Chapter 3

Arita’s POV

I woke up very early the next day as it was the weekend. Weekend means rest in most homes, days families get to stay at home with their family and have fun, but in mine it means loneliness for me and more work for Mom as she does her cleaning job on weekends.

Most wealthy people hire cleaners to clean their homes during the week. Mom had a few houses she usually cleaned during the week. Most times she comes home late and drained as she takes more jobs than she can handle.

I decided to follow her today. Although she always declined, her reason was that she wanted me to focus more on my books, but she didn’t argue today. Maybe she saw the little spark of sadness in my eyes.

I am sad, hurt, and trying to get my mind occupied. Ray hasn’t given me a call. I tried calling in the middle of the night as I couldn’t get my mind off him, but his line wasn’t going through, and when I messaged him, he insulted the daylight out of me and blocked me from all his social platforms.

A busy day is the best way to keep my mind off all this.

My hand adjusted the bag straps that contained the cleaning tools we would be needing in the house. My legs moved fast to keep up with Mom’s pace. She walked very fast, and I was almost running behind her.

She boarded a car heading to the address that was forwarded to her.

The driver announced our arrival, making me peep from the car window. My jaw dropped at the magnificent building I was staring at. It was a good depiction of heaven on earth. Every decor was sparkling and screaming wealth.

I stepped down and moved gently on the hard floor that was shining like a polished shoe as I was afraid my shoes would stain the floor.

“This is so beautiful, Mom,” I exclaimed, as I couldn’t hide my excitement.

“Yes it is, Arita. Someday we will live somewhere as beautiful as this, but for now we need to work.”

I nodded. She is right. We are here to work and not stand and admire the house all day.

The security let us in after Mom had some words with him.

We got to work immediately we stepped in, cleaning and rearranging some scattered stuff.

The living room wasn’t that dirty. It was just a little dusty, which was cleaned up in no time. We moved upstairs to clean the rooms. Mom took over the cleaning of the rooms while I assisted.

Getting myself busy kind of worked as I didn’t think about Ray until my eyes caught a small frame by the bedside of the room I was cleaning.

In the frame is a picture of a pretty girl with a guy. They both look like lovebirds as they were almost kissing in the picture.

The moment I saw the picture, every memory of Ray flashed through my brain. I lost concentration as my body became stiff like a statue, staring into space.

“What are you doing?” a sharp unfamiliar voice resonated from the doorway.

I turned hurriedly towards the direction of the voice, but my silly and clumsy self mistakenly made me flip the frame from the stand, and before I could catch it, it landed on the hard floor, breaking into pieces I couldn’t fix together.

“No, no,” I cried, gathering all the broken glass together. The sharp piece pierced my pinky finger, making me flinch in pain.

“You wretched being,” the lady who was on the frame zoomed angrily to where I had bent, hands grabbing my hair while she cursed at me. Apparently, she had been the one who spoke earlier.

I lifted my head up in tears, regret written all over my face.

“Please,” I begged with all the energy I had left as I was already tired because of the cleaning.

The pretty lady, whose name I later knew to be Caira, wasn’t having any of it.

She tightened her hands around my hair and dragged me out of the place I had bent.

“You ugly thing, what are you doing in my room, bitch?” she shouted, her face curled up with disgust.

Her scream was so loud that it drew attention. Mom came running towards where I was with two other elderly people of about the same age as Mom.

The two elders were clothed in branded clothes that screamed luxury. Without being told, I knew they were her parents.

“Princess, what’s with the fuss?” her mom inquired.

“This thing broke my frame with Max. I saw her in my room touching my stuff,” she yelled, her voice too rude and loud.

Her mom turned to me with disgust written all over her face. She shifted backward like I was some sort of disease.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“She is my daughter,” Mom stepped in, her hands shifting me to her side. “Miss Caira, apologies for the broken frame. Can I know how much it cost so I can fix it?”

“It costs a lot that your entire generation, if you work, can’t amount to the cost,” she yelled.

I frowned. Caira is so rude, my blood boils as she speaks to Mom.

“Eva, you can leave with your daughter,” Caira’s father instructed, taking me by surprise as he was so different from his family.

Mom bowed softly and grabbed my hand outside.

The ride home was silent. Mom hasn’t spoken a word to me since we left the mansion. I felt so guilty for what I did.

“Mom, I’m…” I was still talking when she cut me off.

“It’s not your fault. Mistakes happen,” she replied.

Mom sighed. “The landlord will have us thrown out on the street if we don’t pay the rent by tomorrow,” she voiced out.

At that moment I knew it wasn’t because I broke the frame that bothered her. It wasn’t because she lost her job either. It was because she wasn’t paid for the job she thought she might use to pay for the rent.

Of everything that happened, Mom still fixed us something to eat.

I watched as she ate slowly, eyes filled with worry.

Just when I was about to clear the dish, my phone buzzed at the same time as Mom’s phone.