LATE RELEASE

The rain was heavy Zoey stood by the kitchen door, watching her dad beg for mercy, kneeling under the rain. Mr Jude, was on his knees in the mud outside thier house. His clothes were soaked, his hands were toghether like he was praying. He kept begging, saying he would pay back his debt. Then Zoey saw a hand touching her father's face. "I give you two months to repay your debt. If not, I will come collect it from you myself." Three figures walked into the black Lamborghini and the car drove off. She went to raise her dad up from the ground. Took him inside, gave him a towel and prepared a hot bath for him. "Dad, don't worry, we would pay off the debt," she said, though his business was failing. Her mother was just a housewife, her sister worked at a cafe, and she worked at a bar. Even if they worked 8 years, their salary couldn't pay the debt their father owed. Zoey sat in the sitting room, wondering how to pay the debt. She was tired of the humiliation. Elora walked in. "Zoey! Zoey!" She turned. "Elora, hi." "Zoey, what's going on? You zoned out just now. What are you thinking about?" "Elora, just now Dad's debtors came," Zoey said. "Again?" Elora said. "Can't they hold on?" "I don't know, Elora. They gave him just two months. I'm thinking about how to pay the debt. Even if we worked eight years of our lives, we still can't pay that debt off. And Dad's business is failing, he is losing contracts." She started crying. "I am so irresponsible. I should have learned economic and entrepreneur studies in school like Dad told me. I should have studied business administration courses like he told me. Instead, I refused and studied banking, now it's not helping me. Dad's business wouldn't have failed." She kept crying. Elora hugged her tightly and said, "Zoey, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, okay? Don't worry, we would try to repay the debt. I will join you and Dad in order to fix Dad's business. Don't worry, one day we would be the family nobody messes with. Stop crying, Zoey, stop, okay?" Zoey and Elora went to bed, but before entering her room, Zoey checked on her parents. She wanted to be sure they were okay before going to sleep. The next morning arrived and Zoey woke Elora up. "Elora, don't be late for work so your salary won't be deducted." Elora struggled a bit with sleep until she eventually woke up. She hurriedly dressed up, pecked her mom goodbye and her dad too. Zoey smiled, she was already prepared for work. She pecked her mom too and told her dad, "Dad, everything will be alright, okay?" Then she smiled and zoomed off too. Their mother smiled and said, "Honey, we have such beautiful daughters, aren't we lucky?" The dad, Mr. Jude, said, "Of course, my children are my lucky stars." He kissed his wife and said, "Honey, I'm off to work." "Be home early, okay?" his wife said. He replied, "I will be home by 4." Later that day, three minutes to 4, Mrs. Jude looked at the clock and was waiting for her husband and children. She had already prepared a meal for them and waited patiently in the sitting room. Then a call came to her phone. Ring ring. She picked up the phone and answered, "Hello?" "Please, is this Mrs. Jude?" "Yes, it's me." Everywhere became quiet. And what she heard behind the phone got her storming out of the house with just her phone. Few hours later, Zoey's phone rang. It was Elora. She answered, "Elora?" But the reply she got made her worry. "Elora, what is it? Tell me what happened!" She rushed out immediately and went to the hospital. She saw her mom sitting and Elora pacing back and forth, both crying. She rushed to Elora, hugged her, and went to her mom. "What happened?" Nobody answered. The only thing on their mind was: _God, please save my dad. Save my husband. They wanted him safe.