Chapter 2
1111 Words
“What happened” she asks “where's Mom”
I opened my mouth, trying to speak but no words come out
“Nina” Sophie called “hey, what happened, you're scaring me Nina, please answer me”
“I…. I don’t know soph, I don’t know, I... I went for my interview and when I came back, she… she was” I stuttered and broke into a sob unable to talk any further
“Are you crazy? I heard someone ask and I looked up to find Safa, the younger twin glaring daggers at me
“I don’t understand” I answered confused
“that’s no way to talk to your sister Safa” Sophie scolds
“Oh, give me a break, she left grandma all alone at home knowing she hasn’t been doing well lately, this is all your fault” she screams pointing at me
“what” I whispered unable to process what she just said even though I kind of expected this. She always did like to blame me for everything
“How is any of this my f*****g fault, I told you guys since last week I was going for an interview today and you guys decide to go to a f*****g party and leave Meemaw at home and now you're blaming me?” I scream right back, feeling so angry that if I was a cartoon character I'm sure there’ll be smoke coming out from my ears by now
“a party that we couldn’t even fully enjoy thanks to you” she seethes slowly walking up to me until we were standing face to face “if anything happens to Mimi, just know it’s your f*****g fault b***h” she added in a threatening voice. Oh my God, I'm so scared, note the sarcasm
As I was about to give the brat a piece of my mind, a nurse appeared and asked us to keep it down or leave
“Calm down guys, we shouldn’t fight especially not now” I hear Sophie say
“Oh, so now you can f*****g talk? I screamed at her feeling pissed up by her hypocrisy “you didn’t have a problem with us fighting when it was Safa pointing at my f*****g face and yelling at me” I yelled again, unable to control myself
“ma’am I'm going to have to ask you to leave” I heard someone say and I looked up to realize it was the nurse from earlier
“Yeah, f*****g leave Nina, no one wants you here anyways, better hope nothing happens to my mom” Safa said rolling her eyes and Sophie just stares at the floor looking guilty but not saying anything, typical.
I walk away with tears blurring my vision but no, I refuse to cry in front of them. They always do this, Safa is always so mean and blames me for everything and Sophie never says anything. I wish I didn’t even call them but I always have to remind myself that no matter how nice Mimi is she's still their mother not mine, no matter how much I wish she was
I sat outside for a while until Sophie called me to tell me Mimi was awake. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me into the hospital room she's now been transferred to.
“Mimi” I exclaim running up to her, she's lying on the bed with an oxygen mask but thank God she’s okay.
“How are you feeling, are you okay, do you need anything?” I rush out not giving her a chance to respond
“Let her breathe Nina, you're going to suffocate her at this point” Safa said looking bored “you know what, I'm gonna go home, I've had enough for the day”
“you're leaving? mom isn’t discharged yet” Sophie said
“Yeah, but she's awake now, isn’t she? I've got s**t to do” she replied walking away
A while later, a doctor entered the room saying he needed to speak to us. We followed him to what appears to be his office and he asked us to take a seat. I sat down feeling anxious not even realizing I was biting my nails until Sophie took my hands from my mouth
“So I’ll make this as brief as possible” the doctor started “your mother has lung cancer and we have to start treatment immediately or else I don’t think she’ll make it to next month”
“what do you mean she has lung cancer, that can’t be”
“I'm sorry, but like I said earlier we have to start treatment as soon as possible to increase her chances of living”
The room turned silent, neither me nor Sophie saying anything, still clearly trying to process whatever this is
“And how much will this treatment cost” Sophie finally asks after a while of silence
Around three hundred to five hundred thousand dollars ma’am “he replied
“what” we both exclaim “we don’t have that kind of money” Sophie says with tears in her eyes
“I'm sorry ma’am but without payment there’s nothing we can do”
We left the office with tears in our eyes having no idea what to do. How are we supposed to get that kind of money. Even if we added all our life savings together, I'm sure it wouldn’t even come close to half
The next day, I went to work looking like I aged ten years overnight, I was so tired and distracted and ended up adding too much salt to the food without realizing and served Mr. blackwood, upon taking a bite of the food, he immediately spat it out
“What the f**k is this” he asked angrily “there’s too much salt in the food, are you trying to kill me”
Upon realizing my mistake, I opened my mouth to try to apologize but ended up bursting into tears. Confused, he asked what was wrong and I ended up telling him everything
“I’ll help” he says casually
“What? I asked because surely, he didn’t just agree to just hand me five hundred thousand dollars, did he?
“You heard me, I'm not one to repeat myself”
“what’s in it for you” I asked, I know that was kind of rude but I'm not stupid, no one agrees to help a stranger for nothing
“smart girl” he smirked “I want you to marry my son”
- Writer
