Mahalia in Cape Town

THE BAREFOOTED MAN

CHAPTER 2

THE BAREFOOTED MAN

“And that’s how I was fired from my job here in Cape Town.” Mahalia explains to her coworker in a Filipino restaurant around called HA-IN as she looks back to how unfortunate her life started in this new place.

“She should have been to jail instead!” Her coworker, Janet, a citizen in Cape Town exclaims. “You should have done something about it!”

Mahalia shakes her head, “Even if I could say anything, they already planned for it.”

“Ali, table 4!”

Mahalia smiles as soon as she hears an instruction from her Senior screaming from the doorway, “Coming right up!” She hollers back and scoots directly out of the kitchen as she paves her way towards table 4 where she finds a very handsome man sitting all alone while scanning through the menu.

She approaches the table while mentally telling herself that the man is oozing with good-looks and charm and as soon as she stood close, he pulled his head up and welcomed Mahalia with his mildly prominent and sky-crystal blue eyes.

Wow. A word escapes through Mahalia’s head as soon as she stared back into him.

“Hello lovely.” He greeted with his deep voice followed by his sweet smile.

Mahalia clears his throat and tries to smile widely, “Hello sir. It’s good to have you here.”

“Yeah, I have never been here before nor have tried Filipino foods.” He answers cheekily while his eyes glances over the menu as he studies which one should he get. “It’s really good that you have photos in here because it is kind of hard to choose.”

“We really decided to have photos on the menu to make it easier for the customers to see especially if they aren’t Filipinos.” Mahalia smiles sweetly to the handsome looking man. She was completely blown away by his presence and the way he carries himself casually but in a very cool way.

“Ah!” The handsome man pulled his head up and smiled at Mahalia brightly that almost caused her to weaken her knees. “I would definitely love to try this.” He pointed with his finger and it was a dish which hit straight home.

Mahalia smiles, “That’s pork humba and it tastes really good. It is a delicious braised pork belly with savory-sweet soy-vinegar sauce with a distressing taste of tausi cooked until tender. It is actually a famous dish from where I came from.”

The man nodded vigorously, “It already sounded like something delicious. I would like to have that. Wow and it comes along with rice huh?”

“Yes, sir. All Filipino foods are best paired with rice.”

“I did not know that but I am very much interested to try. I am not really on a diet today so I guess I can have some carbs.” He chuckled lightly and it sounded like music to Mahalia’s ear.

Mahalia inwardly giggles as she writes the man’s order. “What would you like for your drinks?” She smiles at him as she begins to get lost into his tantalizing eyes.

“A sweet mango shake would be fine, lovely.”

Her insides shivered right when he called him lovely again but she tries her best to look unbothered even though she completely is. She repeats his order and asks if he needed anything else but he had mentioned that it was all he wanted.

“I’ll be back in 15minutes with your order.” Mahalia smiles calmly.

“And if my order does not arrive in 15 minutes?” The handsome gentleman asks with a cheeky smile and Mahalia tries to keep her composure together.

“I…” She trails off, taken back by his attractive dimpled smile. “I am sure they will be served on time.” She reassured him.

Feeling overwhelmed by his charismatic charm, she walks back to where she came from and gave the kitchen crew the young lad’s order. She fanned herself with her hand as soon as she found a hiding spot, “Careful now.” Janet warns her.

“Huh?” Mahalia chimes. “What does that even mean?”

“I see how you stare at that guy on table 4.” She teases Mahalia.

She glances back at the handsome man, “I mean, he is so handsome and dreamy.”

“Damn right he is. Too handsome with such aura.” Janet responds. “From the looks of it, he seems like a dangerous man too.”

“Dangerous?”

“Uh-huh. She’s dangerous for you, in here.” She points her finger on Mahalia’s left chest where her heart was before she heads out to serve another table.

Mahalia readjusts her thoughts and tried to tell herself that she did not came here to look for a partner. She came to Cape Town to work for her family and so she continues to work for the rest of her shift. She reminded herself not to be bothered about the handsome man and tried to ignore his flirty and cheeky antics which is getting her.

He is handsome and she knows it, but she knows she’s not her type.

Fast forward to the closing of the restaurant, Mahalia was the last one left to take out the garbage and to lock up the entire place. Janet and her other coworkers had left minutes ago but she was not worried since she had done these a couple of times before. In Mahalia’s head, she just wants to go home as soon as possible and get some sleep before her work in the morning as an online English teacher to a Chinese company for Chinese students who want to learn to speak the language.

As she was busy taking out the trash in the backdoor, she heard screaming women from a distant which kind of got her intrigued. She listens carefully and the screaming of distinctive voices continues as she wonders if something was going on in the city or some women were getting massacred. But then she realizes those were not voices of women being harmed or killed, ironically it sounded like a group of fangirls. She decided not to care and walks back inside the kitchen through the backdoor to grab the final trash.

She stiffens from where she was standing as soon as she heard the backdoor open and shutting in a split second. She froze in surprise as she tries to think that it was the wind but she knows it was completely impossible for the wind to twist a doorknob open. She continues to think and think, which leads her to the idea that someone unidentified came in through the backdoor and entered the building.

