AMANDA got out of her BMW carrying her Louis Vuitton bag. She only had ten minutes left before her urgent meeting with their international investors starts, so she didn't have any time to spare. As she was entering the building, her cellphone suddenly rang. She didn't feel like answering it, but it was her dad who called, so she picked up.
"Yes hello?" she answered without enthusiasm.
"Yes, dad, I'm on my way," she added as she walked into the building.
"Hurry, Amanda. You're the only one not in the boardroom. The meeting will start exactly at ten AM," her father sermonized.
"Don't worry, dad. I still have a few minutes left. I can make it," she assured him before turning off her phone.
She looked at her watch and saw that it was already 9:49, so she felt confident that she wouldn't be late for the meeting. With her head held high, she entered the elevator, which was exclusively for people like her, and pressed the button for the tenth floor. After two minutes, she exited the elevator and walked through the lobby towards the meeting room where their business partners would gather.
"Good morning, Miss Amanda," her employees greeted her, but she didn't seem to care and just ignored them.
It was already nine-fifty-five, but luckily, she wasn't late for the meeting. She didn't really feel like attending the meeting today because she wanted to rest for the rest of the day, but their company had an urgent meeting, so she didn't have any choice but to attend.
"I'm sorry for being late," she started.
"You still have five minutes to prepare, Miss Amanda," her secretary said, and she let out a sigh of relief as the meeting started.
**
The meeting ended at eleven, so she quickly left the meeting room to go home. She carried her expensive bag with her, and she was already heading out of the building when she realized she left her car key inside. Urgh! Fortunately, Alexa, her secretary, followed her, so she was a bit relieved.
Amanda was already on her way to the parking lot when she checked her cellphone and browsed Facebook. Suddenly, her friend Celine called her.
"Yes, girl?" she answered.
"Girl! Where are you? We've been waiting here for almost two hours, and we're like wet goats here," Celine sermonized on the other end of the line. Amanda laughed at her friend's behavior. In reality, she didn't want to join them, not because she didn't want to, but because she felt out of place. Come on! Who wouldn't feel out of place when they're with their respective boyfriends? Duh! She hated it so much
She slowly parked her expensive car in the parking lot where her friends' cars were also parked. This was where they usually hung out on their days off, and some even engaged in public displays of affection, especially the couples.
"Hey!! What took you so long?" Diane asked as she approached Amanda.
"Sorry for being late, there was a problem at the company," Amanda replied.
"Haha. You're really focused on your career! You're going to be rich!" Diane teased as they walked along.
"Stop it, Diane!" Amanda said, so she fell silent.
Amanda entered the house where her friends were waiting for her.
"Amanda hi!" greeted Celine, who was with her boyfriend Kyle, and other friends who were with their partners, except for her.
"Are you guys really just four here to gang up on me?" Amanda joked while grabbing a champagne bottle from the table.
"No! You're wrong, girl. Actually, we bought someone just for you, my dear," Patricia said, who was still clinging to her boyfriend Dexter.
"I'm not interested!" Amanda said while drinking wine.
"You should, girl," Celine added while also drinking wine.
"Hey!" Everyone suddenly stopped talking as someone approached their area.
"Oh, he's here! Hey, Ethan, this is Amanda, and Amanda, this is Ethan," Patricia introduced them. Amanda raised an eyebrow at that moment. What did they think she was, easy to get? Oh gosh, she couldn't believe it. Her friends were all about flirting, and this guy looked handsome and rich, but he was not her type. She thought he had a hint of being a maniac.
"Hi, I'm Ethan," the man said as he extended his hand. He wasn't too rude, so she also extended her hand to shake hands. But she raised her eyebrow when she felt that something was wrong with their handshake, as if the man was squeezing her smooth hand too hard.
So, she quickly took her hand back and raised her eyebrow again.
"You're so fast!" she said flirtatiously as she put down the wine glass. She also noticed that they were the only ones left at their table because her friends were flirting and making out with their respective partners.
"Let's go," the man invited her, causing the girl's blood pressure to rise. When she thought of a plan, she wanted to follow him. "You think you can fool me? I am so annoyed," she thought to herself. He was about to kiss her, but she stopped him by slapping him.
"Do you think you can buy me with your money? You're wrong," she said before walking out of the casa, leaving the embarrassed man behind.
Chris carried a bag of food. It's been two years since he left his own family because he was blamed for their mother's death. For the past years, he learned how to work hard for his child. Luckily, he found a job as a barista. The luxurious life he once had disappeared like a bubble. He wanted to go back to Cebu to apologize, but he wasn't ready to face that yet.
A few months ago, his sister visited him and gave him money, but he didn't accept it, maybe because of his pride. He regretted it because he knew he could have used it. He suffered as a beggar, as an ordinary person for almost two and a half years. It was his fault, so he had no right to complain. But he didn't want his child to be affected, so he worked hard for them to survive.
