Chapter 2 : Only Time (Enya)
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4:40 PM. Twenty minutes to go before Wisteria's shift would end.

 

The sky outside was darker than usual thanks to continuous rain since morning. She was sitting by the glass window with her left hand supporting her chin; looking so bored with nothing to do.

 

The street outside was jam-packed and she could sense the sour mood in the air. That's understandable. It had been a long day and when all you wanted to do was go home and chill, you found yourself stuck in heavy rain and traffic.

 

"So lazy."

 

She heard her store helper, Ed, mumbled under his breath. She just rolled her eyes and chose to ignore his existence. She was the boss but most of her workers didn't treat her like one anyway. She continued drinking her coffee while idly looking outside. She was about to take another drink when there was a loud bang.

 

Poof! Like a bubble, her moment of peace was gone.

 

Wisteria turned towards the restroom area where the sound came from.

 

A middle-aged woman walked out of the women's restroom looking like she was ready to kill a chicken. Of course, Wisteria was hoping the chicken wouldn't be her. Alas, the angry obachan locked on the poor her and angrily strode towards her direction. Wisteria looked at the dark sky and observed a moment of silence for herself.

 

"Hey!" the woman angrily yelled after stopping three feet beside her chair.

 

Am I a dog?!

 

Wisteria took a deep breath and flatten her lips into a "smile". She stood up and unhurriedly faced the mood-wrecker.

 

"Yes, Ma'am?" she asked in her high-pitched, fake voice.

 

From the corner of her eyes, she could see her assistant manager, Rony, laughing in schadenfreude. Even the brat, Ed, was looking at the scene with sparkly eyes. Those heartless bastards were about to enjoy a show!

 

"Have you checked your restrooms? It smells so bad I feel like throwing up and the toilet seat is disgusting! Do you guys even clean it?! Where's the manager?"

 

Wisteria was bombarded by her that she was stumped for words. She thought this scene wouldn't happen in this country and was only an American thing. How wrong she was!

 

"I'm sorry about that, Ma'am", she knotted her brows and tried to look apologetic.

 

"It's one of our policies to always keep the restrooms clean and odor-free. I apologize if a moment of negligence has inconvenienced you."

 

After saying those string of words in one go, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. She shifted her gaze to Ed. Sensing her gaze, Ed stopped smiling and pretended to be busy mopping the floor.

 

"Ed", she called him in a cool manner.

 

Ed stiffened on the spot. He wanted to curse himself for his stupidity. He should have known better. His boss was not even 5-feet tall, but this shortie was extremely good at holding grudges and she was very petty too.

 

"Y-Y-Yes?" he couldn't help but stammer.

 

"Go ahead and clean both restrooms. Make sure they're sparkly clean and they'd better smell clean and good. Got it?"

 

Heard that? The way she emphasized her words was so scary. He felt like all the hairs on his arms stood on ends. True enough, she just asked him again to clean the restrooms. Didn't he just clean them less than twenty minutes ago? He even sprayed almost half a bottle of air freshener on both of them!  He swore no one had used either restroom after he cleaned them. This customer was exaggerating it and making a fuss and now he was dragged into this. It took him almost an hour to clean them too. Damn it! He hated people! He resignedly shook his head and left to fulfill the task given to him by Her Highness.

 

The woman didn't look like she was done ranting, but Wisteria cut her off right there.

 

"Would you like something to drink?" she offered.

 

The woman hesitated for a bit.

 

"Is it free?" she asked, somewhat expectantly.

 

"Yes," Wisteria said with a nod of her head.

 

"Well then, I'll have a cup of coffee."

 

The woman raised her chin up and without shame and said it in a way as if she had no choice but to take on the offer.

 

"Go right ahead. There are sugars and creamers in the coffee area too. I'm sorry about that and have  a good night!"

 

She really didn't want to waste her time on this woman. After taking several steps, she felt like something was missing, she halted and turned around. 

 

"By the way, I am the manager", she added with her chin up, imitating what the woman did earlier.

 

Rony guffawed on the spot.

 

She didn't want to stay there one second more and she fled from the scene as soon as she said her part. She didn't forget to glare at Rony while she was on her way to the office. Rony only scratched his head.

 

While walking away, nobody saw her evil smirk.  Those were old coffees and they wouldn't taste good at all and she forgot to tell Rony to change them. Why would she offer coffee for free to a very rude and unreasonable customer? Served that obachan right! Feeling proud of herself yet again, she sat comfortably on her swivel chair while watching the woman make coffee.

 

Drink it and enjoy! Please don't come again!

 

She felt like her week started on good. Other than those two people, everything was okay. It's great that she managed to teach the two annoying people a good lesson and her performance deserved 5 stars!

 

Frankly, she was only good at being sneaky at her little revenge. The truth was she's timid and cowardly. She'd rather not have any conflicts or confrontations at all if it were up to her. But no matter where she was, there would always be people like that - unreasonable, demanding, rude and feeling privileged. Those types of people treated others like ants just because they thought them beneath their high and mighty selves.

