"This is the worst day of my life" Mia declared angrily as she marched to look for the shaman's little 'shrine'.
She believed that he was the one who cursed her. If not, why would she suddenly faint and that womanizer was the one to perform a CPR on her?
Now, she didn't even feel like she had fainted just a few minutes back. She felt okay.
This was obviously more supernatural than natural and it was his handiwork.
But no matter how much she trudged around, she still could not find the building, much to her annoyance.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Mia screamed before using both hands to pull her hair.
Her emotions were heightened and she thought she was going to cry any moment. But she did not want to.
Of everyone to be there at that moment, why did it have to be him? She asked herself regrettably.
She checked the time to see it was past 3 already and sighed in relief. This was good. She just had to go get her paycheck and disappear from this cursed place.
But when she got there...
"Your pay was slashed" Jerry informed her apologetically with his head down. He could not afford to look at her face because he knew what was coming for her next.
"What do you mean by that? Are you trying to piss me off right now?" Mia asked him in a calm but angry voice.
She had literally risked her life out there by putting on this crazy costume to dance for a bunch of kids. Not only that, she had even collapsed and even though she only lost consciousness for a little while, she was beginning to feel very sick and miserable. Also, if she hadn't taken this job, there was no way in hell she would have been 'kissed' by the guy she hated so much!
But now they wanted to slash her pay?
"I am so sorry Mia. I do not have any control over it. The employers did this." He paused and began to explain for her to understand their reason for it.
"Everyone was being monitored to make sure you were all doing your jobs and not slacking off. But on several occasions, you were not at the spot you were supposed to be at. And it was made clear to you that you were supposed to remind there." He explained with an apologetic look.
"Are you all out of your minds? I am not supposed to ease myself or go wat something? I was just supposed to stand there for those many hours like a slave?" She scoffed in disbelief. This was totally unacceptable to her.
"But you were told beforehand not to leave."
"'.....Except on emergencies that were justifiable.' That was what they said. I was still performing my duties. Because I was playing hide and seek with the kids!" She raised her voice in anger, causing the other employees who were in different costumes to frown deeply and began to complain because she was delaying them from receiving their own paychecks.
"I even collapsed there. At least you all must have seen it since you're so good at monitoring right?"
"Mia.. I am truly sorry. But there is nothing I can do about this."
"Don't give me that crap!" She turned around to look at the others before hissing out "And y'all stop saying things behind my back if you don't want me to get angrier than I already am"
Even though she looked small, she was very scary at that moment so they kept mute.
"You convinced me to take this silly job and promised me that the pay was good. First, I was not assigned to the part where those kinds from FREEBORN Orphanage where. I did not complain about it. But now you're trying to tell me that Elton Mayo wasted his entire time teaching the world about how to imbibe the Human Relations Principles of management by considering the fact that we are all humans? Like you really expected me to stand there for six hours and now you think my 'excuses' are not justifiable?"
Jerry was obviously lost. Where was Elton Sayo... Ayo...or was it Mayo—coming from?
"You're going to go back to those people and tell them to give me my complete paycheck. The deal was for me to stick around with this frustrating costume till 3 o'clock, and I did just that"
Jerry did not know what else to do. This was the reason he didn't like to offer her jobs. But whenever he was short of people, he had no other option because she was always available to take any job he offered. But this was the bad side of it. She was going to really trouble all of them if her complete paycheck was not given to her.
"And what's all these noises coming from here?"
Mia turned to check who the voice belonged to. And she saw a woman enter inside the room. She was in her mid forties, tall, slender, had dark hair that was tied in a bun, and she wore that 'KING'S FOUNDATION' polo she had been seeing everywhere with black trousers.
"Mrs King. Good day" Jerry quickly organised himself and stood straight.
'Mrs King? Like from the Kings family?' Mia asked herself as she looked at the woman suspiciously.
Every other person greeted her, Mia also joined.
"What's with the noise." She asked again as she eyed all of them suspiciously.
"My pay was slashed" Mia explained immediately.
