"No. Wearing glasses even outdoors became a habit that is hard to do away with," Amos replied as he leaned back against the brown wooden chair.
"What a coincidence I happen to love men who wear reading glasses. I find them dashing," Amelia's reply made Joanna roll her eyes at where she stood.
[I love men who wear glasses. I find them dashing… instead of beating around the bush why doesn't she just go ahead and say it's you I like]
Joanna was hell-bent on finding faults in whatever Amelia did or said.
As they continued to talk, Joanna continued with what she was doing. Because her attention was divided it took her a long time to get the order ready.
"Are you gonna spend the entire day preparing just one order today?" Mrs Parker questioned seeing that Joanna was not done.
"You are always diligent and fast so what has come over you today?" Mrs Parker complained.
"Sorry, Ma. I will get it done right away," Joanna spoke with gritted teeth. With the way she wasn't able to hide her emotions, it was very obvious to guess what she was thinking.
"Don't just stand there saying sorry but instead do what you ought to do," Mrs Parker said.
She was about to continue with her scolding when a customer arrived at the counter.
"Yes," Mrs Parker answered. She turned and gave her attention to the man in the blue suit.
[Why does it feel like Mrs Parker is picking on me today?... Is she trying to make me look lazy and irresponsible to make her cousin stand out?]
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtJoanna's murderous glares shifted from Mrs Parker's back to her cousin whose laughter she can hear from where she stood.
"Joanna, what are you seriously looking at huh? Do you want Mrs Parker to scold you again," Leah nudged her by the hand seeing how distracted Joanna was?
"Mind your own business," Joanna snapped. She lifted their different orders and placed them on the tray. She walked away with her head held high.
"Why the hell is she so hostile towards me, did I say something wrong?" Joanna's attitude left Leah confused.
Getting closer to their table, Joanna's attention was on Amos and didn't see a customer approaching her direction.
She collided with the man with the tray. If not for her flexibility, the coffee would have spilt on the man wearing a white outfit.
"I am sorry… very sorry," Joanna apologised with her head bow. The little commotion made other customers direct their attention to her side.
Other customers turned and focused on what they were doing when they saw that it was nothing serious.
"Watch where you are going if you don't want to get yourself into trouble," the man in the white suit warned and walked away.
Noticing that she wanted to look in their direction Amos whose gaze was on her averted his attention to the lady in front of him.
"She looks so absent-minded while working, I wonder what is wrong with her," Amelia muttered as she returned her gaze to the face of the man sitting in front of her.
"You were about to say something… what was that?" Amos ignored what she said.
"I was about to say….," the violent hitting of the tray against the table disrupted Amelia's sentence.
"Are you ok?" Amelia raised her gaze to look at the frowning lady.
"I couldn't be better than I am," Joanna forced a smile before she brought her gaze back to the tray.
"Your order," Joanna said as she placed the respective orders in front of them.
"As I was trying to say, I hardly get angry or throw tantrums. My Auntie said this makes me boring and that my future husband is gonna have problem with my outgoing attitude…,"
"Liar," Joanna, who was about to carry the tray, blurted out.
"I beg your pardon," Amelia raised an eyebrow as she glared at Joanna.
"Huh?" Joanna feigned an ignorant expression.
Amos almost burst out laughing seeing her expression.
"Did you say something?" Amelia's frown deepened.
Joanna lifted the tray from the table and held it to her chest. "Did you hear me say something?" Joanna questioned while looking into her eyeballs.
Amelia was exasperated. She couldn't bring herself to say a word in her current mood, especially not in front of him.
"If you don't have any more instructions for me, I will take my leave now," Joanna said as she turned and strolled away with her shoulders and chin held high.
"She is so darn rude. No wonder Auntie scolded her earlier," Amelia muttered.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmTurning to look at him, she tried not to show her annoyance on her face.
Even though Joanna hated Amos talking with Amelia there was nothing she could do about it.
She had no reason to tear them apart.
For hours, Amelia and Amos talked. It was as if they didn't lack what to talk about.
So many customers left and others trouped in but only the two of them remained where they were.
It was night and about an hour for Joanna to get off work when she saw Amos standing up from his seat.
He and Amelia were close to the door when she caught up to them.
She held him by the hand and pulled him back a little.
"Where are you going?" Joanna demanded in a soft tone. "Have you forgotten you said you would make up for last night's incident?"
"Last night's incident?" Amelia asked with widened eyes. Her eyes darted from Joanna to Amos' face
"Amelia has opted to show me around the Kingdom and I obliged…,"
"What does that supposed to mean?" Joanna said, letting go of his hand.
"It means I will have to take a raincheck with you…. We will go out some other day," Amos said, his gaze not moving from her face.
"Suit yourself then," Joanna turned and stomped away.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Amelia's question brought Joanna's movement to an abrupt halt.
"If she is your girlfriend then it will prove her attitude towards me reasonable so, are you her man?" Amelia asked when he didn't reply immediately.