The Ascendance

Chapter 25 - The life of a Thief

The man stopped crying and did not even look at her again.

Joffiel wanted to see the color of the person to learn something from him without asking him questions because the man does not want to talk to her.

When Joffiel used her eye of discernment to find out what the status of the man was, she saw that it was still red, it means that the man is still doing bad things. But Joffiel saw that there is something unusual with the man’s color and she just can not explain it yet.

Joffiel looked again at the man. Memories began to flash back to her. The man is familiar because Angel Zai let her watch the man's wrongdoings before, when she was still in heaven.

I remember everything that happened to him. It all started when his father started to hurt him when he was 16 years old. His father keeps on demanding to give him some money and it does not care where he would get the money as long as he gives him some. And whenever he fails to give money to his father, his father would be angry at him and hit him. There was a time when his father was very drunk and demanded money from him. As fast as he could, the boy reached out his pocket and gave money to his father but still, his father continued to demand for more and threatened to hit him if will not give all of his money. The boy did not give everything to his father and his father hit him. The boy fell on the ground and his father took all the money that was in his pocket. The mother of the boy tried to shield him and talked out with his drunk husband. The father just walked out from home as the mother hugged the boy.

One day, it ended with the boy’s mother shouting and fighting with her husband to not make her son do those kinds of things again. The father just walked away from the house with money that the boy worked for.

The boy’s mother confronts his son to not do bad things ever again. The boy insists that he needed those jobs to earn money. The mother slapped his son saying, “I didn’t raise you to be a criminal.”

Joffiel couldn't help but stare at the man for a long time. She feels very sorry for what happened to him in the past and it resulted in him to be like this in life.

“I really wanted to help you. Please let me try to help you. I know I can do something to help you,” Joffiel said to the man.

“No you can not help me, I am beyond helpless. No one can help me and I know I will never be able to change myself. I can not be forgiven for all the things that I have done. Besides, it is none of your business,” the man replied.

Joffiel touched the man's shoulder to try to cheer him up. She knows that the man is in dire need of help and she will not give up on him easily. She also needs to accomplish this because it is a part of her task.

There were memories that flashed back again to Joffiel after she touched the man’s shoulder. She can clearly see the things that happened in the past.

One day the boy was fighting with his parents. He cried and said angrily, “Then you should have not given birth to me! I wish I had not been born into this kind of family! I hate this! I hate you, I hate my life! You should not have married that kind of man, I hate him so much. And I hate you for marrying that man! I hope both of you will die.”

The boy quickly ran out of the house and never came back to his parents for a while.

Several weeks have passed, the boy was alone and just roaming around. He decided to go back to his parent’s house because he found it hard to live by himself. When he came to his parent’s house he saw that a crowd was gathering in front of their house and there were also many police around. He went near the crowd and asked an officer about what happened. He told them that the people living there are his parents. He found out that his mother killed his father and took her own life afterwards.

After knowing that, the boy fell down on his feet as he heard murmurs saying that his mother is a psychopath. This broke his heart, he regretted the last words that he said to his mother. He wished that he could take back all of the things he did and said. He regretted this for his whole life.

"You would not gain anything from me. What do you want?" the man asked in an irritated tone.

Joffiel took a step back because of the man's tone. She thought of a topic to talk about just to make sure to keep in touch with him and to try to get more information about him.

"I just want to invite you to our coffee shop this coming Sunday. We'll be having a free tasting and launching of our new product. Hope you'll come. I will definitely assist you there," Joffiel said, hoping that she would meet this man to start her task, changing his life.

"Oh? Free tasting? So I don’t have to pay for anything right? Sounds good to me. I will give it a try. Count me in. Thank you for inviting me, Ma'am! Though I hope there is food too," the man said.

Joffiel did not expect that the man would accept her invitation. She felt good from the man’s reply.

"No problem. So, see you there!" Joffiel said. "By the way, I'm Joffiel and you are?"

Joffiel is hoping that this man will give his full name so she can immediately find him on the internet. At his age, it is impossible that he does not have a social media account.

