Chapter 1 (Part A)
•••
"Bye, big sis!" the four little girls yelled as they got out of the car and ran off toward the school building.
"Bye!" the woman at the steering wheel yelled back as she drove back onto the main road.
They stopped at a middle school next and two boys got off.
"Bye," they said with small smiles on their faces as they stood and waved.
"Bye," the woman said and then drove back onto the main road again.
They drove up to a high school next. The girl in the passenger seat hugged her sister, got off, flew her a kiss goodbye, and walked off.
The car drove out and got on the highway. She drove silently for a while till there was a call on her phone.
She picked it up and looked at the caller's ID.
"Hi Ariel," she said cheerfully.
{Hey, how are you?} Ariel asked over the phone.
"Good. How about you? And is Liam feeling better now?" she asked as she put the phone on speaker and put it on her lap.
{Oh, nothing much. Same old, same old. Liam's finally started to recover. The doctor said he could be discharged very soon.} Ariel answered with a heavy tone.
"I'm glad to hear you're finally getting your lucky break. Well, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later," she said as the car entered the parking lot of a ginormous building.
{Bye, talk to us soon.} Ariel said before cutting the call.
She turned her phone off and put it on the passenger seat. She parked the car in an empty lot and picked up her purse and phone.
Walking into the posh building, she went over to the elevator and got on. Pressing the 18th-floor button, she stepped back next to the wall.
The elevator made it up slowly as people kept getting off and on. Finally, about ten minutes later, the elevator door opened on the 18th floor.
As she got off, she bumped into someone. The door of the elevator closed behind her and she was pushed against it.
"Ow!" she groaned as she held onto the person who had fallen on her.
He was wearing a black hood with black glasses. She could feel him trembling as she helped him stand up.
"Uhmm. Excuse me, are you okay?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Could you please get me downstairs, miss? I need to get to the hospital," he said in a shaky voice.
"Of course, please give me a second, I'll be right back," she answered and ran off towards the cubicles.
She stepped into the 46th cubicle, dropped her bag on the table, and then strode back towards the elevator.
As she reached where the guy was, she hurriedly pressed the down button for the elevator and held his arm for support.
The elevator arrived a couple of seconds later and she dragged him on with her.
After pressing the ground floor button, they stood there for a while as they went lower and lower.
Since she was holding him steady by his arm she could tell that he was trembling.
When they finally reached the ground floor, she dragged him along to the garage and sat him down in her car.
They drove to the hospital, but it took quite a while because by this time everyone was out and headed to their workplaces.
When she parked the car near the hospital, the guy, who seemed to have been sleeping the entire ride, awoke with shock and looked around outside the window.
"Are we here?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered with a small sigh.
"Thank you, for driving me here. I can take care of the rest on my own. I'm sorry I bothered you when you were supposed to be working. Here please take this as a thank you," he said as he fished out a crisp twenty-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to her.
"There's no need for that, you needed some help and I wouldn't want to take this from you, use it to treat yourself instead." she rambled as she waved her hands around.
"Thank you for helping me, well I hope you stay well and don't end up in a state of sickness," he said and then got off the car.
He then slipped the twenty-dollar bill through the open window and then ran off.
"Hey-- Oh, forget it," she mumbled with a small smile.
•••
Parking the car in the garage of the building again, she strode back inside and pressed the up button, and stood there as she waited for the elevator.
Getting on a minute or two later, she finally reached the 18th floor about ten minutes later.
Walking toward her cubicle, she looked at the watch she was wearing and saw that it had already been half an hour since she had bumped into that guy.
As she sat down in her seat in the 46th cubicle, she took a deep breath and then turned on her computer.
Just then her manager appeared and she so did not like the angry look on her face.
"Hi, Beth, how are you?" she asked with a slim smile on her lips.
"Don't 'Hi Beth' me, where we're you the past half hour?" Bethany asked with her hands on her hips.
"I had to go to the hospital, there was an emergency," she answered as she fiddled with her fingers.
"Please try to keep yourself out of trouble Maria, you know you could have never reached a position like this without me. Other managers are more strict, so you should feel lucky and not waste your chance." Bethany said as she shook her head in disdain.
"I'm sorry boss, I won't do it again," Maria said with a small sigh.
"Good, now get to work," Bethany said and then walked off.
Maria took another deep breath and started reading through all the files that she was sent to overlook.
•••
Maria sat for about four hours and didn't look up or away from the screen or talk to anyone. There was a call just then.
It was from Ariel. She picked up the call and put the phone to her ear.
{Hey Maria.} Ariel said.
"Hey Ariel, so what is it?" Maria asked as she leaned back in her seat.
{I just dropped the preschoolers home. They were asking when you'd be getting back.} Ariel said with a sad tone. {Wish my brother asked that.}
"Haha, oh don't worry he will when he starts missing his big sis," Maria said with a small laugh.
{Haha, very funny.} she grumbled. {Well anyhow, I'll call you later. Do you want me to alert them of your arrival when I drop the twins off?} she asked in a light tone.
"Yeah, sure, Thanks as well," Maria said with a small smile.
{It's no biggie.} Ariel said in a silly tone and then cut the call.
Maria put her phone down and got back to work.