1 The Bread Winner
Chapter 1: Edited
Somewhere beyond a bustling city that never seemed to sleep was a small but well-designed vintage house sitting atop a secluded hill that overlooked the harbor and that same city below.
A vast garden that consisted of many trees, bushes, and flowers, mostly of lavenders, lilies, and different kinds of roses, surrounded the house.
Birds flew across the clear sky with the occasional clouds scattering here and there, and below them were the turquoise blue of the glistening water on a nearby river and the stunning green of the hills with forest and multiple dots of houses and buildings below.
On a day like this one, though slightly breezy and cold, the view was spectacular.
From a stranger's point of view, one would marvel at how Disney-like and lovely the house and its ambiance would be. No doubt that living in such a place would bring good memories to come. However, not everything was what it seemed.
Through the window, bright rays of morning sunlight flashed upon a beautiful teenager, which enhanced her overall natural and delicate features, such as her fair and poreless skin, perfectly-shaped brows, long and thick lashes, large almond-shaped dark brown eyes, red and plump heart-shaped lips, and luscious straight-from-the-top and wavy-to-the-waist black hair that glowed golden upon direct contact with the sunlight.
Moreover, her spaghetti strap and knee-length white dress and nonchalant expression made her seem more ethereal like a goddess.
She sat on the couch, watching a certain television show that occasionally made her eyebrows furrow and twitch a couple of times, wrinkling her fair and porcelain-like skin.
Why?
Because today was a Saturday-- A day wherein she had to pass the time by watching boring consecutive cringe-worthy comedic shows that seemed to not at all try to develop itself into something award-worthy. From the past years until now, the same kind of jokes continued to air on the screen.
"This will definitely make the channel lose more audience," she thought.
Despite her remorse for the show, she still patiently watched the show to occupy herself from trying to awkwardly face a certain woman.
She unwrinkled her brows and directly looked towards the electronic clock showing 'Saturday, 7:00 am' and, at the same time, a beautiful middle-aged lady elegantly ran downstairs.
In just a second, the teen watched and scanned her appearance from head to toe out of boredom.
The middle-aged lady had a blonde-dyed hair tied into a stylish chignon, a perfectly made-up face that covered her wrinkles, expensive rubies, a sexy long red gown that enhanced both her slim waist and cupped bosom, and a pair of silver high heels.
The girl then immediately shifted her gaze back to the television so as to not make eye-contact with that woman.
Thinking about how that woman's whole body must have had plastic surgery, especially on her chest, made her feel a bit sad.
Yes, sad by the fact that the middle-aged lady had literally turned into plastic in every aspect that she did not seem human anymore. She was more beautiful without all those surgeries.
The middle-aged lady did not notice the girl's brief glance, because it took place all in a second.
However, unlike the teen's reserved attitude, almost taciturn herself, that woman literally did not care about the teen or the loud and annoying sounds coming from the TV.
What mattered to the middle-aged lady were her time and work.
As an A-list actress working in the entertainment industry for a living, she barely had the time to come home and care for others, including her one and only daughter sitting on the couch. In fact, she never made the time to greet others unrelated to work despite the minimal effort needed to do so.
The middle-aged lady went directly to the door, then opened and slammed it close as if she were the only one living in the house.
On the other hand, the teen was used to that rude treatment, so she was not at all depressed. Instead, she was happy because she had the house all to herself and relieved because the silent pressure was now gone.
She hated bearing with such a heavy atmosphere whenever that woman was around, but she would still persevere no matter how long it took because that would be the only time she could spend with her mother.
While watching the television, her mind drifted to other topics of importance, not on those useless and corny jokes displayed on the TV.
She thought about what she needed to do to survive.
It was quite offbeat and strange for a young girl, who was supposed to think about love, beauty, and nonsense gossips, especially one born from a well-known actress, to even think of such things.
But she had no other choice because no one would supply her with her daily necessities, including her one and only mother, the lady now in red.
It was now the time of the month where she must prepare the money and the list of groceries needed for the house before buying them tomorrow.
Actually, the groceries she purchased were not only for her own but for her so-called 'mother' as well. The teen also paid for her own tuition. Through a certain 'job,' she was able to go to a private school and the living expenses of two people.
She also allotted time to cook, wash the dishes and clothes, and do other household chores after dismissal and before her night job out in the city. This is her share of work, like rent, to not be kicked out of the house by her "mother."
In her 17 years of living, she was the breadwinner of the family.
