1: Declined

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Thomas, but your card has been declined," Mrs. Tanner, the woman who owned the laundromat, whispered as she handed the card back to Eva.

"What do you mean, the card has been declined?" Eva yelped. She was tired and hungry, so she wasn't too keen on keeping her voice down. "Try it again," she demanded, and Mrs. Tanner sighed, taking the card and swiping it in the machine again.

*BEEP*

*BEEEP*

*BEEEEEEP*

The machine cried, and Mrs. Tanner's face morphed into pity. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Thomas, as I said before, your card has been declined."

"OK, wait! Try this one," Eva frantically searched her handbag for her credit card. Today was the seventh, so she was sure her husband had already cleared up the bill. She smiled once she handed Mrs. Tanner the credit card. She was putting her declined debit back into her purse when the same triple-beeping sound made her gasp.

"This card is maxed out, I'm so sorry," Mrs. Tanner sighed. "How about you take the dry cleaning and come back to pay me another day?"

"Mrs. Tanner, I don't know what to say," Eva stated. "I don't know what's happening," she let out. "As soon as I figure things out I will be back to pay you and there will be a generous tip in it for you."

"It's OK. We'll sort this out soon," Mrs. Tanner nodded.

"Lady, just take your damn clothes and get your broke ass out of the line. Some of us have other things to do," a disgruntled man complained.

Mrs. Tanner gave Eva a pitied look before she moved on to the other customers.

Eva rushed out of the laundromat, embarrassed and sweating like a pig. She was clutching her husband's dry cleaning in one hand and a grocery bag in the other, while holding her cellphone to her ear with her shoulder. She was attempting to reach her husband, Daniel, but he hadn't been picking up her calls or responding to her texts since yesterday morning.

Everywhere she tried to use her cards, they got rejected. She needed to figure out why. She went ahead and called the banks to figure things out, but all they said was to check with her husband. She felt like a fool when Mrs. Tanner told her that her cards were declined. But being that she was a regular customer, Mrs. Tanner was quick to give her a pass.

Eva tried her husband again. She was angry that he hadn't paid off the credit card. What the hell was going on? She thought to herself.

She hissed when his phone went to voicemail. She sighed. This wasn't how her life was supposed to be.

Eva Thomas thought she had everything going for her. She lived in upscale New York with her darling husband, Daniel Thomas.

They met in college, and Eva thought he was the most passionate, ambitious, and gifted man she had ever met. He had a killer smile that would melt the whole North Pole, and he treated her like she was the only woman in the world. That was, until a few months ago.

Eva really believed all her dreams would come through when Daniel asked her to marry him. Since her parents died when she was young, and she had no other family to lean on, she agreed to defer from college so she could loan Daniel her tuition to invest in his company. Daniel had promised to repay her every dime with interest when he made it, but that never happened. Before she knew it, she had turned into a trophy wife.

For the past five years, Eva had been living a decent life, but things changed around six months ago when Daniel fired all the house staff, and now Eva had been doing all the housework herself; the cooking, the shopping, the cleaning, the painting, the gardening, and it was her duty to balance Daniel's checkbooks at the end of every month. Things became so hectic that she hadn't had time to take care of herself the way that she used to.

Her hair was now constantly a mess since she stopped going to the salon, and her entire appearance looked dishevelled and untidy. Since she was always on the go, she never had time to pamper herself anymore.

"Eva, is that you?" A woman beckoned to her as she was about to cross the busy streets of New York to where she parked her car.

Eva turned to face the woman who was now beside her.

"Hello Michelle, how are you?" Eva smiled.

Mrs. Harper scanned Eva's appearance with a puzzled, yet worried, look on her face.

"I'm fantastic," Mrs. Harper grinned. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've just been really busy," Eva replied as she managed to remove the phone from her ear.

"Well, surely you're not too busy to miss your husband's promotion party," she giggled. "I just got a Mani and Pedi for the event." She flashed her red-painted nails at Eva.

"Promotion party?" Eva repeated.

"Yes, it wouldn't look good if you didn't come. Your husband had been working really hard and those balancing sheets he always does at the end of the month have really helped the company to excel to new heights. The bosses are really pleased with him," Mrs. Harper praised, and a part of Eva felt warm knowing she had been the one doing the company's accounting for the last six months. "So, are you coming?"

"Yes, I will be there. I completely forgot," Eva lied. The truth was, Daniel did not tell her he had gotten a promotion and that they were throwing a party for him. She told herself that with all the craziness and pressure he was dealing with, he might have just forgotten to mention it to her.

"Honey, you must be there, remember we are the wives of big shots, and we have to act as such," Mrs. Harper stated proudly.

"You're right," Eva agreed.

"I know I am," she returned cockily. "I'll have a seat reserved for you at our table. That's table number two," she finished.

"Okay, thank you so much," Eva said as she checked her watch. "I have to go now. I'll see you later."

"Okay, but make sure you come looking your best," she suggested as she gave Eva one last look.

"Okay, I will," she said excitedly.

Eva realized she really needed to hit the salon, and this felt like the right time.

She went home first to drop off Daniel's dry cleaning and the groceries, then she took some money out of the safe. She grabbed a quick shower before she headed to the salon.

It was nearly three in the afternoon when Eva showed up at the beauty shop.

"Sorry for coming in on such short notice, but it's an emergency," Eva explained to her stylist.

"No problem at all. When one of my favourite clients hit me up, I'm always here to help," Angel said.

"Thank you," Eva smiled.

"Now, what's the occasion?" Angel asked as she began to brush Eva's hair.

"It's my husband's promotion party, so I have to look stunning."

"Wow, Mr. Thomas got a promotion, congrats to the both of you."

"Thank you. Could you give my hair a quick updo? Daniel likes that," Eva giggled.

"I got you, girl," Angel let out as she began her craft. "When I'm done with you, Mr. Thomas won't be able to keep his eyes or hands off you tonight."

"I hope so, girl. I really hope so."