Groaning loudly yet sleepily, Jessy tried to switch off the alarm ringing continuously for some time now.
"I just want to sleep a little! Let me sleep, Mr alarm! Why can't you just cooperate with me this once?" She murmured, covering her ears with her pillow.
She wants to sleep more! Last night she stayed up late trying to break the walls of the bank and after trying relentlessly for five hours, she finally did it at exactly 11:55. The crash lasted till exactly midnight.
There was a light tap on her door. She knew who it was but she was just too sleepy to care.
"Miss, your bath is ready. You have less than an hour to get to college" A cheerful voice said.
"Yeah. But Aunty Maya, I just need five minutes to get there. Why can't I just use the helicopter? Dad isn't going on any business trip out of town" Jessica said, covering herself with a thick blanket." Just twenty minutes to sleep and I will be in school in less than five minutes"
"Miss, your father left early this morning and the helicopter is not available at the moment. And if you don't wake up now, you might end up dressing shabbily for college" Aunt Maya said, removing the blanket from her.
Ha! She forgot she still needed to dress. She can't afford to be dressed shabbily or else that stupid Ella and her friends would upload her photos all over their school's group chat.
That's hell no for Jessica, a college-round fashionista that had won the most gorgeously dressed campus Bella in succession.
At the mention of her being shabbily dressed, she immediately jumped out of the bed. Her sleepiness vanished into thin air. She left Aunt Maya and went straight to the bathroom.
In less than twenty-five minutes, she was already dressed up and her face was lightly touched. Putting on tight-fitting jeans and a sleeveless top that brought out all her endowment, she carefully wore her jacket tailor-made for her by the famous designer who was making waves.
Jessica knew the school was going to be in an uproar because of the jacket but she doesn't give a damn!
The driver dropped her off at the entrance of the college. Immediately she got inside, she was dragged to the corner by someone.
"Damn it, girl! What kind of fucking brain do you have? You did crash them yesterday!"
She grinned at Winston who was looking at her as If he was looking at an alien." I told you I hate to lose"
" How did you do it? How could you crash it for five minutes? Ha! I can imagine my father's face last night… it must be fucking hilarious!" Winston said, bursting into laughter.
Yeah, this guy was a psycho and had a kind of father complex or something. He takes pride in being rebellious towards his father who was the technical director at the States Bank.
"Hey! Your bet… all of you. I need my four hundred bucks now" Jessica told him.
He looked at her." Why are you being so petty? It's not like you even need the money"
"I know I don't need the money but it's my sweat. Besides, we made a bet and I won" Jessica said, grinning.
Winston, who thought she was going to lose the bet, looked at her grudgingly before bringing out his phone.
" How about we split it? You can get the higher share" Winston asked.
"Why would I share with you when I was the one that did everything?" Jessica asked, glaring at Winston.
" Petty!" Winston said, sending her the money.
Soon afterwards, there was a beep on Jessica's phone. She took it out and saw the bank messages.
"Good boy. Just let me know if there are any more bets with a higher percentage. I will give you a cut then" she said, giggling as she went straight to her class.
******
Classes were a bit tiring and stressful for Jessica as she kept yawning. Perhaps it was due to lack of sleep these past three days she had been trying to crash the site.
She was so tired that she immediately packed up to leave for home. She was about to call the driver when her phone rang.
"Hey mum, where are… are you crying? What happened?" Jessica asked, worried.
Her mother's next words made her face turn pale and her phone dropped to the ground.
All she told herself was… it wasn't real.
Jessica picked up her broken phone and dashed out of the school gate. She flagged a taxi that brought her home. Tears kept flowing down her eyes and her mind was filled with different thoughts.
On getting to their residence, she saw the police surrounding the place. She paid for the taxi and rushed inside.
"Mom, dad!" She called out, rushing to the living room. Her father was looking forlorn and broken as if the whole world came crashing on him.
Jessica couldn't take her eyes off her father who had become frail overnight. Her siblings' eyes were red from crying too much while her mother snuggled them to herself.
"That bastard finally betrayed you! I told you to be wary of him but you were so sure he won't repeat his mistake " her mother sobbed softly.
Jessica walked over to her father holding his hands. This was the first time she has seen him looking so confused.
" What happened, dad?" Jessica asked.
"Your dad was framed for producing harmful drugs in the laboratory and selling it out without approval. I don't know how they got evidence that activities like that had been on for three years. Activities that don't exist" her mother replied, clenching tightly on her dress.
Mr Graves has been too broken to utter anything. He kept staring into space as he murmured to himself.
"Evidence? How could they have evidence of something that does not exist?"
"The company has been closed down by the government. Everything has been seized too. We have been given one week to leave this house too. All because of that… Nicholas… what's wrong… "
There was a scream from Jessica's mother as her father collapsed to the ground. That's when Jessica knew she was about to face the harsh reality of life.
She just realized that a new chapter had begun in her life.
