JENNIFER

"I loved the way she stormed out of the restaurant leaving everyone shocked!" Elena whooped at Olivia inside the apartment, her hands moving all around to emphasize her point.

"I wish I was there to see it. The woman deserves it because why so rude to a waitress because she cannot pour water in your cup?" Olivia chirped in, as usual making something they both don't know inside the kitchen.

"Mr. William came earlier asking for the rent and I told him we are still getting the money. What should we do now?" Elena brought up the topic at dinner, her eyes fell on Jennifer who suddenly stopped eating the chicken salad Olivia made for them.

"I'll make sure to get it before the end of the week, don't worry about me. Or you can give him yours first." Jennifer tried acting like this isn't a big deal but it's a huge deal they all know about.

"How about we pay all and then you can pay us back when you get it? We have the money for the three of us, right El?" Olivia suggested, something she is million percent sure Jennifer won't agree to but someone needs to talk about it. She should only think about tuition fee now than any other thing.

"No, don't do that. I'll get something done before the week ends." Jennifer gave a small smile, her pride heightening because she doesn't want to be inconvenient to anyone and that too not her friends.

Elena stood up from the chair. "Jenny, we are going to pay this bill for you whether you like it or not. Your father has been the one doing this for you and he is no more. What can you do to get the money by the end of the week? Work at another restaurant where your pride will be brutally hurt again or as a stripper in some cheap club? You need to accept that we are doing this because we love you and don't want you to fall in wrong hands! You will pay us back whenever you get the money, it's not for free!"

Jennifer looked at her with eyes filled with tears, she is currently speechless because Elena always has her way with things. She can make someone keep quiet whenever she wants just like she did her right now. She doesn't know what to say to the speech she's just finished right now and she did it intentionally so as to close her mouth shut.

"You are right, El. I don't know why we always argue with Jennifer in things like these." Olivia raised a challenging brow at Jennifer waiting for her to answer her with more arguments because she is ever ready to haul hers back.

Jennifer stood up quietly and left for her room to wallow in self pity. There is nothing left for her now but she is not a quitter too. Working at that restaurant wouldn't have worked out even if she'd swallowed her pride at that time. The pay isn't that high for her to pay for their rent even in two months to come so what is the good in that? There isn't.

She suddenly remembered her conversation with her father just months ago as if she knew something like this would happen.

"What will I ever do without you, dad? You are my everything. From friend, father, mentor and role model." She lie her head on his thigh while he stroke her long luscious hair he'd told her she got from her mother. She looks more like the woman that gave birth to her than the man that raised her.

Her father had smiled and kissed the top of her head affectionately. "You won't have to think about what to do without me. I'll always be there with you in every step of the way, don't worry about that. Even if I'm not there with you physically, you will feel me around you, I promise."

"No, I want you physically. We should stay together all the time because without you here with me, I'm a goner. You are more like my rock and pillar than my own body." She massaged his wrist, smelling his familiar black oil smell from the auto mechanics.

"Then don't think much about it, I will always be there for you."

Now he isn't here with her after the promise he's made her. Should she be mad at him for leaving her or was he also as surprised as she is when the death took him away from her? He definitely wasn't ready to say goodbye to her because he's promised to make her birthday special this year and also make plans for their Christmas but he is going to be absent in both.

She wiped away the tear leaking from the edge of her eyes, she missed him. She's never wished her mother was with her but she does now. Had the woman agreed to be with them, maybe everything would've been avoided. Her father told her she wasn't from a wealthy family but her family didn't accept her pregnancy neither did they welcome the thought of her giving birth to a bastard while she was with them.

She'd stayed with her father for the remaining months of her pregnancy giving him false hope of living with him even after the pregnancy but she left her in the hospital the minute she woke up. She didn't even stay there to give her a kiss or hand her over to her father, she just left her there in the crib for her father to come and take her which he did with a broken heart.

She grew up hating her mother for what she's done to her father. He told her not to hate the woman that gave birth to her because it wasn't her fault as she was too young then to accept that she's given birth to a baby. She was just sixteen, had to drop out from high school to take care of her. He loved that woman till his death, she's seen it.

She's never seen the picture of her mother though, a real picture. She's seen a black and white painting of her in her father's wallet but that was it. Her name was Jane.