"Mr Steve?!" I exclaimed surprisingly when I saw the person in front of me.
"I see you are enjoying that small showcase huh," He said to a shocked me that was still standing and staring widened eyes at him like as if I saw a ghost
"How are you Kira?" He asked smiling, I didn't answer but instead started to feel uneasy talking to him in a public place like this.
He is a criminal, A thief and for sure is wanted by the police or the law so technically he is a liability to my safety and mom's too.
But he saved my mom....
He must have sensed my uneasiness so he chuckled. He seems pretty confident about his movement.
"Relax Kira no one's watching you, Or us." He said chuckling lightly obviously amused by me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked feigning confidence, Though it might have been a coincidence but I find it seriously strange for us to meet here again.
"What do you think I am doing here? Shopping obviously," He said raising his right hand.
He was holding a shopping basket with different stuffs in it with his right hand and the other hand in his pocket.
"I see your mom is in a deep conversation," He said looking over to where my mom was standing with her longtime friend.
I also peeped over at where they were and back at him with a questioning look on my face. "How did you know she was the one?" I asked him.
"Haven't I seen her before?" He asked back with raised eyebrows, "Yes you have but that was in the dark, It was nighttime when you saw her." I told Him.
"I recognize people's faces easily, darkness or not and with the way she threatened me that night her's is pretty hard to forget I must say." He said with raised eyebrows and upturned mouth.
"Oh.." I simply said and nodded.
"Seems you are pretty good at everything," I told him in an "as a matter of fact" Tone. "I am." He said nodding.
"Tell me about some other things that you do," I said, "Maybe when we meet some other time." He said randomly staring and smiling at everyone in the store.
"You don't seem like you are in a hurry Mr Steve, And my mom is sure as hell gonna take alot of time talking to her longtime friend so..." I said to him.
"Of course I am not in a rush, And you are right about your mom but I don't think this is the appropriate place to discuss that," He said walking over to a stock shelf.
I followed him.
"But you said you don't feel threatened by anything here, You said you are not wanted so why feel scared about a small discussion on what you do?" I asked not caring about who heard me or not (Not like the people care, Everyone's just moving about like zombies).
"You know what I do Kira," He said with a sigh, "Yes I do but i wanna know why," I went on.
"Why what?" He asked removing one plastic soy sauce bottle from the shelf, "Why you do what you do," I said in whispers now. "Which is?" He asked as if he wasn't the one who said I knew his job just a minute ago.
I rolled my eyes before answering, "Stealing!" I said in a hushed tone.
He threw the soy sauce into the basket he was holding and stared at me impassively for a while before speaking.
"And why do people steal Kira?" He asked moving on to the next shelf. "Well... Obviously for a reason that isn't worth it." I stated.
"Hmm, You are a smart kid Kira but let me tell you something, The reason why I steal is worth every bit of it, Every. Single. Bit." He said stressing on every words in the last sentence.
"I do not think so, No matter your reason I still don't think stealing justify that. Taking what does not belong to you is absolutely wrong in all ways possible." I told him following him as he moved from a Shelf to another.
"Yes yes that's the general knowledge about the term, It's pretty common and it's totally cool to see it that way," He jovially said. "And it is the truth." I stated.
"It's not always the truth," He said putting on a serious look now. "We may look bad on the outside but I tell you there's more to what we do than what you see kira," He told me as he grabbed a whipped cream container.
"What do you mean?" I asked even more confused than before. "I won't tell anyone," I said rolling my eyes at his one minute silence. "I know you won't but you don't expect me to tell you every single secret I have." He said, inspecting all the stuffs in his grocery basket.
"Well I know a secret about you and I also know there couldn't be any other secret greater than that about you. So I wonder what's so special about this one that has you so tight-lipped." I said feigning wonder.
He chuckled in admiration at my commendable but not-so-strong-attempt-according-to-him in getting him to tell me the secret.
"You have skills kira, Great ones. But dwelling more on this would be putting you and your family in immense danger okay," He commended, Warned me and left at the same time.
I was about to call after him when mom screamed my name from behind. "Oh," I thought. "Mr Steve had saw her,"
My mom was all smiles for the rest of the time we spent at the store. Anna who was her best fried in high school and who apparently is married to a rich tycoon has offered her a job In one of her newly established restaurants in Brooklyn.
They had spoken had spoken about lots of things just for 30 minutes before they both went their ways. And they will be seeing and hearing more from each other now that they've exchanged their phone numbers with each other.
They both had love and passion for cooking and that made their connection deeper than most best friends out there. Only their backgrounds differed but that didn't affect their relationship with each other.
While my mom was from the average, Anna was born into wealth and luxury.
I was both happy and worried for my mom though I didn't let the latter show on my face. With all what we had experienced in the hands of all wealthy people in New York City, I couldn't help but worry about her working for them again.
My mom spoke about Anna throughout the rest of our time in the store. And with the way she speaks of her it's easy to believe or get convinced that Anna is a nice person.
But don't people change? It's been twenty years now and I hope my mom doesn't get to carried away with their sweet friendship story in the past to not see who Anna truly is now.
And besides, Wasn't Mrs Jones a nice person to my mom before she turned her back on her for something which she did not do?
When we got back home my mom told granny what happened, Who she met at the store and broke the good news to her.
Granny was so happy for her, She thanked God that all her prayers haven't been in vain.
She called dad to tell him the good news while I went to my room to rest because I was so tired for the day.
I took off my jacket and was about to hang it at the side of my bed when I noticed something like a small paper had fallen down from the side pocket.
I picked it up and started curiously at it wondering how it got in my pocket. I sat on the edge of my bed and began to unfold the neatly folded paper carefully.
In it I saw a very delicate and bold handwriting which says: "FOR THEY DO NOT TRULY OWN WHAT THEY CLAIM IS THEIRS, ALL ACQUIRED WITH DECEIT, DISHONESTY AND VILE ACTIONS, IT IS OUR JOB TO TAKE IT BACK FROM THEM AND GIVE THEM WHAT THEY TRULY DESERVE.....
BURN AFTER READING."
That was what was written in it and at the back of the paper "Meet me up at the garage tomorrow night by 11pm." I screwed my face.
I had to read everything again from the start before I could truly get the message. My heart thumped so hard because I found this thrilling.
"Does this mean I am part of his team now?" I thought on the message at the back of the paper. If he meant so then I will have to follow orders. I really hope so.
I did as he said and to the kitchen to take the lighter, I flicked it on and place the tip of the paper against it and watched as it caught fire and burned away.
I dusted the ashes out of the window and went back to bed to sleep.
I dreamt about rich people laughing and drinking away their time while spraying loads of money as if it were paper all around.
The vile world of the rich.