Chapter 15

“Really?” Minerva nodded. “Darwin said that to you?!”
         Mariella Chu’s joyous voice made Minerva anxious for a bit as the whole people inside the milk tea shop turned their heads towards them.
         “Hush, Ella! They can hear you.” Mariella pouted at Minerva, who was wearing a pink crop top with white chevron designs.
         “Just lower your voice…” Then she smiled. Like a real, unfeigned smile. Mariella had never yielded a smile like that to Minerva.
         The pregnant soon-to-be Mrs. Gray just casually smiles—her usual one.
         “What’s wrong?” She asked.
         “Nothing. It’s just that…” Minerva jerked her face to her bestfriend and bravely asked.
         “Why aren’t you married yet?” Mariella’s expressions shifted, from a jovial grin to a flabbergasted face.
         “I thought we already talked about that, Minnie.” She said in a soft, hoarse voice.
         “But you’re nearing your late twenties! Don’t tell me no man hasn’t courted you yet?”
         Mariella faced away and moved her body by the glass pane. “I’m not fond of men.”
         Her queer tone resonated in her ears and Minerva immediately recognizes the wrongness of her voice. But she chose to cackle.
         “Are you gay, Ella?” She said while still giggling. Mariella stared at her with wide eyes. Her bestfriend was about to counter her when—
         “What’s this?!” A customer in the shop has raised her voice.
         The two turned their heads to where the commotion came from. Minerva frowned as soon as she saw who was complaining.
         She was probably in her early forties. Her hair was brought to her chest in a ponytail. She was wearing all sunny yellow—Minerva’s least favorite color. From head to toe, her body was bombarded with jewels in which Minerva thought if there was an inch of her body that wasn’t ornamented by gems. She looked rich, yes. But, it was as if she’d come from straight to hell because of her unpleasant aura and boastful attitude.
         “You said you’ll give me an extra one if I buy this. Then why is this only a small one?!” That woman reiterated.
         “Ma’am, we do have a ‘Buy two, Take one’ but the free milk tea is only a small size. If you wished to buy a larger one then you ca—”
         “I want to talk to your manager!” That bitch finally shrieked.
         Minerva raised her eyebrows, as did Mariella's.
         “Such a spoiled old brat…” Minerva heard her bestfriend whispered as she drank the last of her milk tea.
         She looked at the quivering employee, whose apologies to that woman made her stutter. 
Minerva pitied her. She once had that kind of customer, actually a lot of customers like that, back when she worked as a cashier. But they immediately became silent when confronted by the muscular manager. Justine was his name as far as she can remember. He is a kind of man who can tame any woman by just his mere looks. Too bad, but not really that bad, that he prefers to date people with the same sexuality as his—the same views as his.
         But this woman, considering she’s a forty-year-old, must learn to understand—and read what’s on an advertisement poster. But that woman just kept on demanding and complaining that she should be given an exception to the promo as she is an elite, that she should be given a larger size as a free to the ‘Buy One, Take One’ promo.
         Minerva doesn’t know how many times she had rolled her eyes upon hearing that argument just for a cup of tea—literally.
         “Size doesn’t matter anyway,” Mariella finally spoke. “It’s the taste that matters.”
         Minerva just gave her a breathy laugh, “Tell that to the bitch.”
         “Yeah, if only I wasn’t the sister of the owner, I had long drowned her face in a bucket of milk tea. Such an irritating woman!”
         Minerva couldn’t agree more than what her bestfriend says. These kinds of women are so annoying that, if only cutting off the tongues of these people wasn’t a crime, she had long done this. Especially to Janine, her bestfriend during high school who spread to everyone that she had slept with Janine’s boyfriend.
         Even when they finished and stood from their table, that woman was still brave enough to not walk out defeated. So, Mariella whispered to her employee to just give her two large sizes of milk teas to silence her tongue.
         The woman’s victorious smile was making Minerva hold Mariella’s hands the entire time so that her bestfriend wouldn’t choke this creature in the ground. There is indeed worse in every day, she thought.
         Mariella held her glare to the woman even when she exited. Minerva was having a hard time to pin her bestfriend to where she was standing in order to not let her chase that woman with a butcher’s knife.
         When she saw anger had left Mariella’s face, Minerva sighed with relief. She can finally breathe properly without hesitation due to the situation.
         Her bestfriend escorted her outside and even offered to take her home.
         “Are you okay?” Minerva finally asked upon being dropped by Mariella in Darwin’s penthouse.
         She glanced at the pregnant woman and gave her a kiss on the cheeks. “Yes. You don’t need to hold me like that, you know.”
         Minerva shook her head. “With the tensity of the situation earlier, I doubt I was even breathing. I know you for such a woman of fire—you would burn everything along the way as much as you’d like.”
         “I know,” Mariella stated. “That’s why if ever I see that woman again, I’ll make sure she’ll be sent straight to the morgue.”
         Minerva just rolled her eyes, but with a smirk on her face.