"Chris, bring this down because you're going home anyway," his supervisor instructed him.
"Yes, sir," he replied with thrift while carrying the black plastic bags filled with garbage.
Afterward, he dumped the bags into a large bin. He still carried the food for his child, and he wanted to surprise her, even if it was not a special occasion. He was used to doing it.
Chris changed his clothes and was ready to go home. There were many guests on Saturdays, so they were busy at the casa. Luckily, he was off now because he was really sleepy. He looked at himself in the locker mirror and smiled, remembering what he used to have. The old rich Chris was now a barista, and the expensive car was now a motorcycle. The former gym enthusiast now had other things to occupy him.
"Go back to your family, Chris Ivan Lim," Chris stopped his thoughts when his close friend Buduy suddenly arrived.
"What? If I go back, won't you miss me?" Chris asked while fixing his hair.
"Of course, we're buddies!" Buduy said.
"Maybe it's not the right time yet," he said while fixing his locker.
"I'll leave now. Who would have thought that you were once rich, and now you have to settle for such a small amount of money! If I were you, I'd go back to my family, and of course, don't forget about me, buddy," Buduy said, punching Chris's left elbow.
"Okay, buddy, I'll go ahead," he said while fixing his bag. He let out a deep sigh. Buduy had a point, but he didn't know everything about his life.
He rode his motorcycle. It was a simple and affordable one that he bought for work purposes. Unlike his previous motorcycles, which were expensive and almost suffocatingly expensive. Despite what happened in his life, he was thankful because he realized that not all things can make you happy. In this world, money and material possessions are temporary.
True happiness will be found inside your heart, especially with people who value you. He learned how to be thrifty, unlike before when he spent money with his friends, even on drugs.
Amanda drove her car hastily. She was really annoyed this night and sometimes regrets why she even went with her friends. Why didn't she just go to the salon or go shopping? She would have been happier. Sometimes her sensitivity got the best of her, especially after what happened two years ago.
She drove her car like a maniac. She felt like crashing her car and being swallowed by the ground due to her foolishness. Well, it was her fault, so she should not blame others. She should blame herself for making herself foolish and stupid.
As she drove her car, she suddenly stopped when she heard a loud thud from the back of her car. She got out of her car and found out that someone crashed into the back of her BMW.
"Damn what the fuck!" she shouted as she saw the man who fell, along with his motorcycle, after hitting her car.
"Ohh gush! My car!!" she screamed. But she thought that the man behind her BMW might have fainted.
Many people were gossiping about what happened, but she didn't care about the man. All she cared about was her BMW, which she spent over thirteen million to buy, and now it was ruined like this. She couldn't believe that this was happening!
"Urghhh!! This is insane!" she shouted.
An ambulance and police arrived to investigate the incident. Amanda still couldn't believe that her expensive car was damaged and ruined.
She tried to call her dad, but her dad was out of coverage. So she called her secretary for help.
Amanda is restless. While talking to her secretary, Alexa, she doesn't seem to care. She know it's her fault. The CCTV footage showed that it was actually her who stopped on the highway, causing the motor behind his car to explode.
"I don't know, Alex. I want to get paid! I want my car back and look what happened! It's flattened and it cost a million bucks!" he shouted at his secretary.
The police said that this can be solved or we can just talk about it. After all, the motorcycle driver who hit your car is not critically injured."
"And yeah! I want to talk to that fucking guy!" he said, using foul language.
So Alexa had no choice but to accompany Amanda to the hospital when her car broke down.
Amanda didn't know her way around the hospital lobby as she looked for the man who was driving her car. She found him quickly and, without any mercy, barged in. She saw that the man was not seriously injured, only suffering from a scratch and a slight wound on his leg.
"Hey!" he said while still panting, the man just staring at him.
"Hey!! pay for my car!" he shouted as if he owned the entire hospital.
"Do you think I did that on purpose? It was you who stopped in the middle of the highway and now you're blaming me? Look at what you did," the man said while pointing to the bruises on his body.
"And do you think I'm going to pay?" He raised an eyebrow.
They both stopped as another man entered, who seemed to be a colleague of the man who collided with her expensive car.
"Ah, so this is it! This is the owner of the car?" Buduy said as he pointed at Amanda.
"And?" Amanda replied sarcastically.
"We'll file a case against you," Buduy answered. Amanda was still in her calm aura. Filling a case won't affects her, all she wants is to get paid for the damages that the man did to her car.
"What were you doing banging into my car and then filing a case against me? Like, what the hell!"
"What the hell is wrong with your face? To be honest you should be the one to pay for the laboratories of Chris and also his medicine!" said Buduy while rolling his eyes!
"Bro, just stop arguing with her," the man said. And then Buduy left the room.