Vida's Pov
"Here, the money you wanted," was the first thing I said the moment I reached the hospital.
No good morning, no hello, no questions, absolutely nothing.
I'm drenched in sweat, my chest going in and out as I try my best to catch my breath after running to the hospital as soon as Julio paid me for last night.
Nothing bothers me more than the call I received this morning which had me running straight to the hospital and I believe I may have outran the cars that drove by this morning.
The nurses at the front desk weren't smiling, with looks of frustration on their faces while they shook their heads as if another burden had arrived. My heart can't help but feel as if I'm being stabbed by needles.
Out of the three at the front desk, one of them heaves a heavy sigh and finally makes eye contact with me.
Her eyes seem to hold no feelings whatsoever towards me, just like a professional who's done this many times.
I can sense that I won't like to hear what she has to say, and yet…
"Miss, why don't you understand, we can't take that money anymore, I already told you on the phone this morning, your grandmother is already dead," she breaks the news to me in a quite unprofessional, bone-chilling way.
Her colleagues behind her shake her shoulder as they lash at her for being so direct, but she lays them no ears and focuses on the paperwork on her table.
I guess she became fed up with poor people like me. It itches my skin to feel so powerless before anyone.
"Hahaha!"
Everyone stops what they're doing at the hospital, their gaze directed towards me while I entertain them as a crazed woman.
What was it all for?
What was everything I went through last night for?
"I'm tired of everything," I say to myself as I make my way out of the hospital, swaying side to side as all the strength within me has vanished.
Just watch Grandma, I'll make sure no one can trample upon me anymore.
Four Years Later
"Reporting live at the State Judiciary, Attorney Vida seems to have just proved that whatever a man can do, she can do it better after winning a fraud case against outstanding Attorney Jacob, who's never lost a case in his life…"
At the echo of a creak, the TV I could once hear from outside is immediately mute as I shut the door behind me reaching for my heel as I struggle to get it off at the entrance.
I'm dead tired from stress and take my heels in her hand, proceeding to head inside when I remember the TV was on earlier.
The familiar scene has my eyebrows furrow when I hear a rumbling sound get closer and sight two cubs dashing out from behind the couches racing against each other while they head towards me.
"Mama!" They cry in unison and my tired face immediately brightens up, almost as if a miracle happened.
With my arms wide open, the cubs leap into her embrace, their weight heavy enough to have me topple down.
"Ah ha, I've caught you boys now, staying up late again I see," I say as I munch their ears, refusing to let my cubs go, causing them to erupt in laughter of excitement.
"No…!" My first cub Ash, who seems to be bigger with darker fur than my little one Neo, cries out as he eagerly tries to escape.
"We were watching the news again mama, Miss Adina said you had a big case today," Neo says.
"Sure did, but have my boys eaten anything?'
"Yeah, we had salad… it always tastes yuck… there were so many veggies and I didn't like any," Neo responds.
I could hardly hold my laughter as I picked up my boys, accompanying them to sit on the couch, when I accidentally unmuted the TV but paid no attention to it.
"Don't eww the veggies boys, remember what I said about your veggies, you need it to grow up…"
"Strong and healthy… we know," they both echo, one with a tired face and the other as cheerful as should be.
I laugh my heart out as I lay the boys down to tickle them but then the music from the TV catches my attention when I turn to spare the news a glance.
"Other news tonight, billionaire Dexter just completed his grand tower which he's been building for two years and has sealed the deals with the Easterners, making him the richest man in the world, however, it is said that behind every successful man, is a woman, thus the public wonders, could there be any woman behind his success," the reporter says.
I stare at the TV with utter shock, petrified, that I stiffen up, my eyes wide open to the point where one would think my eyes would fall off.
"Hmm, Neo look, they're talking about us," Ash says as he points to the TV.
At once I grab the remote from under my bum and turn it off.
"Mama…!" My cub wails in agony, but I pay them no heed and carry both in each arm.
"Now now boys it's time to go to bed, I can spare you one slice of Pizza if you promise to go to bed right after" I answer with a rush.
At first, that seems to work and they quickly hurry to gulp down the pizza size, but right after…
The two struggle but their strength could not match mine so they turn to beg, "Please Mama not now, the TV's finally talking about Neo and me, don't you think it's pretty cool," Ash says.
