Chereads / Along The Sidewalk / Chapter 2 - The Braided Bomb

Chapter 2 - The Braided Bomb

David was sitting in a nice and quiet cafe, drinking juice and thinking over his breakup. After his fight with Katherine, he came to the nearby cafe, along with the sidewalk.

He was always the one to keep up their relation so far and it was a mistake to think that after they got engaged, it won't be easy for Katherine to leave him like that. Of course, he liked her but sometimes she acted like a child, without thinking things through she always ended up breaking up when they fight, he was always the one to cheer her up and bring her back even if he wasn't at fault.

He took out the ring from his pocket and stared at it, it was a silver diamond ring that his grandmother passed to his mother and his mother gave it to him to pass it down to his wife.

He was busy analyzing the ring when he heard some noises outside the cafe. He put the ring back inside his pocket and went out to the source of voices and saw an Asian woman probably in her mid-forties who looked worn out, a young woman who was wearing a hat and a long casual maxi that ended up to her toes, her hair was tied in two braids and she was carrying a child of about age five. The three of them were facing a young man outside the grocery store which was just two shops away from the cafe.

"That child has to pay for what he stole!" The man utters.

"The child has to pay for stealing an apple? C'mon, be more human. He's just four okay?" Says the braided girl.

"I'm sorry, I'll pay you for that." The Asian woman apologizes with an accent that was foreign and bows her head with hands to her side.

"Onni! You don't need to do that I can single handle such people." The girl blows away the hair from her forehead and the man puts his hand on his hips and watches her with a scowl.

"Give me my money and get going." The man urges.

"Oh yeah? Answer my question first."

"What?"

"Why did you hit the poor child for stealing just an apple!" Her voice was loud enough for the people around to hear meanwhile some people even gasped when she said that. David neared them but not enough to get noticed.

"I-I did not!" The man stutters.

"Oh yes, you did. Look at the poor child's face, it has gone all red." The people started noticing the child now and agreed, looking at each other. The woman with her looked astonished all of a sudden.

"No! I-I did not! This girl is lying."

"Now you call me a liar? I think you need to know me better. Half of my purchases are from this store which apparently makes you rich!" The girl glares him.

"W-what do you mean?" The man hesitates.

"You know the house at the end of this street? We send out our servant daily to bring groceries from your store. You remember the guy?" The man's face loses color and he turned pale. "Your face tells me that you remember so if you want to remain on good terms with us you have to maintain that attitude of yours."

"Uhh... I am sorry miss..."

"Yeah! That's more like it. Man, I should have said that earlier." She punches the man's shoulder lightly. "You have to apologize to the kid and her mother too." The man hesitates first but ends up apologizing to both of them. "This woman works for you in this store, right?" She points the store behind the man while the kid in her arms continues to play with her braids.

"Uhh yes miss." The man answers.

"Increase her salary so the next time her kid wouldn't need to steal anything from your shop." The man lowers her head, embarrassingly while the people watching had proud smiles towards the young girl. The other shopkeepers along the street were appreciating her with genuine smiles and some even showed her thumbs up. "And for you sir... I'll talk to my father and let's see if he would still like to make purchases from you."

"No-no miss. I'm extremely sorry. There had been a misunderstanding, I'd make sure to not let it happen again."

"Ok, then Mr..."

"You can call me Shenon." The man says, eagerly.

"Good day, then Mr. Call Me Shenon."