Child of Mayhem (sneak peek!)

7

Rara thought she was having a good day. She woke up early, and although she had to walk to work she arrived on time. Zainab didn't talk or complain as much and that was good enough. Also, Rara didn't see llham. Most likely it was his day off. There weren't many customers and she was able to read in peace.

But then again things never went the way she expected them to. Once her shift ended, she hoisted her backpack and stepped out of the bakery, running into someone with dark cropped hair.

"Look who it is," Aziz said. With him were Danish and Amar.

Danish ripped the backpack off of Rara's shoulder and tossed the contents onto the sidewalk. Everything fell out, her books, makeup kit and a bag of chips she was saving for dinner.

"Listen," Rara said, "my sisters and I will pay you back. Promise."

Amar snickered. "Hear that? She promise."

"Give us a couple of weeks."

Danish gave the backpack a shake. Rara's wallet dropped at his feet. Aziz snatched it, though the only things he found were five ringgit and a few coins.

Rara felt her pocket. The two hundred ringgit Ilham gave her was tucked away safely.

Aziz snatched the five ringgit and saved it in his shirt pocket, while Danish stole the chips. Rara attempted to steal it back when Amar tripped her. Her face hit the rough concrete.

"Three days," Aziz warned as he threw the wallet at her.

***

Rara pretended the bruise wasn't there as she proceeded to line her eyes with black eyeshadow the next day. She made an effort to check her surroundings before leaving for work. When she got to the bakery, Zainab made her mop the floor before the place opened. It wasn't even ten yet when the bell chimed. Her heart jumped, but when she saw Ilham she relaxed. Akim and Teoh were with him, listening to him complain, something about his motorcycle breaking down.

"Thanks for the ride," Ilham was saying.

"No problem. By the way, my sister said she wanted something like this for her anniversary cake." Akim was scrolling through his phone when he saw Rara. "It's you."

Rara wasn't quite sure how to answer that sort of greeting. Was she supposed to reply with a "hello"? Instead, she spontaneously raised the mop and pointed the handle at the three of them.

Teoh held up his hands. "Easy there, princess."

Ilham gently lowered the end of the mop. "What happened to your face?" he asked her.

Akim bluntly grabbed Rara's face. "That's one nasty bruise," he said.

She slapped his hand. "Would it hurt to mind your own business?"

He backed away and cautiously followed Ilham and Teoh to the back.

Later in the day, while Zainab was temporarily gone, Rara managed to sneak a few pages. There hadn't been any customers for the past twenty minutes. The bakery was empty except for her, Ilham and two other bakers who mostly spent their time kneading dough and writing birthday messages on cakes.

She was getting into chapter thirteen when one of the bakers, a woman named Nur, stuck her head out from the back room.

"Do you know what time that mom is picking up her cake?" Nur asked.

Rara retrieved the agenda from beneath the counter and went through the list. "It says here she's picking it up at five."

She gasped. "I haven't even arranged the sugar dolls on the cake."