“CONGRATULATIONS, YOU WON”

MAYBE THIS TIME

Maybe This Time

The next morning arrived quietly, and for Ava, it felt like every other morning she had experienced lately. A few weeks had passed since her interview at Halston Aerospace Solutions, and although she tried not to think about it too much, a small part of her still wondered if they would eventually call. She had continued with her usual routine, helping her mother when she could, searching for other opportunities, and trying not to let the silence from the company mean anything.

At first, she had checked her phone several times a day, hoping to see a missed call or a message from them. After a while, she forced herself to stop expecting anything because she knew how painful it was to keep hoping for something that might never happen. Still, whenever her phone lit up, there was always a small part of her that wondered if maybe this time would be different.

That morning, while sitting on the edge of her bed, Ava opened her email. She was not expecting anything important, but her attention immediately went to the name at the top of her inbox.

Halston Aerospace Solutions.

She stared at it for a moment before opening the message. After weeks of waiting, they had finally responded, and despite all the times she had told herself not to get her hopes up, she felt a small spark of excitement.

The email began with the words she had seen many times before.

Thank you for taking the time to interview with Halston Aerospace Solutions and for your interest in joining our team.

Ava continued reading, her eyes moving slowly across the screen as she searched for the answer she had been waiting for.

Then she reached the part she already feared.

After careful consideration, we have decided to move forward with another candidate whose qualifications more closely align with the requirements of the position.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the phone as she read the sentence again, hoping she had misunderstood it. She knew what it meant, but accepting it felt harder than she expected.

They had chosen someone else.

Ava placed the phone beside her and sat quietly on the bed. She had prepared herself for rejection because she had experienced it many times before, but knowing something was possible and feeling it happen were two different things.

This was not only about one interview.

It was about every application she had spent hours completing, every opportunity she had hoped would change her situation, and every email that reminded her she was still not the person companies were looking for. She had always tried to convince herself that the next opportunity could be different, that someone would eventually see her effort and potential, but after another rejection, that confidence became harder to hold onto.

The tears she had been fighting back for months finally came. Ava covered her face as she cried quietly, releasing the frustration she had carried through every rejection and every disappointment. She was tired of pretending that it did not affect her. She was tired of acting like every closed door was easy to accept when each one took a little more hope away from her.

The apartment remained quiet around her. Her mother’s absence was nothing unusual; by now, Ava had learned how to handle difficult moments on her own. Her mother loved her, but between hospital shifts, exhaustion, and trying to keep their lives together, there were many things they both carried without saying.

There was one person Ava sometimes wished she could call in moments like this.

Her father.

She still had his number saved, even though she rarely used it. There were moments when she wanted to hear his voice, to tell him about the things she was trying to achieve, or simply remind herself that the man who once spent hours building little machines with her was still somewhere out there.

But over the years, he had made it clear that he was busy and that their conversations were better kept short. Ava knew he didn’t hate her. She knew he had never said that he regretted having her. It was something more complicated than that.

Talking to her meant remembering a part of his life he had chosen to leave behind.

So Ava stopped calling.

She stopped asking questions she already knew he didn’t want to answer.

And once again, she found herself sitting alone with another disappointment she had no one to share with.

She reached for her phone and looked at the rejection email one more time. The words had not changed, and neither had the reality waiting for her. Halston Aerospace Solutions had been the opportunity she had secretly hoped would be different, the one place where she thought someone might finally see beyond her lack of experience.

Instead, it was another no.

She wiped her face and placed the phone on the bed before walking toward her desk. Sitting there for a while, she stared at her laptop screen, unsure whether she wanted to open another application or simply close everything and forget about it for the day.

But quitting had never been easy for Ava.

Even when she was exhausted, even when she felt disappointed, she always found herself returning to the same question.

What else could she do?

She opened her laptop again, not because she felt confident, but because she had nothing else to rely on. Another rejection had joined the others. And somehow, she still had to keep going.

Exhausted from browsing through endless job listings, Ava finally closed her laptop and let it fall beside her on the bed. Her eyes felt heavy after hours of searching, and her mind was too tired to process another application or another list of requirements she didn’t meet.

She stared at the ceiling, listening to the familiar sound of water dripping from the old roof. The apartment was quiet, except for the occasional noise from outside and the steady rhythm of the leak above her. For a moment, she allowed herself to simply lie there without thinking about interviews, applications, or rejection emails.

Then her phone buzzed.

Ava glanced toward it but didn’t immediately reach for it. She wasn’t expecting any messages, at least not yet. She had just finished applying for five more jobs, and she knew companies usually took time to respond. The emails never came instantly, and most of the time, they came with the same disappointing words.

She picked up her phone anyway, expecting it to be another notification she could ignore.

The screen lit up with a new message.

Ava looked at it curiously. The sender was unfamiliar, and for a second, she wondered if it was another advertisement or a mistake. She almost put the phone down, but something made her open it.

The message contained only a few words.

Congratulations, you won.

Ava stared at the screen, unable to understand what she was reading. After everything that had happened that day, after another rejection and another reminder that she was still fighting for a chance, those words felt almost impossible.

She read them again, searching for more information.

There was nothing else.

No explanation.

No details.

Just the message.

Ava sat up slowly, her tired expression replaced by confusion as she looked at her phone.

What had she won?

And who had chosen her?

To be continued…