"You!" A shrill voice shouted. I felt someone grab my shoulder and forcibly pulled it, making me turn towards the unknown person. I was greeted by the angry face of a certain auburn-haired woman who is one of the people who has been hell-bent on making my life miserable. "You are ruining his life by staying with him!" Christina screamed, her blue eyes glaring daggers at me.
We were standing on top of a flight of stairs as I was just leaving the hospital. I stared at her blankly. I was not in the mood to talk to her right now, especially with what happened just moments ago. I just wanted to go out of the hospital and do some thinking.
'I also wanted to get away from that family.'
I sighed and opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted. "You are the reason that he is here!" Christina once again shouted. She tightened her hand on my shoulder, and I almost winced in pain as I felt her sharp nails dig into my skin. "He has a great future, and you just have to come and ruin it!"
I glared at her to mask the stinging pain from her nails. I grabbed her hand on my shoulder, and forcibly pushed her hand away. "I don't have time to waste for someone like you," I said calmly but my voice dripping with venom.
Without waiting for her reply, I turned away from her and took one step down the flight of stairs. I have too much to think to have a futile screaming match with her, and I don't want her and that family to have any more reason to further their hate towards me.
'Though they already hate me so much.'
"If it wasn't for you, then he wouldn't have to suffer like this!" Christina shouted from behind me.
I ignored her provocation and took another step down the stairs. I thought I had finally escaped her wrath once I couldn't hear her yelling anymore.
But I should have known that anyone who is associated with that family would not accept defeat that easily.
I felt my feet slip out of the stairs when a pair of hands suddenly pushed my back, and before I knew it, I was already falling down.
***
I was jolted awake by a nightmare. I immediately sat up and felt a wave of nausea wash over me from the sudden movement. I placed my hand on my temple and massaged it lightly to ease away the throbbing pain in my head.
I could not remember what my dream was, but my heart is currently beating so fast against my chest, and I felt drained despite waking up just moments ago. Cold sweat dotted my forehead, and I could feel my hands shake a little.
I took my phone from the bedside table to check the time and found that it was only five in the morning meaning, I only slept for about three hours. I was too distracted last night to fall asleep hence, I started doing some of my pending work. I also thought that I could spend the next day off to have some quality time with my mother. I ended up sleeping at around two in the morning just to finish all my work.
I groaned and cursed the headache that is currently making me suffer. I pushed my blanket away from me and pushed myself up from the bed. I walked towards my vanity mirror and picked a hairband to put my honey brown hair into a low bun. A few hairs escaped since my hair is quite short, just falling right below my shoulder.
I stared at my reflection on the mirror. To say that I looked terrible is an understatement. There were dark bags under my brown eyes, and my face looked too pale as if blood was drained out of it. The exhaustion from the consecutive sleep-deprived nights is finally catching up to me.
Since I'm already wide awake, I decided to go downstairs to prepare breakfast for both me and my mother. I was hoping she could sleep in just for today so she could fully rest and recover.
When I arrived in the kitchen, I went straight to the coffee maker on top of the counter. My mornings will not be complete without a cup of coffee. I could forgo breakfast but not my coffee.
As the coffee maker is brewing, I checked the refrigerator for something that I could cook. Since my mother has a small appetite in the morning, I decided to fry some eggs and ham to pair with toast and some lettuce and tomato.
Once the coffee is brewed, I poured some on my mug. The smell of the freshly brewed coffee wafted inside the kitchen, and I sighed once I was able to take a sip. "Finally alive."
I started frying the eggs and the ham on the frying pan after I placed some sliced bread on the oven toaster. Since there was nothing much to do for breakfast, I was finished in no time and exactly right before my mother arrived in the kitchen.
"You're early," my mother spoke from the entrance of the kitchen, her eyes were wide with surprise since I'm usually not an early riser.
"I was hoping I could surprise you with breakfast," I grinned and gestured for the simple breakfast on the dining table.
"Wow." My mother sat on the chair opposite mine and gawked at the food in front of her. "Do you have a fever?"
I rolled my eyes at her and said, "I can cook every now and then."
My mother chuckled and I spoke again, "would you like some coffee?"
"Yes please," my mother replied with a wide grin.
I stood up from my seat and went to the counter to pour a cup of coffee for her. "Why are you awake already? You could have slept in," I spoke as I pour the coffee from the pot to the mug.
"I was going to open the restaurant," my mother replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
I turned towards her with a scowl on my face. "You should be resting for another day." I placed, not so gently, the cup of coffee on the table in front of her and continued, "You can't open today."
My mother sighed and spoke, "the store has been closed for days. I could not close again today and lose more customers."
I plopped down on the seat opposite her and crossed my arms above my chest. "You can't. You were hospitalized because of overwork and I can't have you go back because you are too stubborn," I said sternly.
My mother took a sip from her cup before she replied, "I will open today." She placed her cup back on top of the table.
"You could just help me with the restaurant to make sure I will not overwork myself," my mother suggested and grinned widely at me as if she won the argument.
