.•*1.1*•.

"Miss Anya? Is-"

"Starting from tomorrow, we will need you to come in the mornings as well," The nasal voice quickly said from the other end before she could even finish her sentence, effectively cutting her off.

The whole bathroom fell silent for a few seconds as she firstly struggled to process what she just heard, her green eyes quickly widening right after.

"What? But I-I can't! You know I have another job I have to go to!" She explained, almost crying at the thought of leaving her job at the coffee shop for this one. Even if Mr. Andrew didn't pay her too much, she loved working there and she happened to like her co-workers too. They were all like a big family to her.

"Oh...Well then, I guess we'll have to let you go then, darling. We can't be keeping around staff that can't even grace us with their presence whenever we need them..."

The line went dead as soon as she heard that last sentence, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she began to quietly sob.

.••.

She painfully bit her lip in a stupid attempt to hold back a sob, the lukewarm water spraying from above her head mixing with the tears falling down her cheeks as she stood in her bathroom shower, her mind replaying over and over again those last words that cruel woman had said to her, effectively getting herself rid of her like of a rotten tooth.

And that over the goddamn phone.

How could this life be so cruel to her? What had she done to deserve such a fate?

What was she supposed to do now? How will she earn those money to keep her house and feed herself and her mom as well?

It had been hard enough to get this second job and keep it, how was she supposed to find another one with a similar working schedule?

Where are you dad? Why did you leave us like this?

Her puffy and reddened eyes rose to the ceiling as she slowly slumped to the shower floor, small sobs and whimpers escaping her wobbling lips as the water kept falling, washing her tears away.

Few hours flew by, finding herself constantly crushed down by those same anguishing thoughts and hot tears falling, even though she had long since crashed into her bed, the much awaited sleep refusing to take her into its calming arms as she wept and wept for every single bad thing in her life.

She was tired. It was only the beginning of her life, yet she felt like she had already lived a lifetime of sorrow and hardships...

.••.**

Hearing her wake-up alarm loudly blaring into her ears she rose with a startle, feeling a pounding headache quickly settling in.

She let out a pained moan, struggling to keep her eyes open for a few times as the last night's crying activity robbed her of all the rest her body definitely needed, leaving her into a half vegetative state.

Wobbly rising to her feet, she almost lost balance for a few times as she stumbled all the way to the bathroom, letting out a calming exhale once she'd reached the toilet.

Numbly going through her daily morning routine, she then dressed herself up with a pair of clean jeans, choosing a random grey blouse since she couldn't even care less about her appearance. Not anymore anyway.

And with another small yawn, she then made her way to her mom's room, gently knocking against the wooden door before turning the knob and pushing it away to reveal the slender figure huddled in the middle of a large bed, the side of her ribs slowly moving up and down beneath the thick blanket, clearly indicating that she was still sleeping.

She lightly smiled, tip-toeing all the way to the side of her mom's bed and gave her a feather-like kiss over the forehead, taking a few moments to gaze at her peaceful expression before she quietly exited the room and went to the kitchen.

Brewing herself a cup of coffee, she then grabbed her much-too-old and barely functioning laptop and sat in her usual spot at the dining table, set on searching for another job.

.••.

"Thank you,"

"You're welcome, sir," She lightly smiled at the customer as she placed the piece of strawberry cake onto his table then moved to another table to gather the dirty dishes.

Holding the full tray, she balanced it on her hip and made her way behind the counter, carefully placing each cup and plate into the sink.

"Honey, I don't know what to say," Dan said as he had also entered behind the counter, busying himself with the arrangement of a new batch of cakes as they picked up again with their conversation from where they had left off before she'd rushed to serve a customer.

"Wish I could help you somehow," He truthfully said as she had earlier told him all about what happened yesterday with her second job and how she couldn't find anything to fit her schedule at the coffee shop this morning.

"It's ok," She simply said, turning to give him a weak smile as she knew he would definitely help her if he could. Sadly, he was just as broke and alone as she was. And that's what brought them together in the first place.

"Hey, don't be like that," He suddenly said as soon as he noticed that sad look in her eyes, quickly moving to give her a big warm hug.

"You know it's going to be okay. You will get through this. You always do," He lightly kissed the side of her head, for the hundredth time that day her lower lip quivering as she fought not to cry, her defences momentarily torn down by that simple hug.

"It's okay, you're okay," He soothingly whispered, her lips escaping a small sigh as she took that single moment to relish into the warmth of her friend's hug and his comforting familiar scent, quickly building up that strong façade again.

"Thank you," She wholeheartedly told him as she rose her sight to peer into his baby blue eyes.

"Come on now sweetie," He kindly smiled,

"Let's get back to work before Mr. Andrew sees us lazing around and sends us on the streets to work with our asses," He lightly patted her bottom before turning back to his job, the girl letting out small gasp and an amused giggle at his antics.

Lightly shaking her head, she then went to dispose another recently freed table, her gaze casually falling onto the newspaper lying beneath a dirty cup.

Her naturally arched brows furrowed with pure curiosity, noticing it had today's date written on it as she collected the dirty dishes around it.

Placing it under her arm, she took the full tray as well and went to discard it but not before leaving the newspaper on the counter, safely away from the sink and the wetness around it.