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 nervously. It was a little after 8pm and it was almost time for the blind date her friend, Tory had set her up for. Melissa still couldn’t believe she was doing this. Her life had been a never ending cycle of working, going home, working, and the cycle went on and on. She had never tried to fit dating into it, heck she couldn’t even do that. Melissa worked three jobs. One during the day, another during the afternoon and at night.
Since she couldn’t graduate from college due to how much money it costs, So she couldn’t get a decent white collar job. Melissa had to drop out and work part-time. It was an exhausting life, but Melissa had gotten used to it. Well, she didn’t have a choice but you get used it.
A woman appeared from the corner of the third aisle and walked over to the counter. She was an attractive woman, who looked like she’d been in her fifties. Her plump lips were curled in a tight warm smile as she dropped the items she had picked out on the counter.
“I'll take these please.” She said.
Melissa forced a smile and nodded. When you do this job for more than a year, you learn to smile even if it contradicted your real feelings. She scanned each item one after the other and threw them in a bag.
“That will be 21 dollars ma’am.”
The woman nodded and scavenged through her small brown purse. She pulled out a couple of notes and Melissa counted them before throwing it into the cash register.
“Dear, are you okay?”
Melissa looked up at the woman and blinked. Was she talking to her? Of course she was, the woman was looking at Melissa, her eyes full of concern and warmth.
“Excuse me?” Melissa retorted, not meaning for her question to come out as rude as it sounded.
“Oh, it’s just that I always see you working this late. That can’t be good for a young woman like you, now can it?”
Melissa smiled and handed her the bag.
“I appreciate your concern ma’am, but I’m fine.” Melissa reassured her.
The woman looked at Melissa for a long moment, her face dripped with wistfulness and a slight hint of dismal.
“If you say so dear. Have a good night.”
Melissa nodded and watched her waddle away from the counter. It was faint, but Melissa could’ve sworn she heard the woman mutter “poor child” under her breath. Melissa shrugged it off. She couldn’t be bothered about a woman she barely even knew.
Melissa checked the time again. Thirty more minutes till 9pm. She didn’t have much time left. She peered at all the aisle, to see if the store had any more customers left and she sighted a tall lanky man gazing at the stack of Cameras. He didn’t seem to be interested in it and it didn’t seem like he was buying anything.
After a few minutes the man walked up to the counter, a beer in hand. He placed the beer on the counter and looked around the store, a bit cautiously, like he was checking to see if there was anyone around. Was he running away from someone? Looking at him up close, he looked like a homeless person you’d see lying down on the streets. His shaggy hair had streaks of white strands, hinting that he wasn’t young anymore.
His presence made Melissa feel very uncomfortable and all she wanted to do was get him to leave immediately.
“Give me a cigarette.”
“What brand?” Melissa asked without making eye contact with him.
“Uh...anyone’s fine.”
She spun around and quickly grabbed a cigarette pack from the shelf behind her. Placing the pack with the beer, Melissa scanned them as quickly as she could.
“Hey, uh are you from around here?”
Oh oh. It was the usual question she got from guys each night she worked the counter.
“That would be five dollars sir.” Melissa said without responding to his question.
He frowned a bit and looked at Melissa sternly.
“You didn’t answer my question lassie.”
“Sir, That would be five dollars.” Melissa tried as much as much not to let her discomfort show.
The lanky man grabbed Melissa’s wrists firmly and sneered at her.
“I'm talkin’ to you filly, answer my question.” He ordered as he moved his face closer to hers.
A wave of nausea hit Melissa as the foul stench oozing from the man’s mouth hit her nose. She tried to wriggle her hand free from his grasp, but that only made him tighten his grip further.
“Sir, let go of my hand.” Melissa was still trying to keep her cool, but she was frightened.
The man pulled her wrist jerking her forward, closer to him.
“Why are you actin’ so high and mighty? I’m just Tryna get to know you.” His tone was getting lower.
“I’m not interested sir. Please pay up and leave.” Melissa managed to utter through her trembling lips.
Her words had enraged him further, she could see it from the unwelcoming scowl on his face.
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
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