The food in the canteen was not that tasty even if it is, she was bored with the same food every week, there was no change in their menu. She desired for her parents to love her just like how others did, yet she craved more of roadside foods and junk foods but always she would say,
"Chrystal Zhu … you need to control just a few months then you will be able to go out and eat tasty foods" Whenever she saw yummy and tasty foods which the day-scholars brought simply reminding herself.
Because in their academy, school students are not allowed to go outside on their own, but in college, they could go out and have fun. The college was not restricted as much as how they restrict in school.
Her parents are well off and they are settled in great jobs her only motivation is her mother because she is the one who would comfort her when she was down by telling valuable stories and her dad was good at giving advice. But since her high school, she was not very close to her mom and dad as they were working overseas to earn money.
Since she was sixteen, her dad would always give her speech about money over the phone. Anything they talk obviously it will end up in talking about making money.
"Basically, we were not rich we are just normal middle-class family," since they wanted their daughter not to suffer because of lack of money, he would often add "the rich grow richer and the poor are also taken care of by the government, but the middle class is affected because of their pride."
That was the frequent statement told by her dad. It was indeed confusing for her to know under which category they fall. But Chrystal would think that all these do not matter because as long as she had the money to take care of her daily necessities and leaving a little money after all expenses at the end of the month, it's more than enough.
Since the money she was earning from teaching was not enough for her because she was already 22 and the need to spend money on rent, electricity, grocery, etc, etc., were draining her so how can she have enough money to buy her own house? or a vehicle to go from her house to college? That's the reason why she is working in the hospital.
Her only goal, for now, is to earn enough money to support herself as her dad and mom wouldn't give her money.
"Am I really their child? They could at least give me a little amount for my expenses right! Why in the world is everything hard???"
Chrystal Zhu cried looking at her almost empty wallet. The walking distance is half an hour from hospital to home but hailing a taxi or a bus would make the trip sooner by reaching home within 5-10 minutes, so Chrystal thought about it for a while. Again, taking out her purse she checked if she had the money for paying the taxi fee staring at her purse she mouthed
"There is no money..." Sigh... sigh...
'Looks like I need to walk all the way home' she regretted the decision of spending her money on buying bun, egg, and milk, she didn't have dinner yet. She was a little hungry and it was very late.
"Should I walk to my home but it's too far!!!" sigh... sigh... Chrystal kept on sighing, taking up the positive energy she said to herself with almost no energy
"Walking is a good exercise anyway let's walk home happily let that bun and milk get digested"
With that, she packed her bag and took all her belongings, and started to walk. With her body fully drained of energy, she walked like a half-drunk person swaying slightly and her mind was busy debating
"That milk and bun were taken seven hours before how could it be digested only now? weren't they already digested? Yeah… it should be like the liquid gets digested soon whereas the solid food does really take more time to get digested. Even if the bun got digested soon there is still an egg. I once read on the internet that egg does really take a long time to get digested for nearly 6 hours. So, calculating the time, I still have nearly an hour to digest the food I ate seven hours ago fully "
Chrystal felt really hungry she really wanted to eat something it was already dark and the food stalls along the street during the night spread sweet aroma all over the place anyone who came to this place would definitely buy some foodstuff and go. Again, she looked at her wallet there was no money sadly she went by all those stalls just swallowing her own saliva. "Really troublesome"
Even though being a nurse, she still had an appetite for all those street foods. Instead, it could be said that she loved them it was very addictive. "Goodbye, dear street food your mommy will come for you on the day I receive my salary. Don't worry I promise you" With that Chrystal went farther and farther away from the food stalls. She didn't have any money on her as it was the end of the month so, within a few more days, she would receive her salary.
And to be exact this was her first month working in the hospital so she would have to do some extra work for others but without any gains, it was really a pain for her. Being overloaded by work all the newbies would have to suffer. But she promised herself that she would work harder and sincerely though it was not really her favourite thing to do.
As she was walking her way home, there was not only one temptation for her because another was coming up near her house, the main road was full of food stalls
"Why are they tempting me can't they be silent and allow me to pass by?"
She muttered softly looking at the way those vendors were selling the food, packing, giving away... seeing it her stomach made weird noises.
She immediately took her bottle and started to drink water while walking but she was totally embarrassed as the street was full of crowd and many people were giving weird stares at her. Chrystal just acted as if nothing happened and calmly drank the water but inside, she hoped that there was a hole to bury herself.
She wanted to run to her house as it was not very far it only took her seven minutes to go from this main road to her house. But she comforted herself saying 'common Chrystal…. You can…. Only a few more steps, then It is done… common…' self-motivating herself but her body felt light. Somehow she managed to get home.
As soon as she came to her house, she went straight to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and ate the chocolate bar while the door of the fridge was still open. It was indeed relaxing to get the cool air from the fridge after the long walk from the college. Though Chrystal hates sugar, she loved dark chocolates so she always stocked them up.
Then she took away all her clothes and went straight to the bathroom and took a nice hot shower to get rid of the hospital smell. Chrystal took a pretty long time to take bath just relaxing herself and she loved it because she was taking bath in hot water.
"Night bath is always cool and comforting" relacing herself, she felt that she could stay here the whole day. It indeed felt too good.
After bath Chrystal went to the kitchen with her bathrobe to prepare dinner. The dinner was simple noodles. She loved noodles and fried rice more than anything because her culinary skills are the best for these two dishes. Though Chrystal was out of money, when it comes to the end of the month there were enough groceries and essentials at home and there was no lack for it.
Today she cooked extra noodles for herself because she was too hungry the dark chocolate and the warm bath gave her a little boost.
Soon Chrystal dumped her dirty clothes in the washing machine then changed to her nightdress. Chrystal went to bed and just closed her eyes 'there is not much of work to do anymore that's it for the day'
She thought of all the left-over work she had and mentally planned to do them the next morning. Pulling over the quilt and turning off the lights, Chrystal slept.