The Billionaire Wolff

Chapter 3: Her Reality

Anya Silva

I rolled over to the left side of my bed, hurriedly turning off the alarm clock before it could even go off. I knew exactly where my small yellow alarm clock had always been situated, that my arm reflexes were able to turn it off without me opening my eyes.

At five thirty in the morning, I was already awake before I needed to be and while the sun was barely lighting up the city. A mix of light to dark blue with hints of yellow and orange showing up in the clouds and slightly staining the streets were always my first view in the morning when I stood up from my bed.

It was a Monday morning, but most of the days in my life seemed to be all the same since it happened. Since I had to drop everything and take care of my dad who had gotten leukemia two years ago.

I turned to check the calendar on my bedroom wall and I saw the date encircled with a red marker. In four days, it would be two years since we found out about the devastating news and also since I didn’t accept the offers I had gotten from companies after graduating from university.

“Has it really been that long?” I whispered to myself with a sigh as I thought back on the days that had passed.

Every single day I woke up, feeling as if things were always the same. Getting ready, eating breakfast, going to the hospital, staying there with my dad, and getting home in the wee hours of the night and doing it all over again. But as time passed, I guess so many things have changed.

The bags in my eyes were much darker, my usually well-kept hair was just long and a mess, and the youthful glow I once had was now, to say the least, all gone. The Anya Silva that was once so carefree and optimistic was now stained by the harsh reality of life.

Still, I was very fortunate to have my boyfriend, Matthew, whose dad was a director at the hospital and so with his help and the insurance, I no longer had to pay for any medical bills and he often stayed by my side through everything as well. I wouldn’t know where I would be without him.

But sometimes… sometimes I wonder what it would be like if things were normal. If I woke up everyday, turning off the alarm clock, getting ready, eating breakfast, and instead of going to the hospital, I would go to my work in a prestigious office.

I let out a deep exhale before walking to the bathroom to get my day started. Now was not the time to be thinking about things that could have been, nor was it going to be any time. I needed to focus on my dad, and him alone.

By six thirty in the morning, I was already scanning around my small and quaint home to see if I was forgetting to bring something or not.

I looked down at my purse. Phone, charger, prescription, and dad’s favorite book; they were all there.

I locked the door behind me before walking over to the bus stop.

Sometimes, my boyfriend would be able to pick me up and we would go to the hospital together. But it was nearing his exams for the board and in between juggling other things in his life, taking care of my dad, and studying to become a surgeon, there was no way he had time to go all the way to the further side of the city just for me.

The gust of wind made me shiver as I hurriedly put my hands inside of my long coat. Slightly tapping my feet and dancing around to get the heat flowing in my body, today was a cold day in January. With bits of snow here and there, I wished that spring would come soon.

As I walked inside of the bus, passing by the other strangers around me who were just going about their day and making sure not to bump into them, I looked out of the window and wished that the flowers would soon bloom and the feeling of coldness would pass us soon.

There was no doubt that winter was my least favorite season. As a kid, my dad and I used to play in the snow together – making snow angels and having snow fights, but now that he could no longer go out, it just made me feel even sadder.

By seven thirty, if there were no delays in the road, I would be nearing the hospital and as I checked the watch on my wrist when I saw the hospital coming up by the block, a small smile formed on my lips as I was right on time.

Being on time, being punctual, was something I was proud of, or something I enjoyed doing. My dad taught me that one of the best things in the world you could give to someone was to not waste their time, and he was right. As he always is with most things.

With time, you can do so many things. You are able to finish many tasks at hand if you wake up early and properly delegate how long you would take for each task and by the end of the day you would have done so much.

Some people would like to believe the phrase that time is money, but for me, time is a present that was given to us and we needed to cherish it. Life was not always about money.

The elevator door opened on the floor where my dad is and the first thing I saw was my boyfriend. It was evident that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep and was rushing with more books than he could carry, his usually neat blonde hair a mess, and glasses that were almost falling off of his face.

