Maia Ardins

Note: if you haven't read the auxiliary volume yet because Webnovel automatically sends you the normal chapters, I highly recommend that you do. It'll make you understand the story better :)

'Your name?' the man asked. She had not seen him smile since she walked into the office. Why exactly did she apply to be a waitress again?

'Maia Ardins,' she replied. Ah, yeah. Because she was poor.

'Well, Maia, why did you apply for this job?'

Because I need money, she thought. 'Oh, I've always dreamt of working in a restaurant, you see.'

Mr. Serious changed his expression for the first time during that conversation, by raising an eyebrow. 'Do you?'

'Yeah, of course. Making a living while…'

He started to laugh. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that she was able to make this man laugh at her? Not just smile, this was laughing. 'Don't let me laugh.'

'I think I just did.'

'No, I'm for real. Be honest, you don't aspire to work in a restaurant, do you? You just need a job. Or your mom wants you to.'

'I actually don't have a mom. My parents both died, like… five months ago.'

He remained silent for a few seconds. 'Oh, I'm very sorry about that.'

'You don't need to be, you probably didn't know them anyway, right? Since if you did, you would have known they died.'

The man stared at her. This was the most unusual job application she ever had.

'No, I, indeed, didn't know them personally. But I'm sorry for your loss nonetheless. Should we continue our conversation?'

'Yeah, of course. What's your name by the way?'

'Im Bert,' Bert replied.

'Well, Bert, I need money. I live alone with my sister and we're… we're decently poor. I don't have any energy left to actually have a decent conversation, so let's just do the basics, alright?'

Maia walked out of the door. That was simultaneously the worst and best job application she ever had. However, she probably didn't have the job. How was she going to maintain her and her sister now? A drop of sweat crawled down her face, she looked up, right in the brightly shining sun. It was way too hot for her likings. The sidewalk was damaged, and therefore she had to walk through sand. Damnit, she hated this neighborhood. Maybe she actually did not want to work here.

Elegantly, she walked to her car, the car that she inherited from her parents. It was as old as space. In fact, she wouldn't even think it was weird if someone told her the car had been used in the first world war.

She drove to her sister's school with it, where she picked her up. She was greeted with a huge smile.

'Hi Maia!'

'Good day sweetheart, how was school?'

'Oh, nothing special. I'm pretty hungry now, though.' Freya grabbed her stomach.

'I'm sorry, but we don't have anything at home now, it'll need to wait till this evening.'

Freya sighted. 'Why did mom and dad need to die…'

Maia felt a tear coming up in the corner of her eye. It was silent for the rest of the ride.

When they arrived home, Freya threw the door open, just like she always used to do. At least she was feeling normal again. Maia still felt bad about their conversation. She grabbed the key out of her pocket and opened the door with it. It was dark inside, another thing that made her think about their parents' absence.

It didn't take long before she saw the letter. She frowned. Another invoice letter?

"Hi, you're selected to take part in our special program." The letter said. That's all it said, actually. Apart from a black dot that was placed on the downside of the letter. She frowned again. She touched it with her thumb, and right after she did that everything went black. She fell.