His Personal Secretary

Ding ding! The bell tied to the door handle swung side to side, hitting against the door as three stout men with muscles bulging through their black t-shirts came walking in. Their leader had a long jagged scar on the right side of his face. He led the other two men inside with confident strides. As they made their way over to the cashier, they occasionally bumped into the customers. They ignored the annoyed 'heys' from them and kept going.

I did not see them at first, completely preoccupied at the front counter taking and making orders. The cafe was understaffed with only me and another employee. I had to do more than one job- take the orders, serve the food, and clean up the tables after too. It was a tiring and underpaid job but I had to take what I got. When you're desperately in the need of money, you're not picky about what jobs you get.

It was when someone knocked his knuckles loudly on the countertop when I looked up and saw him. He was here. Richard was here.

Richard is a debt collector. A frightening one who did not make empty threats. If he said he was going to go after your family, that was exactly what he was going to do. He was a man of his word.

My dad had borrowed money from him for his business and when that business had failed so horribly, he became another one of Richard's debtors. It was just my luck that the man who is my so called father killed himself and gave the debt to me as a farewell present.

Richard gave a smug smile and gestured for me to come closer. I put down the cup I was holding and slowly made my way over to him. "Richard, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Miss. Cali," he said my name mockingly. "Why do you think I came to find you?"

"I know I'm a little late on this month's payment, but if you give me some more time, I'll gather enough for the interest and pay you. You didn't have to come personally just for this," I faked a smile.

"Of course, I had to come personally, Cali. It's money we're talking about here. Money. The world is all about money. I'm all about money, baby."

"Yes, yes. I'll have the money by the end of the week, I swear. I'll have it by then."

"I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long. I don't have a lot of patience, especially when we're talking about money," Richard said, picking his nails.

"Just this once, trust me and wait until the end of this week," I held out my hands desperately. "I have always been on time with the payments. It's just that this month I couldn't come up with enough money in time."

He waved away my plea with his hands. "This place's owner. Your boss. Why don't you ask him for some money?" he suggested as he picked up the business card by the register. "You're a smart girl Cali. You could try sweet talking him and if that doesn't work..." he looked me over. "... your body would work just fine." The two men behind him laughed.

I covered my chest with my arms protectively and took a step back. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my head. "Haha, you're such a joker," I forced myself to laugh. "My boss isn't that type of man. He's married and he has a family." How was I going to make him leave? I can't let him cause trouble. I needed this job. "Like I said I'll have the money by the end of the week, Richard. I'll contact you later. I have to work." More customers were beginning to arrive since rush hour was starting.

"Are you trying to kick out our boss?" one of his sidekicks accused.

"No! Of course not!" I waved my hands nervously. "That's not it. I just thought you guys wanted to go back to your work."

Richard looked around the bustling cafe and suddenly lunged at me, grabbing onto the collar of my shirt. He plugged me close to him and threatened, "Do you believe that I can destroy this cafe right now?"

"Y-yes, I do." I gulped. "What are you thinking of doing?"

"You don't understand just what kind of person I am Cali. As someone you owe a lot of money to, you should cower in fear when you see me. You need to fear me, the sound of my name, and even my shadow, but I can't sense that fear from you. There isn't enough of it. I think you need to be taught a lesson." He released his grip on my shirt and pushed me away. "Boys, show her what true fear of us should be like."

They nodded eagerly with an evil grin and went toward the unoccupied tables. The handful of customers in the cafe watched in curiosity and gasped at what they did. They flipped the tables, broke the chairs, and threw the customer's food onto the ground. Plates and cups were swept off with a loud crash, their broken pieces flying everywhere.

"Stop it Richard! Stop it!" I shouted hurrying out from behind the counter. "Stop this immediately!!!" I ran over to stop one of them, but he shoved me onto the ground. I watched them as they continued to cause havoc in the cafe.

"That's enough," Richard ordered after most of the cafe was in ruins. "You've got my lesson. Doesn't this make you scared of me?" he smirked. "I'll see you at the end of the week. Tell your boss sorry for this. Maybe you'll be able to keep this job if you'll willingly to you know," he winked. "I'll get going then."

The three of them left, stepping over the broken glass and wood, leaving me surrounded by the ugly mess. All the customers were gone by now. I went to the door and flipped the sign to 'Closed'.

The other employee didn't say anything and together, we began to clean up the mess. Two hours later, when we were done, the boss wanted to have a word with me.

"You know what I'm going to say right?" he asked with a grim expression.

"Yes, I do. I apologize for what happened today, Boss. I really am sorry."

"You were a hard working employee. It's a shame to let you go, but after what happened, I can't risk having this situation happening again. It's pitiful for a young woman like you to go bear something like this." he gave me a sad smile.

I nodded in understanding and thanked him for the time I worked with him. I left without getting any money in my pocket. That day, the feeling as if all the hope in the world was lost, I don't think I'll ever forget what that day felt like.

✿ ✿ ✿