Two

He looked at his watch a few hours later. It was almost midnight, the tips had been good that night. Gradually more and more people could be seen in the venue.

“Camilla!” Erick greeted her cheerfully, as he prepared a Cosmopolitan. The guy was a beta who worked the rest of the shift at Merch.

“How's the atmosphere?” she asked him as she pulled her apron over her lap and tied it around her hip.

“Mmm, the usual,” she said trying to sound dismissive and handed the cosmopolitan to the girl next to her. The only thing different about the night was Liam's unwanted proposal.

“Are you sure?” he frowned, and Camila averted her gaze.

“Yeah, it's just that Liam proposed to me to work for him?” She blurted out to tell him what happened, but Erick immediately silenced her.

“Don't tell me, don't accept it for anything in the world” Camilla looked at him expectantly. They both worked there out of mere necessity, everything they saw they kept quiet, but that was very different from getting involved in another way and much worse in the way Liam wanted.

Camila chose to keep quiet, it was better not to talk about it, it was nonsense anyway, and she wasn't going to take it.

It was better to get the shift over with. She took off her apron and started to get her things, it was time to go home to rest, or at least a few hours before going back to work.

“I'm leaving, see you tomorrow.” She kissed him goodbye on the cheek. She headed towards the exit and raised her hand before leaving.

She took a cab, since at that hour there were no buses, not that she lived very far away, but she was too tired to walk. She would spend a little money to pay for transportation, but she had not yet been able to complete for the rent, and prayed to the Moon Goddess that she would not run into Mrs. Colin's. When she reached the four-story building, she crept up the stairs, was about to reach the apartment door when she heard her landlady's voice.

Shit, she froze.

“Camilla, did you get my order yet?” She sounded annoyed.

“Not yet, Mrs. Colin's…. But I promise to have it tomorrow.” She turned her back to him, not wanting to turn around and meet his angry face. She was so scary when she was like that.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow! That's what you told me a week ago…. If I don't get paid first thing tomorrow morning I'll throw you and your mother out on the street, I don't care if she's sick, this is a business, not a charity house.”

She jumped in and slammed the door.

Camila closed her eyes for a second, now what was she going to do? If she didn't have the rent by tomorrow, she would throw them out on the street, and she was sure she would. For a moment, Liam came to her mind, remembering his proposal.

What the hell was he thinking, did he want to sell me? She shook her head immediately.

She resumed her walk until she entered the small four-walled room that surrounded her, everything was in semi-darkness except for the little light that filtered through the half-open door of her mother's room.

She had fallen asleep waiting for her, she had told her many times not to worry about her, but to her mother, Camilla would always be her child. At least that's what she said when she was sane and not suffering from her dementia, it was hard enough to cope with, and more so when she had to leave her alone most of the time. For Mer, her daughter would always be her daughter, even if she married and had children, she smiled wistfully, she doubted very much that she would ever get married and start a family, she barely had time to sleep, she had no courage or strength to think about love at that moment.

She only dedicated herself to taking care of her mother, it was all she had after her father abandoned them without a word, that was ten years ago, then Mer was detected with the disease while working in the supplement factory, and it was there where she could not work again. Camila was the breadwinner for both of them.

The omega entered the room, looked at her placidly sleeping mother and kissed her forehead, Mer stirred when she felt the warm touch of her daughter.

“Camilla?” she whispered, half-opening her sleepy eyes.

“Shhh… Sleep, I'm here,” she said tenderly.

“Are you going to have dinner?” She tried to get up, but Camila stopped her.

“Don't worry, I've already had dinner.” She lied.

The truth was that she had only had breakfast what they gave her in the cafeteria, but it didn't matter, it wasn't as if it was the first time she hadn't eaten. There are some boiled eggs that will be her meal tomorrow, she didn't want to take them away, she was determined that her mother would need them more than she did.

“Sleep. Sleep, I'll go to sleep anyway.”

Camila kissed her again, lay down and turned out the light before going out into the living room and lying down on the only old couch they had, where she had slept for a long time. She threw a thin blanket over himself looking out into the darkness of the room, small tears began to roll down his cheek, his life sucked, why was it so hard to want to be okay?

A roof over her head where she could live, where there wasn't a plate of food missing from the table, where her mother wasn't dying of a fucking disease. No matter how hard she tried or how hard he worked, she couldn't have what he wanted, she wasn't asking for luxuries, or ostentatious things, she was just asking to survive.

The sound of her mother calling for help made her get up in a hurry, with no time to put on her shoes. Mer shook herself on the bed as she put a hand to her chest and opened her eyes in desperation. It was another one of her crises, she looked at the counter where her medication was supposed to be, but when she opened it, there was nothing, the blood rushed out of her brain as she felt helpless.

There was nothing, there was no more medicine. She looked at his mother, it had only been a few seconds, seconds in which she was suffering and didn't know what to do, now she was the one who felt her heart bursting with helplessness.

She could die if she didn't make him breathe, that was one of the consequences of Mer's illness, her body was forgetting how to keep breathing, she cursed a thousand times, it had been days since she had to buy him medicine, but with no money, what could she do? Fuck.

He ran out to the kitchen where other medicines were, she looked in the containers, but they were all empty, until he found a pill, the last one, he poured water in a glass and ran back to the room, she held his mother to swallow the pill and then some water.

After a few seconds, she began to regularize little by little and felt her soul returning to her body, she sighed in relief.

“It's okay, my love, calm down,” Mer whispered in her hoarse voice as she saw her daughter crying. She caressed her cheek, wiping it with her fingers, she couldn't hold back in front of her and cry later alone, she was terrified at the thought of her death. What would Camila do without her mother?

“I'm sorry.” She asked her and hugged her tightly.

“Why are you sorry, my love?” Mer's said tenderly.

“I should have bought you the medicine,” she said between sobs.

“Calm down, my love… I'm more sorry, I'm a burden to you.” Camilla looked at her, crying just the same. No, she didn't want to see her like that, she didn't want her to think she was a burden, that's why she always kept her pain to herself.

“You should be finishing a good career and not working late for a sick old woman like me.”

“Please don't say that... .... You're all I have… The only thing that matters to me…”

“Shhh! It's over, don't think about sad things.” The omega nodded to reassure her, but she was very worried, she had no medicine. If she had another crisis, and she wasn't there? Even if she was, it wouldn't do much good if there was no way to control it.

Shit, she bit her lip.

“Go to sleep, daughter, I'm calmer. It's better if you rest.” Camila withdrew, crestfallen to let herself fall on the sofa.

What should she do? Again the conversation with Liam came back to her mind, she denied. But if her mother had another crisis? If she didn't owe the rent she could buy the medication with the money she had now, but if she didn't pay it tomorrow they'd be thrown out on the street, she was in a bloody dilemma.

“You'd have enough for a month of your mother's treatment plus medication.”

She sat down on the couch and put on his shoes, she left the apartment, there was only one solution to his problems and as much as it pained him to admit it, that solution was to sell his virginity.

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