Chapter Three: Tongue of an Angel
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CRESCENT MOON CAFÉ
"Miss Nikki, Madam Michelle is looking for you," Mae informed her, a waitress at this café.
"Oh. Kindly deliver this order at table 9?"
"Okay, Miss Nikki."
"Thank you, Mae."
She is a little nervous about what Mrs. Lawrence says to her. Maybe about her tardiness and often she left home ahead first as she needed to replace her neighbor, Auntie Maria, to go home during the evening.
She admits how her work has affected her since her mother remained at the hospital for two months. But she felt safer if she was there rather than staying at their home, where she frequently has seizures, but the bills worry her.
Nikki takes the stairs at the end of the hallway, in the left corner of this shop. She knocks at her General Manager's office door, where Mrs. Michelle Lawrence waits for her.
Michelle is the CEO of the company that owns these famous coffee shops, and she does her rounds on a scheduled basis. That is why she is nervous, as it is not her scheduled time to visit the shop yet. She feared there was another bad news she'd hear today.
Nikki started to work in the café two years ago to get experience and recommendations to apply to a famous hotel in the city. She aims to work at the Peninsula Hotel or the Dragon Empire Hotel, but she grows to love the shop after months of working here until she is promoted and becomes a floor manager.
Her earnings couldn't compare to the paycheck she will get at her dream job, but the extended family she formed while working here is irreplaceable.
But since her mother became ill, her performance was implicated, and she couldn't focus at work.
"Mrs. Lawrence? You wish to speak with me?"
"Hi, Nikki! Yes, dear, come in! But, please, sit down." Seated on a couch, Michelle offers the sofa across from her.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lawrence."
Michelle stared at her with an intense gaze, bringing a loud thud into her chest. She's thinking maybe her boss is just waiting for the right moment to pull the pin and drop the bomb on her.
"Do you need a vacation?"
Stunned, this was not what she anticipated from her boss, making her speechless for the next few seconds. "Mrs. Lawrence?"
"Cut the formality, would you?"
Michelle is her boss, but before that, she is one of many patrons eating at their Soup Noodle Store at the Shopping Center. She pushes a smile on her lips. She acted just like an ordinary Senior High school student, accompanied by her classmates. Then, one day, she saw her on TV, joining a beauty pageant, revealing she was actually from a prominent, wealthy family. She even won Miss Universe and left an impressive reign on the world.
Michelle is such a down-to-earth person and gets involved in many charity works then and now. She takes massive inspiration from her boss. Then, she married one of the famous Lawrence Men in this city: the older son of Lawrence, now a happy wife and mother of five.
Yes, five! But still, she maintains her perfect figure all these years—something to inspire when she has children of her own someday if she meets Mr. Right Guy.
"Sister Michelle, I needed to earn money for Mama," she responded. She has to continue working, even caring for her mother at night, and she can't afford to lose a wage.
"I know. Don't worry. Your vacation leave is paid. I heard from Ben that Aunt Lucy needed to undergo surgery sooner, but until you cannot find a person with blood type A with RH negative, it will put her in danger without the blood transfusion after the surgery."
Astounded, Doctor Ben, it is such a blessing to have the tongue of an angel. His chattering guy is impressive, leading to something like a miracle.
She needs to focus on searching for someone to schedule her mother's surgery, which she cannot do when working full-time each day.
"Thank you very much, sister Michelle."
"Tell me if you need anything. Mom Kaye also asks around for a person with the same blood type as Aunt Lucy. Let us pray to find one sooner."
Tears are about to slip from her eyes, hearing how more people are helping them. "I don't know what to say, and I feel like I don't deserve this."
"What are you saying? Everyone loves Aunt Lucy, even Uncle Seth, and we miss him."
She beamed, and a little weight lifted from her shoulder. Indeed, she witnesses how people got to love her father. He is a good soup noodle maker, and her family became famous because of their noodle store. She meets many people who turn out to be rich kids who now rule this city.
She knew a few of them, like Doctor Ben and CEO James Ryan, his cousin. The leader of the Isagawa Clan, a 5-time NASCAR Champion, Meisha Ivanov, Lawrence's Men, and even the Chairman of the Crow Corporation loved hanging out in their shop when they were younger.
By now, most of them are proud husbands and happy fathers to their children. Nah. She's not dreaming or desiring one of them. She just admired what great men they were. Unlike most high-society men, who show off too much of their wealth and girlfriends, they change each week. She never had an interest in those kinds of men.
But she did envy the wives of the men she first mentioned above. They were so lucky to tie down such men.
Could she find a man who only sticks to one woman? Someone who would love but only one woman?