"You can call me Keidi Gener," the man answered and smiled at Joffiel. He felt how sincere Joffiel would like to help him.

Joffiel smiled and bid goodbye to Keidi. She looked at her cellphone to check the time. She needs to go to their coffee shop for her part time job. Quickly, she left and went straight to the coffee shop

Joffiel arrived at the coffee shop early as usual.

While waiting for the other staff, Joffiel opened her social media account to check on Keidi's information. She found out that Keidi was immediately captured by the police after the incident at his parent’s house because of stealing. He finally got out after many years of spending time in jail.

It was maybe really hard for Keidi to lose his parents and then be locked down in jail after that. I saw him crying. Is this still because of the past? What is my specific task to him? Joffiel thought to herself.

A few minutes later, Adam came to the coffee shop and approached Joffiel.

"Ma'am Joffiel, I would like to inform you that Sir Jayden will come and check our branch later. He wants us to arrange the tables. Before the grand opening, his family will go here to celebrate first. Let’s clean up the whole place the way Sir Jayden wants it," Adam said.

"Sure thing. We will do it now since we are already done designing the shop," Joffiel answered.

They immediately re-arranged the tables and chairs. After an hour, they were done.

They have a short spare time for the things they want, such as resting or playing with their cellphones. Joffiel tried to find again the main account of Keidi. She saw that his account is in public privacy so she can see most of the content of Keidi’s account. After reading the emotional posts of Keidi, she realized that he needs a job to support himself. He wants to study but he doesn't have money for his daily needs.

Joffiel thinks that Keidi wanted to change his life but he just doesn't know how to start yet.

Joffiel looked at her co-workers. She noticed that they do not have enough workers for janitors or people assigned to wash the dishes. Maybe I could help Keidi to find a job here, but before that, I need to make sure that he could be trusted. I don't want my bosses to lose their trust with me once Keidi doesn't behave well here. Joffiel's talking to herself.

"Adam, do we have job vacancies here?" Joffiel asked Adam.

"Oh! I think there is. As far as I can remember, we still need one or two waiters. I will check it too to make sure if there are any job vacancies," Adam answered.

"What about the janitor or someone who will take care of the dishes?" Joffiel asked again.

She's hoping that the Denver Coffee Shop will give Keidi a chance to work here. He has a record in the police station so she's not sure if Keidi will be qualified for the job.

"We are ‘round robin’ workers here, Ma'am Joffiel. We are trained to do the different tasks here so that everyone knows how to fill up for a task when someone is absent and assigned to a particular task," Adam explained.

Joffiel was amazed by the type of works they have. She realized that the jobs in the coffee shop and office are very different from each other. It is the challenging part of her work, she's doing both and it is a little bit tiring for her.

After 2 hours, Jayden and his parents, along with Jopphia and Samuel arrived for the said celebration before the grand opening on Monday.

Joffiel and her team positively welcomed their bosses. As usual, Joffiel and the cooks prepared their new product for Jayden's parents. They made the two different cakes as part of their celebration.

"First of all I would like to introduce to you our staff in this branch,” Jayden said. He looked at Joffiel and added, “This is Joffiel, the Branch Manager of this coffee shop."

Joffiel smiled and bowed her head as a sign of greetings and respect to them.

"I'm glad you all arrived safely. It is good to see all of you here. We hope that everyone will enjoy their meal," Joffiel politely said.

"Woah, I thought she was a model. Well, you can make her a model if she will agree. Nice to meet you, Joffiel," Jayden's father said.

She smiled at them. People keep on saying that Joffiel can be a professional model with that look and way of gestures. Not just a model of a product, but a good model or inspiration to other people because she radiates something that feels good and it is hard to explain.

"She is also a very talented woman. If I am correct, she was the one who won our contest?" Jayden's mother interjected.

"Yes. Finally, we found someone better than me. I am so thankful that our company got her. She is a fine lady, I should say," Jopphia said.

Joffiel was flattered to hear all the compliments.

Joffiel kept on assisting them whenever they needed something or they asked something about the coffee shop or about her. This is their first time operating the shop, and the first clients are the owners themselves.