"Hey stop right there, do not approach me unless you need a clarification." Naja said while standing firm, her eyes were glittering as she almost poured out a tear. She was afraid but she knew she had to gather some courage in order to confront the man. The man could see through Naja's eyes that she was afraid.
"Hey madame, no need to be afraid I'm here cause I have been following you and the fair lady since morning and…..". Before the man could finish expressing himself, Naja asked him to stop. This time she was more scared as she heard the young man say he had been following them since morning.
"You mean you've been following us since morning? Who are you and what do you want from us?" Naja asked while standing far away from him.
"You don't have to be afraid madame, first I'll start by introducing myself. I'm Fred, a friend to Comry and I'm here to talk to Madame Mariah."
"I don't know of any Comry, but how did you get to know about my friend and how do you know her name?"
"Comry is the lawyer to Mr. Neil and he has had serious problems concerning the divorce issues, and I'm here to plead with madame Mariah if she could help him, I don't want him to get fired by his boss." Fred said. Looking at him, he sounded inconsolable.
"Wait, I don't get you, have you been monitoring us because of this? Well, you can go to hell with your lawyer, we can't help you."
Mariah dashed out as she heard Naja discussing with a stranger. "Hey Naja, what's wrong? I overheard your voice from the cave, I hope you are okay?" Mariah implored. Naja never wanted the man standing close to her to reveal why he was there, at that moment all she tried to do was to avoid Mariah from speaking to the man.
"You should get to the cave now, I'll soon join you!" Naja said while throbbing. Fred knew Naja never wanted Mariah to know why he was at the restaurant, and he equally tried to retain her for a few minutes. He had spent a lot of money following them since morning and he had forgoned all his daily activities just so he could have a word with Mariah. It was absolutely impossible for him to get home without talking with her. "Madame Mariah please don't leave yet, I want us to talk. I implore you."
This got Mariah upset. "How do you know my name?" she asked as she was frightened.
"I'm sorry for invading your privacy, I'm Fred, a friend of Comry the lawyer to your husband Mr. Neil, please I'll like you to consider his offer, his job is threatened I implore you, he doesn't longer take his meals because of that." Fred said while gathering his hands together and looking straight into his eyes. This got Mariah speechless for some seconds, it was totally egoistic as some people thought only about what benefits them and completely ignored if the rest of the people were actually fine by that. Being a little girl, Mariah's late mom taught her how to feel for others and how to make decisions thinking about the next person, but from what she just heard from Fred's mouth, she was pretty sure he wasn't raised in such a manner.
"First of all, I would like to know if you take decisions based on your benefits and ignoring if decisions will be favorable to the next person?" Mariah asked while looking straight into his eyes.
Fred was unable to answer the question, at that time he knew what he was demanding from Mariah was completely wrong, Mariah's face became darker as she was craving for an answer from him. Fred in disappointment kept quiet without altering a word.
"You see, you are not even capable of answering my question because you know what you are asking of me is wrong. Tell Comry i am not going to sign the divorce papers, he should be ready to lose his job and I don't ever want to see you nor Comry along my path, I swear I'm going to be bitter.'' she said while pointing a finger at him.
"Madame please you should listen to me."
"Security…." Naja said while raising her voice.
The security intervened at that minute and asked him to get out of the area before they used harsh methods on him. In fear, Fred quickly got out of the area as he feared the huge men.
"Please do make sure that the man in question never returns here again, okay?" Naja said.
"Yes madam"
Naja in all this tried changing Mariah's ideas and she talked about the last client they served a few minutes before Fred introduced himself. Mariah knew that was what she tried doing, though she appreciated her efforts for wanting to quit negative ideas from her head but she couldn't as she was an adult and the decision was hers.
"Listen, I know all you trying to do right now is protect me from Neil's issues, I appreciate and I'm really grateful but I want you to know that you can't continue doing this because it's my choice and though it pains me I need to know all that is going on. Please next time I receive such a person do not try to hide them away from me." Mariah said holding Naja's hands across hers.
"That's true, I know I did not have to hide that away from you, but all I wanted was to avoid more pain." Naja exclaimed.
While they were discussing, time was passing and before they could realize, it was 5:00 PM already, and soon it was time to get home. The two ladies got back to the dishing section so they could continue cleaning the dishes before getting home, given that their boss was going to be present at the restaurant, everything needed to be in order. They were done and got ready to go home. Mariah needed to see her aunt as it had been long since they both saw each other.