in front of her? Was he some kind of celebrity?Melissa exhaled harshly, trying to quell her rage as she spoke.“And who are you, to say all these things to me, right to my face?” she entreated, Her ire was heard in the way she spoke, despite trying to calm herself.Gabriel rested his back on the chair and crossed his legs, his hands folded on his thigh like he was sitting in a meeting room. A small smirk seemed to appear on his lips, it was the closest emotion Melis
"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
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