"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
After that incident, Lorenzo came to the shop every day, placed his usual order and while paying, he asked Ava her name but she kept ignoring him. She was now sure that he is some kind of crazy weirdo. Lorenzo has never been rejected by anyone. And now being ignored every day by a simple worker had hurt his ego. He decided to force Ava to tell her name, it was the only option visible to his stupid, egoistic mafia brain.
Lorenzo came to the counter and paid for the coffee. He asked again "What is your name, Miss?"
Ava decided to ignore his words and as usual gave a formal speech with a fake smile "Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoyed our service. Please visit again."
"I asked 'What's your name?'" Lorenzo raised his eyebrow and repeated his question emphasising each and every word. He looked intimidating with his deep voice, while glaring at her. Ava almost flinched at the deep voice. She was sensitive to loud noises.
"I don't want to say it you sir. Please visit again" she managed to answer him politely. He was irritated due to Ava's everyday behaviour.
Lorenzo gritted his teeth and held her arm painfully tight, digging his nails in her flesh. He was the first stranger to touch Ava. Her mind replayed all the memories of her father abusing her mother. Her mind stopped working and her eyes were red in anger and remembrance of memories. She pulled out her hand from his grasp and did the only thing that came in her mind at the moment.
She slapped him.
The voice echoed throughout the cafe. Lorenzo's head tilted aside due to pressure and there was blood at the end of his lips.
Ava moved two steps back and said "Don't touch me!"
Her lips trembled and her hands were shaking not knowing what was going to happen. All the attention was on her. She hated being the centre of attention.
It was the first time that a girl had ever slapped Lorenzo. He was beyond furious. His jaw clenched and he fisted his hand. The nerves of his neck bulged out. He lunged out at her "How dare you slap me?" He started throwing all the things off the counter in an attempt to come towards her. Meanwhile, Ava was just standing there and looking at him blankly. She was still trying to process the fact that she was in a big trouble.
Hearing the mess, Ava's boss Jaxon interfered. His colour faded away after seeing the mafia boss angry. "I-I-I'm sorry sir. What's wrong?" Jaxon asked timidly.
Lorenzo grabbed his collar and asked "Why did you hire such disrespectful employees who slap their customer just for asking name??"
Jaxon's eyes widened hearing that Ava slapped him. Ava was a hardworking and patient girl. She worked for him for more than 6 years. He never received a complain about Ava till now.
"Ava y-you slapped him? Apologise!" Ava didn't know why would she apologise him even when she did nothing wrong. Instead, he is the one who must apologise for touching her without her will. Jaxon was doing injustice without listening to her point. Every story has two sides and he heard only one side. Lorenzo was the one who crossed his limits. But she knew they didn't deserve an explanation about it.
She simply said "No. I. Won't." Lorenzo's smirk wiped off after listening her. He wanted an apology to satisfy his stupid male ego.
He warned Jaxon saying, "Seems like she got some attitude. If she won't apologise, this would be the last time you'll see this cafe." Jaxon was still in a dilemma so Lorenzo continued, "Just imagine the excavator demolishing this building, your 20 years of hard work will be in vain."
Jaxon looked at Ava, helplessly and begged "Ava, Ava Please Apologise." He knew that this job was Ava's only source of income. He didn't want to fire her.
Ava, had already made up her mind. "I said NO!" she told Jaxon sternly.
"Apologise or else you'll be fired." Jaxon warned.
Ava was dumbstruck. Why would he fire her for such a mere thing? Even when it was not her mistake. Ava eyes were red with anger.
"If it's so then good bye Mr. Jaxon. I won't apologize him for the mistake I didn't even commit." She spat.
She grabbed her bag aggressively, looked at Lorenzo with hatred in her eyes and went away. The smirk on Lorenzo's face was long gone, his throat went dry as he looked at the retreating figure.
"It would have been better if she apologised. Poor girl. She barely gets to eat two meals a day." Jaxon sighed. He cared about Ava but not to an extent that he would risk his cafe because of her. Jaxon bowed to Lorenzo and walked away.
Even after firing her and getting to know Ava's name, Lorenzo was not completely satisfied. Somehow, he felt guilty when he saw her blue eyes no longer shining brightly. Instead, they were replaced with the red, angry ones. He couldn't find his mistake either. From his point of view, he did nothing wrong. He just asked her name and she was the one who over-reacted by slapping. The only words roaming in his brain were of Mr. Jaxon's. " Poor girl. She barely gets to eat two meals in a day."