Chapter 2

"E...excuse me Ma'am, but I...I don't get it, I'm fired? How? Why? I didn't even do anything." Amelia panicked.

"Just take the money and go Amelia, you're fired and I don't want to see you here anymore!" Her boss replied sternly.

"B...but Ma'am, you can't just fire me without a valid reason, I really didn't do anything." Amelia argued.

Her boss scoffed loudly. "You didn't do anything you say? Then what do we call that rubbish you did to my customers huh? Don't you know that the VIP guests are to be treated with utmost care and respect!" She yelled. "But no, you went ahead and insulted my guest, you're so damn lucky I'm only firing you and still kind enough to pay you your salary in full, you deserve to be punished for that nonsense you did."

"Y..you don't understand Ma'am, that's really not what happened, I wouldn't just insult the customers for no reason, you know me well Ma'am and you know I wouldn't do that. That man tried to flirt with me, in fact he did more than just flirt with me, he pulled me to sit on his laps and—"

"Enough Amelia!" Her boss instantly cut her off. "That's enough now, I don't want to hear your stupid explanation, you're not the first person to be flirted with, you're really lucky the billionaire is letting you off so easily. Look at you, you had an opportunity to change your life for the better and yet you threw it all away."

"What?" Amelia muttered in shock.

"You heard me right Amelia, had you agreed to spend the night with the billionaire, then you wouldn't have to continue living the miserable life you are living, but then I guess what people say is true." She sighed. "When you get too comfortable in your comfort zone, you'll literally want to remain there forever."

"Ma'am are you saying what I did was wrong and I should have let that man keep touching me inappropriately!?''

"Look Amelia, don't act like you're holier than everyone else, if you don't change your mentality then I'm afraid you'll remain at that particular spot forever, you won't ever get to experience the true joy of living, so take my advice and never miss a good opportunity when you get one, now get out of here because I'm done with this conversation."

Amelia instantly dropped to her knees, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "No Ma'am, please I'm begging you, you can't do this to me, I badly need this job for the sake of my mother, please I'm begging you Ma'am, don't fire me, I have nowhere else to go. I...If you want I'll go back there and apologize to him, I'll do anything, just please don't fire me." Amelia cried bitterly.

"It's way too late Amelia, the billionaire specifically made it clear that he doesn't want to ever see your face here, and you know he's my biggest customer and one of the reasons why my restaurant keeps progressing. I can't let your bad luck rub on me and loose everything I worked so hard for and struggled to get. Just leave Amelia, I wouldn't want to call the securities and have them throw you out of here."

"Please forgive me Ma'am, just please give me another chance, p—"

"Leave here already Amelia!" Her boss yelled in anger, then she turned her back to her. "Nothing you say or do will change my mind, so just leave before I do something you wouldn't like.'' She warned.

Amelia saw that no matter what she does, her boss's mind was already made up, with a heavy heart, she slowly stood up and left her boss's office, she first went to collect her things before leaving the restaurant.

It was really late already, as she slowly walked back home, all she could think of was how to get another job and help her mother, the whole ordeal was just too much for her and she couldn't stop crying either. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her mother, she made a promise to fend for her mother and help save her life, but now she's lost their only source of income, she's lost everything and the pain was just too much for her.

She's always hoped and prayed for a miracle to happen, for their life to turn around for the better, but it's as if the more she prayed the more harder things become, along the line she lost all hope and even stopped praying, she just takes life as it is and struggled to survive each passing day.

She was still wallowing in pain when her phone suddenly rang, Amelia slowly fetched her phone from her bag, when she saw it was the hospital calling, she panicked and picked up the call.

"Miss Amelia." She heard a lady's voice.

"Y..yes."

"Your attention is urgently needed at the hospital, I'm afraid your mother's condition has just worsened."

"What!?" Amelia didn't even need to hear anything else, she ran to get a taxi and head straight to the hospital.

When Amelia arrived at the hospital, the first place she went to was her mother's ward, she met a nurse tending to her and although the worse is yet to come, she was thankful that mother was still alive, even though she was still unconscious.

The nurse told her about the attack her mother had and how they managed to stabilize her, then she asked her to go see the doctor and not worry about her mother as she will be there with her until Amelia returns.

Amelia thanked the nurse profusely before going to the doctor's office. When she arrived, she placed a knock on her door and was ushered in.

The doctor was busy staring at the file in front of her, but when Amelia walked in, she raised her head up.

"Miss Amelia, please take a sit." She closed the file in front of her.

Amelia thanked her before sitting.

It wasn't easy for the doctor to break the sad news to her, but she had to tell her.

"Miss Amelia, I'm sorry to say this but your mother's condition keeps worsening by the day and we've been trying out best so far to make sure we don't loose her, but the medications we're giving to her is only doing very little to help, she really needs the surgery now otherwise I'm afraid that we might loose her."

"I..I get it Ma'am, and I appreciate all you're doing for us, trust me when I say I'm trying my best, I'm really trying my best to raise the money but..." She couldn't even continue as she broke down in tears.

The doctor did her best to comfort her.

When Amelia was calm, she pleaded with the doctor to do something, just anything to make sure her mother doesn't die, but sadly, the doctor told her that they wouldn't be able to do more than they already have, what her mother needs right now is an urgent surgery, and that can't be done without her paying the bills.

Amelia tried to reason with her and plead with her, but the doctor's hands were tied and there was nothing she could do to help her. She apologized to Amelia and also wished her well in raising the money for her mother's surgery.

Amelia left the doctor's office with a heavy heart and went back to her mother's ward.

Amelia spent some time with her mother. As she looked at her mother, she couldn't help but to remember how things used to be before her mother fell ill. Despite the fact that they had nothing, they were so happy and contended with the little they had, her mother was literally her best friend and was always there for her whenever she needed someone to talk to or when she had a pretty bad day and sometimes just felt like giving up, her mother has always been there for her and was not just her pillar but also her energy source.

How could she stay and watched the woman who had struggled to give her a good life die like this. She has nothing to live for in this world, the only person making her want to stay alive was her mother, the only person who keeps her moving and fighting everyday was her mother. If she were to loose her mother then she won't be able to continue living, she won't be able to take the pain of loosing her only source of strength.

Amelia took her mother's hand. "I won't let anything happen to you Mom, I promise I won't let anything happen to you, we're going to get through this just like we've always had, together we're going to overcome this obstacle like always and you'll be back on your feet again." A lone tear slipped down her cheek and onto her mother's hand. "Just please stay alive for me Mom, please keep on fighting for my sake." She cried bitterly.

"Just like I won't give up on you, don't give up on me too please." She whispered, then she hugged her mother with tears streaming down her cheeks.

After spending some time with her mother, Amelia came out of the hospital, she thought hard about what to do and who to ask for help. She does have relatives but their relationship wasn't that good, she's never ever called them for help but today she'll have to reach out to each and everyone of them for help, she needs to do this for the sake of her mother.

Amelia fetched her phone from her bag, after taking a deep calming breath, she then began reaching out to all her relatives.

Amelia called everyone she could and asked for help but not even a single one among them offered to help her, they all had one story or another to give to her.

She tried so hard to control her emotions but she couldn't, she dropped to her knees in front of the hospital and broke down in tears, weeping in pain and with a heavy heart.