Twenty seven

EVE'S POV 

When the assistant took back the shirt, I turned and headed towards where the two were standing. They stopped talking when they saw me approaching, but unfortunately for them, I had already heard everything.

"Excuse me, can you please stop mocking us? We came here to shop and it's quite unpleasant when you two are standing here making insulting remarks”, I said.

The two exchanged a look, and then faced me. One of them frowned. 

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" She asked that with a confused expression, as if she truly had no idea what I was talking about.

“l could hear you two clearly. So don't bother acting like you don't know what I'm talking about. Is this how you treat customers here?" I told them,

"Customers are people who buy clothes here.You two are obviously just here to waste everybody's time. Look around and ask yourself if this looks like a store you should be in”, the other one said, not interested in playing pretend like her co-worker.

I clenched my hands and took a step forward, but a firm hand clasped around my arm, keeping me in place. 

I looked up to find Morgan beside me, his furious gaze on the two assistants.

"Apologise to my wife right away" he ordered the assistants. 

His aura was threatening, like he wasn't going to back off until they apologised.

"You and your wife are interrupting business. Please leave before we call the security," the first assistant said, raising her voice.

"How exactly are we doing that?. We came here to shop like everybody else", I demanded. 

The assistant gestured to my clothes.

 "Look at yourselves. It's obvious you cannot afford anything in this store. It's fine if you came to window-shop, but do you have to waste our time waiting on you? If other customers see you two in here, they might refuse to shop here anymore. With people like you here, it looks like a common shop”,

I scoffed, amazed at their shameless accusations.

 "Is it your habit to look down on customers, or is this how you people run business here?",

"What is going on here?" a new voice joined the melee. It was a man dressed in a staff uniform like the others, but his tag read Manager.

"These two walked in and started bothering everyone", the second assistant replied. 

"They can't buy anything but have been harassing us for minutes now",

"That's not true!" I claimed when the manager turned to Morgan and I.

 "We were looking through our options, but it appears that the staff isn't willing to be helpful”,

The manager looked at me, gave me a once-over, and did the same to Morgan.

 "I think you two should leave, you're in the wrong store”,

My jaw fell as the manager spoke. I had expected him to pay attention to our plight and help us along, or at least make an effort to find out how the entire situation had developed. Instead, he seemed to not be any different from the assistants.

 "How are we in the wrong store?", I asked, not willing to back down when these people were treating us so poorly.

"If you don't intend to buy anything, leave or l'Il call the security. My staff are busy and we don't need idlers like you two wasting our time”, he said.

"Why would we come here if we don't intend on buying anything? On what basis are you and your staff labelling us idlers? And, aren't you paid to wait on customers? So how exactly are we wasting your time if this is the job you were hired to do?",

"You haven't bought anything despite being in the store for a long time, I think your intentions are clear", the manager countered.

"If nothing has pleased us, why should we buy anything?" I demanded. 

"We have only been around for five minutes, before your staff began complaining. If your store has a time limit on how long someone should spend shopping, then you should make it public”,

MORGAN'S POV 

Beside Eve, my face darkened. I never could have expected that the service at the Edwards Group's store was so poor. None of the staff were acting in a manner that represented the company's values, and I didn't want to imagine the damage they have caused to the group's reputation.

I had brought Eve here hoping she would like the place and enjoy shopping, but the opposite was happening.

I stepped up to the manager, getting in his space. The manager stepped back, intimidated by my taller physique. That's right, he should be afraid.

 "My wife and I have done nothing wrong, so you have no right to drive us out”,

At this moment, other customers were beginning to notice the confrontation and were beginning to gather around and listen. 

The manager looked around and realised that if this went on longer, word could get out and ruin the reputation of the store.

"You are deliberately causing trouble in the store," he said loudly, wanting others to hear and believe it was the Eve and I who were at fault. 

"You're threatening my staff and disturbing other shoppers, so we kindly request you to leave”,

Then he turned and beckoned to a security guard who had appeared at the scene. 

"Escort them out",

The shoppers who were now paying attention to the argument now looked at Eve and I with judging eyes, with some saying that we should be thrown out. 

Eve was enraged that the manager had painted us as villains, to the extent of making false accusations against me.

"My husband hasn't threatened anyone!", she snapped at the manager, glaring at him. 

"All he did was ask for the staff to treat us with courtesy. He didn't say anything wrong”,

"Madam, you and your husband need to leave now”, the security guard said, making his way to me.

His intention was to grab my arm, but Eve stood between the two of us and glared at the guard, her eyes daring him to throw us out. 

"We are not going anywhere until they apologise to my husband",

"If you keep making a scene," the manager said,

"we'll call the police!",

"Go ahead then, and everyone will know how you treat customers who you look down on”, she dared.

Her eyes wandered towards another section of the store, where one customer sat on a sofa while three attendants ran back and forth, bringing clothes to her. She dismissed some of them with a flick of her wrist, and each time, they bowed respectfully and rushed off to bring her more options.

 The customer had been there before she and I arrived, and we were yet to hear anyone complain about her. It was obvious why she was being treated like a queen while we were being thrown out. The customer was wearing a designer dress, heels that must have cost as much as Eve’s college tuition, and was adorned in diamond jewellery.

The security guard hesitated and took a step back, while I stood back, enjoying how Eve refused to back down even when the manager threatened to call the police. But what made me really happy was the fact that she was standing up for me, and even calling me her husband. I had seen her defending herself vehemently on the few occasions I had made the mistake of making baseless accusations against her. But I had never thought that she would get the same way on my behalf.

I felt that she truly cared about how the manager's accusations affected me, and it warmed my heart. It also made me more determined to make sure that the assistants and the manager regretted treating her poorly.