Chapter 4: The Life of Selah

Selah's lips curled up bitterly as she remembered her mother's face. The place was so serene and the sun was shining brightly above her head as she was lost in nostalgia. The cold sea breeze seemed to be chronicling the past against her ears. She hated her mom so much. Selah's face suddenly twisted in a scornful smile when she saw a familiar face approaching her.

"Do you often welcome guests with that kind of smile?" the man in his beach shorts greeted her. She tried to escape in their conversation when suddenly she was grabbed in her left arm.

"What do you want! " She yelled at him and that made the man loosen her up.

"I'm here for this!" the man calmly replied.

The man showed her some legal documents about the loans and properties her father handed down to him ten years ago. Upon seeing the papers, her eyes dropped upon seeing the name of the resort on the list of properties that would be taken if she can't pay on its due.

"So, it's him." She unconsciously whispered to herself.

"No, it wasn't me. It was my father who made the deal with your father in exchange for the money your family needed that time." The man said while folding the papers back to its case.

She just stared at him while walking away from her. When the man was about to cross the short bridge dividing the beach and the garden, he stopped and shouted at her.

"You can visit the mansion if you want to talk about these documents. I'm free this weekend." His voice was still polite but distant.

Tossing her hair back against the wind, she tried to calm herself down. The due is three months away now. She needed a solution right away before anything would get worse. The income of the resort plus her five years savings while she's still working with her mom's company could not even afford to pay half of it.

She looked around trying to find a good solution for it. She sighed softly as the thought about taking the resort from her. She wasn't sure of the life she would have if it will be taken from her. She went back to her room and grabbed her lunch then spend the rest of the afternoon at the same spot of the resort.

The night was long and the ocean was calm. Apart from the splashing sound of the waves beneath the rocks, the only sound she could hear was her own steady heartbeat. It was time for her to take some actions. Though doubting where to get help, yet she was determined. Selah calmly made up her mind.

The resort is totally dependent on the terms and conditions she could get by tomorrow. For the sake of the resort and its people working there for some decades, she needed to talk to him again.

She blamed the whole thing to her mom. If she did not only abandon them, her dad would not be so depressed and get hospitalized. She might be living a good life until now. Money and status made her abandoned them. She might be taking her doctorate degree in Rome and living a good life there. She might be traveling from one country to another and married someone of her age. She blamed the whole incident to her mom and that made her to hardly forgive.

She shook her head rapidly hoping to get rid of the unbearable pain she had been carrying since then. She shook her head vigorously. She couldn't carry on thinking about her mom anymore. She wanted to forget her as someone who brought her up into this world. Her head now ached like hell. She agonized over the thought that she couldn't do anything to her mom and let her suffer same thing she had been for decades already. She buried her face deep in her palms.