Side Story 10: Shopping mall – part 1

The next morning, Jack Cross was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast.

With all the shopping after getting Sophia at her school and the dinner in a family restaurant on the previous day, by the time they returned home, it was way past the normal hour at which he could contact his Demi counterpart through the bathroom mirror.

Sophia came to the kitchen, humming a song, and as soon as she sat at the kitchen table, she said, "Morning, dad. Guess who I saw coming out of the bathroom?"

Jack turned around, but before he could ask anything, Mia entered the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and, again, dressed in her almost see-through nightgown. Her nipples were trying to pierce the thin fabric, making Jack Cross gasp, unable to move his eyes away from such a sight.

Mia sat at the table, and it was then that she noticed he was staring at her. She looked down to check what was wrong and rushed out of the kitchen straight to Jack's room, where she had slept.

Sophia picked up her fork, and while piercing a slice of bacon, she said, "You know, I think this time she did it on purpose! It is not possible that she is so distracted two mornings in a row! I even warned her yesterday!"

Jack faced the stove again, trying to focus his attention on what he was cooking, and answered, "I don't believe she did it on purpose. I think she is not a morning person."

"You could be right, but then again, she could be trying to seduce you. I got the strange feeling she is starting to like you, but she doesn't seem to realise it yet."

"Eat and shut up, you crazy kid! How could she be interested in me? She is younger than me and extremely beautiful. I bet there are a lot of guys after her, and she is probably still choosing who she wants to date."

While sipping her juice, Sophia said, "She is not that young, you know? And you are not that old. I think you are like five years older than her, at most! According to my research, the perfect age gap between a man and a woman around here!"

Mia returned, and as she sat at the table again, and because she heard the last bit of conversation, she asked, "Jack, how old are you anyway? Thirty? Thirty-two?"

"Twenty-eight, I think. Almost twenty-nine, is that it, Sophia?"

After a quick mental calculation, trying to search for the memories of the previous Sophia, she nodded. "Yes, that's it. What about you, Miss Mia? You are twenty, right?"

"A bit more. Twenty-three. But… You are ten years old; that means… your father was eighteen when you were born?"

Jack sat at the table with a plate and confirmed, "Yes, that's right. Sophia was kind of unexpected, but not a mistake. She was the fruit of me and her mother's love."

While munching a slice of bacon, Mia spoke, "Eighteen… I was still in school. When you were raising your daughter, I was in university and going from party to party. We… we sure have different life experiences…"

Sophia put a huge portion of egg in her mouth, and after swallowing it, she said, "Yeah, and you are still going from party to party, from shop to shop, while my father is working all day and taking care of me. You sure live a good life, lady!"

Turning bright red, Mia stared at her plate, and while cutting in half another slice of bacon, she said, "Compared to him, I am more like a kid… That's kind of funny and sad… I always thought I was a grownup, but considering I don't have any kind of responsibility or a daughter to take care of, compared to him… yeah, no wonder he…"

Sophia concluded with a grin, "No wonder he doesn't see you like a woman, and that was why you came dressed like that, right? You were trying to tempt him, weren't you? At least wait for me to leave before jumping on his lap, you seductress! Hehehe!"

"No! I didn't do it on purpose! I was still sleeping!"

"By the way, considering your father owns such a big company, why don't you see if there is a job for you there? It might help you gain a sense of responsibility! Who knows, maybe my father starts to see you differently, and he even asks you out on a date!"

Noticing that Mia was turning bright red and was looking down at her plate, Jack said, "Stop with the teasing, Sophia. Don't you see you are making her uncomfortable?"

"Right, but then again, weren't you guys on a date yesterday, all day? With shopping, running, sightseeing, then picking me up at school, going for more shopping, then dinner... To an outsider, that could be called a full-day date! And we can't forget that she is living here and eating your food as if you were already a couple! Hey! Does that mean I should start calling her mother? Or stepmother? Mommy is also a cute word for such a cute young lady!"

"Sophia! That is enough! Neither Miss Mia nor I need you to set us up!"

Sophia gulped down her juice and said while she was going out of the kitchen, "I am just joking, dad! How in the world would such a beauty go after you? She for sure has a lot of guys who would do anything for her, while you just scold her or frown at her every two minutes! Or whenever she says something dumb or arrogant! See you later, Miss Mia! And thanks for my new clothes and sunglasses!"

Mia waved her goodbye, and the moment Sophia closed the front door behind her, Jack said, "I am sorry, Miss Mia, but Sophia has the bad habit of always joking about everything, and sometimes she goes too far and annoys people. She has been like this since she was little. One of her mother's traits because I was always more serious than my late wife ever was."

"That's okay; I know she was joking. But still, it kind of struck me and made me realise a few things..." She then looked at Jack very seriously and asked, "When you look at me, what do you see? A spoiled brat that can still change, or am I already beyond salvation?"

"Does it matter what I think of you? What is important is how you see yourself."

Mia kept looking at him and said, "Until recently, I actually never cared, but being with you and your daughter, and with her being so honest about what she thinks of me and sometimes joking about my character or what I say, is starting to make me think. And I think... I might not be a good person..."

