Alex was confused because he didn't recognize what language the man was speaking. He asked with an embarrassed smile, "Can you speak English?"
The man shook his head and looked puzzled. He repeated his original words to Alex. But Alex didn't recognize the language.
Other people around him were also looking at each other with puzzled expressions. No one could understand what the man was saying.
"Give him one of the wipes," Nelly suddenly suggested.
Alex didn't know why, but he took out a pack of wet wipes from behind the counter and gave it to the man. The man smiled and took a wipe out of the packet.
When he was finished cleaning his fingers, he reached back into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He asked a question in the same language as before.
Before Alex could protest, Nelly responded to him in the same language.
Shrugging, the man took out a few coins and handed them to Alex. Then he pushed his way through the crowd and left.
Alex was surprised that Nelly had known what to do. He asked her, "Nelly, I didn't know that you could speak a foreign language. What language was he speaking?"
"There's a lot you don't know about me. He was speaking Malay," Nelly replied proudly as she continued to make pancakes.
"How can you speak Malay?" Alex asked in surprise.
"It's nothing. What's the big deal?" she said casually. She handed a pancake to the client, and then looked at Alex and said, "Your girlfriend didn't ask you to come here to help me. If you don't go and find her, she won't be happy."
"I told you that Phillipa and I are just friends. Don't call her my girlfriend," Alex said crossly.
After spending a long time helping in the food truck, Alex took off his apron, took two bottles of soda from the container, and gave the money for them to Nelly.
"You're busy, I'll leave you to it," he said and walked out of the truck.
Nelly watched him leave and said with a sneer, "You say that you're in love with someone else, but I've seen the way you look at that girl. And who are you buying those drinks for?"
Alex turned to explain, but Nelly looked so cynically at him that he knew he wouldn't be able to convince her. He simply said, "Think whatever you want," and walked away.
He walked to the stadium entrance where Phillipa had told him she would be working. When he got there, he saw two rows of young people in volunteer uniforms standing on each side of the entrance, guiding the guests in. One of them was Phillipa, so he walked over to her.
"Phillipa, here's a drink for you," he said as he smiled and handed her the cola.
She smiled at him and said, "Thank you. Can you hang on to it for a while for me? There are so many people arriving at the moment. I'm very busy." He sat down next to her and watched her communicating fluently with foreign visitors in their native languages. He admired her very much.
A few moments later, a beautiful woman arrived and stood in front of Phillipa and Alex. She was wearing a blue and white silk dress suit and her makeup was exquisite. She looked just like a top model walking down the runway. It was Myriam.
Alex saw her and immediately stood up. Pointing at her, he said, "Myriam, where's my backpack?"
"Your backpack? I've lost it," she replied with a sneer.
When he heard that she had lost his backpack, he felt a chill in his heart. He said angrily, "You're sick, you know that?"
Myriam smiled at him cruelly. "Oh, you think you have a right to scold me? I also want to tell you that I found a diary inside the backpack. I burned every page of it."
This was a lie. She didn't know what Darryl had done with the diary they had found in Alex's bag. But she knew it was important to Alex, and she wanted to hurt him.
"That was my most precious possession. How could you burn it?" When he heard that Debbie's diary had been burned to ashes, Alex shivered all over. He rushed at Myriam, raising his arm to slap her across the cheek.
Several volunteers stepped over to restrain him. Phillipa also grabbed him and whispered, "She's a lead volunteer. She'll be leading the athletes into the stadium later. You'll be in so much trouble if you hurt her."
Alex managed to contain his anger. He tried to satisfy himself by glaring at Myriam coldly.
She saw that he wasn't going to try to attack her again and relaxed slightly. She teased him, "You stupid loser, you still want to hit me, don't you?"
Then she looked at Phillipa and said with a contemptuous smile, "Phillipa, Phillipa, it seems that you really are getting together with Alex. Are you really willing to stoop so low? What does that say about you?"
She chuckled, and then continued, "Look at you compared to me. We go to the same university but look at us now, huh? You're just some lowly volunteer whose only job is to stand at the entrance and show the audience where to go. I'm the lead volunteer. I will lead the athletes into the stadium. What's more, I will lead the American team and I'll appear live on TV."
"You only got that role by sucking up to Darryl. What's so impressive about that?" Alex sneered.
"It doesn't matter how I got to where I am. What matters is that I'm far more important than your girlfriend. She's only qualified to stand at the door, while I will be leading the American athletes with the whole world watching." Myriam glared at Alex and continued, "Have you had a good look at my outfit? It was designed by an Italian designer. Only forty people in the world have the same suit. It's worth more than ten thousand dollars. Now, look at what your girlfriend's wearing. A volunteer's polo shirt. There's no comparison."
Phillipa glared at Myriam angrily. But when Myriam called her Alex's girlfriend, Phillipa's heart fluttered a little and her cheeks flushed. She looked away.
