6|| Back to Square One
1759 Words
And yet, when I stood in front of the restaurant. The same building I had worked myself to the bone, I couldn’t move.
Whatever confidence I had when I walked away from Sarah’s apartment complex had vanished.
Seeing it again made my chest tighten and this dull familiar ache spread through me. The memory of Veronica Vanderbilt, sneering as she yanked at my clothes and accused me of stealing, clawed its way to the front of my mind. My hands curled into fists before I could stop them.
But then I thought of Lily, waiting downstairs with our bags, probably checking the time every thirty seconds. That was enough to get me walking.
I forced myself forward, across the polished marble tiles and toward the front door, where a security guard stood beside a hostess in pale pink.
She looked up, ready to deliver her practiced greeting. “Welcome to—”
Then she saw my face.
The smile dropped. Her posture relaxed immediately, popping her hands on her waist as she looked at me from head to toe. “Oh. It’s you,” she said flatly.
Her eyes flicked to the security guard, who immediately stepped forward.
“What are you doing here?” Julia had started working at the restaurant a year after me. She never joined in on the gossip or the petty bullying. If anything, she tried to help when she could but always from a distance, like someone throwing a life jacket from the shore without stepping into the water.
She was blunt, distant. Sarah used to call her antisocial, always making snide comments about how Julia thought she was “above it all.” But watching her now, calm and untouched by the mess I had drowned in, I wished I’d been more like her.
Maybe if I had been, I wouldn’t be standing here trying to breathe through the weight in my chest.
The guard beside her shifted, his hand drifting toward his belt like he was preparing to toss me out. But Julia raised her hand slightly, stopping him without looking. Then she turned back to me, arms folded.
“I’m not here to cause a scene,” I said . “I just need to see Sarah.”
She raised a brow, unconvinced, but said nothing. After a few seconds of thinking, she gave a small nod and glanced around, making sure no customers were nearby. I could tell she didn’t want to be involved, but she wasn’t going to stop me either.
I tapped my feet impatiently on the ground as I checked the time. Veronica Vanderbilt wouldn’t be here. She usually came in around noon, in designer sunglasses and clothes, to host her inner circle and pretend she was running the place. She never lasted more than a few hours.
My eyes drifted to the spot on the marble floor where I’d once knelt and begged her not to call the cops but I forced myself to look away because this wasn’t the time.
Then I heard footsteps.
I opened my eyes to see Sarah walking toward me. She was all smiles at first, probably thinking she was meeting someone else but the second she registered my face, her expression faltered. The smile dipped then raised again as if she was so happy to see me.
“Selene,” she said brightly. “You’re here. You should’ve called me—I’d have come out to see you in the—”
She didn’t get the chance to finish.
I moved.
I didn’t plan it. I wasn’t thinking. I just walked straight up to her, everything that happened yesterday coming at me all at once. Ever since I was a child, I’d told myself I wasn’t a fighter. Mama Lin had drilled it into me that I was worthless and couldn’t achieve anything.
But that version of me had died somewhere between Veronica’s telling me to kneel and waking up in bed with that man.
My hand flew up and cracked across Sarah’s cheek, loud and sharp so fast I felt it to my bones
Sarah’s head snapped to the side.
The room went still and everyone gasped.
In shock spoons clattered to plates and someone dropped a tray.
Sarah stood in shock, her hand pressed to her cheek where I had slapped her. Shaking as if she couldn’t believe what I had just done.
The security guard stiffened, his foot inching forward, but even he looked unsure of what to do. But Julia’s mouth parted in an oh, but she didn’t move. Didn’t try to help Sarah. In fact, she was smiling.
Sarah blinked rapidly, her voice trembling. “What… What did you just do? Are you crazy?”
I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward. “You thought you’d just hurt me and I’d take it lying down huh? You evil b***h! Give me the five thousand dollars you owe me now! “
“I…don’t owe you” she tries to start making excuses since people had started gathering but I cut her off.
“You’re a fraud, Sarah! I didn’t come to argue with you. Give me the money and I’ll leave this place right now. Or else everyone in this country will know what you did!”