I stop at the door to their room and turn to Ash, "Yes Ash, I do, so go to bed now," I tell Ash much to his detest.
He pouts angrily and I help myself inside the twins' room.
Painted lavishly in white, with letters, flowers and drawing stickers all over the wall, the room of the children is accompanied by a sweet aromatic rosemary scent mild enough to suit their age.
There are two wooden bunk beds beside each other, the lower bunk almost looking like a dog's bedding while the up of each bunk looks like a normal bed.
I take a step forward, and my leg is immediately stung by the toys underneath. Now I understand why they were in a hurry to not go to bed.
I stand by the door and watch as the cubs make a run for it to clear up their room. My heart is light and at ease as I realise how blessed she is.
Once they are done, I change into their pyjamas and kiss them goodnight.
Plop~!
Tiredly I fall into my couch, the letters in envelopes accompanying me as I prepare myself to read each one of them. But first, I look around the house, the apartment I had bought with my money is ten times bigger than the one I lost, I'm established and I've changed my name as well.
I can't be any more satisfied.
"Hmm, what's in the mail today," I mutter to myself.
One by one I open each letter, it's nothing too much, just some complimentary letters and cards, some bills to pay…
Hmm?!
At once, my eye comes across a red envelope with an unfamiliar postal stamp, "It's red, this is new," I tell myself and open it at once without thinking.
"Found You!" I read.
That's right, the only word inside the letter is 'found you.'
"Haha, they never give up, do they?" After becoming an elite lawyer, I've come to normalise death threats from my enemies. It is quite unfortunate to see how much evil is in this world but I don't have a problem with that, it is now within my power to get the justice a human needs.
However, for my kids' safety, I have never revealed anything concerning my private life, but to think he's here too… this is bad, should we move to another country?
Negative thoughts cloud my mind as I panic, I breathe in deeply to calm down and brace myself.
I've known too well this day would come after running away after that night four years ago, "I'll check the CCTV tomorrow to see who delivered this mail."
Meanwhile…
Neo's POV
Mama's hiding something from us, I can tell because Mama never lets us eat late-night food.
I stare at my ceiling unable to sleep, so I turn towards Ash's bunker but his face is also turned towards the opposite direction.
"Hey Ash," I call out to my brother who's all hurdled up under his blanket.
"What is it, I wanna sleep," he whines, his tail wagging angrily.
"I can't sleep," I whisper.
Within seconds the room falls silent and Ash turns around, "Well why's that?"
"Don't you remember, we're now on TV, which means we're gonna be famous," I explain excitedly as I giggle.
I hear Ash giggle and I also giggle thinking he should be happy for the same reason I'm happy, but he tells me, "That's not us silly, we can't be that tall, that's an adult."
Oh, so that was an adult.
That's it!
Once again my eye widens and I jump up from my bed, my happy tail wagging while I race towards Ash's bunk.
"Big brother," I shake him violently, "But… if… if he's an adult like Mama, do you think he could be our father?"
"... Oh yeah… why didn't I think of that," Ash says as he sits up as well.
Ash springs up from the bed and hurries away while I stand there watching him rummage through his things, "where are you going?" I ask curiously.
"To fetch the tablet dummy!"
With his teeth Ash drags the tablet from on top of the drawer, luckily the tablet doesn't fall as I help him catch it with my back.
Finally with the tablet in our paws Ash and I stare at the screen, "what's his name again,"
"The reporter said, Billionaire Dexter," he tells me.
My brows furrow, that seems like a lot of letters, "how do we spell that?"
"Use the Mic," my brother tells me.
We get on the internet and use the mic like Ash says and results come up, of course, we can't read that many words so we use the speaker.
"Look Neo, he's in the city and he looks just like you, and me too, maybe you're right, and his office isn't far from the house," Ash tells me with a pat on my back.
"Yes, we can just have our neighbour take us there tomorrow," I tell him.
Just as he says this, big brother drags the tablet back with him, "Where are you going?" I ask curiously, but he yawns tiredly.
"To bed, I'm tired," he answers, well I can understand why, I feel sleepy myself.
Well, we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.