Chapter two

Riisa struggled concentrating throughout the day and referred almost all of her clients to the other patrons. Being a massage therapist herself, she knew she could not work magic with her fingers if she was stressed out and so many things were flooding in at once.

She could feel all the pressure points of her body swallowing up with emotions by just thinking of what Mr. Woods had been coercing Her to do without any chance of her agreeing to it, but now looked like he had cornered her. He was not going to give her a chance to say no to him ever again.

Looking back to the time that she had asked for the loan, she realized that every move that conniving man had made was to get her to this point deliberately planning and waiting patiently for her to screw up.

She kept look at the clock on her wall knowing that time was drawing near and nearer to the rendezvous time. She called in Henry the leading staff patron to go over the turnout of the day since that morning.

It was a slow start since things were just starting to open up and with all the mandates put in by the governor of Morra city, it was steadily vibrating again and so was her business. After talking to Henry and leaving a few instructions for her to execute before close of day, she told her she was going to meet a client out of the premises and would not come back until the next day.

Going into one of the powder rooms she retouched her makeup, made sure her forehead stress lines were gone before going back into her office to pack her handbag and leave for the meet. She made sure she took her phone with her and the spare keys for the premises because she wanted to come in early the next morning to deal with a backlog of paperwork.

She had just left the Riisa Haven Massage parlor, giving a quick glance to her car across the street. She nearly hit the pavement of the sixth street of Morra City because she was not breathing properly nor was she sure of what she had just seen. She practically panted across the street slightly jogging and running to her car to make sure what she had seen was not just her eyes playing tricks on her. Getting to her car seemed like twice the distance it had been that morning and when she finally did she stood in disbelief as her car looked like a complete shell of what it was that morning.

"How could this day get even worse? Whom did I offend in my last five lives to end up with such a horrible bad luck of a day?"

"Which one of you did this to my car?" directing the rants to no one in particular but the wind.

A few passers-by walked past her shaking their heads but none offering to help. Her car tires were completely ripped off with windows smashed in at the rear and the seats bungled like someone was actually looking for something in her car but did not find it then decided it was "best" to vandalize it.

As she stood there wondering what to do next having completely forgotten about the meeting she was heading to with Mr. Woods she took her phone out of her handbag went through it and dialed her best friend's number

"Hey Jess would you please come pick me? My car is completely destroyed and it has to be towed out of here."

She hang up then called the towing company to come get the car. Holding down one of the seats, she could not help but feel the tears filling up her eyes and her throat tightening. She kept convincing herself that she was not supposed to cry and that she will not cry until her rock of a friend got there to pick her.

Unlike Riisa, Jess was a well versed attorney working for one of the biggest law firms in Morra City. She was on track to make partner before the pandemic hit but now was just a senior attorney who chose her hours of work and what clients to take.

Being that the pandemic was going on she worked from home and was available whenever a call came from Riisa especially if it was an emergency or a come get me call. When she got the call she was preparing to make a deposition on a zoom call but she called the parties involved to reschedule the deposition for a few more days. She quickly got into her SUV and sped through the posh neighborhood she was living in towards Riisa's parlor.

When she got to her she could not believe her eyes or the state in which her dear friend was in.She picked her up from where she was sitting and without a word, walked her towards her waiting SUV. She ushered her into the passenger seat before getting around the car, getting in and closing the door. She rolled down her tinted windows as they waited for the tow truck to get there and tow away Riisa's vandalized car. She even tried making a light joke about the car but Riisa would not even smile so they just sat in silence.

They watched as the car was towed away and Jess drove towards Riisa's apartment. Cruising around the city was something she loved to do especially during difficult days. It helped ease her mind and it was something that Riisa herself, enjoyed doing and had taught her and shown her the good roads and possible back good roads to avoid the city's traffic that sometimes built up.

She keyed in a favorite tune they both loved listening to and she was humming along, when Riisa interrupted with a sigh.

She could see that her dear friend did not want to go home. She cruised for ten more minutes before she changed her direction towards one of the most popular spots in the City, the Mid West Lounge Bar and Grill.

They did not expect it to be at capacity since it was a Tuesday and with most of the people still under quarantine and minimum activities, the place was mostly empty. She thought it was perfect for her distraught friend who clearly needed some few tequilas to take away some of the tight edges and smile again.

Parking the car took only a few minutes, got off the car and walked into one of the corner seats but still accessible to one of the three exists that existed at the lounge. She then proceeded to order six shots of Riisa's favorite tequila with some beers.