Lia wiped her sweaty forehead, while her hands wiped the dining table at the cafe where she worked. Her clothes were drenched in sweat, and her thin face tended to be sunken even as a dying zombie. Her hair was black, a wig, which looked tousled and unnatural.
Someone appeared from behind, a middle-aged man who had thin hair like scattered threads. His slightly chubby face looked scowled and unhappy when he saw Lia. "I still see the stain over there, and over there too! I wonder why you never do your job well? Do you want to work or are you just playing around?" He banged on the table that Lia was cleaning, causing her to jump in surprise.
Lia looked down deeply, squeezed the rag in her hand, and bit her lip because she was tired. Soon she glanced at all the tables in the cafe, wanting to confirm the complaint she had just received. And somehow she didn't find any speck of dust left. Amid her useless search, Lia found the face of a girl with thick make-up now grinning behind the cashier counter. And now Lia knew why Mr. Sony could blow upon her.
Mr. Sony put his hands on his hips. His face that was like a fatty pig was currently red and puffed out fumes of anger. The slightly sagging skin of his neck was visible because he looked up high to intimidate Lia. "I want to fire you because I can't stand your performance anymore. However, because of the consideration of someone very kind and meritorious in this cafe, I still want to consider you to work here. Oh, what would you be without her? And I hear you're always being mean to her. Remember where you are standing, Lia! And remember how ugly you look and also how bad your behavior! I almost threw up because of you."
Mr. Sony reached for something from the pocket of his tight pants. Now from within the grip of his fat hand scattered dust from the cigarette butts that had stuck to the table. Lia thought that Mr. Sony would only dirty the table once, but he did it many times without stopping.
There was now a pile of cigarette butt dust on the table, which would be a waste of time if Lia wanted to clean it in perfect. Meanwhile, working time would end soon. Lia's eyes stared at the dirt in front of her, and also at her shoes that Mr. Sony had spat on.
With a trembling body, Lia saw that Mr. Sony had walked away to go to the cashier's desk, then he grabbed the waist of the girl who worked at the cashier. Together they entered Mr. Sony's office and would make out for the next few hours.
Lia curled up on the floor, buried her face, and cried between her knees. She felt suffocated even because of the normal life she had always lived.
Apart from living alone without her parents and siblings, Lia also worked in a small and not too crowded cafe, so the salary she got was also low. She didn't get many commissions and bonuses because the cafe owner was a stingy person, so Lia's lifestyle could be said to be far below the existing welfare standards, with poor nutrition and housing conditions.
Lia's boss was also unpretentious, he liked to make things difficult for Lia because of his personal opinion which tended to be subjective. Lia's work partner was also not a professional person, who often gave Lia a lot of trouble because of her personality which liked to bring her into conflict.
Lia breathed a sigh of relief after she was able to clean the entire cafe room along with the existing furniture. She took off the apron that was wrapped around her slender waist and tucked it into her worn-out bag.
Lia glanced at the door of Mr. Sony's office, which was still closed. Lia looked at the clock on her cellphone. She found that the working time had passed half an hour ago, and there was still no sign of the appearance of Mr. Sony and also Zizie, Lia's work partner who liked to slander her.
After waiting another thirty minutes, Zizie came out with a face flushed red with satisfaction. There were red marks from bites and kisses on her neck. Zizie cuddled in the arms of Mr. Sony who was now kissing her non-stop. A flirtatious and adoring look always appeared in Mr. Sony's eyes, which he always aimed at Zizie. And when his eyes found Lia's figure, a disgusted expression would appear on his face.
Lia was down and almost cried on the spot. She didn't know how many times she had seen men looking at her with disdain. Lia didn't know if she wasn't pretty or if her appearance was just too bad. She felt so low and down, so despicable, and deserved to die. And in the midst of it all, she suddenly remembered Prince Aerus, and also his very arrogant and disgusting behavior with her.
"You can go home!" said Mr. Sony without even looking at Lia's face. He buttoned his slightly open shirt, then he left Zizie who coaxed him to wait for her outside the cafe.
Lia knew that Zizie was just being silly because she wanted to make any trouble with Lia.
Now Zizie folded her arms, standing proudly with her hips slightly bent to one side and one eyebrow raised. "Tsk, look at you, Idiot Girl! No wonder everyone hates you because you are that too bad. Honestly, I don't like you, because of your old-fashioned appearance and your fake diligent behavior when working. I'm still willing to bet that you want to get the attention of Mr. Sony. Do you think that because he is a widower then his tastes will fall under the standard? Tch!" Zizie spat on Lia's clothes, even repeating it twice.
"Never get your hopes up too high. The value of your body will never even sell at the flea market even though you are still a virgin. No one will buy you, and no one will ever be interested in you. Maybe that's why the cafe is so quiet because you're too disgusting to look at!" Zizie walked over and accidentally bumped into Lia's skinny shoulder.
Lia fell backward, her hips hit the edge of the table quite hard. She grimaced and felt weak at the same time. Her hips were throbbing now, almost feeling like they were breaking and becoming paralyzed. The sensation lasted for a few brief minutes and eventually became unmarked.
Lia forced her feet to walk. She immediately came out of the cafe after seeing the inflamed face of Mr. Sony who wanted to lock the cafe. With her head lowered, Lia took her weak steps towards her new flat which was even more shabby than before.
Now Lia saw Mr. Sony disappear inside the car door after he led Zizie to enter and sit in the front seat. The car's headlights flashed, the wheels turned and the two lovers of different ages disappeared down the road.
Now only Lia was left alone, with some thoughts and questions she kept asking herself. It all revolved around the life she faced which was always poor in love and acceptance.
Unknowingly, Lia burst into tears. At that moment she spontaneously looked up into the sky, looking at the twinkling stars scattered in the night. Lia's lips trembled, and then she chanted a prayer.
After that, she returned to his flat, which was a few blocks from the cafe where she worked. Along the way, her head was filled with various things, until her focus drifted and was undetectable.
When Lia walked past a fairly large department store in the middle of the road, suddenly someone bumped into her body, causing her to stumble far and fall on the ground. She groaned and rubbed her sore hips.
Meanwhile from the front, a soft voice hit her ear, "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to."
In front of Lia, a hand reached out to help her up. When Lia looked up to see who the owner of the hand was, her eyes found a very handsome face flashing through her eyes. And the great thing was that the face smiled at her, something she never got when she first met a man.
***