Chapter 1

"Lia… Lia…are you home, Lia?" shout Jessica from the outside of Camellia's house. "Mom asked you to join us for dinner," continued her but receives no reply from the one she called for. "Hey, Camellia… come out now! It's freaking cold out here, you know," again received no reply.

"Hurmm … It seems like she have not at home just yet from picking the herbs in the mountain. Better wait for her here instead of going back and forth," she thought to herself and sigh to herself. So, she decide to sit in front of the door to wait for her childhood friend since they were young at the age of five.

After waiting for almost half an hour, Jessica saw her best friend, Camellia, put on a sweet tired smile while walking towards the shabby house alone with a huge rattan basket on her back. She assume that Camellia just come back from the mountain to pluck some wild herbs.

"Finally, you are here, Lia. It been half an hour I've been waiting for you, do you know? I'm so freaking cold out here waiting for you," Jessica grumble to her best friend.

"Oh… Hi… to you too, Jess!!!" Camellia gives a sarcastic reply along with a small smirk and rolled eyes. "Why don't you come in first and warm up a bit. You does look so cold," continued her after watch her friend's red nose and felt bad afterwards.

"Whatever and you need to freshen up faster Lia. Mom had been waiting for quite a while and she might nag at both of us. And you are stink like a skunk," said Jessica. "Huff… fresh air. I need some fresh air. And you skunk, no more wasting my time, hurry up." Urge her again.

Camellia knew the reason of her friend visit is to call her for dinner. It had been a routine for Jessica family to invite her for dinner every single day. Sometimes even breakfast and lunch.

"Okay. Okay, relax. I will. Just stop talking for now. You're making me having headache with all the talks and instructions."

These is all because Camellia's parent hardly at home to feed her meal as they have to work as farmers at the land owned by a wealthy family. The land located at the neighbouring village and is far away from their house. So, her parent have to wake up early in the morning before dawn to go there and reach home when it almost in the middle of the night. But they never loss hope for their only daughter as they wish to send Camellia further her study in her favourite course.

Other than that, they also wish to stop her being a herb collector up the mountain as it is a dangerous place to go. They worried for Camellia's safety but cannot do anything about it except send her away for study as soon as she graduates from the high school.

The mountain near their house have various types of wild and rare herbs. The herbs that can't be found in the market can be found on the mountain. All those herbs help to cure various types of diseases be it infectious or not.

Unfortunately, the mountain was a very dangerous that have a lot of wild and poisonous creatures and beast. Quite a few villages dare to go into the mountain. And there were a few rumours of mountain guide being attack by beast, herbs collector being bite by snakes and so on and on. Other than that, the mountain itself have a very tricky walk with rocky and slippery steps.

So, most villagers decide to not allow their family members to go into the mountain. But it goes different to Camellia, she always went up the mountain to collect the herbs request by the pharmacist in the town. For Camellia, these job pay her well and help her parent to not worry about their financial situation. However, her parent insisted on Camellia keep the money to herself and stop worrying about money at the same time advise her not to go into the mountain anymore.

When she heard the advice, her reply always "Mom, dad…it is fine. There is nothing to worry about. I can take care of myself. The job quite interesting and it gives me more knowledge about the medicine." Then, her parents can only sigh at their only daughter stubbornness and insistences.

Camellia's parents love her so much up until their let their only daughter do whatever she wish to do. Unfortunately, they cannot afford to spend too much money on their living expense to give her a comfortable life. They just hope that they will have enough money to send Camellia to the university after she graduate from the government high school. When they get to know that their child was a smart and genius, they already decide to send her to the best university and she can study her chosen course.

They felt grateful that the government prepare free education and does not have to pay much for it. They even does not have to buy any school uniform, textbooks or even reference books. All the books be it textbooks or reference can be borrowed by students at the school library. So they does not need to spend much money throughout all the school years except stationery and note books in which cost so little.