Because of her hectic schedule, her sleeping time would take place whenever she had a break, like snacks and lunchtime. As for the other hours, she would do her best to hastily finish her job in order to sleep for at most a total of 6 hours in a day.
Even sleeping for 8 hours seemed to happen only once in a blue moon, and doing so made her feel extremely grateful.
Therefore, she did not have the luxury to make friends aside from those within group tasks and projects. However, she would love to make the kind of friends who would stick with her through thick and thin.
Yes, she dreamed of having 'best friends.'
But it was only just a dream.
Several times in a week, she realized that some teenage boys would drop by her seat to offer her snacks or lunch whenever she forgot to bring one. She never questioned them for their kind intention.
To be more accurate, she never once saw through their ulterior motive.
She wholeheartedly said, "Thank you," with a hint of a smile on her usual poker-face. Then, she hastily ate the food given to her so that she could sleep right after. She never realized that she left those boys blushing and with no other choice but to leave feeling satisfied yet empty-handed, again and again.
However, she never once forgot her lunch or her snacks. She just so happened to prioritize other things.
With the limited time she had for the day, sacrificing one lunch or snack did not matter to her, because she could save more money and use the time to accomplish her goal for the day, such as homework and the like.
Compared to other students of her grade level, she was, in reality, the most mature and hardworking out of all. But she did not seem like it to them because of her methods to "catch up on sleep" every breaktime.
If this was training by her mom, then it certainly bore fruit. But treating her 'losing sleep, her working 'til she collapsed, and her being the sole bread winner'--- a fruit?
That would make all parents rampage in anger!
That is NO fruit. It's called an abuse of authority!
Yet the victim of all these was not on a rampage, but just diligently carrying on her tasks, because she believed her 'mother' would award her someday and would turn to look at her and say, "Good job!".
Others would certainly think, 'How naive.' She never heard that comment before, but even if she did, she would ignore it because she firmly believed in her own mother, despite not showing it herself.
Another reason would be that she had no other relatives. She hated the thought of living in an orphanage.
That explained why she never once complained to the police or the authority for Child Abuse.
After listing all the groceries needed, aside from the prepared list of items to be bought every month, she then changed the channel to "Housewives' News Flash."
It was a kind of channel that reported new time-limited discounts of all kinds of things all over the vicinity and showed a comparison of prices, from cheap to expensive, and of quality, from common to spectacular.
It also showed a lot of interviews of different markets, from small-scale stores to large-scale businesses, about the products offered, methods used to operate them, new recipes created by chefs, and the like.
For most teenagers, this would certainly be a boring channel that only targeted housewives, working mothers, or even college students. However, the girl never thought whether the show was appropriate for her age or not.
She needed this show. It was what helped her survive for the past 10 years.
As a matter of fact, her dress was bought for a 60% discount from a branded boutique and she was able to buy it because of the channel itself. Buying one dress, instead of pants and a shirt, would cost much less.
She never cared about fashion, because she had a very limited budget and because she literally did not care at all. Despite that, everything she wore seemed like fashion, because she was one of those few individuals who looked good in everything.
It was a talent she never realized herself.
A lot of agencies would try to get her if they ever had the chance, but with her hectic schedule, they never even saw her once, so there was never even a chance for an opportunity yet to be realized.
She stealthily listed all the stores and the products' prices and then, mentally scheduled for the best time to buy them by this afternoon and tomorrow.
She sighed to herself, "Time for battle again."
She put on her cheap dusty-white doll shoes and her worn-out bag and locked the door before heading out to school.
Yes. Today was a Saturday. But she had make-up classes to attend to because of her absence a few days ago due to her "job."
And yes, there were required to wear a uniform in their school. But, since it was a weekend and since it was a 3-to-1 special make-up class, the teacher decided to exempt them from wearing uniforms. He highly favored the students attending classes today, because of their excellent grades and diligence.
They were the TOP 3 out of the batch, so a simple exemption of uniform, for him, was no big deal.
Even if they were not the top three, he would still give an exemption due to his big and kind heart. Ideally speaking, he just hated wearing uniforms as a student and now that he was a teacher, he still had to wear one.
Every time he would see his students, he would sympathize together with them.
Therefore to lessen their burdens, he gave a gift of kindness - an exemption, to which he almost gave every time there was a make-up class. Thank goodness he was never reprimanded for the act because his colleagues always turned a blind eye to it.
As she was thinking of her teacher's eccentricity, she opened her backpack, got her dusty-white cap out, and put it on before closing the bag. Then, she made a run for it to school.
