FATEFUL ECOUNTER

Jeremy wasn't too sure if he was doing the right thing escorting Max on his way back to the club from where they were kicked out the previous night by the two hefty bouncers employed to ensure that none of the invited guests were creating during the party last night, right in front of everyone who had attended the night club and was quite anxiously apprensive to step his foot in the place where he and his old pal was embarrassed in public though their fight didn't go viral like Max had hoped but he absolutely didn't want to set eyes on the two chubby fellow whose ferocity had instilled in him a deeper dread more than he could phantom. He was highly skeptic of their chances of getting into the club without getting intimidated by the people there who might still be getting themselves drunk with whiskey inside regardless of the fact that it was midday, at an hour majority of party guests may likely not be found especially the bouncers since he knew that other night clubs including the night pub where he was kicked out without mercy, located around the area, had an unfriendly attitude to anyone who was caught creating a scene in any of their major night events within close doors. Even Max knew this but he did not care about it if ever they would recognize him to be one of the two culprits that was caught trying to interrupt the flow of the party and had succeeded in cajoling Jeremy to tag along with him in the visitation using Jeremy's girlfriend whom he remembered that his friend must have left behind in the party to dance with other strangers, to convince the skeptic fellow to follow him to the club house. The two friends had in fact, left the dockside few minutes as soon as the old Tyranus arrived at shore after the cataclysmic effects of the storm had died down and given way for the sunshine to grace the harbor once again with its radiant rays, completely chasing out the dark clouds, replacing it with white ones which slowly but tenderly transformed the day back to the way it was once were before the storm rolled in and Max had kept the remnants of the fishes which they caught including the ones the seagulls left behind with the help of his friend before they were chased out of the old vessel to soar into the sky around the dockyard, looking for something to feast on, and he had, during their chit-chat, recalled that he was supposed to get paid for having worked as a varlet the other night even though he did not complete the job and he had hoped that the son of the club owner would be generous enough to hand him some cash for turning up for the work. His buddy tried to dissuade him from going there by talking him out of it despite Max being a bit right about his opinion that he might get his end of the bargain if he made a visit to the club but he remained undeterred and had securely left the vessel at the docks before taking a taxi alongside Jeremy who actually wanted to go back home, to the western side of town only to get stuck in a traffic jam a few blocks away from their destination which forced them out of the streets into the sidewalk flooded with different passersby headed their own way on foot rather than being conveyed by taxi.

Both men hadn't gone far from whence they had alighted the vehicle to the street corners below some of the tall apartments erected at both opposite ends of the road which separated several other apartments including tall skyscrapers from each other, when they began to feel the heat of the sun bearing hard on them as they wearily stride through the midst of people also walking on the wayside.

"You shouldn't have paid that cab driver the complete fare for the trip"

Jeremy said feeling bitter about having to walk on the sunbaked street corner where barely enough shade obstruct the sunlight away from encroaching into the houses in every region of the city and kept his pace behind his friend, trying to catch up with Max who wasn't in the mood for a discussion under the intense sunlight making him feel a bit sick.

"Stop bothering me about useless things and focus on how to avoid being recognized by those men in the club when we get there" ,

"You sound as if you aren't feeling the heat, dude",

"So, what if I do feel it, huh?",

Max retorted trying to get Jeremy to keep quiet for he had been pestering him a lot ever since they took the cab and evaded two more passersby as they passed by two coffee shops.

"I have no idea but you are aware that it would have been better for us if we took another cab instead",

"Perhaps",

Max replied looking away from Jeremy at the busy cars, some of which were still stuck in the lengthy traffic and a fancy casino across the street in between two boutique hotels which wasn't that busy as usual in daytime although he could still see few customers entering inside and few attractive cars parked in front of the casino whose electronic billboard was still displaying colorful lights that could be seen in spite of being overshadowed by the resplendent sunshine of the hot afternoon sun.