Two Years Later"I need an iced coffee!""Jessy, table two needs two iced coffees and an Americano""Two lattes and an Americano for table four"Jessica's head was filled with different orders. She wondered why her second hadn't signed in yet. She was supposed to drop an application at a company that was recruiting workers in an hour. She had to leave early to arrive on time.Jessica tried her best to satisfy every customer so she won't be scolded by her grumpy boss. That man would bring down the roof on her if any of the customers complained. He was too stingy to hire more workers even when he knew they required more hands. Jessica had taken up several jobs so far and now she was working at a coffee shop just down the street. She prefers working there because there is no need for transportation. After all, it was just down the street. During lunch, she could simply skip over to the house to have her lunch. All in a bid to save money. The twin's education had to be taken care of in
The man's hazel eyes followed the beauty till she was out of sight. Gosh, she was so beautiful and… arrogant. How dare she call him a pervert? His eyes flashed in anger but he quickly kept it in check.She was lucky he was with another woman and he needed to clarify things with Janet or else he would have shown her the meaning of someone who is a pervert!Edwin Turner barely tore his gaze away from the gorgeous figure. He walked briskly to the end of the cafe and sat down, brooding."Edwin, is something wrong? Did that girl say something to you? I will teach her a lesson if she dares" Janet said, drawing close to Edwin. Her boobs were almost touching his chest and it seemed she didn't hear what that feisty girl just said to him."Teach her a lesson? As what…My wife? My girlfriend? My lover? Because the last time I checked we were done" Edwin told her, smiling.His face lit up the cafe with his smile and Janet couldn't help drooling all over him. She grabbed his hands and frantically h
The sight of that man sets a warning alarm in Jessica's head. She needed to get away from him as soon as she could. Turning around, she ran in short strides. Barely three strides away, she felt a hit on her head."Ouch!" Jessica muffled her hurtful groan as she bumped into someone. The files in her hands were scattered all over. She looked up to see a well-dressed young lady holding her head.Jessica immediately forgot about her pain and began to apologize, after all, she was the one that bumped into her."I am very sorry, ma. I didn't watch where I was going""It's not entirely your fault. I wasn't looking too as I was in a hurry. I am partly to blame, ``the young lady said, smiling. She looked down and saw her documents in the file scattered all over the floor.Jessica also caught a glimpse of the documents and she immediately squatted down to arrange them. The girl also helped her arrange them."You have lots of application letters in your file. Sorry, but I couldn't help myself" S
"I am sorry, Kendra. I…""Just get back to work but you owe me an hour from my work time!""Deal, Kendra. And thanks so much"Jessica didn't mind working an extra one or more hours as long as she got her pay today. She can't afford to lose her money. There was so much she need to do by tomorrow.As soon as her second left, she became busy serving the people in the bar. She had to make up for just five minutes that she was late. She was happy her second covered up for her before the manager came.It was almost her closing time and she was glad her paycheck would be handed to her in a few minutes."Jessy, manager Riel wants you to serve some guests in the private ward upstairs," One of the waitresses said."Alright, Kendra. Do you have their orders or do I get them?" Jessica asked."No, they are regulars. Just meet the bar boy or meet Kevin, tell them room 14 and he will give you their orders" Kendra replied, walking away." And remember to put on your facemask. You have been sneezing fo
Jessica happily skips to her house as soon as she gets hold of her paycheck. It would be enough to sort out her bills and her father's medical too.She was happy she escaped from that den of wolves or should she say, poacher.? These people would have caused trouble for her. She frowned when she remembered the voice of the man in the dark."Why did he sound so familiar? It's like I have heard the voice somewhere" she said to herself, thinking deeply.Maybe she was mistaken. Nevertheless, voices aren't too peculiar. One can see more than two people with similar voices. She removed those thoughts from her mind as she drew closer to her house.Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her face as she got ready for the lie she had practiced for more than an hour."Mum! Dad!" She said, walking inside their little apartment." Jessy, you are back. Go and freshen up so we can all eat!" Her mother said, making some clanging noises in the kitchen." Mum… you…""Go and freshen up, young wom
Jessica pursed her lips, thinking if she should tell her boss or not. Thinking about how her younger ones were at home while others were going to school, she decided to give it a try. At least, it won't do any harm asking him.If not that she had already paid for the bills and her father's medical, she would have given them that money first. But she just paid for the bills."Boss, I… I wanted to ask…" Jessica stuttered. She was afraid of the outcome of what she was about to ask."Jessica, if it's about money, it's not going to work" her boss cuts in.Looking perplexed at the way that man could sense whenever someone wants to ask for money, Jessica just bites hard on her lips."Jessy, it's not like I don't want to help you or something. It's just that I did a lot of expenses for the shop and my family. I can't release any money today or even three days from now because I just spent a huge sum on the business, ``he explained.He sighed loudly before leaving the perplexed Jessica who alr
The sound of the slap did not only echo around the Cafe but also made some weird sound in Edwin's ears. He never expected her to slap him. The most he expected was for her to reject the amount offered!He hadn't imagined that she would even reject or slap him! He swore to teach her a lesson she would never forget! Did she know who he was in this country?His eyes brimmed with anger at what Jessica had just done to him. Holding back his murderous aura, he became more determined to make her pay!"How dare you!" He roared in anger, his eyes sparking off."I just dare it and I will dare again! Who the fuck do you think you are?" Jessica also asked in anger.With all that was happening in her life, she felt degraded. Although she had encountered so many insulting events, she had never been degraded to this level. Offering to get her paid in exchange for her body? Did she look like a prostitute?Seeing that he wasn't remorseful for the words he just uttered to her, Jessica cast him a disgus
Jessica stared at the words on the screen to make sure she wasn't dreaming. With a loud suppressed scream she jumped from the chair, still staring at the screen.She managed to cool her mind so she wouldn't wake her family up. She didn't want them to know yet until she passes the interview.Jessica looked at the time of the interview and it was around 8. am and it was fortunate that she was on afternoon duty at the cafe. She wasn't the only competitor and according to people who came to the cafe, the workers of Turner Group of companies are expected to dress smartly.It means that she has to wake up early and prepare what to put on. There was so much she wants to do but she doesn't even have decent clothes to put on.All she has are her old clothes. What should she do? She has no friends to ask because they all left the moment her father lost everything.No one wants to be friends with the daughter of someone accused of drug trafficking. They avoided her like a plaque and she had alre