My wife, my enemy!

It was a rainy night in the south of Greenville, the nights Avery Graham loved the most. Working as a barista, she soon realized that the mornings that followed the rainy nights were very profitable. The coffee shop had more customers and more customers meant more tips and Avery Graham was all about the money.

When she was thirteen years old, Avery Graham was saddled with the news of a tragic car accident that claimed the lives of both her parents. She was left with a younger sibling of eight years old to take care of. Well, for the first five years of her parents’ death, they were moved around from one aunty to another until they finally settled with Aunty Aubrey, their mother’s youngest sibling.

It wasn’t long before her need for money became apparent.

When she finished high school, she managed to take care of her brother and contribute to the household welfare by doing meager jobs like being a babysitter and dog walking.

On her eighteenth birthday, Uncle Ben, her father’s friend and senior colleague at the hospital where he worked approached Avery with documents showing that Mr Graham had been saving some money for Avery’s college education. He had always wanted Avery to become a Doctor just like him.

With the funds she received, she readily rented a small apartment for herself and Adrian putting her dreams on hold.

As time passed, Avery found herself increasingly depressed about her life, she felt frustrated that she couldn’t make her father proud of her. Growing up as a loving family unit, she was intricately close with her father, the duo were each other’s best friends, Avery adored her father.

He took her to the hospital most days, Avery therefore grew up making friends with Doctors and Nurses. She loved it, she loved their surgery coats, didn’t mind the smell of disinfectants, and she wasn’t scared of blood either.

However, her parents dying in that tragic car accident was a sudden cutback to

Avery’s life but as time passed, her dreams seemed less realistic until three years ago, she decided to start saving up money for tuition. Even if it would take her ten years, she refused to let her dreams shatter, she promised to make her father proud. “I am going to be a doctor. I just need to work hard and save a lot of money. Will it take long? Yes, but Avery you can do it” she encouraged herself, allowing the sound of the heavy rainfall to calm her. “Tomorrow morning will be quite busy, I better sleep early” she said, setting an alarm to wake up by 6am.

As she was about to settle into bed, she heard a slight opening of the door and she knew that was her brother coming home late again. She was tired of talking him off, after all his reply was always the same “Avery I’m eighteen now, treat me like an adult”. Now she just stayed up and waited for him to come back before drifting to sleep.

“Hey!” Adrian called, he sounded happy.

“What’s up?” Avery asked sitting up from the bed. Adrian sauntered in smiling mysteriously, as he sat down beside her, he brought his hands from behind “I thought you might like it.” he said smiling and handed her a book.

“What?!” Avery exclaimed excitedly. It was the new edition of her favorite comic book series. Adrian began working at a book store some weeks ago, he loved books, he was a nerd. “A.D!” she said happily, “thank you”.  She added, leaning in for a hug from him, seeing this, Adrian swiftly dodged her “don’t get gross, Avery” he said sarcastically. With that, he stood up and made his way out of the room, “goodnight Avery” he said as he went out of sight.

Avery returned to the book taking a keen look at the cover, smiling sheepishly as she read the title of the book “Wish, Willow! the eighth edition.” As she stared at the book with excitement, she decided to read the book at her free time after the morning rush tomorrow. “This should be my treat after a busy morning! That’s a good plan, Avery.” She said patting herself on the back.

Shortly after, she drifted away to sleep, looking forward to tomorrow and enjoying the pleasant weather that came with the rain.

“Wake up! Wake up!!” rang the persistent voice that woke Avery up. It was Adrian.

“Your alarm has been blaring! How can you sleep through all of that noise?!” Adrian said teasing her.

“Go away” Avery chuckled, stretching and attempted to lift herself up. Thankfully, Adrian had woken her up on time, else she’d be late to the cafe. She hurried off to the bathroom.

Few minutes later, she was done, dressed in a grandpa Jean trouser and a black tank top, her blonde hair stood out perfectly contrasting with the magenta color trench coat she wore- her main reason being to keep the morning cold away more than being fashionable. Still, Avery looked beautiful and supple, her face was surprisingly younger than that of a twenty three year old. She packed up her hair in a ponytail that revealed her wide, honey-brown eyes, which complimented her plump pink lips.

By 7 45am, she was out of the house, holding her book dearly. As she arrived at the cafe, Mr Singh and Wallace were already there, Mr Sinh was her employer, the owner of the Cafe.

“Good morning Mr Singh” she greeted politely. “Hello Avery” replied the old man, with a hint of his Indian accent which never failed to make her smile. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence!” Wallace teased her.

“Back off, Wallace!”

“We already have orders, let’s get to work” Mr Sinh said interrupting their little banter.

Together, they began to pour mixtures into several take away coffee cups, while Mr Singh made shapes on the top of the coffee that were for in-house customers. An hour later, the coffee cups were all empty, office workers, doctors, students and every one who loved to start their day with coffee stopped by for a cup. Avery observed them all, wishing to one day appear in such professional roles.

The rush hour began to lessen, she had made some money from the tips. “150$” she counted, “the day is still young” she added, hoping for more customers.

Just then, a man walked in. He looked expensive and classy. His well chiseled face stood firmly like that of a model but better, he had  manly stubbles spread from his jawline to his chin. His demeanor stood out, intimidating and outshining the lessened crowd. Avery stared in awe as he walked towards her “six cups of coffee to go…” he said with his head down looking into his phone. Avery was disappointed at his rude behavior, but who was she to say anything, she only hoped he tipped heavily. As she poured the fourth coffee cup, she noticed him walking out of the Cafe.

“What an a**!!” She exclaimed. How could he leave his order half done?!

The day went by quickly and it was time to go. She counted all her tips for the day; “three hundred dollars, I still have a long way to go” she soliloquized.

“Why are you contemplating about money so much?” Wallace asked interrupting her thoughts.

“I checked, admission into Bryson school of Medicine is about six thousand dollars. I need so much money” Avery replied tearfully.

“Little by little, okay? You’ll get there” Wallace said offering consolation. “Come on, it’s time to go!” With that, she arose groggily. As she packed up her bag, she realized she didn’t even get the opportunity to read her comic book.

The distance from Sinh’s Coffee shop to Avery’s house in the south of the Mainland was about thirty minutes walk but she had bought a bicycle to abate the stress. She got on her bicycle and waved goodbye to Wallace and set on her way, putting the book in the front basket of the bicycle.

She cycled back home recounting the events of the day, including the mysteriously handsome man in the morning. Avery rounded a corner still lost in thoughts of the day’s activities, she suddenly came face to face with the bumper of a black tinted glass Mercedes car. The driver of the car immediately hit the brakes as she veered off, but it was too late, she lost balance and fell, getting bruised cruelly. Avery’s heart skipped for a second as she wondered if this would be a case of a hit and run, but her doubts were cleared when the driver stepped out of the car to offer help- it was the handsome man from the cafe!