Chapter 30 Misadventure
That’s when she spotted an ice-cream shop out in the open and all of a sudden, she had the craving to have something sweet.
“I need ice-cream” she gestured to Quisito, whose eyes were still settled on her.
“Tell them my name, they’ll give you anything you want” he said, and returned to his call. Her eyebrows furrowed at his authoritative reply because the last thing she wanted was to do was to grab the attention of the surrounding people, because he was a Don.
“I want money in dollar bills” she interrupted his conversation, again. He opened his mouth to say something rude but decided against it and shoved his hand into the left pocket, fished out a hundred-dollar bill and extended it to her. She walked over and took it from him.
“Thank you! Now that wasn’t difficult, was it?” she stated dramatically, to which he rolled his eyes because she was purposefully getting on his nerves. She knew that he hated her attitude, but she didn’t care.
“One strawberry ice cream please” she said to the shopkeeper and gave him the money. Buying things in return for money was the most basic thing that anyone could do and it wasn’t anything special. But for her, it was. She was doing it for the first time in her life and was enjoying it.
“Here you go ma’am” the shopkeeper handed her the dessert and the rest of the money. She wanted to tell him to keep the change because she didn’t want to give the money back to Quisito. The guy was probably born with a ‘golden spoon’ in his mouth and besides, the shopkeeper would benefit more from the cash. But giving back such a huge amount might seem a bit suspicious so she quietly received the balance.
She turned around to walk back, but nearly missed bumping into a tall girl.
“Sorry...” Kate apologized and stepped aside.
That’s when she realized that coincidentally, the girl also wore the same color shirt as her – Green stripes on white. The girl had brown hair like her and also wore a red ball cap on her open hair. The only difference between their attires was that, she wore blue pants and the girl wore a black one, but it was not that prominent.
From the talk between the shopkeeper and the girl Kate understood that the girl did not have enough money to buy ice- creams for her family.
A wicked plan sprouted in her mind but before making a move, she sneaked a glance at Quisito. He was looking at his watch, still engrossed in the call. It was her chance.
“Excuse me” Kate patted the girl’s shoulder.
“Yes?” the girl asked, turning to Kate.
“Would you like to trade the ball cap for a strawberry ice-cream and 80 dollars?” Kate asked, hoping that the girl would agree.
“Um....” the girl hesitated at the strange request, but then eventually said yes to Kate’s appeal.
The exchange happened and they parted happily after thanking each other. Sneaking another glance at Quisito, who was looking somewhere else, she pulled her hair loose from her bun and wore the red cap. Without making any sudden movements she walked away into the crowd, farther away from where he stood.
She couldn’t believe that it worked! She remembered how much Quisito got tensed when he lost her for a few minutes at the auction and now, she was going to enjoy seeing him in his frenzy. It will make him angry but at least she could make him realize that she was too much for him to handle and that might be her doorway to freedom from his clutches.
While searching for a place to hide, she saw an empty cage with its door wide open. Its location was a little concealed behind the surrounding bushes and it was a perfect hiding spot. Without wasting any time, she stepped inside. Nobody around seemed to acknowledge her actions because they thought she had the authority to do so.
Kate walked down four steps and looked around the cage once again. It was barren and deserted except for a huge pond in the middle, which was filled with water plants.
When she looked out, she understood that he had begun to search for her. Quisito mistook the tall girl who was eating ice-cream with her family for Kate and then apologized for the trouble of swiveling the poor girl around. She stifled her laughter at the sight and removed the cap and set it aside. It had worked like a charm. She moved forward to get a clearer view of his headache but that is when she sensed a slight disturbance in the water.
‘Probably a turtle’ she thought and looked out. A much bigger ripple in the pond made her alert this time because what ever had caused it must be something big. Her eyes widened with horror when she realized that she had wandered into a reptile enclosure.
A 15 feet giant crocodile climbed out of the water and eyed carefully at the intruder, which unfortunately, was Kate. The moment the giant's hostile organs of sight met her fear clung ones, she knew one thing – She had made the biggest mistake of her life and she was going to pay for it, with her own life.