'She did.'
I sighed. I could never win against my mother. She would always suggest things that I could never reject because she knows that I have a soft spot for her.
'I guess there will be no rest for today.'
***
After we ate our breakfast, I helped my mother clean the restaurant. The place has been closed for days when my mother was hospitalized, hence dust accumulated everywhere. I dusted the place off and mopped the floor as my mother watched me work from the side-lines. She was quite a strict boss and would not even let me have time to breathe.
Soon enough, the other employees arrived, and we were able to open the store on time.
Since I cannot let my mother overexert herself, I told her that I would trade places with her in the kitchen and that she should just man the register.
She merely laughed at my suggestion and said, "Can you still cook?"
I rolled my eyes at her and replied, "I'm the daughter of a restaurant owner, how could I not?"
I used to help a lot in the restaurant back when I was a student.
When I was in high school, my work is to take the customers' orders and sometimes work as the cashier. My mother was quite meticulous and would not allow me to help around the kitchen. When I finally learned to cook according to her standards, she finally allowed me to help around the kitchen. I was already a college student at that time, and it was also then when Ansel started helping as a waiter every now and then.
The Ansel from my memory was a thoughtful and considerate person. He would never fail to help me out and cheer me up whenever he saw me get overwhelmed with things that I need to do despite being busy with his work as well.
Even though he came from a distinguished family, he was humble around my parents, making them fawn all over him. Although he was quite aloof at first, he learned to open his heart and became an irreplaceable part of our family.
'But that was before.'
I shook my head off of the thoughts about Ansel. If I wanted to finally move on from our past, I should prevent myself from reminiscing.
I already promised myself that I would do my best to prioritize my happiness.
The entire day was so busy I had no time to breathe. My mother's worry about losing customers may not be accurate as there were too many people who came today. Surely, if I allowed my mother to work in the kitchen today, she would end up getting hospitalized once again.
I was mostly in charge of prepping the ingredients and following simple recipes. I thought I would have a hard time working in the kitchen because it has been years since I last worked here, yet my body still remembers therefore, I was able to follow all the instructions given to me.
I felt like I would faint from relief once my mother said that we would be closing the restaurant for the day. All of my muscles are aching, and I could barely lift a finger. All I could think of was to have a long bath and an ice-cold beer after.
***
I plopped down on my bed after a long day. I felt my stiff muscles loosen at the comfort of the soft mattress, and I felt my eyes heavy with sleep.
I'd probably be able to sleep with no nightmares tonight.
I have been thinking of getting a good sleep during our walk home. I was too tired to eat, so I went straight to my bathroom and took a long soak. I almost fell asleep if not for my mother's incessant calls. She thought I had drowned inside the tub since I have been inside for more than an hour.
I could feel my eyes slowly closing as exhaustion engulf my whole body. When I thought that I would finally fall asleep, I heard my phone ringing from the bedside table.
Groaning, I struggled to push myself up from the bed to get my phone. I would have ignored it if I wasn't worried that the call is from one of our clients, but seeing Luke's name on the screen, I was too tempted to ignore the call.
Sighing, I pressed the answer button and heard Luke's enthusiastic voice from the other line. "Hello?"
"Hey," I replied. A loud yawn left my mouth, and I heard Luke chuckle. "Sorry about that."
"You seem tired," Luke replied, stating the obvious.
"I helped with my mother's restaurant today."
"I like a doting daughter," Luke teased.
I rolled my eyes at him even though he would not be able to see it and spoke, "I like myself too."
I heard Luke laughed loudly on the other line and I can't help but smile hearing his laughter. He was one of the few people with whom I could really joke around with and have serious talks whenever we both need it.
Opening up to people is quite hard, especially if you have already gotten hurt once, but Luke made it easy to make me feel comfortable around him with his sincere yet carefree attitude.
"Don't choke on your own spit." I rolled my eyes once again when he didn't stop his laughter.
"Don't jinx me like that!" Luke playfully whined.
It was my turn to laugh. I imagined Luke, with his almost six feet tall figure, pouting at my teasing. Although I'm quite used to his silliness, he still never fails to make me laugh at the smallest things.
"Why did you call?" I asked after a few moments.
"Did you check your e-mail yet?" Luke asked, his voice filled with excitement.
"No, not yet," I replied, furrowing my eyebrows. "Is there a problem?"
"We got the contract with the Chadwick group!" Luke exclaimed animatedly on the other line.
Despite hearing his words loud and clear, I could not process what he had just said. It was something I had never expected, especially with what Ansel had said when we first met again during the contract bidding.
"You have a meeting tomorrow regarding the contract."
I thought after our conversation last time, we would no longer be seeing each other again. I thought I could leave the country soon and finally cut all the ties that I have here.
"This is our biggest project ever."
Although this is a great opportunity for our company, I can't help but be anxious at the sudden news. We have a lot of competitors from big companies yet, as much as I am confident with my proposal, we got chosen among all of them.
'What's happening?'