I let out a soft chuckle as I stepped out of the elevator to get to him. “Good morning, handsome.” I commented as I quickly pushed up his glasses so it wouldn’t fall from his face.

Matthew was surprised at the gesture and immediately turned his head to me with a shocked and somewhat displeased face.

“Anya! Don’t do that.” He said to me, his voice low but enough for me to hear the annoyance in his tone.

“And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that in public?” He added before turning to face the elevator that was closing.

“Wait, wait!” He shouted as he tried to stop the elevator from closing, but it was too late.

He clicked his tongue, sheer frustration vivid as he turned to look back at me and I bit my lip in nervousness. It was clear that he was not in the best of mood today and I couldn’t blame him, of course. I knew he was under a lot of stress with everything going on.

“I’m sorry…” I shyly told him, pursing my lips as to stop myself from tearing up. No matter how hard I tried, I was always easily the type to get emotional over a lot of things.

Matthew tsked at me again and just as he was about to say something, another elevator arrived on the floor and he immediately turned his back on me, hurriedly making his way before it got closed on him again.

I watched him fit himself in the elevator, tightly holding onto his pile of books and no sign of even looking back at me.

“I’ll call you later.” He said with a somewhat bothered tone before stepping out of the elevator.

I let out a sigh. Matthew is a good man. He is just tired and stressed out, that's all. I reassured myself before walking to my dad’s room.

Saying a quick greeting to all the nurses and doctors in the hallway, they all knew me already as we’ve seen each other everyday for the past two years. Others have gone, some remained, and some were replaced by new ones, but they quickly knew me as the daughter who visited daily.

“Good morning, dad.” I said with a smile as I closed the sliding door behind me and walked to his side.

I felt my heart drop at the sight of him just laying down on this white bed, a tube in his mouth, and dextrose all over his body. No matter how many times I saw him in this situation, I would never get used to it.

But I had to stay strong for him. I pushed back the tear that was almost coming out of my eyes as I shook my head and forced a smile on my face.

“Look what I got today? Your favorite book!” I waved the book in front of him, his eyes barely opening as he looked at what I was showing and although he couldn’t speak, I knew he was excited.

The heart monitor beside him beeped as his heartbeat shot up for a quick second and I knew that was him being excited over what I brought for him, just like all the other days that I did the same.

As I sat down on the chair beside his bed, I opened up the book whose pages were beginning to fold as I had read it almost a million times.

“Are you ready?” I turned to my dad as I put my hand on his and I felt a soft squeeze on my hand. This slight gesture meant the world to me, as I knew he had struggled with moving and exerting energy for a long time now.

Just as I was about to start reading the first line of the book, the noise on the television distracted me and I turned around to see what was playing.

On the small screen situated in front of my dad’s bed, there was a newscaster and she was talking about a company that had acquired large holdings of Russian Airlines and how outstanding it was to do so. I knew she was right as I liked to follow business news and Russian Airlines were very strict when it came to partnering up with other people, much more foreigners.

My eyes lit up when I saw which company was impressive enough to have done what seemed to be impossible.

In big bold letters and a picture of the CEO, it said, Wolff Enterprises. The man looked dashing and powerful in his all black suit and eyes that felt like they were piercing into mine. I have never met him, but I knew Maximo Wolff was definitely one of the most competitive ones in the fast-growing industry from times I engaged myself in keeping up with what was happening in the business world.

I shook my head as I brought myself back to reality, grabbing the remote from the table and turning the television off.

One day I would get to work for a company as exceptional as that and a boss that was willing to do everything just so he could lead his company to number one. Maybe.

I looked at my dad lovingly, taking in his features that were much more prominent before, but nonetheless he was still the most handsome man I have ever known.

He is all that matters to me right now.

I cleared my throat before beginning to tell the story for my dad, the thoughts of me being somewhere else but beside him in my head being pushed back.

“Once upon a time…”