In the spacious and unique office, there sat the anxious Danica on the visitor's seat across a man wrapped in a black business suit, flipping through the papers in his hands.
Danica kept praying for a fruitful result in her heart. For the first time in her entire life, she prayed earnestly, wishing this company would accept her so that she wouldn't have to be roaming again.
“Ehm, Miss Danica,” the man slowly raised his head and called out after being silent for a long while.
Danica quickly responded, “Yes, sir,” and adjusted on the seat.
Shaking his head sideways, “I'm sorry, but we can't approve you,” the man said wryly while pushing the papers toward Danica on the table.
Danica felt like heavy rocks weighed on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
For a moment, she kept parting her lips but couldn't voice out any single word.
She stared at her credentials on the desk and gulped, “I need this job, sir. Just give me a chance, I would give in my best, I promise you,” her voice choked between sobs and the man who seemed to be one of the managers in the organization couldn't help but feel compassion toward her.
“What can I do? Believe me, my hands are tied. I can't do anything about it. You have an excellent grade, but there's no vacant space for your career at the moment. Perhaps you can check later,”
Tears streaked down her face as soon as the manager completed his words.
She put on a sad smile while cleaning her face with the back of her palm.
“Alright, sir. Thank you,” she said slowly, then stood on her feet and left the place.
Roaming aimlessly around the city, Danica was beginning to feel tired, but she was not going to stop. She had made a promise to herself before she left home that she wouldn't come back if she didn't get a job.
Suddenly, the windy blue sky became dull, and the weather soon became cold.
The storm broke unexpectedly and Danica became frightened, staring up at the sky.
“Oh no, don't tell me I'm getting wet. Gosh!” she mumbled to herself, darting her eyes around in search of where she could run to.
She soon found a coffee shop across the road and a happy smile spread over her face.
Without a moment's hesitation, she sprinted to the other side of the freeway, fixing her file inside her shirt to prevent it from getting wet.
“Just hold yourself for a while, let me get in first,” she shouted as it pours heavily.
In a split second, she was inside the coffee shop. She brushed off the droplets of water on her dress, face, and hair, cursing inwardly. She hated to get wet.
The ambiance in the place was quite active. She soon noticed that the two baristas had a deep frown etched on their foreheads, as if they were tired. She took in the number of the customers present, they were pretty much to be attended by just two baristas.
“Hey, one cup of milkshake, please” a male customer looked at Danica and ordered.
Instead of explaining to the customer that she didn't work here, Danica nodded happily and then scuttled toward the lengthy counter.
There she met a woman who seemed to be in her late fifties behind the counter, she was preparing some coffee while the big espresso machine dispenses into the two coffee cups under it.
“One cup of milkshake, ma'am,” she let out proficiently, and the woman looked over at her face in an instant.
“I'm sorry you have to come down here yourself, I'm out of staff,” the woman explained the situation to Danica, who had pictured the whole thing from the beginning.
She smiled brightly and put down her credentials on the counter.
“Here, ma'am. I would love to work here,” she proclaimed without thinking about it twice.
After a long and busy day, Danica got back home in the night and met her mother sitting in a red recliner opposite the couch in the sitting room.
She seemed to be lost in her thought as she continued to stare at her phone screen in conflict.
Danica sucked in a sharp breath, since their last issue, her mother had been giving her a cold attitude and would barely answer her greetings.
However, she thought tonight would be different at least. She eventually got a job after so many attempts in several companies but to no avail.
“I found a job, mom,” she announced while walking fully into the room.
It was at this moment Mrs. Antonio realized that her daughter had arrived from wherever she had been.
She looked up at her with a crumpled face, expecting her to talk further.
Danica switched her gaze upon the table in the middle before proceeding, “It's a barista job,”
*Bang!*
Mrs. Antonio felt a loud bang in her head immediately.
“Which of the baristas, Danica? The lawyer or the one who serves coffee?” she asked with interest, sitting upright to stare at her daughter's face carefully under the dim light.
“The one who works in a coffee shop, mom,” Danica answered and quickly bit down hard on her lower lip.
“Do you mean that after how much I spent on you throughout your education, you're going to use all that in a coffee shop?” Mrs. Antonio interrogated in her lowest voice, but audible for Danica to hear.
“Mom, I tried seeking a better job, but none of them accepted me. So, I was left with no other choice. I've promised to make you proud now, and I'm working towards it,” Danica said persuasively, and her mother lost her temper this time.
“Just shut that filthy mouth of yours, you unfilial daughter!” she shrieked, jumping to her feet.
Danica almost flinched but clutched her clothing instead.
