Chapter 12 Bullies
Sky entered the coffee shop owned by cornileus with a grin on her face. One that she could not hide. This weekend would be her birthday. Her older brother was coming and wanted to go out for drinks as they often did. However, knowing how her brother was, she hoped she could convince Mr Wolfric’s to let them go to his bar. That way she could keep better tabs on him. What she hoped for was at a complete loss, however. At the same time, she thought of her weeks getting to know Mr Wolfrics. If you could call it that.
Not only did she now have a tutor, but she was going to be able to get to know Mr. Wolfric just a little bit more. If anything, she hoped it would squash the odd feeling she had about him. Perhaps the two could become good friends and nothing more. After all, once she was done with her school, she was going to head back to her hometown and be its first veterinarian. She had this to focus on first and foremost. Yet the weeks had passed in a blink of an eye.
She remembered their first study session.
"You're five minutes and thirty-seven seconds late," she heard a grumpy groan. She turned to see him holding a pocket watch, a bored expression in his eyes, and dressed surprisingly casually even for him. Every time she saw him, he was either dressed in a trench coat and hat or in a suit looking like the magician he was. Tonight, however, other than his pocket watch, he wore slacks and a long-sleeved shirt as if he had just gone jogging.
"Umm, sorry, I guess," she said and sat down, pulling out her textbooks from college.
"In the future, please be sure to be on time, or do not actually take your studies all that seriously?"
"Wha, but I..."
"If you don't then why should I? Now let's begin."
She remembered him telling her the first night back in the first week of January. February went through like a breeze and now it was their seventh week. Mr. Wolfric gave little to no information about himself, and every time she tried to make small talk, he would often give the same line.
"I am not here for finalities, Miss Oak. Please refrain from such questions that don't have to do with your lessons."
Such a different stance from the one he took before. Before he showed himself not only to be a gentleman, a high-class one at that, considering he was a lord. But he showed to be a magician, a true showman of his craft.
Yet there seemed to be three sides to him that she learned. Almost as if he were acting. Three plays, same actor.
1. The gentleman magician she met at the mayor's Christmas party.
2. The bad boy biker with a "Don't mess with me" kind of attitude who saved her life.
3. A professor of sorts who wanted nothing to do with anyone. Who was business first and jokes later? A complete clash with the showman magician she came to know.
Even so, they all seemed strangely like acts. From time to time, she thought she could see the real him. Not very often would he give a true laugh. But when he did it was contagious. Not very often did he show any true smile but when he did it looked good on him.
She mostly only saw these things on three occasions. Whenever he was on the back of his bike, racing down the streets. Or whenever he was showing off his magic tricks. Not trying to be some type of showman, just having fun.
She remembered one time Cornelius left his kids out and they wouldn't stop crying for anything. So he kindly put on a magic show just to entertain the two. Seeing the looks of amazement on the children's faces and those around the restaurant too seemed to warm his cold exterior if only for a moment.
The time she saw his true self the most however was whenever he got his favorite treat. Which he got at the end of their meetings every night. A blueberry muffin or blueberries seemed to be his favorite flavor. She once brought a blueberry-flavored drink just to see if he'd liked it and despite his nonchalant attitude, she could see the smile on his face.
But at the same time with all the smiles there was a hint of something else in his eyes; sadness perhaps? Something always seemed to be bothering him and Sky wished she knew what if only to help.
Strangely he was never around or if he was she never saw him when she sang on stage. The only time she ever saw him was during her tutoring sessions.
Despite this, there was one thing she couldn't shake; she was strangely curious about him. No longer did she feel it was romantic or at least that's what she convinced herself of; she was curious about the man who saved her life and that was it.
Especially since he seemed to be the strangest man she had ever met.
She walked into Cornelius's coffee shop and looked around; to her shock, Mr. Wolfric was not there so she pulled out her phone and checked the time; she was a minute early! One minute early! She grew a sly grin about paying him back for all those times he claimed she was late even though she was never over six minutes!
She shook her head and greeted Cornelius's wife who was tending to her kids while he was in the kitchen as Sky decided to have a look around during her wait.
She looked over the display cases full of home-baked donuts and cakes and read the signs of the different drinks they served.
She then looked at the decor; it was nice little coffee shop nothing too out of place their images of when they first opened and some awards from both Cornelius and his wife's past.
There were also several news articles framed up talking about the shop which she mentally noted but thought little of until she came across one that caught her full attention.
"Local hero boy saves coffee shop from street gangsters."
Seeing her sights ally, Cornelius's wife chuckled.
“Yeah, I remember those days. That was back when Cornileus and I first started dating, he didn't own the shop then, it was his grandparents. Even so, he had already had a bright future of taking l over the shop when his grandfather retired. However, this city wasn't always as nice as it is today. Wow, do I remember that day as if it were yesterday, it was the first day I ever met HIM.”
...
