And in a second, a huge crowd gathered near the entrance of the AJ Mall.
"I don't know. What's happening?"
Staring at the group of people near the mall's entrance, Carla wondered what they were gossiping about.
"Oh, you mean these guys? They're tenants of the mall and they've been asking for refunds in the last couple of days. And not just in this mall. This also happened with the other malls of the AJ Group."
The waiter came over and served their delicious plate of deserts, and then told them what he knew about the matter.
"Hey, Carla, where are you going?"
Without hesitation, Carla stood up from her seat as soon as she heard the waiter finish his words and went towards the gate where a lot of people were gathering. Taking some cash out of her bag, Violet then put them on the table in such a hurry as she followed Carla storm out of the restaurant.
"Carla! Carla! Wait for me! Calm down. Don't be impulsive... "
Violet yelled at Carla as she walked briskly to catch up with her.
Being in such a hurry, Carla was already panting when she reached the gate of the mall.
Carla saw security guards all over the mall's entrance as they tried to maintain the order, while managers dealt with such a messy situation. The accident happened just a few days ago and it had never been the same for the mall, causing it to be neglected.
And because of this incident, the shop keepers and other tenants' businesses were also closed for many days. They couldn't just bear with the situation any longer and had to do something about it.
Judging from the situation, it was apparent that none of them had ever expected that it would escalate into such a huge mess.
Just like how true the saying was, indeed, everyone had a black sheep in their family.
"Please keep quiet! Calm down! Would you please just listen? We have already informed our superior about your concerns, and we'll give you a response as soon as we hear from them. Please calm down!"
The manager of the mall said to the group of irritated shop keepers through the megaphone that he held in his hand.
"Calm down? How on earth can I possibly calm down? We've been paying such an expensive rent! Come to think of it, we need to pay for our employees' salaries, water, and electricity! This is absurd! How can we afford it if we haven't had a guest in a long time? What else can we do?" ——
"Yes, definitely! It's your company's fault! After all, why should we, the innocent people, pay the price for your mistakes?"
"Exactly! You don't feel any loss at all. Instead, you're charging us! Who will pay for our loss? Why should we even be treated as sitting ducks?"
Standing on the stairs, the manager raised his megaphone once again and shouted, "Please keep quiet. Like I've said, I've already notified the superiors. We'll work out a solution soon so please calm down!"
However,
e would be timid when it came to dealing with serious issues like this. Seeing Carla take the matters into her own hands, she knew that she learned a thing or two from her.
"I really had no choice. Especially now that I have encountered it in person. After all, it really matters to our company, I just couldn't help myself, so I didn't think too much before I did it." Carla now pondered and also had a lingering fear. It was a promise, but she didn't think too much about the consequences of her actions.
It was not a big deal to give the tenants a rent free pass. But if there were other customers that were affected by the AJ Group, a large sum of money would be needed to help all of them out, which they couldn't afford.
Then, she wondered— would Terence be angry if he found out about it?
Thinking long and hard, she believed that he must have been forced by the circumstances to make that decision just now.
And at that time, she really wasn't able to stand it anymore.
Actually, what Carla couldn't stand was the fact that these people condemned the AJ Group, which made her feel that they were directly accusing Terence. And as his wife, she really couldn't just stand aside, because they were in this mess together.
"By the way, Carla, you were so awesome back there and I admire you so much! And wow, you made the hundreds of them think twice with your words! If I were you, I wouldn't have had the nerve to say anything even if I had to bite the bullet to confront them."
Violet said as she held Carla's arm and gave her a thumbs up.
With a sense of guilt, Carla patted her chest and said, "Let's go and have a cup of coffee. I need to calm down. My heart almost jumped out of my chest from what I did back there."
Hearing Carla's very anxious words, Violet burst into laughter and said, "All right. Come on. Let's find a better place. I'll buy you a drink. You definitely need one!"