Mom comes out of the house as shes curious to know about the visitor who had just arrived.
"Hello maam!" Harvey greets the extremely stressed woman.
"Hello! Please may I know who you are?" Mom asks.
"I am Harvey Asphalt, your daughters…" Harvey hardly finishes his introduction before mom concludes by asking: "My daughters boyfriend?"
"No!" Harvey exclaims.
"Over my dead body!" I express extreme discontent.
"Over your dead body?" Harvey asks.
Mom, who sees the indescribable tension rising up between us, cuts in by saying: "Harvey, son, come in!"
"Sure maam", Harvey says happily as he walks in.
I follow him without a choice, my prayer being that he doesn talk about my debt.
"Harvey, please have a seat", Mom tells him in a welcoming manner. After Mr SUV has taken his seat, Mom asks: "So Harvey, what brings you here this morning?"
Truth be told, I was also wondering why he visited.
"It is… Mia. Shes the reason why I am here", Harvey replies.
"Mia? Why do you want to see my daughter?" Mom asks.
"Umm… she has an unfinished business with me", Harvey starts to explain and I am scared of what he will say next.
"Which is?" Mom asks.
"She has to…" Harvey starts replying but I cut in by giving out a pretentious cough. I keep coughing and ask mom to get me a glass of water.
Once mom leaves, I tell him: "Harvey, please don tell mom about my debt. I promise to pay you in full once I acquire the money. So please…" Im unable to finish before mom arrives. I smilingly receive the glass of water and start drinking it.
"Okay Harvey, back to what you were saying earlier", Mom says as soon as she hands me the glass of water.
"Yeah, I was saying that your daughter owes me a…" Harvey starts to reveal what I asked him not to. But before he could end the statement, I spit out the bucket of water in my mouth onto his face.
"Mia!" Mom shouts at me before attending to Harvey. In fact, she orders me to get a towel for him. I quickly go to get it and return as soon as possible.
But upon my return, mom asks me: "Mia, why didn you pay him back?"
I couldn believe that he told her about my debt but now I had an explanation to give.
"Mom, I didn want you to worry", I told her.
"And how does this make me worried?" Mom asks a question I can comprehend.
"Why did you refuse to work for Harvey because of the bakery?" Mom asks.
"Well, thats because… wait, what did you just ask?" I ask after the information sinks deep into my mind.
"Mia", Harvey calls my name and replies to my question indirectly by saying: "After you couldn keep your promise to me, you said you will help me with my work in return. Have you forgotten about being my tour guide till I leave Sugartown?" he asks, helping me grab a sense of the current situation.
"Is that why you came all the way here?" I ask him.
"Yes. I couldn reach you after calling several times", Harvey replies.
Finally, my heart rests as we continue having a normal and unsuspicious conversation.
"Thats because my phone is in repairs at the moment", I reply.
"Ah, I see. Thats quite unfortunate. So how do I contact you now?" Harvey asks.
"You can call me instead for the meantime", Mom replies.
"Okay then. That would help", Harvey says.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. It was Juliana. Once she enters, she does not observe her surroundings before talking.
"Mia Mia Mia Mia!" she calls my name several times as she jumps in excitement.
"Girl, you can believe what just happened", Juliana starts.
"What happened?" I ask her.
"I passed the first round of auditions and they just called me for the second round!" she giggles about it.
"Wow! Thats great news. So happy for you, girlfriend!" I share her excitement.
"Yeah, I am so happy that I could give the loudest fart on earth", she says and without thinking, in fact without realizing that there was a guest present, she gives out a loud, clear and rattling sounding fart.
She sighs in peace as she feels free, however her peace does not last once she tilts her head to her right and spots the male figure seated uncomfortably due to the current smell.
Juliana nearly falls to the ground after seeing him and Harvey makes her feel worse by saying: "I will pretend as if I didn hear a sound, nor did I smell… I think I need to step out for a moment."
Putting her in an awkward state, Harvey steps out of the hall and heads outside as Juliana finally falls to the ground asking: "What did I just do?"
"You farted. Thats what you did", I replied despite knowing that she wanted something better to hear.
"Mia!" she says not in excitement but in tears.
The next moment, I am dressed up and leaving with Harvey as I promised to be his tour guide. Surprisingly, a new SUV comes to pick us up and we sit in the backseat.
"I have been to Sugartown once but it has been a long time ago. Hope you can give me a good tour around the city?" Harvey asks with some expectation which at the moment, I couldn read.
"I believe that tours are not all about sites but people, so do not expect a normal tour service", I reply with charisma like a professional tour guide which I am not.
"Sure", Harvey says in agreement.
We then took to the road.
Our chauffeur however was Harveys friend, Jamie.