It was a normal spring Tuesday, nothing abnormal about it. She was watching her boyfriend work his shift at the coffee shop, drinking a milkshake with little thought of anything else. Around her, the little shop was bustling with customers, most of whom were recognizable since they were always in there. Including a nerd in the back with a stack of books, a cup of what she assumed was coffee, and a half-eaten blueberry muffin.
She didn't even bat an eye as she heard her boyfriend call for her attention. She turned back to see him balancing a stack of quarters from the tip jar on his nose, trying to impress her. "Huh, huh," he said as she stared at him. Suddenly, he began to trip and the quarters fell.
"Nice going, Cornelius," someone called out. He only laughed alongside them, not even phased as he began to clean up the quarters from his tip jar.
With the sound of the bell from the door, no one thought twice as she began to help her idiot of a boyfriend with his quarters.
Just then, four rough-looking men passed them by and called out "Cornelius!" Cornelius jumped up a bit surprised, however, it wasn't her boyfriend the fat man was calling. It was his grandfather. Nervous, his grandfather walked over and called him by his name. "Mr. Match, tell me what can I get you?" He smiled.
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"How about the damn rent for this dump of a store you run!" shouted the fat Mr. Match.
"I need just a few days, sir, I almost have what I owe," said Cornelius's grandfather. "I promise you, times are tough these days." The old Cornelius said.
"I don't care about your excuses," Mr. Match said as he snapped his fingers and one of his men opened up the cash register, grabbing every dime out of it.
"Sir, I already raised the price a whole dollar," Cornelius said. "If I raise them again, I might not get any customers. Look around; I already lost half of them thanks to that new shop on Dallas."
"Not my problem," Mr. Match said. "If you can't pay the rent then best it. A new clothes store owner wants this place and I haven't made the deal just yet. How much do we have?" he asked his man.
"Fifty-two and twenty cents," replied his man.
"You need triple that to pay my rent!" Mr. Match yelled out.
Just then, Cornelius Jr saw the tip jar and went for it, but one of Mr. Match's men grabbed him by the collar.
"Hey, that's his money; I can't even pay my grandson for his work," Cornelius Jr said. "All he's got is that tip jar; let him and the tip jar go."
"Either the tip jar or your grandson; what will it be?" shouted Mr. Match.
Those inside gasped all but one who had his head stuck in a book. But not for long. "How is anyone supposed to study around here with all the ruckus?" shouted what she thought was a nerd.
Instead stood a mean little kid who barely looked like a high schooler. He was dressed in an oversized blue raincoat that looked like it had seen better days.
"I don't like bullies," said the boy as he took off his reading glasses and stuffed them in his coat.
"I don't care about your problem with the old man," he said with a chill to his voice, "but leave the kid's jar alone."
Everyone in the room including Mr. Match and his companions grew cold and slightly scared of the child before them.
"Uh da, don't get involved," Cornelius Jr uttered to the kid, but Mr. Match yelled silently as his mom went to punch Cornelius Jr in the gut.
However, as he prepared for the impact, he winced his eyes only to open them when he was thrown to the floor. The boy now caught Cornelius Jr's fist and made him lose his grip on Cornileus.
The boy said nothing and looked almost bored as he held Mr. Match's fist in a tight grip.
He tried to free his fist only for the boy to twist his wrist snapping Mr. Match's hand and breaking it judging by the sound of the crunch.
The boy let go only for another to try and punch him. To his surprise, however, despite his size, he was much faster and with a powerful punch left the full-grown bodyguard trembling, trying to stay up.
With a snap of Mr. Match's fingers, another bodyguard pulled out a knife immediately thrusting it at the kid. The kid was fast but not fast enough as the blade struck his gut making him fall to the ground.
Those in the audience screamed out in horror but Mr. Match rolled his eyes.
"The kid's fine; it's just a scratch; see he's getting up," he chuckled. "Now Cornelius I'm giving you a week or I'm closing this place—"
Before Mr. Match could say another word, the boy along with a bloody gut grabbed him in a choke hold and proceeded to beat the living hell out of all four of them until the cops entered
...
Sky was amazed and terrified by the story. "And the boy did, did he?" she asked.
Ally chuckled. "As soon as the cops came, the boy ran. He saved not only Cornelius but his grandfather and everyone at the shop. Turns out Mr. Match was wrongfully raising his rents because of his own criminal activities and all his rights were taken. However, we originally lost this little shop. Now old Mr. Cornelius did all he could to stay open even when it was bought by another company. However, as soon as he retired, the shop would close. Cornelius did all he could to raise enough money to buy the building back, but this story has a good ending. The same boy, the one who saved us, bought the shop and went into business with my husband."
"Wait, wait, you don't mean..." Sky asked, astonished.
Ally nodded. "That's right, it was good old..."
Just then, the two ladies jumped at the sight of an arm on the table. "Sorry I'm late, I hate being late," Reaper said, taking a look at his pocket watch. "An entire seven minutes and twenty-two seconds wasted, but I had work, so what were you two talking about?"
