One More Chance

~~~I never lost the love that I had given you with all the things that we have both been through. I never stayed in love before as much as I have stayed in love with you. You never thought the feelings meant for you were true, 'cause every time we're all alone you'd wonder if I really never changed and if I really stayed in love with you~~~

-Lea Salonga-

"Stop it, Lucy!" Luke gave her the most dominant look that made her tail tucked behind her butt. And the moment she shut her mouth, that's the time for me to bark...

"Well, for your information, lady, our coffee shop is open for all the customers who want to buy our products, but we don't force them or anyone to buy, eat, drink, stay nor to enter our store. And as for our menus, we make sure they are in the taste of our customers. And so far, we haven't received any complaints about our food and drinks, it's just from you. And ohh... I can't believe that complaint was really from you, while I saw earlier how you enjoyed the iced Americano we served you that you almost had to sip the ice as well." I ended my speech with a devilish chuckle.

"That's not true!" She exclaimed, but Luke was fast to grab her elbow.

"And one more thing, I didn't insist your 'boss' to set your meetings here, so don't blame me as I have nothing to do with it! You can go out if you want but please pay for your drinks first!" And I raised an eyebrow. I couldn't help it. I also glared at Luke for bringing... or should I say for tolerating his employee.

She was about to say something but Luke already dragged her back to their table.

"Tss! How I wish the ground could open and swallow this woman whole! Argh!" I whispered-yelled, gritting my teeth.

It wasn't even five minutes when Luke reappeared in front of the counter, but unlike earlier, my mood had already changed from excitement to irritation.

"I'm sorry, Sam, for what happened."

I sighed loudly and stared at him.

"Why are you apologizing for someone else's fault?" I asked, straight-face.

"Because she is one of my employees."

"Whether she is your employee or not, you should apologize for her mistake! Let her apologize for what she did!"

"Sam..."

I kept myself busy from scanning the sales on the computer.

"I'll talk to her," I heard him say after a few seconds and I gazed up at him.

"Well, you should be, Mr. Williams, and I hope you don't tolerate such behavior." And those words saddened his expression.

"Sam, please, stop calling me by my last name---"

"Do you need anything, Sir? I mean, what's your order, Sir?" I asked instead, ignoring what he said.

Well, he just said stop calling him Mr. Williams, right?

"Sam..." But before he could open his mouth, Dana suddenly came out of the kitchen.

"Hi, guys," she greeted us, smiling and I took that chance to walk out of the counter and calm my raging nerves.

"Dana, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure," she happily nodded.

"Can you take, Mr. Williams' order? I just have to call my mom."

"O-Oh, y-yeah---"

"Thanks," I gave her my sweetest smile and didn't wait for her to speak as I immediately ran to the office.

"Samantha..." I heard Dana's voice but I chose to ignore her.

Actually, I not really going to call my mother, I just said that lie because I no longer want to argue with him. I know what I did was kinda childish, but honestly earlier, I was more upset with Luke than the bitch herself. He didn't say anything except 'stop it, Lucy' and then dragged her out of my face. He didn't even do anything and after a few seconds, he came back and asked for an apology---forgodsake!

After staying in the office for almost 20 minutes, the door suddenly opened and the smiling face of Dana Rodriguez came into my view.

"So, how are you feeling?" She asked me the moment she settled herself on the couch in front of my seat.

I just huffed, rolling my eyes and she chuckled.

"Luke already told me what happened and girl, I'm telling you, that damn bitch was so lucky I wasn't outside earlier because if I happened to heard what she said, I probably would have cut her tongue, put it in the grill pan and stuffed it into her mouth!" And because of that silly idea, I couldn't help but chuckle and hit her with a throw pillow.

"You're so harsh!" I said in the middle of my laughter.

"And do you know what I found out? She's pretending to be a British girl, imitating the way they speak and over pronouncing--- exaggerating their words, jeez!"

"So she's calling water--- whatha?" I tried to mimic the way the bitch speak and we burst into laughter as I exaggerated it a little bit.

And a few minutes later, our mini-office filled with our laughter as we continued to mimic the way Lucy speaks.

"Mommy, won't daddy join us for dinner?"

That was Cali's question when I told her to wash her hands as we were about to have dinner.

"Uhm... "I was speechless for a moment. What would I say to my daughter? "He's still in the office, so I think no, baby."

"Aww... I told him you're preparing a Filipino dish for dinner." Her face turned like a crumpled paper.

"Hmm... maybe he'll make it some other time."

She didn't say anything but she glanced at me right away when we heard the doorbell ring.

"Huh! Maybe it's him!" And her face suddenly lit up with excitement as she ran to the door.

"Be careful, Cali!" I shouted at her back, but the super excited kid ignored me and hurriedly opened the door.

I moved my eyes away when she opened it, but her loud voice rang in my ears so I seemed to see who had entered as well. "Daddy!"

I turned around, closing my eyes tightly when I finally heard Luke's voice.

"Hi, princess,"

A few minutes later, they walked into the kitchen hand in hand.

"Mommy, I told you, it's daddy." I just smiled at my little girl and motioned for her to sit down before turning my attention to her father.

"Have you already eaten dinner?" I asked him, giving him a quick glance, but to my surprise, he took a step forward and gave me a bouquet of red roses.

I was surprised so I became speechless for a few seconds. My eyes landed on the beautiful flowers before looking back into his eyes.

"What are these for?" I couldn't help but ask in a very low voice as much as possible as I saw my excited daughter from the corner of my eyes.

"A peace offering?" There's a question mark at the end of his sentence and I repeated it with a frown.

"A peace offering? Why?"

"For what happened earlier at the coffee shop." He replied.

"I mean, why, why are you the one giving such a thing when you know it wasn't your fault?"

"I've already talked to her and I told her if she's done that to you or anyone again, I will take my investment out of her father's company."

And that made my frown deeper.

"She's working with me as a trainee. Her father and I are good friends, so I found it hard to say no when he asked me for a favor to train her daughter."

"A trainee? How old is she?"

"She's only twenty-one,"

I couldn't help raising an eyebrow. I was surprised to know her age. She seemed not twenty-one at her look. She looked very much mature for her real age.

"Why couldn't he train his own daughter?"

"Because he said he's a short-tempered person and Lucy is kinda stubborn---"

"Ahh... and you're not, so he asked you to babysit his baby?"

"Sam, it's not that---"

"Well, I witnessed the way you handled her earlier, I mean her childishness and the way she obeyed just by your stern look, so yeah, I guess her father has made the right choice by asking you to care of his precious baby!" I said and unconsciously rolling my eyes. But much to my surprise, a grin suddenly appeared at the corner of his lips as he stared at me.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because you sounded like a jealous wife, sweetheart."

I gasped and held my breath for a few seconds. Me---jealous?

"Tss! Jealous your ass!" I quickly took the flowers from him and immediately turned around so he couldn't see the blush that instantly crawled all over my face and neck.

"Of course, not!" I swallowed. "Why would I be jealous when I know I have no right to be jealous?"