“What did she say?”
“She said she did something”
“Are they fighting?”
“Isn’t this the place where someone stole a necklace the last time”
Sarah dropped her hands down trying to touch me and calm me down. “Selene, I think you misunderstood me me, let’s go outside and talk it out. I was going to give you the money and-“
“No! You misunderstood me! You thought you could hurt me and nothing would happen right? You two faced b***h! I don’t care what you say or do. I want my money!”
Sarah sighed like I’m being dramatic. “Selene, you can’t blame me for what happened, I tried to help you. My uncle was just going to give you a job as a cleaner, you said you’d do anything for money right? If he did anything to hurt you, I’ll apologize. You’re my best friend!”
When I heard how she twisted her words in a few seconds making it seem as if she really didn’t know what I was talking about and what happened yesterday was just cleaning, I lost it.
And I lunged.
My fingers tangled in her hair, yanking hard and she screamed in panic trying to get me off her. My other hand grabbed her blouse, twisting the fabric in my fist.
“You knew I had no one!” I cried. “You looked me in the eye and promised I was safe with you but you fed me to him like I was nothing! You betrayed me!”
Sarah’s mascara began to smear, her lip trembling as she scrambled to pull away. “Selene, stop! You’re being crazy! Help me!”
A few waitresses exchanged uneasy glances before rushing toward me, their hands grabbing at my arms to pull me away from Sarah.
“She’s not supposed to be here!” one of them shouted. “She got fired and banned for stealing!”
One of the younger chefs had his phone out already recording as the customers started yelling.
“Call the police!”
“Yes, call them!” another waitress yelled.“She’s always been crazy!”
My breath came in short, furious bursts. I twisted in their grip, glaring at each of them like they were strangers. Because they were. Every single one of them had tormented me and laughed at me. Things had gotten out of control.
“Let’s calm down for a moment-“ Julia tried to talk but they cut her off.
“She’s lying!” I shouted. “I didn’t steal anything! She owes me five thousand dollars! Ask her—ask Sarah!”
But Sarah just shook her head, eyes glassy, mouth trembling. “I don’t know her,” she whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “She’s not well.”
The air went out of me.
She denied me. In front of everyone.
And suddenly, I looked like a lunatic. A deranged ex-employee who’d snapped.
They held me down, gripping my arms tight, my face was pressed into the floor until the police arrived.
Two officers burst in.
Before I could get a single word out, rough hands yanked me to my feet.
“Let go of me! Please!” I cried, twisting as they locked cold metal cuffs around my wrists.
“You’re under arrest for assault and disturbing the peace,” one of them said flatly, already dragging me toward the door.
Across the room, two waitresses rushed to Sarah’s side. One of them rubbed her back as she wept louder.
“I don’t even know what I did wrong,” she sobbed. “I was just trying to help her… I gave her a job and she—she turned on me.”
No one questioned her.
No one questioned anything.
I couldn’t defend myself. I didn’t even try anymore.
And just like that, I was thrown in jail.
I’d told Lily I’d only be gone for thirty minutes.
Instead, I spent the night on a cold bench in a holding cell that smelled like bleach and urine. I wasn’t given a phone call and even if I had been, who would I call?
The five thousand dollars I had hidden in my clothes was confiscated during the search. And from the smug smile the male officer gave me as he folded the cash, I knew I’d never see it again.
I expected to be there for days. Maybe longer.
But in the early morning, the iron doors creaked open, and a tired female officer barked my name.
“You’ve been bailed out.”
“By who?”
She glanced at the clipboard. “Julia Andrews.”
My heart didn’t even stutter.
It felt Empty.
I walked out of the station in a fog and made my way back to my apartment complex, my feet dragging.
No one yelled when I opened the door.
There was no scolding, no shouting or cursing.
Just silence.
I stepped inside.
The room was empty.
The chairs. The cheap sofa. The hand-me-down bookshelf. Gone.
Mama Lin was gone.
Markus was gone.
My father —gone.
And then it hit me like a punch to the chest.
Lily.
My sister.
Was gone.
- Writer
