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Jane was led into the house still in tears but not as intense as before. Waiting patiently for their daughter to stop crying while patting her and offering encouraging words to her, their mind pondered on the possibility of what they heard earlier.
“…” They were rendered speechless again after Jane recounted everything that happened right from the day she stepped into the school premises till the time she arrived home.
“… come, let’s put you in bed.” Mr. Frank offered after they had spent time consoling her.
When they arrived two days later, Jane told them personally that she didn’t need anything from them and when they tried to convince her parents stating the advantages they would stand to get if they laid their request, the couple stood solidly behind their daughter.
Seeing that they wouldn’t bulge in their decision, they guards warned them not to let the news reach the ears of anyone apart from them with a threat and when Jane had tried to talk back, a gun was pointed at her scaring the trio.
The family of Mr. Frank was made to sign a document which stated that once they exposed the secret to anyone, then their lives and that of their relatives will be on the line.
After they left, Jane still took their threat lightly and kept on going about how she would sue the rapist in court but her parents tried their best to persuade her.
Chapter 5:End of Flashback
Looking at the absent-minded young lady, the ice cream seller was torn between leaving her be with her thoughts, as that might be the reason she came here, and going to give her a shoulder to cry on like the good-mannered human he is.
“Never mind, she will come out of it soon,” he muttered and continued with the arrangements for his mobile shop to open for the day.
As he sold out his different flavors of ice cream to his customers, he noticed most of them continuously looking over at the lost young lady, and he was forced to divert their attention either by cracking an unnecessary joke or telling them how uncomfortable she would feel when she finds them staring at her.
“Okay, I’m definitely going to wake her up from her stream of thoughts this time,” he muttered to himself a hundred times, but each time he wanted to do that, he would either lose the courage to or have a few customers to attend to.
“How deep in thought is she?” He asked himself with his mouth agape as he watched the melted ice cream touch her hand, but she still didn’t budge. He had always heard from his friends how people can get lost in their thoughts and lose connection with the real environment, but he doubted it because he thought it was impossible and absurd. But today proved them right.
“Your ice cream is melting, madam,” he finally told her, but it seems the preoccupied lady was too far away from where she was physically seated. “Okay, I guess I will need to tap you then,” he mumbled, but deep inside, he was afraid she would suddenly faint if he should revive her from this state himself. Nevertheless, he decided to give it a try. One can never know till he or she gives it a try.
“Hello! Hello!” He said tapping her, and when he saw her eyes move to look at him instead of looking distant as before, he felt at ease. “Can you hear me?” He asked, but she did not reply but stared at him instead. “Hello! Can you hear me!?” He shouted this time feeling scared. He didn’t know why she suddenly looked creepy to him, and it worsened when she slowly nodded without blinking.
“Please, Madam, you need to stop scaring me. You can tell me what the problem is. I know I might not be able to solve this problem of yours, but at least you would feel less burdened sharing it with me,” he said hurriedly, wondering where this part of him hid all this time. He saw her move her mouth slowly, only to close it back without any word, and he felt terrible. The only time he had felt this way was when he had a tough exam to write.
“If she weren’t my customer, then I would not have bothered myself this much,” he said in his head. It seems he needed to interview anyone who would want to sit back at his ice cream shop to take their ice cream to avoid this scenario from repeating itself as he has never been as scared as he was at the moment.
“Do you care for another ice cream? What do you want?” He asked again, not knowing whether to cry or laugh at this situation.
“Do you…”
“Pardon?” he asked as he only heard the first two words. The others came out incoherent.
“Do you have an opening where I can work as a marketer?” he finally heard her after straining his ears so hard.
“An opening where you can work as a marketer?” he repeated the question just to be sure, and she nodded, earning an involuntary chuckle that sounded more like a short cry because the young man was confused as to whether he was supposed to cry or laugh at this.
“Oh! Sorry, I apologize for the disturbance,” she suddenly said, and he made an ‘oh’ sound, looking at her actions.
Jane cursed herself for allowing the past events to overwhelm her again. She was usually worse than this, but she had thought that she had overcome this feeling back then. Seeing that she had regained her composure and felt embarrassed over her actions, the shop owner smiled understandingly and said, “You don’t need to beat yourself up over what happened. Sometimes things just happen. I only pray that you overcome whatever is bothering you.”
“Thank you,” Jane said clumsily and placed the payment for the ice cream before taking her leave.
“You're back early today, what’s up?” Natasha asked her friend, who, for some reason, looked lost.
“I didn’t get to do another round of job hunting today.”
“Huh, why?” she questioned, putting her phone aside to focus wholly on her friend.
Natasha was the girl Jane met in high school after leaving Crystal Field, and they had been friends ever since. She knew what had happened to Jane but didn't know the person behind the deed. After college, Jane decided to work in NYC despite her parents' refusal.
They had a job already prepared for her, but she didn't want that. She wanted to hunt for a job herself and go through the painful process, which would help her appreciate her job later on. Natasha was the only friend who could help her out with the issue of accommodation since she moved to NYC after schooling.
