章節 20: A Meaty Hand

Halfway running through the establishment, Chang tried to cope with the throngs of people in that night. Not only was it the typical busyness of a Friday, but not long into the night Brandy had to leave.

When she had gone to collect an order of cocktails from André, Justin had ran up to her to let her know. Giving her a serious look Justin told her one of the male customers had assaulted Brandy. It was even aggressive enough that she had had to leave to immediately go to the emergency room to check if her wrist was broken.

At the news André, a few other patrons who had overheard, and herself gasped and grumbled about the world's condition.

"Oh my God, did the police catch the guy or anything, or has it been reported?" Grabbing onto her friend's arm, Chang had been utterly horrified.

"I guess he left right after throwing down a bunch of money, as far as we can tell the cameras did not get a good shot of his face. Just be careful tonight, that's some weird shit. We occasionally got the overly handsy drunk, but we've never had one of our own brutally assaulted before." Sighing Justin gave her a cautious look as he warned her, concerned. After warning her, the two conferred and divided up Brandy's share of the booths, so that they could continue on without her.

After just having heard the news, Chang was more than a little alarmed and was more cautions with the male customers. Yet as the night continued on as normally as any other day, Chang felt her worries start to lessen.

As she rushed around, the night quickly passed by. Before she knew it the crowd had faded from the dance floor and only about a half a dozen booths remained filled with people. Seeing how the crowd had greatly lessened, Chang asked André in curiosity for the time as he filled her drink order.

"It is now.. Actually almost 1:30, we will be doing our last call very soon. Those will be the last drinks of the evening for that table though. So we can try to get them out a little sooner and go home." After checking the little clock below his bar, Andre looked up and gave her a smile.

"That sounds great to me. Tonight has been kinda intense!" Leaning against the counter Chang could only give him a silly smirk. Laughing as he placed the glasses André agreed, mentioning how he had seen Justin and herself running everywhere at double speed. Once her order was done, Chang quickly served the table.

The small party of bachelorettes were already lit before they had placed their current order. Seeing their already disheveled state and knew they would be closing their doors soon, Chang asked the most coherent looking of the ladies if she would like to call a ride for them.

Immediately several of the women started to bombard her with gratitude. Nodding her head in acceptance, Chang tried to move on quickly as it was something she would do for just about anyone. Chang though did find herself helping one of the drunkest girls to their ride, once it arrived, as her friends were too drunk to help.

Exhausted Chang went back to clean their table as it was one of the last one's left. Sitting on it was a 100 dollar bill, with the words "Thank you" written on them. Seeing the note and the large gratuity Chang felt warm inside. Once the booth was all clean and everything was brought back to the kitchen Chang noticed that everything else was being taken care of.

André had taken care of the bar, and was already heading to help Eric in cleaning the kitchen. Justin was wiping the floor with the giant squeegee mop as all the other tables were clean. Unsure of what else she could do to help Chang went up to Justin to ask.

"Looks like we're all good here, you can clock out and go home. I'm going to go to my boyfriend's tonight, been feeling extra "hungry" today, if you catch my drift." As he spoke, Justin gave her two nudges and two winks in reference to an old comedic skit they had watched together. Chang could not help but roll her eyes and feel her face crack into a grin at his antics.

"I got it, have a good night, I'll see you tomorrow." Giving her friend a hug she did just as he said and left on her own after saying farewell. Even though she had over a hundred dollars in tips Chang decided to walk home instead of taking a cab, or ride home. It would be good to save some, plus she could send the majority to her mother.

Her mother who frequently had to visit the hospital due to a a problem with migraines. Even though her mother would always tell Chang not to worry that it was just the old headaches she had always been plagued with. She always insisted that the last thing that she wanted was to be a burden on her hardworking daughter.

Chang nonetheless still sent money to her mother often, she wanted to make sure her mother wanted for nothing. She wanted nothing more than to be back home, but she could not, not yet still.. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to possibly get caught in negative repercussions from her actions.

As Chang was walking home, she was so lost in her thoughts that she did not notice the two men who started to tail her from a distance. After confirming that she was alone and that there was no one near, the two rushed up on her and dragged her into the alley she was just passing.

Chang was so startled she did not even have a chance to cry out before a meaty hand was clamped firmly over her mouth. Dropping her bag of clothes in surprise, Chang began to fight against the hands that now held her. She tried to fight with everything she had, but she was no match for a man's strenth, let alone two, and so they were able to muscle her into the darkness.