Chapter 13: Decision

After finishing her class, Alice made her way back home. As she descended from the bus near her house district, she went to the market to find some ingredients to cook for her channel, making sure to choose the cheapest ones to save money.

After wandering for a while, she finally got all the stuff she needed and headed back home with both hands full of ingredients.

At home, Alice dragged her still fatigued body inside the dilapidated house.

Just as she stepped into the house, as always, she was greeted by her mother's voice.

"Here, I asked Aunt Gabby's daughter, the one who works at the mall, for a job opportunity. You can go there directly tomorrow."

"Ma, I can't. I already agreed to Prof Yu's offer. I'm going to be her assistant during the break. I have no time for any other work," replied Alice.

"How much is she paying? I bet the job is paying higher than what she's offering you! Your teacher is taking advantage of her students to get cheap labor. Don't be stupid!" scoffed Ana.

"Well, it would be an experience for me. Others have already started interning at various companies or departments. It's only me who has irrelevant work experiences," defended Alice.

"I don't care much about experiences. I may not have learned in university, but I still know that it's better to have money than anything else!"

"You're going to regret this," Ana screamed.

Knowing better than to argue with her mom, Alice made her way to bed. She knew that if she continued to reason, the never-ending insults would never end.

Alice sometimes questioned why her mom acted like that. Although they were poor, since she was working, they hadn't starved. So why was she so obsessed with money? They had been doing fine with the little money they had. And all the part-time salary was still so little after being added up.

Having one more or one less job wasn't going to change their livelihood much. Alice preferred to look at the bigger picture. She thought that she could just live a bit harder now and relax when she became a lawyer later.

After Alice finished washing up and refreshed herself, she sat contemplating her life choices.

"Am I right to do this? What if it fails? Should I go back to work?" Alice began doubting her decision. This was already the second time she doubted her actions, and not even one day had passed. She hated herself at times like this. She was supposed to be the overbearing, confident lawyer, not someone who doubted every single detail that happened in life.

Alice shook her head, steeling herself. After a few deep breaths, she uploaded the video she had edited earlier. After some contemplation, Alice decided against adding a voiceover so the channel could remain anonymous.