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 aura, Mark was a very warm and nice person. Melissa felt safe whenever they had a shift together.
“I wonder why the manger keeps giving you night shifts.” Mark complained.
Melissa shrugged.
“Who knows? And I can’t really complain, now can I?”
Mark grimaced. Melissa could see the concern in his eyes and it made her feel a little better. She felt a slight sting on her wrist and looked at it. The spot where the man had grabbed her tightly was throbbing with a bright red colour. ‘great, just great’ Melissa thought as she rubbed her wrist.
“Does that hurt?” Mark asked.
“Not that much. It’ll be fine after a few hours.”
Melissa glanced at her phone and gasped. She turned to Mark and he gave her a knowing look.
“Looks like it’s time for the appointment you said you needed to go to?”
Melissa nodded.
“Yeah, thanks for covering this shift for me Mark, you’re a big help.” Melissa said.
Mark looked at Melissa for a while, his eyes showing that he was mulling over something, but Melissa couldn’t tell what it was.
“It’s fine Mel, I’ll be happy to help next time.”
Melissa walked over to the door that led to the staff room, the door Mark had come out of. She paused and turned to him.
“We can go out for lunch next time, my treat, as a way of saying thank you.”
For a second, Melissa saw a glint of happiness in his eyes. She waved it off not wanting to overthink it. Right now, she had other things to think about.
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The cab ride to the restaurant downtown was quite short. The taxi was already in front of the restaurant and Melissa quickly got out. The lush frontal decor of the restaurant left Melissa in awe. She couldn’t help but stand and stare at it. The glass door was lined with glass walls at each side. Flower pots were positioned at each side of the entrance. Melissa guessed that the flowers were artificial. At the top was a black rectangular board with the word “altier” written on it in a smooth cursive writing. It was beautiful, classy even. The word was lit up, contrasting the darkness of the night.
Melissa suddenly felt intimidated by the fancy frontal decor. She looked at herself, not confident about her dressing. The gown she wore was given to her by Tory, since she didn’t have any fancy clothes she could wear on a date. The dress was a body con gown with a slit sleeve. She wore a black coloured almond Toe stiletto, which complimented her wine coloured gown.
Melissa double checked herself and made her way to the entrance of the fancy restaurant. A waiter clad in a black suit held the door for her and welcomed her with a bright smile. Melissa smiled back and walked in. Once Melissa got a view of the internal decor, she was convinced that the decor at the entrance was just the cherry on top.
The high ceiling was covered with chandeliers that sparkled with a golden light. The whole room was filled with round tables, each draped with a white clothing. Waiters buzzed around the area like flies as they attended to people. Melissa felt lost and helpless. Where was she going to go?
“Excuse me ma’am.”
Melissa flinched and spun around, almost too quickly. She saw a short young woman, who looked like she was fresh out of college smiling at her.
“Do you have a reservation?” She asked.
Melissa blinked at her as she mulled over here question.
“Y-Yes, um I have a reservation with Gabriel Marshall.”
The name seemed to click as the woman’s face brightened up.
“I see, this way please.”
The woman walked away quickly and Melissa followed behind her clumsily as she tried to keep up with her pace. They walked up a set of stairs until they reached a different room entirely. The contrast between the last floor and the floor they were standing in was a lot. This area was more serene and had glass walls, which gave the customers a view of the city at night.
The woman led Melissa towards a table that was already occupied by a man. He seemed busy with his phone as he didn’t look up when they approached the table.
“Mr Marshall, your guest has arrived.”
The man looked up slowly and Melissa could feel her breath catch in her throat. She had seen a photo of him, but seeing him in person was completely different thing. His jet black hair was parted to the side and slicked back in a very professional way. Melissa couldn’t help but admire his well sculptured face, but there was one thing that caught her attention the most. His eyes, his blue eyes that seemed to draw her in the more she looked at him. His gaze was on her, cold and unfeeling, dominating, a gaze strong enough to bring anyone to their knees, begging. It made her shiver. So this was Gabriel Marshall.
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
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