Chapter 54 - The Big Idiot (1/2)

Something big and heavy smashes Claire's table, and it shocks the bejesus out of her. She screams. And to her surprise, Brad ”screams” too. He screams for a few moments until he realizes he's still screaming even when Claire is not.

The table and everything on it get upended, and the man who hit it struggles to get up, trying to get off the table cloth that covers him. The man stands up, apologizing.

Brad stares at the man, and his jaw drops. ”Mr. Tan? Is that you?”

Gabriel smoothens his suit and tries to regain his bearings.

”Gabriel?” Claire could not believe it. ”What are you doing here?”

Gabriel Tan stands there in his usual defiant way, like he'd just came out of a board meeting—except there's coffee all over his suit and there's a dead flower in his hair. ”Hello. I'm just here to, uhh, to pick up my coffee.”

”Your coffee? Why didn't you tell me?” Claire tries her best not to laugh in his face. She stands up and carefully plucks out the flower in his hair, which had come from the vase that moments ago adorned the table. ”I could have fetched it for you.”

”Well, I was in the area, anyway,” he says, trying to act cool, which would have worked if his suit weren't drenched in coffee. ”So I thought I'd hop out and get it myself.”

Claire stares at him for a moment—this is the first time she sees him as a ”regular” human being, away from the context of his power. She takes a tissue and tries to wipe the coffee off his clothes, to no avail. It doesn't work, yet she perseveres, liking the feeling of ”taking care” of him in a most personal way.

Gabriel, on the other hand, allows her. There's not much he could do anyway, except to shut up. How does he explain the clumsiness that just happened? Everyone in the coffee shop is staring at them.

A man approaches them. ”Is everything alright here?” He turns to Gabriel. ”Are you alright?”

Gabriel looks at his nameplate, which says, ”Hi, I'm Mike, Manager.” ”Everything's fine, uhh, Mike. I'll pay for all the damage.”

”Are you sure?” He makes a gesture about the mess around them. The truth is, the table's not really destroyed, and apart from the spilled sugar, cinnamon, and what-have-you, there's no real damage. But Mike the Manager recognizes the opportunity being offered by this public spectacle—this clumsy man in his fancy suit could be humiliated to pay good money, which would all go to his own pocket. ”But what about the damage to our property? Who's gonna pay for all this?”

Gabriel looks at the man. His weakness is his inability to judge people when he's in love with them, but truly, Gabriel has been an effective CEO and leader of men because of his singular talent to discern human character. One look at Mike the Manager and Gabriel knows what he's up to. He also owns companies—he knows when something is damaged, for Pete's sakes.

”How much do you think this is going to cost?” Gabriel asks.

Mike the Manager shrugs. ”Damage cost might be a bit expensive.”

Brad, who actually works for Mike, tries to save the situation. ”But, sir, I don't think—”

--”You don't think, Brad,” Mike cuts him off, ”because you're staying out of this.”

”I don't think there's any real damage here,” Claire says. ”We only have this cleaned and—”

”Don't talk when you're not spoken to, Miss…”

That's it, Gabriel thinks. I've seen enough shit. ”Alright Mike the Manager, how much would this cost?”