Chapter 1 : Maria's Miserable Life
Maria's hand looks like it's about to fall off because she's been working for eight hours and is holding a large tray full of food and drinks in the other. She's tired, but she needs money and overtime pay. As she looks around the restaurant, she's thrilled with her boss's success because the restaurant where she worked for ten years has grown, and today is a birthday party followed by an anniversary party with one of their wealthy customers.
"Maria! Come over here!" Her obnoxious manager called her from afar, who acts as the daughter of the restaurant's proprietor but she's not.
After serving a table, she promptly approached it, holding the empty tray.
"Yes!"
"You only need to wash the dishes in the kitchen because Jane isn't here today and I see you're not doing anything, so wash the dishes,"
Jewel, the restaurant manager, gives her orders. Her smile vanished, and she wanted to defend herself, but she restrained herself. She didn't want to make a fuss because she would be held accountable for being such a complainer, but that's not the case. She simply did as she was told and went to the kitchen, where she was astounded by the number of plates and glasses that needed to be washed. That's why Jane isn't here right now because the manager is a friend of hers, and she can have a day off anytime. She sighed thinking that and took a clean towel and wiped her sweaty face, evidence of her hard work, before beginning to wash the dishes.
She suddenly realized that if there was another job where she could be paid regularly, she would have left this restaurant for good because her coworkers are extremely toxic. After all, she's always being ordered, and she can't help but obey because that's probably all she can do. She may even lose her job if she continues to act and defend herself, one of the benefits of being universally despised. She looks in the mirror at herself, with a pale face, a broken pair of eyeglasses, and no make-up. She has tangled bangs that hide her pretty face, but she doesn't think she's pretty, so she just sighed and looked in the mirror again.
Suddenly, her cellphone rang, which she had been using for five years; she couldn't even afford a new one because she is a frugal woman. Craig is calling her, her long-term boyfriend whom she hopes to marry one day. She dashed into a corner so no one could see her because cell phones were prohibited during working hours. She cheerfully swiped the phone and answered Craig's call.
"Hey! what's up!" She said happily with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Maria, When are you going home so we can have dinner together?"
"Uh...I'm not sure, love, but I'll ask my boss if I can leave early."
"Yes, that is a good idea...you'll buy dinner tonight and meet at your apartment. Okay?" Craig said this and then hung up.
"sure. I love-"
She was about to say something, but Craig abruptly hung up the phone. Even if her boyfriend is always in a hurry, she understands his job because an uber driver may also have a large number of customers waiting for him. She was about to return to what she was doing when he noticed Jasmine washing the dishes and she blinked twice. Jasmine has also been her friend for a long time, and this is what keeps her going when she has a lot of work to do, so she smiled and approached her.
"You don't have to do that, Jasmine."
"Maria, I know you're tired; you can go home now and rest," Jasmine suggested, smiling warmly.
"Thank you very much, Jas. I'm so grateful to have you as a friend. To be honest, my hands are trembling from working 8 hours and then washing dishes." She responded with a sad expression.
"Don't worry... I've already informed the boss that I will finish off the dishes today."
She had worked all day, her entire body hurt when she walked out of the restaurant. She was in the waiting shed, sitting and waiting for her uber-boyfriend, but he still hadn't arrived after half an hour, so she walked and bought her boyfriend's favorite food. She smiled, knowing that she could make her boyfriend happy tonight. She immediately dialed his number and called, but no one answered. She pouted and waited for Craig for another hour.
"Craig?!" She's waving when she sees Craig's car. The woman had just exited Craig' car and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be right back," the woman whispered.
"I've been waiting for half an hour here." She complained looking at him. When Craig spotted her, his eyes widened and he spun left and right before grabbing her and helping her into the car, and driving away.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, confused and looking at him with a grim face.
"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm extremely busy today, and I work a lot. I've been on the road all day! What exactly do you expect me to do? Being on time to pick you up? That is, of course, impossible. My schedule is completely booked." He said that while driving and not looking at her.
"Yeah, but you should have texted me or called me that you will be late so I will take a bus and not bother you to pick me up..." She replied with annoyance in her voice and thinking about the girl who he just dropped off.
She sighed and looked at Craig who has a serious face now and doesn't want to look at her. She sees her reflection in the window of the car, she looks miserable. Tangled hair and a stressed face.
"I'm sorry love..." She apologized to make all things better because she doesn't want him to be distant from her.
"That's okay. We've been working all day. Did you buy my favorite food?" He asked her.
"Ah yes, we can eat this in my apartment. "
"Oh so sorry love. I will take that food because I want to visit my mom tonight and see that you look messy so I can't take you with me. I will drop you in your apartment okay then I will take the food. You need to rest..." He says this to her just to make her feel good, but she isn't; she feels bad about herself.
"Okay." She replies with a low voice. She understood why he didn't want her to be in his mother's house because she knew she looked like a mendicant in her food-stained clothes.
"I understand..." She looked at him with a forced smile on her face. Maria couldn't help but wonder why Craig was so cold around her. Is Craig dating someone else? She shook her head, unable to think of anything.