Chapter 5 World Of Man

20 Years Later........

Freya was all sprawled up in a beach deck chair with her hands at the back of her head. Such a beautiful sight to behold, she thought to herself. Who knew she could have all these to herself. There she was at the famous South Beach in Miami. The gracious sight of tall, hot and rich foreign men on colorful pastel shorts showing off their lines and wealth was enough satisfaction for her. She crossed a leg upon the other. Letting the sun rays reflect on her golden skin. Today, she had decided to show off some skin, it was a beach anyways. "who goes to a Miami Beach all clothed?" She thought to herself. Well, Certainly not her. She made sure to wear her most expensive bikini wear, matched up with a pair of sunglasses.

Soon enough, an handsome beach waiter walked up to her with a tray of different cocktails. " How do you do ma'am? Need a drink?" He said.

She nodded her head, picked one from the tray and watched him walk away. Softly, she placed the straw between her lips. She tried sucking the juice but it refused to enter her mouth. With time, she realised the problem was not with the drink, it was her eyes. There was an handsome looking man in front of her.

"Papacito!" She exclaimed, ignorant of when the word escaped out of her mouth. He is one fine man, she thought. His black curly hair certainly wasn't from America, he'd probably be mexican, she thought. This time, his eyes had met hers. His eyes couldn't have been normal. They were deep green. Deep green eyes that seemed like she could get enchanted if she stared for too long. She began to lose her cool when she noticed he was actually approaching her. It was probably all in her head but she couldn't stop staring at him and he wouldn't stop staring back. The drink too refused to get into her mouth. She was getting nervous and she didn't know why until he was a few feets away from her.

"Hi! Do you know me?" He asked with a smile that exposed his perfect set of teeth. She tried to talk but the anxiety wouldn't let her. It was perfect at Showering rain of disgrace and embarrassment upon her at times like this.

"..I saw a pretty lady staring at me so I figured she might have something to tell me. By the way, I'm Nicholas". He said as he extended his hand for a shake. Suddenly, her hands became heavy. She tried to lift it but it just wouldn't. Her lips would atleast talk. She tried talking but she failed at that too. While battling with what she wanted and didn't want to do, Unexpectedly, She heard a shrill Chwirk that seemed to get louder every second. Frightened, she looked up and saw huge, scary black hawk flying down with its aim at her. Yeah, she was a chick, but not that kind of chick. There was no mother hen anywhere to shield her from this beast that had decided to ruin her day. She began to scream and then, she opened her eyes. She quickly moved her hands around her to feel the warm comfort of her soft bed. It was one of her crazy dreams again. And yeah? The hawk sound was her alarm. Her alarm was fond of taking different audio forms in her dreams even though in reality, it was a sweet playing keyboard tune.

It was just 5:30am in the morning, not anyone's favorite time to get up from bed but she was used to it already. Life was not so nice to her and these days, her dreams had refused to favour her too. Nevertheless, it was good at one thing; searching the depths of her imaginations and giving her a glimpse of it. Miami beach was a place she had always wanted to go. Maybe all the dream did was bring to life her inner most desires. She certainly needed a vacation to miami beach, nice sunglasses, a classic bikini and well, maybe a mexico hot looking boyfriend. Or maybe not, on a second thought. What mattered the most was his wealth, she had convinced herself severally. Rich had to be on top of the list, come what may, she was ready to be the character of a fantasy novel forcefully married to a one mafia that owned a few mansions.

It was another weekday and she struggled to stand up from bed. It wasn't like the weekends were free for her too. There was no free time for her. She had finally secured a few jobs. They weren't easy but they were worth it, atleast, they were better than the jobs she held down in the places she had lived previously. She had likened herself to an eagle, one whose only job was to fly and keep flying.

She rolled her eyes. The house was the longest she had stayed in. Would be five years if her mother decided not to relocate anymore. She always wondered why they always had to migrate. Would have been better if they migrated to the popular cities like New York, Chicago, but no, her mother loved strange places. Strange flowers. Strange people and strange houses. She even looked strange. Thanks to her Mother's indecisiveness, she had had to attend numerous high schools. Probably the reason why she had no friends till date. She was the weirdo who could disappear any day. No one believed her whenever she told them it was her mother who loved to "breathe in different oxygen" regularly. That line in particular made no sense to her till date. She was over thinking again.

She stood up from bed alas and headed to shower. She had to be early to work. Her boss had temperament issues, he almost had her fired recently for coming late to work and she had promised that would never repeat itself. She got in the shower and turned it on. During the warm bath, her mind began to wander again and the image of her imaginary boyfriend popped into her head again. "It's just a dream, he doesn't even exist" she whispered to herself turning off the shower and leaving the bathroom to get dressed. While picking out the clothes to wear, she checked the time, it was already a few minutes to seven o'clock. She certainly had no idea time had passed so fast. Where exactly was it running to?

