38. Do you know who she is?

Miriam had already grabbed some sandwich and her favourite cranberry juice so she got back to work right after the lunch break. She had wanted to call her dad, but she decided against it, planning to call him in the evening. She already had the privilege to close early since she was one of the main cooks, so she could even go and visit after work. With that in mind, she drowned herself in work to pass the rest of the time.

She finally decided to leave work around 7pm when there was nothing much to do. After leaving one or two instructions to the other workers, she handed her aprons and napkins over to the laundry staffs and washed her hands. She went to her restroom and changed into her clothes, restyled her hair and applied her lip gloss. She went to bade her colleagues goodbye and made her way through the corridor into the VIP section where she would pass because it was on the first floor, same floor as the kitchen. She had barely opened the door to enter the VIP section when she heard some raised voices. She proceeded to open and she gasped at what met her eyes.

A middle-aged woman, who looked quite rich judging by the expensive clothes and jewellery, had just splashed wine on the face of a small girl who was holding a toy aeroplane.

"How dare you ruin my dress, you filthy thing?!" Miriam heard an unpleasantly high-pitched voice coming out of that woman's mouth and she cringed a little. "Do you have any idea how much this costs?! This is possibly a thousand and one times worth your life!!" She continued barking like a wounded dog, not minding her surroundings and the fact that she was dealing with just a child.

This looked quite familiar. Wait, where had she seen this before? She tried to rack her brain to remember when the woman's voice thundered in again. She had managed to draw a lot of attention now, and was acting all bossy and condescending. Miriam saw a young woman walk up to the angry tigress and spoke softly, probably offering an apology, but that seemed to had flared the woman up even more. She was walking in slow steps towards the woman with a murderous look, like she was ready to incinerate her alive.

Miriam took quick steps and blocked her way. This woman was making a scene, and if she didn't care, then Miriam wouldn't let her disturb the peace of the other customers just because a small girl spilled drink on her expensive dress.

"Ma'am I'm so sorry for what she did, but it's a public place and, with all due respect, you are disturbing other customers." Miriam said politely and pulled the small girl who was now sobbing to her side.

"And who do you think you are?!" The woman snapped with one eyebrow raised, her eyes trailing Miriam from head to toe. She looked like a nobody so why was she interfering with her?

"I'm a worker here, ma'am, and as you can see, she's just a child and was playing around. She didn't do it on purpose.. Please."

"Can you hear yourself? A child, playing at such a prestigious restaurant and you as a worker think there's nothing wrong with that?" The woman asked and squinted at her.

Miriam pursed her lips tightly to keep her mouth shut for a moment. She knew what the woman said was right, but she sounded so rude and she didn't like it. But she didn't want to argue. As a matter of fact, she disliked arguments. Not even as a joke. She felt like aruguments tested her morals and self-control. So she was feeling very uneasy and she felt like just walking away that instant, but she knew she couldn't do that, out of respect for the customers. She didn't want to appear rude. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the woman spoke again.

"You should work on your customer care and prevent such... such people..." She turned and looked disgustingly at the woman and her daughter, "...from coming to this part of the restaurant. I'm sure you're aware of the kind of people this part is reserved for."

"Yes ma'am. We're sorry, it won't happen again."

"You better make sure of that, else see your ratings go downhill with just a snap of my finger the next time it happens." She angrily said and turned around, grabbed her purse and stormed out.

Miriam was lost in thought right after the woman left. She looked quite familiar to her. But she didn't really remember where she saw that woman. Shaking her head a bit, she turned towards the woman and her daughter. The woman was now looking down at the girl in a stern manner and the girl had her head bowed with a sullen expression. She was clearly being reprimanded. Miriam walked up to them and gently placed her hand on the woman's shoulder, which drew her attention to her.

"It's okay, she's just a child. Don't be to hard on her." She turned to the girl and squatted to her level. Stroking her hair gently, she asked, "Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"No, mommy cannot hurt me."

"I mean, the other mommy. Did she hurt you?"

"Which other mommy? That woman is not my mommy! She was shouting at me! And she splashed her drink on me!"

"But you also poured your drink on her beautiful dress." Miriam said gently.

"It was...it was an accident. You see, a handsome uncle bought me this cool aircraft, and I was trying it. I wasn't looking and when I was passing by her table, I kicked it accidentally and her drink poured on her dress." The little girl explained herself with her cute voice, different emotions taking turns on her cute little face.

"Did you apologise?" The girl nodded. "Good! Now that is what you're supposed to do all the time when you wrong someone. And you shouldn't run about in places like this, okay? You should be eating here and not playing. Hmm?" The girl nodded again and bowed her head in embarrassment.

"Mommy already told me not to do that again. I'll be a good girl next time."

"Pinky promise?" Miriam asked and stuck her little finger out in front of the little girl, which made her giggle and stuck hers out and intertwined both fingers.

"Pinky promise!"

"Good girl!" Miriam beamed and raised her hand up for a high five which the girl happily did. "My name is Miriam. What's your name?"

"Caroline."

"Awwnn, such a sweet name." She rubbed her head once again and stood up. Turning to her mother, she smiled.

"Thank you for your help, my dear. I didn't know how my daughter ended up at that table." The woman said, looking apologetic.

"It's fine. People act that way sometimes. Don't take it to heart." Miriam smiled at her assuringly.

"Do you know who she is?" The woman curiously asked. That woman earlier sounded so intimidating and powerful. Just who was she?

"I don't know. And I don't really care who she is. But I'm sure she's rich and likes to show off." The woman laughed lightly and nodded. "Okay, I'll be going now. Take care of yourself and be a good girl, Caroline. Don't give mommy a hard time, okay?"

"Okay, bye Aunt Miriam."

"You should say thank you." Her mom whispered to her but Miriam heard it and she chuckled.

"Thank you, Aunt Miriam."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. I'll be on my way now." She smiled sweetly at them and left. She took out her phone to check the time when a call came in. She rolled her eyes and answered.

"Dr. Leal?"

"Not again, Miriam. You sure are asking me to marry you."

"Why did you call?"

"Tsk! So rude! You're so lucky that I like you."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now."

"Wait! Hey, you don't have a little bit of patience?"

"Look, Roland, I'm really not in the mood for any..."

"I'm sorry I won't ever worry you again."

"You say that all the time. Are you really sorry?"

"But I can't stop worrying you. Doing that is like my daily dose of fun." Roland teased. He really liked riling this girl up. And he wished he was there to see her cute angry face.

"You're so hateful, Roland." Miriam said and he laughed.

"Have you closed from work?"

"And why do you ask?"

"I was just passing by the restaurant and I thought of checking if you've closed. I could just drop you home."

Miriam had the urge to decline his offer. As a matter of fact, she had taken her phone to order an uber when his call came in. She knew she promised him to remain a friend after she turned down his proposal, but he was so annoying sometimes. But right now, she was contemplating whether to accept his offer and save herself the hassle of having to either walk to the bus station or wait for an uber ride.

"Just come and pick me now. I just closed." She said, sounding annoyed, and Roland chuckled. This girl was just too cute. He thought she would turn down the offer because of what happened earlier. But that was one thing he loved about this girl, she didn't take things to heart. She let go so easily that it intrigued him.

"Oh wow, I'm just two blocks away. Kindly wait for me."