Burning Passion

Chapter Three: Tongue of an Angel

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CRESCENT MOON CAFÉ

"Miss Nikki, Madam Michelle is looking for you," said Mae, a waitress at this café.

"Oh. Kindly deliver this order at table 9?"

"Okay, Miss Nikki."

"Thank you, Mae."

She is a little nervous about what Mrs. Lawrence has to say to her. Maybe about her tardiness and often she left home ahead first as she needed to replace her neighbor, Auntie Maria, to go home during the evening.

She admits how her work has affected her since her mother remained at the hospital for two months. But she feels safer if she was there rather than staying at their home, which frequently she's having seizures, but the bills that worry her.

Nikki takes the stairs at the end of the hallway, the left corner of this shop. She knocks at her General Manager's office door, where Mrs. Michelle Lawrence is waiting for her.

Michelle is the CEO of the company that owns these famous coffee shops, and she does her rounds on a scheduled basis. That is why she is nervous, as it is not her scheduled time to visit the shop yet. She feared there was another bad news she would hear today.

Nikki started to work in the café two years ago to get experience and recommendations to apply to a famous hotel in the city. She aims to work at The Peninsula Hotel or the Dragon Empire Hotel, but she grows to love the shop after months of working here until she is promoted and becomes a floor manager.

May her earnings couldn't compare to the paycheck she will get to her dream job, but the extended family she formed while working here is irreplaceable.

But since her mother became ill, her performance was implicated, and she couldn't focus at work.

"Mrs. Lawrence? You wished to speak with me?"

"Hi, Nikki! Yes, dear, come in! But, please, sit down." Seated on a couch, Michelle offers the sofa across her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lawrence."

Michelle stares at her with an intense gaze, and it brings a loud thud to her chest. She's thinking maybe her boss is just waiting for the right moment to pull the pin and drop the bomb on her.

"Do you need a vacation?"

Stunned, this is not what she anticipates from her boss. Startled, she was speechless. "Mrs. Lawrence?"

"Cut the formality, would you?"

She pushes a smile on her lips. Michelle, as her boss, but before that, she is one of many patrons eating at their Soup Noodle Store at the Shopping Center. She acted just like an ordinary Senior High Student accompanied by her classmates. Then, one day, she saw her on TV, joining a beauty pageant, and then revealed she is actually from a prominent wealthy family. She even won as a Miss Universe and left an impressive reign to the world.

Michelle is such a down-to-earth person and gets involved in many charity works then and now. She takes massive inspiration from her boss. Then, she married one of the famous Lawrence's Men in this city: the older son of Lawrence's and now a happy wife and mother of five.

Yes, five! But still, she maintains her perfect figure all these years—something to inspire about when she has children of her own someday if she meets Mr. Right Guy.

"Sister Michelle, I needed to earn for Mama," she responded. She has to continue working, even taking care of her mother at night. She can't afford to lose a wage.

"I know. Don't worry. Your vacation leave is with pay. I heard from Ben that Aunt Lucy needed to undergo surgery sooner, but until you cannot find a person who has Blood Type A with RH negative, it will put her in danger without the blood transfusion after the surgery."

Astounded, Doctor Ben is such a blessing to have the tongue of an angel. His chattering guy is impressive, leading to something like a miracle.

She needs to focus on searching for someone to schedule her mother's surgery, which she cannot do when working full time each day.

"Thank you very much, sister Michelle."

"Tell me if you needed anything. Mom Kaye is also asking around for a person with the same blood type as Aunt Lucy. Let us pray to find one sooner."

Tears are about to slip from her eyes, hearing how more people are helping them. "I don't know what to say. I feel like, don't deserve this."

"What are you saying? Everyone loves Aunt Lucy, even Uncle Seth. We miss him."

She beamed, and a little weight lifted on her shoulder. Indeed, she witnesses how people got to love her father. He is a good soup noodle maker, and her family became famous because of their noodle store; she meets many people who turn out; they were actually rich kids and now ruled this city.

She knew a few of them, like Doctor Ben and his cousin— CEO James Ryan. The leader of Isagawa Clan, a 5-times NASCAR Champion Meisha Ivanov, Lawrence's Men, and even the Chairman of the Crow Corporation loved hanging out in their shop when they were younger.

By now, most of them is a proud husband and a happy father to their children. Nah. She's not dreaming or desires one of them. She just admired how great men they were. Unlike most high-society men who were showing off too much of their wealth and girlfriends, they change each week. She never had an interest in those kinds of men. 

But she did envy the wives of the men she first mentioned above. They were so lucky to tie down such men.

Could she find a man who only sticks to one woman? Someone who would love but only one woman?