Chapter 2

"What is the real reason you are here, Harley."

The brat! He knew why she was there. She needed her job back. But of course, he was going to make her say it. "I really need my job back."

"What job is that? I can't recall offering you a job in my, Emphasis on the word 'My' company."

Harley knew she would have laughed if she didn't need this job. What the actual… ughh. His company!! Talk about delusions of grandeur. He wasn't even related to the actual owner of the company.

If he wasn't so obnoxious, she would have called him mildly attractive. With his black hair and ordinary blue eyes. But he was super annoying, so his looks didn't actually do much for him. He was also very young, which she assumed was the reason for his brattiness. He was older than her, but age is more of a mental thing to her.

"Please James, I know you have the right to be angry." He didn't. But she had to flatter him. "But I promise, I will not undermine your authority any more."

She had worked with James' uncle when he was alive. The very kind old man had helped her, even when it wasn't convenient for him to keep her on his payroll. She hadn't disappointed him as she worked her butt off.

She needed the job, to see herself through the last month she had to spend in school. She went to school not far from the store.

She was studying to become a physical therapist. And it hasn't been easy for her, but she had always been interested in physical therapy, but she became even more focused after hearing the amount of money people made from it, she also wanted to help people who had physical injuries.

She really cared about money. Not for the reason you would think. She didn't suffer when she was a child, but she didn't have everything she needed or wanted either. Her parents saved money towards her college tuition and they made sure to pay the mortgage on the house unfailingly every month. Due to all of these there wasn't much left to spend on frivolities or whatever they deemed frivolous.

She felt a little ache in her chest at the thoughts of her parents. The pain she felt whenever she thought about them, had gradually reduced, but she still missed them so much.

She looked at James and resisted the urge to bash his head in. If he wasn't her boss, she would have smacked the stupid obnoxious voice out of his mouth.

She was a hard worker, he should be honored that she still wanted to work with him! But she was in dire need of this job. She needed to feed and buy some essentials. The pay wasn't much, but it was better than what the others were offering.

" James, just give me a few months and I will be out of your hair."

She really couldn't wait to graduate and that was happening in two months. She didn't have a job lined up like some of her course mates, who had rich parents and parents with connections. Her parents were both the only children of their parents. So she didn't even have any relatives.

After much begging, James finally came around. She knew he was going to see sense. After all he knew her worth and he also knew he couldn't get someone who worked as hard as she did easily.

"thank you very much James." She said with a sickly sweet voice and a sarcastic smile.

"You better not be here in three months' time."

She sure wasn't going to be here! Lucky for her, James wasn't one to come to work every day of the week, so she didn't have to hear his obnoxious voice every damn day!

The following day, when she got to work, she sighed in relief that she had her source of income back.

It was just an average day. Most people did their shopping, in bulk, so they didn't have to come to the store every time they needed things. So some days were busier than some. And today was one of the not so busy days. So she just had a chat with a few of the patrons and did some of her assignments from school.

When it was thirty minutes after nine in the evening, she started packing up to leave. By ten she was done with everything. Of course by that time James was no longer in the store and every other person already left.

Her part of the town was relatively safe , so she wasn't in danger of getting kidnapped or mauled by thugs. She slowly made her way towards her house. During the day, the house stood out amongst the others. It was bigger than the other houses, as her parents always hoped for a large family of at least four children. But what made it stand out more was the lack of light and things to show there were humans occupying the house.

She was usually busy and on most days, she didn't come home until after ten at night.

She passed a few of her neighbors who were still outside by that time of the night. But she always felt like Mr Harris, the neighbor who lived in the house closest to hers, always waited for her to come back from work before he went into his house.

"Good evening Mr Harris. How was your day." She greeted him in a loud voice. He looked up in surprise, like he hadn't been expecting her. Even though she knew he already saw her from afar.

" Oh, Harley, my girl. My day went well. How was yours."

Mr Harris and her parents had not been very close when they were alive. But they spoke and were very cordial with each other. But he had made it his duty to watch out for her, however he could since her parents died.

They had a little chat, before they both went into their respective houses.

She turned on the lights as soon as she got into the house and made her way to her bedroom.

