She must do what she must do

***

The phone rang countless times but the owner wouldn't pick it up. Jason smirked. His patience ran out already. He left his room for the first floor. And as he walked down the stairs, an elegantly-dressed lady walked in. 

 Her eyes brightened up the moment she saw him.

"Hey darling." 

Jason's expression became colder as she walked towards him.

 She got to him and made an attempt to hug him. Jason held her hands before they touched him and released them. 

 "Don't touch me."

"Jason, what's wrong?"

  "Rita, when did I give you the permission to enter my house at your own will?" He questioned coldly.

Rita chuckled. "Jason, what do you mean? We are going to get married very soon so why can't I come here freely? I mean, I'll eventually move in here with you so why the fuss?"

Jason's eyes darkened as she mentioned marriage. It was something he couldn't avoid. His company had to partner with her father's company for some mighty goals. And he had to marry Rita in exchange for the investment her dad would make. According to his father, the future of Oceana group depended on that deal and he couldn't do anything to ruin it.

He didn't give a reply to her and walked past her. But she trailed behind him. The main building was very quiet as all domestic workers had exited the building for their quarters. 

Jason walked into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?" Rita voiced up. "I'll prepare you something."

 "Don't do anything." Jason ordered but she decided to go against him.

 "You, just be seated. I'll fix something for you." 

Jason lost all energy to protest. He decided to keep mute and deal with something else in his study as Rita cooked.

Few minutes later, she called him down to eat. Jason had a bad feeling about it but she found ways to persuade him into eating it. He picked up a cutlery and scooped it into the food. He lifted a tiny portion into his mouth and spat it out immediately, sending a shock to Rita.

He had a great sensitivity to food.

Jason's facial expression became mixed with irritation, disgust and anger. "Even pigs shouldn't be fed this." He furiously enunciated and walked out of the dining room. 

***

Peyton Medics 

"Doctor Francis, please speak to me. Why did mum collapse again?" Sophia asked, with worry written all over her face.

"Ms. Sophia, I need you to be calm."

"I'm calm." She replied almost immediately. "I won't freak out, I promise." She tried to stay calm as much as possible.

"Your mum fainted due to shortness of breath."

"Shortness of breath? Why is that?" Sophia further inquired, looking confused.

 Doctor Sam sighed. "It's a sign that her heart failure has worsened."

 Sophia's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "What?! How? I thought-- I made sure she used her drugs regularly, so...how did this come to be?" She panicked greatly.

"That was what we diagnosed."

Sophia was lost in her thoughts for a while. Then she broke the silence.

 "Okay. What do we need to do now? Give me prescriptions already!" She half-yelled and then apologized after. "I'm sorry doc, I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's understandable. At this point, she needs a surgery."

"What? Why? I thought surgeries weren't necessary for heart failure?" 

"I'll explain, Ms. Sophia. We cannot continue to prescribe drugs for your mum. If she doesn't get the surgery done, a problem is likely is to come up with her heart valves. So it's better to have the surgery now to prevent the preventable."

She let out a very deep sigh.

***

Sophia had nowhere else to go apart from her friend's place. Lucy. If not her, where could she get money for her mum's surgery? But one thing was certain, she'd definitely get it from Lucy's family. Her family had been supporting Sophia's family for years now and she shared a strong bond with Lucy.

The cab stopped in front of the Travis' mansion. She alighted and headed into the house.

 She had free access to the house anything so there were no hindrances. 

As soon as she entered the house, she met Lucy and her mum in the living room. The moment they set their eyes on her, she suddenly felt a drain in her face.

"Hi Lucy. Hi aunty."

"Bitch." Lucy muttered under her breath with a sneer on her face but only get facial expression communicated to Sophia. She didn't quite get what she said.

"Lucy, is there any problem?" Sophia meekly asked out of concern.

"Yes! And you are the problem. Sophia, why are you so greedy? Why are so bent on my daughter's neck? We've always done good to you and your wretched family but all you could do is repay my daughter with evil? What kind of human are you?" Lucy's mum, Katy ranted angrily.

Sophia was totally lost and confused. What was going on?

 "I don't understand. What's going on?" She shifted her gaze from Katy to Lucy. "Lucy, what happened? What did I do?"

"You did a lot. You crazy bitch! How dare you snatch David away? Huh? I told you I liked him but you still went ahead to take him away from me. You are evil!" Lucy yelled furiously.

"David?" Sophia didn't still understand what was going on. Fine, she heard that Lucy liked David but she never did anything that would contradict them coming together.

 "I didn't do anything with David. Lucy, you've got to believe me."

"Bloody liar." Katy hissed.

"Aunty, please trust me. I and Lucy have been together for years now and there's no way I would take away anything that makes her happy. She's practically my sister." Sophia tried to defend herself but it seemed like they weren't ready to listen or believe her.

 "I swear on my life, I have nothing to do with David. I even came here for a different reason."