“Making who proud? You must be really out of your mind, Danica,” she spat in disgust, gazing at her daughter with undisguised hatred.
“If you had done what I asked you to, will you have to be seeking for a job, let alone becoming a servant?”
“It's not a servant, mom. Moreover, isn't it better than just to be sleeping around all day?” Danica retorted, raising her voice with a scowl.
“Ha ha, so you're just realizing the fact that you've never been of any use to me?” Mrs. Antonio asked sarcastically, wearing a sardonic smile.
“And that's what I'm trying to do now, mom. Forget about Mr. Cooper already and allow me to be that filial daughter for you,” Danica said cogently, reaching out a hand to touch her mother, but she dodged out her hand in time.
“It's too late now, Danica,”
Right after she said her simple sentence through clenched teeth, she stomped off, heading into her bedroom.
She shut the door behind her, drew in two deep breaths to rein in her anger, and then dialed Jasmine's number.
While the phone rang, she left where she was standing and amounted her pace toward her not-too-big Queen-sized bed.
The call connected after the third ring, and she spoke up first, “Hello, Miss Jasmine,”
“Hi. Please who's this?” Jasmine's voice transmitted into her ear.
“This is Mrs. Antonio, Mr. Cooper's assistant,” she responded proudly, sitting her ass on the bed.
“Oh, good evening, ma'am,” Jasmine sounded cheerful this time after learning who she was talking to.
“I hope I'm not disturbing you right now? Maybe my boss is with you or something?” she asked in a teasing manner, eliciting a short laugh from Jasmine's mouth.
“Not at all, ma'am. I'm in my apartment,”
“Would you mind if I want to see you, Miss Jasmine? Possibly by the weekend. I would love to come down to your place,” Mrs. Antonio pressed on, toying with the jade in her finger.
“Oh, It's no problem at all. Saint Louis estate, the only blue flat in the street, that's my apartment, ma'am,” Jasmine told her without any qualm and a wide smile crept on Mrs. Antonio's face immediately.
So naive! She thought.
“Alright, my dear. Have a nice sleep,”
With that, she hung up the call and began to laugh hysterically, and even the bed shook along with her laughter.
No doubt, she had got something up her sleeves and she seemed to believe in her plans this time around.
***
Paisley carefully places her slender hand against a kid's forehead, trying to feel his temperature.
However, her action seemed to arouse the boy from his sleep.
Paisley felt bad and smacked her lips while the handsome boy blinked his cute eyes at her.
“My movement was pretty slow and gentle, why did you have to wake up again?” Paisley pouted while sitting down on the bed beside the boy.
“Because I've been waiting for you since morning. Why are you just coming to check on me?” the pretty-looking boy pouted, bringing abrupt tears to pool in Paisley's eyes.
She quickly moved closer to him and embraced him warmly.
The kid had attracted all her attention since the very first day he had been admitted to the hospital.
And not only that, knowing that the kid's survival of the blood cancer he had been battling since birth was only five percent, made her cry the more.
If she had her own way, she would do anything in her power to make sure the kid live.
“Paisley, are you crying?”
Hearing the little boy's warm voice, she immediately stopped crying and brushed off the tears on her face before disengaging from the hug.
Putting on a big bright smile, she removed the few strands of his hair from his forehead and spoke gently, “I was busy with some things in the office, but I've paused them just to come and see you,”
The boy grinned happily, staring back at the pair of beautiful eyes that watches his face with pure adoration.
“Have you eaten?” she asked, touching his cheek.
The boy shook his head sideways, “No, Paisley. I'm not hungry,”
A light gasp escaped from Paisley's lips as she looked up at the wall clock and discovered that the time has gone.
“Why, David? Don't you like the food they brought? Do you want me to get something else for you? Tell me,”
She said her words breathlessly, her eyes widening and her heart pounding profusely.
“No, Paisley, just stay here with me a little longer,” David giggled, holding Paisley's other hand.
“If you want me to stay a bit longer, then let me go get you something first, and I'll feed you myself,” Paisley stated her condition with a smirk on her lips.
David stared and nodded twice.
“Alright dear, I'll be right back,”
Moments later, Paisley was holding a small paper bag and walking in the hallway when a nurse rushed up to her, panting heavily.
“The chairman's son wants all the nurses in the reception now,” the nurse informed Paisley and scurried off at once.
Paisley bite her bottom lip and raised the paper bag a little. She stared onward at David's ward and recalled he hasn't eaten anything since this morning.
She continued her pace but getting closer, she remembered who the chairman's son was. An arrogant and spiteful person, who never seemed to accept excuses.
Paisley bounced on her feet, realizing that she had been stuck between a rock and hard place.