"Well, you weren't, but I think you are either changing or you are being more careful around us. I just don't know if you will return to your old ways the moment you return home and to your normal life."

"It's... my arrogance, isn't it? The way I see other people as my inferiors? At least that is what Sophia is always saying."

"I suppose it is understandable if you see other people like that, considering the privileged life you lived until now. The problem is that you show people that you see them like that, you mistreat people, and sometimes you are very mean to them. My colleague, the one who helped you escape and was sent to a hospital, told me that there were a few people who got fired because of you. A cleaning lady got fired because she got your shoes wet with water when she was cleaning the floor when you barged in without looking if you could go that way, even with a sign in the corridor warning about wet floors."

Mia stood silent, just looking down at her plate, and Jack continued, "Or when one of the security guys got a payroll cut because you saw him having a nap during his break in our break room, and you complained to your father that a security guy was sleeping on the job. Only after one week and with other guys complaining, did your father found out what really happened."

"I... remember both cases..."

"Let's not forget that every time you go to your father's company, you pick on people for the pettiest things, and you often scream for everyone to know that you are scolding someone. I just don't understand who you think you are to act like that! You are just the daughter of our employer. You don't pay us, so you can't demand anything. Heck, you don't even work there!"

With a single silent nod from the worried young woman, it was enough for Jack to realise he had said too much. "I am sorry, I... I went too far. You asked, so I answered, but I might have gone way above what-"

Mia interrupted him. "No, you are right. I often do that... It is something I need to change. Perhaps that was what put me in all this mess. I might have stepped on the wrong toes, and someone went to such lengths to kidnap me."

"Or it could be because of your father's actions. Or it could be both. I suppose we will only know for sure when your father figures out what happened and who was behind the kidnapping attempt."

"Can I... I mean, you won't mind if... I mean..."

Seeing her struggling, Jack smiled gently and said, "What is it? Considering everything I said, I guess I can't be angry, whatever you might say."

"If possible... after all this ends and I return home, do you mind if... when I go visit my father's company, or when you have some time off... Do you think we could meet to talk? Or, I don't know, go for a tea? It's just..."

She then looked up, and her eyes were shining with hope. "It's just that I feel at ease with you, and I started to get used to the way you so leisurely scold me whenever I go overboard or when I react like a spoiled brat to something... I suppose it would help me understand people better if we talked occasionally."

"We could do that, but maybe your problem is not that you need to learn about people. I think you just need to learn how to deal with people with a different social status from yours. Or what we could call, common people without your family's fortune."

"I suppose you are right. All my friends are from wealthy families, and I think none of them ever dealt with people who weren't working for them. Now that I think about it, sometimes some of them were mean to people, either restaurant waiters or employees in their families' businesses. Maybe... I am not sure if I learned with them or if they learned with me."

Jack started to clean the table and said, "At least you are noticing that now. I guess that is a step in the right direction. Being polite to people and being kind can help you accomplish more things than if you are rude and mean. You only need to figure out when to be kind and when to be mean. It is never a good idea to be kind and polite to people who are mean to you."

"Hearing you say that... You were being mean to me on a few occasions these last few days... And I wasn't mean to you... not even once..."

"Consider that as payback for all the times you were mean and rude to me. So, what about if we stop the heavy subjects and think about what we are going to do now?"

Mia helped him gather the plates and said, "We could go watch television, or we could go for a walk. It is sunny outside, and since my father said he caught the guys that were after me, maybe it is safe to go out?"

"Out it is, then. Do you want to make a phone call to your father to check with him how things are? Maybe you can go home after lunch. Not that I don't like your company, because I got used to having you around. If you go home, things will be very quiet around here. Not hearing you complain or argue with Sophia will be very strange!"

"I don't do that every day! Well, maybe I do... But I don't argue with Sophia; we only have heated conversations! She is a nice kid and very honest. She always says what is on her mind, and I am not used to that. People are always very careful when talking to me, even my friends. What about if we went to see a movie? Or to a shopping mall? I never went to one, but I heard it was rather fun. Some shopping malls have an arcade area where you can play games and stuff."

"I think I never went to one in this city. At least, I don't remember. As for that arcade thing, it does sound like it could be fun, but as for a movie, I am not sure if there are movies so early in the morning."

With a smile, Mia went out of the kitchen while saying, "I am going to change clothes! To the shopping mall, it is! I need to check if we have to go on foot or by subway."

"You got used to travelling by subway, didn't you? I remember you complaining about the noise, the smell, and the people around!"

Mia got back and stopped near the kitchen door. "I kind of found a few interesting things to do in the subway! Like watching different people and talking to them."

She rushed to Jack's room while he finished cleaning. Mia still hadn't returned, so he went to Sophia's room to get his shoes, and when he was coming out to the corridor, Mia came, dressed in her tight red dress that reached the middle of her thighs, and wearing her new flat shoes instead of the high heels she was using when Jack saw her for the first time.