𝐍𝐀𝐎𝐌𝐈
It was bad enough working in a bakery with karens, but being an assistant is probably worse.
Working at Cyber Tech is like highschool all over again. Gossiping girls who point and laugh. I just have to navigate my way through the waters o...
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For years, I had wished to have a mother like the girls around me did. I wanted to gossip about boys, and eat ice-cream while watching rom-com movies.
But when I lost my mom, I was devastated. I wanted my mom more than anything. And now she's standing right in front of me.
I take a slow step back. "How are you here?"
"That's nothing you should concern yourself with."
I laugh incredulously, my eyes turning watery. "Nothing to concern myself with? Mom, you died."
"I never died."
"So you faked your death?" I smile at her, but there's no humor in it, only pain.
"Melissa." Aunt Brit walks up to us, smiling fakely at my mother.
Her lips thin as she smiles tight-lipped at her. "Brittany." She says her name, sickly-sweet.
"Why'd you do it?" I speak, interrupting their silent feud. "Why did you fake your death?"
"I wanted a better life—"
"A better life." I repeat on a laugh, looking away. "A life without me and Dad. I mourned you!"
"Naomi..." She whispers.
I shake my head. I exhale a breath as I reach behind me, unclasping my necklace from my neck. "Here's this back." I set it in her hand. "Looks like I won't need it anymore." A tear slips down my cheek, but I wipe it, pushing past her.
"Naomi!" She calls after me.
"No! You wanted a better life? Congrats, you got it. But I want no part in it." My bottom lip trembles. "Congrats, Mom. You got what you wanted. At least one of us did."
"Naomi, please!"
"You're not just going to abandon me for most of my life, then show up one day, expecting to be mother of the year! That's not how it works. You picked your life. Now deal with it." I sneer before spinning around and pushing open the door to the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator.
"Naomi!" A voice calls after me, but I ignore it, taking the stairs until I make it to the bottom, pushing open the exit door to the back of the building. My tears fall faster than I can wipe them, my breathing heavy.
How could she do this? How could she sleep at night, knowing she abandoned her family? How could she just show up, expecting to be my mom again?
The door opens again. "Naomi."
"I couldn't do it." I break down. "I couldn't let her back in."
"Hey, it's okay." He wraps his arms around me, my chin on his shoulder.
"How could she do that to me?" I cry, my tears making no effort to slow.
"I wish I knew." He whispers to me. "I sent her away. If you want to take the rest of the day off, I understand."
