บท 24: A Confrontation(3)

"I believe the lady asked you to step away."

Antonio looked at the man in irritation while Nora turned back in surprise. She had never expected some stranger to intervene. In her experience, rarely had anyone been willing to interfere in such drama.

"Look, mister. This is between me and her. It has nothing to do with you. So please back off."

"Well, when you do your personal business in public it becomes anyone's business." the stranger commented.

"We were simply talking mister. So, move away before I call the cops on you for assaulting me."

"I barely touched you, mister. If you can prove that to be assault, I'll give you a billion dollars." And then ignoring Antonio, the man turned to Nora," Miss? Are you alright? Do you need someone to take you away or help you in any way?"

Nora looked up at the man and shook her head quietly. He frowned and looked at her fingers which were still clutching the arms of the chair and visibly tried to soften his tone," You don't have to be scared. Your fingers are even now holding onto the chair for dear life."

She watched from the corner of her eye, the way Antonio was about to push away the stranger and the way he was being so smug.

Standing up, she smiled widely at the stranger and even patted his arm reassuringly before saying," This is my ex-boyfriend, Antonio. He is not very good at trying to be intimidating. I think it is good that he hasn't tried acting, or any serious movie would turn into a comedy because of him."

The man furrowed his brows, wondering if the girl had received some kind of shock. He had witnessed the man trying to scare the girl away when he entered the cafe but now the girl was pretending nothing was wrong. Maybe she was putting on a brave front.

Feeling pity for the beautiful girl, he was about to tell her to call the cops when she picked up the glass of water and threw it at the other man's face.

Nora felt a bit of satisfaction as she heard Antonio squeal like a pig and then smiled at the stranger who was also staring at her in shock. Smiling brightly at him, Nora continued," This is why I was holding onto the chair. I did not want to throw water at his face then and was trying to control the urge. But thanks for trying to help me..."

Meanwhile, Antonio had recovered from the unexpected attack and was wiping his face with his handkerchief as he glared at her and bit out," I won't forget this, Nora. You will pay for it."

"Will I?" In that case, Nora shrugged her shoulders, grabbed the jug of water on the table and emptied it onto his head. She then grabbed his dear monogrammed kerchief from his hand and mopped the floor with it. "That floor is cleaner than your face, Antonio. Also, add these to my tab too, Antonio. Ciao. I'll pay later."

As Nora sauntered out of the cafe, without looking back, the stranger burst into laughter followed by all the people in the cafe who had either unintentionally eavesdropped on the entire drama or been forced to see the end of it.

Utterly humiliated, Antonio marched out of the cafe with a red face. The stranger was called by a woman who was sitting in the corner," Hello there, Knight in shining Armour."

The man rolled his eyes and walked towards the woman. Leaning down he kissed her cheek and answered," Well, I would have loved to be the Knight, but the lady was not much willing to be a damsel in distress."

The woman laughed as the man took the seat opposite her and sighed," Well, I never expected the man to turn out to be a jerk."

"You know those two?"

"Hmm. They were regular here. Every evening he would come here for an hour. The two would study and then they would leave together. But then a few minutes later, the girl would return and continue studying. I liked her. She is also very helpful. So many times, she would simply leave aside her work and help the staff. They were supposed to get married."

"That is interesting, but many young couples break up. So, what is all this angst about between the two?"

"Yes, many couples break up. But not many brides are jilted at the altar where the groom then proceeds to marry her sister."

Astonished, he stared at his sister and asked," Really? This is what happened? Well, the girl could have thrown coffee at his head, and no one would have blamed her."

"Hmm. But why are you so interested? I've never known you to interfere in other people's business. I mean I was sure that you would leave a person dying on the sidewalk and not be bothered. Are you interested in Nora? She is a beauty, isn't she? Half of our male customers came here just so that they could sit and stare at her."

The man pretended to not hear what she said and pulled out his file, "Sign this."

Instead of looking at the file, she looked at her brother and spoke," Well, its a shame she won't be coming here again."

"Really? Why?" the man blurted out the question.

"I knew you were interested! She's taken up a job near her university. I just wrote her a recommendation letter last week. Now, I just hope that The Cafe at the Boulevard knows what a gem they are gaining."

The man did not say anything this time and continued his work. However, as he left an hour later, the man smiled and spoke a few words, Nora at The Cafe.