"And you gave away all that cash to the taxi driver that could have fetch us another cab",

"It wasn't his fault that we didn't get to the end of our destination",

"But still—",

"I know what you are trying to tell me but I felt the traffic was......",

He was about to complete his statement when he accidentally bumped into a red haired lady in blue jeans and an unbuttoned black sleeveless robe that reached her knees, exposing her white inner t-shirt neatly tucked around her curvy waistline. The collision was so hard and unexpected that her sunglasses suddenly fell from her face to the ground during the impact as well as the papers in a red file she was carrying on her left hand ever since she started walking on the pavement while Max felt his shoulder hitting her on the forehead and retracted himself away from her in order to avoid tossing her to the ground with his huge body. She gasped in surprise as a bulk of her papers scattered on the pavement after falling off her hand as a result of the collision between her and Max who was more stung than she was as they both stared in bewilderment at the consequences of their actions though Max knew he was the one at fault and the guilt stared hard at his face when he beheld the ferocity in the eyes of the victim while Jeremy as well as other passersby were dumbstruck at the incident but most of the people passing by ignored them heading their way without giving a second look at the appalled face of the young lady who wasn't pleased to see her papers lying scattered on the ground.

Before Max could think of waking himself back to consciousness, Jeremy quickly began to pick some of the papers that were flying off one after the other and the lady followed him as well, squatting on the side of the road picking up the papers she could get on the ground while Max stood motionless unable to move himself but his speech which had left him suddenly returned back to his dry throat and slowly pulled himself together to join in the embarrassing activity.

"Sorry, ma'am. I.... wasn't looking....and...",

He stuttered trying to get the shame of bending down on the sidewalk amidst the crowd of passersby and wished that he could have shrunk himself to hide from the eyes of other people watching them as they passed by. What pained him the most was that he was the reason why she had to suffer embarrassment in public which she did not deserved and her silence was inflicting more penitence in his heart.

She did not say anything to him even when he tried to apologized and was just picking up the papers along with Jeremy who was making fun out of compiling the papers together from the ground after shaking off the sand.

He hadn't been looking straight before the incident occurred since he was engrossed in gazing at the casinos where a consequential thought of the possibility of him finding a work in the casino that would help him earn some cash to cater for his needs in two weeks before the ending of the month of May.

"There's no need for you to say sorry",

She replied picking up her dark sunglasses from the ground beside her high heels after hearing much of about his apologies.

"I know that but it's still my fault the papers ended up failing off from your hand on the sidewalk",

"it happens often when your mind is thinking of something else. So, don't worry too much about it. I'm still to blame as well because I was hurrying to catch up with an appointment",

She responded putting on the eyeglass and took the bunch of papers Jeremy had gathered from the ground.

"Thanks",

She said getting up from the ground along with Jeremy after placing the papers in a hefty red file from whence they had earlier fallen off. Max suddenly saw another sheet of paper lying on the tarmac road that was left to be added and instantly reach out to it only to beheld a written copy of a landed estate property detailing lawful agreements of a possible claim which he did not have time to read it and the paper was snatched off from his fingertips by the owner who frowned at him since she caught him reading the contents instead of giving her the document.

Max quickly stood up from the ground to avoid further complications between himself and lady whom he suddenly found to be attractive in a sort of way that got him fantasizing if he could ever have such a pretty lady as his girlfriend but he knew that was just a fantasy and quickly took his mind off the thought.

"Huh... Sorry about that, I really didn't mean to read the paper",

He said scratching the back of his head shyly.

"It's really not nice to read someone else's personal things like you did a moment ago especially if it involves.....",

She suddenly cut her statement short and flinched nervously which perplexed her two listeners who were waiting to hear the remaining words from her lips but she did not say anything further.

" You know what? Forget what I said, I really need to leave now",

She ended her speech with something different leaving the two men confused about her attitude and left them staring at her back as she walked away in rush along with the papers back the way the two men had came till she disappeared out of their sight to the next street.