Chapter 1

As I sat by my desk at the office, surrounded by my to-dos for the day and paperwork that needed to be attended to, all my mind could do was be consumed with thoughts of the weekend when Mom was rushed to the hospital. Since it happened, my mind has refused to stop replaying the events.

The doctor informed my sister Jenna and me that Mom was suffering from an acute myocardial infarction.

I wanted to be mad at her for not carrying anyone along with what she was dealing with, but remembering how weak and lifeless she looked lying on the hospital bed, I couldn't bring myself to do such a thing.

Why, why, mom? I remember questioning her silently as tears poured down my face while the doctor spoke. She could have died, and we would have all been clueless as to the cause of her death.

"What's the way out now?" my sister's husband, Devin, asked the doctor.

"Well, just like I said earlier, myocardial infarction can be treated if handled well. In your mother's case, she would need surgery to open her artery and stop the clot in her blood to get her up and running." The doctor informed us.

I noticed Devin squeeze my sister's hand for support as she let out a gasp after the doctor mentioned Mom's surgery.

At that moment, no one had to tell us we needed to start pulling funds together for the surgery. I knew for a fact that I couldn't compare myself to my sister Jenna and her husband Devin; they both were doing well for themselves in their own way.

They both started JD Cleaning, their own cleaning business, a few years ago and have grown the business into having several clients, some of whom were even high-class socialites and big organizations. However, I was just an executive assistant in a small marketing firm, and my funds could only help me pay bills, feed myself, and save a little.

Since I couldn't move home to stay with Mom, seeing that my job required all staff to be within proximity to the office, Mom had to move in with Jenna for better care and monitoring. The hospital also assigned a nurse to the mom for regular checkups. Of course, that meant more money to pay.

Since I already knew that setting money aside for Mom wasn't going to be a walk in the park, I decided to ignore the work I had before me and apply for jobs online. After almost an hour, I had succeeded in applying for tons of jobs. Whatever I saw that didn't clash with my working hours at my already existing job, I applied for it. I also texted my sister and told her to put me back on her team as one of her staff, just like in those days when she had just started and didn't have any staff and it was just me and her doing the cleaning.

At least working with her during the weekend would do better than having to look for a weekend job, I thought to myself. With a deep sigh, I cautioned myself to focus on work as the hum of the office chatter brought me back to reality.

Days turned into weeks, and I got a night job at an all-day library and workspace," 24/7 WORK & READ," as a receptionist. I barely had time for myself anymore; working around the clock every day of the week was exhausting. Deep down, I knew it would be better to just get another job at a well-paying firm. So, that way, I would at least not need to work extra to have a decent paycheck.

Jenna and I have been pulling funds together to save for the surgery. Despite the extra effort of having the extra job, we still had a long way to go regarding how much we needed. In all fairness, I haven't been putting myself out for a decent job since the rejection emails I have been getting so far have been discouraging. I applied for secretarial posts in top organizations as an assistant social media strategist. And many more, but still nothing.

Sighing loudly, I picked up my phone and decided to check my mail again, like I now do every single time since the past few weeks of rigorous applications and submitting my CV. But as usual, just a bunch of webinar invites, discount codes, and, of course, rejection emails—nothing aside from the usual. I could maybe use my lunch breaks to walk into firms and ask if they have an opening. But wouldn't that seem desperate? I questioned myself.

Lying in bed in my tiny 6x6 staff quarters apartment provided to me by the company where I work. My eyes were fixed on the ceiling while my brain was trying to wrap up my train of thoughts so I could get out of bed as it was Saturday and my sister had informed me that today's client was a loyal one, The Russo's.

I remember cleaning for them a few years ago. Even though my body craved a few more hours of sleep, I still had to mentally encourage myself out of bed, but since I had to be at the Russo Mansion in about 2 hours, with a cleaning colleague, Erica.

I hopped into the shower and lathered some shampoo in my hair. I double cleanse my skin, going in with my bar soap first before exfoliating it with my vanilla essence scrub, and then topping it up with my body wash. It has been a long week, so I might as well treat my skin well.

I noticed I had just 1 hour and 36 minutes left to resume. While mentally deciding on what to wear, I put in heatless rods in my wet hair, and I settle for my only black mom jeans, which are my favorite pair of jeans, a high-waisted dark wash mom with a square neckline long sleeve beige form-fitting bodycon top. And completed the look with a pair of white sneakers, a simple pendant necklace, and stud earrings.

Overall, the outfit was perfect for comfort. I hurriedly blow-dry my hair with the rods in and take them out.

"Who uses a blow dryer with heatless rods?" I mumble to myself.

Checking my time and seeing that another 29 minutes had gone by, I only had time to apply a bit of makeup to awaken my face so I can prevent myself from looking like a sleep-deprived human, and also to make myself a quick chicken sandwich to have on the bus on my way to work.

As I hurriedly boarded the bus, I had no idea I was also hurriedly boarding the bus to witness the most shocking sight of my existence!