"Today is a good day" she assured herself as she quickly wore a black sweatshirt on a blue jean. She packed her bag and rushed to the living room. There, her mum was seated on her favorite cushion as usual.

" Sweetheart, you are late." Vera, her mother said. She was a frail middle aged woman who had little wrinkles on her face. Obviously an outcome of stress. She had tiny red freckles on her nose and her blonde hair comfortably rested on her shoulders. She was holding a cup of hot coffee and vigorously blowing it cool so that she could hastily drink it in a few gulps.

"You'll burn your throat again mum!" Freya said taking hasty steps towards her as she gave her a peck on her cheek. " Good morning mum. I have to leave now." She smiled as she scrurried out of the house.

She sat on her bicycle and peddled it as fast as she could. She let go of one of the handle bars to check what the time said. She would receive a lot of querries today from her boss if things went usual with him. Chances that she would be fired that morning seemed slight. Unless, he was having his manic episodes again. She continued to peddle the bicycle, thinking of all sorts of excuses she could come up with this time. She had already told him her mum was sick last week so she could not come earlier . Was her mum having a weekly sickness festival? It would just be stupid to say that.

But then, nobody was actually talking about the fact that she had a brother here. One who could have been involved in an accident If she told the lie the way it should be. No more negativity, she told herself. It would seem like bad luck followed every member of her family and they might just finally fire her If the boss or any of his family members happened to fall sick immediately after too. Speaking of accidents, lost in thought, she accidentally crashed into a huge bald man she knew he deserved the adjective "ugly". "Oh crap!" She exclaimed. "..are you alright?" She asked still peddling her bicycle a bit slower but she didn't stop because the guy she had hit was alright. She could affirm that if anything suffered damage, it was her bicycle. Also, She had noticed earlier that the man was not alone, all the more reason she wasn't ready to stop. She could clearly see that he had a number of friends that looked just like him, maybe even scarier. They all had tattoos at distinct places on their bodies.

"Hey Sissy. You should watch where you are going!" One of them shouted

"I'm sorry" she raised her voice from a distance until she could not see them anymore.

She got into the Chicken restaurant she worked at and put on her apron. Surprisingly, her boss said absolutely nothing. He wore an apathetic face, One that got everyone wondering if he was contemplating suicide. Freya resumed work. Serving as many tables as she could.

Work was getting tiresome but who was she to complain? The restaurant was not even so filled that day but something just ruined the atmosphere and she could not figure it out.

"Waiter!" A short woman who looked in her early thirties called out to her from the dining area. She walked towards her to take her orders.

"How may I help you ma'am?" She asked.

"Two cups of cappuccino needed here! No milk please" she said.

"Ah yes!" She quickly retorted as she ran to the coffee machine with two plastic cups and made hot coffee. She quickly rushed to the table of the woman who made an order and placed it gently in front of her, modishly stealing a glance at the woman seated opposite her. They were obviously rich. Their clothes and bags was louder than the conversation they were having. It seemed more like they were in an official meeting, she guessed, not like she was eavesdropping on them. But, she was very close to envying them when she heard a yell from behind

"Hey!.."

Freya turned back. She was actually the one being called.

"I have been calling you for a while now, were you temporarily deaf?". It was the woman she had just served cappuccino to. She was on her feet already. Freya quickly put on a fake smile with the tray in her hand and rushed towards her.

"I'm sorry, how may I help you ma'am?" She said, still forcing a smile as the woman hit the table hard. This had got everyone's attention already.

" I ordered two cups of Expresso, but this is Cappuccino." She said.

And, her day was about to get funnier, again! She was not the only worker in the restaurant, but something about her always made her meet customers who had marital issues, missed their therapy sessions or people who probably didn't even get to know they needed a therapist. She looked at her thoroughly once again and she realized her first perception about her was totally wrong. Wealthy people wouldn't be so lousy. She thought to herself, not like she even knew any wealthy person, she gave a smirk.

" What? You're laughing? How rude of you! I came here because I heard this place had the best customer service. I guess I was totally wrong".

That was a smirk , not laugh. Freya thought. However, since wealthy was off the list, she could as well cancel educated too.

"We are very sorry ma, you clearly ordered cappuccino" she said.

The woman scoffed. "So I'm lying? What insolence"

She was already making a scene. The others in the restaurant had already began to whisper to themselves.

The woman was already making too much of a scene. Freya could swear that she was one of the customers that was trying to avoid paying for all she had ordered. Maybe, she dressed wealthy with that original plan in mind. After all, her table was filled with food.

"We are very sorry ma'am but you ordered cappuccino, if you need a cup of expresso too, we would be glad to get it for you" she said still forcing a smile. Before she knew it, the cup of coffee had been splashed against her face. She let out a loud gasp. That was definitely unexpected, nothing like the way she thought the day would go.