Hooked Up At The First Sight

My mind was was a complete state of confusion when the cab I arranged to pick me up disappointed me. The driver called just 30 minutes before the pickup time to inform me that he had to rush his wife to the hospital because she was in labour.

God, I indeed sympathized with him but also was angered with the fact that he could have called earlier. Either way, I just hid my disappointment and told him that it was fine but I cried internally. I stepped out of the shower and dressed at high speed to save time to get a cab on a busy Monday morning. I knew about the traffic situation too so my head was spinning with thoughts of how I could make it to this interview which meant the world to me.

I worked over the years from start-up to multinational companies, yet I never had the chance of being promoted beyond Senior Officer, no matter how hard I worked. I am very ambitious and have worked throughout my college days either as a part-time typist or secretary so I gathered so much experience.

For the first time, I got an interview for an assistant manager role. If I got this job, I would work hard to get promoted to a manager if I complete my Executive Masters in Business Administration course. I was so excited when I received a call from the lady who introduced herself as Ruby, inviting me to attend the interview. I wanted to make a good impression.

I finally managed to dress up as fast as I could, with simple makeup. I tried ordering another cab via Uber but there were no available cabs at the time. I had to try a taxi then. I got to the street and luckily, someone has just dropped out of a taxi so I wave to the driver to stop as I gave him the direction card attached to my invitation for the interview. He glanced at it, wrote his fee on it, and returned the card to me.

My eyes widened with so much surprise when I saw the fee he had written.

"Are you taking advantage of me or what? Why are you charging this much for a journey of less than an hour?" I asked him.

"Ma'am, you know the traffic situation and I can't do anything about it," he said genuinely.

"Okay, let's go," I said, making myself comfortable in the back seat. As we began the journey, I decided to double-check a few details about the company when my eyes caught the cloudy sky ahead of me. 'What now, haven't I had enough already? Is nature also against me?' I thought to myself. There was no doubt with the level of thickness of the cloud that it was going to be a heavy downpour but my mind was so occupied with the interview that, I didn't notice it earlier to even pick an umbrella or a raincoat. I said a quick prayer in my mind asking God to at least hold the rain till I get to the venue but it seemed that even God was against me as the rain started pouring, making the traffic worse due to low visibility.' At least I got a taxi before the rain started so I should thank God right? Maybe it might reduce or probably stop by the time we get there.' I encouraged myself.

During the ride, my mind wandered to when my mum passed away. It was also on a rainy day like this. Dad had gotten into a terrible car accident and mum had preterm labour upon hearing the news. Aunty Joy called an ambulance but there had been some fallen trees due to the heavy rain, which had caused a truck to run over a Mercedes. This made five other vehicles collide in the same spot. There were no survivors. It was one of the most horrible incidents of my life. We could not even have my Dad's body to give a befitting burial because it was burnt beyond recognition.

We couldn't get an ambulance so Aunty Joy drove my mum through some unauthorized route to the hospital since the main roads were closed. This made the journey twice longer and mum passed on ten minutes after reaching the hospital. Since then, my life has moved from a fairy tale princess to what I can't even describe. The two people who loved me so much both died on the same day.

Aunty Joy took me in but it wasn't long before she was diagnosed with cancer. It was already at stage three by then so I  lost her in two months. No family member wanted to take me in after that because they saw me as being cursed. They didn't even want my parent's properties so one day when class was over in school and I made no attempt to go home, Sir Maxwell as we usually called him, asked me why I didn't want to go home.

After narrating to him the story of my life, he took me to meet his family. They were foreigners but they gladly accepted me and once again, I found a place to call home. Little did I realize that Sir Maxwell was the breadwinner of the family. He had two sisters and a brother. His mum and dad were both pensioners so he took up a chunk of the responsibilities. I didn't want them to continue with this suffering so, with careful thought, I made my suggestion. I was eight and the realities of life were gradually making me mature as the only child of my parents.

Flashback.

"Sir Max," I called.

"Maya. Is everything alright?" He asked with concern.

"Yes," I smiled. "I am just thinking that, since you are taking care of me now, you should sell off my parent's house and cars to use to take care of all of us," I said.

"What?, No way," he refused with an angry look.