 

When she was in the US, she thought it was just some Americans she encountered, but when she came back to the country to run the store, she realized they were everywhere. It's not about the race or the country, it's about attitude. It's about morals. It's about everything in a person pretty much.  As someone who had gone through so much, she just couldn't stand them. However, given the nature of her job, she had to be extremely patient. But that didn't mean she wouldn't get even with them. If she had the opportunity just like with that jerk and that woman, she'd grab it without a second thought. Her staff would find her petty, but that's just the way she was. Sometimes she wondered if she really was a scaredy-cat. Well... She kind of believed she was but she had to admit, she was also an opportunist.

 

After what felt like forever, Wisteria finally clocked out and happily strode out of the store. She left Rony to manage the store. She just hoped her third shift would show up. Somehow that's one of the scariest things about her day-to-day work.

 

It was still a downpour and she was standing in front of the store waiting for a jeepney  (common public transportation). Most jeepneys were full due to the rain and she didn't want to waste money on a taxi. Her house was just fifteen minutes away by car without traffic.

 

She lived alone in her small apartment. She was not in a hurry at all. She was savoring her another cup of fresh coffee with earbuds in her ears. Her phone playlist was currently playing one of Enya's best song collections and also one of her most favorites, Only Time.

 

She thought the song was perfect for the current mood and weather. Enya's soothing and ethereal voice made her calm. With the accompaniment of cello, violin, and piano, the song was beyond magical. It was like in every note, a raindrop fell into the water creating ripples and the ripples reached through her soul, giving her peace of mind. She really didn't mind standing there for hours when she was in that state.

 

Who can say if your love grows
 
As your heart chose
 
Only time
 
And who can say where the road goes
 
Where the day flows, only time
 
Who knows? Only time
 
 
When the song faded, a jeepney with a vacant space stopped in front of her. She checked the route and when she confirmed it would drop her off in front of her apartment complex, she hopped in. Well, she could barely squeeze in her butt in that space. It was too small even for a small person like her but she had no choice but to put up with it. She could only grab the rail to keep her from falling off her seat whenever the driver hit the brake. To make it worse, not a single passenger got off the stops at all!
 
 
When she finally reached her stop, her legs and arm were numb. She almost slipped when she stepped on the wet metal stairs of the jeepney!
 
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
After taking a bath, Wisteria applied cold aloe vera gel on her face. It was a Korean brand she ordered online. It cost her a bit of money, but the result was satisfying so far. She liked it cold so she put it in the fridge.
 
 
With slightly thicker cold gel on her face, she lied lazily on her bed while browsing through Facebook. She wasn't really active on that social media platform. She seldom posted anything other than some food she cooked. Besides, Facebook could be very depressing.
 
 
For example, her cousin, Schisandra, just posted a selfie while she was at the Horticulture Expo abroad. There were more than 500 likes and hundreds of comments ranging from "You're so beautiful!" to "Wow! I envy you!" Then, some high school classmates uploaded albums of their fancy weddings, candlelight dinners, baby pictures, etc. Some were showing off their cars, houses, and jobs. It was as if they wanted to tell everyone or the world how big and successful they were, how sweet and romantic their girlfriends/boyfriends were, how cute their babies were. etc.
 
 
She scowled at her newsfeed. Did they expect single people like her to be green in envy? She concluded: it was human nature to show off.
 
 
She believed they were aware of the effects their posts brought to others like herself. Like right now, she was feeling a little depressed. She's 26 years old and single - admirers out of sight. She could get a loan to buy a car but the car was a luxury and not a necessity. Besides, she truly didn't want another loan. She lived in a tiny, single-room apartment. Being a general manager of a convenience store didn't sound grand at all and she wasn't earning a lot. She had some savings and enough for a little bit of luxury, but that was that.
 
 
She's smart enough not to believe everything she saw on social media but couldn't stop her from feeling inferior. She sighed.
 
 
Social media was toxic and full of energy vampires. In the course of  five years, she had deactivated her account several times, yet she ended up back at it over and over again. 
 
 
She weakly threw her phone beside her. Now she felt really low. She guessed those people had achieved their desired effect. Good for them!
 
 
Ahhhh!
 
She covered her head with both hands and rolled on the bed. After rolling a few times, her hair was a complete mess and her head was spinning.
 
 
 She gritted her teeth. One day she'd open more store branches in the city, then expand it nationwide! She would become the CEO of a convenience store chain and conquer the nation by storm. If she couldn't, she should at least try opening two or three more stores. Hmm. That should be enough, right?
 
 
If everything failed, should she try to find a man with an extremely good career like a businessman? Lawyers and doctors didn't sound bad too. If others heard her thoughts though, they would all give her an eye roll. It sounded grand, but couldn't she aim for a millionaire or something? 
 
 
She picked up her phone again and opened her music player. She played Only Time and closed her eyes. She consoled herself. Everything had its time. Hers would come eventually, right? Well, who knew. Only time...
 
Took me long enough! I was busy making drafts woth my friend, HedonistPotato. She's the author of Gamer Girl. She's away and while at it, she asked me to try writing her "sequel" for the Gamer Girl. She called it "The Cosplayer" xd. Anyway, leave a comment and feel free to tell me if there's any mistake or if there are things I need to revise. I write and and revise many times before I publish. I am usually busy in real life so I can't really write in advance. Thank you for all the comments, feedbacks, reviews and being my reader1 I'll keep doing my best. I hope I offended no one while writing this. As I said before, some stuffs are based on my experience. Have a great day everyone! - Cielo.C
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