"So where should we go?" Harvey asks.
"The farmers market", I reply.
"What? The farmers market?" Harvey asks in surprise.
I smile back in response.
"No, never. I have never stepped foot at a market before. How much more the farmers market? No, thats unacceptable", Harvey says.
"I see. Then I guess this is where our tour ends", I tell him and nearly open the door but he grabs me by the arm and begs: "Please, don go. Alright then, if you want me to go to the farmers market or even the fish market I will go."
He says obediently like a good child.
"Then can you also change your attire?" I ask him.
"What?" he asks looking confused.
"I mean you can go to the farmers market with this attire, you will need something more simple, something that will make you look like a country bumpkin", I tell him. His eyes nearly popped out of his face when I mentioned dressing like a country bumpkin.
"Are you also expecting me to dress in such an old-fashioned way? I am an artist and style matters to me", he says with pride.
His friend, Jamie who was under the disguise of a chauffeur chuckles at his comment.
"Then, I guess I will be leaving", I tell him once again, to which he says: "You really know how to get me to do stuff I hate."
A few minutes later, I knocked on the window of the SUV we traveled in. However, the man in the backseat, Mr Harvey Asphalt refuses to open the door. The chauffeur who is also standing outside the vehicle laughs slightly at the ongoing scene.
"Come on. Harvey, you have made it all the way here. Please step out of the vehicle so we can begin our tour", I try to convince the unyielding man and the door soon opens. I step back, giving Harvey enough space to operate. He first puts his right foot down which is beautifully decorated by a black cowboy boot before adding the left foot which has the same style as its companion. Now he does the most difficult aspect, he raises his body up which is nicely apparelled in dark-colored jeans with a brightly colored checkered button-down shirt added on. His nicely styled hair is also looking a little messy like a typical country bumpkin. But that is not a problem as he crowns with the finishing touch, a cowboys hat.
"Wow, you look amazing", I compliment him.
"Thank you!" he says surprisingly before adding: "If thats what you think I will say, then forget it. I am not happy about this attire. In fact, this will be the first and last time I ever wear this."
"I get it Mr Asphalt. Now, can we go into the market?" I ask the complainant as I point towards the bustling market.
"Anyways, I have the looks hence I look exceptional in anything I wear", he says in an arrogant manner and afterwards orders: "Lets go", he says and takes the lead, walking so majestically like an about to be crowned king.
The chauffeur and I follow behind him as I stare at the self-important figure ahead of me.
However, unlike him, we are dressed in a more classic style.
Once we get to the market, the chauffeur leaves us by ourselves as he attends to the wrongly parked vehicle.
"So whats next?" Harvey asks in expectation. Maybe wished he could lower that a little as I do not know why I brought him here. Having a lot on my mind seems to have made me think of food which kind of resulted in us leaving for the market.
"What else, grocery shopping. Why, haven you been to a market before?" I ask the arrogant man.
"Look here Miss Mia, I might look rich and all, but I have definitely been to the market during my childhood", he replies with pride.
"And what about recently?" I ask.
"Didn you say that you wanted to go grocery shopping? See! Many women are rushing in for foodstuffs. At this rate, everything might get finished before we get there", he says in an attempt to change the subject under discussion.
Not trying to seem to catch his trick, I play along and start getting busy and having relations with the market. We start off by going to get some vegetables. I made sure to let him buy nearly every vegetable around and of course, he was supposed to carry all the load.
After having a lovely date with the vegetables, my next target is the meat section of the market.
Harvey, who was growing tired from the to-and-fro movement, finally stops walking and tells me: "Can you take your time?" he asks as he pants, hands hanging on his knees.
INSIDE STORY
Scene: When Harvey went outside due to Julianas embarrassing act
Harvey takes his phone out of his pocket and calls Jamie.
"Jamie, can you do me a favor?" Harvey asks.
"Whats it bro?" Jamie replies with a question.
"I want to have your SUV. Could I borrow it for about a week?" Harvey asks.
"Sure", Jamie agrees and yet asks: "But why do you need it?"
"I want to go on a tour around Sugartown to gain some inspiration. But since my vehicle is under repairs, I was wondering if I could borrow yours", Harvey replies.
"Are you going on this tour alone?" Jamie asks as he feels suspicious.
"Why do you ask?" Harvey asks his friend.
"Have you forgotten about recruiting Miss Motorcycle as your tour guide?" Jamie refreshes his memory.
"Fine, I am going with her", Harvey replies honestly as if it was impossible to lie to Jamie.
"Then I think I can lend you my car. But under one condition", Jamie says.
"Which is?" Harvey asks.
"I will be your chaperone", Jamie replies.
Novel Bin 