Chapter 15

• Ashely
• "Your shirt buttons—" I remembered his husky voice bring warmth to my ears, "It's not done properly. If you were mine, I would have wanted nothing more but to rip that shirt off you."
• My cheeks were painted red when he uttered those words. From the moment he entered the bakery, my eyes danced around his body and his expensive colonge that filled the air. I initially thought he was going to apologize for his nasty alleged girlfriend but my heart made a little happy dance when he stated she wasn't his girlfriend.
• I knew he came for his watch. I had a feeling it was his when I saw it on the table, the other day but I was glad he did anyways.
• The way he talked cheesily, the endless smirk on his face, the muscles on his arm.
• I wondered how the muscles on his chest looked like.
• His chiseled face, his sharp jawline. His smile. Everything he had, hooked me and I wondered why he wore a mask just to cover up that amazing looks.
• When he moved closer to me, my heart skipped a beat and when his eyes stared intently at my chest, I wanted nothing more for the ground to cover me up and bury me. I felt a wetness in my panties.
• Damn, I was wet.
• If only Emily wasn't there, I was so sure that it would have ended in a make-out session.
• He was hot, I agree. Irresistible but he wasn't as innocent as my Mason.
• My Mason. I always called him that in my thoughts. Maybe one day, I would be able to say it to his face.
• Someday.
• When I heard the bakery door close and the sharp cry of the bell, I hurriedly re-did my shirt buttons before Emily noticed.
• "He's so hot." Emily commented, "Is he really going to work here?"
• I scoffed, "How is he going to get a job when Mrs Ping is out of town?"
• "I see what you did there, Ash." Emily spat, "I wanted a good looking man around here."
• "Maybe it's for the best." I replied, "For you not to lose focus."
• "I caught you drooling all over him." Emily rebuffed, "You were practically looking at him."
• I shook my head, "No I wasn't."
• "Yes, you were." Emily stuck a tongue out, "Your eyes were practically shooting daggers at him."
• "That was because I was in a defensive position and I couldn't trust him." I responded.
• "Whatever suits you, Ash." Emily grimaced, "Let's go unload the new coffee machine."
• *****
• "How are things with your parents, Emily?" I spoke over the loud music that played music at the fried chicken store.
• I heard that they had gotten a new owner and were about to revamp the whole restaurant to a vibeful kind of place. I also noticed the drastic change in the clothes of the staffs. The women wore short dresses and their cleavage exposed to the eyes of their customers.
• Maybe that was spicy.
• Mrs Ping would never allow loud music in the bakery shop. She hated such, she often called it a distraction. I was sure that if she wanted to, she would have made sure everyone listened to opera music.
• "Haven't heard from them, not in weeks or maybe months. They don't want to help unless I agree to go to New York City." Emily shrugged with a witty smile on her face.
• "And are you okay?" I asked with a scrub in my palm as I began to scrub the tables.
• "I am." Emily answered, her lips curving into a sad smile.
• "W-What about your-" I was about to ask about her half-siblings that lived around the country side when I heard a ringing sound from my apron pocket.
• I shot a hasty smile before walking briskly towards the storage room.
• My hands gripped my cellphone tightly as I guided it towards my ear.
• "Hello." I said with a quiet tone.
• I heard no response for a couple of seconds.
• Was it a prank call?
• "Ashely, my darling." I heard some one speak. The voice was soft, deceiving. It took me time to realize who it was and when I did, my eyes turned bloodshot. My hands that was dipped into my apron was now balled into a tight fist.
• "What do you want, Lucy?" My tone was thunderous, filled with so much venom that not even a snake could contain.
• "How dare you call your birth mother by her first name? Why are you always so rude to-"
• The only person I loathed so much in the entire world was my mother. When I was twelve, my father passed away from an accident. My mother was unemployed but the money she got from the funeral was enough to keep us going but she was a gambling addict and everytime she came home, she was always dead drunk.
• The sight of her sprawled out on the couch, nauseated me. Elena was the one who decided that we should take up part time jobs after school hours. There were only three schools in Midon.
• One for the middle class and other for the underprivileged.
• The last was for the royal family which was situated close to the mountains.
• I often tucked in the little cash I had made in my brassiere because the last time I kept it under my satin pillow, I never found it neither did I make an effort to raise an alarm.
• I knew who did it without asking.
• "What do you want?" I asked again, this time my voice was deeper.
• "I need a little cash, my daughter. I need $4000." Her reply was quick like the wind.
• "What? Didn't you take over $2000 from Elena, last month?" I needed a reply.
• My mother was definitely a nutcase.
• "Well." she started, "I was busy spending it on groceries, clothes and I also-"
• "You spent it on gambling, didn't you?" I asked again.
• "I stopped gambling a year ago. I told you that." My mother retorted.
• "No , you didn't. You never did." I countered back, "How dare you try to leech off your own daughters?"
• "I gave birth to you, Ashely." Her voice was now firm, "And to your older sister. I'm entitled-"
• I let out a soft chuckle as I rubbed my forehead. Anytime she wanted to demand for cash, she always blackmailed me with that simple sentence.
• "You gave birth to us." I started, "But you didn't mother us. As long as I'm concerned, I don't have a mother. My mother died when I was twelve."
• "Ashely-"
• "Don't you ever call this number. Don't ever ask Elena for cash and don't look for me either. Live your pathetic life as you always did, Lucy." I yelled into the phone before cutting it off.
• I cradled my phone with both hands and sunk my frame slowly into a chair. My teary eyes made my vision blurry as quiet sobs racked my body as I covered my face with both hands.
• My mother never called to ask how I was faring like other mothers did or even try to cook me a home made meal.
• I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and inhaled sharply. I vowed myself to endure the ache I felt in my heart and I made a mental note to tell Elena never to pick Mother's calls.
• Elena always had that sympathetic attitude towards Mother. Maybe it was pity.
• But I didn't care.
• Sometimes I wished she died in Father's place.
• Maybe my life would have been a lot better.
• *****
• The next morning was quick and crazy. I and Emily had drowned a bottle of beer the previous night and we were both battling with a bad headache.
• We both took pills to reduce the ache after our simple breakfast of sandwich. One of the benefits of sharing an apartment with Emily was that she loved cooking.
• Unlike me. I merely cooked when I was hungry. It was a means of survival....to me.
• Emily effortlessly hailed a cab as I struggled to hold in the alleviating pain. The driver was obnoxiously nosy. He kept asking about our personal lives and when Emily told him to drive faster, he got the hint to shut his mouth up.
• We alighted from the cab and I felt my entire head seem sort of lightweight suddenly as soon as my legs stepped on the concrete
• "My headache's gone. How about yours?" Emily nudged me.
• "Mine's gone too." I responded, "I'll never drink beer with you again."
• "Never say Never." A smirk was imprinted on Emily's cheeks and we both hurried towards the bakery shop.
• Emily entered first and muttered, "Shoot."
• My eyes was focused on the back of Emily's brown dutch braids that I almost didn't notice the middle-aged woman with a pink polka dot hat.
• Mrs Ping.
• My eyes suddenly woke up from it's drowsy slumber and all my cells became alert.
• "Shoot." I also muttered. But mine was inaudible.
• A few centimeters away from Mrs Ping stood the man who made me wet in minutes and the same man who promised to get a job in the bakery.
• How on earth did he pull it off and how did he pull out Mrs Ping from her vacation?
• What connections did he have, I thought.
• Leo.
• And I wondered in my heart, how worse was this day going to get?