Her back is still faced towards the door and she doesn't even want to move from where she was actually standing. She does not know what to do if an intruder had barged in because as much as she thinks of a solution to get out of here, she is too scared to move a muscle. There is still silence covering the entire kitchen but the air is thick and getting a little humid the more she scares herself. From the corner of her eyes, she sees the rack of kitchen knives used by the cooks in here and she wanted to grab them for self protection in case the intruder would harm her.

“Don’t even think about grabbing the knife.” A bolt of lightning ran all over her body as soon as he heard a very dark and deeply raspy voice of a man coming from behind him.

“What do you want?” Mahalia asks and finds it shocking that she still has the guts to ask the intruder those words.

“I just need a place to hide.” He answers.

She breathes heavily as she tries to remind herself the words, “Hindi ka mamamatay dito. Relax ka lang Ali. ‘Wag masyadong praning. Tandaan mo, dapat lang lumaban ka anumang mangyari.” (TRANSLATION: You’re not going to die here. Just relax Ali. Don’t be too paranoid. Remember, you have to fight no matter what happens.)

She does not like the situation she was in, more importantly the fact that her back was faced towards the anonymous man standing behind her, makes her feel a little bit more anxious. “This is not a good place for you to hide.” She responds while clenching her fists before she finally mustered up some courage and faced the man.

She is then completely taken aback as soon as she was actually staring at the barefooted man standing right in front of her with his towering height which is completely opposite to hers. He was wearing a plain black hoodie, a pair of black knee-ripped jeans, a black baseball cap and his feet looked dirty with a little bit of mud on it.

Homeless, she thought.

“I told you, this is not a place for—”

“I can’t get out. They will catch me.” He cuts her off but his words sent another bolt of electricity throughout her body.

Criminal, she changed her mind.

“Look.” She finds the courage to speak. “If you’re trying to steal money from me, I don’t have any. Okay? I am just as broke as you! As a matter of fact, the owner of this restaurant took the money from the cash register before he left a couple of hours ago so if you’re going to take money from me, I only have twenty dollars in my wallet and that’s straight up the truth. It’s up to you if you’re going to take it… or not.”

She stared eagerly at the man who is just staring back at her intently while she feels pounding thumps inside her chest. Meanwhile, in the back of his head, he was surprised with her approach towards him because it was the first time that someone, of her gender, thought of him differently.

“What made you think that I came here for your money?” He questions her with his deep toned voice.

Mahalia’s eyes flew wide open and she instantly thought that this man had planned something else. She worried that he might have had plans on se*ually harassing her here in this building and she quickly feel undeniably frightened with that thought because she has never been with a man before. Moreover, she does not want to be ra*ed as well.

With thoughts running in her head and fear running all over her body, in a split second she grabbed the nearest knife and aimed the tip towards the man. Her hands are shaking in fear as he stares at him intently but his eyes were emotionless, as she thought. “Don’t you dare try to hurt me.” She spat with intention of harming him if he does something stupid. “I know some pretty good tae kwon do.”

“And you’re supposed to scare me?” He chuckles dryly.

“I am warning you, get out of the building.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t r**e you. You’re not even my type.” He answers her honestly.

She gapes, “I don’t wish to be your type either!”

“I just need to stay here for a couple more minutes until the coast is clear.” He responds, ignoring her remark.

She did not understand what he was talking about and furthermore she worries who this man could have been hiding from. “Are you hiding from the cops?”

“No.” He answers. “I just need to hide that’s all.”

His voice sounded reassuring, that’s what she thought to herself but then she did not want to be too complacent having an unknown man in this building because she thinks that he’s just trying to get her trust.

She watches as he slowly walks towards the backdoor and took a peak from the outside. She finds him weird because she doesn't know anything about him and he pretty much acts very unusual too.

“Who are you hiding from?” She bravely asks.

“People who are after me.”

She gulps, “Who?”

He travels his head back to her, “You were a great help. I am indebted to you and with that I will repay you but not today, in here.” He speaks fast as he walks out of the backdoor and leaves the next second.

As she was taken by surprise with his action, she spends the rest of the night wondering what just happened. She did not understand what the man’s intention was to her but she convinces herself that he might have been afraid of her when she claimed that she was good in taekwondo. In the back of her head, she knew there was something wrong with that barefooted man.

Another day passed and another shift followed, Mahalia was busy cleaning tables with the other crew before opening the restaurant in a matter of minutes. The news caught her attention as she quickly travelled her eyes towards the television from across the room, “The world famous Italian model was caught running around the streets of Cape Town barefooted last night as he was trying to escape a hoodlum of his fangirls who were chasing him.”

Mahalia drops her mouth wide open in shock as she stares intently at the photographed man on the television because it was the same man who she pointed a knife to and assumed as a thief and a r****t from last night.

“Casey Stefano disappeared in a blink of an eye from the happenings of last night and was then seen, a couple of minutes later, coming out from the backdoor of a small Filipino restaurant called HA-IN while being escorted towards his car.”

The entire crew who were around quickly travelled their heads towards Mahalia because everyone knew it was her who locked the restaurant from last night. She feels that she had done something wrong as her co-workers stare at her questionably, “Wala akong ginawang masama.” She claims. (TRANSLATION: I didn’t do anything wrong.)

There was silence.

“Teka lang, mag-eexplain ako.” She then says. (TRANSLATION: Wait, I will explain.)