Maid for Me (3 page)

“
Bingo! They were, but don’t worry dear. I’m not worried at all. Besides, I didn’t borrow that much money this time.” Kaila yawned again and looked as if nothing could faze her, not even if the leaky ceiling crashed down on her.

“
How much did you borrow then?” Mina tapped her foot, wondering which layer of
diyu
, hell, she would end down in if she strangled her mother.

Five years ago, they had swapped their mother-daughter roles.

Kaila, unable to accept the sudden death of her husband, developed a gambling addiction to escape reality. She resigned from her job, forgetting she had to take care of her eleven year old daughter who was also in mourning.

The only reason why they weren’t living on the streets was because the government supported them after Kaila gambled away her husband’s life insurance payout money.

Mina forced herself to grow up overnight. For the past five years, she had juggled schoolwork, part-time jobs, and running the household. She cooked, cleaned, made repairs, changed the light-bulbs, paid the bills, and weeded the yard. Sometimes, Mina wondered if she worked harder than most of the mothers in the neighborhood as Kaila’s unpaid maid.

“
What are you cooking tonight? If you don’t want to cook, we can order a spicy sausage pizza.” Kaila licked her lips and reached for the phone.

“
We’ll eat the leftovers.” Mina grabbed the phone out of her mother’s hand. “Stop trying to change the topic. How much money do you owe them this time?”

Kaila looked away. She brushed back long silky black bangs from her face. Mina looked nothing like her lithe, pretty mother. Instead, Mina looked more like her father, Brian Lin, who had a wild mop of hair, a rounded face (not heart-shaped), almond-shaped eyes, and freckles.

Kaila opened her hand, fanning her fingers.

“
Five what? Five hundred dollars?” Mina glared at her mother. That was what Kaila had owed the loan sharks two months ago at the mahjong parlor.

Kaila shook her head.

Mina clasped her hand over her sticky forehead. “Five thousand dollars?”
I am going to commit mother-cide.

Kaila shook her head again.

Mina sucked in a deep breath of air. She had a feeling she would soon suffer a complete mental and physical breakdown.

“
Fifty-thousand dollars, Mina. That’s how much I owe the stupid agency.” Kaila patted her rumbling belly. She checked her nails and clicked her teeth.

Mina’s knees buckled. “You’re kidding, right? How did you lose that much playing mahjong?”

“
I didn’t. Last month, I tried my luck at Bowing Monkey. At first, I kept winning. I won a thousand dollars on one game of pai gow. A thousand bucks!” Kaila’s eyes widened. She clapped her hands together. “Then I lost everything. So I borrowed some money from an in-house agency, thinking I could win enough in one night to secure your future. All that time, I was thinking about you, you know.”

Bowing Monkey, Unseen Phoenix was an unsanctioned, underground casino in the bowels of Chinatown. If Mina knew the location of the casino, she would alert the cops. If she could burn the place down with no repercussion, she would.

“
No, I didn’t know you were that selfless.” Mina could mope, sigh, scream and act like a drama queen, but that wouldn’t solve anything.

“
Do you have a copy of the loan contract? What’s the loan term? The interest rate? How much do you owe them this month?” Mina readied her mental calculator. The last time Kaila had owed money, Mina made the entire payment the next day, spending every penny of her personal savings.

This time around, I’ll probably have to sell a few organs to pay off Mom’s debt. I could sell all my ovaries. Five-grand a pop!

“Don’t worry about any of that. I’ll be able to pay them back by the end of the month.” Kaila stood up and stretched out her body like a feline. She removed a pack of smokes from her shorts pocket and lit up a cigarette.

“With what money?” Mina snatched the cancer-stick out of her mother’s hand and crushed it in the ashtray on the cracked glass surface of the coffee table. Kaila lit up another cigarette and puffed it like a rebel.

“With the money I’ll get from selling this dump, of course.” Kaila blew a sorry-excuse for a ring of smoke at her daughter’s face. Mina coughed and her eyes watered. She karate-chopped the second cigarette out of Kaila’s mouth.

“You’re not selling the house, Mom.”

Their house could pass for a haunted house-the roof leaked, the floorboards creaked, and the walls and ceiling had mice in them. The rusty pipes needed changing and the gas stoves could combust at anytime. Their shoddy, secondhand furniture pieces were over a decade old. Asbestos and lead paint were probably in the mix. Despite all of this, Mina loved their house. It held a million happy memories of her beloved dad.

The house was a century-year old fix-up he had bought to renovate. But before he could start the renovations, he passed away.

“Why do you always do everything I hate? I won’t let you sell Daddy’s house.”

“The house belongs to me. My name is on the deed. Yours isn’t. Tomorrow, I’m meeting with a real estate agent. When I sell the house, I’ll pay off all my debts.” Kaila’s breath reeked of smoke and alcohol when she neared her daughter. She placed a clammy hand on Mina’s arm. “I’ll even put aside some money for your college tuition. You think I don’t love you, but I do.”

You stopped loving me five years ago.

Mina brushed her mother’s hand away from her arm. She raised her chin. “The moment you have more money, you’ll just gamble it away. You’re not selling Daddy’s house. I will put myself up for adoption if you do.” Mina blinked and fat teardrops rolled down the side of her face. “Give me some time. I’ll find a way to pay off your debt.”