The lady turned her attention to Mia who's fave had a deep frown.
"For what reason?" Mrs King asked calmly.
Mia quickly explained everything that had happened to her. She was not a liar so she also included the part where she wanted to take the head off for a few minutes but suddenly bumped into a shaman who wasted her time.
"A shaman?" Mrs Kings asked with a look that showed she did not believe what Mia was saying.
"Yes. There is a Shaman's house nearby. I was surprised to see it in a park like this."
"Young lady. There is no Shaman's house here. This is a children's park. And we specifically checked to make sure the place was suitable for us to use for this festival" Mrs Kings explained with a deep frown.
"Are you— calling me a liar?" Mia asked in surprise.
"If you hadn't lied and said you saw a shaman, I probably would have asked them to give you your full pay. But lying to people, especially to elders, isn't all nice. Weren't you trained by your parents?" She explained to her.
Mia turned to look at Jerry with a look that explained she could not believe this was happening right now.
As usual, he gave her an apologetic look and said nothing.
"Just for a couple of bucks you all think you can treat people the way you please?" Mia asked with angry eyes.
She had taken several jobs and knew how employers treated part-time employees like they were trash who should be grateful to them for offering their services.
"I hope the money chokes you" She said to no one in particular before heading towards the door.
"Young lady!" Mrs Kings voice called angrily.
Mia took in a deep breath and turned to look at her, wondering what the woman wanted to say to insult her again.
"We always pay whoever works for us. So take your paycheck before you leave and stop being proud. Pride would take you nowhere in this life" Mrs Kings lectured and Mia began to laugh like she had just heard something funny.
"So I have to be cocky before I can go far in life? That's quite a motivational talk" She made a snide remark before walking to where Jerry was.
She stretched out her hand for him to hand it over and he quickly placed an envelope with a relieved sigh, in her hand.
Mia held it tightly before holding both ends. And while everyone watched, she ripped it into two, and more pieces before allowing it scatter all over the floor.
"I've used it the way I like. Are you happy now?" Mia asked Mrs Kings specifically.
Mrs Kings eyes were blazing with fire and her hands were fisted beside her. This was the greatest insult she had ever received and it was coming from and uncultured little brat.
"If you think you all can trample on me because of some wads of cash, then you're wrong. Money — can never be bigger than me." She said with dark eyes before leaving the place.
Do you think Mia was right or wrong?
Leave your comment if you've read to this point. *muah*
As Leo continued to search around for Mia, he bumped into his twin brother, Louis.
"I have been looking for you everywhere. What's it they're all saying about me saving someone? That was you right?" Louis asked Leo with a suspicious look.
How else was he going to explain the fact that everyone was saying the King's young doctor saved a lady when he knew he had been attending to something else at the time such incident occurred and he hadn't saved any lady like they claimed.
Only conclusion he could come up with was—it had been Leo's doing.
"Long story. Aunt Deborah mistook me for you and forced me to save the la—." He was about to say lady but he paused. Someone like her could never be considered to be a lady. So instead, he settled for "Girl"
He hissed as he explained. He really wanted to stop remembering everything that had happened the past hour.
When Louis heard his short narration, he began to laugh. "I'm glad you were able to save the Lady. Did the medical team take her to the hospital yet?"
"Hospital? That crazy girl —" He wanted to say more but kept quiet instead. It was best to not remember. He reminded himself.
He did not want to start talking about Mia. Plus, it was only Chloe and himself who knew she was staying with him.
Speaking of Chloe, he had to teach her a little lesson.
"Where is she? That little devil?"
"Who is a little devil? Oh! Have you seen Cherry?"
"I don't want to talk about her." Leo frowned before explaining to him that it was Chloe he was looking for and asked whether he had seen her.
"I haven't seen her. She probably must have ditched us all. You know she hates these things." Louis explained.
When they both went their separate ways, Leo still looked around in hope of finding Mia or Chloe. He had to see one of them to vent his anger and frustration on.