"Let me guess, you came here to beg for money." Katy chipped in mockingly. Then she laughed hysterically. "Dear, I won't deceive you. For this you've done to my daughter, you ain't getting a penny. So i'd advice you to leave now, and never show up here again. I don't want to see you anywhere near me or my child. Understood that? Now, get out." 

Sophia was thrown out. Tears began to form in her eyes but she was in public. Who cares? The tears started rolling down her cheek. She cried her eyes out. It wasn't even enough that she was accused wrongly, she also couldn't get anything for her mum's surgery.

 After so much bawling, she went home with red, bulgy eyes.

***

The next morning, she headed to work at Jason's mansion. She suddenly felt tense when she reached the huge, black, iron gate. It was not until that morning that she finally realized that she left work with permission. She had several missed calls also. 

She gained access into the house and walked into the living room. Immediately, she met Lady Nancy.

 "Sophia. Why did you leave the house without carrying out the assignment I gave you? And why did you go without anyone's permission?" Lady Nancy's tone was strict and it got Sophia on her guard.

"Good morning, granny. I did take the food to Master Jason but he....refused it and asked me to take it back. And about leaving the house without permission, I...I actually had to leave because my--"

"What is that wench still doing here?" That now-familiar calm, icy cold voice challenged. He was behind the railings on the second floor. 

 "Good morning sir. I--" Sophia tried to explain herself but he didn't let her finish.

 "I guess Lady Nancy hasn't told you. You are fired." He stopped for a second and then continued. "Seems old age is making you slack off, if you can no longer  follow my instructions let me know." He said to the old woman and she apologized immediately with a slight bow before he left.

"Sophia, you heard that. You didn't bring anything to this house, so get going."

 "Granny, let me explain. Trust me, I didn't mean to leave without consent. I got a sudden call that my mum collapsed so I had to rush to the hospital." 

Lady Nancy's eyes softened. "What? Is she okay now?"

"Yes, she is." Sophia brought her hopeless face to the floor. "At least for the meantime."

"What do you mean by that?"Lady Nancy furrowed her brows.

*

Now she was jobless again. It was hard for Sophia to believe that she had lost her new job within the space of 24 hours. 

 "Jason Carlos." She muttered as she clenched her fists. He was so callous. He didn't even give her a chance to explain herself. He was exactly what they said he was. Very cold, unsympathetic and cold-blooded.

She headed to her room after checking up on her mum to sleep. She fell into a shallow sleep but was abrupted by a call. It was Doctor Sam. Why was he calling her?

 A weird, unroganized thought came to her mind and she hurriedly left her room for her mum's. After she was sure her mum was still in her room, breathing fine, she picked his call.

"Doctor Sam."

"Hi, Ms. Sophia. How're you doing?"

"Quite well. I hope there's no problem?" She asked.

"Not at all." His reply calmed her a bit.

"Actually, someone is willing to pay for your mum's surgery." He announced, also feeling happy that her mum would get her surgery as soon as possible.

"What?!" Sophia was stupefied. "Did I hear you right? Why'd anyone want to pay for my mum's surgery?" She questioned.

"That's what it is. The person has left the hospital already so I'd just send you his home address." Doctor Sam concluded.

*

Sophia found it hard to believe what the doctor had said. For goodness sake, she didn't know whoever that person is from Adam, so why would they just volunteer to pay a huge amount of money for a stranger's health?

"What do you think I should do, Dahlia?" Sophia finally asked, after so much thought. Dahlia was her immediate younger sister and she was sitting across her in their small living room.

"Go to the person's place of course. We can never tell, it could be real. Besides, we are in dire need of money. Or you have any other means of getting it?" Dahlia dropped her opinions. She looked so much like Sophia and they in turn resembled their father a lot. They only had a few traits from their mum.

After discussing with her sister, she decided to give it a try. There was no other means of getting the money she had to explore every opportunity that comes her way.

**

"So you're Sophia?" A young, fine- looking man asked.

"Yes sir." Sophia replies gently. She could notice the lust in the man's eyes. He called himself Kian. 

 He was a man in his late twenties. His abode screamed everything about him. Wealth!

She was wondering why he wanted to clear her mum's surgery fee.

"Doctor Sam told me--"

"Yes. I wish to clear off your mum's bills and pay for her surgery." he cut her off rudely, briefly reminding her of someone, Jason.

"Could I ask why..?" she asked carefully so as not to offend him or make him change his mind.

"It's simple. I like you." Kian stated bluntly.

"Sorry?" 

"You heard me properly. I like you. Tell me any amount you need for her surgery and I'll give you right here, right now in cash." He said, exuding arrogance.

Sophia was about to talk but then he gestured to her that he wasn't done yet, keeping her shut. "I'll only do that on a condition." His tone sounded serious at this point.

It was as if Sophia had an idea of what he was going to ask for but she made further enquiry. "And...what is the condition?"

"Satisfy me," he said.