CHAPTER 5

If anyone had told Freya that hot Cappuccino would find its way on her face that morning, she definitely would not believe but it was there. She couldn't believe that the woman had actually spilled it on her. Every other thing she said sounded like latin, her face was more important but no one seemed to acknowledge that. From the look of things, she wasn't handling things well. If she could break her bones, she gladly would, but it was against business ethics sadly. Everyone just watched her sadly but no one seemed interested in coming to her rescue.

Her boss, Mr Barry Green as he was fondly called, rushed to the scene with a smile as wide as ever. A smile that his employees only got to see when he was relating with a customer he thinks is well off. A smile she could not see because she was nearly blinded by the spill on her face. Behind him was Lisa, his favorite employee. She quickly handed Freya a white handkerchief. She collected it and wiped herself, curious to know how things would turn out. Maybe this time around, Old barry would take her side, but once again, she was disappointed, as usual. She was the bad waitress who could not read the mind of the sweet loving woman who would not stop swearing.

"I am really sorry, Miss ..." Her boss said

"Miss Cherry" the woman quickly retorted.

Freya thought, she was far from anything like cherry. She could have been kola, coconut, all things that seemed hard to touch, certainly not cherry.

"Sweet name, Miss. I am sorry for everything my Waiter here did, she's new and inexperienced, still under probation" and Barry messed up as usual. They were usually the bad ones and the customers were always right, until they made him go bankrupt.

The Woman gave a wily smile. "Of all its sophistication, why hire someone with little experience in your restaurant?"

" I'm very sorry ma'am, I believe you ordered expresso?" He asked and she nodded. He turned to Freya. "She ordered Expresso?" He asked.

Now, it would be the wisdom of Solomon looming in her if she accepted she was at fault and it was expresso the woman ordered. There was no point acting all wise and brave since either ways, the woman's first orders would be deducted from her pay so, she was going to take her stand. She was ready to not be wise this time.

" No sir, it was Cappuccino she ordered." She said.

Mr Barry took a deep breath, looking as disappointed as ever.

"Did you hear that?" The woman asked rhetorically.

Mr Barry turned to Lisa and asked her. " Were you there when this beautiful woman made her order?".

Before the woman could quickly stop Mr Barry from taking things further, Lisa had already nodded.

"Was it Cappuccino you heard?" He asked and lisa began to spill about how she was on her way to take another order and clearly heard the word "expresso" from her lips.

Lisa could be a daughter of Jezebel at times. She was Mr Barry's loyal dog. Whatever was between the two of them, no one knew or tried to know. That was not her business but her real question was, why did she have to lie? Or was she actually saying the truth? She needn't be so sure of herself all the time. Maybe, she actually didn't hear right. Maybe she was the one who got it all mixed up, she thought.

"I'll go make you two large cups of expresso myself to make up for everything and I hope you'll continue to patronize us." Mr Barry said as he turned away from the woman's table to get her a new drink. Lisa sheepishly followed him, winking at Freya. The woman looked her up and down and sat down elegantly.

"I hope he teaches you a very good lesson" the woman said to her.

Freya needed to lose her temper, but she just couldn't. If the woman had actually said cappuccino and denied it, what did she have to gain from making her seem as a fool. Either ways, she was going to find out the truth from her, now that they were the only two present.

"We both know it was Cappuccino you ordered." She said, fixing her gaze at her.

"I'm a customer and I'm always right. If I say it was expresso, then it was expresso." The woman said with a low tone. One would never think that her voice had the ability to stay low-pitched for that long.

Freya pressed her eyes against the Woman's until she felt too uncomfortable to look away.

"Really? I heard Cappuccino! You did not order expresso. it was Cappuccino you ordered." Freya said slowly as she watched the woman's pupils dilate. For a second, she looked so dumb.

"No,...i did not order Expresso, it was Cappuccino I ordered." The woman said with a deadpan face. The other woman across the table began to feel distressed.