Sometimes she wished she had siblings, but then , having a sibling would mean that another human being would have to experience the kind of pain she did when her parents died.

She didn't make friends easily. The few friends she had, already left the town for college and other things. The only one of her friends who was still around was Ruby.

She prepared noodles for herself, as she continued a movie she had been watching before. Sometimes she wished life was as fantastical as most movies and books portrayed it to be. When she lost her parents, books and movies had been her salvation. She had lost herself in the fantastical world of books and movies.

After that , she moved to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed herself. Sleeping wasn't hard for her. She was exhausted from the day's work, so her body shut down immediately she laid down on the bed.

The next time she woke up was when her alarm rang, at five-thirty in the morning. She stood up lazily, and picked up her phone.

Harley wouldn't say she was a social media person, but she didn't like to look or feel ignorant, so she checked social media sometimes. She had about three hours before her first class of the day.

She checked Instagram for a few minutes before going back to sleep. By seven she was awake again and was reading through some of her class work, before class.

The first class she had today was a practical class. This wasn't the first time she was going to practice. But she was always nervous. They didn't use actual injured people. If they did, it would be even more riskier. A slight mistake could cause a lot of harm to the patient.

And especially because this was one of her last practical exams. Today's practice was in preparation for the finals.

She prepared herself for the day and started towards the bus stop, so she could get a bus to the campus.

As soon as she got to her class, she saw Ruby. She was very different from her, physically, but they had almost the same character. Just that Ruby was a chipper version of her.

"Hey Harley. How was your night. Have you prepared the practical. I was trying to get in some practice last night, but I slept off."

She said all of those things in one breath. Okay that was one thing that was very different about them. Ruby was very hyper. One would expect that for someone her size she would be more 'less hyper'.

She laughed at her friend. "Seriously Ruby, breathe." She hung her arms around Ruby's neck as much as her height would allow.

"Yes, I slept well, and as usual, I am very nervous about the practical."

They entered the classroom and sat down in the middle. The lecture/practical was starting anytime soon. Which meant that the professor was going to come in soon. They settled into their sits and brought out their books and everything that might be needed for the practical, as Ruby tried to take her mind off her nervousness, by gossiping about some of their classmates.

As she had predicted, the professor entered the class less than three minutes later. When it was her turn, she followed the example the professor gave them.

"Harley, don't be nervous. You can't afford to be." The professor said when she drew in a shaky breath.

Of course she knew she couldn't be nervous. This was a human life and physical, wholeness, in her hands. She really did have to work on her nervousness.

By the end of the class, she was so tired and thankfully, after the class she didn't have any other engagements till four, that afternoon.

As usual she went to her work place by 4pm and went to sit behind the counter.

The day continued and ended without any crazy event. To be honest, apart from the practical this morning, the day had been very boring.

She got to her house and had her bathe and her usual routine, before sleeping.

She checked her phone for any missed calls or messages. Of course there were none. Oh... there was one. She had gotten a text from Ruby earlier in the day, asking if she wanted to go to a party that was taking place in the house of one of their seniors.

She didn't know what to say in reply to the message. She was usually so tired from school and work. The only time she literally had to rest was at night and on Saturdays and Sundays. And she was planning on getting jobs to fill up those days too.

The time she had to rest and sleep in were very precious to her and yes, Harley knew she had to work on making friends and having a social life , but it wasn't easy for her to have one with her fending for herself and everything.

Her life was quite boring for a final year college student, but it was just what it was. She had to keep a level head, to do well for herself.

Let's not even talk about her romance, or lack thereof. When her parents were still alive and she still had the luxury of being a young girl, she had considered some boys. Not like she was a stunning beauty, or anything, but she wasn't bad looking either. She had been told that she had a very exquisite face. And she had a slim but curvy body. If she wasn't so short she would have tried out modelling, but she knew it wasn't easy for someone of her size to find modelling jobs, without some sort of connection.

"Harley go to sleep." It was already past midnight her thoughts were too busy for her to sleep and she didn't have enough for her to go for a midnight snack. So she rolled around on the bed and tried to sleep. Finally sometime after one in the morning she went to sleep.