Favor From Above

Chapter 1 ~ Hillside Hangout

[Edited]

It was a typical workday for Lily as she scanned her surroundings out the window of the moving bus. The sun was not yet out but it was promising to be a beautiful day. Thank you Lord for this day she prayed in her heart. Lily worked at the Hillside Hangout, a small café in a very rich part of town. At the moment she was in a race against time. The café had to be open by six o'clock each morning since most of the customers were rather difficult and serious when it came to time.

It had been two years since she started working at the café. She had just graduated from university at the time and had acquired a degree in computer engineering but she discovered that she fancied waiting on tables more than using her degree. She loved interacting with people and that's the exact thing the café offered her.

At 6:05 the taxi pulled up at the blue coffee shop. She ran inside mentally preparing herself for her manager's shouts. As soon as she stepped into the coffee shop he started.

"You're late. Again." He stated.

Lily didn't know what to say. She had stopped giving him reasons for her lateness a long time ago. He never wanted to hear them anyway. He looked really angry and Lily feared the worst. Lord, please help me.

"I'm sorry Sir." Was all she could come up with.

"You better be. Now go and change. We have customers as you can see." Gary said.

"Yes sir." Lily released a sigh of relief as she rushed to the locker room. After changing into the black pants and blue shirt, she wore an apron over her uniform. She emerged from the back of the coffee shop fully dressed and ready to work.

By taking a look around she could see that Rachel and Rhys were already there. The café had twelve tables and each person had to wait on four tables. Lily had tables two, six, nine, and twelve. Tables one, five, ten, and eleven belonged to Rhys. The rest were Rachel's.

Since it was early in the morning many people were ordering coffee on the go. Only two people were seated and one was at table twelve. Table twelve was at the very end of the café. The booth was painted in a deep black color.  That was Lily's favorite table. Even the customers liked it too, it's no wonder the table brought her the most tips. There were only three such tables in the whole shop, one for each waiter or waitress.

Lily grabbed a menu and headed for that table. As she approached she saw that the person seated there was wearing a hoodie. She couldn't see their face from where she was. Strange she thought. She wasn't used to seeing things like these at such a high-class café. She approached the table regardless. 

"Good morn-" she began to say but she was cut off by a very deep voice.

"What?" The man said without raising his head.

Lily was caught by surprise. She wasn't expecting anything like this. She wished to see the man's face because from where she was standing, it sounded like he was angry.

"I said what do you want?" The man said once more.

"I-I'm sorry sir. My name is Lily and I-" she tried to introduce herself as his waitress for the day.

"Look here young lady," he said raising his head. Lily stared at his deep brown eyes. He paused a little when he saw her face. "I don't care what your name is. I said what. do. you. want?" He said emphasizing the last four words.

Lily's jaw dropped to the floor. How can one person be so rude? Do not overcome evil with evil. Conquer evil with good. Lily had to remember this scripture in order to stop herself from pouncing on the rude creature in front of her. She regained herself and finally answered.

"I am here to give you the menu. Call me when you're ready to order."

She turned to leave.

"I never said you could leave."

"You never said I could come either but I did it anyway."

She turned and made her way to the front of the counter to talk to her colleagues.

Now it was Matthew's turn to let his jaw drop. No one had dared to talk to him like that in a very long time. Being a billionaire had its perks. People feared him but here was this girl talking to him in whichever way she wanted. He had to admit that when he first saw her face, her beauty dazed him. She was, by far, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Still, that didn't give her the right to address him so carelessly.

Matt was about to call her to come back but his mind stopped him. Wasn't that the whole reason he was dressed this way? To get out of his billionaire status for a day. Take a step back he told himself.  He wanted to be normal which is why he bought himself ordinary clothes so that he can be ordinary, even if it is just for a day. When he was ready, he raised his hand and motioned for the girl to come.

Lily saw him raising his hand, calling her to come. She was really dreading having another encounter with him.

"Lily, your customer," Gary said.

Great. Now she had no choice. She went back to the table.

"Are you ready to order sir?" She asked.

"Yes, give me a coffee. Now"

Now? Had this man ever heard of the word 'please'?

"Just coffee?" She confirmed.

"Are you deaf?" He asked.

He was angry. Again.

"Of course not, one coffee coming right up." She said.

She went to the counter and gave Gary the order. A couple of minutes later, she returned to table twelve with a tray. After delivering the coffee she left.

Matt didn't understand any of this. No girl would look at his face and not fall for his looks. This particular girl seemed unfazed by him. There was something about her but he couldn't put his finger on it. He wanted to hold a normal conversation with her but how could he, after being so rude to her earlier on. She might never want to talk to him again.

He hit the table in anger. Since when did I start caring about people's feelings? I'm becoming soft. Yet he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the girl. He stood up and went to where the girl was standing with her friends. He took out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to her.

"Keep the change." He told her.

She didn't look impressed at all. He expected her to jump with joy or something but she didn't. She just gave him a questioning look. She finally said the five words that crashed him.

"Thank you. God bless you."

"God does not exist." Was all he said before he left. He banged the door on his way out and he never looked back.

Gary gave her a what did you do to him look. Her only thought was what is eating that man up?

                              ★★★★★★★

The scripture reference for this chapter:

Romans 12:17 & 21 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Verse of the chapter: 

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.  

8/06/2017