"Why are you wandering about?" Leo heard a feminine voice behind him and turned to see his mother standing there with a smile.
"You're here. What about dad?"
"He is with some chiefs. Men talk. I had to leave him."
"Have you seen Chloe?" He asked her with the hope of receiving a positive response but unfortunately, he was disappointed.
"I was just about to ask you same. I haven't seen her. Did she do something wrong this time?"
Leo thought about telling his mother all his naughty sister had done. His parents would probably find a way to move that girl out of his house right?
But he decided against it. He was going to teach her a lesson on his own.
"She did nothing wrong. Just wanted to see her before I leave."
Mrs Kings smiled before placing a hand on his shoulder. "I am really happy to see you. Let's talk more at home."
"Home?" He gave her a confused look.
He hadn't planned on going home. In fact, he didn't like going home!
"Yes. Home" She nodded. "You're not planning to not come over are you? You should come over for dinner and at least spend the night." She gave him no chance to object and turned to walk away, but she stopped when he called for her attention.
"I wanted to ask— why is there a Shaman's house in this park?"
"A Shaman's house?" She raised a questioning brow at him.
"Yes. Isn't this supposed to be a park? That place looked creepy"
"There....is really a Shaman's house here?" She asked again to be sure.
The Mickey Mouse girl had told her about a Shaman's house but she had called the girl a liar. Now her son was telling her the same thing. It only meant the girl had not lied.
"There is. But I could not find it again. I just thought you knew. Anyways, I'll see you later"
He kissed her cheek before going on his own way.
Mrs Kings felt a pang of guilt.
Not only had she called her a liar, she had also asked her if she wasn't trained.
But remembering how rude the girl had sounded and how she had ripped the envelope into pieces, she frowned deeply.
"Silly girl" She said before shaking the thought out of her head to go do something else.
*********
Immediately Mia got to the house, she slumped on the bed and began to cry.
Calling her a liar had really broken her down. She could take different insults from people, but being called a Liar was one she could not take.
It reminded her of when she was little. Whenever they searched for something around the house and could not find it, they always accused her of taking it. Sometimes she was sure the item was with her elder sister, Mary, but Mary would call her a liar and her parents would take Mary's side.
In school also, she had been faced with similar cases. She didn't know why people always looked down on her or call her a liar and a thief.
What did she do to deserve something like this?
Was it her fault for presenting herself to the people to insult her.
She heard her phone begin to ring and did not bother to check who was calling.
When the phone began to ring for the third time, she picked up the phone from the bed and was about ending the call in annoyance before she saw it was Mira calling.
Mira was her friend just like James.
The three of them were childhood friends and always stuck around together.
Just like James, Mira was a rich kid. She could get whatever she wanted on a platter. But she wasn't proud. Or maybe she was, but she was never proud to her or rubbed her riches on her face.
Mia was surprised to see her calling with her local number since Mira had been in a art school outside the country and they were only able to communicate via video call once in a while.
"Mira!" Mia quickly sat up.
"Why's your voice sounding that way? Who annoyed you?" Mia could tell Mira was frowning by the tone she asked with.
"I am fine. Are you in the country?"
"Yes babe. I called you earlier today but it seemed you were busy. You didn't even bother to call back."
Mia forced out a laugh amidst her sadness. Mira was always so dramatic and Mia could swear that she was pouting right now.
"Sorry. Had a stupid job and wasted six hours of my precious life today. I don't want to remember it."
Mia said with a dismissive tone.
"I spoke with James a few minutes back and he mentioned your living arrangement." Mira paused and began to laugh before adding.
"I'm coming over. I need to hear ever single detail about it and the guy living with you."
Hello,
I remember a lot of people asked me to keep updating here..
I don't know what happened but I can't find you all anymore.
So if you're still here, please leave a comment.
*****
Thanks to all that's been supporting my story (Warning: She's a She-Devil.)
As of today, the name changed to (Beware: She's a devil.)
I hope you keep supporting. Thanks! *muah" :-)
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