Then they all heard a man's voice calling, "Honey, why don't you go in?" A tall, fashionable young man walked over with his cell phone in his hand. It was Darryl.
Myriam took his arm and said, "Darryl, I'm so glad you're here. Look who showed up."
"Isn't that the man who tried to grab you before and then got into a fight with Jake? Hey, Alex, why are you here?" Darryl said with a sneer.
"Phillipa, you should aim a bit higher. You should find yourself a man more like Darryl. Who wants a loser like Alex?" Myriam said proudly.
"Baby, it's late. Let's go in," Darryl said, and then he accompanied Myriam into the stadium.
Phillipa said to Alex, "Just sit there for a minute. There's no point being angry with such people. It's not worth it." She indicated a seat behind her and continued to guide the audience into the stadium.
**
Later that evening, everyone was in the stadium, and Phillipa was finally finished with her work.
She said to Alex, "Let's go inside and sit down for a while."
His mood had improved a little. He looked at her, a little surprised, and said, "Don't we need tickets?"
She assured him, "We have a special volunteer area where we can watch everything live on a big screen."
They were about to go in when they heard someone call, "Alex!"
He recognized Nelly's voice. Looking around, they spotted her heading toward them. She asked, "Are you going to the stadium? Please can I go with you?"
Alex asked, "Shouldn't you be working on the stand today? There will be lots of people around."
Phillipa said with a smile, "Now that the audience is in the stadium, who's going to be buying pancakes outside? Besides, someone else is running the pancake stand for her."
Alex remembered that Nelly had hired someone to work on the stand.
Nelly tapped his forehead and said, "Phillipa is smart, Alex. Your brain is like a pimple."
Looking at Nelly and Phillipa in front of him, Alex realized he was feeling happier than he had in a while. He didn't mind having a pimple for a brain. For the moment, he was satisfied.
Phillipa took them to the volunteer rest area. It was a large area with eight big screens on the walls, which were broadcasting the opening ceremony. There were more than a hundred people in the hall, chatting with each other and watching the screens. Alex sat down on a chair in front of one of the screens.
At eight o'clock sharp, a dazzling firework display announced the official start of the opening ceremony.
This was followed by two dance performances. Then, the TV commentator said, "And now the athletes will start to enter the stadium."
On screen, they could see the parade of athletes from all over the world being led into the stadium by the lead volunteers.
"Belgium!"
"Columbia!"
"France!"
"Spain!"
Finally, the host delegation from the USA walked in, and there was a huge round of applause. Myriam held the sign saying, "USA" proudly in front of her as she led the athletes in. There were ten seconds of TV footage of Myriam, which was a significant portion of the live broadcast of the opening ceremony. She looked stunning and was smiling sweetly at the camera.
When the people in the hall saw her, they were all full of praise. All the lead volunteers were incredibly beautiful.
After the athletes entered the stadium, they moved on to the next part of the ceremony.
The volunteers in the rest area were glued to the live broadcast.
Suddenly, several people entered, and someone said in a loud voice, "Darryl, didn't I look good in the ceremony just now?"
It was Darryl who had walked in with Myriam on his arm.
"The most beautiful woman in the world. I was watching live, and when you appeared, the commentators couldn't stop talking about your beauty," Darryl said with a smile as he pulled out a chair for Myriam to sit in.
Nelly saw Myriam and whispered, "Ugh, I can't stand her."
Most of the people in the hall knew Darryl, and many also recognized that Myriam was the lead volunteer that they had just watched in the ceremony. They all stood up to greet them.
"Darryl, is this your girlfriend? She's stunning," said one man.
Another agreed, "Yes, I saw her in the ceremony. She looked like a celestial being."
"Darryl, are you here to watch the opening ceremony with us?" asked an admirer.
"You're all right. Of course, my girlfriend must be the most beautiful of the lead volunteers," Darryl laughed.
"Oh, they're here too," Myriam said when she saw Alex. She pulled Darryl toward them with a sinister expression.
They approached Phillipa and Alex, and said, "Didn't you see me and Darryl walk in? Everyone else stood up to say hello to us, but you decided to just sit there?"
"What do we care that you've just walked in?" Nelly said with a sneer.
"Hey, you ugly cow, how dare you speak to me like that?" Myriam said angrily. "I'm the lead volunteer for the American athletes. Compared with me, you're nothing but trash. How dare you talk to me like that?"
She shouted to all the other volunteers, "Everyone, look at these three people. Two of them were my high school classmates. They went to a good school and yet now they're all losers. They came here to volunteer, and they think they're good enough to mix with people like us."
Then she pointed to Nelly and said, "And look at this ugly freak. We have beautiful men and beautiful women in the hall today. She really shouldn't have been allowed in. Don't you think?"