Freya was perplexed. Did the woman just admit that it was actually Cappuccino she ordered?

"You ..." She pointed as dumbfounded as ever. ."... It was Cappuccino? It was not expresso?".

"No, I did not order Expresso. It was Cappuccino I ordered." She repeated

"Woah!.." she exclaimed, "..You must have lied."

"I must have lied." She said with a face still as dead as ever. She looked like she had no idea what she was saying.

"Put your fingers down" Mr Barry scolded her, holding two cups of coffee. He pllaced it on the table in front of the woman. Freya quickly put her hands down.

"There you have it, two cups of expresso. Just as you ordered!" He said looking at the woman whose countenance seemed to have changed.

"No, I did not order expresso, it was Cappuccino I ordered." The woman said fixing her gaze at no place in particular. She seemed bewitched.

"Excuse me? "Mr Barry asked amazed about her change of sentence.

"I must have lied." The woman said.

"Wait, what?.." He snorted. "I don't understand you ma'am" he tried to force a smile.

Finally, Mr. Barry would have a taste of his own medicine. He had better accepted total blame for hearing her wrongly. Freya thought.

Everyone watched with dumbfoundedness. What in the world was going on?

Mr Barry tried to speak, but the words weren't coming out.

"I did not order expresso, I ordered Cappuccino. I must have lied." Miss Cherry repeated.

Things were getting interesting. Freya could see Mr Barry's folded fist behind him; a sign that he was losing his patience.

"B..but, we clearly heard you say..." He said but quickly stopped himself.

" Oh how is that? You all heard her say Expresso? It was Cappuccino I heard all along? You should not have brought these drinks" Freya said being cheeky. She had said it earlier, since God must have decided to favour her today, she was ready to be all petty.

"Yes, you should not have brought these drinks, it was Cappuccino I said all along". The woman repeated.

Okay this was certainly not going according to plan but something was definitely wrong with this woman. It had to be. How else would one explain the fact that she was all of a sudden in absolute agreement with her. It seemed like a new and different spirit had possessed her. Or, could the problem have been with her? Why exactly was she repeating every single statement of hers? Mr Barry's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Miss Cherry ....." He blurted out. All of a sudden, he came to the consciousness that all eyes were on him, so he began to laugh. The kind of laughter that had a subtle way of telling its listener that he could lose his temper at any time. He watched as the woman he had treated as a queen tried to make a fool of him in public. He turned to Freya in disgust and turned back to the woman gathering all the patience he had.

" ..I am sorry for every inconvenience caused, I must have heard you wrongly." He said as he grabbed the cups of coffee.

"That would be 100 dollars ma'am". Freya said.

Miss Cherry brought out her purse, opened it and handed out money from it obediently. Freya collected it and Mr. Barry watched as perplexed as ever.

Something was wrong, Freya thought, she was very obedient too. She was going to order the woman around one more time, if she obeyed, then it was a confirmation that She was the one controlling her.

"You should get going ma'am" Freya said and in awe, she watched the woman stand up.

" I should get going" she said.

Lisa's mind could not comprehend what was happening. It seemed like the woman was obeying Freya. No one understood why, not even Freya herself. Freya covered her mouth in shock when the woman took her bag and turned to leave. Her friend who had accompanied her seemed as astonished as everyone was. She stood up and rushed hurriedly behind her friend apologising to everyone she could.

Immediately the woman and her friend stepped out of the door, everyone's gaze had moved to Freya prompting self consciousness in her. She knew she would have to answer a lot of questions, but, atleast, she was not getting fired.

"Today is going to be a good day!" She assured herself, followed by a deep breath, making sure that no one heard her. Mr Barry was the first to leave the scene. "Follow me, " he said as he walked past her. Lisa followed. Was he going to scold her again? But it was clearly not her fault so she couldn't be fired. Well, he was unpredictable. If he tried to fire her, She would just look him in the eye again. Maybe he would become obedient too.