"Uh, nothing," Ally said.
"Oh, she was just telling me about—"
"About how I first met Cornelius," Ally hastily said. "How I fell in love with him and got married."
Sky raised an eyebrow at this but decided it was best to go with it, seeing her pleading eyes.
Right well, let's begin your studies then shall we?" Mr. Wolfric said, taking out a pair of reading glasses.
"I'll uh, get you some tea," smiled Ally as she quickly left the two alone.
He wasted no time pulling out a pop quiz, out of nowhere. One of his little magic tricks. He handed it to her, and she quickly got to work on it, glancing at him here and there.
Eventually, Miss Cornileus arrived with the tea and his muffin. Once again, Sky thought she acted a bit odd but went along with it. Sky then was handed a receipt, an even stranger thing since often the receipts were just thrown away. But there was a note on the receipt that Sky couldn't ignore. It read:
"Don't say a word in front of the Reaper."
How strange, she thought but let it go as she turned back to her studies.
Mr. Wolfric didn't take more than a passing glance at his muffin before fixing his attention on his phone. He was texting someone back and forth, and growing curious she decided to ask him, "Who are you texting?"
Which seemed to be a mistake since he gripped back in an annoyed tone: "Just get your work done. Something's going on with my work; nothing to be concerned about." He finally set his phone down and brought his attention back to her.
She handed him her paper back to him, and he quickly graded it. As he did, she couldn't help but stare at him.
"What is it?" Mr. Wolfric asked, his tone annoyed.
“Huh,”
“What is it you keep staring at me, what is it?”
Frankly, it was a number of things. For one, the fact that he once saved this place long ago was a surprise. However, she did have another reason, one she could use as an excuse.
"Uhhh, my brother is coming to town, and he wants to take me out for my birthday," she said.
"And that's causing you to stare at me because???" he asked.
"I was hoping to have my birthday at the bar," she said.
"No," he answered easily.
"What, but please, trust me, my brother is a worse drinker than me, I need him somewhere I can trust, and I don't know any other place except the bar," she said.
"You could bring him here?" he argued back, marking one of her answers wrong with a pen, that had appeared out of thin air. he didn't have it a second ago.
“Oh come on, can't you do me a favor, as a friend?”
“Friend,” he chuckled, “since when are we friends?”
“Since you've saved me, been helping me.”
“Ha, you are not my friend, I have no friends.” He groaned.
“Hmm, but what about Cornelius or your assistant?
“Jaime, he's an employee, I have need for employees, he's useful to me, once he's useless I'll fire him, now I'm not a bad employer, I give holiday bonuses and not overwork them, but they are not my friends, Cornileus, I have as s business partner. Personally, I wonder why sometimes,” he half sighed and half groaned.
“But, but I'm not an employee, are we not friends?”
“Really, you think that,” he smirked. “Do I not pay you for singing at the bar? “
“Then what use am I to you then, why are you helping me study,” she spat angrily.
“Simple,” he pointed at his muffin. “We have a simple trade agreement, nothing more.”
At this Sky couldn't argue. In a way he was right. She was paying for his food, in exchange she was getting help with her studies. But she wasn't very happy with the way he looked at the situation. She huffed a bit ticked off, “I was going to offer to sing for a few weeks free, but,”
“Deal,” he said as he picked up his muffin, but before he could take a bite, she spun around on him.
“What, now you're going to agree?”
“Yes, it's simple, we don't do birthdays, but you can bring a cake and have a good time, put up a banner if you want, but only if you sing free for a month. He smiled. That's the art of the deal, and as a businessman, the art of the deal is something I'm familiar with. A favor is not a deal.” He shook his head. At this she couldn't hide her rage, her face was bright red, and he only chuckled at her before he began eating his muffin.
“Glad it all worked out, now, " he handed her back her paper, “while it's not enough to pass yet, a seventy-nine isn't that bad, you are improving.” Just then his phone went off, and he picked it up and rolled his eyes. “I have to take this.” He stood up eating his muffin and walked away.
Sky was grateful for the phone call, since she took a second to calm down. A moment later he returned only to tell her, “Sorry but something's come up, I have to leave early.”
“Well despite your attitude, you're invited by the way.” She replied, still cross with him.
“Invited to what?” He asked only to remember a second later. “Oh, oh sure, I'll most likely be in my office but I'll come out for a slice of cake,” he said, mid the last bite of his muffin.
Afterward, she walked out of the coffee shop, taking a moment to watch him leave on his bike, she often wished he would offer her a ride home like that one night but it was never that late and she could always catch a bus. As soon as he was gone Ally stated clearly, “Thanks for not saying anything. The Reaper doesn't like to be reminded of things like that, and I didn't want him to be mad at you for what I have told you. I suppose I shouldn't have said anything tho, a donut for the morning.” She held up a to-go bag which Sky took and silently thanked her for it, however, she was more confused now than she was before.