The rain was pounding against the windshield of my Mustang, as if the wipers couldn't move fast enough. I had the radio up halfway as the loud sound of the exhaust note bellowed through the interstate, all of a sudden the cell phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID, it was an unknown number, so I didn't answer. A few minutes later it rang again, it was the same number, so this time I answered. Frustrated, because I had to shift between 3rd and 4th gear, I picked up.
"Hello!" it was a lady's voice with a thick Spanish accent. The sound of her voice was so pleasant, I immediately forgot I was angry. In broken English she responded.
"Vitus, this is Esmeralda, are Ju coming?!"
I replied "Yeah I'm on the way, I just hit some traffic but I'll be there."
Sounding patient she told me, "Its 4:15 already, we close at 5:00, but I'll wait for ju okay!"
"I responded I'm pretty close; I'll be there in a few. I'm ten minutes out."
We ended the conversation; I drove a little faster to get there sooner.
As for myself, I'm 5'11, 200 lbs., bald, physically fit. I'm dark-toned. Some people compare me to the likes of the actor Morris Chestnut.
For the rest of my trip, I tried envisioning what she would look like in person. I was now only a few minutes from the real estate office, but I was getting restless. I exited the interstate, and the rain suddenly started to clear up. This allowed me to push the Mustang a little harder. I finally made it to the real estate office, where I parked right in front of the place.
The office wasn't exactly what I expected; it was a store front office with apartments above it. I wasn't sure if this was the right place until I saw the sign on the window. I got out of the car and walked into the small office, everyone seemed busy and in hurry. I walked up to the front office, there was an attractive young Latin girl sitting at the desk. I thought this must be her. I approached the desk and introduced myself.
"Hello, I'm Vitus. I have an appointment with Esmeralda."
She replied, "Ok. She's upstairs on the third floor waiting for you, I'll call her for you."
The office was set up pretty awkward. I had to go outside and walk up a stairwell to what looked like an old apartment building. I was feeling a bit uneasy. When I got to the third floor where there were lots of people in the office running around in a pandemonium. I stopped one of the guys and asked.
"Do you know where can I find Esmeralda?"
Unsure, scratching his head, he replied.
"Down the hall, behind the green door, if she's not gone already."
I said "thanks" and hurried down the hall. I knocked on the door and I heard a voice that was familiar.
"Who is it?"
"It's me Vitus. We talked earlier. I'm here for an appointment."
She hurriedly opened the door and said,
"So Ju made it!"
After looking at each other, all I could do was stand there with my mouth open, she was so beautiful! She stood about 5'8" with jet black hair, olive complexion , her eyes were green and very round. The kind of eyes that seem to give off a trance when you look at them. A few seconds passed by and she said.
"Come in. We have lot of stuff to do."
I followed her inside. Walking behind her, I was checking her out. She wore a flowered summer dress, with flip flop sandals, the dress contoured with her shape as if it was molded to her body, her well-manicured fingernails, and toes were meticulously painted in a pinkish color.
She sat me down at the desk facing the window; while I was sitting there, people were coming in and out, making copies and faxes. Esmeralda was also running in and out. Every time she passed by, I stole a glance at her. At last, she gave me an application and demanded,
"Hurry! it's almost time to quit."
I filled out the papers as fast as I could and gave the papers back to Esmeralda, at that time she had more papers to give me, so I started writing quickly and over time the crowd became less and less. I looked up at the window through the blinds and noticed that the sun had started to appear through the clouds. Trying to make small talk, I looked at Esmeralda and said,
"It looks like the sun is coming back out."
When I said this we locked eyes for a second and she said,
"Yeah it is, but I'm stuck here. Everyone else has plans but I'm stuck working.''
I asked her, "Don't you have a boyfriend or husband to go to after work?"
Before she could answer, one of the supervisors came in and asked Esmeralda,
"How much time do you need?"
Esmeralda replied,
"Twenty minutes more, I still need to file."
The supervisor exhaled and asked,
"Well could you lock up, because I have to pick up my kids?"
Esmeralda looked up at the supervisor, they started to talk in Spanish, then supervisor tossed the keys on the desk, she gave me a smile and left the office. The sense of urgency around the office became less, fewer people coming in and out until there were none, because it was quitting time for most. I started filling out the forms. After a while the room became quiet, so was the area outside the office. I looked up and I noticed Esmeralda was staring at me; it looked as if she was stalling for something. I looked up at her and asked,
"Am I taking too long?"
"No, Ju ok. Is it hot in here?" She said
"A little."
She then raised the blinds, then the window, just enough to stick her head out. She must have seen one her coworkers outside as she was looking and screamed out her name.
"Hey Carmen!!"
The two engaged in a conversation through the window in Spanish. They were talking a little loud because she was screaming down from the third floor to the streets to talk to her friend. I became distracted and looked up. And couldn't believe what I saw!
