LUCKY

"Are you being serious?" Emily threw her hands in the air. She could not believe it; she was being denied a job at the job agency.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot help you," said the older woman, whom Emily had come to know as Jennet. This was officially the worst day of her life, after standing in a line for more than four hours only to be told that she was unqualified for all the jobs that they had available.

"Can't you press on your computer and find me something, anything?" She pleaded, but Jennet simply fanned her glasses and stared at Emily. There was no doubt that the older woman was uninterested in her case.

"Look here, young woman, I would be lying to you if I told you that there are no jobs available, but all I know is that I was instructed by my superiors that you are to get no job here," Jennet confessed, a confession that not only stunned Emily but left her nearly lost for words.

"Wh—What?"

"Yes, from the look of things, you probably pissed off someone important, and that person is determined to ruin it for you."

"I doubt it's someone important—"Emily paused, and just then it hit her. Thinking back to last night, she did, in fact, anger someone of great importance.

"I see you remembered who you pissed off. Anyways, I think you should head out and make things right with that person; otherwise, you will find yourself not being able to work in this city again"

Without responding to Jennet, Emily slowly rose from her chair, grabbed her handbag, and exited the tiny office. She firmly held her handbag to her chest and walked around aimlessly.

"Hey, wait up!" She turned around with great haste, only to see a young woman standing in front of her.

"Who are you?" Emily demanded to know. Her eyes were looking from left to right to make sure that there were people around, just in case she got mugged.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but I walked past Jennet's office and I heard that they could not find you anything." Emily swallowed the lump in her throat; the pain of not being able to provide for her son had been haunting her the entire day.

"Yes," she responded confidently. She watched as the young woman reached into her tiny handbag and handed her an envelope.

"Here," she said, holding it out to Emily, who stared at it. "It's a job offer; it was offered to my cousin, but she left the city for another job, and I thought that you needed it more than she did. I am Paola, by the way," she told Emily, who continued staring at her with great suspicion.

"But why would you give me such a job offer? What's in it for you?"

"It's one of these wealthy people's homes; if my cousin doesn't show up, she has to pay a five hundred dollar fee."

"Five hundred dollars for simply not showing up to a job!" Emily exclaimed, surprised that there was such a ridiculous clause in the first place.

"Yes, you know how these rich people are. Are you taking it or not?"

"I'll take it," Emily responded, taking the envelope from Paola's hands. "I really don't know how to thank you, Paola, and by the way, my name is Emily, Emily Rosette."

"Nice to meet you, Emily; now, when you get there, tell them that your name is Maria Lopez."

"Won't I be caught?" She asked, fearing that another thing that might be added to her unemployment might be jail time.

"Don't worry, these rich folks don't look at identification and so on. The address is at the back of the envelope. Enjoy your day," Paola told her. Emily opened the envelope, and truly, there was a letter of employment that was addressed to Maria Lopez.

Once Emily looked up to thank Paola, she was gone, as though she had vanished into thin air.

**

If her jaw had not already dropped to the floor, it was surely on the verge of doing just that. Her eyes grew big, and her neck hurt from staring at the huge black gate in front of her. Emily looked down at the envelope to make sure that she was in the right place, and the sign on the side of the entrance wall confirmed it.

"Who are you?"

"Ahh!!' Emily jumped up with fear as she searched for the direction in which the voice that called her came from, only for her to spot a tiny monitor at the corner of the gate with an image of a man.

"I ask again, who you are." He asked her, his tone befitting a man who had no time for games.

"Emily—I mean, Maria Lopez," she quickly corrected herself.

"Which is it, Emily or Maria Lopez?"

"Maria Lopez, sir," she replied, fearful that one wrong move would cost her this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Great, we've been expecting you. You're slightly late, but I am sure that Madame Dorothy will deal with you," he informed her before disappearing from the monitor. After some seconds, the huge gate opened on its own, and Emily quickly walked in.

Looking up ahead of her in a golf cart was the same man she had seen on the monitor. He stopped right in front of her and patted the seat next to him, urging her in. Without wasting time, Emily jumped in, and they drove towards the house.

The drive towards the house was very long until she saw the reason for it. Her eyes widened at the sight of the mansion before her, because what she was seeing was far from a house—it was a three-story mansion, decorated in Victorian era style.

"We're here, madam, and I suggest you stop admiring the place and get in through the back door; Dorothy is waiting for you."

She quickly got out of the golf cart and made her way through the back, and once she entered the kitchen, she saw multiple women standing in it dressed in uniform.

"You're late!"