“Tell me, sweetie. What can a fifteen-year old girl do in the Uptown to make fifty-thousand dollars in a month? Whore herself? Strip? Maybe if you’re prettier.” Kaila waggled her finger. “Win the lottery? Find a Prince Charming? Inherit money from long-lost relatives who just happen to be royals?” Kaila chortled. “Only in storybooks! I’m selling the house and that’s final.”

Sixteen years ago, Kaila Lin had a C-section, bringing Mina into the world. Today, she had forgotten it was her only child’s birthday.

“
Give me one month and I’ll think of something. I know I will.” Mina stared at her mother with unblinking, conviction-filled eyes. “Please? Did you buy me a present today, Mom?”

“
Why would I buy you a present?” Kaila chewed on her finger and spat out a hangnail. “What’s the occasion?”

“
It’s my birthday. I was fifteen yesterday.”

“
Oh. Right.”

If she had no pride, Mina would drop to her knees to beg. “Consider giving me one month as my birthday gift. Mom, please?”

Kaila patted her belly. “Fine. I’ll have to talk to the agency about this. Are you happy now? Happy birthday, darling. Now go make us dinner. I’m starving.” Kaila ushered her daughter into the kitchen. Mina wrapped a red apron around her sweaty body.

Guess this means I don’t even have time to be heartbroken.
How many organs will I have to sell to make fifty-grand?

*THREE*

The next day, at half past noon, after searching all over South Uptown for a well-paying summer job in vain, Mina ended up loitering on Cherry Street in front of Trendy Star. The useless fifty-buck gift card Kit and the fake-bimbo had given her took up too much pocket space.

Mina wondered if she could exchange the card for money. Fifty dollars was, after all, point-one percent of fifty-grand.

This morning, she had hoped everything that had happened yesterday was a nightmare. When she picked up the loan contract Kaila had signed, Mina knew her reality was worse than any nightmare.

Entering Trendy Star, she felt like a penguin in a chicken coop. Tall and model-thin fashionistas rifled through the clothing racks. None of the pretty shop attendants greeted Mina. She walked to the back counter and dropped the gift card on the glass surface.

“
Hi. Can I exchange this for money?” Mina flashed her anti-Chiclets teeth.

The brunette behind the counter arched her freshly plucked eyebrow. “Are you kidding me, Miss? Everyone knows you can’t exchange a gift card for money.” She picked up the card and handed it back to Mina. “By the way, we carry plus-sizes upstairs.”

Zing.
Ouch. Mina shook her head. “No thanks. Besides, I’m just a size ten.”

“
Just a size ten. Wow, congrats. Next please.” The size negative-one brunette rolled her eyes and greeted the pretty customer behind Mina with a bright smile.

Mina decided to wait in line for a nice customer to buy the gift card from her. Half an hour later, she could have turned into a naked marble statue and no one would have noticed. Even though everyone on the line had bought more than fifty bucks worth of clothing, no one offered to help her. With an invisible tail between her legs, she walked out of the boutique.

Crossing the street, Mina didn’t hear loud honking from a speeding car. She only noticed it when the car panic-braked, stopping a centimeter away from sending her flying down the street.

Hyperventilating, Mina clutched her chest and stared at the driver behind the wheel.

~*~

Jaiden Daniels’s face blanched. The son of Jameson Daniels, Comptroller of the Uptown and billionaire CEO of Daniels Limited Partnership (D.L.P.), almost killed a girl with his new, one of a kind modified, crimson Maserati. Jaiden stared back at her- she looked like a dazed bumpkin about to be beamed into a UFO.

Mina’s heart stopped for a second.

She analyzed the shiny sports car. She had a feeling the young driver could sell the car and buy a two-bedroom co-op in West Uptown with the money.

How could someone so young be so rich?

The driver wore stylish shades over his eyes and had slicked back black hair. Mina almost wished his car had hit her. Instead of selling her organs, she could make a heap of money from a lawsuit settlement.

The driver behind Jaiden honked. Reflexively, Jaiden honked as well.

Mina jumped.

How obnoxious! He almost killed me and now he wants me to get off the streets?

The cogwheels in her head turned. She listened to the evil advice of the little Mina-Devil on her left shoulder.

Pretend you’re hurt. Sue his pants off. Save Daddy’s house
.

Alright. I’ll probably regret this later, but here goes. How else am I going to make fifty-grand?

Jaiden cussed when the girl dropped to the ground, blocking his escape route. He visualized his near future.

Soon, the girl would create a city-wide traffic jam. The police would arrive, along with the paparazzi. In less than an hour’s time, Jaiden would ruin his father’s name, reputation, and chance of becoming the Mayor.

Tomorrow’s headline would be similar to the following:
Comptroller’s Son Almost Killed a Girl. Possible Drug Use Involved.

Which wouldn’t be true since Jaiden Daniels never touches drugs.

In return, Jameson Daniels would confiscate every one of Jaiden’s cars and motorcycles. He would also have an excuse to send Jaiden to Charlesburg Academy, a prestigious institution in Edinburgh. In the Academy, scholarly prigs would brainwash Jaiden into a conforming and respectable young man.

Kind of like a male version of a Stepford wife
, Jaiden mused.

He got out of his car and walked toward the girl. She lay down supine, her eyelids squeezed shut and twitching. From the way her chest rose, he could tell she had no trouble breathing. He prodded the girl’s sides with the tip of his dark brown alligator skin loafer. She winced.